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Fashion Metaverse NFTs The Sandbox Tokens

Gucci Moves into Sandbox Metaverse to ‘Host Immersive Experiences’

Gucci has announced plans to expand into The Sandbox metaverse. The luxury brand has bought an undisclosed quantity of lands within the virtual world in a project labelled Gucci Vault, and is seeking to appeal to Generation Z with the move.

Step Inside the Gucci Vault

The announcement accompanies a February 10 Twitter post introducing the Gucci Vault, which Gucci describes as an experimental space and is the brainchild of the company’s creative director, Alessandro Michele. Fans have already responded positively to Gucci’s corporate metaverse involvement:

In a blatant pitch to Gen Z, The Sandbox has stated that Gucci’s new endeavour is “inspired by childhood memories” and hopes to stimulate the conversation surrounding the metaverse and the designer fashion industry’s future. The company’s plans to enter the metaverse follow its mid-2021 release of a non-fungible token (NFT) collection.

The Gucci Vault Instagram account is up and running and while its posts remain cryptic, it is said that the project will also be a means for Gucci to sell vintage pieces alongside those from other notable designers. If you’d like to learn more about the Gucci Vault, the official Discord channel is now live.

Sandbox Moves from Strength to Strength

Gucci is not The Sandbox’s first partnership. The Ethereum-based game announced a collaboration last month with Warner Bros to launch the first music-themed metaverse. Purchasing lands within the game will allow the company to develop a musical theme park and concert venue.

https://www.sandbox.game/en/about/land/
The Sandbox lands description. Source: The Sandbox

The Sandbox token (SAND) skyrocketed at the end of 2021 as Facebook’s announcement of its rebranding to Meta had a butterfly effect on the industry. While the price of SAND is currently sitting at around A$6.25, further brand involvement could see it continue to rise.

By Lauren Claxton, Crypto News Guest Author

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Crypto News Social media

Twitter is Decentralising Social Media in Project ‘Bluesky’

Twitter’s plan to create a decentralised social web has progressed with the recruitment of a project lead. Software engineer Jay Graber will take the helm of Bluesky, which is actively recruiting additional developers.

CEO Jack Dorsey said that Graber’s appointment would speed up work to decentralise Twitter:

Graber’s career history includes software development on two crypto-based products: supply chain security and tracking platform Skuchain; and digital currency Zcash. She also founded Happening (happening.net), a site for social event creation and invitations.

Announcing her role in the Bluesky initiative, Graber said:

Over the past year, I’ve been working closely with a group of thinkers and builders from the decentralised social ecosystem. We published an ecosystem review in January, and my next step will be hiring for the Bluesky team.

Jay Graber, Bluesky project lead

What is Bluesky About?  

Back in 2019, Dorsey announced that Twitter would fund a small team to develop an open and decentralised standard for social media with the goal that Twitter would become a client of the standard. 

That idea become Bluesky, which states on its website that it will develop and drive the adoption of decentralised technologies to “re-build” the social web and return control of the social experience to users.

Throughout 2020-21, Twitter brought together people from different parts of the decentralisation community via a virtual forum to discuss the purpose and direction of Bluesky, and develop an ecosystem review. 

While the Bluesky entity is still being set up, it will operate independently from Twitter. 

Other recent examples of how decentralised networks are putting users in control include Dtravel, a platform that facilitates home-sharing, and cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift’s historic move to become fully decentralised, evolving into a community-owned platform.

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Bitcoin Crypto News

Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey Donates 1 BTC to Non-profit to Support Developers

Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey Donates 1 BTC to Non-profit to Support Developers

Again, the tech billionaire and CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, has demonstrated his strong support for the development of Bitcoin (BTC). On Tuesday, he donated Bitcoin to Brink, a non-profit organization focused on funding BTC developers. This is coming a few days after Dorsey teamed with Shawn Corey Carter (a.k.a Jay Z), to launch a new endowment trust aimed at funding the cryptocurrency developers in different countries in Africa, including India.

Brink Receives Over $45K Donation From Twitter CEO

The non-profit organization announced the development on Twitter, saying that Dorsey donated 1 BTC in support of their BTC developers funding efforts. “Honored to have received a 1 BTC donation to our developer funding efforts from none other than @jack!,” Brink precisely wrote. The organization actually holds a 503(c)(3) non-profit status from the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This means they don’t have to pay tax on the cryptocurrency received.

At the time of writing, one Bitcoin was worth US$47,149. This fund will be committed to further strengthen the development of Bitcoin, as Brinks pledged on its website:

“Brink exists to strengthen the Bitcoin protocol and network through fundamental research and development, and to support the Bitcoin developer community through funding, education, and mentoring.”

Dorsey: A Big-time Bitcoin Supporter

Unarguably, the CEO of Twitter is one of biggest individuals quietly supporting the development of Bitcoin around the world. Following his partnership with the American rapper, he precisely raised about 500 BTC to fund Bitcoin developers in Indian and Africa countries. These coins would be worth over $23.5 million in today’s price.

It might also interest you to know that Jack Dorsey recently set-up his own Bitcoin node, and so, he’s now among the active persons who are helping to keep the crypto network more secure, as Crypto News Australia reported.

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Bitcoin Crypto News

Twitter is Considering Adding Bitcoin to its Balance Sheet

Twitter is Considering Adding Bitcoin to its Balance Sheet

Following the news on Tesla’s US$1.5 billion Bitcoin buy, many industry players like Galaxy Digital’s Mike Novogratz forecasted that several CEOs and CFOs would consider adding the cryptocurrency to their reserve. Well, it’s already happening! Popular social media platform, Twitter, is considering adding Bitcoin to its balance sheet, according to the chief financial officer or CFO, Ned Segal. This should be another catalyst for the cryptocurrency to increase in market value, owing to Twitter’s popularity.

Twitter Considers Buying Bitcoin

As Segal told CNBC in an interview on Wednesday, they are contemplating whether to add Bitcoin to Twitter’s balance sheet. The CFO also noted that they have been thinking about how the social media vendors and workers can be paid with the cryptocurrency, should they request such payment. So, Twitter is more likely to purchase BTC as part of its treasury reserve as soon as the employees and vendors ask for it.

Segal’s precisely stated: 

“We’ve done a lot of the upfront thinking to consider how we might pay employees should they ask to be paid in bitcoin, how we might pay a vendor if they asked to be paid in bitcoin, and whether we need to have bitcoin on our balance sheet should that happen. It’s something we continue to study and look at. We want to be thoughtful about it over time, but we haven’t made any changes yet.” 

Twitter CEO is Already a Big Supporter

Noteworthily, Twitter has one of the biggest Bitcoin supporters, Jack Dorsey, as the CEO, and so adding Bitcoin shouldn’t be a difficult decision to make for the social media platform. Already, Jack Dorsey’s Square Inc. is among the largest corporate Bitcoin investors. Square invested US$50 million in Bitcoin, which is currently worth over US$200 million. 

Last week, Dorsey also revealed he’s running his own Bitcoin node.

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Bitcoin Dogecoin Investing

Bitcoin (BTC) Hits New All-Time High as Tesla Drops in a Cool $1.5 Billion

Tesla, the world’s favorite electric car manufacturer, has announced a $1.5 billion injection into Bitcoin, sending the king of cryptocurrencies to new highs.

Within minutes of the announcement, Bitcoin catapulted past its previous high of $42,000, very nearly cracking the $44,000 barrier before a mild correction. It currently sits just about $43,000 but we expect to see some more volatility and further growth as the news spreads.

The official announcement follows several hints dropped by Telsa CEO and world’s richest man, Elon Musk, about his faith in Bitcoin. Two weeks ago, Musk changed his Twitter profile to the hashtag #Bitcoin, followed by a cryptic message simply stating “In retrospect, it was inevitable”. That announcement alone gave Bitcoin a massive 20 percent boost in value, although the gains dissipated quickly.

Musk’s Crazy Crypto Journey

Musk’s support for Bitcoin came at a time when financial markets around the world were faced with mounting instability following the WallStreetBets and GameStop saga that nearly bankrupted massive US hedge fund Melvin Capital. The fallout forced popular trading app Robinhood to halt trading, leading to widespread controversy and driving many traditional investors to consider cryptocurrency.

Musk has also been promoting the least likely of digital assets, the joke meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin (DOGE). He did so in a series of bizarre tweets involving photoshopped Lion King imagery that led many to wonder if Musk’s Twitter account had in fact been hacked. However, it seems the tweets were genuine, helping to send Dogecoin to new highs and secure it a place in the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap. At the time of writing, Dogecoin is up 104 percent in the past 7 days with a market growth of $6 billion.

Buy a Tesla with BTC

Along with the $1.5 billion investment, Tesla has also announced that it plans to start accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment. In its annual financial report, presented to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company outlines its plan to begin accepting cryptocurrency payments.

“Moreover, we expect to begin accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for our products in the near future, subject to applicable laws and initially on a limited basis, which we may or may not liquidate upon receipt,” the report reads.

The news is undoubtedly one of the biggest boosts for cryptocurrency since Bitcoin was birthed over a decade ago. With the backing of one of the world’s most successful and forward-thinking tech companies, many more businesses around the world are likely to begin accepting payments in crypto.  

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Bitcoin Blockchain Crypto News Reddit

Elon Musk Pumps Bitcoin, Tweet Recorded in Bitcoin Blockchain For Eternity

Bitcoin (BTC) has seen some impressive gains this year, rising by a massive 25 percent in just the first week of January alone. However, nothing quite compares to the massive pump seemingly instigated by Elon Musk this morning when he changed his Twitter profile to the simple hashtag #Bitcoin, sending a strong endorsement of the world’s leading cryptocurrency to his 43.7 million followers. 

The effect of the update by the world’s richest man saw Bitcoin rocket from $32,000 to near $38,000 in a matter of minutes. That’s an almost 20 percent price rise in less than an hour, driven by an incredible $20 billion increase in trading volume. While the price corrected soon after to below $36,000, Bitcoin’s trading volume continues to grow, reaching around $88 billion as more traders across the US begin waking up.

“It was inevitable.”

After changing his Twitter status to Bitcoin, Musk tweeting the phrase “In retrospect, it was inevitable.” The tweet is widely understood to signal that Elon has now bought some Bitcoin, although it may also signal his feelings about the recent GameStop (GME) and Robinhood debacle that exposed the true level of fraud on Wall Street.

Musk has been following the GameStop events as they unfolded this week, Tweeting on Tuesday this week “Gamestonk!”, with a link to the r/WallStreetBets Reddit channel that’s been driving these massive stock market short squeezes.

Documenting Bitcoin, a Twitter account dedicated to keeping a record of Bitcoin events, noted that somebody had embedded Musk’s tweet into the Bitcoin blockchain for eternity. According to this tweet, the entry was inserted by Coin Corner tech lead @zakkdev.

Bitcoin longs and shorts liquidated

As a result of Musk’s tweet, nearly $420 million worth of Bitcoin shorts were liquidated in less than an hour, followed by $120 million in longs liquidated soon after as the price rapidly corrected. On Binance alone, $57 million worth of shorts were liquidated in just the first 10 minutes of Musk’s endorsement.

Not only did Musk’s tweet help pump Bitcoin but potentially saved it from an extended bear market due to options expiring. Billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin futures options expired today, an event which could have otherwise pushed Bitcoin below $30,000 and into an even deeper rut.

Overbought Territory

While the move is undoubtedly good for the crypto market, it does mean Bitcoin has moved into overbought territory, signaling the potential for a trend reversal to the downside. However, as is common in the cryptocurrency market, the current revolutionary sentiment could continue to drive the price to the moon.