YouTube expanded on its blockchain and metaverse plans for 2022 on Thursday, saying it could use the emerging technologies to reduce fraud in the rapidly growing digital art market and provide a more social viewing experience for gaming content. YouTube announced last month that it was investigating Web3 technologies such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are video clips, art, or other digital assets linked to the record-keeping technology blockchain. In a blog post on Thursday, YouTube went even further, suggesting that it could make NFTs safer bets. NFT sales skyrocketed last year, but cr ..read more

After tipping off its plans for the metaverse in a Web 3 job posting in October, GameStop is partnering with Immutable X for the launch of its non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace. The gaming retail giant said Thursday it tapped the layer 2 system, to be used atop Ethereum, because of Immutable’s “zero gas fees for trading and minting NFTs in a carbon-neutral environment,” according to a press release, referring to non-fungible tokens. GameStop plans for its marketplace to include “billions of low-cost, in-game assets that can easily be bought and sold,” specifically mentio ..read more

In the first few weeks of the year, a considerable amount of capital was allocated to investment pools looking for the next big thing in GameFi — the collision of crypto and gaming. In January, FTX established a $2 billion fund to target gaming; shortly after Singapore’s Crypto.com Ventures upped its $200 million fund to $500 million saying that gaming was one of the investment themes it planned to double down on. This enthusiasm that crypto investors have for gaming is matched by executives at some of the gaming industry’s largest incumbents: leadership at EA&nbs ..read more