NFT
HitPiece Draws Ire of Musicians for Allegedly Selling NFTs Without Permission
A digital marketplace called HitPiece is allegedly selling songs as NFTs without the consent of artists or proper licensing. According to LinkedIn, HitPiece was co-founded by industry executive Rory Felton and Michael Berrin (formerly known as the rapper MC Serch), with the financial backing of Blake Modersitzki. The marketplace went live in beta in early December, offering fans the chance to bid on a “One of One NFT for each unique song recording.” This was news to many of the artists whose music is up for sale on HitPiece, and who only learned of the marketplace’s existence on Tuesday. Advertisement Related Video “Bottom feeding scavengers of late capitalism sucking the last marrow from our bones and/or running a scam on me, you, or everyone, because obviously, I didn’t approve this, and...
Tezos transactions and smart contract activity surge on NFT demand
The Tezos network has seen impressive growth over the past 12 months in smart contract addresses and general adoption, primarily driven by non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Activity within the Proof-of-Stake ecosystem has had a spurt of growth recently as it aims to compete with Ethereum for NFT minting and markets. According to Coin Metrics’ “State of the Network” report on Feb. 1, the number of transactions involving smart contracts has surged over the past 12 months to more than 50,000 per day from less than 10,000 per day in January 2021. The report observed that the growth has been driven by NFT platforms such as the generative art platform FX Hash seeing increased interest. Additionally, gaming giant Ubisoft also announced Tezos support for gaming NFTs in December. High Ethereum network fe...
Artists Are Blasting an NFT Auction Platform After Their Music Appeared Without Their Knowledge
A controversial NFT marketplace has drawn the ire of many in the music industry and creator economy at large. Legions of musicians are taking to social media to condemn HitPiece, a platform allegedly minting and selling music NFTs without artists’ knowledge. According to HitPiece’s website, the marketplace “lets fans collect NFTs of your favorite songs.” However, it’s unclear whether or not the company has acquired the rights to the songs and gone through the necessary channels to publicly list them on its platform. Per its website, HitPiece also claims to remit a royalty to artists whose music NFTs are purchased or sold, but suggests the rights-holder must create an account to receive payments. “Each time an artist’s NFT is purchased or sold, a royalty ...
Monthly Report: SEC’s campaign against Bitcoin Spot ETFs continues
January has been a rough month for the cryptocurrency market. Many crypto coins have bled in the last three weeks erasing gains from the broader market rally at the end of last year. Meanwhile, the larger crypto ecosystem has seen several developments this month. However, no direct crypto ETF has been approved in the US and odds for one being given the green light within Q1 of 2022 are long. Here is a breakdown of this and other important headlines in January, from regulations to crowdfunding. The US SEC is yet to approve a Bitcoin spot ETF The SEC’s preference for ETFs that track Bitcoin futures rather than the digital asset itself has remained unchanged. Citing a failure to reach the standards of a surveillance-sharing agreement, the SEC said on January 20th that it would not accep...
Exclusive: The Chainsmokers to Headline First-Ever NFT-Gated Art and Music Festival, Afterparty
An innovative new music festival is primed for Sin City—and NFTs are the ticket in. Afterparty, a renowned creator tools platform operating at the forefront of the Web3 epoch, have announced the first-ever NFT-gated music and art festival. Complete with unique digital art gallery activations, the inaugural Afterparty NFT Art and Music Festival will immerse attendees in NFTs in the company’s goal to democratize them for the creator economy. The festival’s pièce de résistance, however, is its entry point. Afterparty’s generative “Utopian” NFT collection, which lives on the Ethereum blockchain, will moonlight as “all-access” passes and offer their owners tangible rewards both in real-time and in the metaverse. For example, they unlock ac...
CertiK’s identification of Crypto Cars as ‘rug pull’ was a false alarm
In a period of market downturns, rumors of crypto bans and decentralized finance, or DeFi scams, blockchain enthusiasts can be sensitive to the smallest abnormalities within projects they follow and sometimes erroneously fear for the worse. The day prior, CertiK, a leading cybersecurity ranking platform in the blockchain space, issued a warning via Twitter regarding CryptoCars, alleging that it was a “rug pull.” However, the staff quickly deleted the post as it was a false alarm. Via a series of Twitter screenshots obtained by Cointelegraph, CertiK first claimed that the website and Telegram for CrytoCars were down. However, users quickly pointed out that both the CryptoCars website and Telegram apps were still functional, resulting in CertiK rescinding the community alert. Acc...
The Sandbox (SAND) metaverse token gains 40% after Snoop Dogg, Warner Music partnership
Sandbox (SAND) refused to go down despite broader negative market sentiment in the past 24 hours. Instead, the altcoin logged a breakaway recovery as traders assessed its recent high-profile partnerships as a sign that the project has strong fundamentals. SAND rose 10.23% to $3.38 at the UTC close on Jan.27, followed by another 5.42% spike to $3.57 on Friday. In contrast, Bitcoin (BTC), dropped 1.41% within the same timeframe. SAND/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView SAND adoption booms Traders decided to increase their exposure to SAND after the Sandbox announced partnerships with American rapper Snoop Dogg and Warner Music, a major record label. On Jan. 27, Snoop Dogg tweeted a teaser of what appeared to be his upcoming nonfungible token (NFT) collection, dubbed ...
Weekly Report: Crypto markets suffer mid-week blow as SEC bins another Bitcoin ETF proposal
The SEC rejected yet another crypto ETF proposal and punted on two others Reddit follows Twitter in introducing NFT avatar support Thailand regulators are looking to curtail the use of crypto in settling payments US financial markets watchdog is probing top crypto platforms over high-yield crypto products The cryptocurrency sector is reeling from a broad mid-week sell-off triggered by remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell on the US monetary policy. Bitcoin lost grip on the $37,000 level earlier today and is currently trading at $36,250. Ethereum has lost 3.15% in the last 24 hours and is swinging around $2,370. Cardano, Solana and Terra native tokens are also down on the day with double-digit losses over the last seven days. Terra’s LUNA has the biggest slump, dipping almost 35% since...
deadmau5 and Richie Hawtin’s PIXELYNX to Bring 3D Avatars to Metaverse Gaming Platform
Richie Hawtin and deadmau5‘s music metaverse venture, PIXELYNX, has forged another groundbreaking deal, joining forces with cross-game avatar platform Ready Player Me. PIXELYNX has led the charge in the digital space at the intersection of music and the metaverse. Their new partnership will allow users to customize their Ready Player Me avatars in PIXELYNX’s upcoming mobile AR and PC game, as well as buy and sell one-of-a-kind NFT fashion wearables. “Ready Player Me has always been one of the most exciting avatar platforms,” said Inder Phull, co-founder and CEO of PIXELYNX in a press release. “The team has made it so easy to integrate into our ecosystem and it’s no surprise to see their community of partners growing at such a fast pace. Avatars ...
Brit Awards 2022 to Celebrate Winners With First-Ever NFT Collection
The Brit Awards is entering the NFT space. When the winners are announced next month at London’s O2 arena, music fans will get a chance to capture a piece of the action, by way of the awards’ first-ever NFT collection. The official digital collectibles are designed by MRE, the West Midlands-born digital artist who has worked with previous Brit Award-winning rappers artists Dave and J Hus, and they’re delivered through a partnership with Australia-originated NFT platform Serenade. Priced at £10 each ($13.50), the limited-edition NFTs commemorate the 2022 winning artists, in categories including artist of the year, best new artist, album of the year and the four new genre awards: alternative/rock act, dance act, hip-hop/grime/rap act and pop/R&B act. “Working with the Brit Awards to crea...
Polygon (MATIC) sees a strong oversold bounce after $250B crypto market rebound
Polygon (MATIC) emerged as one of the best performers among high-ranking cryptocurrencies on Jan. 26 as the price rose nearly 17% to reach an intraday high at $1.825. The gains surfaced amid a synchronous rebound across the crypto market that started on Jan. 24. In detail, investors and traders poured in over $250 billion across digital assets, benefiting Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and many others in the process. Performance of the top-fifteen cryptocurrencies in the last 15 days. Source: TradingView Polygon, a secondary scaling solution for the Ethereum blockchain, also cashed in on the crypto market rebound. The valuation of its native token, MATIC, rose from as low as $9.77 billion on Jan.24 to as high as $13.58 billion two days later. Meanwhile, its price jumped from $1....
YouTube CEO hints the video platform might be getting in on NFTs
YouTube is exploring the possibility of adding an NFT feature on its platform as a revenue stream for video creators YouTube NFTs could soon be coming your way, according to YouTube head Susan Wojcicki. An open letter from the chief executive suggests that the platform could be looking to integrate NFTs soon as part of its expansion plans. Based on the annual letter, the idea is still in its infancy and no concrete plans have been laid. “We’re always focused on expanding the YouTube ecosystem to help creators capitalise on emerging technologies, including things like NFTs, while continuing to strengthen and enhance the experiences creators and fans have on YouTube,” Wojcicki wrote in regards to YouTube’s 2022 plans. NFTs will help connect creators and fans The NFTs ...
