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BNB Chain Partners up With Google Cloud To Elevate Web3 Developments

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Google and Binance (BNB chain) are collaborating. To make cloud computing services more accessible to companies, Google Cloud and Binance’s BNB Chain have teamed up.

Cooperation between BNB Chain and Google Cloud has been established to support the growth of Web3 and blockchain firms, according to a press statement released on September 14.

In particular, the collaboration would see Binance’s BNB Chain grant paid access to the Google for Startups Cloud Program to some of its backed blockchain companies.

BNB Chain and Google to provide two years of cloud computing

This program offers Google’s cloud computing service two years’ worth of credits. As part of the cooperation, Google Cloud will pay access costs as well as offer mentorship and improved technical assistance to projects on BNB Chain.

Projects may also use on-demand data analysis and encryption services by using Google Cloud.

Projects on BNB Chain “may now build on Google Cloud’s open, scalable, developer-friendly, secure, and sustainable cloud infrastructure,” according to the statement. The sustainability pledge stems from Google Cloud’s goal to have all of its data centers run fully on carbon-free electricity by the year 2030.

“Google Cloud is a very good Web2 player and has really done a lot of Web3 stuff. It’s important for us to just work with big players who have big visions, and we share the same DNA and same visions.”

Gwendolyn Regina, investment director of Binance Chain.

According to a press release, projects built on the BNB Chain may now utilize Google Cloud infrastructure, including the capacity to study on-chain data and encrypt data using Google Cloud. An accelerator program will also grant 150 businesses “expedited access” to Google Cloud’s startup assistance program.

This most recent partnership with Binance Chain comes in the wake of Google’s quickening entry into the Web3 space. Google Cloud introduced its own dedicated Digital Assets Team earlier this year and expanded its crypto mining malware threat detection service.

Cryptocurrency universe welcomes the OG Mean Girls through Web3

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The cryptocurrency community has been very receptive to outsiders. It feels even more exciting for crypto aficionados with so many fresh entrants into the crypto-verse. Mean Girls, the cult film of teen girls in the 1990s, is about to walk the ramp as crypto-collectibles through Web3.

Mean Girls (2004), an American teen film, could soon make a Web3 comeback as Paramount Pictures has revealed ambitions to expand the brand into “crypto-collectibles” in trademark filings.
The early 2000s teen comedy featuring former Disney actress Lindsay Lohan was the subject of two trademark applications on 7 September 2022, according to tweets from registered trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis.

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Source: Twitter

The trademark applications include “downloadable virtual products” such as cryptocurrency-collectibles and NFTs as well as “downloadable multimedia files comprising artwork” that are authenticated by nonfungible tokens (NFTs). The application also addresses the transmission and use of “application tokens,” NFTs, and cryptographic valuables.
The 2004 teen comedy movie Mean Girls has a sizable cult following and was the inspiration for innumerable memes and reaction GIFs created by fans. It’s regarded as one of the most quotable films of all time, and it even inspired the annual celebration of Mean Girls Day on 3 October 2022.

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Source: Twitter

Only one day prior, media powerhouse Viacom International submitted a trademark application of a similar nature with the goal of extending the reach of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brand into the online space.
A rising number of businesses are registering their trademarks for the Metaverse, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and cryptocurrency-collectibles.

Cryptocurrency, NFTs, and Metaverse trademark applications on rise

The United States Patent and Trademark Office received more than 3,600 trademark applications for cryptocurrency and services linked to cryptocurrencies as of August 31 than it did in all of 2021, according to statistics compiled by intellectual property lawyer Mike Kondoudis on Tuesday. In addition, Kondoudis noted that while the number of trademark applications pertaining to the Metaverse or Web3 had more than doubled from 1,866 in 2021 to 4,150 as of August 2022, the number of NFT applications had increased even further, rising to more than 5,800 in 2022 from 2,087 in 2021.

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Source: Twitter

High-profile companies like Nike, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Adidas, and Tiffany & Co. have already made a combined $260 million from sales of NFTs, according to data from Dune Analytics, making the use of NFTs a very lucrative and profitable addition for current firms wishing to expand into Web 3.

Starbucks and Polygon Collaborate to Ramp up Its Web3 Experience

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Starbucks is paving the path for its web3 experience with Polygon. Web3 is moving toward widespread acceptance. As industry titans from a variety of industries endeavor to try to establish themselves in the web3 market, recent years have shown to be vital.

Enterprises in the automotive industry, technological companies, fast food joints, and coffee shops are beginning to adopt web3. Such an effort has opened the door for Starbucks to engage in a new partnership.

Polygon to assist in expanding “Starbucks Odyssey”

The international coffee chain announces a new collaboration with Polygon. Both businesses published the announcement on their websites. According to the release, both businesses will collaborate closely to improve the “Starbucks Odyssey” web3 experience.

The Odyssey will give its partners and Rewards members in the US the chance to buy and earn digital collectibles. Customers will be able to acquire digital collectibles in NFTs through the new web3 experience, which will provide consumers with additional advantages and coffee-related experiences.

In May, the coffee giant dropped its first indications about the upcoming web3 effort. Later this year, the new web3 experience is expected to go live. Customers can now sign up for the waitlist to try the new Odyssey from the coffee chain first.

The new Odyssey experience allows users to sign up for a variety of tasks, games, and challenges. Users will obtain digital collectible prizes in the form of NFTs after successfully completing each activity.

“By integrating into the Starbucks Rewards ecosystem and grounding the experience in coffee, connection, and community, we are entering the Web3 space differently than any other brand, while deepening our members’ connection to Starbucks. Our vision is to create a place where our digital community can come together over coffee, engage in immersive experiences, and celebrate the heritage and future of Starbucks.”

Brady Brewer, executive vice president 

Related Article: Bakkt Integrates Direct Payment Option with Starbucks

Ripple’s New Partnership Will Bolster Web3 Development in Japan

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A new partnership with Ripple will aid in bolstering web3 development. “Web3 Design Lab,” a new service launched by btrax Inc., is intended to assist Japanese businesses in accelerating the development of their Web3 businesses for the international market.

Takahito Iguchi, a seasoned businessman and the CEO of Audio Metaverse, has been chosen as the service’s sole advisor.

To build Web3 Design Lab alongside the XRP Ledger (XRPL), btrax will collaborate with Ripple, the market leader in enterprise blockchain and cryptocurrency solutions, in conjunction with the launch.

“For nearly 10 years, Ripple has been a robust technical partner to enterprises in search of crypto and blockchain solutions to help accelerate their business, while the XRPL has served as the best-in-class blockchain for settlement of tokenized assets at scale,” said Emi Yoshikawa, VP of Strategy and Operations.

Ripple has been a helping hand in Japan

Japan’s market has long been a stronghold for ripple. To enhance cross-border payments to the Philippines, it teamed up with SBI Remit, the biggest money transfer company in the nation, last year.

Before choosing to remain in San Francisco, XRP thought of moving its headquarters base to Japan. Despite the legal clampdown in the US, the company keeps expanding globally.

As a design partner and provider of design services utilizing XRPs blockchain and cryptocurrency solutions, Web3 Design Lab supports the growth of Japanese businesses.

By encouraging a proper understanding of Web3, which is quickly gaining attention globally and is anticipated to grow further in the future, btrax hopes to help revitalize the global business of Japanese companies.

On August 18, Ripple and Travelex, a bank in Latin America, announced a new partnership to increase instant cross-border crypto payments in Brazil using its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service. Ripple has been a helping aid in cross-border payments.

Polkadot ups its game with Web3: Here comes LayerZero

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A cross-chain messaging mechanism called LayerZero has purportedly been implemented into the Polkadot parachain Moonbeam, according to a recent report. The network wants to maintain Web3 interoperability with this.

The Web3 world has been encroaching on the entire planet. The majority of people think it’s the present and the future, thus many businesses have started launching efforts that are in line with that belief. The interoperability of Web3 blockchains has been a goal of a wide range of cryptocurrency initiatives. The Polkadot [DOT] network has been pursuing the same goal and has recently increased its visibility on Web3.

It should be remembered that the network has tried launching an internal messaging service before. It should be recalled that Polkadot released the XCM cross-chain communications protocol back in May of this year. The messaging system was designed to encourage communication between smart contracts and parachains.

“Heterogeneous blockchains that are connected to Polkadot” is what parachains are. One of them just so happens to be moonbeam. It has LayerZero incorporated, but it has also been using the XCM for a while.

LayerZero for more than simply Polkadot’s blockchain

LayerZero’s integration on Moonbeam is anticipated to improve messaging services not just for Polkadot but also for other chains. The integration is anticipated to result in more comprehensive messaging services through Ethereum, BNB, Polygon, and other platforms.

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Derek Yoo, CEO of Purestake

When discussing how Moonbeam would become a “centre of activity,” Derek Yoo, CEO of Purestake, Moonbeam’s parent business, remarked,

“These messaging systems and this ability to network means your app is going to become quite prevalent [across chains].”

In addition, it appears that Polkadot wants to become a Web3 leader. The previous few months have seen a lot of interest in cross-chain messaging. The Open Chat Alliance was recently created by Solana-based projects.

Solana is an open-source blockchain that supports decentralized applications, smart contracts, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) (dApps). The SOL token, a native to Solana’s blockchain, provides value transfer and internet security through staking.

There are presently 349,120,156.69 SOL in circulation, according to Solana. On November 6, 2021, SOL hit an all-time high of $260. Currently, it is trading at $36.18, down 86% from its peak.

Polygon partners with Neowiz to launch Web3 Game platform

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The Polygon team announced their partnership with Neowiz Corporation, a major player in internet publishing and video game production located in South Korea, on Tuesday. Through the cooperation, the two platforms plan to introduce a blockchain-based gaming platform that will first introduce some of Neowiz’s well-known gaming IPs to Web3.

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Source: Polygon Blog Post

In a recent blog post, Polygon made the following said,

“We’re delighted to reveal that Polygon is teaming up with the massively popular Neowiz Corporation … Together, we will launch a brand new Web3 gaming platform, dubbed Intella X”

Two social casino games and a number of Neowiz fan favorites will be available when the Intella X is first released. In terms of upcoming releases, Polygon disclosed,

“Multiple new blockchain games from the popular IP are also anticipated to launch in 2023, alongside a new PFP NFT project…”

Polygon begins to reign Web3 gaming space

Due to Intella’s use of the “Develop and Earn” concept, the gaming platform is set up to return a portion of every revenue made to ecosystem contributors. Users can participate in many different ways and receive rewards in return. They can start out by either staking or offering liquidity in the exclusive DEX and earning yields from Intella X’s native IX Token.

It is important to note that the firm will also develop its own wallet, called “IX Wallet,” at this point. The wallet, which is built on top of Polygon’s network, may communicate with any other DeFi applications while also being designed for game services.

Additionally, users can acquire IX by participating in specific games and exchanging any special game tokens made available for IX via the exchange. The blog stated that IX Token will be used as payment for projects that develop and released on Intella X.

The enthusiasm surrounding gaming has partially subsided over the previous few months. However, since the start of June, things have begun to get better.

Examining how quickly users have been completing transactions focused on gaming NFT is one method to gauge how robust the space is still. Transactions in the aforementioned genre have recently begun to rise, suggesting that players have started returning to the field.

Working with game publishers and developers such as Atari, Ubisoft, Animoca, Wildcard, and Tilting Point has given Polygon time to establish itself and take the lead in the Web3 gaming market. The most recent cooperation is probably going to solidify and advance Polygon’s position in this market now that the gaming craze has been reignited.

Tinder Is Backing Down From Its Metaverse and Web3 Plans

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The parent firm of the famous dating app Tinder, Match Group, has announced that it would reduce investment in Web3-related research and advancement in light of the business’s weak Q2 results and the departure of Tinder’s current CEO.

Match Group CEO Bernard Kim stated in a letter to investors on Tuesday that the company will be reducing its investments in the metaverse and abandoning plans to launch Tinder Coins, an in-app digital currency.

The move also coincides with Renate Nyborg, the first female CEO, quitting her position. Renate had originally outlined ambitions to launch the “Tinderverse” after purchasing the video-AI and augmented reality business Hyperconnect in 2021.

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Tinder Is Backing Down From Its Metaverse and Web3 Plans 7

Nyborg had envisioned Tinderverse

In order for Tinder customers to connect and communicate with each other in the future, Nyborg had envisioned Hyperconnect expanding its avatar-based “Single Town” experience.

While Kim did not specifically specify why Nyborg left, he did note that during the previous few quarters, the dating platform “has not been able to realize the monetization success that we generally provide.”

Kim stated in his letter that Match Group will keep an eye on the Metaverse but would rather wait till the “right time:”

Given uncertainty about the ultimate contours of the Metaverse and what will or won’t work. I’ve instructed the Hyperconnect team to iterate but not invest heavily in [the] Metaverse at this time.”

Tinder Coins, an in-app digital currency, had also been canceled, according to Kim, because of “mixed outcomes” from testing.

To guarantee that they can be a true engine for its next leg of development and help us uncover the platform’s latent power users, he continued, “We also aim to do more thinking on virtual products.”

“We’ll continue to carefully assess this market, and when the time is right and we have greater clarity on the entire potential and believe our service is well-positioned to succeed, we’ll think about going forward.”

Crypto Music Service Audius Hacked; Estimated Loss $1.08M

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Crypto music platform Audius came under an attack in the form of a malicious governance proposal that siphoned off over $6.1 million worth of AUDIO tokens, with the hacker making away with $1 million. 

On July 24, a malicious proposal initiated an unauthorized transfer of 18 million AUDIO tokens from the community treasury.

Following the incident, Audius put on hold all smart contracts and AUDIO tokens on the Ethereum blockchain to mitigate further losses.

Hours later it resumed token transfers, adding that the “Remaining smart contract functionality is being unpaused after thorough examination/mitigation of the vulnerability.”

Blockchain researcher Peckshield highlighted the project’s inconsistent storage layout as the root cause.

While the attacker stole 18 million tokens worth nearly $6 million from the treasury, it soon dumped and sold for $1.08 million. Investors feared this could trigger panic selling and recommended an immediate buyback to prevent further lowering of the token’s floor price. 

Audius recently introduce a feature to tip artists

The Web3 music platform has launched a tipping feature for creators to monetize their content by allowing listeners to send tips to artists, the startup said on the 19th of July.

Audius is an Ethereum and Solana-based streaming service aiming to compete with such giants as Spotify and Apple Music by decentralizing and democratizing the fast-growing industry.

It claims it directs the majority share of music revenue to artists [roughly 90%]. The startup was founded by Roneil Rumburg and Forrest Browning, two electronic music lovers, back in 2018.

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Crypto Music Service Audius Hacked; Estimated Loss $1.08M 9

Originally launched on the Ethereum blockchain, the blockchain music platform then shifted part of its service to the Solana blockchain in a bid to reduce fees and scale up its performance.

In addition to that, Staked AUDIO tokens are utilized to vote on governance proposals for implementing network upgrades.  

Last September, the crypto streaming platform announced a $5 million investment round funded by stellar celebrities such as pop star Katy Perry, The Chainsmokers, Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda, and other heavy hitters within the music industry.

The platform also secured a high-profile partnership with the video-sharing app TikTok in 2021.

Polygon’s Mobile Web3 Venture; All Or ‘Nothing’?

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Ethereum scaling solution Polygon has ventured into the web3 space by partnering with tech startup Nothing to integrate into the company’s first smartphone, the Nothing Phone (1).

We are all Nothing. Dots in the huge improbable scheme of everything. But let these seemingly small, insignificant dots connect. Then something begins. New is imagined. Belief becomes real. Community rules.

With the latest collaboration with Polygon, Nothing aims to bring greater access to Web3 to its user base. While specifics have not been disclosed, this would likely come in the form of dapps, games, NFT trading, payments, and more.

As per the information provided, Nothing is rewarding its community investors, by launching an NFT titled “Black Dot.” While the first release is available only to early investors, the brand said that future airdrops will be gifted to customers who preorder the Phone (1).

To receive the airdrop, users will need to log in to their Nothing account, connect or create a crypto wallet, and navigate to “My NFT Page” where users will find their “Black Dot” after July 7 airdrop.

Additionally, Nothing’s Black Dot NFTs would provide potential benefits to holders, such as early access to products or entries to events.

The London-based startup was founded in late 2020 by Carl Pei who also pioneered the smartphone and tech brand OnePlus. Backed by Google Ventures, the firm is well known among tech enthusiasts for its wireless earbuds.

Polygon Launches Custom Blockchain Scaling Solution

A few days ago, Polygon announced that it has deployed Avail, a scaling solution designed for developers to launch their blockchain applications on the main chain and other blockchains.

The new product would facilitate developers to access blockchain data “off-chain,” which would help save time and effort as they no longer required to continually monitor data from the network for any application deployed on Polygon.

Applications built on Avail would also give developers the ability to update, fork, and make other necessary changes.

Besides that, Avail can be deployed on any Ethereum Virtual Machine [EVM]-compatible blockchain. EVM is a software platform that developers use to create decentralized applications [dapps] on Ethereum.

Immutable initiates $500M as ecosystem development fund

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Immutable, the world’s largest NFT and gaming-focused crypto firm, has announced the formation of a $500 million ecosystem development fund to promote GameFi adoption and the crypto gaming industry in general.

The company’s first venture investment fund was revealed in a news release on Friday.

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Robbie Ferguson, Co-founder & President of Immutable

The cash will be used to create and construct web3 games and NFT-focused firms using Immutable X, the company’s layer-2 Ethereum-focused platform, according to the company’s President and co-founder, Robbie Ferguson.

These projects, he said, will be the driving force behind the organization’s primary goal of allowing the next generation of web3 gaming.

The company’s consistent investment in the area stems from its belief in its potential as one of the most significant opportunities ever to exist on the internet3. He further added,

“The total addressable market will be enormous and much bigger than what gaming is today – a $100 billion industry for in-game items alone.”

The third generation of internet services for applications and websites is known as Web3. To synthesise and create a data-driven semantic web, it focuses on artificial intelligence. It also aspires to create websites that are more intelligent, linked, and open. Users would engage with one another without the necessity of middlemen in Web3. As a result, information will be shared and censorship by governments and companies will be reduced.

Immutable to join hands with other NFT investors

BITKRAFT, Animoca Brands, Arrington Capital, Double Peak, AirTree, and other NFT-focused investors will be partnered with the fund, according to Ferguson.

He backed this up by claiming that the gaming industry’s total addressable market has grown by 10% every year.

He went on to say that, based on the notion that events like movies, TV series, and music will end up in the gaming world, the sector might be worth $1 trillion in the near future only for ownable assets.

Immutable capital was raised, according to Ferguson, through a variety of sources, including the company’s venture partners, balance sheets, and VC allocations.