x
.png)
Image Source: Pixabay
OpenAI will lead to better art and narration in Web3 games — Immutable exec
Alex Connelly says the technology provides “very cool storytelling opportunities.”
The creation of smart contracts and Web3 interfaces has led to an entirely new play-to-earn or nonfungible token (NFT) genre of video games. But during the 2021 crypto bull market and subsequent crash of 2022, many of the games in this niche went through incredible ups and downs in terms of player count and transaction volume.
Despite this volatility, one Web3 gaming executive who spoke to Cointelegraph says that new innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) will make the genre better than it has ever been.
Alex Connelly is the chief technology officer of Immutable, developer of the Gods Unchained digital collectible trading card game and Immutable X NFT platform. He told Cointelegraph that OpenAI, an AI-focused American research laboratory dedicated to developing friendly AI applications that can assist with a variety of tasks, software will allow new possibilities for Web3 games, letting developers create better art, more challenging encounters and superior narration, leading to a more immersive and rich experience for players.
Connelly said that the area his team is looking at the most for OpenAI applications is art. In the past, video game artists often had to create multiple versions of the same images. For example, there often needed to be multiple sizes of the same images or slightly different versions that emphasized different parts of a piece of art. This sometimes led to a lack of efficiency. But with OpenAI software, artists are now able to experiment with letting AI create different versions of a piece of art, freeing up the artists to spend more time creating original work. Read More
Mastercard Taps Polygon to Empower Emerging Artists in Web3 Tech
Mastercard, the payments giant, has partnered with Polygon, an Ethereum scaling platform, to introduce emerging artists into Web3 technology. Mastercard’s artist accelerator, as the program is called, will teach five different emerging artists, including singers, musicians, DJs, and producers, to use blockchain tools to grow their brand and fan engagement.
Mastercard Partners With Polygon to Teach Web3:
Traditional finance companies are now seeking to harness the power of blockchain for a myriad of activities in different fields. Mastercard, one of the biggest payments companies, has partnered with Polygon, an Ethereum scaling platform, to introduce five different emerging artists to the possibilities that Web3 tech can bring to their activities.
The Mastercard artist accelerator program will use the Polygon network to teach the selected artists how to perform a series of activities that will allow them to cut the middleman, mint their own NFT (non-fungible tokens) collections to grow their online fan engagement, and be present in metaverse-based concerts, among others.
Autonomy and freedom seem to be one of the biggest goals of the program, and the two companies shave prepared a so-called “first-of-its-kind-curriculum” for this task. About this, Ryan Watts, CEO of Polygon Studios, stated:
Web3 has the potential to empower a new type of artist that can grow a fanbase, make a living, and introduce novel mediums for self-expression and connection on their own terms. Read More
5 sneaky tricks crypto phishing scammers used last year: SlowMist
SlowMist found that across 303 recorded blockchain security incidents in 2022, nearly a third were made up of phishing attacks, rug pulls and scams.
Blockchain security firm SlowMist has highlighted five common phishing techniques crypto scammers used on victims in 2022, including malicious browser bookmarks, phoney sales orders and Trojan malware spread on the messaging app Discord.
The security firm recorded a total of 303 blockchain security incidents over the year, with 31.6% of these incidents caused by phishing, rug pull or other scams, according to SlowMist’s Jan. 9 report.
Malicious browser bookmarks:
One of the phishing strategies makes use of bookmark managers, a feature in most modern browsers.
SlowMist said scammers have been exploiting these to ultimately gain access to a project owner’s Discord account.
"By inserting JavaScript code into bookmarks through these phishing pages, attackers can potentially gain access to a Discord user’s information and take over the permissions of a project owner’s account,” the firm wrote.
After guiding victims to add the malicious bookmark through a phishing page, the scammer waits until the victim clicks on the bookmark while logged into Discord, which triggers the implanted JavaScript code and sends the victim’s personal information to the scammer’s Discord channel. Read More
Layer 1 EVM oracle platform Flare launches to boost interoperable DApps
Layer 1 EVM blockchain Flare goes online, aimed at providing developers with a platform to build decentralized interoperable applications.
Flare, a new layer-1 Ethereum Virtual Machine blockchain platform, has gone live with the launch of two core protocols aimed at powering decentralized interoperability applications.
The platform serves as an oracle network that allows developers to build applications that are aimed at being interoperable with different blockchains and internet platforms and services.
Flare features two protocols that power its application-building suite. Its State Connector protocol enables information and data to be used securely and at scale from various blockchains and internet sources with the use of smart contracts. The functionality is touted to offer powerful data to the network and facilitate the development of cross-chain solutions.
Meanwhile, the Flare Time Series Oracle (FTSO) sources and provides decentralized price and data feeds to decentralized applications (DApps) running on the layer-1 blockchain platform. According to Flare’s technical documentation, the FTSO smart contract provides continuous estimates for different types of data. Read More
Phase Two of the Markethive internal wallet is complete, a considerable milestone for the company and the Markethive community. The impending release of the wallet is a pivot point for Markethive to secure its future as a completely decentralized social media broadcasting and marketing platform the world so desperately needs for these significant times.
The Markethive wallet is not just an ordinary wallet: It’s a transactional interface that services and keeps track of all your accounting and transactions, including your loans to Markethive and interest paid by Markethive to you via the ILP.
With Phase Two now in operation, you can access and set up your personal requirements and view your status in The Vault, Hive Rank, Staking, KYC Application, ILP Report, payments, and Markethive Credit threshold and balance. Plus, you can now transfer Markethive Credits to other members within Markethive.
Note that full access to all of the Markethive systems requires complete KYC documentation and an Entrepreneur One membership. The Markethive platform, with its general newsfeed, is free to use; however, the marketing systems and aspects thereof within Markethive will be limited, including Hivecoin transactional activity and micropayments of MHV.
Once the Markethive wallet is fully operational and launched, the Premium Upgrade will be introduced, which offers additional features and benefits to achieve a significant presence online for your marketing efforts and business growth, especially with the upcoming unique dashboard interface. It will be beyond anything else out there today. Read More
German regulator warns of new banking and crypto malware ‘Godfather’
The “Godfather” malware is also known to target 110 cryptocurrency exchange platforms and 94 cryptocurrency wallet apps.
Financial authorities in Germany are raising the alarm amid the rapid spread of a new financial malware affecting banking and cryptocurrency applications.
Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) released an official statement on Jan. 9, warning consumers of “Godfather,” a malware collecting user data in banking and crypto apps.
BaFin emphasized that the new virus is targeting about 400 banking and crypto apps, including those operating in Germany. The Godfather malware attacks users by displaying fake websites of regular banking and crypto apps, stealing their login data.
According to the regulator, it is yet to be determined how the malware attacks users’ devices. The malware is known to send push notifications to get the codes for two-factor authentication. “With this data, the cyber criminals may be able to gain access to consumers’ accounts and wallets,” BaFin noted.
The first warnings on Godfather surfaced in December, with reports suggesting that the malware was affecting Android devices and targeting users in 16 countries. Read More
Radix Showcases Its Vision With Revolutionary Web3 Wallet Concept
Blockchain startup Radix has provided users with the first glimpse of what it says will be a revolutionary new Web3 wallet, as part of its ongoing mission to reinvent decentralized finance with an “asset-oriented” approach.
The new Radix Wallet, which is still a concept at this time, has been under development for more than 18 months and is designed to give users a “radically better user experience” when interacting with DeFi apps. It’s powered by no less than five wholly unique and innovative technologies that underpin the revolutionary Radix Network, which aims to transform DeFi into something that’s just as safe, reliable and easy to use as traditional banking applications while retaining the unique benefits of Web3.
As Radix points out, the DeFi experience is in desperate need of a makeover if it’s to gain the interest of everyday users. Cryptocurrency itself is complex enough as it is, with the need to setup a wallet and write down a “seed phrase” and keep it somewhere safe, followed by the chore of going to an exchange to buy digital assets and transfer them for safekeeping. DeFi, however, takes that complexity to another level, with hundreds of different dApps that require significant technical expertise to navigate. Read More
Sanctions couldn’t ‘pull the plug’ on Tornado Cash: Chainalysis
While it has become harder to access the crypto mixer today, for better or worse, decentralization means it’s near impossible to put an end to it.
Sanctions aimed at decentralized crypto mixer Tornado Cash weren’t able to completely cut off its usage, though it has hamstrung the service, a blockchain analytics firm has shared.
On Aug. 8, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against the crypto mixer for its alleged role in the laundering of crime proceeds.
In a report published on Jan. 9, Chainalysis said the sanctions did have some effect, causing total inflows to the mixer to drop by 68% in the 30 days after the sanctions came into force.
However, the firm also emphasized that because Tornado Cash is a smart-contract-based decentralized platform, “no person or organization can ‘pull the plug’ as easily on Tornado Cash as they could with a centralized service.”
Chainalysis gave the example of darknet marketplace Hydra, which in contrast, saw its cryptocurrency inflows drop to zero after German police seized its servers as a result of sanctions. Read More
Hong Kong Reaffirms Commitment to Become Regional Crypto Hub
Hong Kong has reaffirmed its commitment to become a regional crypto hub in following the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. “As certain crypto exchanges collapsed one after another, Hong Kong became a quality standing point for digital asset corporates,” said a top government official.
Hong Kong Aims to Become Regional Crypto Hub:
Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po reaffirmed the city’s crypto commitment at a web3 summit in Cyberport Monday.
Emphasizing that Hong Kong remains committed to becoming a regional crypto hub, the financial secretary described:
As certain crypto exchanges collapsed one after another, Hong Kong became a quality standing point for digital asset corporates.
He added that Hong Kong has a robust regulatory framework for crypto that “matches international norms and standards.”
Joseph Chan, the undersecretary for financial services and the Treasury for the government of Hong Kong, revealed at the same event that the city is preparing to issue more licenses for digital asset trading firms. Moreover, it is planning a consultation on crypto platforms to explore the potential for retail participation in the industry. Read More
Disclaimer: These articles are provided for informational purposes only. They are not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or any other advice.
