https://epicenter.tv/episodes/525

When it comes to NFTs and blockchain gaming, very few companies can rival with Animoca Brands’ early conviction, investment thesis and time horizon. They understood early on that community building and network effects are the core pillars for a true paradigm shift in gaming. However, culture and narratives transcend the boundaries of gaming, becoming social phenomena. Animoca’s latest undertaking, the Mocaverse, aims to unite communities in a truly open metaverse.

We were joined by Yat Siu, chairman of Animoca Brands, to discuss the importance of digital culture in our modern-day lives and how NFT ownership unlocks community building in the open metaverse.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Yat’s background and Animoca Brands’ interest in NFTs
• Digital culture & narratives
• Animoca Brands’ investment thesis
• Blockchain & NFT adoption by Web2 brands
• Financial inclusion & financial literacy
• Ownership & play-to-earn gaming: East vs. West
• NFT use cases & IP rights
• Interoperability
• Decentralisation & the value of ownership
• Mocaverse
• Long-term vision & the open metaverse

Episode links:

• Yat Siu on Twitter
• Animoca Brands on Twitter
• Sandbox on Twitter
• Axie Infinity on Twitter

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/525

https://unchainedcrypto.com/microstrategy-focused-etf-application-filed-by-yieldmax/

YieldMax, which specializes in generating income for investors by selling call options on a single company or exchange-traded fund (ETF), has filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to start a fund offering exposure to the share price of software firm MicroStrategy (MSTR), the largest corporate holder …

https://unchainedcrypto.com/starknet-foundation-plans-to-distribute-1-8-billion-strk-tokens-soon/

The non-profit behind the layer 2 will distribute tokens to past and future contributors, refund some transaction fees and promote DeFi protocols within the ecosystem.

https://unchainedcrypto.com/should-first-time-bitcoin-investors-buy-now-or-wait-for-the-etf/

As bitcoin’s price rises, first-time bitcoin investors in the US face a quandary — buy now or wait a month to see if a spot bitcoin ETF gets approved first?

https://onthebrink-podcast.com/roundup-12-08-23/

The post Weekly Roundup 12/08/23 (JPM vs crypto, Do Kwon extradited, Nubank) (EP.482) appeared first on On the Brink Podcast.

https://unchainedcrypto.com/ethereum-devs-aim-to-activate-dencun-in-january-2024/

Ethereum developers agreed to set a Goerli fork date to activate Dencun in January 2024, if things keep going as planned.

https://unchainedcrypto.com/former-binance-ceo-cz-ordered-to-remain-in-the-us-until-february-sentencing/

A District Judge has granted the government’s motion to keep former Binance CEO Chanpeng Zhao in the U.S. until his sentencing date next year.

https://unchainedcrypto.com/blockchain-infrastructure-provider-layerzero-labs-will-have-token-in-2024/

LayerZero Labs will have a token in the first half of 2024, the provider of blockchain infrastructure said in a Thursday post on X (formerly Twitter). In the post, Vancouver, Canada-based LayerZero noted that its community had been speculating about the creation of a token for months. “We’ve heard the …

https://unchainedcrypto.com/chainlink-community-staking-pool-full-drawing-more-than-620m/

With nearly 41 million LINK tokens, the smart contract for Chainlink’s v0.2 community staking pool has become the top holder of LINK, according to blockchain analytics firm Nansen.

https://unchainedcrypto.com/jito-solana-based-liquid-staking-protocol-airdrops-governance-token/

The freshly debuted token has a market cap of $242 million and enables token holders to vote on proposals on staking pool fees, treasury management and contributions for ongoing development.

https://unchainedcrypto.com/montenegro-intends-to-extradite-do-kwon-to-the-u-s-wsj/

The fallen founder of Terraform Labs faces multiple criminal charges in the U.S.

https://unchainedcrypto.com/9-top-crypto-trends-to-watch-for-in-2024-according-to-a16z/

The noted Silicon Valley investment firm highlighted the collision of AI and blockchains, as well as the continued trend of global brands embracing NFTs.

https://unchainedcrypto.com/bitcoin-core-v26-0-goes-live-includes-measures-to-reduce-transaction-tampering/

A new upgrade to the Bitcoin Core software is now live, with the inclusion of a new P2P protocol version that would reduce the risks of eclipse attacks on miners.

https://unchainedcrypto.com/binance-ceo-czs-guilty-plea-accepted-by-us-court/

A federal judge has accepted Changpeng Zhao’s guilty plea to one count of Bank Secrecy Act violations.

https://unchainedcrypto.com/dogecoin-oldest-meme-fueled-crypto-turns-10-years-old/

“My biggest takeaway is that people are crazy,” says Billy Markus, the co-creator of the “sh*tcoin” that has a $14 billion market cap.

https://unchainedcrypto.com/sam-altmans-worldcoin-launches-community-grants-program/

The Worldcoin Foundation, the non-profit behind the biometric digital identification platform Worldcoin, launched of Wave0 Wave0, a community grants program that will initially invest two million Worldcoins (WLD) (about $5 million at the token’s current price) into ecosystem projects based outside the U.S., the organization announced Wednesday.  Worldcoin was co-founded …

https://unchainedcrypto.com/ethereum-virtual-machine-chain-inscriptions-gain-traction-dominating-polygon-transactions/

While Bitcoin inscriptions continue to gain headlines and spur debates, inscriptions on Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains have gained traction in the past month, particularly on the Polygon network, according to a X thread from Hildobby, a data analyst at crypto-native venture capital firm Dragonfly. Gas fees spent on inscriptions …

https://unchainedcrypto.com/crypto-industry-loses-another-champion-in-congress-as-mchenry-announces-plans-to-leave/

The chair of the Financial Services Committee will still serve another year, but key crypto legislation seems set to falter.

https://onthebrink-podcast.com/chainalysis-crypto-adoption/

The post Kim Grauer (Chainalysis) on the Geography of Crypto Adoption (EP. 481) appeared first on On the Brink Podcast.

https://unchainedcrypto.com/bitcoin-mempool-reaches-record-levels-of-congestion/

The congestion on the Bitcoin network is currently at the highest level it’s been since the 2017 bull run.

https://unchainedcrypto.com/coinbase-wallet-unveils-crypto-transfer-feature-via-whatsapp-tiktok-links/

Coinbase Wallet users can now send funds through any platform that they can share a link through, with no fees for sending USDC.

https://unchainedcrypto.com/bitcoin-ordinals-related-token-ordi-passes-1-billion-in-market-value/

The memecoin, which stems from the protocol that essentially brought NFTs to Bitcoin, has joined the BTC rally.

https://unchainedcrypto.com/nft-trading-activity-on-ethereum-surges-reaching-a-six-month-high/

New data shows NFTs experiencing a resurgence in trading volume following a rough year.

https://unchainedcrypto.com/ftx-linked-wallet-unstakes-90-million-solana-sends-it-to-coinbase/

On-chain data shows that a wallet address linked to FTX has been unstaking millions of dollars-worth of SOL and transferring it to crypto exchange Coinbase.

https://unchainedcrypto.com/bitcoin-funds-saw-133-million-inflows-last-week/

Bitcoin led the inflows into digital asset investment products last week, followed by Ethereum and blockchain equities.

https://unchainedcrypto.com/why-has-bitcoin-rallied-more-than-ether-in-2023/

Bitcoin and ether once rose and fell in near lockstep, but no more. Though the prices of the two largest cryptocurrencies by market value have both climbed in 2023, they have taken somewhat different paths, with BTC skyrocketing 145% year-to-date and ether jumping a still strong but lesser 85% On …

https://onthebrink-podcast.com/theta/

The post Ruud Smets and Marc de Kloe (Theta Capital) on Blockchain Fund of Funds (EP.480) appeared first on On the Brink Podcast.

https://unchainedcrypto.com/bitcoin-surges-past-40000-for-first-time-since-april-2022/

Bitcoin breached the $40,000 mark for the first time in 18 months following dovish comments from the Federal Reserve and continued optimism about a potential spot Bitcoin ETF approval in January 2024.

https://unchainedcrypto.com/arbitrum-dao-passes-23m-backfund-proposal/

The Arbitrum community passed a proposal to disburse millions of extra dollars towards projects that have been approved but not funded by its STIP program.

https://unchainedcrypto.com/signs-point-increasingly-to-january-approval-of-spot-bitcoin-etf-applications/

Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart expects the SEC to approve the projects en masse between January 8 and 10.