On Tuesday, ConsenSys, the leading Ethereum (ETH) and decentralized protocols software company with product suites such as MetaMask, Infura, and Truffle, announced the close of a $450 million Series D funding round led by ParaFi Capital. Notable new investors included Temasek, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Microsoft, Anthos Capital, Sound Ventures, and C Ventures. The deal more than doubles its valuation since the firm's $200 million Series C raise in November 2021. Proceeds from the round will in part be converted to ETH to rebalance the ratio of ETH to USD-equivalents in ConsenSys' treasury. The firm actively seeks to use its …

According to a recent job posting, Visa is inviting new college graduates to join its 18-month rotational Crypto Development Program. Applicants will alternate between three departments of Visa's current crypto ecosystem: Crypto Product, Crypto Solutions, and Digital Partnership, where they are given training, development, mentoring, networking, and leadership exposure on top of practical experience in the industry. The job listing does not require any specific majors, although those studying the liberal arts, business, computer science, and related fields are preferred. In addition, only applicants who graduated or will graduate from a Bachelor's degree program between Dec. 2021 to Aug. 2022 …

The research branch of Nansen, a popular blockchain data firm, has published a meticulous twelve-page report quantifying the performance of Ethereum-based nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, since the turn of the year, unveiling a number of compelling indications as to the economic and cultural future of the ecosystem. Citing the profound impact of traditional financial indexes such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite, the report contemplates the vast potential for comparable models focusing on NFT's, arguing that both education and adoption could be significantly enhanced through their wide-scale utilization. Last month, Nansen released six NFT …

Within 24 hours of its launch on digital collectibles marketplace Veve, crypto enthusiasts purchased all 54,995 pieces of the Disney Pixar Pals nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, collection. The drop consisted of iconic characters and moments created by Pixar Animation Studios, including Sheriff Woody, Mike Wazowski, Lightning McQueen, The House from Up, and Edna Mode. Users purchased their NFTs from a blind box, meaning that they receive a random collectible as part of the series, and would not know which collectible until after payment. Pixar Pals NFT collection | Source: Pixar/Disney/VeVe The list price for each Pixar NFT was 60 gems …

Web3 is hailed as a technology paradigm that is fueled by the creator economy and is in the future, or rather, the next evolution of the internet. As we draw evolutionary comparisons of the technology that underpinned everything from information consumption to content creation, Web2 contributed an unparalleled economic growth and represented a significant era in human evolution with new ways to work, consumer information and progress in human civilization. So with this enormous success of Web2, why is there a need for Web3? As we rethink the internet, which relies primarily on a few centralized entities that have devices, …

PayPal was a massive innovation in the payments processing industry. The financial brainchild of Peter Thiel, Max Levchin and eventually, Elon Musk aimed far ahead of its time, facilitating instant payments between customers, businesses and more while utilizing the internet. Solana (SOL) Pay is considered by many to be the next innovation in the payments processing arena, facilitating payments while taking nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and Web3 into account. Some are going so far as to call Solana’s new payment protocol the Visa or PayPal of Web3. This post will break down Solana Pay and how it works so you can …

Those who studied history well might remember the city-states of medieval Europe. Back then, caravans of merchants traveled from one city-state to another, bringing luxury goods and news from far-away places. It was this lifestyle that enabled these merchants with freedom of mobility and choice. It is a very similar concept to the one described by Michael Ondaatje in his book The English Patient. The author envisioned complete freedom, without borders or nationalities limiting people in their strive for development and progress. Today, broader access to the financial markets through decentralized finance marks the beginning of the open world. DeFi …

Understanding the valuation matrix There is no rule book on how to assess an NFT valuation. The metrics you use for evaluating private companies or conventional investment vehicles such as shares are simply not applicable to NFTs. Usually, the payment rolled out by the last buyer gives some indication of the value. For NFTs, however, it is hard to guess what the next buyer might pay, depending on their estimates. Most buyers lack the skills to ascertain the value of NFTs logically and base their quotes on guesswork. For sellers too, it is hard to determine what they might end …

Recently, media outlet Rekt.news made striking accusations about Fantom Opera, a layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution, after the foundation’s technical adviser Andre Cronje and senior solutions architect Anton Nell announced they were leaving the crypto space entirely. Almost immediately, concerns from the community arose after Nell tweeted, “There are around ~25 apps and services that we are terminating on 03 April 2022.” In the now-deleted Rekt article, it alleged the following: “Fantom, Solidly, SpookySwap, Abracadabra, Geist: multiple projects all entwined into a system designed to extract maximum value for a small set of insiders who are now steadily exiting the stage.” …

Cryptocurrency mining has been and remains an attractive endeavor not only for fans of alternative financial instruments but also for those serious about investing. When deciding whether to start mining, potential miners keep several well-known factors in mind: equipment and electricity costs, suitable climate and favorable legislation in the country of operation. At least, that was the case until recently. In 2022, the situation changed and became more complicated. A few years ago, it was possible to mine cryptocurrencies by purchasing a graphics processing unit (GPU), reading a guide on how to construct a rig and simply mining coins. Such …

The International Women's Day theme this year is #BreakTheBias, so Cointelegraph spoke to 10 leaders in the blockchain industry about their experiences as women in Web3 and gathered their advice. From discussing barriers to entry to nonfungible tokens and role models, the following comments are from women in the U.S., Latin America, Europe and Asia. When asked what the current barriers to entry that women may face when considering careers in crypto, Dr. Cagla Gul Senkardes, Co-founder of the Istanbul Blockchain Women Association and lecturer at Istanbul Bilgi University, flatly answered "bias." Speaking from a more academic point of view, …

Crypto bear markets are known for their downturns and their liquidations for investors who are trading with leverage. On top of that, decentralized finance, or DeFi, projects can become targeted by hacks or suffer rug pulls, leading to enormous losses for investors of their tokens. Now new software seeks to alert investors in real-time about potential risks to their positions. Users and executives from two such services, HAL and Aldrin, explain. HAL is a Web 3.0 data infrastructure tool allowing companies or traders to track, monitor, and trigger data. HAL recently launched simple API notifications on Avalanche (AVAX) which seeks …