Tag: web3

Visa Finetunes its Crypto Payment Service, Onboards Web3 Firm Transak: Details

US-based payments major Visa has been lauded by the crypto sector one too many times for keeping a friendly approach despite regulatory lags. Visa has now joined hands with Web3 payments infrastructure provider Transak. The aim is to allow Visa crypto card holders to convert crypto assets into fiat currencies in real time. The move appears to be Visa’s attempt to further democratise the use of crypto for daily payments – but by converting their values into fiat currencies.

Transak has now been onboarded onto the Visa Direct programme. A real-time one-push payments platform, Visa Direct allows third party providers connect with Visa’s network and wire payments directly on Visa cards.

“By enabling real-time card withdrawals through Visa Direct, Transak is delivering a faster, simpler and more connected experience for its users, making it easier to convert crypto balances into fiat, which can be spent at the more than 130 million merchant locations where Visa is accepted,” Coindesk quoted Yanilsa Gonzalez-Ore, North America head of Visa Direct as commenting on the development.

Visa users will also be able to transfer cryptocurrencies from wallets like MetaMask directly into the Visa Debit Card. A total of 40 cryptocurrencies are currently eligible for conversion to fiat via this Visa Direct initiative across 145 nations. These include Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, and Dogecoin among others.

“This is a major step towards mainstream acceptance and utilization of cryptocurrencies. MetaMask users can now effortlessly off-ramp directly from their wallet to the Visa card, which enhances the usability and practicality of their digital assets. Transak’s integration with Visa opens new horizons for MetaMask users globally, providing more flexibility in smooth cryptocurrency to fiat conversions,” Harshit Gangwar, Transak’s marketing head and investor relations lead was quoted by the media as saying.

Visa has been consistent in-terms of introducing Web3-friendly services in the last few years. Earlier this month, the payments giant announced a new Web3 loyalty service to assist brands experiment with Web3 elements like NFTs, metaverse, and cryptocurrencies.

In December 2022, Visa designed a functionality to enable users to make their telephone and electricity payments via self-custodial crypto wallets. The same year, Visa launched a creator programme to help digital-age artists understand and use NFTs.

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Solana Foundation, CoinDCX Announce Rs. 25-Crore Grant for India’s Web3 Developers

Ahead of India’s 75th Republic Day, Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX has announced a grant programme for Indian Web3 developers in partnership with the Solana Foundation. The grant, worth Rs. 25 crore, aims to help bootstrapped Indian Web3 developers designing products on the Solana blockchain. In an official announcement shared on Thursday, January 25, CoinDCX said this initiative comes along the sidelines of this year’s Republic Day theme of ‘Vikasit Bharat’ (Developed India).

In the coming months, the capital from this grant will be used towards initiating advanced blockchain education programmes as well as hackathon-like competitions within Web3 developers. CoinDCX Ventures has also decided to invest in the best teams emerging from these hackathons.

“We need to cultivate talent for sustained market share and leadership in blockchain software development. With India already contributing 11 percent of global web3 developers, I expect an encouraging ecosystem and government support to transform the country into a web3 powerhouse,” said Sumit Gupta, Co-Founder of CoinDCX.

Gupta said Web3 firms in India must draw parallels with India’s overall mammoth IT industry that currently has a valuation of $200 billion (roughly Rs. 16,62,210 crore) and is poised to reach $350 billion (roughly Rs. 29,09,292 crore) in revenues by 2030.

As part of the deal, Solana Foundation will work with CoinDCX to advance real-world use cases of public blockchains, such as loyalty programs and tokenisation of real-world assets like stocks, bonds, and real estate.

“There is huge potential for mass adoption of blockchain technology and real-world use cases. India having over a billion mobile users, the grant will strategically emphasise the development of Web3 apps on mobile,” said Neeraj Khandelwal, Co-Founder, CoinDCX as saying.

CoinDCX seems to be diving deeper into India’s Web3 market, intensifying the competition with contemporaries like CoinSwitch, Mudrex, and Giottus among others. This is also happening at a time when the government of India has directed all crypto firms to strictly adhere to registering with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) while also meeting all KYC and AML guidelines.

As for the Solana Foundation, this marks a notable opportunity to engage with Indian Web3 developers. Its eco-friendly Solana blockchain was recently chosen by Dubai to provide the blockchain infrastructure for its free economic zone, called the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC).

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DePins: Where Blockchain Meets AI

Earlier this month, leaders from the international financial sector gathered under one roof to attend the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland. The topics of blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and Artificial Intelligence were most discussed during this event. Several financial experts claimed that the integration of AI with blockchain elements could be a game changer for the efficiency, transparency, and security of the existing global financial industry. Members of the tech community have already been experimenting with the integration of blockchain and Web3 with concepts like Decentralised Physical Infrastructure Networks or DePINs.

DePins are protocols based on blockchains which, in an open or decentralised manner – construct, operate, and maintain digital infrastructures in the real world. This ‘infrastructure’ could range from WiFi hotspots in wireless networks to solar-powered home batteries in energy networks.

The individuals and companies that contribute to DePins protocols, in return, receive crypto-based compensations and an ownership stake in the network and service they’re contributing to.

Citing an example of a DePin, a report by Techopedia said Helium, which is a decentralised open wireless network, allows anyone to earn crypto tokens for providing wireless connectivity.

DePins are increasingly being developed for the AI industry to efficiently cater to the industry needs like secure data storage, cloud storage, and GPU computing data among others, the report said. The blockchain element in DePins add characters like shared control, transparency, and durability to AI infrastructures that DePins are deployed to.

In terms of cloud computing, that require permission-based access to GPU power and other high-performance compute resources – DePins provide permissionless access that adds more layers of details to the outputs that AI delivers. The more the developers experiment with concepts like DePins – the more AI and blockchain technology will intertwine with each other.

“AI technology in a decentralised and open-source manner. Calls for the democratization of AI are increasing by the day. DePINs will reduce entry barriers, allow unrestricted access, and make AI solutions more affordable for everyone,” the report by Techopedia noted.

A Little More About DePins

It was in November 2021, when the concept of DePins, got its first tentative name from an open-source platform called IoTex. At the time, DePins were termed as MachineFi – to show that the concept will combine machines with DeFi leading to the ‘financialisation of machines’.

After jumping through other temporary names like EdgeFi, Token Incentivised Physical Networks (TIPIN), and Proof of Physical Work (PoPW) — Messari finalised the name for this sector as DePin. The provider of crypto market intelligence products had posted a public poll in November 2022 asking people to choose their favoured name for this concept.

As per a report by CryptoPragmatist, some of the top DePin projects are – Render, which is a decentralised GPU rendering platform, Theta Network – that provides a blockchain infrastructure for the media industry, and the Ator Protocol – that is working to construct an international privacy routing system.

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Indian Blockchain Esports Firm Stan Raises Over $2 Million in Funding: Details

Stan, the Indian blockchain esports firm, has closed its Pre-Series A funding round as per an official announcement shared Tuesday, January 23. The company has bagged an investment of $2.7 million (roughly Rs. 22 crore) from several investors, including CoinDCX Ventures and Coinswitch Ventures. With the fresh inflow of capital, Stan says it aims to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and create a fluid architecture for the blockchain gaming community.

Based in Bengaluru, Stan lets creators build, monetise communities, and engage users with their favourite gaming creators/celebrities through digital collectibles, chat/audio rooms, and exclusive celebrity communities, in addition to users engaging with one other.

Aptos Labs, Pix Capital, Maelstrom Fund, GFR Fund, General Catalyst, Climber Capital, and TDV Partners are among other investors who participated in this funding round for Stan.

“The Indian market today presents a lot of challenge for the creators to monetize from their followers and these creators need to move to multiple platforms to be able to learn and push for monetisation. We intend to tap into the creator supply and help them grow their fanbase and monetise on Stan from the first day,” said Parth Chadha, Co-founder, Stan.

Established in 2022, Stan claims to cater to a userbase of four million. In the next six months, the platform is aiming to clock 10 million users. In October that year, the platform announced the rollout of its official NFT and limited digital collectibles (LDC) series.

In February 2023, Stan had announced the launch of a community marketplace. The idea behind this launch was to create a one-stop destination for blockchain gaming fans to trade digital collectibles or NFTs – free of cost.

Stan estimates that the number of online gamers in India could grow by almost 50 percent from 481 million in 2022 to over 657 million by 2025.

In May 2023, the platform managed to secure equity funding of $2.5 million (roughly Rs. 20 crore) in a funding round that saw the participation from super angel investors such as Aadil Mamujee from OpenSea and Nakul Gupta from Coinbase.

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Asset Tokenisation, DeFi for Masses: Giottus CEO Lists Crypto Trends Poised to Succeed in 2024

The Web3 industry seems to be on an ever-evolving movement where blockchain-based concepts arrive and die on an everyday basis. Last year, for instance, the sector of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) dropped to its record low in-terms of sales – but then the Ordinals category of these digital collectibles managed to re-ignite the interest of the buyer community. In conversation with Gadgets360, Vikram Subburaj, the CEO of the Giottus crypto exchange shared a list of some Web3 trends that are expected to gain traction this year.

Real world assets (RWAs) and Decentralised Finance (DeFi), as per Subburaj, are enroute mass adoption this year. Through RWAs, digital versions of physical or traditional assets are recreated on a blockchain network as tokens. Each token of an individual property, amount for some percentage of the entity. Tokenising an asset can increase the liquidity of the assets. A property owner, for instance, could sell 50,000 tokens of a tokenised real property instead of selling the entire property and losing its utility as a liveable space.

“Think of them as NFTs for things like real estate, art, or even bonds. Today, the tokenised RWA ecosystem accessible on-chain is about worth $2 billion (roughly Rs. 17,452 crore) currently,” Subburaj said, predicting that tokenising assets is expected to pick pace this year as more people understand the concept.

About DeFi taking the masses by storm, the Giottus chief said, its nature to give people independence and control over their finances is what will propel DeFi to be experimented with heavily this year. DeFi projects like Uniswap, Aave, and Lido among others use smart contracts and cryptocurrencies to offer financial services without involving a middleman. The smart contracts, essentially replace the intermediary.

As per Finbold, the total value locked in DeFi as of December 2023, stood at $52.71 billion (roughly Rs. 4,38,040 crore).

“From staking, lending to market making, there are multiple avenues to earn in this space – DeFi is the fastest growing segment of Web3,” Subburaj added.

2024 marks the fifteenth year since the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, was mined in 2009. In these fifteen years, several crypto concepts and projects have matured to accommodate more use cases linked to their ideas – escalating the network’s scalability. This year, some already established blockchains could support ‘layer-2s’. A layer 2 refers to a network, that is built on top of an existing blockchain, that serves as the layer-1 network.

“Ethereum’s upcoming 2024 Dencun upgrade is a pivotal development, poised to significantly benefit Layer 2 solutions by reducing gas fees and improving overall network efficiency. This upgrade and with the support from ecosystem programs, Ethereum’s Layer 2 platforms are well-positioned to gain prominence soon. Key layer 2s to watch out for are: Arbitrum (ARB), Optimism (OP) and Polygon (MATIC),” Subburaj told Gadgets360.

Along with these projected trends, the Giottus CEO said Artificial Intelligence (AI) will boost the overall ecosystem of Web3. The emergence of ChatGPT and Bard ignited a rally for AI tokens in 2023.

As per Indian exchange ZebPay, the top five AI crypto tokens are – Injective, Graph GRT, Render, Oasis, and Singularity (AGIX).

“As more companies integrate AI and Web3 solutions, the AI narrative will stand out over time, particularly in sectors like healthcare and finance. As the year 2024 unfolds, these trends collectively shape a dynamic environment, offering promising prospects for the future of crypto assets,” Subburaj noted.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article.

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Anti-Crypto China Forms Standard-Setting Body for Metaverse, Huawei and Tencent Join Team

China, that banned all uses of cryptocurrencies back in September 2021, is taking an interest in exploring the metaverse sector. The country has gathered a bunch of its native tech giants to form a body that would set the standards for use and exploration of metaverse in China. Huawei, Ant Group, Tencent, and Baidu are among the tech majors that have been included to be part of this newly formed organisation. A group of universities and institutions have also been made part of this project bringing the total member headcount to 60.

Moving forward, China is planning to conduct thorough research around the potential applications and possibilities of manufacturing and communicating using the metaverse. China is also looking to explore the concept of ‘digital humans’, a report by China’s Global Times said this week.

“The use of digital humans and virtual environments can boost productivity and reduce costs for businesses,” the report quoted Liu Dingding, a tech industry analyst as saying.

Among other initiatives that the group will undertake, members plan to train people around metaverse and participate in the formulation of global industry standards to govern the technology.

Built on blockchain, the metaverse can be explained as a fully functional virtual universe that provides a digitally immersive environment for people to work, socialise, and play games in. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ether, Solana amongst others are used to purchase virtual commodities in the metaverse.

In that respect, its rather interesting that China – that is strictly anti-crypto – is now turning its focus to experiment with the metaverse tech.

As per a Global Times’ report, this shift in the country’s focus comes after its Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) unveiled an ambitious three-year action plan for the industrial innovation and development of the metaverse in September 2023.

China’s metaverse industry is projected to boom to the valuation of CNY 180 billion ($25.29 billion or Rs. 2,08,049 crore) in the next two years by 2026. The country is also reportedly exploring digital IDs and real punishments for crimes committed in the metaverse.

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Number of Unique Active Wallets, Decentralised Apps Spiked in 2023 Testifying to Web3 Boom: Report

The overall Web3 industry witnessed a bunch of ups and downs in the year of 2023 – but in the midst of all the turmoil, it did manage to attract more attention and recorded a boom. The number of unique active wallets (UAW) that interacted with Web3 spiked by 124 percent in 2023, as per a fresh report by DappRadar. In addition, the number of decentralised apps (dApps) also saw the addition of 2,985 new ones last year.

Unique Active Wallets is a term of measurement in the Web3 sector. It represents the number of crypto wallets that were linked with dApps or saw transactions of digital assets over a period of time. In 2023, an average of 4.2 million UAWs engaged with dApps, that run on blockchain networks rather than on traditional servers.

Binance’s BNB Chain topped the list of the top ten blockchains by UAW in 2023. Wax, Near, zkSync-Era, Polygon, Ethereum, Abritrum, Hive, Klaytn, and Solana ranked second to tenth respectively on the list, the report by DappRadar showed.

“NFT collections have gained increased interest, as the number of new wallets trading and using these assets increased 166 percent. Blockchain-powered games continue to lead the charge in terms of dApp activity, recording a yearly dominance of 34 percent with an average of 1.1 million UAW by year’s end,” the report noted.

For the overall sector of Decentralised Finance (DeFi), the year of 2023 emerged to be rather fruitful. The Total Value Locked (TVL) in DeFi rallied by 77 percent in 2023, reaching $103 billion (roughly Rs. 8,54,454 crore) with Ethereum dominating with 57 percent share.

The DappRadar report has credited PancakeSwap as the leader in the DeFi space, emerging as the most used dApp in 2023 with over 860,000 monthly UAW. PancakeSwap is a decentralised crypto exchange that is famous for charging lesser fees and processing brisk transactions.

The report also noted that the overall crypto sector saw a drop of 96 percent in financial losses due to hacks and exploits.

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Visa Plans Web3 Loyalty Service With Gamified Giveaways, Immersive Treasure Hunts

Payments giant Visa is drilling deeper into the Web3 sector with a new initiative that it has announced in the very first week of 2024. The US-headquartered company has announced a new Web3 loyalty service to assist brands experiment with Web3 elements like NFTs, metaverse, and cryptocurrencies. Visa is one of the world’s largest fintech companies to have kept a rather welcoming approach towards the crypto sector, despite regulatory challenges crippling the industry on an international level.

Tailored specifically for brands that are customers of Visa, the name of this new initiative is — the Visa Web3 Loyalty Engagement Solution. Through this, the company will let brands create digital wallets for the storage of reward points on behalf of their customers.

“Through immersive programs like gamified giveaways, augmented reality treasure hunts, and new ways to earn and burn loyalty points, the new value-added service ushers in the future of customer engagement and loyalty, helping brands meet next-generation customers,” Visa wrote an official post.

Before launching this initiative, Visa conducted internal research, where it found that the next generation of customers for brands have heightened expectations about what they receive from loyalty programs — extending beyond traditional points-based benefits. More people are now looking to be rewarded for even engaging and interacting with brands, the study added.

“This is underscored by the fact that more than 77 percent of consumers worldwide value real-world experiences. With the new Visa solution, brands can engage customers by providing a digital wallet where they can apply rewards – such as perks and benefits – towards virtual, digital, or real-world experiences, in various sectors such as travel, sports and more,” Visa’s note added.

The fintech firm has collaborated with SmartMedia Technologies – which is an end-to-end Web2-to-Web3 platform — to bring this Web3 programme to life.

“Imagine earning a unique digital collectible, whether it’s from purchasing tickets for a sports event or participating in an augmented reality treasure hunt. Our new innovative digital loyalty solution empowers brands to reward customers not only for their transactions but for their active engagement,” said Kathleen Pierce-Gilmore, SVP and Global Head of Issuing Solutions, Visa.

Visa has been consistent in-terms of introducing Web3-friendly services in the last few years. In December 2022, Visa designed a functionality to enable users to make their telephone and electricity payments via self-custodial crypto wallets.

The same year, Visa launched a creator programme to help digital-age artists understand and use NFTs. In January 2023, Al Kelly, the CEO of payments at Visa pegged his hopes on stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), both of which are powered by blockchains, to open newer and faster ways to facilitate day-to-day as well as hefty payments.

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Web3 Gaming Market to Churn Over $614 Billion by 2030, Role Playing Games to Lead Sector: Report

The NFT-backed Web3 gaming ecosystem is showing big promise in the next few years. A recent report by Fortune Business Insights has forecasted that the blockchain gaming market would be churning up to $614 billion (roughly Rs. 51,07,086 crore) in the next seven years leading to 2030. The category of role-playing games (RPGs) is projected to be leading the sector owing to its immersive nature. This estimation bodes well for the future of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which recently underwent a slump this year.

The Fortune Business Insights report is basically projecting that the blockchain gaming business will grow by 300 percent from its current valuation of $154 billion (roughly Rs. 12,80,944 crore) in the next seven years.

More virtually realistic in appeal than traditional video games, Web3 games allow internal trading of game related NFTs that lets players generate some passive income as well. The data of in-game asset sales have shown growth at the rate of 21.8 percent between 2017 and 2021.

“With the adoption of NFTs in blockchain technologies, gamers can have more ownership and productive making opportunities. This also helps generate economic returns on their time invested in gaming sessions, fuelling the growth of the market. The convergence of blockchain technology and NFTs has led to the evolution of the gaming industry,” the report said.

Interestingly, not Asia but North America currently holds the largest share of the blockchain gaming market. Gaming companies in the US are stitching blockchain with their operations after research showed 50 percent blockchain gamers there owned crypto assets and 80 percent wished to use crypto to process in-game transactions.

The Asia Pacific is not far behind though. Owing to the thriving community of developers and gamers in Japan, China, and South Korea, the APAC region is expected to drive maximum growth for the blockchain gaming industry during the forecasted period. Afterall, over 55 percent of the global gaming community resides in Asia. The continent contributes over $72 billion (roughly Rs. 5,88,229 crore) in annual gaming revenue.

Dapper Labs, Sky Mavis, Animoca Brands, WAX, and Illuvium have been named in the report as key players in the global Web3 gaming market.

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Asia’s Line Messaging App Plans to Expand into NFT Ecosystem, Bags Millions in Investment

Line, the Asian messaging giant based in South Korea, has decided to foray into the Web3 waters. It has created a special venture called Line Next Corporation that will be dedicated to expanding the NFT ecosystem. In a recent development, the Line Next Corporation has raised an investment of $140 million (roughly Rs. 1,165 crore) and the round was led by private equity firm Crescendo Equity Partners. With this funding, Line Next is looking to launch a global NFT platform in the near future.

In January 2024, Line Next plans to officially launch its global NFT platform named Dosi. This platform will let users engage in trading digital assets and products. Line Next plans to launch Dosi as a mobile app and provide new solutions to help brands give ownerships of digital assets and trade them. This will help users and brands linked to the Line Next platform integrate Web3 elements with their identities.

“It is significant that we were able to secure this funding in the context of a globally contracting investment environment. We plan to use this opportunity to further popularize Web3 and develop a new service ecosystem where users own the value of their digital goods,” Youngsu Ko, CEO of Line Next said in an official statement.

Dosi will use Finschia public blockchain. Line Next and Crescendo will become governance members of the Finschia Foundation.

Line has clocked 5.5 million users worldwide and more than 470,000 cumulative transactions since its launch in 2011. Its NFT initiative could hence open the digital assets sector for experimentation to the masses.

The South Korean messaging giant’s pivot towards Web3 does not quite come as a surprise, given that the country is trying to keep a progressive approach towards the digital assets sector.

Last year, Seoul-based SK Telecom has decided to create and operate a crypto wallet, powered by advanced Web3 capabilities in partnership with two blockchain firms — AhnLab Blockchain Company and Atomrigs Labs — to assist the development of its crypto wallet.

Lim Hyesook, the minister of science, information and communication technologies in South Korea had also announced last year that the nation is planning to invest over $177 million (roughly Rs. 1,372 crore) in supporting metaverse projects that will also trigger job opportunities in the sector.

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