NFT
Yuga Labs raises $450M as it sets sights on a native metaverse
Yuga labs recently announced the planned launch of Otherside, a metaverse powered by ApeCoin Part of the funds raised in this seed round will be invested in the metaverse project Miami-based NFT creator and parent company of the famed Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Yuga Labs, has completed a $450 million raise at a $4 billion valuation in a just-concluded seed round. It was led by venture capitalist firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), but also saw the participation of other big names in and around crypto, including Animoca Brands, Thrive Capital, MoonPay, Sandbox, FTX and Google Ventures. Founded by Wylie Aronow and Greg Solano in 2021, the company has seen massive growth as a maker of high-value collectables. It now aims to expand to maintain this growth. The resources it has raised will be us...
Sir Mix-A-Lot Creates Cheeky NFTs For A Worthy Cause
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Tim Mosenfelder / Getty If you thought the world of NFTs and cryptocurrency lacked a little spice, veteran rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot is here to change that – and just in time to celebrate an anniversary and do some good to boot. The “Baby Got Back” rapper is reportedly marking the 30th anniversary of his hit number one single by putting out a series of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. Sir Mix-A-Lot is partnering with a developer, META-X Studios to create the NFTs in a series that will be called “Bit Butts”. The collection of digitally-crafted cabooses will first be hand-drawn, colored, and assembled by animation artists commissioned for the project, with the Seattle, Washington rapper himself contributing personal designs for some of the more rare NFTs. The “Bit ...
Bored Ape Yacht Club continue to grow empire, launch new cryptocurrency
The juggernaut that is the Bored Ape Yacht Club shows no sign of slowing down. The founding company, Yuga Labs, announced the launch of a new cryptocurrency which will be leveraged to continue to build the ecosystem around the popular NFT collection. Aptly titled ApeCoin, it will be the “primary token for all new products and services” from the company. BAYC Success Unless you have been living under a rock, you will be familiar with the meteoric success story that is the Bored Ape Yacht Club. The cartoon monkeys are the most coveted NFTs in crypto, with the highedst floor price of 85 ETH ($238,000), above even CryptoPunks (62 ETH = $174,000). They have set the template for how to succeed, focusing not only on the art – which, akin to a lot of NFTs, is not anything especially unique – but a...
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirms Instagram users could soon mint NFTs
Mark Zuckerberg says Instagram will bring functionality such as minting Avatar clothes into NFTs The social will support natively minted NFTs and imported ones CEO and co-founder of Meta (formerly Facebook) Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed a long-running rumour that the mammoth tech firm is looking to explore initiatives around NFTs. Zuckerberg was speaking at the ongoing South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas, during which he confirmed that the digital collectables would be coming to Instagram. The internet entrepreneur did not provide any specific date by which he expects the collectables to launch on the media-sharing app. He, however, indicated that it should be within the coming months. The new feature will likely allow Instagram users to display NFTs they currently own an...
Mutant Ape Yacht Club crosses $1BN in all-time sales volume
Only four NFT collections have recorded more sales volume than Mutant Ape Yacht Club Mutant Ape Yacht Club has the fourth-highest number of buyers and sellers among the top ten NFT collections by sales volume Mutant Ape Yacht Club is the latest NFT collection to rake up more than $1 billion in sales volume. The collection, born from the Bored Ape Yacht Club last August, joins a list of four others that previously eclipsed the mark. Online game universe Axie Infinity tops the all-time sales volume list with $4.033 billion, CryptoSlam data shows. Backed by its vast gaming community, the collection has the highest number of owners – 2.72 million. AxieInfinity’s sale volume is almost double second-place (previously LarvaLab’s) Ethereum-based CryptoPunks which has collected $2.118 b...
Snoop Dogg & Dr. Dre’s Death Row Albums Stripped From Streaming Services
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Ronald Martinez / Getty Iconic Death Row Records albums The Chronic & Doggystyle have disappeared from all of the streaming platforms over the weekend, fueling speculation over the label’s moves after its catalog was acquired by Snoop Dogg. According to Billboard, many noticed the absence of Dr. Dre’s groundbreaking debut and Snoop’s own seven-time platinum album release from popular music streaming services over the past weekend. The other Death Row album that was unavailable is Dogg Food, the 1995 debut album by Kurupt and Daz Dillinger. The CD and vinyl versions of those albums are also absent from the Death Row Records website. However, the Death Row albums done by 2Pac, All Eyez On Me and The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, remain available on...
LimeWire chooses Algorand to host its relaunch as an NFT marketplace
The imminent LimeWire marketplace would be initially focused on music collectables The marketplace chose Algorand for energy efficiency, carbon-negative state, scalability, safety and speed Following the announcement of its comeback as a mainstream-ready NFT marketplace focused on music collectables last week, LimeWire has now chosen the Algorand blockchain to power the platform. LimeWire explained that it settled on Algorand for its sustainable blockchain environment. As a PoS chain, Algorand is one of the most environmentally friendly blockchains and became the first carbon-negative chain last year. Also, as LimeWire intends to offer free minting, Algorand’s performance and scalability will come in handy. “We have partnered with Algorand as our official blockchain partner. Wh...
Mila Kunis’ studio debuts an NFT-backed animated web series ‘The Gimmicks’
A public NFT mint is planned for Friday, via which users could get one of 10,000 NFTs to join the show’s community Holders would be able to vote on the direction the show’s story takes Web 3 animated studio Toonstar has partnered with actress Mila Kunis’ production studio, Sixth Wall, to launch an animated wrestling show that follows the lives of retired professional wrestlers, The Gimmicks. The show’s creators aim to build an NFT community around The Gimmicks, whose members would vote on which path the storyline should take next at the end of every episode. The show, loosely described as ‘South Park meets WWE, but interactive and greasier’ by Toonstar CEO John Attanasio, was conceptualised following the release of athletes by WWE at the onset of the COV...
Magic Eden completes $27M raise, aims to conquer the Solana NFT space ahead of OpenSea
Paradigm Capital led the NFT marketplace’s Series A raise Magic Eden is investing in Solana for its low costs and better performance than Ethereum Solana-based NFT marketplace Magic Eden has closed a $27 million Series A funding round. The raise was led by investment dealer Paradigm Capital, with contributions from Sequoia Capital and Solana Ventures. Backed financially by the raise, Magic Eden intends to expand the breadth of products and services that it offers users. A bet on Solana – the cheaper, better-performing alternative Magic Eden aims to be the first mover to gain a real hold on the Solana NFT market space before OpenSea does. The latter is easily the most dominant marketplace in the NFT business, bragging the lion’s share. Though OpenSea suffered a 50% downturn in t...
Ukraine to make the planned NFT collection a museum of war, Deputy Minister says
Ukraine’s forthcoming NFT collection will depict the Russian Invasion in NFT format. The NFTs would feature stories from reliable sources on the ongoing war Elsewhere, Singapore plans to tax NFT traders, with a ‘specified’ criterion The Ukrainian government has divulged further information on its planned release of an NFT series to support its military as the country copes with the ongoing invasion by Russia. According to the Deputy Minister of Digital Information, Alex Bornyakov, Ukraine expects that the NFT series will be a museum of this war. Bornyakov told The Guardian that by wrapping the information in NFTs, Ukraine wants to “tell the world in NFT format” what is happening in their country. With an intention to be “cool, good-looking,” U...
Weekly Report: Stripe introduces crypto and NFTs support, Goldman Sachs to offer OTC bilateral crypto options
Here are the top headlines from the cryptocurrency space that you might have missed this week: Multinational bank Goldman Sachs wants to offer new OTC crypto options Goldman Sachs is now among several Wall Street banks looking to offer crypto options. The financial services and investment bank revealed this week it has intentions to soon start availing over-the-counter bilateral crypto options for enterprise clients. A recent report by Bloomberg, citing a person familiar with the matter, detailed that the American banking giant is looking to sink its claws deeper into cryptocurrencies. The news outlet said that the individual, who preferred to remain anonymous, observed that Goldman Sachs isn’t the only Wall Street bank exploring bilateral options. The said options enable crypt...
LimeWire Returns As NFT Marketplace to Right the Wrongs of Its Troubled Past
12 years after closing shop, LimeWire is back to reckon with its controversial past—and pave a new path forward. For the uninitiated, LimeWire was the go-to peer-to-peer file sharing service that dominated the early 2000s. Predating the all-access model of today’s streaming services, the controversial platform was used as a workaround for music fans who didn’t want to purchase individual songs or albums via iTunes and other digital music stores. It was as simple as downloading and playing, though it did put even the most formidable antivirus software products through the wringer. LimeWire’s reign effectively came to an end when successful lawsuits initiated by major record labels and music rights-holders resulted in a staggering $105 million in fines. LimeWire’...
