ProShares, the first company in the United States to launch a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF), is diving into metaverse as it now plans to launch a new metaverse-focused ETF. ProShares on Tuesday filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an ETF focused on metaverse, called the ProShares Metaverse Theme ETF. Subject to approval by the SEC, the proposed ETF will track the performance of the Solactive Metaverse Theme Index (SOMETAV), consisting of firms providing or using metaverse-related technologies, including data processing and metaverse devices, the ETF prospectus reads. The index includes U.S. companies that are listed …

Catch up on nonfungible token (NFT)-related news this week as Cointelegraph rounds up the stories you don't want to miss. Bored Apes gets cast in an TV series The Red Ape Family (TRAF) is a new animated comedy series centered on Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs. Episodes are sold as individual NFTs and run between 5 to 10 minutes long. The plot is about a family of Bored Apes that escape Earth to live on Mars. OpenSea is already reselling Episode 1 and the yet-to-be-released Episode 2 is available to mint. One Episode 1 token holder received a Bored …

After celebrating its 20th anniversary in January, the free Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia continues making history by selling its first nonfungible token (NFT) via auction giant Christie’s. On Dec. 15, Christie’s completed an auction of two Wikipedia-related objects directly from Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales. Titled The Birth of Wikipedia, the online sale included two lots, an NFT of Wikipedia’s first edit, which sold for $750,000, and a Strawberry iMac used by Wales to create Wikipedia, sold for $187,500. The NFT lot features the first message posted on Wikipedia by the site’s co-founder back in 2001, marking a unique moment in the …

As popular music streaming services like Spotify cut much of musicians’ revenues, new technologies like nonfungible tokens (NFTs) are likely to help artists grab back their fair share, Saxo Bank predicted. According to one of Saxo Bank’s Outrageous Predictions 2022: Revolution, music creators would benefit from NFT-based streaming platforms as they allow distributing music directly to listeners without centralized middlemen charging a fee. Saxo Bank’s cryptocurrency analyst Mads Eberhardt argued that mainstream music streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music take a substantial cut, which together with the cut paid to labels is some 75% or more of the total …

Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook said he owns some crypto as "part of a diversified portfolio," but is not planning for the tech company to follow Tesla’s example by investing in Bitcoin or other tokens. Speaking at the New York Times’ DealBook Online Summit on Nov. 9, Cook said he would not use the company’s roughly $200 billion in cash on hand to invest in cryptocurrencies. He also did not intend to accept crypto as a means of a payment for Apple products “in the immediate future.” “It’s not something we have immediate plans to do,” said Cook. “I …

Global payment giant PayPal is going after cryptocurrency wallet TokenPocket over an alleged trademark infringement. Apple temporarily removed the TokenPocket wallet from the App Store, the company announced Nov. 4. According to the firm, the reason for removal was a complaint from PayPal concerning an alleged trademark issue. TokenPocket said that they received communications from PayPal over the dispute with their company’s trademark in a letter earlier this year. TokenPocket stressed that they are willing to resolve in a friendly way, and PayPal “has no more replies to this.” “We attach great importance to this and dispatched professionals to conduct …

Cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Crypto.com are now two of the most downloaded apps for the U.S. Apple App Store, topping the charts at first and third place, respectively. According to the Top Charts list on the Apple App Store, Coinbase has regained its position as the most popular app in the United States ahead of TikTok. However, Crypto.com’s app has surged in number of downloads today to jump ahead of both YouTube and Instagram, moving from 5th to 3rd position in a matter of hours. Robinhood’s app, which has previously held positions in the top ten, sits at #48 under …

Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) historical data make selecting the right Apple iPhone 13 model quite easy for crypto enthusiasts. Apple unveiled four different smartphone models on Tuesday, the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini, with a new camera layout, as well as the Super Retina XDR display-bearing iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, each with several storage options. With so many different models available in a wide price range, it becomes hard for customers to pick a specific model as a replacement for their current gadget. For crypto enthusiasts, though, historical market data on top cryptocurrencies makes …

The Apple App Store reportedly blocked a Gnosis Safe crypto wallet app update due to it hosting nonfungible tokens (NFT) that weren’t purchased inside the app. Lukas Schor, a product developer at Ethereum-based crypto wallet provider Gnosis Safe, revealed the firm had run into trouble when it submitted an updated version of its app to the IOS app store earlier this month. Schor noted on Tuesday that despite the update having nothing to do with NFTs, the App Store flagged a sample image that displayed an NFT in the app’s description section, even though it had been up for “many …

Crypto exchange Coinbase announced on Thursday that users can now use Apple Pay to purchase crypto assets on its platform, with Google Pay integration to follow. “Today, we’re introducing new and seamless ways to enable crypto buys with linked debit cards to Apple Pay and Google Pay, and instant cashouts up to $100,000 per transaction available 24/7,” said a Coinbase blog post on Thursday. “If you already have a Visa or Mastercard debit card linked in your Apple Wallet, Apple Pay will automatically appear as a payment method when you’re buying crypto with Coinbase on an Apple Pay-supported iOS device …

A crypto entrepreneur is planning to gauge whether interest in a collectible from deceased Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs is directed more towards the digital space or the physical world. In an announcement today, Winthorpe Ventures’ Olly Joshi said software company Snoofa would be auctioning off a 1973 job application from Jobs before he joined video game company Atari as a technician. At the same time, digital marketplace Rarible will be auctioning a tokenized version of the paperwork to test which version — a nonfungible token, NFT, or the real thing — will attract more bidders, higher bids, and …

The estimated windfall Apple got from its App Store in 2020 is $67 billion. That’s up from $50 billion in 2019, a 28% increase. Even as the company has lowered its commissions for smaller developers, the App Store remains a major component of Apple’s bottom-line profits. And it’s not just Apple taking a cut of developer revenue: On Android, the world’s most popular mobile operating system, the Google Play Store netted $38.6 billion in 2020. That’s over $105 billion in revenue from the top two app stores combined. It’s no wonder that regulators in many countries are closely considering whether …