web3

Image: Justin Tallis (Getty Images)Watch out intrepid web3 entrepreneurs, the feds are cracking down on insider trading. Former OpenSea product manager Nate Chastain was arrested by the FBI early Wednesday morning in New York City and charged with wire fraud and money laundering in connection with an elaborate NFT insider trading scheme. In a press release, The Department of Justice claims Chastain used his advanced, confidential knowledge about which NFTs would be featured on OpenSea’s platform to secretly buy themand…

Binance Labs, the venture capital arm of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, said on Wednesday it had raised $500 million for its investment fund focused on companies involved in the blockchain and Web3 spaces. The fund is supported by investment firms DST Global Partners, Breyer Capital and Whampoa Group as well as by other private equity firms and family offices, the company said…

But while the Invact story has been publicised widely, the funding winter in the startup space is catching up with metaverse startups faster than most other sectors. Mint spoke to another Delhi-based co-founder who left his metaverse-themed firm last month after differences of opinion with another co-founder and chief investor. In that case, the metaverse firm was made part of a bigger events platform, according to the person. Metaverse firms, which have been looking to…

On the Chain Reaction podcast this week, Lux Capital’s newest investor, Grace Isford, joined us to talk about the opaque but crucial world of web3 infrastructure. At Lux, Isford invests in the companies working behind the scenes to make sure crypto exchanges are secure and reliable enough to avoid being hacked. Before joining Lux this February, Isford was an investor at Canvas Ventures focused on enterprise software and fintech. A data infrastructure investment she worked on at Canvas revealed to her the opportunity…

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry continues to grow, with a record number of downloads and consumer spending across both the iOS and Google Play stores combined in 2021, according to the latest year-end reports. Global spending across iOS, Google Play and third-party Android app stores in China grew 19% in 2021 to reach $170 billion. Downloads of apps also grew by 5%, reaching 230…

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022, the US and other countries have all issued massive sanctions against Russia in an attempt to pressure the Kremlin to draw back and end the war. The US banned all Russian oil and natural gas imports and removed Russia from SWIFT, which allows cross-border trading. Inflation is skyrocketing and we’re experiencing the fallout at the gas pump, in the grocery store, and virtually everywhere else that we do business. As Russian citizens began to be concerned about their economy…

Many, such as Gary Vaynerchuck, compare it to the with similar rewards for those who gain quick entry. But like all buzzwords, fads, and trends, the majority of the population has no deep or meaningful idea as to what it really entails. To understand what is happening with Web3 and the wider global economy, we need to investigate Web2. And we also need to look at some of the underlying philosophical principles underlying the world of commerce.Daniel O'KeeffeExperienced Web3 Copywriter engaged in Stoic Philosophy,…

Silicon Valley venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz debuted a $600 million fund dedicated to gaming startups, stepping up its bets on so-called Web3 technology just as a broader market decline underscores the volatility of the cryptocurrency-based sector. The venture firm, known as a16z, said Wednesday the fund is its first dedicated to the games industry, pointing to the billions of dollars in annual revenue that hit games such as “Fortnite” and…

They say you can’t keep a good brand down. More accurately, you can’t stop it being opportunistically mined by business types for lingering name-recognition and nostalgia. Case in point: the pioneering peer-to-peer music-sharing-and-piracy service Napster has been bought by a consortium of companies who plan to “bring the iconic music brand to web3.” What exactly that means isn’t clear, mostly because web3 itself is such a nebulous concept. However, other web3-focused music startups have let musicians release albums…

So you're saying that you could have done it earlier, but it was good to wait for blockchain because no one would have believed you otherwise?I'm not saying that. But there is a truth to that framing. It has less to do with blockchain and more to do with competition in the market for creators, and us feeling a sense of urgency for being the de facto platform for them. Instagram specifically has enjoyed immense market fit with creators for a very long time. Now, a lot of other platforms have wised up to the value of…