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Roblox: what is it and how does its metaverse work?

What is the Roblox metaverse and how does it work?

Find out what Roblox, the metaverse with the most active users in the world, is and how it really works!

Do you know what Roblox is and how it works? It is a centralised Metaverse that, unlike The Sandbox or Decentraland, is not based on blockchain. Roblox is a platform that contains over 40 million free games but also a virtual world in which to interact with other gamers. On Roblox, users have a lot of expressive space and can create their own games and experiences. But let’s see what Roblox is and how it works.

What is Roblox? Birth of the metaverse and relation to gaming

To best clarify what Roblox is and how this metaverse works, we must start at the beginning of its history. This virtual world was created by David Baszucki and Eric Cassel, two Californian guys with a passion for computers. The two computer wizards started their entrepreneurial career by creating a small company called Knowledge Revolution. Knowledge Revolution’s embryonic product was called Interactive Physics, a platform that used two-dimensional models to study virtual physics. In 2004, after Knowledge Revolution was sold to MSC Software Corporation for $20 million, Roblox was born. 

Over time, the company has expanded and evolved to become an institution in the gaming world, especially for younger people, as there is no minimum age to join the platform. In 2020, the Roblox metaverse achieved an incredible popularity that allowed it to go public. To date, its market capitalisation is around $25 million. But how many people are there in this virtual world? Active users during 2022 were more than 50 million, and earlier this year, the Roblox metaverse managed to break the record for the number of simultaneously connected gamers on one platform, 9.3 million on 4 February 2023.

Now, however, we need to point out that its metaverse is different from decentralised metaverses such as The Sandbox or Decentraland. It is in fact a completely centralised and managed platform, similar to a classic video game. Roblox also does not use blockchain technology and does not guarantee digital ownership of virtual worlds and objects through NFTs or tokens. Although this platform is not related to the Web3 universe, it is nevertheless one of the realities that is contributing to the development and spread of the Metaverse in popular culture. 

Join the Roblox metaverse and create your own virtual world!

In the Roblox metaverse you can really play anything! Among the 40 million games available, there is plenty of choice. You can become a professional puppy breeder by playing the popular game Adopt Me! You can fight against your friends in a DragonBall-inspired fighting game called DBZ Final Stand and you can sculpt your avatar’s physique in the gyms of the virtual world of Training Simulator. The first Roblox game was Rocket Arena, which was released on the platform in January 2006 and is still available in its first version, which is now called ‘Classic Rocket Arena’. 

As anticipated, this is not only a platform on which to play different video games for free, but also an ecosystem that allows users to create their own 3D worlds. Thanks to Roblox Studio, a programme that uses the company’s proprietary graphics engine and the Lua Script programming language, users can express their creativity and share their creations with the other inhabitants of the Metaverse.

Having understood what Roblox is, the only question remains: how does it really work? Using the platform and playing the games on it is totally free. The only paid items within the Roblox metaverse are the skins and the infinite number of virtual objects with which to customise avatars and environments. These ‘digital goods’ can be created and sold by anyone; the exchange takes place thanks to the game’s currency called Robux. The in-game currency works like the more classic coins of traditional video games, so it has no real value outside the game and can be purchased from the store through fiat currency payments.

The most exciting concerts on Roblox

Roblox is one of the virtual worlds with the most concerts, so much so that it was chosen by MTV as the location for its award ceremony dedicated to the Metaverse. The TV channel included the “Best Metaverse Performance” award in the “Video Music Awards 2022” (VMA) in August 2022. The VMAs were also broadcast, on Monday 29 August 2022, in Roblox’s MTV world ‘The VMA Experience’. 

Among the most exciting events in this Metaverse, Justin Bieber, Twenty One Pilots and Charli XCX in 2021, all three nominated for the MTV ‘Best Metaverse Performance’ award. The most important concert of 2023 was, so far, the one organised to celebrate the Super Bowl, the final of the world’s most important American football championship, the NFL. Instead of Rihanna, who performed at half-time of the game that was played, real world, in Glendale, Arizona; taking the virtual stage at Roblox was Saweetie, a rapper who is very famous in the States. The event took place from 10 to 12 February, inside ‘Warner Music Group’s Rhythm City’, the virtual world owned by the record label, and was also an opportunity to promote the official NFL (National Football League) game, Super NFL Tycoon available to users of the metaverse from 4 February. 

Some famous brands that have chosen Roblox

Attentive brands that tend to ride new trends are becoming more and more inclined to use new technologies in order to promote their products to new generations. Gucci and Nike, for example, know what Roblox is and how its metaverse works! Gucci debuted there in October 2021 with its dedicated world called Gucci Town. It is a lush and colourful mansion that offers those who visit it the opportunity to earn GG gems, create collectible clothes and accessories, and purchase limited edition virtual items. A virtual Gucci handbag sold for around $4,000 in the Roblox metaverse. 

Another example of brands that have chosen this virtual world? Nike, with the virtual city Nikeland! Nike‘s objective is to test new prototypes of shoes and clothing, to capture the tastes and preferences of young users in order to develop increasingly popular products. Kellog’s, Tommy Hilfiger, Givenchy and many other iconic brands have also found a home on Roblox!
Now that you know what Roblox is and how its metaverse works, find out how to get into it! You’ll be able to play more than 40 million games, interact with many famous users and brands, and attend concerts like never before!

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FIFA and Algorand, the NFTs of the World Cup

Algorand and FIFA: NFTs for the World Cup

FIFA launches an NFT collection on Algorand dedicated to the World Cup with the FIFA+ Collect platform!

The world of football is one of the environments in which Web3 technologies are becoming more established, both in terms of investment and public response. It started with Socios’ fan tokens, then Sorare‘s NFT fantasy football. Now, we are presented with a platform that will be birthed from a collaboration between FIFA and Algorand: FIFA+. The collaboration was already announced in May 2022. Silvio Micali’s blockchain is becoming to all intents and purposes a technical partner of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Algorand will not only appear with its logo but will also actively contribute to the expansion of the largest global football federation into Web3. Let’s find out how the FIFA+ platform will work and what will the NFTs of the World Cup look like?

FIFA+ Collect, the most iconic moments of the World Cup in NFT

The memorable moments of the World Cup will soon become NFTs. The last penalty kicked by Fabio Grosso at the 2006 World Cup? Kylian Mbappe’s stunning goal from outside the box that sealed France’s 2018 victory? A clip from the notorious Brazil – Germany match in 2014? FIFA is planning to record iconic footage from World Cup history and keep it forever on the blockchain via a dedicated NFT platform in collaboration with Algorand. The NFT platform is called FIFA+ Collect and is part of the broader FIFA+ project. Fans around the world will be able to buy their favourite goal, assist or chant from the men’s and women’s World Cups of the past! And perhaps also of the near future: the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will be held in November this year. The ownership and uniqueness of the World Cup NFTs will be guaranteed by Algorand’s blockchain. The FIFA+ Collect initiative closely resembles the one undertaken by the NBA, the American basketball league, with the NBA Top Shot project on the Ethereum blockchain

Details on the FIFA and Algorand World Cup NFTs have not yet been released. Teasers of the collections are expected to be released during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. FIFA+, however, will not only be an NFT platform, but a space where a huge amount of different content can be displayed. Including live football matches, news, games and NFTs. Algorand continues to develop very interesting projects, especially in the world of content. Silvio Micali‘s blockchain also acquired the digital music sharing service Napster earlier this year, and has partnered with LimeWire, launching an NFT marketplace focused on music.

Changing the way of experiencing sport

The launch of the FIFA+ platform opens a broader discourse on the role of fans within the entertainment world of the future. Statements from the person who conceived the collection of official FIFA World Cup NFTs relate to this very topic: “Fandom is changing and football fans around the world are approaching the game in new and exciting ways,” said Romy Gai, FIFA’s Chief Business Officer. “FIFA collectibles will be available to all football fans, everyone will be able to own a part of the FIFA World Cup,” Gai stressed. The slogan of Socios, the platform on the Chiliz blockchain to buy fan tokens of sports teams or clubs that is also a sponsor of UEFA is ‘Be more than a fan‘. This sums up well the idea that Web3 platforms are developing for the enjoyment of sports events. Fans will no longer play the role of a passive spectator, but will be a protagonist in the choices of the teams and to a small extent also the owner of the club. Thanks to the concept of digital ownership, not only fandom, but also the world of sports collecting is changing, especially thanks to tokens and NFTs. In the future, you will be able to be the rightful owner of Maradona’s goal in the 1986 World Cup quarter-finals, from which the nickname ‘The hand of god’ originated (unless perhaps you are an England fan). Also, thanks to fan tokens, you can play your part in defining the destiny of your favourite team by actively participating in transfer market decisions!

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Young Monday: Vitalik Buterin’s first book, OpenSea and MATIC, Hermès in the Web3

Vitalik Buterin’s new book, Hermés and Web3, Opensea and Polygon

OpenSea also opens its marketplace on Polygon, Hermès joins the Web3 fashion companies and Vitalik Buterin announces the release of his first book!

September has arrived and in the world of Web3, it’s time for good resolutions as well as breaking news. As usual, in this edition of Young Monday, we give you a debrief of the three newest crypto stories of the week! Hermès is laying the foundations for its entry into the world of NFT fashion by patenting an ad hoc brand for Web3 initiatives. Speaking of NFTs, the OpenSea marketplace has also started accepting Polygon’s native MATIC blockchain token for payments thanks to the new Seaport protocol. Last but not least, Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, announces the release date of his first book about Proof-of-Stake!

Vitalik Buterin’s book coming at the end of September!

The month of September 2022 is destined to go down in the annals of crypto history, and this time Ethereum is taking centre stage! The stars of the month will certainly be The Merge event as well as Vitalik Buterin. According to the countdown to the event, the transition to Ethereum 2.0 should take place on the afternoon of Tuesday the 13th September 2022. The news doesn’t stop there though. Vitalik Buterin announced the release date of his first book: ‘Proof of Stake: Essays on the Making of Ethereum and the Future of the Internet’. The book will be released on the 27th of September 2022 in both physical and digital versions.

Ethereum’s founder stated on Twitter that the book collects some of his writings produced over the past ten years. As can be deduced from the title, one of the main topics the book touches on is the Proof-Of-Stake consensus mechanism, which is now ready to be implemented on the Ethereum blockchain. Vitalik Buterin’s first book will go beyond simply  presenting technical notions. Within the essays, there will also be room for reflections on the future possibilities of new technologies as well as the impact of blockchain technology on social, economic and political changes. So, where is Vitalik Buterin’s new book available for sale? As far as digital copying is concerned, the process is very curious and innovative! Simply go to this link and donate any amount in Ether to receive an NFT that will turn into a digital copy of the book signed by Vitalik Buterin on the day of release. For  Proof-Of-Stake physical copies, however, the purchase will be done in the traditional way, you can already pre-order the book on Amazon at a price of around 18€. All proceeds from the sales of the book will be donated to Gitcoin, a crowdfunding platform for budding Web3 projects.

Hermès prepares to launch its fashion NFTs

Would you like to own an iconic Birkin or a beautiful Hermès belt in the metaverse? Maybe in the future it will soon be possible. Hermès has joined the big list of fashion brands in the NFT world! On Friday the 26th of August 2022, the French brand filed a patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (UPTSO). The application relates specifically to software for the management of digital assets and collectibles. It includes the main blockchain-related technologies: NFT, crypto and the metaverse. This request comes in the wake of the lawsuit filed by Hermès against the NFT collection called MetaBirkins, as well as its creator Mason Rothschild. The NFT collection features a series of bags that closely resemble the shape of the French brand’s iconic product. The lawsuit points to the misappropriation of the Birkin name, which Mason Rothschild allegedly used to promote his NFT fashion collection. The fashion world is certainly one of the worlds most in tune with Web3. Will we be treated to seeing Hermès at Metaverse Fashion Week 2023?

Buying NFTs on OpenSea using MATIC? It’s now possible!

OpenSea is the number one NFT marketplace created for Ethereum by volume in the entire world of Web3. It has also long since integrated other blockchains into its DApp. On OpenSea, it is possible to use the Polygon, Solana and Klaytn networks. However, in order to purchase NFTs created on Polygon, it was until recently not possible to use its native MATIC token. It was therefore necessary to own Ethereum on Polygon’s blockchain. These Ethereums are actually wrapped Ethereum, and are represented as WETH. Wrapped tokens are crypto tokens anchored to the value of another asset. These tokens are qualified as wrapped because the original asset is placed in a wrapper, i.e. a kind of digital safe, which allows the wrapped token to be created on another blockchain. Since the end of August, it has been possible to list and buy NFTs directly in MATIC! This integration was made possible thanks to Seaport, an open-source protocol, which was also implemented on Polygon’s blockchain after being launched on Ethereum in June 2022 .

The new protocol chosen by OpenSea introduces further changes. With the previous protocol, the minimum price at which one could sell or buy a non-fungible token was five dollars. Whereas, thanks to Seaport, this threshold has now dropped to one dollar! Also soon to be integrated is the Dutch auction buying mechanism, in which the price of the NFT instead of increasing, decreases proportionally over time. The latest upgrade concerns the wallets with which you can buy digital assets on OpenSea: you will soon be able to buy NFTs and automatically send them to other wallets. Very useful if you want to surprise someone with a gift!

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DOGE : même les mème-coin ont une feuille de route

Dogecoin : la feuille de route du mème-coin préféré d'Elon Musk

Que fait le meme-coin le plus célèbre du monde ? Découvrons les prochaines étapes du projet Dogecoin !

Dogecoin est une cryptomonnaie créée par les ingénieurs informatiques Jackson Palmer et Billy Markus. La blockchain de Dogecoin fonctionne avec le mécanisme de consensus “proof-of-work”. À ce jour, c’est la troisième cryptomonnaie en termes de market cap (capitalisation boursière) à utiliser ce mécanisme. Suite à l’évènement “The Merge” d’Ethereum (son passage vers le Proof-of-Stake), Dogecoin prendra sûrement la deuxième position. Outre sa capitalisation boursière, DOGE se distingue également par sa longévité. En effet, le projet est de première génération : il a vu le jour en décembre 2013. La crypto préférée d’Elon Musk est initialement née sous forme de plaisanterie, mais a gagné au fil du temps d’illustres partisans tels que le tycoon sud-africain et le fondateur d’Ethereum Vitalik Buterin. Cette popularité croissante a convaincu l’équipe d’élaborer une véritable feuille de route, appelée dans ce cas trailmap, pour définir les futures évolutions du protocole. L’objectif principal ? Faire de Dogecoin une méthode de paiement universellement acceptée et atteindre l’adoption massive !

Acheter avec des Dogecoins, est-ce bientôt possible ?

L’histoire de la crypto préférée d’Elon Musk a été assez mouvementée. L’équipe principale de développement, après avoir travaillé sur la première phase du coin, a abandonné le projet pendant un certain temps. L’équipe a décidé de reprendre le projet pendant la phase fortement haussière du début de 2021. Cette phase a vu une véritable explosion du Dogecoin, qui est passé d’un market cap d’environ 1 milliard à plus de 75 milliards de dollars. L’explosion de Dogecoin est due à la décision de certaines grandes marques d’accepter les cryptomonnaies. Parmi ces géants figurent AMC, Twitch et, bien sûr, Tesla et SpaceX, dirigées par le fan numéro un de Dogecoin : Elon Musk. C’est précisément l’expansion du Dogecoin comme moyen de paiement qui semble être le point clé de la feuille de route du projet. Le slogan répété plusieurs fois sur le site officiel étant : utilité -> adoption  ! Mais comment l’équipe de Dogecoin s’assure-t-elle que l’adoption aura bien lieu ?

Adoption par GigaWallet et Libdogecoin

Le service Gigawallet est l’un des moyens utilisés par l’équipe de Doge pour parvenir à une adoption massive. Le projet Gigawallet est une initiative open-source qui vise à rendre le processus d’acceptation des cryptos comme moyen de paiement aussi simple que possible. Grâce à ce service, qui peut être mis en place en quelques secondes par un développeur, les vendeurs peuvent recevoir des transactions en Doge aussi facilement qu’ils reçoivent des paiements dans d’autres monnaies. Si tu envisages d’acheter une nouvelle paire d’écouteurs ou une coque pour ton smartphone avec tes Dogecoin, ça sera peut-être bientôt possible ! L’autre projet sur lequel travaille l’équipe de Doge est Libdogecoin, qui sera une bibliothèque des best practices (meilleures procédures) pour la mise en œuvre complète des protocoles Dogecoin. La bibliothèque sera écrite en langage de programmation C et elle permettra à quiconque de construire un produit conforme au Dogecoin sans avoir à se soucier de spécifications plus approfondies ou de fonctions cryptographiques.

La feuille de route de la crypto préférée d’Elon Musk est largement axée sur l’expansion de l’infrastructure pour aider DOGE à devenir une solution de paiement plus robuste. L’équipe ne semble pas avoir l’intention de travailler sur d’autres fonctionnalités comme certaines rumeurs le laissaient entendre. Entre-temps, une nouvelle blockchain nommée Dogechain  est apparue ces derniers jours. Ce réseau a été construit sur Polygon Edit, un cadre qui peut être utilisé pour construire rapidement des blockchains. L’équipe de développement de Doge a déjà déclaré qu’elle n’avait rien à voir avec le projet.

Le nombre de transactions, d’utilisateurs et de portefeuilles actifs a connu une croissance incroyable dès les premiers jours du réseau. Les utilisateurs ont été attirés par le grand nombre de tokens lancés sur le réseau, presque tous sur le thème des chiens. Attention toutefois : les projets comme celui-ci, qui bénéficient d’une hype immédiate, et apparemment sans fondement, présentent également un risque assez important !

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Can you recognise the most common scams in the crypto world?

How to recognise a crypto scam: from social engineering to phishing

How can you recognise a crypto scam? Here’s what you need to know to unmask scams and keep your crypto safe.

According to a report by the data collection company Chainalysis published on the 6th of January 2022, $14 billion in cryptocurrencies were stolen through scams in 2021, mainly due to rug pulls. The figure increased almost doubled compared to the previous year. This growth in scams coincided with the development of the industry and the boom of interest in cryptocurrencies. Fraudsters and scammers take advantage of bull market periods to act on people’s optimism about the markets. When economic interests are at stake, scams spring up like mushrooms and this is also the case with cryptocurrencies. Crypto scams are unfortunately widespread. However, with a few small tricks, it is possible to learn how to recognise a crypto scam from social engineering to phishing.

Red flags: the identikit of the scam

Before reviewing the main scams that operate in the world of crypto, it is important to keep in mind some ‘red flags’ or suspicious features that could indicate you are facing a scam:

●     Someone asks you to share your private keys or passwords;

●     Someone sends you a private message offering airdrops or giveaways;

●     Someone contacts you posing as a trader or an employee of a crypto project such as an exchange;

●     The messages you receive, or the websites you surf on, contain typographical or spelling errors;

●     Someone promises you to multiply your money or receive free earnings;

No one, not even employees of crypto projects, are authorised to ask you to disclose your personal data. Very often, when something is too good to be true, in most cases it is not.

Phishing

Phishing is a common scam all over the Internet, not just for cryptocurrencies. Phishing consists of malicious people sending you messages or emails posing as services or sites that you have used before (banks, e-commerce, social networks…). They invite you to open a link or communicate personal data. When it comes to crypto, fraudsters could steal the passwords or seed phrases of your wallets through phishing, consequently stealing your crypto. Phishing messages can usually be recognised because the profiles that send them show inconsistencies with the services they are trying to imitate. Although scammers are capable of creating communications and sites that are very similar to the original ones and therefore convincing, certain details such as syntax or grammatical errors are signs of a possible scam. It is always good practice to check that the URLs of sites or e-mail addresses correspond to those of official sites, even just one character more or less can make a difference.

Fake Customer Service Representatives or Traders

In this type of scam, someone pretends to be a representative of a crypto organisation or company.  They then ask for sensitive information such as your wallet seed phrase, under the pretext of solving fake technical problems. Once the private key is obtained, the scammers drain your wallet. In this case, the scammers may also ask you to send them money in exchange for a higher value. Usually these requests are made with a sense of urgency, alerting people worried about the safety of their assets. Remember that all official communications are only ever made through official channels, do not rely too much on rumours or speculation. If you have any doubts, contact Customer Service from the official website.

Malicious people could also try to pass themselves off as telephone operator employees, offering new contracts or to change SIM cards. In possession of your phone number, they can bypass all two-factor authentications that rely on it. Some scammers also present themselves as experienced traders ready to help you. In this case, they will try to contact you, especially on social networks or online communities such as YouTube or Telegram. How to recognise this crypto scam? Due to their unrealistic promises, fake traders are easily unmasked. Beware of those who claim they can make you incredibly rich in a short time, in the world of crypto there are no shortcuts or ‘foolproof methods’.

Fake exchange apps

Among the most common scams are a number of fake apps that pretend to be the mobile version of cryptocurrency-related web services, such as exchanges or marketplaces. If you come across one of these apps in an app store, remember that the official ones are always downloadable from the relevant website. You can easily check if the two versions coincide. Again, a clue leading to a fraud can be spelling mistakes, the name of the exchange might be misspelt, or the icons might not exactly match the original ones. You can also check the number of downloads of the app. If it claims to be that of a reputable service, the downloads cannot be few. In addition, counterfeit apps usually require more permissions than necessary, as this ensures that they collect as much data as possible from the devices of scam victims.

Another type of scam app are those that promise to perform mining on your behalf and promise you rewards that never come. To avoid this type of crypto scam, it is good to know that for most cryptocurrencies, mining requires highly specialised hardware that is not compatible with mobile devices.

Rug pull

A rug pull is when scammers offer a new project, obtain funding and then disappear with the collected funds. A recent example of a rug pull was the Squid Coin scam, the token named after the Netflix series. Those who bought the token were engulfed in the hype of its quick price pump from 1 cent to $90. They then lost everything when the project’s founders stopped the activity and took the money, about $3 million, then disappeared altogether. To defend yourself against rug pull, you have to consider the project you intend to support from several points of view such as its soundness, the content of the white paper, the presence (and feasibility) of a roadmap and business model, and finally the identity and CVs of the founders. If any of these aspects are confusing or suspect, you are probably dealing with a scam.

Scams on social networks

Social networks are a frequently used channel for crypto scams. As already mentioned, YouTube is teeming with comments from fake traders promising easy money or “fake” livestreams asking people to send money in order to receive a larger sum. During these kinds of live feeds, the scammers are likely to pretend to be prominent industry figures willing to share their wealth with users. In this case, make sure that the channel from which the live is broadcast is official. On Instagram and Telegram, private messages dispensing supposed financial advice and proposing one-off deals are widespread. On Twitter and Instagram, you can also find posts promising fake or non-existent giveaways, or even fake profiles of projects or personalities from the crypto world trying to fool people. The most famous and popular ones in recent times are those that promise you NFT airdrops, but you only end up with your personal data getting stolen.

Social engineering: the basis of crypto scams

To recognise a crypto scam, it can be useful to study the basis of all such scams, namely the mechanisms of social engineering. This term refers to the persuasion schemes that fraudsters use to lure and scam people by exploiting their weaknesses and their good faith. Social engineering mechanics are behind strategies to lure victims, to befriend them via social networks or dating apps, and to induce them to download scam apps or to steal their crypto by accessing their sensitive information. Scammers investigate people’s weaknesses by exploiting people’s desires, emotions and cognitive biases to manipulate them.The techniques and types of scams that endanger our digital assets and information are diverse; learning how to recognise crypto scams is the first step to defending yourself.

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What happened at Decentraland’s Metaverse Art Week exhibition 2022

What happened at Decentraland’s Metaverse Art Week 2022

From the 24th to the 28th of August, the most famous digital artists and projects gathered in Decentraland. Find out what happened at Metaverse Art Week 2022!

Decentraland, the virtual world on Ethereum, hosted the third edition of Metaverse Art Week from the 24th to the 28th of August. After the first metaverse Fashion Week this March, Decentraland dedicated five days to contemporary art on the blockchain. In the metaverse’s art districts such as Soho Plaza or the Voltaire Art District, events, exhibitions and panel discussions dedicated to digital art on blockchain took place. The theme and title of Metaverse Art Week in Decentraland was ‘The World is Made of Code‘. Reality can be considered as a set of codes, patterns and formulas that shape both the natural and especially the virtual world. The initiative therefore welcomed artworks and immersive experiences inspired by the drawings and mathematical patterns found in nature. Top artists from the NFT scene and beyond participated in Metaverse Art Week. Find out about the art projects in Decentraland and what happened at Metaverse Art Week 2022!

The theme of the Metaverse Art Week: the relationship between mankind and technology

The immersive art installations, performances and conceptual art exhibitions of the Metaverse Art Week opened a debate on the topic of the relationship between individuals and technology and how the latter shape reality. This theme is inspired by the guiding questions of the Art Biennale in Venice opening in April 2022. The artists currently exhibiting in Venice have questioned the changing definition of mankind in relation to technology, as well as its pervasive and transformative presence. Decentraland’s Metaverse Art Week explored ‘code’ as a factor that brings virtual worlds to life, and how ““the human spirit is hardwired to elicit an emotional response when presented with art inspired by the mathematical designs present in nature”  . The Decentraland initiative was a moment of alignment between the reflections of the contemporary art world and the new frontier that is Web3.

An audio-guided tour and Artnet debates

One of the novelties of the Metaverse Art Week was an art walk with an audio guide made possible by Audio Art Tour. Once you successfully landed in the welcome area with your avatar, you could request a pair of virtual headphones with which to listen to the guide along the entire route of the exhibitions in Decentraland. Just like in a museum, the voice of a guide explained the works in detail and presented the projects. During the five days of the event, Artnet, one of the largest online art communities, organised artistic performances, live-poetry sessions and the creation of pieces of art with artificial intelligence in connection with the theme of the Art Week.

Frida Kahlo’s artistic legacy on show at Decentraland

Frida Kahlo‘s family, in collaboration with Ezel (a platform offering services to create Web3 experiences, opened a permanent installation called Frida Kahlo Family Red House in Decentraland. It tells the story of the first half of the artist’s life and displays some never-before-seen works. For the occasion, unpublished artwork, artefacts and family histories of the Mexican painter were digitised. The founders of Ezel claimed to have collected almost 800 unique pieces that belonged to the artist, including sketches, original artwork and other objects used in Kahlo’s daily life.

Each piece of content was scanned using high-resolution image capture tools, requiring at least 30 different images and videos. Decentraland users will be able to visit the works within the installation that replicates the Red House owned by the family in Mexico. Pedro Quinzaños Cancino, the founder of Ezel and a friend of the Kahlo family, said in an interview that when he suggested the project to Frida’s heirs, he was met with some resistance and scepticism. Later, the Kahlo family chose to rely on emerging technologies such as the metaverse to tell stories that would otherwise have disappeared.

The Sotheby’s and UXart Lab exhibition

During the event, UXart Lab exhibited the works of some Latin American artists from the 1960s such as Marta Minujín, Gyula Kosice and Eduardo MacEntyre who best represent kinetic and pop art, but also contemporary and digital artists such as Alberto Echegaray Guevara. These artists are currently exhibiting in real life at the Venice Biennale. Another art company that is no stranger to virtual galleries in Decentraland is the auction house Sotheby’s. Its vice-president Michael Bouhanna explained that their experience with Decentraland allowed them to experiment with cutting-edge exhibitions for digital works and transpositions of physical works. At the Metaverse Art Week, Sotheby’s reaffirmed its interest in NFT and blockchain art by presenting new pieces in the exhibition such as jewellery sculptures in collaboration with Metagolden. Decentraland’s Metaverse Art Week was also attended by a number of NFT marketplaces such as Rarible, OpenSea, SuperRare and Know Origin. The latter presented an installation entitled ‘Crypto Winter’, which mocks the volatility of cryptocurrencies.

The Ukrainian Museum of War History

At Metaverse Art Week, an exhibition space was also reserved for the works of the Meta History Museum of War: the NFT project that chronicles the war in Ukraine step by step since the beginning of the conflict. The aim of the digital museum, founded on the 25th of March 2022, is to document what is happening on the frontline through artistic expression and to raise funds for the reconstruction of the country’s artistic heritage. From the sale of these non-fungible tokens, more than $1 million has been raised.

Cash Labs’ gallery with Damien hirst and Estée Lauder’s POAPs

Cash Labs, a Web3 content creation platform, launched its first art gallery in Decentraland. Among the artists it presents are Damien Hirst, Laurel Charleston and Justin Aversano. The Cash Labs exhibition has been organised on four levels, the first group working under the theme ‘From Physical to Digital’, and it is the level where Hirst is exhibited. The second level is entitled ‘Art for the Metaverse. The third level of the Cash Labs exhibition is dedicated to the first NFT collection by Nick Knight, the British fashion photographer and founder of SHOWstudio.com. On the fourth and final floor, users who visited the entire exhibition received a free POAP by Estée Lauder as a certificate of participation.

These were the highlights of what happened at Metaverse Art Week 2022 in Decentraland, the public reception was good but there was no shortage of criticism. Some participants pointed out that the graphic layout of Decentraland’s metaverse was still primitive and unsuitable for conveying the complexity of contemporary art. For Decentraland, however, this can only be constructive criticism.

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Decentralised Stablecoins: Curve, Acala and Tron’s innovations

New stablecoins coming in 2022 and those in crisis: Curve, Acala and Tron

We present stablecoins arriving in 2022 as well as those in crisis. What happened to FEI and aUSD? What are the plans for Curve and Aave?

The desire of DeFi platforms to create stablecoins is certainly one of the trends of the moment. Stablecoins are cryptos that remain pegged to the price of fiat currencies, usually to the value of the dollar. They fall into two categories: algorithmic ones and those that base their value on reserves of funds that serve as the underlying collateral. The former maintain their peg to the dollar price through algorithmic trading systems, such as seigniorage. The latter, on the other hand, manages to maintain a stable price by holding reserves of currency in a 1:1 ratio with the tokens issued. 

Collateral-backed stablecoins are in turn divided into two subcategories, centralised and decentralised collateralised stablecoins. The main difference between the two types relates to the type of currency that acts as collateral. For centralised stablecoins, the collateral is made up of fiat currency, usually US dollars or equivalent financial instruments. By contrast, for decentralised stablecoins, the collateral is composed entirely of other cryptos. The most famous centralised stablecoins are USDT and USDC. However, it is the decentralised stablecoins that are stealing the show within the DeFi sector nowadays. Let’s look at the new stablecoins coming in 2022 as well as those going through a period of crisis.

New decentralised stablecoins on the way: Curve, Aave and Shiba

A few weeks ago, Aave, a DeFi ecosystem specialising in decentralised loans, published a proposal to create its own stablecoin. This provoked a quick response from one of their most famous competitors Curve finance, who announced their own stablecoin. Curve is one of the most famous and widely used DEXes in the industry. The announcement was made quietly, unlike Aave’s, and was not posted on the platform’s social networks. It was made by the CEO and founder of the world’s most widely used DeFi protocol, Michael Egorov, during a crypto-themed summit. In addition to announcing the launch, Michael Egorov stated that Curve’s stablecoin will operate according to the over-collateralisation mechanism and will be fully decentralised.

The information so far is not very detailed, but it is rumoured that the overcollateralisation mechanism will be similar to the one used by Maker DAO with its DAI stablecoin and which Aave plans to implement with GHO. Another ecosystem, completely different from Curve, has announced that it too is working on a stablecoin: Shiba Inu is planning to create a Defi ecosystem complete with everything a user could ever want. After Shiba‘s decentralised exchange, Shibaswap, there should soon be a metaverse and the SHI stablecoin that will also be over-collateralised.

Stablecoins in crisis: aUSD and FEI

The basic idea behind stablecoins is simple but its implementation is complex. When depending on large collaterals, failure is just around the corner. Especially during bear market phases like the one we are in now. The Terra (LUNA) Ecosystem is a great example of this. Two other stablecoins have since also recently fallen under the attack of malicious actors. The protocol named FEI for example is closing its doors. In early 2021, Fei Labs had raised $1.3 billion equivalent in Ethereum to build a decentralised stablecoin. The collected Ethereum was used as collateral for the FEI stablecoin. In December, the DeFi protocol decided to start collaborating with another project called Rari Capital, together creating a lending platform called Fuse. The lending platform allowed users to borrow FEI stablecoin by depositing collateral in crypto. This collateral was then used to keep the price of FEI stable. Unfortunately,  in April 2022, the Fuse lending protocol was hacked. Hackers stole $80 million, causing the stablecoin’s dollar-anchoring mechanism to fail. This resulted in the failure of the Fuse platform and thus the end of the Fei Labs project.

Similarly, the stablecoin of the Polkadot Acala parachain called aUSD also suffered a crash recently. On Sunday, the 14th of August 2022, a bug caused by a misconfiguration of the iBTC/aUSD liquidity pool made a hack possible. The hackers in question managed to break into the liquidity pool and stole approximately 1.27 billion aUSD. After being made aware of the exploit, the Acala team disabled the transfer functionality of the erroneously issued aUSDs remaining on Acala’s parachain. This greatly limited the damage, in fact 99% of the stolen aUSDs remained on Acala’s blockchain. The damage is valued at around $1.6 million. The team is still working hard to recover the lost funds by tracking and monitoring transactions and wallets.In the meantime, the stablecoin seems to be slowly recovering its dollar price. 

The change of course of USDD, Tron’s stablecoin

Speaking instead of algorithmic stablecoins, the star of the moment is definitely Tron‘s decentralised USDD stablecoin, which is often compared to UST, the stablecoin of the Terra ecosystem. 

The two stablecoins function very similarly, or at least they did until recently. USDD was launched a few days before the collapse of the Terra (LUNA) ecosystem with the aim of offering even better returns, up to 30% compared to the 20% once offered by Anchor Protocol. The Tron DAO Reserve’s goal was to make inroads into the market by intercepting users attracted by high APY rates on stablecoins. Remember that the UST stablecoin had a market cap of about $19 billion. However, following the collapse of UST and LUNA, USDD and other algorithmic stablecoins such as USN (developed by Near) also had to change their dollar peg mechanism. USN was totally transformed and became an over-collateralised stablecoin. Meanwhile, USDD decided to remain in limbo, adopting a hybrid system that shares features with both types of mechanism. 

The initiative of the Tron DAO Reserve was to maintain the algorithmic aspects of the project, hence the creation of a system based on the coexistence of two tokens TRX and USDD. They make use of processes such as arbitrage and seigniorage to keep USDD pegged to the dollar price. In addition to this system, a decentralised reserve greater than the total value of all USDD in circulation has been implemented in order to keep the protocol secure. This counts especially in times of crisis and for avoiding bank runs like the one that happened to UST. Currently, USDD’s market cap is just over $700 million, and it holds more than $2.3 billion USD in collateral reserves. According to the Tron DAO Reserve website, the stablecoin currently holds 990 million USDC, 140 million USDT, 10.9 billion TRX and 14,000 Bitcoins. 

The development of decentralised stablecoins by protocols that were not initially created for that purpose is a path taken by many crypto projects. The goals that projects aim to achieve through these initiatives are varied. First and foremost, the ecosystems aim to give their users the opportunity to shelter themselves from volatility without leaving the ecosystem, and thus to hold stable value in a decentralised manner. Another goal is to reach new customers through advantageous rewards applied to a capital that should remain stable. We will see if more new stablecoins will appear in 2022, perhaps on a  completely algorithmic basis. Or perhaps the market will remain dominated by collateralised stablecoins, which are certainly more popular to date!

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DOGE: even meme coins have a roadmap

Doge: the roadmap of Elon Musk's favourite meme coin

What is the world’s most famous meme coin up to? Find out Dogecoin’s next steps!

Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency created by computer engineers Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus. Dogecoin’s blockchain works via the Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism. To date, it is the third placed crypto in terms of market cap to work with this mechanism. Following Ethereum’s Merge to Proof-of-Stake, it will likely move to second place. In addition to its market cap, DOGE also stands out due to its longevity. It is in fact a first generation project: it saw the light of day in December 2013. Elon Musk’s favourite crypto was initially fashioned as a joke, but over time it gained illustrious supporters such as the South African tycoon and Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin. This growing popularity convinced the team to develop a real roadmap, called in this case “trailmap”, to define the protocol’s future moves. The main objective? To turn Dogecoin into a universally accepted payment method and achieve mass adoption!

Buying with Dogecoin, will it soon be possible?

The history of Elon Musk’s favourite crypto has been quite troubled. After working on the early phase of the coin’s life, the core development team abandoned the project for some time. However, they resumed it during the strongly bullish phase at the beginning of 2021. This phase saw a real explosion of Dogecoin, which went from a market cap of about 1 billion to more than 75 billion dollars. Dogecoin’s explosion came as a result of the decision by some big brands to accept crypto. Among these brands are AMC, Twitch and of course Tesla and SpaceX owned by crypto’s number one fan: Elon Musk. It is precisely the expansion of Dogecoin as a payment method that seems to be the key point of the project’s roadmap. The slogan repeated several times on the official site is in fact: utility -> adoption! But how is the Doge team working to ensure that adoption actually happens?

Adoption through GigaWallet and Libdogecoin

One of the ways the Doge team is working to achieve mass adoption is through the Gigawallet service. The Gigawallet project is an open-source initiative that aims to make the process of accepting crypto as a payment method as simple as possible. Thanks to this service, which can be set up in seconds by a developer, sellers will be able to receive Doge transactions as easily as they receive payments in other currencies. If you are thinking of buying a new pair of headphones, or a case for your smartphone in Dogecoin, perhaps you will be able to do so soon! The other project the Doge team is working on is Libdogecoin. Libdogecoin will be a library of best practices for the complete implementation of Dogecoin protocols. The library will be written in the C programming language and will allow anyone to build Dogecoin-compliant products without having to worry about deeper specifications or cryptographic functions.

The roadmap of Elon Musk’s favourite crypto is largely focused on expanding the infrastructure to help DOGE become a more robust payment solution. The team does not seem to have any plans to work on other features as some rumours suggested. In the meantime, a new blockchain named Dogechain was founded in the last few days. This network was built on Polygon Edit, a framework that can be used to build blockchains quickly. The Doge development team has already stated that it has nothing to do with the project.

The number of transactions, users and active wallets grew incredibly in the network’s first days. Users have been attracted by the large number of tokens launched on the network, almost all of them Doge-themed. Beware however, in projects like this, which enjoy instant and seemingly unfounded hype, risk is always just around the corner!

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Young Monday: Telegram and Reddit’s NFTs, MTV and Beijing in the Metaverse

Young Monday: Telegram and Reddit's NFT, Beijing’s metaverse

What is happening with Telegram and Reddit’s NFTs? Beijing and MTV interact with the metaverse

September is just around the corner and the last Young Monday of August cannot fail to talk about this summer’s hottest topics: NFTs and the metaverse. As far as NFTs are concerned, Reddit has started distributing its avatar collectibles on Polygon‘s blockchain, while Telegram is planning to turn usernames and channels on the platform into NFT domains. Speaking of the metaverse, the MTV Video Music Awards are adding a new category, ‘Best Metaverse Performance’, and the city of Beijing is signing a two-year plan to enter the metaverse.

Reddit starts distributing its NFTs on Polygon and Telegram plans its entry into the industry with TON

Reddit’s NFTs take centre stage again for this edition of Young Monday. On Thursday the 25th of August 2022, the airdrop of Reddit avatar collectibles began. These NFTs had already been created by users on a dedicated page of the social network and will be fully managed by the Vault portfolio also developed by Reddit. The four available collections were ‘The Singularity‘, ‘Aww Friends‘, ‘Drip Squad‘ and ‘Meme Team‘. The NFTs are on the Polygon blockchain and it is already possible to trade them on OpenSea. We knew for a while that Reddit chose Polygon for its NFTs, but we can now finally enjoy the new Avatars designed by independent artists on the most popular NFT marketplace! CEO Pavel Durov also plans to answer the call in a slightly different way for Telegram NFTs, by collaborating instead with the TON ecosystem. The TON blockchain was initially designed by Telegram. However, in June 2020 following some legal disputes, it broke away from the social network, becoming a separate entity called The Open Network. Telegram’s idea, proposed by CEO Pavel Durov, involves the migration of all usernames and channels to the NFT market.

The aim of the initiative, which will be made possible by the concept of digital ownership, is similar to that of ENS domains on Ethereum. ENS is a protocol for the creation and management of decentralised domains. Thanks to ENS, any individual can purchase one or more domains on the Ethereum blockchain. These domains also serve as wallets for cryptos and NFTs. The Open Network has already developed an initiative almost identical to ENS’s called Ton DNS, which has so far sold very well. But how will this technology work in relation to the Telegram social network? Each username or channel will be an NFT, whose ownership will be immutably registered on the blockchain. Furthermore, there will be the possibility to put them up for sale on a secondary market. The messaging platform with more than 700 million users expects unbridled competition for the most sought-after Telegram user-names!

MTV introduces an award for the best performance in the Metaverse

The second hot news topic in this edition of Young Monday is all about musical performances in the metaverse. This summer, we finally got back to enjoying live events and concerts, and it was awesome. However, interest in virtual events has not waned at all. MTV has picked up on the trend of many famous artists performing in the metaverse and created an ad hoc award within its Video Music Awards 2022: the ‘Best Metaverse Performance‘ award. This award is in addition to the more traditional accolades of ‘Video of the Year’, ‘Artist of the Year’ and ‘Song of the Year’ and will be in place from this year! There are six artists competing in this category: Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Twenty One Pilots, Charlie XCX, BTS and Blackpink.

But the news doesn’t end there. In addition to awarding prizes, the TV programme has embarked on its first experience in the metaverse. The Paramount Media Networks-owned company recreated the VMA experience on Roblox. The VMA Experience comprised three games through which players could accumulate tokens that will grant voting power during the VMA event scheduled for tonight. Although Roblox is not a Web3 game, and it does not use blockchain technology or cryptocurrencies, the process is certainly reminiscent of the DAO mechanism. We will see who will prevail tonight and win the first ‘Best Metaverse performance’ in history!

Beijing: a plan to enter the metaverse

Our last (but not least) news item is that Beijing intends to enter the metaverse. China’s Web3 declarations always make the crypto sector’s ears perk up. We all remember the May 2021 ban on cryptocurrencies. This time, however, the news seems favourable, at least as far as technology is concerned, as the Chinese government has announced a plan for the city of Beijing to enter the metaverse. The plan will last two years, from 2022 until 2024, and is aimed at increasing the development and innovation of metaverse technology.The plan calls for all districts of the city to build a city-wide technology infrastructure and to promote its use in various fields, including education and tourism. This is not the first time China has shown interest in this type of technology; in 2021, it was the city of Shanghai that planned investments in the metaverse. However, China has already shown in the past that these policies are often aimed at large Tech companies, and not at individual users. Moreover, the concept of decentralisation does not seem to fit into the government’s idea of Web3. Financial instruments such as the digital yuan, a CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currencies), i.e. a digital currency controlled by the country’s central bank, and government control of the NFT market do not actually incentivise decentralisation and do not embody the core values and principles of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.

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What are Azuki? Everything you need to know about the most famous anime-NFTs!

Azuki: discover the best NFT Anime PFPs!

What are the best Anime NFTs on OpenSea? The Azuki! Discover the history of the most popular PFP anime on the Web3!

The most iconic collections in the NFT world are referred to as blue chips, precious pearls that tower above the peaks of the market. Bored Ape Yacht Club and Crypto Punks are certainly part of this exclusive club, but if we scroll through the OpenSea rankings we find plenty of would-be members. Among them is a prominent collection of anime PFP NFTs.

The Azuki collection is based on Ethereum and has 10,000 pieces inspired by anime aesthetics. PFP is an acronym that stands for “profile picture” and it is used to describe NFTs that are designed to be used as such.

What really distinguishes Azuki from other projects is its history and roadmap. The project first appeared on social networks : particularly in January 2022 on Twitter. It quickly won the hearts of fans online and offline. However, in May 2022, the founder, known on Twitter by the handle Zagabond.eth, made a statement that generated controversy and debate. Find out more about the compelling story of Azuki NFTs!

What are Azuki NFTs: anime PFPs that conquered the market

Like most PFP NFTs, Azuki are the result of a random selection of traits. These traits were drawn according to a particular mix of styles. On the one hand, there is the clear inspiration from the anime-style RPG The World Ends with You. On the other hand, especially when it comes to outfits, the NFTs are reminiscent of the style of the famous skateboarding magazine Thrasher Magazine. The Web3 company behind the development of Azuki NFT is Chiru Labs, a Los Angeles-based collective of developers and artists. The collection of 10,000 Avatars was launched on the 12th of January 2022, according to the Dutch Auction method: a type of NFT sale where a starting price is set as well as a time period after which the price of the NFT decreases. The Azuki started with a price of 1 ETH per NFT, and it was supposed to decrease by 0.05 ETH every 20 minutes. Thanks to the hype generated by the collection in the days before the launch, this did not end up happening and the collection was sold out within 3 minutes. The final price per Azuki avatar was therefore 1 ETH. Chiru Labs also aims to expand outside the world of Web3 and the Azuki brand could embrace various sectors, both online and in the real world.

The Mindmap and the real-world usefulness of Azuki NFTs

The Azuki NFT collection already shared its roadmap before launch, which helped to ensure the project’s immediate trust from the part of the NFT world. The roadmap, called Mindmap by the team, shows the goals that the anime PFP project aims to achieve by working closely with the community. There are no clear timelines outlining the brand’s evolution process, but there are macro-areas on which the developers and artists are working to make the experience for users in The Garden special. The Garden is the exclusive club dedicated to those who own at least one Azuki NFT. Highlights of the Azuki journey will include immersive 3D experiences, exclusive streetwear collections, physical and virtual art exhibitions and a token named BEAN. Azuki is also looking to create its own unique metaverse, in which interactive multimedia experiences and games will be available.

Chiru Labs’ main intention, however, is to create a bridge between the virtual world of Azuki and the real world. Azuki’s event at the NFT week in New York is certainly an example of this. Through various art installations, the team created a Japanese-style scenario where it was possible to listen to live music, taste different foods and even get a tattoo! In terms of the creation of physical-digital products, the Azuki team has already offered a glimpse of what seems to be its intent with the ‘Twin Tigers Jackets‘ and the ‘Golden Skateboard Shrine‘. The first physical-digital product of the Azuki anime NFTs was launched in May 2022 and consisted of NFTs depicting Japanese-style silk jackets. These NFTs were distributed to Azuki PFP holders, with whom they could redeem physical jackets as of the 19th of July. Members of The Garden chose or to ‘burn’ it and receive the Japanese silk jackets, which are expected to be shipped by December 2022. For those who did not request the physical jacket and therefore still hold the token, the team promises an unknown future utility as of yet. The second initiative was launched in October 2022. This time, instead of jackets, the NFTs represented skateboards. The collection was dubbed ‘Proof-of-Skate‘ by the NFT Azuki Anime team. There were only 9 NFT skateboards available and they too will be redeemable for physical skateboards in the future. The Golden Skateboard Shrines were auctioned off, their selling price ranged from a low of 200 ETH, about $260,000 to a high of 309 ETH, about $400,000. .

The controversial Zagabond issue

The story of Azuki NFT collection has nevertheless also seen some dark moments, when it was thought that the project might be abandoned. In May 2022, shortly after reaching new all-time highs and establishing itself as a true blue chip, it emerged that Zagabond (a member of the core team and innovation lab Chiru Labs) was the owner of three previous NFT projects that were abandoned. The NFT collections in question are: Tendies, CryptoZunks and CryptoPhunks. Following the release of the news, the floor price – the minimum price at which an anime PFP can be purchased – which was of around 30 ETH, dropped by half which fuelled further distrust in the collection. The debate on Twitter was very heated, Zagabond apologised and tried to explain that the abandonment was intended to leave the decision-making power completely to the community and that there were no fixed rules for NFT creators forcing him to continue the projects he had previously created. 

Despite general community scepticism about Zagabond’s past, the Azuki brand continues to work and build, and it remains in OpenSea‘s top 20 list in terms of both volume and floor price. In addition, it is the sixth largest project by total volume in the history of the NFT marketplace, with more than 250,000 ETH traded.