BTC

When someone says "the metaverse," what do they mean? At the moment, the observable metaverse is a continuum that spans experiences from virtual reality (VR) through mixed reality (MR) to augmented reality (AR). The experiences are different, but some of the most successful metaverse projects share many common creative and technological attributes. What are they? To help figure it out, we've been developing a framework we call the Standard Model of the Metaverse. Continue Reading →

A nearly-completed text of MiCA (The European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets) regulations has leaked, and it is going to be brutal. How brutal is yet unknown, but lawmakers seem to be happy with their work. Continue Reading →

Monday, the SEC filed a federal lawsuit against crypto influencer Ian Balina for his failure to register a cryptocurrency as a security before launching a 2018 initial coin offering (ICO). Not an unusual lawsuit; the SEC is in the practice of suing purveyors of ICOs it believes fall under its jurisdiction. However... Continue Reading →

President Biden’s March 9 Executive Order (EO) on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets outlined the first whole-of-government approach to addressing the risks and harnessing the potential benefits of digital assets and their underlying technology. Continue Reading →

Russia is advancing its crypto strategy to circumvent Western sanctions. Unable to access dollars or euros, the country may turn to stablecoins to make payments with "friendly countries," according to Russian state news agency Tass. Continue Reading →

This week has, unintentionally, focused on celebrities and NFTs. First, Kim and Kylie hating on Insta, then the lawsuit against Kim and dozens of other celebs for shilling EMAX. Today (because clearly I'm a trendsetter), Bloomberg has a story about The Disastrous Record of Celebrity Crypto Endorsements. Continue Reading →

On July 21, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced "insider trading charges against a former Coinbase product manager, his brother, and his friend for perpetrating a scheme to trade ahead of multiple announcements regarding certain crypto assets that would be made available for trading on the Coinbase platform." Continue Reading →

As we enter another crypto winter, it has become de rigueur for tech types to go on record espousing that Web3 is nonsense, that blockchain is a terrible technology, and that cryptocurrencies (all of them) are Ponzi schemes. There is seemingly no end to the tweets and blog posts from highly credentialed people about tulips and "The Emperor's New Clothes" and greater fool theory. It's as if the technocrats want to make sure that they know that you know that they know that all things Web3 are technologically inferior to all things Web2. Are they right? Continue Reading →

In World of Warcraft, a soulbound item, once picked up, cannot be transferred or sold to another player. It is this idea of “immutable, permanent binding” that inspired Ethereum’s creator, Vitalik Buterin, to ask a question: What if NFTs could be soulbound? Continue Reading →

Greetings from NYC and happy Summer Solstice (to those who celebrate). NFT.NYC is in town this week, and to say that a "hard dose of reality" has hit the faithful would be to mischaracterize the vibe. People in the business know that the current market conditions are universal. They know that the underlying technology and associated business models are evolving, and they also know that – most importantly – the shakeout, while painful, is a required growing pain. Continue Reading →