The most potent and well-known developer in the world, Microsoft, has announced a new partnership with the rising-star Web3 project Star Heroes. Microsoft has laid the foundation for blockchain gaming’s future by announcing the first award of its kind made available by a significant company.
The violent space adventure video game has received funding from Microsoft. As with Forza Horizon, Sea of Thieves, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, Star Heroes designers may now use Azure PlayFab.
What exactly is Star Heroes?
For those who are unfamiliar, Star Heroes is a third-person space shooter with dynamic space combat. It is situated in a big open environment where players may explore and fight in two multiplayer modes: ranking and adventure. Gamers may construct the most powerful fleets in the galaxy and compete for supremacy.
“PvP titles have historically attracted the most interaction, positioning Star Heroes for possible future success.”- Esports News
The basis of the game is player competition and interaction. To develop the most competitive and engage in galactic war, both offensive and defense forces are available. As a result, the game is intensely competitive with a thrilling PvP scene, which will undoubtedly make it successful given current trends across numerous gaming genres.
A Star on the Rise
This historic new collaboration validates NFTs as game changers in how we approach incentivizing play. The move has been described as a “groundbreaking achievement” by Bitcoinist, and industry experts are welcome this new era of large-scale organizations using blockchain technology into their operations.
Its play-to-earn features will appeal to both expert and inexperienced players, and with Microsoft on board, the possibilities for this intriguing space-set adventure are limitless. Even more astounding, this game is free to play, allowing novice players to sample the experience before delving deeper.
Players may also make real money by just playing the game for free.
Community Driven
Star Heroes has opted to change things up with its own in-game money, $STAR. By accomplishing certain tasks, players may win $STARs. These tokens, however, cannot be purchased and must be acquired through gameplay. The $STAR currency is entirely community-driven, making it less susceptible to manipulation and shaking up the in-game pressure to spend.
The tokens, according to Star Heroes, are:
” based on the novel Proof of Play system, which will be similar to Bitcoin mechanics such as halving and mining.” Star Heroes will also have a system that allows the reward difficulty/output to be increased or decreased according on the current number of players.”
Heroic Possibility
After spending two years in development, Star Heroes is now poised to become a colossal success in its own right and spur further funding for the unrealized promise of blockchain gaming. The designers of the game are believed to have worked on high-earning titles such as CD Project Red’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyber Punk 2017).
“Perhaps more crucially, the relationship with Microsoft will open the floodgates for blockchain gaming in general, with the objective of allowing several more games to cooperate with large firms in the future.” – Bitcoin.com
Players are already testing and prepping for the next generation of ships. This video from Star Heroes Gameplay recently explored present and planned advancements. Fleets of spaceships fight and die to show their team is better.
A New Purpose
A recent creator update teased what gamers might expect, generating fantastic tension and offering a task to whet the hunger for adventure. According to a Medium post:
[Strong signal detected…] “All Cadets, Pay Attention! It’s time to embark on your first expedition. A mystery spacecraft crash has been discovered in an asteroid belt. The rescue crew discovered signs of $STAR when searching the spacecraft log. Unfortunately, an unknown monster group destroyed the ship and emptied all contents.”
Players will soon be able to reap the benefits of Microsoft’s first venture into blockchain gaming, and the industry as a whole has a new objective. Gaming is about exploring and discovering new worlds, daring to be different, and imagining a goal beyond the physical.
It will be the next big challenge for investors to find the actual potential of this game model in an industry that is always growing and questioning what it means to construct a meta-universe.
“This is where the trip begins!” states the most recent Medium piece.
Without a doubt, Ethereum is the most popular platform for smart contracts now in use. The platform has developed steadily since its launch in July 2015, with a notable rise in the number of decentralized applications (DApps) it hosts.
On the Ethereum network, approximately 3,000 DApps and over 5 million smart contracts are already active. A large portion of them work in the quickly growing decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, which at its peak attracted more than $160 billion in total value locked (TVL), a metric for the value of assets held by DeFi smart contracts.
However, the Ethereum network is under load due to the 1.7 million daily transactions and about 800,000 active addresses. This may result in enormous traffic, astronomical expenditures, and a poor user and developer experience overall.
Several technology advancements are planned for integration to help address this danger and strengthen the Ethereum blockchain’s ability to face the future. For instance, Ethereum will prepare for future performance improvements by switching to a more energy-efficient consensus mechanism during the impending “merge.”
What exactly is the Merge?
The Ethereum network can now handle 10 to 15 transactions per second (tps). The amount of transactions in the block and the average block time are two elements that affect this.
As a result, it is among the slowest smart contract systems now in use. Second- and third-generation platforms like Solana, Avalanche, and BNB Chain have recently outperformed it. along with a few less well-known platforms.
Fortunately, Ethereum can be improved, and the biggest enhancement is now in development. The current Ethereum execution layer and the beacon chain, a previously separate consensus layer, will be integrated to create a new hybrid platform, which is known as “the merging.” Instead of tens of thousands of miners, this new hybrid platform will be supported by a network of hundreds of thousands of validators.
The launch of the Ethereum beacon chain was on December 1, 2020. The goal of the beacon chain (formerly known as Eth2) is to serve as a testnet for the new Proof-of-Stake system, demonstrating the stability and viability of Proof-of-Stake for a big, well-established smart contract platform like Ethereum. It is in responsible of managing validator data, assigning blocks, and both rewarding validators with inflation incentives and punishing bad actors by cutting.
The beacon chain now lives totally independently of the original Ethereum chain (known as the execution layer). The beacon chain is now being stress tested, and its validators are working hard to process testnet transactions and keep order.
Most Ethereum testnets have either switched to Proof-of-Stake or are in the process of doing so in the next months. The most recent was the Ropsten testnet merger in June 2022, with the remaining two testnets — Goerli and Seoplia — slated to combine in Q3 2022.
Ethereum developers have set a possible completion date of September 19, 2022. It should be emphasized, however, that the merger has been postponed multiple times in the past, so nothing is written in stone.
How Will Ethereum Change Following ‘The Merge’?
Although the transition to Proof-of-Stake is the most significant development in Ethereum’s history, it is not the only thing that will change following the merger.
Ethereum’s inflation rate will also be dramatically reduced. Currently, Ethereum inflates at a rate of roughly 4.3% to just 0.43% – a 90% drop. This inflation will be spread among validators based on the amount of blocks processed, with each validator having an equal chance of being chosen to produce blocks.
Following the merging, validators will get just 1,280 ETH each day as block rewards. Fees are likely to account for a growing portion of validator revenue as the network expands.
Since the recent introduction of EIP-1559, a portion of every transaction fees has been incinerated. Since a result, some feel that Ethereum may become a deflationary asset, as the fees generated by EIP-1559 may surpass the incentives granted to validators. This happenedfor the first time lately and is expected to become more often in the future.
Additionally, the average block time will decrease from over 13 seconds to 12 seconds, or the amount of time it takes to process each new block. As a consequence, transactions will be included in blocks 8% quicker.
The merger will pave the way for a series of subsequent improvements, each of which will extend the platform’s capabilities. The idea to split the blockchain into 64 distinct shards, each of which will be able to process blocks in parallel, is by far the most crucial of these. This will significantly increase Ethereum’s throughput and enable it to perform thousands of transactions per second.
Additionally, the average block time will decrease from over 13 seconds to 12 seconds, or the amount of time it takes to process each new block. As a consequence, transactions will be included in blocks 8% quicker.
The merger will pave the way for a series of subsequent improvements, each of which will extend the platform’s capabilities. The idea to split the blockchain into 64 distinct shards, each of which will be able to process blocks in parallel, is by far the most crucial of these. This will significantly increase Ethereum’s throughput and enable it to perform thousands of transactions per second.
After sharding is implemented, virtually everyone will be able to operate an Ethereum client, contributing to increased security and network decentralization.
More importantly, it will reduce transaction fees. Gas costs will certainly decline as competition for block space decreases, making the platform significantly more cost-effective to utilize. As a result, Ethereum will become increasingly appealing to people, corporations, institutions, and even governments, making it the platform of choice for decentralized applications.
In terms of energy efficiency, scalability, security, and environmental friendliness, these enhancements are likely to help Ethereum outperform rival smart contract systems. It may also result in the deprecation of a number of layer 2 platforms that seek to enhance Ethereum’s capabilities through the usage of sidechains. Because these primarily attempt to increase scalability and lower expenses, systems such as Optimism, Arbitrum, Immutable-X, and others may become obsolete.
Users must stake at least 32 ETH to act as a validator and help with the block production process. This ETH will be held until the Shanghai upgrade is finished. This will happen 6-12 months following the merging, at which point users will be able to withdraw their staked ETH.
Regular users will be able to continue communicating with Ethereum using their favorite Web3 wallets, and interfacing with DApps will stay nearly unchanged. Users who now operate a node must run a separate client for both the execution layer and the consensus layer. Here is alist of some of the most popular clientele.
In the future, Ethereum will include ZK-SNARKS into its stack, enabling totally private transactions and smart contract operations. This will be paired with the protocol-level introduction of rollups, allowing Ethereum to expand further by performing transactions off-chain before confirming them with an on-chain rollup. These two prospective changes are presently under investigation, with no set timeframe for implementation.
Why the Transition to Proof of Stake?
A massive network of power-hungry SHA-256 miners fight to find the next block, fill it with transactions, add it to the blockchain, and then broadcast the modified state to the rest of the network. This is how Ethereum’s Proof-of-Work (POW) consensus method protects the cryptocurrency now.
According to Digiconomist’s most current calculations, this mining network consumes around 79 terawatt-hours of power every year. This is slightly higher than Austria’s total energy usage (66.8 TWh/yr) and results in the annual emission of about 34 million metric tons of CO2 into the environment.
This, predictably, has resulted in a significant amount of criticism directed against Ethereum (and other POW cryptocurrencies), with detractors claiming that its environmental impact is unjustifiable.
With the imminent merging, Ethereum will reduce its energy load by more than 99.95% by transitioning to Proof-of-Stake. This will not only make it one of the most energy-efficient smart contract systems in operation, but it will also lower its present energy load to a sliver of what it is. In fact, a POS-based Ethereum would emit nearly the same amount of CO2 as 3,681 gas-powered passenger automobiles.
The new improvement is intended to help transform the reputation of Ethereum and other blockchain technologies, since environmental issues have received substantial legislative resistance and are a major bone of dispute among potential users, investors, builders, and institutions.
According to Statistica statistics, this will reduce the average energy usage of a single Ethereum transaction to roughly 0.1 KWh – still 80 times greater than the Visa payment system. However, because Ethereum is anticipated to receive a considerable performance boost when it is split into 64 sharded chains, the energy cost per transaction will be about comparable to Visa.
According to Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin’s 2020 thinking paper, Proof-of-Stake will help Ethereum to maintain its industry-leading security by ensuring that the cost of attack remains constant. However, the “slashing” technique, which would be used to penalize validators who participate in assaults without needing a network re-org or fork, lets the network to recover faster from attacks.
“Attacking the chain for the first time will cost the attacker millions of dollars, and the community will be back up and running within days.” Attacking the chain a second time will still cost the attacker millions of dollars since new coins must be purchased to replace the old ones that were burnt. And the third time will… cost even more millions. The game is very asymmetric, and the odds are stacked against the attacker.” — Vitalik Buterin
The merge is a critical next stage in Ethereum’s progress, perhaps demonstrating its potential uses in dozens of new industries. Nonetheless, only time will tell if it lives up to expectations, and we have yet to see how the competition will react to an enhanced Ethereum’s potential technological dominance.
Through the cycle, Instagram’s improved NFT support never appeared.
In addition to “turning up the pressure a little bit” on Meta employees who shouldn’t be there and “hitting the metaverse runway,” Mark Zuckerberg is praising Instagram’s increased NFT support. The creator and CEO used the chance to remind everyone that his personalized 1992 Little League baseball card would soon be available, replete with an NFT, by announcing greater NFT support on Instagram.
Many believed he was minting it personally, however that is not the case, as stated in the Metropolis Comic Collect biography he referenced in his piece. This card was produced specifically by Mark Zuckerberg for a camp counselor who kept it, and it has now been validated and put up for sale as a real object with a blockchain-based digital receipt. When Zuckerberg was eight years old, he had this card made that said he batted .920 as a right-handed shortstop in Dobbs Ferry, New York; numerous pitchers from that league likely knew the video numbers were false before anybody else did. If you read his article, you’ll see that.
This happens at a fascinating time for Meta. Facebook, the company’s greatest cash cow, just revealed that its second-quarter revenue fell for the first time ever. Because “people are dissatisfied” and “use data isn’t fantastic,” as CEO Adam Mosseri told Casey Newton, Instagram is already perplexed and rejecting attempts with TikTok-like features.
As a result, Meta is joining, if somewhat late, a specialized market for “digital treasures” that has severely declined since peaking in the winter. Despite declining from its high in May, sales volume has remained largely stable in the months thereafter, according to information from OpenSea displayed in a tracker on Dune.
Newton said in a different Platformer study that while Meta, Twitter, and Reddit are all advancing NFT projects, they lack performance data.
One justification for this emphasis is the idea that these gems will appreciate dramatically when combined with the augmented and virtual reality environments Zuckerberg is building, but we aren’t there yet.
According to the most recent news from Meta, the test of NFT support is now available in 100 more nations, and connections for Coinbase Wallet, Dapper, and NFTs from the Flow blockchain are on the way.
As a result of the new integration, users of Reddit will be able to buy Ether from Reddit apps that support it using FTX Pay, FTX’s platform for accepting payments and managing exchanges.
Online community Reddit, which abandoned accepting Bitcoin (BTC) payments years ago, now appears to be edging closer to accepting cryptocurrency payments thanks to a new partnership with the FTX exchange.
Points serve as a unit of ownership that partly encapsulates community value. When the Community Points were introduced two years ago, Reddit stated that they could be used to purchase premium features and served as a gauge of reputation within the community. Arbitrum, one of the most popular Ethereum scaling solutions, is the foundation of Reddit Community Points.
Reddit and Sam Bankman-cryptocurrency Fried’s exchange FTX said in a joint statement on Tuesday that the platform plans to incorporate Reddit’s Community Points in the US, the EU, Australia, and other markets.
In order to enable new crypto-enabled benefits for Reddit Community Points, the partnership includes the integration of FTX Pay as a payment and cryptocurrency exchange solution. Reddit Community Points, which were introduced in May 2020, are a gauge of reputation in communities or subreddits and give users the opportunity to own a portion of their favorite communities.
Decentralized, self-sustaining blockchain technology enables us to empower communities and introduce new ways for them to use Reddit. Working with FTX allows us to accomplish this at scale, according to Niraj Sheth, a software engineer on staff at Reddit.
Bankman-Fried stated that FTX’s commitment to enabling online communities to utilize the power of blockchain is demonstrated by their partnership with Reddit. He continued, “FTX Pay’s payment and exchange infrastructure integrates with Reddit Community Points, creating a more seamless customer experience.”
What is Reddit?
Dive Into Anything
Reddit is home to thousands of communities, endless conversation, and authentic human connection. Whether you’re into breaking news, sports, TV fan theories, or a never-ending stream of the internet’s cutest animals, there’s a community on Reddit for you.
Every day, millions of people around the world post, vote, and comment in communities organized around their interests.
The biggest financial asset management company in the world is making significant investments in digital assets, starting with Bitcoin.
The largest financial asset management in the world, BlackRock, and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase have partnered to offer direct access to cryptocurrencies, starting with Bitcoin (BTC), according to a new blog post published on Thursday. Users of BlackRock’s Aladdin platform for institutional investment management will gain access to Coinbase Prime’s crypto trading, custody, prime brokerage, and reporting tools.
Offering services for trading, custody, prime financing, staking, data gathering, and reporting on more than 300 digital assets, Coinbase Prime is an institutional trading solution. The service is intended for corporate treasuries, asset allocators, financial institutions, and hedge funds. Over 13,000 users utilize Coinbase Prime.
Joseph Chalom, global head of strategic ecosystem alliances at BlackRock, responded to the news by saying:
“Customers will be able to manage their Bitcoin exposures directly in their typical portfolio management and trading operations thanks to this connection with Aladdin, which will provide a comprehensive view of risk across all asset classes.”
Institutional investors can use Coinbase Prime directly through a user interface or as an integrated platform via APIs to access products connected to cryptocurrencies like exchange-traded funds, custodial services, or brokerage services. Coinbase Custody Trust Company, the custodian for Coinbase Prime, is subject to regulation by the New York Department of Financial Services.
Recently, Coinbase has seen a wave of regulatory problems. Last month, a former manager of Coinbase was arrested in the US on accusations of insider trading. Cointelegraph reports that the former manager has since entered a not guilty plea. According to reports, the Securities and Exchange Commission is also looking into whether Coinbase permits users to trade unregistered securities in the United States.
In an exciting collaboration, Trust Wallet, the cryptocurrency wallet platform under the umbrella of Binance, has joined forces with the tech giant Meta to usher in a new era of Instagram NFTs on both the Ethereum and Polygon networks.
Enter the ‘Meta’-verse with NFTs
The groundbreaking announcement by Meta, where it revealed its plans to launch NFTs across more than 100 countries, came hot on the heels of its integration with Coinbase Wallet and Dapper Labs. Following this integration, users can seamlessly link their digital wallets to Instagram, allowing them to showcase their prized digital collections. This development follows a successful pilot program that concluded in May, with similar tests underway on Facebook, as announced by Navdeep Singh, a product manager at Meta, just last month.
The Meta development team couldn’t contain their excitement and took to Twitter to express it, stating, “We’re thrilled to have you help our communities connect in an entirely new and innovative way.”
This strategic partnership is poised to significantly bolster Trust Wallet’s capabilities in the realm of NFTs and Metaverse integration. Moreover, it aims to entice more Meta users into the world of Trust Wallet, setting the stage for the project’s future expansion.
We're proud to be a main partner wallet for the @Meta and @instagram#NFT initiative!
Despite its Metaverse business unit, Reality Labs, reporting losses of $2.8 billion in Q2 2022, following nearly $3 billion in losses in the first quarter, Meta remains unwavering in its dedication to the Metaverse. This commitment is not surprising, given that Meta kickstarted the Metaverse trend by rebranding its business in October 2021.
Trust Wallet
Trust Wallet is a user-friendly wallet and cryptocurrency application that offers access without the need for cumbersome registrations. With this decentralized wallet, users enjoy the utmost security and full control over their funds. Notably, Trust Wallet places a strong emphasis on user privacy by abstaining from storing personal data and information. One of its core objectives, as stated in its product description, is to promote global accessibility to cryptocurrencies.
Trust Wallet users gain swift access to various Decentralized Exchanges (DEX) such as UniSwap, PancakeSwap, and ApeSwap. The app is readily available for download on Google Play, iOS, and Android, making it incredibly accessible to a broad user base.
Additionally, Trust Wallet extends its support to the leading blockchains in the world of Decentralized Finance (DeFi). It offers users the capability to store up to 250,000 assets and provides support for a staggering 33 different blockchains. Trust Wallet’s unwavering commitment to offering a secure haven for a diverse range of assets continues to drive its success and popularity among cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
To learn more about Trust Wallet, visit their website
On May 10, 2022, Mark Zuckerberg’s business unveiled its plan to expand its digital asset portfolio after reporting a significant loss in its Metaverse division in Q2.
To post an NFT on Instagram, one simply needs to link their digital wallet, according to the company’s updated post. As of Thursday, third-party wallet integrations with Rainbow, MetaMask, Trust, Coinbase, and Dapper Wallet were either finished or would be soon. The supported blockchains at the moment are Flow, Polygon, and Ethereum. Posting or sharing a digital collectible on Instagram is free of charge.
Flow is a layer-1 blockchain that uses its own FLOW token as payment for participation in the network, transactions, and governance. Some notable ecosystem partners include Warner Music, Ubisoft, the National Basketball Association, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Animoca Brands, Circle, Binance, OpenSea, and now Meta.
Mark Zuckerberg announced we’re rolling out digital collectibles to 100 more countries. Now, more people, creators and businesses can showcase their #NFTs on @instagram.
According to a Thursday update to a newsroom post on Meta, the Mark Zuckerberg-led company has started to expand its nonfungible token (NFT) across 100 countries in Africa, the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and the Americas. Adding support for Coinbase Wallet and Dapper wallet connections as well as the capability to post digital collectibles created on the Flow blockchain are all included in this. Instagram, a well-known social media app, is the primary target of the initial rollout.
Digital assets seem to have joined the metaverse as one of the fundamental elements for Meta’s growth. The company’s revenue fell by 1% to $28.8 billion in the second quarter of 2022, while operating income fell by 32% to $8.36 billion during the same period. The company’s staggering $2.8 billion loss in its Metaverse division, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, didn’t bother him because there was still a chance to make “hundreds of billions” or even “trillions” of dollars as the industry develops.
What is Meta?
Their Mission
Give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.
Their products empower more than 3 billion people around the world to share ideas, offer support and make a difference.
$6 billion+ raised
By their community to support the causes they care about
200 million+ businesses
Use their apps to connect with customers and grow
140 billion+ messages shared every day
Help people stay close even when they are far apart
1 billion+ stories shared every day
Help people express themselves and connect
Their Culture
At Meta, they are constantly iterating, solving problems and working together to connect people all over the world. That’s why it’s important that their workforce reflects the diversity of the people they serve. Hiring people with different backgrounds and points of view helps them make better decisions, build better products and create better experiences for everyone.
Their Principles
Their principles are what we stand for. They are beliefs we hold deeply and make tradeoffs to pursue.
Give People a Voice
People deserve to be heard and to have a voice — even when that means defending the right of people we disagree with.
Serve Everyone
They work to make technology accessible to everyone, and their business model is ads so their services can be free.
Promote Economic Opportunity
Their tools level the playing field so businesses grow, create jobs and strengthen the economy.
Build Connection and Community
Their services help people connect, and when they’re at their best, they bring people closer together.
Keep People Safe and Protect Privacy
They have a responsibility to promote the best of what people can do together by keeping people safe and preventing harm.
The conventional film business is one of the most organized and established. Only a few film studios and streaming corporations control the majority of the worldwide film business.
On the other side, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and a growing crypto-centric community of enthusiastic filmmakers have the potential to upend the business.
While some independent projects focus on distribution, others take a look at Web3 filmmaking. The future of community-based film production and presentation is also demonstrated via decentralized streaming. NFTs’ popularity will lead the Film3 ecosystem to develop past its infancy.
Keep an eye on this developing crypto business as it gains pace, despite the fact that the trend is still in its early stages and many problems need to be worked out.
Begin the tape
Filmmaker Miguel Faus spoke about using NFTs from his short film Calladita to finance a million-dollar feature film of the same name at a panel discussion at the Cannes Film Festival in May. In 2019, Faus made his short film using fiat through traditional crowdfunding. He is currently selling tier-based NFT packages to raise money for the feature-length movie. “The proposed budget is $950,000.” We have so far raised $650,000 solely through NFT sales. According to Faus, the plan is for NFTs to cover all of the costs.
Filmmaker Mark O’Connor, who also spoke on a panel at Cannes, debuted his first Web3 distribution format during the festival: the Stalker Movie Pack, an NFT equivalent of the DVD movie pack popular in the 1990s.
In 2012, O’Connor both produced and directed the psychological suspense film Stalker. The feature film was published on DVD in Ireland in 2014 after going on to win the Underground Cinema film festival. O’Connor decided against exporting the film because he wanted it to stand entirely on its own. Eight years and a thriving NFT ecosystem later, O’Connor fully retains the intellectual property and is confident that this conventionally crowdfunded film “will be the future of how movies are delivered.”
Is it truly necessary for filmmakers to have decentralized filmmaking?
It ultimately comes down to intellectual property ownership, according to O’Connor. Web2 filmmakers frequently find themselves in situations where they lose ownership of their intellectual property. Losing possession of a film’s rights means losing access to its potential earnings.
O’Connor argues that a “waterfall system” is now in use in the sector. “When you distribute a movie in the usual method, the theatre gets 70% and the distributor takes 15% of what’s left.” Then you have to pay sales commissions and other costs,” O’Connor explains. At the end of the day, a filmmaker with a successful production may not receive a cut of the revenues.
According to Faus, filmmakers frequently establish the intellectual property and undertake all of the tough effort, only to become contractual employees temporarily tied to their own projects. “Writers and directors like myself begin with an idea, develop a whole project, write a script, do the whole thing, make the film, direct it, but end up doing all of that as work of hire for a company, or a producer, or a financier who is the actual owner of the film, and sometimes that system is not great.”
Faus thinks Web3 filmmakers may harness the strength of their communities to decentralizedly finance movies. The film is greenlit when a like-minded community rallies around it and chooses to support it. Faus adds that there are no studio executives or wealthy gatekeepers:
“Filmmakers can decide together with their community how the power of owning the IP, and the ownership of the film, is going to be used both financially and strategically.”
Where is a Web3 movie showing?
Filmmakers that seek complete ownership over their intellectual property (IP) demand a decentralized area to broadcast their productions, as well as an independent technological solution that does not benefit from the movies. Beem, according to CEO Mihai Crasneanu, does just that. “You own your own intellectual property.” “You have the keys to it, so you don’t have to rely on us,” Crasneanu explains to Magazine.
There are currently just a few online, Web3 streaming and distribution models. Beem, according to Crasneanu, was founded in 2018 and is neither a platform nor a destination. It’s essentially an end-to-end toolbox that enables content creators, distributors, or any other firm to become their own platform. “That’s why I don’t want to call ourselves a platform because we don’t want to be a destination in our own right.” Although Beem currently works with Web2 technology, filmmakers and other artists may utilize the tools to broadcast Web3 video in full HD. Creators may submit their films and have live screenings and events. Many of the Web3 sessions in Cannes were co-sponsored by Beem and livestreamed.
Creators on platforms like Beem may utilize the tools to develop online communities and make income by charging viewers to watch films in fiat or crypto, as well as token-gate access for community members who have certain NFTs in their wallets. The content producers, the filmmakers, are Beem’s customers, not the viewers. In contrast to the “waterfall system,” in which the filmmaker is at the bottom of the income food chain and is only compensated after everyone else, a filmmaker and their community should control all money streams in Web3 areas.
For distribution and exhibition, the artist and producer pay a single set of fees. Beem receives 15% of all paid broadcasts, movies, and live events. It deducts 3% of all tips, product sales, and NFT sales and/or resales. Filmmakers get branded space and emails, as well as a dedicated domain and bespoke URLs, as well as access to an admin interface and analytics. Creators can pay a monthly charge for technical assistance, a bespoke mobile app, digital rights management, geoblocking (restricting users to geographical areas), and watermarking.
Stalker will be streamed on Vabble by O’Connor. According to Vabble’s Twitter account, the site has not yet launched and is now running prizes and competitions in preparation for its beta debut later this summer. Vabble bills itself as a “Multi channel streaming entertainment platform for consumers, investors, and studios” on its website, with a complete platform launch planned within the next two years.
What will fans get out of it?
Chat streams on YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram are nothing new for live streaming events, but the possibility to debate your favorite film in real time during its premiere is unprecedented. O’Connor considers watching a movie on Web3 to be a social experience.
“You can set up a movie club. There can be Q&A after with the directors, and you can comment during the movie. So, there’s all these different features that have come along with Web3 and with crypto. I feel it’s a massive shift in the industry.”
When Vabble begins, O’Connor intends to conduct community streaming events. Fans may get the Stalker Movie Pack on Rarible till then. Members of the community will begin to get NFT drops with special features in the coming weeks. The initial drop will consist of a movie poster, with additional releases occurring every several weeks. The Movie Pack contains previously unseen posters, a “making of” documentary, and non-generative PFP characters known as The Stalkers. All of the NFTs are individually tradeable, and O’Connor wants to continue offering free NFTs and premium access drops for the foreseeable future.
Interactions between the community and the director will take place on Beem before the film’s premiere for Calladita token holders. “We’ll bring them along for the entire behind-the-scenes experience,” Faus added. Crasneanu told Magazine that for subsequent projects, community members may theoretically engage in all aspects of pre-production, production, and post-production, such as casting interviews, location scouting, and costume design.
Calladita also provides utilities and benefits to NFT holders. Tier-1 buyers pay 0.18 ETH for the NFT and get their name in the credits, a private URL to see the film, access to a private Discord server, and governance privileges to the film’s DAO. Tier-4 NFT holders get everything of the above plus an NFT mint pass for an on-set photo, a real piece of film memorabilia, and an avatar in the credits for 6 ETH.
Is the film business prepared for Film3?
According to Businesswire, “the global film and video market is well consolidated, with a small number of behemoth players operating in the market.” Large corporations such as Disney, Comcast, AT&T (Warner Media), Sony Pictures Digital, and ViacomCBS control slightly more than 35% of the total market. According to the Motion Picture Association’s 2021 Theme Report, Disney+ had eight of the top ten most-watched streaming films, while Netflix had two.
The film business is established and concentrated, to put it mildly.
Although it’s difficult to see Hollywood’s gatekeepers willingly yielding complete control of a filmmaker’s IP, Web3 components are beginning to appear in the business. Hello Sunshine, Reese Witherspoon’s production firm, just secured a partnership with NFT powerhouse World of Women to make feature films and TV programming.
Cameron Chell, co-head of Vuele, tells Magazine that the NFT collectibles platform has secured the rights to Anthony Hopkins’ upcoming thriller Zero Contact. According to James Hickey, team lead at Moviecoin, the Web3 streaming network largely sponsored Russell Crowe’s Prizefighter: The Life of Jem Belcher. Decentralized Pictures, a Web3 branch of Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope, is always on the lookout for fresh talent and sponsoring new projects. Leo Matchett, a Technology and Engineering Emmy Award winner, American Zoetrope vice president Michael Musante, and Coppola’s son Roman are among the platform’s co-founders.
In addition, according to a 2020 Forbes study, “digital IDs, powered by blockchain encrypted biometrically validated tech, will be the standard” for the largest entertainment providers. It is believed that digital IDs might assist mega-streamers like Netflix, which loses over $12 billion each year owing to password sharing.
Furthermore, Reuters reported on April 5 that WarnerMedia’s recently departed CEO Jason Kilar believes the industry’s future is tied to blockchain. “The future of Hollywood is in the Blockchain,” Kilar said in a letter to the news source. In a follow-up interview, Kilar told Reuters, “I think it’s [NFTs] going to be a possible wave that’s going to be coming to Hollywood, in the same way that the DVD wave came to Hollywood in the ’90s.”
Will today’s blockchain pioneers push back if Film3 finally makes an impact and catches the full attention of all the streaming and studio behemoths? Will they relinquish complete control over the artist’s intellectual property and embrace a decentralized future? It’s difficult to say, but the Web3 community is undeniably optimistic. Crasneanu arrived in Cannes with low expectations:
“I was expecting a very low level of interest from the traditional filmmakers present at Cannes, and mostly indifference or criticism at best.”
People, according to Crasneanu, were more interested, open-minded, and willing to explore. Traditional industry players, according to Crasneau, were “excited to investigate, to find out what can be done in Web3 with filmmaking, in all aspects of film creation, production, and distribution.”
The Last Airbender is one of the most well-known animes even though it was first released 17 years ago. Both adults and kids love this television series. Avatar, for instance, shot to the top of the charts in the US once it was made available on Netflix.
Funko and Paramount Studios made the announcement on June 29th, 2021, about their collaboration for the introduction of non-fungible tokens based on The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.
Avatar Legend NFTs, which will debut on August 9 at 11 AM Pacific Time, feature figures from both animated series, including Zuko, Azula, Katara, and Sokka. The Avatar Legends x Funko Series 1 Digital Pop! is the official name for this collaboration.
The said digital cards would be sold on the Droppp website.
This NFT market is only for collectibles related to pop culture and is safe and easy to use. Since the web3 store runs on it, the Series 1 Digital Pop NFTs will function on the carbon-free WAX blockchain.
Total NFTs produced by the collaboration will total 625000. The virtual cards will include the Avatar characters’Funko bobbleheads, as was already mentioned. Two main packs — a standard pack and a premium pack — will be available when the series debuts.
The possibility of obtaining the actual bobblehead figuremakes this announcement even more exciting, based on the news.
“Each pack of Digital Pops provides the chance for you to reveal one of the unique Funko Digital Pops! Upon opening, which may then be exchanged for a no-cost, limited-edition physical vinyl collectible.
The cost of the latter will be $29.99 compared to the standard pack’s approximately $9.99 per package.
It should be noted that these physical bobbleheads of Avatar characters won’t be sold in Funko Pop shops. Instead, the NFT packs are the only way to obtain this wave.
What is Funko?
Funko (NASDAQ: FNKO) is a leading pop culture lifestyle brand. We provide connection to pop culture with a product line that includes vinyl figures, action toys, plush, apparel, board games, housewares, NFTs and accessories. As the world’s largest proprietor of licenses, entertainment enthusiasts display their fandom through the lens of Funko products.
Before working with Paramount, the company, which was founded in 1998, already published a number of NFT collections. One of these is the 2021 release of Star Trek Digital NFTs. There were 120 different iterations of these virtual collectibles, which featured models of James T. Kirk, Scotty, Spock, and other movie characters.
Furthermore, Funko and DC collaborated to launch a digital card series in May 2022 that featured the most well-known superheroes from the studio. In keeping with the previous series’ spirit, Paramount Studios will assist Funko in releasing yet another NFT series.
An ApeSwapdeveloper claims that the DEX wants to expand “to services previously reserved for centralized exchanges.”
Introducing Perpetual Features: ApeSwap
ApeSwap integrated the exclusive customizable DEX derivatives engine created by ApolloX in order to make its newest feature available to its community. Any blockchain protocol can use the engine to add derivatives trading to their platforms, with ApolloX’s trading infrastructure providing backend support. Users will be able to use the pro trading feature starting at 22:00 UTC on July 27, as ApeSwap stated via Twitter on July 26.
Days after launching the Stage 2 upgrade of its Decentralized Exchange (DEX), ApeSwap is getting ready to introduce a new product to its user base. A few hours from now, the well-known Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocol’s Pro trading feature, which enables the trading of perpetual futures on its platform, will go live.
ApeSwap has been one of the top decentralized finance platforms on the BNB Chain in the past. On July 22, ApeSwap stated in a Medium post that one of its top priorities is to make DeFi accessible to its users. A prominent team member was reached by BSC News and provided some insight into ApeSwap’s long-term dedication to decentralized finance:
With these developments, Scott, Senior Fullstack Developer at ApeSwap, said, “We’re excited to expand our offering and bring perpetual futures to a larger market alongside ApolloX. Expanding to services reserved solely for centralized exchanges takes us one bit closer to bringing DeFi to the masses and enables ApeSwap to be a full DeFi Hub for users.
With such an advancement, ApeSwap had also been added to the list of well-known BNB Chain decentralized protocols that provide derivatives trading services through ApolloX, including PancakeSwap and BabySwap.
According to the new trend, decentralized platforms are starting to offer services that were previously only available on centralized platforms. It’s time for the ApeSwap community to get ready for a fresh DeFi journey.
What is ApeSwap?
ApeSwap is a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform offering a full suite of tools to explore and engage with the future of wealth building, overseen by the ApeSwap Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO).
Their community and partners can tap into the next generation of financial innovation through their decentralized exchange, utility token staking, premium launchpad, lending network, and NFT projects in a secure, transparent, and globally accessible way.
