Cardano-Based Regulated Stablecoin USDA Will Hit the Market in Early 2023

Emurgo, the official commercial arm and a founding entity of the Cardano blockchain, plans to launch USDA, a U.S.-pegged stablecoin, in early 2023, the company told CoinDesk.

USDA will be the first fully fiat-backed, regulatory-compliant stablecoin in the Cardano ecosystem.

“The introduction of a fully fiat-backed, regulatory-compliant stablecoin is the next step in realizing the future for our community,” wrote Emurgo Fintech Managing Director Vineeth Bhuvanagiri in a note to CoinDesk.

USDA is part of Emurgo’s Anzens product, a broader plan that would offer users several financial services and products functioning on Cardano-based assets. These plans include lending and borrowing services, crypto-based card payments, and bridges between traditional markets and decentralized applications (dapps).

USDA is expected to launch on the Anzens platform in Q1 2023 where users will be able to tokenize their USD into USDA via credit/debit cards, wire transfer, or conversion of Cardano's native ADA token, Emurgo said.

Emurgo has partnered with a regulated financial services company based in the United States as the banking partner to issue USDA, ensuring the stablecoin is fully compliant and adheres to regulatory guidelines, Emurgo said, without naming the company.

Alongside the tokenization of USD, Emurgo will soon enable the conversion of other stablecoins, such as USD Coin (USDC), and tether (USDT) to USDA, with long-term plans to enable conversion and swaps of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and other cryptocurrencies.

USDC Stablecoin Issuer Circle Says Businesses Can Accept Apple Pay

Merchants who accept payments in Circle's USDC stablecoin can now interact with Apple Pay, Circle said in a blog post.

“NFT marketplaces, crypto gaming, crypto exchanges, crypto wallets, and cross-border remittance providers can help their business grow by making checkout easy with Apple Pay and Circle,” the company said.

The addition will help crypto-native businesses by making it easier to take payments, while not excluding customers that don’t use crypto. In addition, “traditional businesses can also take advantage of this enhancement to shift more retail payments to digital currency,” Circle said.

Sui Network, a New Blockchain From Ex-Meta Employees, Launches Its Testnet

Sui Network, a layer-1 blockchain created by ex-Meta (nee Facebook) engineers got a step closer to going live by announcing it has opened its testnet – a place where the viability of the technology can get a more thorough examination.

The testnet “Wave 1” will be used for validators and full nodes to “improve decentralized coordination + incident response, and identify a core group of operators who have experience in deploying, monitoring, and debugging,” the company shared over Twitter.

Sui has gained a lot of momentum over the past few months and is seen as a competitor to the Aptos blockchain – another layer 1 that was founded by ex-Meta employees. Aptos and Sui both use the same programming language called Move.

Ethereum Software Firm ConsenSys Co-Launches Ethereum Climate Platform

ConsenSys, an Ethereum software firm that helped engineer the Merge, is co-launching with 18 other firms the Ethereum Climate Platform (ECP) at COP27’s UN Climate Change Global Innovation Hub. (COP27 is short for the 27th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC. UNFCCC is short for United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. COP27 runs Nov. 6-18 in Sharm el-Shiek, Egypt.)

The platform is built for the Ethereum ecosystem and will aim to mitigate the excess energy consumption that the blockchain used before it went through the Merge in September.

“The idea is to gather a bunch of capital and invest the capital into technologies that can have a significant positive impact,” Joseph Lubin, the founder of ConsenSys and a co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain told CoinDesk.

“I anticipate that this group will want to fund projects that are not old style, legacy technology projects but do think about how they build systems."

The Merge saw Ethereum swap out its old energy-intensive model from PoW to proof-of-stake (PoS). Under PoW, Ethereum was powered by miners, which competed to solve cryptographic puzzles to add transactions to the digital ledger. Under PoS, Ethereum uses validators to approve and add blocks to the blockchain, which burns less energy. Since the Merge, Ethereum has reduced its energy consumption by 99.9%.

“The Merge set a new and extremely high bar for climate mitigation across the entire business and financial sector. It demonstrated that through sheer force of collective will, we can successfully drive technological decisions that massively reduce carbon output,”

Lubin was quoted in a press release.

NFT-Linked Sandals Worn by Steve Jobs Sell for $218,000

A pair of Birkenstock sandals "personally owned and worn" by Apple visionary Steve Jobs was sold on Sunday to an unknown buyer for over $218,000.

The sandals, which were worn by Jobs "during many pivotal moments in Apple’s history," according to Julien's Auctions, came with an exclusive 1-of-1 digital representation minted on the Polygon blockchain. According to the terms and conditions of sale, the non-fungible token (NFT) owner "is not acquiring ownership rights or Intellectual Property (IP) rights" to the NFT and cannot profit from its use.

The lot exceeded its estimated selling price of $60,000-$80,000 and received 19 bids. Julien's Auctions said that Jobs "would wear this particular pair of sandals in the 1970s and 1980s," and that they were previously owned by Jobs' house manager Mark Sheff.

Sheff previously told Business Insider that he collected Jobs' items whenever he would throw them out because "he kept very few things.”

In addition, the auction house said that in 1976, Jobs "hatched the beginnings of Apple computer in a Los Altos garage with Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak while occasionally wearing these sandals." Chrisann Brennan, Steve Jobs' ex-partner, once told Vogue that the shoes "were his uniform" and reflected his focus on simplicity and practicality.

The sale of Jobs' NFT-linked sandals adds to a growing list of posthumous digital collectibles sold in recent months, including collections by David Bowie, Biggie Smalls, and Whitney Houston's estates.

CryptoPunks Come to Art Museums as Yuga Labs Begins Donating Ethereum NFTs

Yuga Labs has hatched a plan to donate CryptoPunks NFTs to modern art museums around the world, starting with Punk #305. The Ethereum NFT is being donated to Miami’s Institute of Contemporary Art, which offers free admission, and will be viewable there after a private unveiling event takes place on December 2 during Art Basel.

Punk #305 was chosen in part because its number corresponds to one of Miami’s phone area codes: 305. Miami is also the hometown of two of Yuga’s co-founders, Wylie Aronow & Greg Solano, both known by their respective Bored Ape Yacht Club alter egos, Gordon Goner and Garga.

It’s the first donation in a larger initiative called the Punks Legacy Project. Noah Davis, Yuga’s brand lead for CryptoPunks, told Decrypt that “several more” of the NFTs will be donated to other museums in the future.

“It’s not about a certain number of Punks, but rather about finding museums and legacy art organizations that want to enter into Web3 for the right reasons,” said Davis. “Quality over quantity.”

While NFT skeptics might regard such works as little more than pixels on a digital canvas, CryptoPunks have proven influential in the Web3 world for defining the template for tokenized profile picture (PFP) projects. Larva Labs launched the project in 2017 with 10,000-pixel faces, each with a randomized set of traits and features.

Sotheby’s Hosting a Pudgy Penguins Auction

Check out the announcement below 👇

BAYC Creator Yuga Labs Acquires Beeple’s WENEW, 10KTF NFT Project

Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs isn’t done expanding. After purchasing the CryptoPunks and Meebits NFT project IP from Larva Labs in March, the startup today announced that it has acquired NFT startup WENEW, co-founded by famed artist Mike “Beeple” Winkelmann.

WENEW has pursued a number of brand collaborations since launching in June 2021, including with Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Playboy, and the Wimbledon tennis tournament. The startup is also known for 10KTF, an Ethereum NFT project built around a fictional tailor that creates digital apparel for various high-value profile picture (PFP) projects—including Bored Apes.

Yuga Labs has acquired the startup and will add WENEW co-founder and CEO Michael Figge as its new Chief Content Officer. Beeple, meanwhile—who is best known for selling a single piece of NFT artwork for $69.3 million at auction in March 2021—will serve as an advisor to Yuga Labs.

10KTF is a story-driven NFT project built around a fictional “digital artisan” named Wagmi-san, who develops custom outfits that owners of popular PFP projects—including the Bored Apes, but also Cool Cats, Nouns, Moonbirds, and others—can have applied to their owned NFT artwork. Owners can also order physical apparel based on their PFP artwork.

Apparel brands such as Gucci and Puma have previously done digital fashion collaborations with 10KTF. Yuga Labs has already teased some kind of implementation of Wagmi-san into its upcoming Bored Ape-centric metaverse game, Otherside. A Yuga Labs representative told Decrypt that the terms of the deal are not being disclosed.

Nike to Debut its Own Web3 Wearables Platform

Sports brand Nike already is one of the most successful brands in web3. Now, it's going to promote virtual shoes and other items on its own platform.

Currently in beta but expected to launch its first digital collection next year, “.Swoosh” (pronounced “dot swoosh”) will let Nike fans collect and even co-create virtual items with the company.

Community members will "soon" be able to wear the items in digital games and immersive experiences, according to a company statement.

“We are shaping a marketplace of the future with an accessible platform for the web3-curious. In this new space, the “.Swoosh” community and Nike can create, share and benefit together,” said Ron Faris, GM of Nike Virtual Studios.

So far, Nike’s bet on web3 has paid off.

It launched an experience in November 2021 on the ever more brand-crowded gaming platform Roblox, attracting more than 26 million visits to date. The following month it acquired NFT studio RTFKT and has been pumping out collections ever since.

Among them, the Cryptokicks collection of 20,000 virtual sneakers included one NFT that sold for $134,000.

Nike has earned a total of $185 million in NFT revenue, according to data published on Dune Analytics. Of that, $93 million came from primary sales revenue and $92 million from royalties.

The numbers alone make other metaverse-keen brands pale in comparison. Dolce & Gabbana has raked in NFT revenues of $24 million, while Tiffany has earned $13 million.

Sony Files Patent for NFTs and Blockchain Technology

A recent patent filed by Sony suggests it's planning to feature blockchain technology in the future. That patent specifically lists a system and method that will track "digital assets," and employs language commonly associated with blockchain-related products such as NFTs.

In relation to video games, the patent's description refers to digital assets as in-game items such as characters. Interestingly, it also lists digital media that represents a game, such as a trailer or a photo.

"A unique token for the digital asset can include a unique identifier and metadata identifying properties of the digital asset," reads the general description. "Changes to properties of the digital asset, such as ownership, visual appearance, or metadata, can be identified in a request to update the history."

Sony already has digital collectibles as part of its recently launched PlayStation Stars program. Before the program's rollout, the PlayStation maker was quick to point out that these items weren't NFTs.

Whether or not Sony considers the PlayStation Stars collectibles as such, they're apparently the testing grounds for a potentially larger exploration into the blockchain.

Adidas Originals Unveils “Virtual Gear” Collection

Adidas released an Ethereum-based NFT collection called the Genesis collection on Nov. 16, featuring a set of wearables designed to be worn by virtual avatars.

Calling the new product Virtual Gear, the sportswear giant has labeled the collection as a “new, interoperable product category,” adding:

“[It] accelerates our collective drive towards strengthening web3, and the Adidas community-based, member-first, open metaverse pledge”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Talking Metaverse

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are “in advanced talks” with pax.world — a platform allowing users to create their own metaverse, according to a Nov. 15 Mirror article.

Sources allege that Markle is the driving force behind the plan. As a result, the metaverse has cleverly been dubbed the “Meg-averse.”

The former working royals are thought to be looking for new ways to connect with their fans and see their purported metaverse as a way “to take their brand fully global.”

According to pax.world founder Frank Fitzgerald, the metaverse is perfect for the “progressive, tech-savvy” audience the pair are looking to connect with as they build upon their brand, saying the platform is offering the couple “a plot of prime pax.world land.”

Japan’s Line Messaging Service Launches Web3 Game Platform Game Dosi

Line Next announced that it has created a teaser website for Game Dosi, a Web3-based game platform.

Line Next is the U.S. division of Line, a big mobile messaging service that competes with What’s App, WeChat, and Kakao. Line is pretty ubiquitous in Japan. Line Corp. is a Tokyo-based subsidiary of Z Holdings, which is jointly owned by Softbank Group and Naver Corporation. So this means that big companies, particularly in Asia, are moving into Web3 gaming.

Game Dosi is an all-in-one Web3 gaming platform that lets game companies launch non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Line Next said Game Dosi aims to provide engaging games that users can enjoy intuitively and solutions to enable game developers to create their games more easily. It is aimed at accelerating Web3 gaming among developers by providing an easy-to-use development kit tool.

It also provides legal support around regulations and risk management, marketing and promotion support, and utilizing marketing solutions on Line’s services. It also provides “tokenomics” consulting to optimize token economies for games, and it offers community-building features and open-source resources.

While Western game companies are running into some resistance from some gamers and game developers when it comes to Web3 games — a situation no doubt worsened by the alleged fraud at FTX that has caused a new cryptocurrency meltdown — Asian game companies are moving faster into Web3 games, except of course in China where cryptocurrency is illegal.

Line said that Game Dosi is a Web3, blockchain-based gaming platform that aims to provide fun and engaging games that users can enjoy without worrying about understanding the details of decentralized or crypto technology.

Users can own digital goods and trade them easily in the Web3 games thanks to the intuitive user experience that Game Dosi offers, Line said. In addition, Game Dosi provides solutions to enable game developers to conveniently create their own blockchain-based Web3 games and build communities.

An all-in-one platform built using LINE’s knowhow and technology, GAME DOSI includes:

LINE NEXT continues to work on popularizing NFTs through expanding its services, with the recent opening of a Dosi C2C marketplace, the addition of membership benefits to Dosi Citizen, and the launch of Dosi Adventure.

Aptos Blockchain Partners with South Korea’s Npixel on Web3 Gaming

Aptos, a Layer 1 blockchain with a lot of backing, will partner with South Korean gaming studio Npixel to bring Web3 tech to its gaming initiatives platform.

Palo Alto, California-based Aptos said that Npixel’s millions of gamers already engaging with its games will be able to safely own and share assets on Aptos’ upgradeable and user-friendly network.

This strategic ecosystem partnership with one of South Korea’s fastest-growing game developers signals Aptos’ to build blockchain-based gaming projects. That’s interesting because the South Korean game companies appear to be all-in on blockchain games.

“It’s no surprise to us that the market in South Korea, which is digitally native, is really excited about the technology and what Web3 can bring to the consumer experience,” said Mo Shaikh, CEO of Aptos, in an interview with GamesBeat.

And Palo Alto, California-based Aptos has raised more than $400 million to build out its Web3 technology, said Shaikh.

Shaikh said the Aptos Network is now live in the market, launched a few weeks ago.

“We’re not only the builders of this protocol, but we are now focused on building user-facing applications and tools that will help support Web3 companies where they are today and also help Web2 companies enter this space,” Shaikh said. “Within Web2, as you look at look across various industries, gaming has been one of the industries that have been most excited about the potential for Web3. But it has sat on the sidelines. And obviously, with our partnership with Npixel, we’re going to help accelerate that adoption.”

Founded in 2017, Npixel hit unicorn status with its Series B round in August of 2021. The firm is best known for its first massively multiplayer online role-playing game titled Gran Saga, which became a top-grossing game on the Apple App store with four million downloads since its first launch in Korea and Japan. Npixel aims to expand its user base with the upcoming Gran Saga’s global release this year.

“Our team chose Aptos because of their vision of bringing masses into Web3 through better user experience, unparalleled technology, and easy developer onboarding. We could not be more thrilled for this strategic partnership, not only with Aptos, but also with the Aptos community,” added Jeonghwan Ko, head of the blockchain department of Npixel.

Polycade Teams up with Atari to Launch Web3 Games and Art Collaboration

Polycade has made a new kind of arcade machine you can hang on a wall and it has teamed up with Atari to launch a Web3 art collaboration dubbed Polycade Limiteds.

Portland, Oregon-based Polycade is creating a cultural crossover collaboration between video games and art, orchestrated by Web3. The collaboration will have prominent contemporary artists reskin original Atari games, which will be released as limited editions of “digital cartridges,” available for purchase on the blockchain. The official launch will be celebrated at ComplexCon (November 19 to November 20) with a tournament.

There is a sweet symmetry to this deal, as Polycade was started by CEO Tyler Bushnell, son of Atari cofounder Nolan Bushnell, oft-called the father of video games.

“Atari is obviously very close to our hearts. And so it felt like a natural choice for the launch of our greater platform here,” said Tyler Bushnell, in an interview with GamesBeat.

“We’re basically launching a series of collaborations pairing classic Atari Games with modern contemporary artists. And so what this will do is take classic games like Asteroids and see all of the artwork reskinned by the artist.”

Polycade Limiteds will feature 12 artist collaborations, where each artist will redesign a classic Atari game, such as Asteroids, Pong, Centipede, Missile Command, and Breakout.

“It’s bringing the artist’s vision for the game to life, but also, you know, honoring the original with the same gameplay,” Tyler Bushnell said. “The games will be playable through our website, on any of our machines as well, and then also through our downloadable desktop software.”

Each reskinned game will be fully playable and reimagined with the artist’s vision — redesigning all graphics and backgrounds. Polycade Limiteds will kick off its first limited title with contemporary artist Shantell Martin reskinning the classic Atari game Asteroids.

The Digital Cartridge will include three editions with the minting date set for November 19, timed to ComplexCon. The sale of the Artist Edition will be located on nft.coinbase.com and the auction for the Gold Edition will begin on November 19. Digital Cartridges will be stored on the Ethereum Blockchain and a pre-buy and auction accept list to purchase will also be found on Polycade’s website.

Ethereum NFT Marketplace X2Y2 Will Enforce Royalties Following OpenSea’s 'Brave Move’

Just a couple of weeks ago, it appeared that most of the NFT market was on a steep slide toward rejecting creator royalties altogether. Even the top marketplace, OpenSea, considered making them optional. But creator pushback forced OpenSea to maintain royalties, and now a rival Ethereum marketplace is similarly saying it will enforce royalties.

X2Y2, which launched earlier this year and saw significant trading activity over the summer, announced today that it will enforce creator-set royalties on all NFT collections—both existing projects and newly-launched ones, as well.

Previously, X2Y2 offered a Flexible Royalty model that let the creators and collectors alike have input into how strictly the marketplace enforced royalties for each project. However, only certain types of NFT projects—specifically artwork and access passes—could choose to have royalties fully enforced. Profile picture (PFP) projects were not eligible for that option.

In the Twitter thread, X2Y2 praised OpenSea for ultimately taking a stand for creator royalties, and admitted that many newly launched projects were using OpenSea’s blocklist code that banned those NFTs from being traded on marketplaces that don’t fully enforce royalties.

“Putting belief aside, if there was anything self-evident in crypto, it's the ‘code.’ Since [OpenSea] released the OperatorFilter two weeks ago, most of the new projects have sided with it,” X2Y2 wrote. It added, "’Code is law,’ and we respect the law.”

X2Y2 wrote that it removed the Flexible Royalty setting for new projects that use the OpenSea blocklist code, but that it will also now enforce royalties set for all existing NFT projects too.

Sorare, Under Pressure From France’s Gambling Regulator, Will Expand Free Access

NFT fantasy gaming platform & marketplace Sorare has agreed to amend the rules for its non-fungible token soccer trading game under pressure from the French National Gambling Authority (ANJ), the regulator said in a statement on Friday.

The ANJ called for changes to French law to better account for Web3 gaming, after political criticism that the current arrangements did little to protect children and compulsive gamblers.

As part of the deal, Sorare has said it will expand free access to the game. If it doesn’t do so by the end of March, the authority threatened to use its legal powers, which in theory allow it to impose fines of up to 5% of a company’s turnover.

“The chosen solution constitutes a needed regulatory response to the offer made by Sorare,” the ANJ said in a statement, adding that it needed to “effectively protect the public but also support innovation” in examining similar developments in the future.

In an August question to the government, French Senator Jérôme Durain said the game “seems to meet all the criteria of gambling under the internal security code." Durain called for better controls to stop money laundering or playing by children or gambling addicts – concerns that the ANJ seems to share.

While the ANJ has accepted Sorare’s deal as a transitional measure, the regulator worries the law isn’t up to scratch and called for a “rapid evolution” of legislation to cater to Web3.

A spokesperson for Sorare told CoinDesk it would implement the temporary changes early in 2023, and longer-term agreed with the need for new regulations.

“Sorare shares this urgent need and is committed to working with all stakeholders, including the ANJ, to define this new [regulatory] framework,” the spokesperson said. “Through its constructive exchanges with the ANJ, Sorare once again reaffirms its desire to build the next global entertainment giant.”

Over the summer, Sorare’s CEO Nicolas Julia said it was “not surprising” that a growing technology would raise new questions, and that he saw it as a “sign that shows we are pushing boundaries.”

FINRA Targets Crypto Communications After FTX Collapse

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a U.S. self-regulatory body for brokerage services, is targeting crypto marketing practices in the wake of the collapse of industry juggernaut FTX.

The assessment will require firms to provide all retail communication concerning crypto assets distributed between July 1 and Sept. 30 this year, according to an announcement made by FINRA on Monday.

Retail communication includes “any written (including electronic) communication that is distributed or made available to more than 25 retail investors within any 30 calendar-day periods,” the notice said. It added that and "video, social media, mobile applications, and websites generally fall into this communications category."

Regulators around the world are increasingly scrutinizing the crypto sector and calling for more transparency and regulation following the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX exchange. FINRA itself had, in January, already announced that it was looking to change regulations for crypto when it comes to advertising and disclosure. Crypto ads and promotions in particular have peaked regulators' interests as companies like FTX invested millions of dollars in marketing strategies – including Super Bowl ads – targeting retail investors.

FINRA's "targeted exams" are designed for gathering information and carrying out investigations, with the goal of pinpointing appropriate regulatory responses, according to its website.

The targeted exam for crypto communications will be looking into all approved crypto communications in the specified period and if they included a FINRA reference number. It will also assess what compliance policies, manuals, or training materials were provided in the same time period regarding communication.

Hong Kong Regulator Calls for Tough Rules Despite Ambitions to Be Crypto Hub

Crypto service providers are moving from the fringe to provide a full range of financial services, making a "light touch" regulatory approach “far from adequate,” a Hong Kong regulator said on Thursday.

Julia Leung, the deputy CEO and executive director at Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), said that the recent turmoil in crypto markets highlighted not only the volatility and structural vulnerabilities in the industry but also how it is becoming more connected with traditional financial services.

Leung's comments during a speech at a crypto conference in London come just as Hong Kong expressed a desire to open itself up to crypto – and possibly relax its tough regulations.

Leung noted that Hong Kong’s opt-in regulatory framework requires that client assets be separated from a firm's own assets. To address conflicts of interest, it prohibits virtual-asset platforms from trading on their own account and they can't lend or pledge client assets.

Centralized virtual-asset trading platforms operate in ways similar to stock exchanges and broker-dealers, Leung said, adding that the SFC will hold the platforms to similar standards that apply to stock exchanges and broker-dealers.

She noted that the SFC had announced its opt-in framework for centralized trading platforms in 2018 but that authorities could apply the full force of their legal power only to platforms willing to trade at least one security token.

A bill now in Hong Kong’s Legislative Assembly would expand the existing regulatory regime to platforms that don't trade security tokens. If that bill is passed, all centralized platforms would need to be licensed by the SFC, whether or not they trade security tokens, although they would receive a grace period.

Leung said that given recognition of the growing investor demand for virtual assets, particularly among private banks and hedge fund customers, it was important for regulators to provide clarity to banks, brokers, and fund managers.

“Many financial institutions are now exploring how to tokenize financial assets or develop their own tokens on private blockchains,” Leung said.

The SFC plans to issue a notice to clarify that tokenized debt securities as digital representations of traditional securities on the blockchain should be treated in a similar way as existing conventional securities, she said.

Leung also spoke about decentralized finance, saying that “most DeFi activities operate outside any regulatory system”.

According to Leung, some operators are intentionally elusive to minimize liability and regulatory scrutiny. She said that regulators worldwide have reached a consensus on a coordinated approach and that they would be “relentless” in pursuing DeFi regulation.