blockchain: Last News

Angus Finney “Computers are useless,” Pablo Picasso exclaimed more than 50 years ago. “They can only give you answers.” No doubt he would be turning in his grave at today’s alliance of computer programs, tech companies and digital artists clustering together to create non-fungible tokens (NFTs). It’s a quickly evolving and potentially very risky world for filmmakers, producers and others looking for new ways to raise funding but should be approached with caution, research and a good look at recent history.  NFTs — in case you need reminding — are digital artworks and images, often carved up into bite-sized tokens, that rely on blockchain technology to prove ownership. The explosion in interest and speculation around NFTs and the wider crypto currency craze that heated up during the previous decade has now spectacularly imploded over the past six months, with more than $2 trillion wiped out. The burst bubble in digital assets and decentralized finance (DeFi) has attracted acute attention, but also pain for millions of investors given that by mid-2021 more than 16% of the American population had bought into the crypto craze.  

Fyre Festival disaster – has opened up about his plans to pay off $26million (£22.7million) in restitution owed to those he defrauded.McFarland was profiled by The New York Times this week, having completed his stint on house arrest earlier this month. It comes after he was moved from prison to a halfway house in March, being released from his six-year federal prison sentence more than two years early (he was formally sentenced in October of 2018).

K.J. Yossman New York and London-based American-European entertainment fund APX Group has appointed Andy Capper as chief operating officer and head of North American operations.He will oversee strategic and financial coordination of APX’s North America activity as well as business activities across the European divisions.

cryptocurrency markets and a big year for Web3 thievery in general, from NFT kidnappings to hacks taking aim at the crypto exchanges and the “bridge” entities that facilitate sales and trades. Duke University lecturing fellow Lee Reiners has emerged as a vocal doubter of the viability of cryptocurrencies as a meaningful factor for nations and commerce, particularly for the kind of rights-laden contracts struck in the entertainment industry. Reiners, who also hosts “The FinReg Pod” podcast on money and regulatory issues, was blunt in assessing the crypto moment as little more than a tulip-like investment fad in a conversation with Variety Co-Editor-in-Chief Cynthia Littleton.

Blockchains and metaverses. Crypto-currencies and non-fungible tokens.Over the past 12 months, as the world has eased out of pandemic crisis mode, the pop culture-verse and the Wall Street-verse have been rife with discourse and deal-making around a belief in the revolutionary potential of mind-bendingly complicated, internet-enabled new systems of communication, content creation, supply-chain management, legal documentation and banking.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorFox Corp. operates the only one of the four major U.S.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorBlockchain — A distributed, publicly accessible database that functions as a ledger to record digital transactions (such as records of a cryptocurrency transaction). The blockchain provides a way to conduct verifiable, trusted transactions — without the need for a centralized third-party entity.Metaverse — A virtual-reality space in which users can interact within a computer-generated environment with virtual objects, artificial- intelligence elements or other users through virtual avatars.

EXCLUSIVE: Blockchain tech company GoldenArk via its subsidiary GoldenArk Media, and independent film start-up Cherry Blossom Studios enter into $10M partnership deal.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorAfter nearly 12 years at Meta and Facebook, Nick Grudin is leaving the social-media giant. Grudin next month will join NFT digital-collectibles company Dapper Labs as chief business officer.Most recently, Grudin was VP of content and community partnerships at Meta, where he oversaw global partnerships and content across the company’s creator ecosystem, media, entertainment, sports and community initiatives.

EXCLUSIVE: Cryptocurrency pioneer Jeff Garzik has launched NextCypher Productions (NxC), a new independent entertainment company that will focus on using the emerging technology of Web3 (NFTs, crypto, blockchain applications) to empower the sci-fi community to turn fantasy into reality.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorNot everyone is jumping on the NFT bandwagon.Minecraft, the open-world game platform owned by Microsoft, has notified players that “integrations of NFTs with Minecraft are generally not something we will support or allow.”In the July 20 notice, the game’s developer, Mojang, said it has rules in place to ensure that Minecraft “remains a community where everyone has access to the same content. NFTs, however, can create models of scarcity and exclusion that conflict with our guidelines and the spirit of Minecraft.”Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) provide unique identifiers, which are part of a blockchain, that can authenticate the ownership of any form of digital asset (enabling markets for trading or selling those).

EXCLUSIVE: Mila Kunis has partnered with superhero creator Sharad Devarajan of Graphic India to launch Armored Kingdom Media Inc.—a new entertainment franchise spanning a Web3 trading card game, digital comics, animation and film, which will be built on the carbon-neutral, community-driven blockchain, NEAR. To commemorate the launch of the sci-fi/fantasy franchise, a limited-edition Issue #0 comic book NFT will be made available for free, for seven days only, at this link.

Jim Carrey debuted his first NFT artwork on Thursday, a digital painting titled “Sunshower” that features his contemplative voiceover. His foray into the world of blockchain joins a growing list of Hollywood celebrities to become enamored by the vanguard digital data system.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorWWE is hoping to pin down some cash in its first sale of NFTs featuring the wrestling entertainment company’s top stars.WWE, together with Fox Entertainment’s Blockchain Creative Labs, on Friday, June 3, plans to launch its its first NFT (nonfungible token) sale on Moonsault, WWE’s official NFT marketplace. The limited-edition collection will comprise more than 10,000 “NFT Flips,” each featuring a WWE Superstar tied to the Hell in a Cell event, which in the U.S.

Ken Kragen, best known for his work in putting together the massive ‘We are the World’ and ‘Hands Across America’ projects, has a posthumous venture launching today. The goal is to fundraise with NFTs for charities focused on climate, world hunger, cancer and Ukraine.

David Beckham revealed his plans to “put his feet up” following eldest son Brooklyn Beckham’s £3 million wedding this past Saturday to Nicola Peltz.The 46 year old jokingly told followers on Thursday that he would be resting for the time being after watching his son get married as he had another busy weekend ahead of him. In a video posted to his Instagram, David could be seen sitting back in a chair smiling whilst looking down at his phone with his feet raised up as he captioned: “Putting my feet up for the long weekend @digitalbitsorg” – tagging a blockchain for brands at the end.

Founder of HYBE – the company behind BTS – Bang Si-Hyuk says that he recognises the concerns of music fans regarding NFTs. He adds that, as yet, the company “haven’t announced anything” super specific in that domain, although that doesn’t mean it won’t.In a new interview with Time Magazine, Bang reflects on the reaction to an announcement by HYBE last year that it planned to launch its own NFT exchange in the future.

Grimes has announced plans to release an “intergalactic children’s metaverse book”. It was only a matter of time.The musician revealed her plans while speaking at blockchain conference the Avalanche Summit in Barcelona, according to Bitcoin.com.

Kingship – the metaverse boyband created by Universal Music’s Web3 label 10:22PM – now have a manager. Who – like the four members of the group – is an NFT.

Andrew Wallenstein President and Chief Media AnalystFox Corp. isn’t exactly the first name that comes to mind when the inescapable subject of Web3 comes up, but Rupert Murdoch’s company is playing more aggressively in this innovative space than any other traditional media firm.The company’s year-old division Blockchain Creative Labs has been experimenting with the disruptive potential of digital ownership for properties as varied as “The Masked Singer,” WWE and, unexpectedly, SXSW.

Starter.xyz, the leading IDO launchpad, incubator and investor network, which has raised over $40 million (£30.5 million) in seed, private and public rounds for over 50 projects across multiple blockchains, is celebrating its first anniversary.