Amazon adds NFTs to the cart

So a few days ago, Amazon hinted at its web3 plans!

Heard it right, the Fortune 500 company is planning on:

• Launching an NFT initiative - digital assets enterprise.
• Focusing on blockchain-based gaming that rewards players with NFTs.
• Having more than a dozen partners lined up for the project - layer-1 blockchains, blockchain-based gaming startups and developers, and digital asset exchanges.

We saw this coming…

Jul 2021: posted a vacancy seeking a "Digital Currency and Blockchain Product Lead."

April 2022: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told CNBC that he is optimistic about the future of cryptocurrencies and NFTs and said that he "do believe over time that you'll see crypto become bigger.

Dec 2022: Amazon launched a documentary series NFTMe, showcasing artists, collectors, and industry professionals sharing their experiences with NFTs and how it has positively changed their daily lives.

Jan 2023: AWS partners with Ava Labs to accelerate blockchain adoption via one-click node deployments for Avalanche's infrastructure & DApps.

Amazon has been sending big signals!

Why gaming?

The blockchain gaming industry has experienced rapid growth, starting from scratch to reach $3 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach $39.7 billion by 2025. Its success is attributed to NFTs, free-to-play and play-to-earn models, attracting over 1.5 million gamers globally.

Amazon, with its tech expertise, is exploring blockchain-based gaming. The gaming industry is a promising adopter of blockchain, especially with the potential of NFTs, and Amazon's entry into this market could help bring blockchain mainstream.

Despite challenges faced in the past year, the blockchain gaming industry continues to flourish, and experts predict it will be the driving force behind blockchain adoption, making games more immersive than ever.

By entering the blockchain gaming market, Amazon has the potential to introduce NFTs and Web3 to a wider audience. The main obstacles in the growth of blockchain gaming are player accessibility and onboarding, and Amazon's resources and reputation could help overcome these challenges and be a major boost for the Web3 industry.

While we are at it, here's the 2022 statistics

• Gaming dominates dapp industry, accounting for 50% of on-chain activity.
• 1.13 million daily UAW connected to game dapps across 48 blockchains in 2022.- 85% more than in 2021.
• 7.4 billion on-chain game transactions, growing 37% YoY and 3,260% since 2020.
• Web3 gaming and metaverse projects raised $7.6B in 2022—59% more than in 2021—with $2.54B in infrastructure investment.
• 2022 virtual world trading volume is estimated at $1.45B, up 136% from 2021.

Twitter Hack Leads to a Heist on the Azuki NFT Project

It was a typical day on Twitter, but everything changed in an instant. The Twitter account of the popular Azuki NFT project was hacked, leading to a cyber attack that resulted in the theft of over $750,000 worth of USDC, 11 NFTs, and more than 3.9 ETH in just 30 minutes.

How ?

?The hacker used the compromised Twitter account to pose as a "land mint" for the Azuki NFT project and sent out malicious links to users. The links, however, were a trap, leading users to a "drainer" contract that swiped assets from their wallets.

But all was not lost. Within the hour, the official Azuki Twitter account appeared to have been removed from Twitter search results, and the malicious tweets were deleted. The security teams behind popular crypto wallets MetaMask and Phantom were on the ball and took quick action to prevent further damage.

MetaMask Security Research Harry Denley immediately noticed the scam and said that MetaMask had blocked the malicious domain. The Phantom wallet team also marked the malicious domains as unsafe, alerting users who attempted to connect their Phantom wallets to the sites.

This attack serves as a wake-up call for both Twitter and the NFT community. The speed at which assets were stolen highlights the dangers of cyber-attacks and underscores the need for increased vigilance and better security measures.

California Takes a Joyride into the Future with its Latest Blockchain Adventure

California is taking a leap into the future of car ownership with its latest pilot project. The state is partnering with Tezos fork to test out a blockchain-based car title management system. The CA Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is expected to develop consumer-facing applications such as digital wallets and car title NFTs later this year.

Gone are the days of shuffling through stacks of papers and waiting in long lines at the DMV. The blockchain system will streamline the process of transferring car ownership and tracking titles, making it faster, more secure, and more efficient.

And it's not just cars that California is transforming with blockchain. In another ground-breaking move, the state's Department of Food and Agriculture has pioneered a system to track food-borne contamination by collecting and organizing data from parties such as farmers and transporters. And now, California has proposed shifting its archives to a similar ledger.

The state is proving that blockchain technology can revolutionize not just the car industry but many others as well.