Samsung presents Galaxy S22 Ultra smartphone and Samsung Wallet with crypto access
Samsung held the presentation of the Galaxy S22 Ultra smartphone at the new “Samsung 837X” virtual store in Decentraland. More than 100 thousand participants visited the event — they could also place a pre-order for the new product.
The tech giant announced the Samsung Wallet and new Galaxy S22 Ultra smartphone equipped with cryptocurrency features at its virtual “Unpacked 2022” event. In addition to storing “complex digital data,” the Wallet will also store identification data.
Samsung has also taken steps in the NFTs market. In early January, it was announced that the company’s 2022 line of TVs would support NFT.
Gucci purchases land on the Sandbox
Gucci plans to create an experimental space with an interactive fashion experience for Generation Z.
The brand has already purchased land (the amount is not disclosed) on the Sandbox for launching Gucci Vault — an experimental space for metaverse projects.
Gucci is one of the early adopters of digital fashion and NFTs. The brand recently partnered with Superplastic to release a collection of 500 NFTs — “Supergucci.” Also, it was the first luxury brand to introduce NFTs — sales of the virtual bags topped $4,000.
Gucci is not yet revealing details, announcing only on Discord that it is in the development phase of an immersive experience on the Sandbox.
McDonald’s and Panera Bread file trademark applications to create metaverse restaurants
Two major U.S. restaurant giants, McDonald’s and Panera Bread, have filed trademark applications to create virtual restaurants and sell other digital assets in the metaverse.
McDonald’s has filed ten trademark applications, where one is for “operating a virtual restaurant”. At the same time, Panera Bread has registered a trademark for NFTs to facilitate commercial transactions for virtual food and drink.
McDonald’s and Panera have not yet rushed to comment on the news.
Sotheby’s to auction 104 CryptoPunks NFTs
On February 23, Sotheby’s will auction 104 NFTs from its CryptoPunks (V2) collection as a single item. The expected price per lot is $20–30 million.
All 104 punks were purchased in August by the anonymous buyer “0x650d”. He had previously claimed he would never sell them, but plans have changed over time.
Lavra Labs periodically finds itself at the center of scandals, most recently involving the 1st version of the collection. By the way, yes, there are 2 of them!
Whatever the real reason for selling all 104 punks, the auction raised a lot of controversy, questions, and expectations about the future of the entire collection.
OnlyFans switches to NFT profile pictures
OnlyFans, an online subscription platform known for its adult content, commented in a statement to Reuters the release of a feature that allows users to display verified NFTs as profile pictures. Thus, OnlyFans joins Twitter and Reddit, which have already begun incorporating NFTs into their platforms.
OnlyFans said it only supports NFTs that are minted on the Ethereum blockchain. It stated that the profile pictures of NFT creators would display an Ethereum icon to flag their authenticity.
YouTube considers using NFTs to monetize content
Neal Mohan, YouTube’s Chief Product Officer, said on the blog: “NFTs allow creators to make money in previously impossible ways and thus crypto assets can bring enormous benefits to creators”.
Mohan added that new technologies like blockchain and NFT could allow creators to build deeper relationships with their fans and provide a verifiable way for fans to own unique videos, photos, and art.
Last month, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki claimed that NFTs could be another form of revenue for creators.
The video hosting platform has not yet specified a timeline for blockchain integration.
By the way, OneArt has carried out its own research on NFT integration into social networks.
Melania Trump’s mysterious $170,000 NFT sale
According to Vice and independent blockchain researcher “zachxbt”, Melania Trump was probably the secret buyer, investing $170,000 in NFT, which the first lady herself put up for sale on her NFT marketplace.
As per Solana blockchain records examined by Motherboard, it has come to light who bought the NFT collection: Melania Trump herself, or at least whoever organized the auction for her.
Melania Trump’s office, which was approached for comment, gave no details, saying only, “the transaction was made on behalf of an outside buyer.”
NFT market capitalization exceeds $16 billion
According to Messari report, the capitalization of the NFT market exceeds 16 billion, or about 1% of crypto’s two trillion dollar industry.
Avatar NFT currently represents the largest sub-sector of NFT. In addition to this, NFT come in other types: gaming assets, digital land, music, finance (DeFi), intellectual property, etc.
