'Degen' season smells like pixelated feet Feetpix.wtf’s newly launched nonfungible token (NFT) collection, “Feetpix” has seemingly taken the NFT community by storm with surging trading volumes, prompting some to suggest the return of “degen” season. Feetpix.wtf’s collection soared ahead of the likes of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) on Jan. 11 with the fifth-highest trading volume recorded on NFT marketplace OpenSea. The project — which released 10,000 Feetpix NFTs — has traded over 825 Ether (ETH)($1,157,000) across nearly 18,000 transactions since its release on Jan. 8. Crypto Twitter is still split on what inspired the surge in foot fetish-NFT trading …

If 2022 was any kind of template for gauging what the crypto market might offer for investors going forward, it proved to be terribly difficult to predict. The space saw a brutal shock to the global crypto market capitalization, which fell just over 60% from $2.2 trillion to about $797 billion year to date. It also saw the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, BTC and ETH, fall by 64% and 67%, respectively, during the same time frame, with the concurrent slide in the alt market too. These price drops, combined with the demise of the FTX exchange, were not …

The creation of smart contracts and Web3 interfaces has led to an entirely new play-to-earn or nonfungible token (NFT) genre of video games. But during the 2021 crypto bull market and subsequent crash of 2022, many of the games in this niche went through incredible ups and downs in terms of player count and transaction volume. Despite this volatility, one Web3 gaming executive who spoke to Cointelegraph says that new innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) will make the genre better than it has ever been. Alex Connelly is the chief technology officer of Immutable, developer of the Gods Unchained digital …

YouTuber Logan Paul has threatened to sue fellow YouTuber and internet detective Coffeezilla for defamation after he accused Paul’s CryptoZoo nonfungible token (NFT) project of being a “scam.” The two have been battling back and forth on both social media and YouTube videos ever since Dec. 17, when Stephen Findeisen — also known as Coffeezilla — launched the first of a three-part video series attacking CryptoZoo and Paul, who was the face of the project. “CryptoZoo was supposed to be a fun blockchain game that can earn you money [...] but millions of dollars of investor money later, things are …

DNP3, a streamer and founder of several crypto projects like The charity-focused crypto CluCoin, The Goobers NFT and the metaverse platform Gridcraft Network has admitted to losing investor funds through gambling. In a tweet, the nonfungible token (NFT) project founder talked about his gambling addiction and issued a public apology. I’m sorry. Read: https://t.co/RKM1wYggnC — DNP3 (@DNPthree) January 3, 2023 The Twitch streamer said that he got "incredibly addicted" to gambling in the last year. Eventually, the Twitch streamer claimed that he lost everything. He wrote: “In addition to my own life savings, I also irresponsibly used investor funds to …

Final Fantasy creator Square Enix is set to double down on blockchain game development despite turbulence in the crypto market, according to a Jan. 1 letter from the company's president, Yosuke Matsuda. The letter, titled “A New Year’s Letter from the President,” aimed to recap the company’s major accomplishments in 2022 and explain its plans for 2023. Out of 15 paragraphs, seven were about blockchain gaming, showing that blockchain gaming is a major focus of the company’s investing strategy going forward. ⚔An introduction to SYMBIOGENESIS ①⚔ Starting from today we'll begin introducing Symbiogenesis, starting from the concept✨ Symbiogenesis is a …

Play-to-earn gaming enabled by blockchain technology has grown exponentially over the few years. Gamers have embraced the opportunity to collect cryptocurrencies or nonfungible tokens ( NFTs ) that have been produced in blockchain-based games. Through the advent of this new technology, players have been able to generate income by selling in-game NFTs or earning cryptocurrency rewards, both of which can be exchanged for fiat cash. Because of this , according to data from Absolute Reports , the estimated value of the GameFi industry will grow to $2.8 billion by 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of 20.4% over the …

As the hype surrounding play-to-earn (P2E) games and platforms began to dwindle in early 2022, Web3 participants began to emphasize the need for games to be more “fun” and less finance-oriented. In the most recent episode of NFT Steez, Alyssa Expósito and Ray Salmond speak with Aron Beierschmitt, the CEO of Laguna Games and founder of Crypto Unicorns, about the sustainability of P2E-focused blockchain games. For Beierschmitt, the evolution from a play-to-earn to a play-and-earn model suggests that there is still experimentation and maturation to be seen for these games. “Nothing has changed about making games,” said Beierschmitt. But with …

In this week’s newsletter, read about investment giant Fidelity planning to enter the nonfungible token (NFT) space and how Italy’s NFT market will grow. Check out how North Korean hackers use phishing websites to target NFT holders and listen to a conversation with Crypto Raiders in the NFT Steez podcast. And, don’t forget this week’s Nifty News featuring Japanese gaming firm Square Enix investing millions in an NFT game developer. Fidelity plans NFT marketplace and financial services in the metaverse On Dec. 21, investment firm Fidelity filed three trademark applications to the United States Patent Trademark Office. The trademark filings …

NFT-friendly Japanese gaming giant Square Enix has invested 7 billion yen ($52.7 million) into game developer Gumi to create “high-quality” mobile games, blockchain games and a Metaverse initiative, among other things. According to a translated of the press release, the partnership will help Gumi tap certain intellectual property from Square Enix, while it has also teased that the duo could be teaming up for a game-NFT-focused marketplace. “We are already considering the establishment of a platform dedicated to blockchain games and an NFT marketplace, etc. Through collaboration between the two companies, we will provide a one-stop service from the development …

After a sell-out launch that pocketed roughly $4.45 million from primary sales, former United States president Donald Trump’s NFT collection is already on a crash course towards earth. Trump rolled out his odd-ball self-themed 45,000 NFT trading card collection on Dec. 16 for $99 a pop. The NFTs were all gobbled up within a couple hours of launch, and within the next two days the floor price shot up to an all-time-high of around 0.83 Ether (ETH), or $1,006 on OpenSea. Since then however, the floor price has been volatile, while some in the community have highlighted that the NFT …

Developers behind popular video games such as Far Cry and Diablo Immortal are making use of blockchain technology to build a new Web3 MMORPG. Independent gaming developer Metaverse Game Studios, which boasts a host of developers that have worked on various AAA titles, has announced a partnership with Web3 development platform ImmutableX to continue building Angelic. The upcoming title is powered by Unreal Engine 5 and is touted as a dark science fiction-themed narrative strategy RPG featuring turn-based combat. A story-driven single player campaign and a free-to-play multiplayer metaverse suggest a broad offering for gamers that are looking for a …