1. GameStop launches its long-awaited NFT marketplace.
On Monday (July 11th), GameStop announced the official launch of its NFT
marketplace. The new marketplace allows “gamers, creators, collectors, and other
community members to buy, sell and trade NFTs.”
GameStop’s NFT marketplace is a “non-custodial, Ethereum Layer 2-based
marketplace” that enables parties to “truly own their digital assets”, which are
“represented and secured” on the Ethereum blockchain.
In February, GameStop announced a $100 million partnership with fellow NFT platform
Immutable X, in an effort to bootstrap its new marketplace and offer grants to NFT
creators.
The marketplace launch comes at a time of big changes within the company’s
leadership. Just five days prior, GameStop announced the hiring of a new CFO, Diana
Saadeh-Jajeh.
GameStop ($GME) stock price is up 6% since the new marketplace launched - GME is
currently trading at $138.
2. Web3 Identity Passports are coming to a blockchain near you.
On Tuesday (July 12th) the Web3 Identity Passport Network, Quadrata, announced a
$7.5 million funding round led by blockchain-focused venture capital firm, Dragonfly
Capital.
The seed funds will allow Quadrata to “grow its ecosystem” and offer the Quadrata
Passport to “millions of blockchain users”.
In March, Quadrata partnered with consumer credit reporting agency TransUnion to
create a “native on-chain reputation score” that rewards users for “good behavior”, i.e.
having good credit.
Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly Capital said,
“In the current web3 ecosystem, identity is the holy grail problem that remains
unsolved. Many projects are starting to take steps to ensure that their users are
real people rather than bots, and Quadrata serves this need.”
The Quadrata NFT Passport automatically syncs user identity and “reputation-based
data” across multiple blockchain networks, including Ethereum and Polygon.
The passport helps to “mitigate the risk” of bots pretending to be humans, and expose
“anonymous founders” as potential bad actors.
CEO and co-founder of Quadrata Fabrice Cheng said,
“Partnering with a web3-native fund was a key consideration during our funding
round. Given Dragonfly Capital’s proven success with major players in the space,
we are thrilled to have them as a strategic advisor leading our investment round.”
3. The Celsius Network reclaimed 400,000 staked-Ether from an Aave loan.
On Tuesday (July 12th), crypto lender Celsius paid off a $63.5 million dollar loan to
Aave, a DeFi lending and borrowing protocol.
According to the etherscan wallet titled Celsius Network: Wallet 11 - which tracks 24
addresses that are attributed to the company - the loan repayment was made across
three transactions, and reduced Celsius' debt position on Aave to roughly $8.4 million
dollars.
The payments allowed Celsius to access 400,000 staked-Ether tokens, worth $417
million, that it had pledged as collateral against the Aave loan.
Celsius, which at one point managed over $20 billion of client deposits, has been
winding down its DeFi positions over the past several weeks - as speculation swirls that
the company may soon file for bankruptcy.
According to information from crypto data tracker Zapper, Celsius still owes roughly $59
million to DeFi protocols.
If the company pays off its remaining debt, it will add another $227 million in collateral to
its bankroll.
Celsius ($CEL) is down 24% over the past 30-days and is currently trading at $0.72.
4. Shanghai Government drafts Metaverse plan to reach $52 Billion by 2025.
A policy paper released by the Shanghai city government outlined its strategy to build a
metaverse industry worth 350 billion yuan (or $52 billion dollars) by the end of 2025.
The paper reports that Shanghai is looking at "strengthening cutting-edge technological
breakthroughs," with a focus on “virtual reality headsets, chips, cloud computing and 5G
technology”.
According to a press conference held by Shanghai government officials on Friday, this
new initiative includes “backing the development of low-carbon projects and smart
terminal industries” and is expected to “become a starting point for accelerating
economic recovery”.
Wu Jincheng, head of Shanghai’s Economy and Information Technology Committee
said at Friday’s press conference,
“[Industries] such as the metaverse and smart terminals are expected to
constantly spur new business schemes and models. [These would] give rise to
‘killer’ applications and popular products, releasing huge market value.”
Financing from the proposal will help the Shanghai government foster “10 leading
companies” to compete on an international level - and “100 small-sized” companies that
will master metaverse technologies.
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