Author: The Block
Cardiac surgeon, television personality and U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet C. Oz has filed trademarks to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to cover a breadth of digital goods, services and software. Dr. Oz’s proposed trademarks for virtual goods and services run the gamut of art, collectible coins, food, beverages, sleepwear, eyewear, jewelry, cologne, beauty products, health products, fitness and exercise equipment, bedding, toys, games, comics phones, posters, and electric kitchen appliances — suggesting that the Turkish-American television host may be interested in capturing broad markets in the virtual world. Oz’s trademark filing also spans community forums and information streaming…
South Korea’s sovereign wealth fund has outlined plans to up its investments in Silicon Valley startups as it looks to increase its exposure to the metaverse, AI and alternative assets. The head of the $200 billion fund, Korea Investment Corp (KIC), said it was looking past tech’s recent stock market nosedive and the risk of an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve, according to a report by Bloomberg. CEO Seoungho Jin told Korean media that while some argue that Silicon Valley is “saturated,” it is still a source of global growth. Alternative assets could make up 25% of KIC’s portfolio…
From March 9, the decentralized exchange platform PancakeSwap will reportedly start blocking access to Iranian IP addresses. On Thursday, a Persian language cryptocurrency community hub called CryptoClub showed a message from PancakeSwap indicating plans for the ban. According to the tweet, PancakeSwap will begin geoblocking users from Iran and nine other jurisdictions on March 9. The other countries included in PancakeSwap’s geofencing are Belarus, Cuba, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, Zimbabwe, and Crimea. PancakeSwap is the largest DEX in the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) ecosystem. Data from DeFiLlama shows PancakeSwap controlling over a third of the total value locked…
Dom Hofmann, the co-founder of the now-defunct short-form video platform Vine and creator of the non-fungible token (NFT) project Loot, has a new venture — Blitmap, a decentralized science fiction project where the community guides the story. Paradigm led a $12 million seed funding round for Sup, a parent firm that’s building out Blitmap. Through the funding, Blitmap intends to scale as well as develop other projects and universes, according to a tweet from Sup. Blitmap is an Ethereum-based NFT project in which users who own a Blitmap NFT can collectively decide key features of the story’s universe, such as who the…
The online media giant YouTube shared in a Thursday blog post which sported a positive view of Web3 technology like blockchain and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for content creators. “Web3 opens up new opportunities for creators. We believe new technologies like blockchain and NFTs can allow creators to build deeper relationships with their fans. Together, they’ll be able to collaborate on new projects and make money in ways not previously possible,” YouTube’s Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan wrote in the post. Potential use cases for Web3 tech on YouTube include fan verifiably and uniquely owning media such as videos, photos, art. YouTube gained over…
The European Union is set to formally consider legislation around a digitized euro in 2023. A senior official from the European Commission announced the move Wednesday, which was first reported by Politico. “Our goal is to table legislation in early 2023,” Mairead McGuinness, EU Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union, told the publication. “A targeted legislative consultation in the coming weeks.” As previously reported, the path to a digital euro is a slow one, with European officials stressing that any prospective launch is years away. Research in this area is being pursued by the European Central…
Chris Sununu, the governor of New Hampshire, has announced a new state commission focused on the study of cryptocurrencies, their impact, and the types of legislation the Granite State may wish to pursue. According to a February 9 executive order, the commission will “[m]ake findings and determinations regarding the role and effectiveness of current state laws and regulations governing cryptocurrencies and other digital assets and the reasons why modifications and improvements to such laws and regulations are necessary,” among other areas. The commission will include stakeholders from the state’s Bank Department, Attorney General’s Office, both chambers of the state legislature as…
Four darknet “carding” websites that accepted crypto payments have reportedly been shut down by Russian officials. The affected platforms are Trump’s Dump, Sky-Fraud forum, UAS Store, and the notorious Ferum Shop. Carding websites offer stolen credit cards for sale that can be used to purchase items such as luxury goods or premium gift cards, which can then be traded for cash usually via person-to-person transactions. These credit cards are stolen from compromised web-based banking platforms and online store platforms. According to a report by Elliptic on Wednesday, the four dark web platforms had made more than $263 million in popular cryptocurrencies from…
The fate of the ability for 96 crypto firms to operate in the UK hangs in the balance, as new data highlights a backlog of anti-money laundering applications that must be dealt with by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in less than two months. More specifically, 27 firms remain in limbo on the temporary register, while 69 “new entrant” applications also hang in the balance. Without approval before a March 31 deadline, the future of these crypto firms’ UK operations — including exchanges, wallets and an array of other businesses — is uncertain. Since January 2020, the FCA has been…
Luxury fashion brand Gucci has bought itself some land on the digital world platform known as The Sandbox. The move will allow the fashion brand to create virtual fashion experiences for consumers, though details on what that experience will entail are not yet public, nor is it public how much the fashion brand invested to obtain the digital land rights. The space is meant to foster conversations about the future of fashion and the metaverse, The Sandbox told Vogue Business, which first reported the news. Gucci will create digital fashion experiences based on Gucci Vault, which houses the brand’s metaverse projects.…