OpenSea buys NFT market aggregator Gem In a Monday Twitter post, OpenSea announced it had acquired nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace aggregator Gem for an undisclosed price. A blog post by OpenSea chief executive officer Devin Finzer stated that the company made this move to improve the experience of its more seasoned “pro” users. Gem lets traders buy NFTs across various collections and multiple marketplaces in a single transaction that saves on gas fees. For now, OpenSea is adding popular Gem features such as its collection floor price sweeping tool and rarity-based rankings to its platform. Gem will continue operating independently …

The Market Report with Cointelegraph is live right now. On this week’s show, Cointelegraph’s resident experts discuss the top three trending altcoins you might want to consider looking at in 2022. But first, market expert Marcel Pechman carefully examines the Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) markets. Are the current market conditions bullish or bearish? What is the outlook for the next few months? Pechman is here to break it down. Next up: the main event. Join Cointelegraph analysts Benton Yaun, Jordan Finneseth and Sam Bourgi as each of them makes his case for what he thinks is the top trending …

What is the Metaverse? The Metaverse is a term coined by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash to describe a future virtual reality-based online world. Some have gone as far as pronouncing Stephenson’s novel a prediction of the future. Before you agree that it’s some mystical peek into the future and invoke the rules of time travel, let’s first investigate what the Metaverse is through the lens of something much more accessible: Minecraft. But, more on this later. Unlike the internet or even virtual reality as we know it today, the Metaverse would be a fully …

Web3 projects are the talk of the current digital scene, with thousands of new companies coming to life every day in an attempt to ride out this global wave with their own product releases. Unfortunately, reality has shown most of these offerings do not provide any tangible value to their player or user bases. Instead, they rely on superficial hype of cryptocurrencies, NFTs and related buzzwords, a seemingly unnatural method to pursue user growth. At present, these efforts result in short-term successes and not sustainable growth. To ensure projects are built on foundations that enable long-term value, startups are encouraged …

The appeal of blockchain-based gaming is clear: participate in activities you might have already been doing and make some money at the same time in a realm constructed by tokenized and tradable items. While attractive in theory, the reality is that these models cater to those with a familiarity with nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and surrounding technologies. Consider that most of these games present a steep learning curve with some knowledge, costs and other setup required before a player can participate in the ecosystem. Emerging as a low barrier to entry, Bezoge, the first crypto game for non-crypto people, presents Legends …

Stablecoin minting and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have been the latest trending topics in the cryptocurrency market and protocols like Terra (LUNA) have led the discussion on why stablecoins should be backed by assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Avalanche (AVAX). One project that appears to be following Terra's lead is Origin Protocol (OGN), a platform focused on NFTs and decentralized finance. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that over the past month, the price of OGN has rallied 143% from a low of $0.25 on March 10 to a daily high of $0.725 on April 19. Three reasons for …

Market tracker DappRadar and the Blockchain Game Alliance, or BGA, published the Blockchain Games Report for Q1 2022 on Wednesday. After citing that $720 million was invested into blockchain games and infrastructures in February in a previous report, the latest number for total Q1 investment is $2.5 billion. Venture capitalists and other investors raised $4 billion in 2021. The biggest deals listed in the report include Animoca Brands raising $360 million, bringing its valuation to $5 billion and becoming a leading Web3 brand. Sequoia Capital led a $450 million investment in Polygon (MATIC), while Yuga Labs, the studio behind Bored …

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have come a long way in a relatively short period of time. In 2017, the NFT project CryptoKitties made headlines as the largest decentralized application on the Ethereum network. While CryptoKitties accounted for a notable portion of Ethereum transaction volume in 2017, these NFTs mainly served as digital collectibles geared toward the crypto community. It wasn’t until March 2021 when NFT artwork started gaining traction due to the financial potential behind these creations. This was demonstrated when digital artist Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, sold his NFT piece titled “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days,” which raised …

South Korean automobile manufacturer Hyundai announced on Monday that it has partnered with the “Meta Kongz” nonfungible token (NFT) project to create a limited collection of 30 NFTs launching sometime in May 2022. Hyundai also created a new Twitter handle, @Hyundai_NFT, for its NFT-related communications and posted a video showing an animated Meta Kong riding through space in a 1975 Hyundai PONY. Hyundai x Meta Kongz introduces Hyundai Metamobility universe. Check out this aweeeesome creature’s breathtaking adventure with Hyundai PONY.@Hyundai_Global @meta_kongz pic.twitter.com/w0iLPHxe5d — Hyundai_NFT (@Hyundai_NFT) April 17, 2022 Included in the announcement was a teaser for a further “Shooting Star …

Blockchain-based play-to-earn (P2E) games stole the show in 2021, exploding from a fringe hobby into a major part of the decentralized space. They even helped people in developing economies put food on the table, as these games’ economic models do not shun things like farming in-game currency and items to re-sell to other players, which many non-blockchain massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) frown on, to say the least. The mainstream gaming industry was taking notes as the P2E rocketship shot for the moon — and its flight has left the industry bitterly splintered. On the one hand, top executives from …

Animoca Brands, the parent company of The Sandbox, added Eden Games to its portfolio on Tuesday. Eden Games is a publisher of popular racing games including the Gear.Club and Test Drive series. Animoca hopes this acquisition will enhance its REVV Motorsport ecosystem of blockchain-based racing games on Polygon. On Wednesday, Animoca announced it is acquiring Darewise Entertainment, a Paris-based game studio founded by former Ubisoft executives and other AAA games industry veterans. Darewise is currently developing a new play-to-earn (P2E) massively multiplayer online role-playing game, or MMORPG, called Life Beyond. Animoca Brands agreed to a 70% stake in Darewise Entertainment, …

Video games have evolved significantly since their initial release in the 1970s. Following the Pong days, the world experienced unprecedented internet growth in the 2000s. In this time period, gaming developers were introduced to new business models, such as free-to-play, a staple of Web 2.0. With a free-to-play model, users were given access to their favorite games for free, with in-game assets costing money. Even for those who don't consider themselves gamers, this evolution presented the world with a new reality of continuous revenue for video game companies and lower barriers to entry for players. The major drawback with free-to-play …