From social media to race cars and video games, big institutions aren’t the only ones getting in on the crypto action…
Instagram to Launch Polygon-based NFTs
Meta announced that it’s preparing to launch an Instagram marketplace for NFTs. Instagram is partnering with Polygon for the rollout.
So far, Instagram is testing the marketplace with a small group of American creators. Expansions will include a winder market in North America and around the world.
Meta relies on creators for the success of their platforms. Their overall strategy is to encourage creators by postponing charging fees in the new digital collectible marketplace until 2024.
According to Meta’s commerce fintech and web3 lead, “A creator economy potentially worth $100 billion cannot be realized without a digital economy with greater portability than today’s web services.”
Meta support is now also live for Solana’s Phantom wallet. Information for collections from OpenSea is now accessible on the platform.
INSTITUTIONAL CRYPTO NEWS
Fidelity & Apollo Expand Their Crypto Offerings
Fidelity has opened a waiting list for its new Fidelity Crypto trading app capabilities. Alongside traditional stock investments, Fidelity is launching commission-free trading of bitcoin and ether all within its app. The company is evaluating other cryptocurrencies for possible future expansion.
The Fidelity Digital Assets unit is backing the new retail-oriented product. Rather than charging a commission, Fidelity Crypto will factor in a 1% charge into every trade execution price. A launch date has not yet been announced for the but we’ll be watching for more news with interest.
Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm, is partnering with crypto custodian platform Anchorage Digital to expand its crypto offering.
Anchorage is a federally chartered crypto bank in the United States and will be responsible for storing the majority of the digital assets on behalf of Apollo.
NFT NEWS
Video Games, Racing Cars, Game of Thrones
GameStop’s NFT marketplace is now live. While the company’s video game stores may be on the decline, with the new marketplace, GameStop could become a major player in the NFT gaming industry. The new marketplace is live on Immutable X, a Layer 2 Ethereum scaling protocol.
The marketplace video game assets will include Gods Unchained, Guild of Guardians, Illuvium, and other web3 games. For the moment, there will be no fees for transactions on the platform and GameStop is offering carbon-neutral minting via Immutable X’s Ethereum scaling.
The only American-owned FIA Formula 1 World Championship team, Haas F1 Team, has announced a partnership with OpenSea NFT marketplace. The team will be launching branded NFTs and other cross-promotions during race events. The OpenSea logo will also now appear on the Haas F1 Team VF-22 series cars.
Warner Bros. Discovery is continuing its crypto campaigns, this time with the Game of Thrones franchise. The new collection of NFT avatars is entitled, “Game of Thrones: Build Your Realm.” Other forays into NFTs have included The Lord of the Rings, DC Comics, and Looney Tunes.
Final Fantasy and Tomb Raider video games creator Square Enix has unveiled its first game incorporating NFTs, entitled Symbiogenesis. The Japanese company is describing the game as a “digital collectible art experience”, which incorporates NFT artwork that functions within the game. The NFT art can also be used for social media profile pictures (PFP). The brand new IP is tentatively set to launch on Ethereum in Spring 2023.
GOVERNMENT CRYPTO NEWS
Singapore Tokenized Voucher Initiative
Singapore is preparing to launch an intriguing pilot project issuing purpose-bound money-based vouchers. The purpose of the initiative is to enable brick-and-mortar retail establishments to obtain instant settlements, payments, and collections through customer usage of vouchers. The idea is to increase cash flow for retail businesses while saving time on administrative backend tasks. The vouchers will be issued using tokenized Singapore dollars on a blockchain.
The initiative is being spearheaded by a tech team within the Singapore government called Open Government Products, which has partnered with Singapore financial services group DBS. DBS will issue digital Singapore dollars while Open Government Products will support smart contract capabilities.
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