Category: Blockchain

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Blockchain NFTs

Fox Entertainment Invests $100 Million Into Its NFT Platform Content Creation

TV and film company Fox Entertainment has officially launched its new NFT business unit and backed its entry into the blockchain-driven market by establishing a US$100 million creator fund.

In a press release issued on June 15, Fox and its animation studio Bento Box Animation announced the launch of Blockchain Creative Labs:

Blockchain Creative Labs will provide content creators, IP owners and advertising partners end-to-end blockchain computer ecosystem solutions to build, launch, manage and sell NFT content and experiences, and fungible tokens, as well as digital goods and assets.

Fox press release

Expansion of the NFT Space

The $100 million content fund will be used to “identify growth opportunities in the NFT space”, and will be managed by Blockchain Creative Labs.

CEO of Bento Box Entertainment, Scott Greenberg, will pull double-duty as CEO of the new NFT-focused studio and report to Fox Entertainment boss Charlie Collier. Collier stated:

The emergence of blockchain technology has given birth to a new marketplace that is a natural extension of Bento Box’s talents; one that allows the team to support, elevate and reward innovators and artists in new and creatively exciting ways. Our new company, Blockchain Creative Labs, also under Scott [Greenberg] and Bento Box, will help shape and grow the fast-evolving world of creatively-led digital goods and tokens.   

Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier

The Blockchain Gets Animated

In May 2021, Fox Entertainment flagged that its NFT studio would create a dedicated digital marketplace for its upcoming animated comedy, Krapopolis, from Emmy Award-winning creator Dan Harmon. 

Krapopolis is the first animated show “curated entirely on the Blockchain”

Blockchain Creative Labs will “manage and sell digital Krapopolis goods, including NFTs of one-of-a-kind characters and background art and GIFs, as well as tokens that provide exclusive social experiences to engage and reward fans”.

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Australia Blockchain ChainLink

Congruent Labs Makes Cybersecurity Affordable For All With Chainlink Oracles

From its offices in Canberra, Congruent Labs has been working on a cybersecurity solution that will allow small businesses to ensure their data is kept safe.

Affordable and Easy To Use

According to Timothy Quinn – co-founder and managing director of Congruent Labs – the idea for the project came about when his team noticed the prohibitively high costs of cybersecurity solutions.

We’re building the future of cybersecurity, identity and privacy, all bundled into one. Back in 2017, our team was tired of seeing the high costs and complexities in the cybersecurity industry, which made it almost impossible for any person or business to easily secure themselves. We wanted to make online security affordable and accessible – so we did.

Timothy Quinn, MD, Congruent

Chainlink oracles help off-chain data to find its way onto the blockchain, where it can benefit from the top-level security offered by Chainlink labs – security used by many highly respected DeFi projects such as AAVE.

In Congruent’s case, the Chainlink integration will be used to check large payments, and to check whether the receiver of information about to be transferred has the right level of clearance.

This cutting-edge technology in the world of security will ensure we can provide a zero-trust payment, authentication, and authorisation so online platforms can reduce the cost of compliance and payments management. These systems will operate using common standards through a series of smart contracts and public off-chain systems.

Timothy Quinn

Congruent will integrate Chainlink oracles with their token, $SATA (Signata), which aims to protect your information from companies with invasive methods of collecting your personal information.

Congruent also plans to create further $SATA-related projects, such as Signata MFA and Signata Crypto – among other cybersecurity projects not necessarily related to blockchain.

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Blockchain DeFi Ethereum

Amazon Is Hiring Blockchain Experts To Expand into DeFi

A job ad from Amazon, America’s largest digital retailer, has hinted at the company’s move into the decentralised finance (DeFi) market.

Are you passionate about blockchain and decentralised networks and their potential to transform how people, companies, and governments transact?  

Amazon job ad

The listing, featured on jobsite LinkedIn, seeks a ‘Head of Product, Blockchain’ who can apply blockchain for a range of use cases, including DeFi, as part of the Amazon Managed Blockchain (AMB) team.

Amazon’s job ad on LinkedIn

The position description states: 

The candidate will have a track record delivering outstanding products at scale in emerging spaces, and is passionate about blockchain, distributed systems and cloud scale software. Ideally you will have experience delivering products or innovations in the blockchain space, and in particular DeFi or Traditional Financial Services.

As well as a computer science degree and more than 10 years’ experience, the job ad lists preferred qualifications including experience in blockchain applications Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric.

Does a Blockchain Hire Signal an Amazon-Branded Crypto?

Given the increasing value of the DeFi industry, it makes sense that the e-commerce heavy hitter wants a slice of the action. 

Amazon’s recruitment of a blockchain product manager is driving speculation about exactly how the company will apply DeFi – whether accepting cryptos as payment or creating its own digital currency and exchange.  

The AMB team leverages blockchain for use cases “across DeFi, Supply Chain, Financial Services, Identity and more”, and it seems the new hire will play an important role in shaping Amazon’s approach to DeFi. As the ad says:

We are looking for an experienced product leader to drive the vision, roadmap, feature definition and go-to-market strategy of the AWS [Amazon Web Services] product offering across the rapidly evolving and broad landscape of blockchain technology and use cases.

What appears to be a move to do more in the DeFi space could help Amazon stay ahead of rivals like Cudos, a decentralised cloud computing network, which launched its private testnet in May.

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Blockchain Crypto News DeFi Ethereum NFTs

Solana is Raising Up To $450 Million to Challenge Ethereum

Solana is challenging Ethereum’s lion’s share of the decentralised applications market after rumours emerged it will receive a funding injection of between US$300-450 million.

Solana is making real progress towards positioning itself as the preferred blockchain on which the next generation of dApps are built, powering DeFi, NFTs and gaming. We also saw recently that SOL was listed on Coinbase Pro, which also boosts its tradability.

While Ethereum has struggled to meet the booming demand in the market as increased adoption has resulted in painfully slow transaction wait times and soaring gas prices, the current congestion issues have opened up the space for new contenders.

Solana website

Cheaper, Faster and Highly Scalable

Solana’s open-source proof-of-stake blockchain aims to solve the traffic bottleneck on the Ethereum network. Solana’s advanced scalability offers dApps built on its blockchain lightning-fast performance at significantly cheaper costs to those built on Ethereum. Currently, Solana can handle more than 50,000 transactions per second, while Ethereum averages only 10-15 transactions per second. On its website, Solana boasts a low average fee of only $0.00025 per transaction.

The funding round for Solana was due to close in March but was extended due to strong interest. Solana has not released an official statement but, in a recent interview, executives did not deny it, commenting:

This information wasn’t shared by our team …We won’t be able to assist with any additional commentary around this as it’s not officially being released by Solana.

Solana spokesperson

According to Forbes, if the rumoured sum raised amounts to even $300 million, that would place it in the top six venture capital rounds in crypto and blockchain to date. It will be interesting to see if Solana comes under scrutiny from the SEC, who may deem the SOL tokens as securities and thus subject to regulatory challenges.

Learn more about the Solana project on the Solana Podcast.

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Bitcoin Blockchain Cryptocurrencies

Top 5 Funny Moments At The Bitcoin 2021 Conference In Miami

Bitcoin Conference 2021 – held in Miami, Florida on June 4-5 to discuss Bitcoin – had its share of funny moments, which were as usual more like Miami Zoo than Miami conference.

Here are some of this year’s highlights!

#1 Max Keiser Had A Message For Musk

Following a couple of tweets that Elon contributed to the falling price of Bitcoin, many fans of Bitcoin weren’t all that happy about his antics.

Max Keiser started his session with Michael Saylor with a heartfelt and explicit message to Elon.

#2 Dogecoin Fan Storms The Stage

One of the fans of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin took the opportunity to create some mayhem, storming the stage to shed his business suit to reveal a danceworthy doge outfit.

Twitter user @maxotg, whose bio has been updated to “Yes I’m the Dogecoin dude”, took the responsibility – or credit, depending how you look at it – for the stunt.

#3 Floyd Mayweather Shills His Coin – EthereumMax

EthereumMax (EMAX) is a relatively small Ethereum-based cryptocurrency that sponsored Floyd Mayweather in his June 6 fight against YouTuber and boxer Logan Paul, since described in at least one report as “the easiest $150 million ever made”. Although it’s unknown whether the terms of Mayweather’s contract included showing up at the conference wearing a shirt promoting EMAX, he did – after which he changed into a shirt spruiking his own jewellery business.

#4 Dumpster Diving and Bolivar Baths

Venezuela has been blighted by hyperinflation for five years now, which has led many Venezuelans to adopt cryptocurrencies as hedges against it.

Cake Wallet, an open-source crypto wallet popular among Monero users, took the opportunity for a publicity stunt involving dumpster bins full of Venezuelan Bolivars.

The marketing campaign seems to have worked, judging by the number of fresh profile pics among attendees of this year’s conference.

Although the next crypto conference may go relatively smoothly, stunts such as these are no rare event at these gatherings – so stay tuned for the next round of pranks.

#5 Funny Moments At Other Conferences

For this last one let’s take a look at some of the other crypto conferences’ funny moments.

Carlos Matos and the legendary Bitconnect Conference

EDCON 2019 – Vitalik and Ethereum Foundation dance and rap

Hope you had a laugh, we certainly did!

Categories
Blockchain Press Release Recruitment

Bigturn Brings Blockchain to Australia’s International Recruitment & Migration Industry

With over 13 years of experience in the international recruitment/migration industry, BigTurn HR has been filling critical skills shortages in regional locations in Australia. Through sourcing skilled migrant workers from across the globe, they help skilled workers fulfil their goals for working and living in Australia,and help sponsor businesses find the best suited employees.

BigTurn HR is taking the steps to introduce visa streamlining to the digital world. Bigturn plans to develop a blockchain technology for migration services used to verify document authenticity and create a secure system for storage. This system will ensure safe and secure handling of documents and ensures protection from any mishandling or malpractice. This system will also provide streamlining of tailored visa advice, which will be delivered via A.I to provide detailed and prompt information regarding visa choice and timelines. The A.I system will also ensure the migration advice is legitimate, transparent, and follows all rules and regulations.

Furthermore, this platform will include the use of smart contracts, which will be utilized to help protect migrants from fraud or malpractice. The system will also answer accreditation issues of documents such as qualifications. The blockchain platform will provide an online currency system which eliminates the problems that arise from international exchange rates. People from all over the world will be able to pay via an app on their phone. With this currency system, there will be no need to experience the arduous process of transferring money.

Bigturn’s innovative technology will surely shake up the international recruitment and migration industry. By ensuring security, safety, and protection by the blockchain technology, Bigturn will leave you asking – why has this not existed before?

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Blockchain Crypto News Digital Asset Mining

Daymak is Making Electric Cars That Can Mine Cryptocurrency With Green Energy

Canadian personal Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs) manufacturer Daymak is building a unique series of electric cars dubbed “Spiritus” that can reportedly mine Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, according to a June 1 announcement.  

Daymak Spiritus is more than a car.

Aldo Baiocchi, President of Daymak

Even Parked Cars Will Be Able to Mine Bitcoin

As Daymak explained, Spiritus will be the first-ever electric car to incorporate a cryptocurrency wallet and mining hardware. Each electric car will function as a node on a blockchain, equipped with the company’s proprietary digital wallet and GPU miner. Spiritus will be able to mine cryptocurrencies with eco-friendly energy even when parked or plugged in. 

We envision a future where your highway tolls, your parking, and your drive-thru order will be paid directly on the fly with crypto. Your online bills and your banking can be handled through the same software platform paid in crypto.

Spiritus electric cars will be launched in the next two years and can be pre-ordered with popular digital currencies including Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum and Cardano. 

Auto Industry Slowly Warming to Crypto and Blockchain

The automobile industry has been advancing towards cryptocurrency recently, as seen with many dealerships and Tesla, which has previously supported Bitcoin payments for electric cars. However, Daymak’s announcement of Spiritus is probably the farthest an automaker has gone towards embracing the future of crypto technology.

Blockchain, the technology behind cryptocurrencies, is also being used by automakers like Volvo to trace cobalt used in car batteries.

In February this year, the founder and CEO of Elrond, Beniamin Mincu, pitched to Elon Musk how Elrond blockchain networks could improve transactions involving self-driving Tesla vehicles.

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Blockchain Crypto News Google

Polygon Blockchain Datasets Now Available on Google Cloud For Analysis

Polygon Google BigQuery
Polygon Google BigQuery

Ethereum layer 2 scaling solution Polygon, in an effort to make cryptocurrency data more transparent, has made its data freely available on Google’s BigQuery tool.

BigQuery is one of the most popular data analytics platforms worldwide. The platform makes it simple to query on-chain data in a simple, organised manner on the cloud using standard SQL syntax. The platform enables you to perform the same or similar queries on multiple blockchains at once and compare them, or track cross-chain activity on interoperable tokens.

Some of the key figures that can be determined using BigQuery:

  • Track gas costs over time
  • Monitor a smart contract’s calls and activity
  • Check the number of monthly active addresses on the Polygon Chain blockchain
  • Integrate with traditional financial record processing systems
  • Determine the most active/popular tokens, contracts, or applications on Polygon
  • Audit groups of transactions

This public dataset is included in BigQuery’s 1TB/month of free tier processing. This means that each user receives 1TB of free BigQuery processing every month, which can be used to run queries on this public blockchain dataset.

By making this data set freely available, it allows any individual to carry out specific analysis with on-chain data to derive custom insights. In the bigger picture, by having this data available it shows clear transparency to what the state of the blockchain is and the various important performance metrics that one might want to use to gain insight into the ecosystem.

Polygon Carving Out Their Spot

Formerly known as Matic, Polygon has seen explosive growth in the last six months in daily active users, transactions, and total value locked (TVL). The growth accelerated after major DeFi projects like Aave, SushiSwap, Curve, 1inch Network, and others decided to expand to Polygon – attracting plenty of Ethereum users and billions of dollars worth of liquidity. The platform was also recently the recipient of an undisclosed investment from billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban.

Google’s Cloud division has collaborated with other cryptocurrency projects like Chainlink and Theta Network in the past. Both projects used Google Cloud for their computing needs.

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Blockchain Crypto News NFTs

Gary Vee Launched “VeeFriends” NFT Platform

Gary Vee NFT VeeFriends
Gary Vee NFT VeeFriends https://www.garyvaynerchuk.com/how-to-buy-your-first-veefriends/

Gary Vaynerchuk, better known as Gary Vee, launched an NFT platform which he plans to use in order to offer fans something more than other NFT creators.

All artworks were created by Gary himself, and focus on human traits that Gary holds in high esteem.

NFTs Can Be More Than Just Art

Offering 10,225 NFTs and powered by Nameless, VeeFriends NFTs will be adding extra utility to the artwork sold on the platform. For instance, some NFTs will give you access to VeeCon in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Gary Vee is an entrepreneur who, during his career, has made many investments in companies such as Uber, Snapchat, Venmo and Coinbase. After the creation – and subsequent selling – of successful food industry companies Resy and Empathy Wines, he currently focuses on his company VaynerX.

Offering SEO and marketing services to various high-profile companies, VaynerX is a respected name in the industry – whose creator has become well-known for his hands-on approach to social interaction. With his new platform VeeFriends, he attempts to reshape the way NFTs are used in order to fit his vision.

I have always been about building businesses and creating value for my community – this NFT project allows me to do both. When I saw this macro human trend the only way for me to help others understand it was to be a part of it. I know that NFTs will be here for the rest of my life and I will be actively consulting, investing and advising in this space and I wanted to do it from actually being on the field – doing it myself. I have always believed in being a practitioner of the craft I believe in.

Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO and Creator of VeeFriends [source]

The VeeFriends NFTs can be purchased using MetaMask, Portis, and WalletConnect compatible wallets.

Part of the income sourced from the sale of these NFTs will be going to various charities supported by Gary Vee.

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Blockchain Crypto News VeChain

672,938 lbs of Plastic Waste Removed from the Ocean, Verified by VeChain Blockchain

VeChain ReSea Project Muara Baru Jakarta
VeChain ReSea Project Muara Baru Jakarta https://www.dnv.com/news/resea-project-is-the-2nd-organization-certified-to-dnv-gl-s-reclaimed-plastic-traceability-standard-197214

VeChain blockchain technology is being used by a Danish ocean and river cleaning company operating in Indonesia. The community-driven project called ReSea will now be able to assure traceability and integrity for the waste removed and all the steps that follow.

The project certification is aimed at the collection of plastic by the community and then delivery to waste deposits. ReSea is the community-driven project, that uses VeChain technology for data collection and traceability, which is done according to DNV GL’s Chain of Custody standard to show compliance.

The significant ongoing cleanup around the world creates a growing market need to provide trust and transparency in claims. An independent third party like us can verify the origin and traceability of recovered plastic against established requirements in the standard. For ReSea Project, certification of its traceability system assures transparency of its entire plastic collection process,

Antonio Astone, Global Service Manager Assurance and Supply Chain in DNV GL [source]

VeChain’s Part In The Project

VeChain’s ToolChain platform will be utilised with its associated mobile app in order to collect, store, and monitor data at specified control points in the collection process. This will aid in the real-time validation of plastic collected by the initiative and securely the data on the blockchain.

The certification verifies the plastic extraction and quantities, which helps ensure fair compensation to the local collection cleanup team, like the local fishermen involved, and provides transparency into the collection process

Antonio Astone, Global service manager Assurance and Supply Chain in DNV GL[source]

The high level of traceability provides proof of the plastic’s source and authenticity certified by an independent third-party (DNV GL) allows anyone to trace the plastic from its extraction point and view its journey to the waste bank. Through this a window is created where partners can see verified metrics of the efforts to keep oceans and rivers plastic free.

Here is just one of the examples of how blockchain technology can be leveraged to help solve environmental issues, offering a different perspective after recent concerns related to Bitcoin network power demands. By working with communities and empowering the individuals that live within them, projects like these can help better understand and rehabilitate scarred ecologies.