TAC InfoSec’s CyberScope Files U.S. Patent for World’s First AI-Powered Blockchain Trust Scoring Platform

• A Patent-Backed Innovation Designed to Drive Revenue, Market Share, and Client Confidence
• Strengthening TAC Security’s Global IP Portfolio and Competitive Edge in Cybersecurity
• Unlocking New Commercial Opportunities in Web3 Risk Intelligence with Web3 Arm “Cyberscope”
• The First AI-Optimised Security Engine to Fuse On-Chain, Off-Chain, and Market Data at Scale
• Reinforcing TAC Security’s Position as a Global Leader in Next-Gen Cyber Intelligence

TAC InfoSec Limited (NSE: TAC), a global leader in cybersecurity and vulnerability management, today announced that its Web3 Security arm, CyberScope, has filled patent for CyberScope Cybersca in the United States — the world’s first AI-optimised, multi-domain blockchain trust scoring and fraud detection platform.

This breakthrough is designed to give investors, exchanges, and regulators a real-time, verifiable trust score for every blockchain project — turning fragmented, manual due diligence into instant, actionable intelligence.

Defining the Next Era of Web3 Security Trust

CyberScope Cyberscan fuses on-chain, off-chain, and Web2 data at scale; delivering actionable security intelligence in under five seconds. The patented technology is set to unlock new commercial opportunities across the $20B+ blockchain security market, reinforcing TAC Security’s global IP portfolio and leadership in next-gen cyber intelligence.

Key Industry-First Capabilities:

• Dual-Mode Polling Engine — Combines Slow Mode batch re-indexing for deep coverage with Fast Mode real-time scans for instant insights. 
• Multi-Domain Intelligence Fusion — Integrates smart contract analysis, liquidity metrics, GitHub activity, DNS audits, and KYC/Audit verification into a unified trust score.
• Adaptive Prioritization — Dynamically targets high-risk projects based on listing status, market cap, and activity spikes.
• Live Malicious Behavior Detection — Flags honeypots, rug pulls, liquidity manipulation, and privileged functions before damage occurs.
• Cross-Domain Correlation Engine — Links suspicious blockchain activity with anomalies in domain registration, code changes, and market behavior.

Business Impact

• Reducing Investor Risk — Instant red flags for scam patterns and security vulnerabilities.
• Empowering Exchanges & Launchpads — Automated, embedded trust scoring via developer-ready API.
• Regulatory Alignment — Standardized, auditable trust metrics for compliance reporting.
• Driving Market Confidence — A scalable framework for capital markets to safely embrace Web3.

Trishneet Arora, Founder & CEO, TAC Security: “For the decentralized economy to thrive, trust can’t be optional — it must be engineered into the system. CyberScope doesn’t just measure credibility, it defines it — instantly, for every project in the market. This is the intelligence layer that empowers investors to act decisively, enables exchanges to list with confidence, and allows capital to move into Web3 without hesitation. With this patent, we’re not just talking about blockchain trust; we’re building it, today.”

Saransh Rawat, CTO, TAC Security & Co-Founder, CyberScope, said, “Every once in a while, a technology comes along that changes the rules entirely — Cyberscan is that moment for Web3 security. We’ve created a platform that doesn’t just scan; it understands. It reads the signals across blockchains, marketplaces, and code repositories, turning them into instant, trustworthy intelligence. This is the foundation for a safer, smarter, and truly scalable decentralized future.”

About TAC Security (TAC InfoSec Limited) – Symbol - NSE: TAC

TAC Security, a leading global cybersecurity company specialising in vulnerability management, is a publicly listed cybersecurity company that made headlines with its oversubscribed IPO worth $1 billion. TAC Security’s flagship product, ESOF (Enterprise Security in One Framework), excels in cyber scoring, cyber risk quantification, and leveraging advanced AI for vulnerability assessment and penetration testing.

TAC Security holds prestigious certifications like CREST PT, SOC2 and ISO 27001, IoXT Security Assessor and partners with tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, and Meta for ADA’s CASA (Cloud Application Security Assessment). Serving a diverse global clientele, TAC Security is committed to innovation and excellence in cyber security for Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, and Governments Globally.

For more information, visit https://tacsecurity.com

About CyberScope, a TAC Security Company

Cyberscope, a TAC Security Company, is a leading provider of Web3 Security, smart contract auditing, and compliance solutions, serving a global client base across the decentralized finance, blockchain, and digital asset sectors. Founded in 2023, the company has completed over 2,700 smart contract audits and 500+ KYC verifications, securing more than $2 billion in digital assets for over 3,000 clients. Cyberscope’s proprietary tools combine automated and manual analysis to deliver rapid, high-quality security assessments recognized by major industry platforms such as CoinMarketCap, PinkSale, and DxSale. With a reputation for quality, speed, and trust, and backed by the resources and global reach of TAC Security, Cyberscope is positioned to set new standards for security, transparency, and compliance in the rapidly evolving Web3 ecosystem.

For more information, visit https://cyberscope.io

Massive Metaverse Bet: Billionaire Acquires 5,000+ NFTs from Yuga Labs

Crypto billionaire and scrap-metal magnate Adam Weitsman has made a bold move in the NFT space, acquiring over 5,000 NFTs directly from Yuga Labs, the creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club and Otherside.

For an uninitiated, Adam Weitsman is a billionaire entrepreneur, philanthropisr, investor, and founder of Viridium LLC, a cryptocurrency mining company. Adam is best known for transforming a family scrap metal business into one of the largest privately owned recycling empires in the U.S. He’s now making waves in the crypto and NFT space. 

Key Highlights:

• NFTs Acquired: Otherdeeds, Mega Kodas, and Weapon Kodas from the Otherside metaverse collection.
• Deal Type: OTC (Over-the-Counter) transaction directly with Yuga Labs.
• Strategic Intent: Weitsman plans to lock the NFTs for years, signaling long-term commitment to the Otherside ecosystem.
• Market Impact: The Otherside collection’s floor price surged to 0.19 ETH, its highest in a month.
• Yuga Labs Shift: The company recently sold off IPs like CryptoPunks and Moonbirds to refocus on Otherside’s development.

Why It Matters:

Yuga Labs is betting big on gamified metaverse experiences, and Weitsman’s investment could be a turning point in reviving interest in Web3 gaming. The Otherside platform blends MMORPG mechanics with NFT ownership, aiming to create a “metaRPG” where players own the world.

On this NFT investment, Adam Weitsman said:

I’m making a long-term investment in Otherside… I’ve committed to making a series of acquisitions on the open market this year.

Greg Solano (Yuga Labs Co-founder), said “

Grateful to have Adam double down as a partner and builder for this next phase of Otherside.

Yuga Labs is a blockchain technology and digital asset company based in Miami, Florida. It’s best known for pioneering some of the most iconic NFT collections and pushing the boundaries of Web3 culture, including Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), and Otherside, a gamified metaverse platform blending MMORPG elements with NFT ownership.

Avalanche and Team1 Launch $100K India Grant to Fuel Web3 Innovation Among Young Developers

Avalanche, a high performance blockchain platform announced today that it has collaborated with Team1, a global network of builders, developers, creatives, and community members to launch a pilot $100,000 Team1 India Mini Grant fund, aimed at empowering and accelerating the Web3 ecosystem in India. This initiative represents a significant commitment to fostering innovation and driving the next wave of digital advancements in the region.

Most of the developers entering the Web3 space are newcomers and under the age of 27. Young developers lose passion due to insufficient funding opportunities and lack of quality mentorship. Avalanche and Team1 have created a dedicated team to explore potential Web3 projects and startups to disburse the grants promptly and work closely with the project team to help them scale their operations. The Avalanche team will monitor the team’s progress and provide access to Avalanche tools, community network, collaboration opportunities, and hackathons. The potential projects and startups will be selected through an In-person demo that will take place in multiple cities across the country.

Commenting on the development Devika Mittal, Regional Head at Ava Labs, said “India is rapidly gaining reputation as a major hub for Web3 developers globally and is projected to be the largest by 2028. Currently, there are 1200 Web3 startups in India and we aim to significantly increase this number by 2026 through our #Team1MiniGrants fund. Our initiative will fill the funding gap for web3 projects and create a level playing field for talented developers. In particular, we hope to see young developers, both men and women, applying to the fund.”

Commenting on the development, Eamonn Deane, Head of Ambassador Program at Ava Labs and Team1, said “India, being one of the tech superpowers of the world with strong digital infrastructure, provides a strong foundation for the growth and adoption of blockchain technology. With active participation from the government and big private enterprises, we see a huge growth potential for Web3-related products and services. Apart from metros, we aim to include projects from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities due to the fast-paced innovation in smaller Indian towns and cities”.

Avalanche is aggressively betting on India to create one of the world’s largest Web3 ecosystems. The large talent pool, business-friendly policies from the government, and robust digital infrastructure make India a highly lucrative Web3 destination. Avalanche recently collaborated with Indian state governments to execute the tokenization of land assets in India and unlock the economic potential of idle land parcels across the country. The recent collaboration between Avalanche and global digital exchange, Bitget is also aimed at boosting the Web3 ecosystem in India.

This strategic initiative underscores Avalanche’s commitment to driving innovation and growth within the region, empowering developers and entrepreneurs to push the boundaries of what’s possible in the blockchain space.

To apply for the grants, visit https://grants.team1.network/


About Avalanche Blockchain Network

Avalanche is a high-performance blockchain platform designed for builders who need to scale. Engineered with a revolutionary three-part Layer 1 (L1) architecture, Avalanche is anchored by its Avalanche Consensus Mechanism, ensuring near-instant finality for transactions. The platform also features an open-source Layer 0 (L0) framework, enabling the seamless creation of interoperable Layer 1 blockchains with high throughput on both public and private networks. Supported by a global community of developers and validators, Avalanche offers a fast, low-cost environment for building the next generation of decentralized applications (dApps). With its unique blend of speed, flexibility, and scalability, Avalanche is the preferred choice for innovators pushing the boundaries of blockchain technology.

For more information, visit avax.network.

About Team1:

Team1 is a global network of builders, developers, creatives, gamers & community members who grow Avalanche. After starting just one year ago with the first cohort, Team1 has since organized over 600 community events, collaborated with 80+ universities and has members in 51 countries. For more info and to join Team1, visit https://www.team1.network/

Growth Protocol, backed by Nazara and Lysto, debuts its mainnet on Avalanche

Growth Protocol has officially launched its purpose-built Layer-1 blockchain today, backed by Nazara Technologies and Lysto.The platform is designed to propel the future of advertising on-chain, with real-time engagement through tokenizing digital advertising campaigns. Growth Protocol is signaling a major shift in how global brands connect with 150K+ daily active users already on the platform post the private testnet launch.

Growth Protocol is a blockchain marketing protocol that removes ad intermediaries, enforces radical transparency, guarantees equitable payouts, and restores sovereign digital identity to users—powering trustless Web3 campaigns.

Thanks to the Avalanche tech stack, Growth Protocol delivers sub-second finality and 10,000+ transactions per second to support high-throughput, fraud-proof marketing at scale. “Growth Protocol delivers exactly the kind of real-world adoption we envisioned Avalanche enabling—low-latency, high-speed infrastructure powering proof-of-performance at global scale,” said Emin Gün Sirer, Founder and CEO of Ava Labs. “It raises the bar for transparency in a trillion-dollar industry.”

Nazara Technologies, early backer of Growth Protocol and India’s only publicly listed gaming company and a leader in mobile gaming and esports is bringing its marketing applications on chain. Two Nazara titles are already live on-chain. “Nazara has spent 25 years putting fun into the hands of players,” said Nitish Mittersain, CEO and Founder of Nazara. “Now, with Growth Protocol, we’re helping advertisers and publishers reach and reward our players with absolute trust and efficiency. This is the future of game marketing.”

Growth Protocol replaces centralized, opaque ad-tech stacks with smart contract-based, real-time settlement. “Digital advertising still loses a substantial chunk of every dollar to intermediaries,” noted Sadiq Ahamed, Co-Founder of Growth Protocol. “We’re rerouting that value back to creators, publishers, and gamers—while giving advertisers and auditors an immutable ledger of truth.”

About Growth Protocol

Growth Protocol is a high-performance Layer-1 blockchain designed specifically for tokenizing digital advertising campaigns. By uniting Smart Goals, tokenized attribution and real-time settlements, it eliminates fraud, slashes customer-acquisition cost and guarantees that 100 percent of ad spend reaches real users. The protocol is backed by Nazara Technologies and Lysto, and supported by leading Web3 investors and technologists.

About Nazara Technologies Ltd

Nazara is India’s only listed gaming and Esports Company, with majority ownership of several leading gaming and esports brands with presence in India, the US, and other global markets. In esports, Nazara has India’s leading esports platform NODWIN Gaming and Sportskeeda/Pro Football Network in the sports media space. Nazara’s offerings in the interactive gaming segment include gamified early learning ecosystems like Kiddopia and Animal Jam, a leading IP based gaming studio ‘Fusebox’, India’s most popular cricket simulation franchise, World Cricket Championship (WCC), and a wide portfolio of casual games distributed through telco partnerships in many emerging markets. Additionally, Nazara controls Datawrkz, a digital ad tech company supporting its portfolio companies and external clients with demand-side user acquisition and supply-side ad monetization services. Website: https://www.nazara.com.

About Avalanche

Avalanche is an ultra-fast, low-latency blockchain platform designed for builders who need high performance at scale. The network’s architecture allows for the creation of sovereign, efficient and fully interoperable public and private Layer 1 (L1) blockchains which leverage the Avalanche Consensus Mechanism to achieve high throughput and near-instant transaction finality. The ease and speed of launching an L1, and the breadth of architectural customization choices, make Avalanche the perfect environment for a composable multi-chain future.

Supported by a global community of developers and validators, Avalanche offers a fast, low-cost environment for building decentralized applications (dApps). With its combination of speed, flexibility, and scalability, Avalanche is the platform of choice for innovators pushing the boundaries of blockchain technology.

Primus Partners’ Report Highlights Web3’s Strong Potential to Impact Industries Worth $1 Trillion by 2029

India is rapidly emerging as a global frontrunner in the Web3 space, with the technology poised to impact industries valued at over $1 trillion, according to a new report by Primus Partners. The report titled,'Web3 in 2025: Key Trends and Potential Use Cases to Watch Out For’ reveals its growing popularity in sectors like agriculture, healthcare, logistics, and media, with India playing a pivotal role in driving Web3's global evolution.

Web3 is revolutionizing sectors with its decentralized solutions, which enable greater transparency, security, and efficiency in operations. In India, more than 60% of corporations are either currently researching or implementing Web3’s block chain technologies to streamline activities, build trust, and reduce operational costs. The country has a good share of developers amongst the global Web3 community. With widespread and mainstream adoption expected to occur by the end of 2025, Web3 is set to impact industries valued at over $1 trillion.

Key Insights include:

• India's Web3 Developer Share: India leads the global Web3 developer community with 12%, ranking first among emerging markets. In 2024, it attracted the highest number of new crypto developers recorded yet.
• Market Growth: The global Web3 market is projected to reach $23.3 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 43.7% from 2021.
• Investment in Infrastructure: Major platforms and developing ecosystems like Polygon have received over $450 million in funding, while 5ire secured $221 million for block chain interoperability and rapid scaling.
• Regulatory Developments: The EU's MiCA regulation seeks to establish a broad Web3 crypto framework for over 500 million citizens, while the U.S. crypto task force plans to shape regulations for digital assets worth $1 trillion.
• Adoption Trends: By end of 2025, it is anticipated that 25% of global enterprises will adopt Web3 technologies, up from 5% in 2022.

Web3’s Application Across Industries:

• Agriculture: Block chain can reduce food fraud by 30%, improving traceability and ensuring safer food supply chains.
• Manufacturing & Logistics: Web3 can lower logistics costs by up to 20% by enhancing tracking and efficiency, while block chain cuts paperwork by 50%, making transport operations more streamlined.
• Education: With block chain’s document verification, concerns about the authenticity of academic credentials can be addressed, increasing trust for about 70% of employers.
• Real Estate: Tokenization can reduce transaction costs by 10-15% and speed up the process by 50%, while smart contracts can automate rental payments and reduce late payments by 40%.
• Governance: Block chain-based digital identities would soon be used by close to 1 billion people in providing details for secure verification, while block chain implementation in land registries can reduce chances of duplication, disputes, theft and fraud.
• Healthcare: Block chain can decrease healthcare fraud by 50% and improve patient trust through enhanced data security and transparency.

Government’s and Industry’s Interplay in Promoting Web3 Growth:

The Indian government is actively fostering Web3 growth through initiatives like the Block chain-as-a-Service model developed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, which provides infrastructure for permissioned block chain applications. It is also developing a regulatory framework and promoting public-private partnerships to unlock Web3's potential. Also, sector-specific solutions are being created, particularly in agriculture and healthcare, with projects like Vishvasya- Block Chain Technology Stack and the National Block Chain Strategy. These efforts, involving over 30 active government departments, are building a trusted digital infrastructure to support broader Web3 adoption.

Challenges to overcome:

Web3 adoption in India faces deep challenges like regulatory uncertainty, low consumer trust, and complex supply chains. 62.4% of industry leaders call for clearer regulations, while Web3 is still seen as tied to speculative trading. Despite these obstacles, India has a strong foundation for Web3 growth, with block chain and token systems set to drive innovation, transparency, and inclusivity in its digital economy. India is well-positioned to lead the Web3 revolution and transform necessary digital interactions.

Shravan Shetty: "India's proactive steps in nurturing Web3 adoption, such as the Block Chain-as-a-Service model, are pivotal in providing the infrastructure needed to support permissioned block chain applications and drive innovation. Collaboration between public and private sectors is essential for realizing the full potential of Web3 in India, especially in sectors like agriculture and healthcare, where tailored solutions can drive significant advancements."

About Primus Partners Pvt Ltd

Primus Partners Pvt Ltd is a leading management consulting services firm headquartered in New Delhi. Primus provides consulting and advisory services across various industries, in both public and private sectors. Primus is committed to driving sustainable growth and maximizing value for its clients via innovative approaches and sectoral expertise.

Telegram Launches in-app Browser and Mini App Store Making Web3 Available to Almost a Billion Users

Messaging app Telegram has announced a new in-app browser that supports multiple tabs, making Web3 available to almost a billion users, a Mini App Store, a new kind of mini apps, the ability to gift Stars to friends — and much more.

Telegram Browser

Pages you open with the in-app browser can now be collapsed and reopened from the bottom bar, allowing you to freely move between your messages and websites, instant view articles, and mini apps.

Telegram's browser supports decentralized websites hosted on TON — in all mobile and native desktop apps. This makes Web3 immediately available to our almost one billion monthly users.

Now, when you receive a notification while reading an article, viewing a web page, or playing a game, you can check your messages — and go back without losing your progress. You can also add bookmarks to return to a page later.

Developers can learn more about decentralized TON Sites by visiting ton.org — or opening getting-started.ton in the latest version of Telegram.

Mini App Store

More than 500 million out of Telegram's 950 million users interact with mini apps every month.

We've added a new 'Apps' tab in Search which shows a list of apps you use and a list of popular mini apps. Now you can quickly access all your games and services — or find something new.

Developers can now upload video demos and screenshots for their mini app previews to let users know what to expect.

Mini apps that utilize Telegram Stars now have a chance to be shown in the 'Popular Apps' section. Developers can learn more about mini apps on this page.

Sharing from Mini Apps to Stories

Mini apps can now generate custom story content — like AI-generated videos, achievements, or snapshots of leaderboards — for users to share as a Telegram Story right from the mini app. This enables new kinds of apps — and helps existing ones spread among their users' contacts.

Developers can go here for more details about adding this feature to their mini apps.

Gifting Stars to Friends

Telegram Stars let you buy digtal goods in mini apps or access paid content in channels. With this update, you can buy stars as a gift for your contacts.

To gift stars, go to Settings > My Stars (on iOS, you will currently see this menu only if you have previously purchased stars for yourself).

Users celebrating their birthday will appear at the top of the list in a special section. Gifted stars will show up in the chat as a beautiful animated gift box.
Flash when Recording Video Messages

Video messages now let you use the front flash to brighten your screen with extra light when recording in the dark.

Tap the microphone icon in the message bar to switch to video recording. Then press and hold the camera icon to record your video message. Swipe up to keep recording and tap the flash icon in the bottom left corner.
Weather Widget in Stories

Users can now share the weather in their stories by adding an animated widget to everything from sunny selfies to ski slopes.
Story Covers

When posting a video story to your profile, you can choose which frame will be used as the cover photo.

Browser and Mini App Tabs on MacOS

Before you go, check out how gorgeous the new browser on Telegram for macOS is. Its new tabs support everything: games, mini apps, instant view pages and even Web3 ton-sites.

Telegram to Launch Its Own Mini App Store and In-App Browser

Telegram, the popular messaging app, is making some exciting moves. Founder Pavel Durov recently announced that Telegram will launch an in-app browser and a mini app store by the end of July 2024.

Recently, Telegram announced that its active user base has surged to 950 million, and they aim to cross the 1 billion mark this year. The growth in users comes amid an explosion in blockchain-based games, such as NotCoin, that users tap to play on Telegram.

The upcoming app store within Telegram will allow users to discover and access mini apps directly from the platform. The mini app store will host lightweight applications within Telegram. These mini apps can offer various functionalities, including games, tools, and services.

The app store will also have web3 support, aligning with Telegram's commitment to blockchain and cryptocurrency. This move comes after the company's initial coin offering (ICO) in 2018 faced challenges. Now, Telegram is actively promoting web3 technology on its platform.

The in-app browser will allow users to view web content directly within Telegram, streamlining their experience. No need to switch between apps.

According to Pavel Durov, CEO and Founder of Telegram, "To keep the fire going, this month, we will introduce a mini app store and an in-app browser with support for Web3-Pages. "

Telegram acknowledges the issue of scams and is taking steps to address it. The messaging app plans to display the month of registration and principal country for public accounts, similar to Instagram. Additionally, organizations can use mini apps to issue labels for channels, creating a decentralized marketplace for third-party verification.

Back in 2022, Durov had said that Telegram aims to develop decentralized tools, including non-custodial wallets and decentralized exchanges, to securely facilitate cryptocurrency transactions for millions,

Telegram is continuously evolving. In early of this month Telegram launched series of new features and updates, including "Minimized Mini Apps" feature wherein users can minimize mini apps for smoother multitasking. This feature enhances the overall user experience by allowing seamless transitions between different tasks within the app. "Telegram Stars" enables users to purchase digital goods and reward creators through paid posts. It's a way to support content creators and engage with their work.

Hashtag and Location Search in Stories also launched recently. Content discovery gets a boost with hashtag and location search functionality in Telegram Stories. Users can explore relevant content more easily. A new "customizable link widget" improves link visibility within stories. This feature allows creators to share links effectively with their audience.

Sony Announces Metaverse Technologies and Hardware to Empower 3D Content Creators

Sony Corporation Announces Development of Spatial Content Creation System, Equipped with High-Quality XR Head-Mounted Display and Controllers Dedicated to Interaction with 3D Objects

Sony Corporation announced development of an immersive spatial content creation system, which includes an XR head-mounted display equipped with high-quality 4K OLED Microdisplays*² and video see-through function, and a pair of controllers optimized for intuitive interaction with 3D objects and precise pointing. The system is aimed at supporting creators in sophisticated 3D content creation. Sony plans to collaborate with developers of a variety of 3D production software, including in the entertainment and industrial design fields. At launch, Sony is exclusively partnering with Siemens, a leader in industrial technology, to introduce a new solution for immersive design and collaborative product engineering using software from the Siemens Xcelerator open digital business platform.

The system will be available later in 2024. Sony and its partners will announce further details including specs, launch date and regions, pricing, sales channels, and software compatibility.

This spatial content creation system, equipped with an XR head-mounted display with 4K OLED Microdisplays and Sony's proprietary rendering technology, enables real-time, high-definition and realistic rendering of textures of 3D objects and facial expressions of human characters. In addition to video see-through functionality and spatial recognition with six cameras and sensors in total, the system features a ring controller that allows users to intuitively manipulate objects in virtual space, as well as a pointing controller that enables precise pointing, allowing creators to craft in virtual space with controllers and keyboards, all while wearing the head-mounted display. Creators will not only be able to see real-scale 3D models in an Extended Reality (XR) environment with the high-definition display, but also create and modify 3D models in it. Through integration with third-party 3D creation applications, it also supports remote, real-time review between locations, making this an intuitive and immersive tool for the entire process of spatial content creation.

The device features Snapdragon® XR2+ Gen 2 Platform, the latest XR processor by Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. The processor unlocks the power of the 4K OLED Microdisplays to deliver stunning image quality, as well as provides user and space tracking for seamless XR experiences, offering creators a high-performance platform for their creative Workflow.

Sony has released technologies that support workflow and quality of spatial content creation and facilitate use of 3D CG in various creative fields. Mobile motion capture system "mocopi™," with small and lightweight sensors and a dedicated smartphone app, enables full-body motion tracking, using Sony's proprietary technologies. Spatial Reality Displays provide highly realistic, three-dimensional content without the use of special glasses or Virtual Reality (VR) headsets, for spatial content creation and review process. By introducing this system and collaborating with 3D creation software developers, Sony aims to further empower spatial content creators to transcend boundaries between the physical and virtual realms for more immersive creative experiences.

System in use for 3D CG creation

System in use for film production with 3D technologies

Siemens partnering Sony 

"Siemens is partnering with Sony to enable immersive engineering, a critical building block for the industrial metaverse. Together, we are creating an environment where it will be possible to experience the realities of physics, without the bounds of time to profoundly improve how our customers work and collaborate," said Cedrik Neike, Member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG and CEO of Siemens Digital Industries.

"We designed our Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 to deliver 4K display resolution, cutting-edge graphics, and unparalleled performance to enable creators to build innovative spatial content that will transform all industries for the better," said Said Bakadir, Senior Director, Product Management of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "It's exciting to see Sony enter the enterprise space with their spatial content creation system and utilize Snapdragon XR technologies
to unleash more realistic, detailed, and precise Mixed Reality (MR)/VR experiences that will help developers and creators push forward an even more immersive future."

Main Features

High-Quality XR Experience for Creative Uses

The head-mounted display is equipped with large-size, high-definition 1.3-type OLED Microdisplays with 4K resolution and a wide color gamut that covers up to 96% of DCI-P³*³*⁴. Detailed and realistic rendering of textures of 3D objects and facial expressions of human characters allows creators to go through the whole process of modeling to review, all while wearing the head-mounted display.

By supporting split rendering*5, which distributes the rendering load between computers and the head-mounted display, the system is capable of stable and high-definition rendering of large-size 3D models.

Through our collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Sony is among the first to adopt their latest Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 platform. The processor unlocks the power of the 4K OLED Microdisplays to deliver stunning image quality, while on-chip AI enables enhanced user and space tracking for seamless XR experiences, merging physical and digital spaces for easy navigation and intuitive interaction within the XR creative spaces.

Controllers that Provide Intuitive Spatial Content Creation Experiences

The system includes a ring controller that allows users to intuitively manipulate objects in virtual space. It also comes with a pointing controller that enables stable and accurate pointing in virtual spaces, with optimized shape and button layouts for efficient and precise operation. By holding the pointing controller in the dominant hand and attaching the ring controller to the fingers of the other hand, creators can model 3D objects using both controllers and a keyboard, while wearing the head-mounted display.

The pointing controller enables accurate pointing in virtual spaces

Intuitive manipulation of an object with the ring controller

Designed with Comfort, for Seamless XR Creative Experiences

The head-mounted display provides comfort and stability required for extended creative use, by fine-tuning the balance of the device's center of gravity, and the design and material for pads that come into direct contact with the user's head. Additionally, the flip-up mechanism of the display part allows creators to easily and seamlessly move between physical and virtual spaces, without having to recalibrate the device when removing and wearing the entire device.

Optimal balance for extended creative uses

Flip-up mechanism of display part

Immersive Creative Experience Through Integration with 3D Creation Software

Sony seeks to collaborate with various 3D production software developers, in both entertainment and industrial design fields. At launch, Sony will exclusively partner with Siemens to bring innovative immersive engineering capabilities to the manufacturing industry, through integration with the new NX™ Immersive Designer software, a product engineering solution from the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio of industry software. The integration of powerful hardware and software will empower creators in industrial design and product engineering field, by providing a more immersive design, review, and collaboration tools. The video showing immersive spatial content creation experience, enabled through thise partnership, is are available on the following webpage. The link will be moved to official YouTube channel of Siemens Digital Industries Software.

*1: The images shown are for illustration purposes only and may not be an exact representation of the final product.
*2: As capability of the device. Actual resolution varies depending on application and type of usage.
*3: DCI-P3: An RGB color space standard established by Digital Cinema Initiatives, an American consortium that works on standardizing digital cinema systems.
*4: Actual color space usable depends on application and type of usage.
*5: Only works with compatible applications, when used in tethered mode. (wired and wireless) Resolution, refresh rate and color space may differ depending on application.

Flipkart To Use Polygon's Blockchain for Brand Engagement Experience for Millions of Indian Users

• FireDrops, which is accessible via Flipkart, is a web3 brand engagement program built on Polygon’s Proof-of-Stake (PoS) to offer users a more transparent, secure, and personalized engagement experience
• Powered by GuardianLink, FireDrops utilizes Fireblocks’ wallet-as-a-service offering and embeds web3 wallets, providing a more user-friendly and integrated experience
• To date, Fireblocks has created 3.6 million web3 wallets for Flipkart users

Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace, has announced its partnership with Fireblocks, an enterprise platform to manage digital asset operations and build innovative businesses on blockchain. The strategic collaboration aims to revolutionize the way consumers safely and easily interact with the Web 3.0 ecosystem. This collaboration will also provide avenues for brands to innovate and enhance customer experiences, as being explored via the FireDrops platform.

FireDrops is an endeavor to create a safe and scalable brand engagement program on the blockchain, where wallets seamlessly spun by Fireblocks allow users to easily interact with web3. Fireblocks has set up 3.6 million wallets for Flipkart users, with a majority of them created in the past few months. Flipkart’s collaboration with Fireblocks is a testament to its commitment in enabling innovation in the Indian e-commerce industry. Flipkart has over 500 million users with more than 150 million products across 80 categories.

“India is fast emerging as the global hub for innovation in web3,” said Ravi Krishnan, Head of Flipkart Labs. “As we look ahead at how the new generation engages with brands, they seek a more personalized and interactive experience, and brands realize they can no longer apply broad strategies across audience segments. In this context, digital assets and web3 have become essential tools to engage with customers effectively. Fireblocks' role is crucial in safeguarding these assets, enabling us to develop and scale. FireDrops, one of the web3 offerings, is among many that we are excited about. In the next decade, web3 will be transformative for the e-commerce space, and India and Flipkart are the perfect sandbox for how digital assets may blur the lines between gamification and retail experiences.”

“We are excited to collaborate with Flipkart to provide them with a resilient, enterprise-grade platform upon which they are building their technology solutions, so they can enhance the shopping experience for users and redefine e-commerce,” said Stephen Richardson, Head of APAC & Managing Director, Financial Markets at Fireblocks. “Through FireDrops, a familiar user experience has been created for millions of Indians interested in collecting their first NFT, making digital ownership more accessible and lowering the barrier to entry into the world of web3.”

Fireblocks' Wallets-as-a-Service allows Flipkart to embed privacy preserving blockchain wallets directly into their mobile application, providing users with seamless onboarding into their first time web3 experience. With Fireblocks, Flipkart can automate and scale wallets and enable NFT creation to support millions of new users on FireDrops.

FireDrops is aiming to revolutionize how users connect with brands while shopping online. By providing engaging experiences with brands that enable customers to earn NFT-based rewards, FireDrops aims to foster greater community engagement and an enhanced user experience. Brands in the FireDrops ecosystem are also anticipating the benefit from deeper, more meaningful, and more tailored interactions with their customers, resulting in higher reward redemption rates and a reduction in customer acquisition costs.

About the Flipkart Group

The Flipkart Group is one of India’s leading digital commerce entities and includes group companies Flipkart, Myntra, Flipkart Wholesale, Flipkart Health+, and Cleartrip.

Started in 2007, Flipkart has enabled millions of sellers, merchants, and small businesses to participate in India's digital commerce revolution. With a registered user base of more than 500 million, Flipkart's marketplace offers over 150 million products across 80+ categories. Today, there are over 14 lakh sellers on the platform, including Shopsy sellers. With a focus on empowering and delighting every Indian by delivering value through technology and innovation, Flipkart has created lakhs of jobs in the ecosystem while empowering generations of entrepreneurs and MSMEs. Flipkart is known for pioneering services such as Cash on Delivery, No Cost EMI, and easy returns, which are customer-centric innovations that have made online shopping more accessible and affordable for millions of Indians.

Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform that delivers a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Fireblocks enables exchanges, lending desks, custodians, banks, trading desks, and hedge funds to securely scale digital asset operations through the Fireblocks Network and MPC-based Wallet Infrastructure. Fireblocks serves thousands of financial institutions, has secured the transfer of over $4 trillion in digital assets, and has a unique insurance policy that covers assets in storage and transit. Some of the biggest trading desks have switched to Fireblocks because it's the only solution that CISOs and Ops Teams both love. For more information, please visit www.fireblocks.com.

NFT Unit of SoftBank-Naver JV LINE NEXT Secures $140 Mn from Peter Thiel-backed Crescendo Equity Partners

Investment marks the largest in Asian blockchain and Web3 industry this year

Investment is led by Crescendo Equity Partners, a Peter Thiel-backed private equity firm, citing LINE’s strategies and vision for Web3 popularization

LINE NEXT Corporation., the NFT unit of a joint venture between SoftBank and South Korea-based Naver which is dedicated to developing and expanding the NFT ecosystem, announced that it has secured a USD140 million investment from a consortium led by the private equity firm Crescendo Equity Partners (“Crescendo”).

The investment represents the largest funding round in the Asian blockchain Web3 industry for this year. With the raised funds, LINE NEXT aims to expand its global business and develop new services as part of its plan to popularize the Web3 ecosystem.

First up, LINE NEXT plans to officially launch its global NFT platform DOSI in January 2024, offering a digital marketplace where a wide range of digital products can be traded. Integrating with Japan’s NFT marketplace LINE NFT, DOSI will be offered as a mobile app to users around the world. In addition, LINE NEXT will provide new solutions to help services and brands give ownership directly to existing digital products and trade them, making it easier to introduce Web3 to their services.

With this investment, LINE NEXT also plans to introduce new services to further accelerate Web3 popularization. These include introducing a social app that allows users to communicate based on the characters they made utilizing AI technology and launching new Web3 games utilizing BROWN & FRIENDS characters that anyone can enjoy.

LINE NEXT plans to build these services based on the public blockchain Finschia, and LINE NEXT and Crescendo will participate in the Finschia Foundation as governance members, contributing to the expansion of its ecosystem.

Crescendo, sponsored by Peter Thiel, co-founder of Palantir Technologies, invests with exceptional sector expertise and access to well-established “tech-ecosystem” consisting of both local and global networks. Crescendo focuses on discovering small to mid-cap technology companies and developing them to become global champions.

"LINE’s global competitiveness and its vision to lead Web3 services were the investment thesis," said Kevin Lee, the managing partner of Crescendo. He added that “We hope to build a standard for Web3 apps that general users can easily use and adopt blockchain to all sorts of services and brands of Web2.” 

"It is significant that we were able to secure this funding in the context of a globally contracting investment environment," said Youngsu Ko, CEO of LINE NEXT. "We plan to use this opportunity to further popularize Web3 and develop a new service ecosystem where users own the value of their digital goods."

LINE NEXT has been at the forefront of Web3 popularization through a range of global services based on DOSI. It currently has 5.5 million users worldwide and more than 470,000 cumulative transactions, continuing its rapid growth just one year since beta service began.

Based in Korea, LINE NEXT Corporation is focused on Web3 business strategy and planning. With a subsidiary in the U.S operating the global NFT platform business and an office in Japan, LINE NEXT aims to develop the Web3 ecosystem and popularize it for all. 

CRESCENDO EQUITY PARTNERS LIMITED ( referred as "Crescendo" in this article) is a technology focused private equity firm sponsored by Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies. Crescendo mainly invests in companies with high growth potential with exceptional technologies. Target sectors include traditional B2B hardware sectors such as semiconductors and parts and materials, as well as software sectors that are new growth engines such as IT security and factory automation. As of November 2023, assets under management reached about 1.8 trillion won. (Based on the cumulative committed amount)

Disney Launching A Digital Collectibles (NFT) Marketplace of Disney, Pixar and Star Wars Characters

After first launching its digital Collectibles with Cryptoys earlier this year, Disney has partnered with Dapper Labs, a blockchain & Metaverse firm, to launch its own digital Collectibles marketplace, named as — Disney Pinnacle.

With Disney Pinnacle, Disney will bring officially licensed, collectible Pins on-chain.

Be the first to chase, collect and trade digital pins featuring characters you love. Only on Disney Pinnacle. 💫

Join the waitlist at https://t.co/VCeadWRHTU! 🌟 pic.twitter.com/GQa084CkW4

— DisneyPinnacle (@DisneyPinnacle) November 14, 2023

Launching publicly later this year on the Apple App Store for iOS, Disney Pinnacle connects fans around the globe together as they collect, trade, complete challenges, and showcase their love of beloved characters from the worlds of Disney, Pixar, and Star Wars through unique collectible digital pins.

Operated by Dapper Labs, an official licensee of Disney, Disney Pinnacle, the socially driven NFT Marketplace, will bring together characters from 100 years of Disney, along with beloved icons from Pixar as well as heroes and villains from the Star Wars galaxy, uniquely styled as collectible and tradable digital pins.

As fans collect and trade verified, authentic, digital collectibles in Disney Pinnacle’s environment, they are instantly able to share their love for iconic characters across their networks. It also enables them to carry their new collectibles with them wherever they go. With each collectible containing its own pin collectible trading journey, fans are also able to build their own unique collections anywhere, from their phones.

“Disney Pinnacle is an all-new product designed from the ground up to incorporate everything we’ve learned over the past few years,” says Roham Gharegozlou, co-founder and CEO of Dapper Labs. “Fans anywhere will be able to collect dynamic pins on their phone and trade instantly and securely with each other no matter where they are in the world.”

Disney Pinnacle is built on Flow, a permissionless layer 1 blockchain & Web3 ecosystem. Many NFTs are presently in the Ethereum ecosystem. However, there is a strong case for Flow blockchain as a reliable and developer friendly platform for NFTs.

Earlier this year in May, Disney announced a partnership with Cryptoys to sell limited-edition NFT-based digital toys of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Darth Vader.

The Walt Disney Company, which is yet to make a big foray into crypto, had advertised a job opening last year, for a transaction lawyer to explore emerging technology opportunities. Consumers can buy Cryptoys Star Wars NFTs powered by Dapper Labs' Flow blockchain with Apple Pay and Google Pay worldwide.

Mahindra Lifespaces unveils India's first home buying experience on the Metaverse

500+ drones light up the night sky in Pune to launch Bastion at Mahindra Citadel

Mahindra Lifespace Developers Limited (MLDL), the real estate and infrastructure development arm of the Mahindra Group, unveiled India's first home-buying experience on the Metaverse with the launch of Bastion at Mahindra Citadel, which is the Phase 2 of the project. This milestone was revealed via a first-of-its-kind drone show, which culminated in a QR code in the skies of Pune, which led the audience to the Metaverse experience.

We think this is an innovation that is ‘sky-high’ so that’s how we decided to launch it! Welcome to India’s 1st Home-buying experience on the Metaverse. Congratulations @amitsinha73 @C_P_Gurnani @mohitjoshi74 @life_spaces @tech_mahindra @anishshah21 @MahindraRise as we… pic.twitter.com/4a3oc9fplp

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) October 25, 2023

The project was unveiled at the project location in Pimpri-Chinchwad, where over 500+ lit drones presented a spectacular show including visuals of key features of the project like the ecotone design, the home automation features and unveiling of the Metaverse experience. The drones finally formed a QR code that could be scanned by the audience to enter the Metaverse experience of Mahindra Citadel. In a first-of-its-kind unique experience, users are transported to their future homes, even before they make their decision to purchase. Users can also interact with elements within the homes and design interiors to their liking.

Amit Kumar Sinha, MD and CEO, Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd., said, "We are excited to launch Bastion at Mahindra Citadel in Pune, a focus market for Mahindra Lifespaces. Pune's dynamic real estate landscape and its receptiveness to innovation align perfectly with our vision. Our past successes in the city reflect the trust and demand for our brand. This immersive and interactive Metaverse experience not only sets a new industry standard but also provides our customers with a unique opportunity to truly envision their future homes. An experience like this, deserved a grand and scintillating unveiling using the drone show, marking a significant step in integrating technology into the real estate customer experience. As we move forward, we remain committed to pushing the boundaries of innovation and ensuring the best customer experience."

The project was unveiled at the project location in Pimpri-Chinchwad, where over 500+ lit drones presented a spectacular show including visuals of key features of the project like the ecotone design, the home automation features and unveiling of the Metaverse experience. The drones finally formed a QR code that could be scanned by the audience to enter the Metaverse experience of Mahindra Citadel. In a first-of-its-kind unique experience, users are transported to their future homes, even before they make their decision to purchase. Users can also interact with elements within the homes and design interiors to their liking.

Building on the resounding success of Phase 1 launched in November 2022, Bastion at Mahindra Citadel which spans 9.66 acres, featuring a carefully crafted selection of premium, 3 & 4 BHK homes. The development offers a diverse range of amenities, thoughtfully designed to enhance the physical, mental, and social well-being of the residents, promoting a balanced and vibrant lifestyle. Homes at Mahindra Citadel are pre-certified IGBC gold rated and have various design and process interventions for energy efficiency, and waste management.

Strategically positioned along the bustling Mumbai-Pune highway, this development occupies a coveted residential location within Pimpri-Chinchwad. It offers proximity to the IT hub of Hinjewadi, and Sant Tukaram Nagar, Pimpri and PCMC metro stations. The area also offers a variety of malls, reputed schools, colleges, multi-speciality hospitals and various entertainment and restaurants options, which contribute to its accessibility and lifestyle. This locale is well-connected to key transit points, encompassing the Old Mumbai-Pune highway, Pune-Dhule-Nasik highway, railway stations like Kasarwadi and Pimpri, the Pimpri Chowk bus stop, and the Sant Tukaram Nagar metro station.

About Mahindra Lifespaces Developers Limited

Established in 1994, Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd. (‘Mahindra Lifespaces’) brings the Mahindra Group’s philosophy of ‘Rise’ to India’s real estate and infrastructure industry through thriving residential communities and enabling business ecosystems. The Company’s development footprint spans 34.46 million sq. ft. of completed, ongoing, and forthcoming residential projects across seven Indian cities; and over 5000 acres of ongoing and forthcoming projects under development/management at its integrated developments/ industrial clusters across four locations.

Mahindra Lifespaces’ development portfolio comprises premium residential projects; value homes under the ‘Mahindra Happinest®’ brand; and integrated cities and industrial clusters under the ‘Mahindra World City’ and ‘Origins by Mahindra’ brands respectively. The Company leverages innovation, thoughtful design, and a deep commitment to sustainability to craft quality life and business growth.

STPI Sets Up State-of-The-Art Incubation Facility in Gurugram To Promote Entrepreneurship in Blockchain Technology

Mr. S. Krishnan, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology Secretary inaugerating APIARY COE Incubation Facility

The facility was inaugurated by Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology Secretary Shri S. Krishnan

Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) has marked a significant milestone as the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) Secretary Shri S. Krishnan inaugurated a state-of-the-art incubation facility of the Apiary Center of Entrepreneurship (CoE) at STPI-Gurugram. This momentous occasion was attended by Shri Sushil Pal, Joint Secretary, MeitY; Shri Pankaj Thakar, Chief Mentor, Shri Arvind Kumar, Director General, STPI; Shri Devesh Tyagi, Senior Director, STPI and Dr. Rajneesh Agrawal, Director, STPI-Gurugram.

Apiary is one of the CoEs of STPI which is focused on Blockchain Technology and is set up in collaboration with MeitY, STPI, Govt. of Haryana, Padup Ventures, IBM, Intel, GBA, and FITT. This CoE is a first-of-its-kind initiative to identify and support promising startups and promote entrepreneurship in the field of Blockchain Technology. It has a fully furnished incubation infrastructure of 7,000 sq. ft. equipped with 80 plug-n-play seats, conference rooms, and an auditorium. It targets to incubate an overall 100 startups in a period of 5 years.

 

During the inauguration, Shri S. Krishnan took a walk-through of the Apiary incubation facility and interacted with the young entrepreneurs.

“Meeting the young entrepreneurs was quite an enriching experience. The way these entrepreneurs have addressed real-world problems using cutting-edge technology is really commendable. These entrepreneurs aren’t confined to national boundaries and this quality distinguishes them from others. In the last three decades, the way we have used technology is the key benchmark for our country’s exponential growth,” said Shri S. Krishnan, Secretary, MeitY.

Shri Sushil Pal, Joint Secretary, MeitY, said, “Blockchain technology can be sustainable for our economy. It can be used right from supply chain to waste management. It has the potential to become an enabler in sustainable growth.”

Shri Arvind Kumar, Director General, STPI said, “Apiary CoE's incubation facility will bring a new revolution in the technology sector. Blockchain technology has a lot of potential and is considered to be the biggest invention since the internet. This incubation facility at Apiary CoE is a stepping stone towards India’s digital transformation.”

The inauguration was preceded by a conference on Sustainable Development Goals Thru Web 3.0, under which two sessions “Sustainable Development Goals With Web 3.0: Challenges and Opportunities” and “Business Transformation with Web 3.0” were organised. The speakers Shri Pankaj Thakar, Chief Mentor Apiary CoE & Founder PadUp Ventures; Shri Subodh Sachan, Director (Startup & Innovation); STPI Shri Amit Jindal, Mentor Apiary CoE & President Government Blockchain Association (NCR); Smt Anshu Bhartia, Ex-CEO UnLtd India Social Incubator and Shri Avneesh Saksena Management Consultant, Mentor and CEO & Executive Coach shared insights with young entrepreneurs in the audience.

About STPI Apiary COE

Apiary has been set up at STPI, Gurugram to offer a substantial opportunity to innovative start-ups working in this technology to address issues that necessitate the usage of Blockchain for the establishment of trust in a decentralized manner and other purposes. Apiary CoE provides comprehensive support to startups (in the form of a dedicated Blockchain platform, access to Technocrats, mentorship, mentoring programs, VC funding, etc., and collaboration with all ecosystem players) with the ultimate objective of making India a world leader in technology space and creating a pipeline of future jobs-creating businesses.

PayPal Files Patents for NFT Marketplace, Omniverse and More

Fintech giant PayPal has filed multiple patent applications including the transfer and trading of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), both on and off-chain, within its network.

NFT Marketplace

According to one of the four patent applications, which were filed on March 21, 2022, but only made public on September 21, the system enables “off-chain transaction via an NFT marketplace,” and will allow users to transfer NFTs in their possession to other users on the PayPal.

According to the abstract included in the patent application, “A plurality of digital wallets associated with a service provider are provided with access to the NFT marketplace. The NFT marketplace corresponds to a decentralized blockchain associated with an entity that is different from the service provider.”

Going forward, a decentralized autonomous organization tied to the service provider might be leveraged to enhance NFT liquidity on a dedicated platform.

In addition, fractionalized NFT purchases could also be a possibility of PayPal's proposed NFT ecosystem described in the patent application.

Selection of Validators in  Decentralized Cryptographic Network

In an another patent, PayPal pending patent mentions how validators or miners should be selected during the process of adding transactions to the blockchain. The document states that the company’s disclosed techniques could “advantageously allow steering of blockchain requests to a desired subset of miners/validators.”

The pending patent application discuss techniques relating to selection of miners/ validators in a decentralized cryptographic network. It further says, "In some embodiments, a request to add a transaction to a blockchain includes a cryptographic signature associated with provision of a second transfer fee, in addition to a first transfer fee, to miners/validators who meet a set of one or more criteria. The techniques may advantageously allow steering of blockchain requests to a desired subset of miners/validators.

Omniverse 

The third patent filed by PayPal delves into the concept of a so-called omniverse, which in this context suggests a product that deals in multiple metaverses. PayPal says it developed an “online transaction processor” that would provide recommendations for which digital assets a user should buy based on the user’s blockchain preferences and which metaverses they interact with most.

In early August, PayPal also announced its new dollar-backed stablecoin, PayPal USD ($PYUSD), which marked the first time a major U.S. financial company created this type of digital asset.

Later in the same month, PayPal updated its terms and conditions to introduce its new ‘Cryptocurrencies Hub’ feature, which allows users to hold and interact with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies through their PayPal account.

Online Transaction Processor

The fourth patent filed, and in pending stage, describes another conceptual online transaction processor. The patent application's abstract mentions, "An online transaction processor may provide operations for digital asset recommendations and processing in one or more metaverses. The online transaction processor may determine digital assets available to a user in one or more digital wallets, as well as interactions by the user in one or more metaverses."

This processor’s goal is to facilitate payments between users and merchants operating on different network layers (layer-1s and layer-2s) in a more efficient manner.

A layer 2 refers to any off-chain network, system, or technology built on top of a blockchain (commonly known as a layer-1 network) that helps extend the capabilities of the underlying base layer network.

These multiple patents filings by PayPal comes at time when a latest report suggested that 95% of people holding NFT collections are currently holding onto worthless investments.

NFT Bubble Burst: 95% NFTs, Digital Collectibles May Now Be Worthless

NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens) or Digital Collectibles was apparently a bubble which now has been burst to nothingness. A recent study looking at the price of thousands of collections seems to suggest that "NFTs are dead now!" .

A report by dappGambl based on data provided by NFT Scan and CoinMarketCap showed that out of 73,257 NFT collections the researchers looked at, 69,795 of them, or slightly over 95%, had a market cap of zero ether.

"NFTs had a bull run then crashed," said dappGambl report authored by Vlad Hategan, an NFT gaming specialist.

Of the 73,257 NFT collections dappGambl identified, an eye-watering 69,795 of them have a market cap of 0 Ether (ETH).

This statistic effectively means that 95% of people holding NFT collections are currently holding onto worthless investments. Going by the dappGambl's estimates, almost 23 million people hold these worthless assets.

Further, the dappGambl's study shows 79% of all NFT collections currently remain unsold, and the surplus of supply over demand has created a buyer's market that isn't doing anything to revive enthusiasm.

Even filtering out the lower-value, less significant projects, most collections have little value today.

Out of the top 8,850 collections by market cap, 18% are worthless, and 41% are priced at $5-$100. Fewer than 1% have a price tag above $6,000.

To recall, Twitter CEO and billionaire Jack Dorsey's very first tweet of March 6, 2006 which was sold in the form of NFT for $2.9 million dropped down to mere $3.77.

The Impact on the Environment

Creation of NFTs consumes energy. The minting process of NFTs involves energy consumption, just as any other operation in the digital world does, though the amount of energy consumed by minting NFTs with little to no use case might be cause for alarm, said Vlad Hategan, the author of the report.

dappGambl study identified 195,699 NFT collections with no apparent owners or market share. The energy

required to mint these NFTs is comparable to 27,789,258 kWh, resulting in an emission of approximately 16,243 metric tons of CO2.

The energy consumed to mint these NFTs without any owners is equivalent to —

• The yearly emissions of 2048 homes – it’s 7.93/ home according to the EPA.
• The yearly emissions of 3531 cars – it’s 4.6 per car according to the EPA.
• The carbon footprint of 4061 passengers flying from London (England) to Wellington (New Zealand) – it’s 4 tons of CO2 per person according to Air New Zealand.

"The responsibility rests with NFT creators to ensure meaningful and genuine contributions to the NFT ecosystem. Those primarily looking for quick gains without adding real value might end up incurring unnecessary environmental costs, all for the sake of a quick buck, " said Vlad Hategan, in the dappGambl post, and he also suggested some of the many examples of practical uses for NFTs.

On a positive note, dappGambl further concluded the report saying — NFTs still have a place in our future.

"The 2021 hype was bound to fail, as all overhyped things often are. At dappGambl, we still maintain that once the dust has settled, we will start to see an evolution within NFTs."

Brave Browser Users in India Can Now Connect ZebPay Account with Brave Rewards (BAT)

ZebPay, India’s oldest and most trusted crypto asset exchange, today announced its exclusive partnership with the Brave browser, a revolutionary web browser known for its innovative rewards system and deep commitment to user security and privacy.

With this partnership, Brave Browser users in India will now be able to connect a ZebPay account to Brave Rewards in order to begin earning Basic Attention Tokens (BAT). Existing users in India with previous earnings will also be able to connect a ZebPay account and have their balances redeemed for BAT and transferred to their ZebPay accounts. In the near future, creators will also be able to connect a ZebPay account to their Brave Creators account, allowing them to receive BAT contributions from Brave Rewards users.

This exclusive partnership makes ZebPay the only crypto exchange in India to have this feature and one of only three globally. The partnership aims to empower users by enabling them to maximize the potential of their accumulated BAT token rewards. Users will be able to use this feature by creating an account on ZebPay and linking it to their Brave Rewards wallet.

Rahul Pagidipati, CEO, ZebPay, said, “We are thrilled to be the exclusive partners for Brave Rewards in India. This strategic partnership not only reinforces our commitment to empowering users but also demonstrates our unwavering support of the crypto ecosystem in India. By enabling users to seamlessly transfer Brave Rewards to ZebPay, we are unlocking a new realm of possibilities for crypto enthusiasts. This is a testament to ZebPay's vision of creating a more inclusive and accessible crypto ecosystem where users can fully harness the potential of their digital assets."

"We're thrilled to partner with ZebPay to enable our millions of Brave users in India to benefit from their Brave Rewards experience," said Brendan Eich, CEO and co-founder of Brave. "With this custodial integration, users can seamlessly access their BAT payouts in their ZebPay account and get rewarded for their online attention."

This strategic alliance underscores ZebPay's role as a pioneer within the Web3 landscape in India, propelling the crypto industry towards a future of accessibility, security, and digital empowerment.

ZebPay is India’s oldest crypto asset exchange, with more than 7 million downloads. Founded in 2014, ZebPay aims to be the leading blockchain asset solution provider and the #1 financial advisor for all Indians invested in the crypto space. The company’s mission is to help its members achieve financial freedom in the Web3 economy. ZebPay’s secure and compliant exchange is available via the web and on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. ZebPay members can invest in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and many other crypto assets, trading both crypto-fiat and crypto-crypto pairs. ZebPay OTC, a bespoke trading desk for high-volume clients, serves both individuals and institutions. For more details please visit: https://zebpay.com

Brave Software’s fast, privacy-oriented browser, combined with its blockchain-based digital advertising platform, is reinventing the Web for users, publishers, and advertisers. Users can opt into privacy-respecting ads that reward them with the Basic Attention Token (BAT), a frequent flyer-like token they can redeem or use to tip or contribute to publishers and other content creators. Brave is a driving force leading the way for Web3 adoption, directly supporting Web3 into the broader Web through its privacy browser, independent search engine, and browser-native, multi-chain crypto wallet. Brave currently has over 60 million monthly active users and over 1.8 million Creators.

You can learn more about Brave at brave.com, or follow the company on Twitter @brave.

 

Ethereum Inventor Vitalik Buterin’s X (Twitter) Account Hacked Leading $691K+ Losses from Victims' Accounts

Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s inventor & co-founder, reportedly had his X (formerly Twitter) account hacked, resulting into loss of $691,000 from users who followed a malicious link posted to his X feed.

According to prominent blockchain investigator ZachXBT, the hacking incident has led to victims collectively losing over $691,000 after clicking on a corrupted link.

Dmitry Buterin, the father of Vitalik, announced on Sep. 9 in a post at X that his son’s account had been compromised and Vitalik is working on restoring access.

The account hack was first noticed on Saturday when a post appeared on Buterin’s post announcing the launch of a set of commemorative non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from software provider Consensys.

This post has a malicious link, which could have been displayed to a large number of Vitalik's 4.9 million followers, and prompted followers to follow the link and eventually connect their wallets to mint the NFT, but in reality, it allowed the hacker(s) to get access to their funds in their wallets.

The post on Vitalik's account was later deleted. However, the damage was done already.

This incident has even led Ethereum developer Bok Khoo, better known as Bokky Poobah on X, to allegedly suffered losses in his CryptoPunk NFT collection.

Notably, no official comment has been made by Vitalik, so far, in this hacking incident. According to ZachZPT, the hacker subsequently sent a stolen NFT to Vitalik.

they hacker just sent Vitalik this NFT they drained

0x909c74236ded54ecea95ea1568e1abf67624ccae436d1b9d94cd0c163b11eec5 pic.twitter.com/Fx6ekDYyWR

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) September 10, 2023