The product plugs into the Unreal Engine, a 3D software tool helping creators build out generative art NFT collections.
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Author: Cam Thompson
The no-code NFT-to-product toolset allows creatives to add utility and value to their tokens.
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Author: Brandy Betz
In an effort “to strengthen the quality” of new non-fungible token (NFT) projects, the Solana Foundation is inviting aspiring creators to pitch the company their idea for profile-picture collections.
The competition, dubbed the “NFT Showdown,” is meant to encourage artists to devise comprehensive business plans aimed at creating collections that offer “real-world utility” for the fashion, entertainment and gaming industries, among others.
“The NFT Showdown is designed to encourage a shift in the way NFT brands design their business plans prior to launching,” Austin Federa, Solana Foundation’s head of strategy, said in a statement. “Projects should consider what it will take to achieve long term success as an NFT brand.”
While Ethereum has long dominated the NFT space as the blockchain of choice for top collections, rival chains like Solana have been gaining ground.
With a submission window slated for early June, the 10 contest winners will be awarded with direct support from Solana. This will primarily include extensive guidance from Solana and industry experts on how to achieve “long-term success,” the foundation said in a statement.
Magic Eden, an NFT marketplace known partly for handling trading for Solana-based collections, said it fully supports the competition. “For the last 18 months, we have supported Solana creators entering the space and collaborated with hundreds of projects who have sold out on Magic Eden,” said Tiffany Huang, head of marketing at the NFT marketplace. “This initiative is about getting new faces and ideas into the ecosystem, and we’re excited to see how we can play our role to expand the ecosystem.”
© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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Author: RT Watson
Bitblox Games will exclusively build crypto games on the Hxro Network, a Solana-based distributed liquidity layer for betting applications.
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Author: Sage D. Young
The platform will offer liquidity pools for U.S. Treasury bills, later this year.
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Author: Brandy Betz
Cryptocurrency prices inched higher over the past day following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate increase, along with signs the hiking cycle might be coming to a close and continued pressure on U.S. banks.
Bitcoin was trading at $29,179 by 8:20 a.m. ET, up 2% over the past day, according to Binance data via TradingView. Ether gained 2.4% in the same period, trading above $1,900.
Crypto prices were buoyed overnight following the Fed’s latest increase, while markets have also benefited from increased sentiment — but there are still concerns over U.S. banks.
“Banking relief after JP Morgan swallowed the First Republic Bank on Monday remained short-lived, SPDR’s U.S. regional bank ETF was down by more than 6%,” Swissquote’s daily market update noted.
PacWest is the latest U.S. bank to come under pressure. Shares plunged over 50% after the bank said it was in talks with potential partners.
Matrixport noted in a report these banking issues continuously require “liquidity injections and guarantees from the government for any acquiring party.”
Crypto tailwinds
The current earnings season saw U.S. companies resume stock buybacks. Matrixport’s Head of Research Markus Thielen noted there are “expectations for $1 trillion in buybacks this year,” which “will continue to be a general tailwind for stocks and risk assets.”
Spot trading volume has declined recently, with bitcoin falling sharply last month after crypto exchange Binance ended its zero-fee program. However, “the path higher sees only limited resistance,” Thielen said.
“Transactions on the Bitcoin network have reached new all-time highs as the number of active addresses on the Bitcoin network has remained strong, near 1 million addresses,” he wrote. This has largely been due to an emergence of tokens on Bitcoin that are being heavily traded and interacted with.
Finally, Matrixport noted trading in memecoins shows sentiment returning to the crypto market. Despite most of these memecoins being “small and insignificant,” their trading activity shows a change in sentiment, Thielen noted.
“It’s tough to be bearish when Bitcoin breaks higher, buybacks support stocks, the Fed appears on hold, Bitcoin transaction data is positive, and the sentiment is turning more (irresponsibly) positive,” the report concluded.
© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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Author: Adam Morgan McCarthy
Coinbase last week argued that the SEC is providing insufficient regulatory guidance for U.S. companies operating in the crypto sector.
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Author: Jamie Crawley
Legacy and estate planning is crucial for cryptocurrency holders because, unlike traditional assets, cryptocurrencies are not regulated by centralized authorities, making it difficult for heirs to access them after the owner’s death. Proper planning can ensure that digital assets are successfully transferred to loved ones and beneficiaries.
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Author: Adam Blumberg
Securitize, a blockchain firm that specializes in tokenizing real-world assets, launched a new feeder fund that offers tokenized exposure on Polygon to a private credit fund from asset manager Hamilton Lane.
The new tokenized fund, which will feed into Hamilton Lane’s Senior Credit Opportunities Fund, aims to broaden access to senior private credit that’s typically been a stable strategy though volatile markets, Securitize said in a statement.
Dubbed SCOPE, the Hamilton Lane fund targets floating-rate, senior secured loans and generally invests in privately-held assets in sectors including health care, information technology and business services. The feeder fund is the second in a series of three Hamilton Lane being made available on the Securitize platform.
“Many recent technology and blockchain innovations are solutions in search of problems,” Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo said. “Securitize is solving a major problem faced by investors, particularly in private markets: finding liquidity when they need it.”
Securitize on Polygon
Smart contracts built on blockchain networks can speed up manual processes, including share redemption, eliminate intermediaries and reduce unnecessary fees, he added.
Investors in the feeder fund can redeem shares on demand at the previous quarter’s Net Asset Value per share through a fully digital process and no transaction fees from Securitize.
The feeder fund is available to qualified purchasers with at least $5 million in invested assets, and the minimum investment has been reduced from $2 million to $10,000.
© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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Author: Nathan Crooks
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has deleted its once-proposed definition of “digital assets” from its final hedge fund reporting rules.
“We proposed adding ‘digital assets’ as a new term to the Form PF Glossary of Terms. The Commission and staff are continuing to consider this term and are not adopting ‘digital assets’ as part of this rule at this time,” the SEC said Wednesday in its final Form PF rules document.
Form PF (private fund) rules pertain to investment advisers who manage private funds with assets over a certain threshold. Under these rules, investment advisers must regularly provide detailed information about their funds to the SEC, including the types of assets held, leverage employed and the counterparty credit risk of each fund. The aim of the rules is to help the SEC monitor potential risks to the financial system posed by large private funds.
The SEC had initially included the proposed definition of digital assets in its draft hedge fund reporting rules in August last year but has now stepped back. The definition was: “An asset that is issued and/or transferred using distributed ledger or blockchain technology (‘distributed ledger technology’), including, but not limited to, so-called ‘virtual currencies,’ ‘coins,’ and ‘tokens.'”
SEC removes ‘digital assets’ definition from hedge fund rules
If the definition of digital assets had been included, it would have marked the SEC’s initial official statement of what digital assets actually entail. Notably, last month, the SEC said it would revisit its definition of an “exchange” to possibly include decentralized finance (DeFi).
“Make no mistake: many crypto trading platforms already come under the current definition of an exchange and thus have an existing duty to comply with the securities laws,” SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said at the time. “Yet these platforms are acting as if they have a choice to comply with our laws. They don’t.”
The SEC, under Gensler’s leadership, has been actively pursuing legal action against crypto companies. The agency filed a lawsuit against Bittrex last month, alleging it was operating as an “unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency.” In March, the SEC issued Coinbase a Wells Notice regarding aspects of its exchange, staking service Coinbase Earn and Coinbase Wallet.
Coinbase then sued the SEC in order to force the agency to respond to a petition that the company filed demanding the SEC publish specific rules for digital assets.
© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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Author: Yogita Khatri
