eBay wants to bring sports NFTs to fans

eBay has made its next move in web3 - Partnered with Notable Live (virtual events platform) to bring merchandise and NFTs to the eBay marketplace.

Notable Live will bring limited edition NFTs and player merchandise to eBay.?

This is supposed to offer fans a unique "in-the-room" experience with player interaction. They will get authentic access to artefacts and first-hand accounts from sources themselves. Fans can go live n the Notable Live Platform to hang out with their favourite players, teams and leagues.

Unlike NFTs sold on crypto-based platforms like OpenSea, NFT sales on eBay are not recorded on the blockchain. Payments must be made with traditional currencies, such as through PayPal or credit card, and the buyer receives the digital asset via a redemption link after the transaction is completed.

eBay and Web3

November 2021?- Acquired the sneaker authentication business from Sneaker Con Digital which verifies the authenticity of high-value footwear.

January 2022?- Added support for authenticating valuable trading cards worth at least $750

May 2022?- Launched its first collection of NFTs?in partnership with web3 platform OneOf - featuring 3D and animated interpretations of Sports Illustrated covers from iconic athletes.

June 2022- Acquired KnownOrigin, a marketplace for buying and selling digital collectibles.

August 2022?- Acquired trading card marketplace TCGplayer for a whopping $295m to create more growth verticals for its web3 strategy.

Meanwhile, the competitors:?

• Amazon?plans to launch an NFT initiative - digital assets enterprise focused on gaming.
• Shopify?announced a partnership with Novel, a no-code Web3 commerce platform, to make Web3 technologies accessible to all. Also, expanded its NFT integration allowing merchants to designing, mint and sell?Avalanche?NFTs.
• Flipkart?launched its metaverse - flipverse!
• Alibaba Group?plans to launch its metaverse.
• Home Depot?filed 24?Web3 trademarks?for its logo, name and brand.
• MercadoLibre Inc. announced the launch of its digital currency, MercadoCoin, which customers can earn as cashback when buying on the platform.

Meta clocks $13.72 billion in losses on Metaverse

It's been a rough 2022 winter for the US tech giants. For Mark Zuckerberg's Meta, it's been no different.

Meta posted its fourth-quarter earnings report on Wednesday, February 1. The company posted $32.1 billion in revenue across all departments and apps, beating the revenue forecasts of $31.53 billion.

While the overall company revenue beat the street estimate by 1.95 per cent, its metaverse ambitions turned out to be costly for its investors. Reality Labs, the company's Metaverse division, posted a total loss of $13.72 billion for the 2022 fiscal year.

It generated $2.16 billion in revenue for all of 2022, a notch lower than 2021 revenue of $2.27 billion. In estimated terms costing six times more than the revenue it generates.

With job cuts across the board and 11,000 employees fired in November 2022, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg insisted that 2023 is going to be about bringing efficiency across the board for the company.

"We're going to be more proactive about cutting projects that aren't performing," he said while making it clear Reality Labs is going to be the company's long-term pursuit and worthy of continued investment. "Our priorities haven't changed. The two major technological waves driving our roadmap are AI today, and, over the longer term, the Metaverse," Zuckerberg added.

BonqDAO hacked for estimated $120M?

An exploit in the smart contract has cost crypto protocols BonqDAO and AllianceBlock an estimated $120M. An oracle hack allowed the exploiter to manipulate the price of the AllianceBlock token, according to Peckshield.?

As per blockchain security firm PeckShield's analysis, the estimated loss from the Bonq hack is around $120 million, comprising $108 million from 98.65 million BEUR tokens and $11 million from 113.8 million wrapped-ALBT (wALBT) tokens.?

While the exploit took effect over several transactions, the largest was $82.19 million at 6:32 pm UTC time on Feb. 1, according to multichain portfolio tracker?DeBank.

BonqDAO?is a non-custodial borrowing and lending platform.?AllianceBlock?is a decentralized crypto infrastructure platform that connects fintech providers and traditional finance institutions to decentralized finance applications.

TTD Surfer??

1. The Ordinals protocol, based on Bitcoin,?had a shock pornographic image known as "goatse" inscribed onto its blockchain just days after its launch.?
2. Kang Jong-hyun, the suspected real owner?of South Korea's largest crypto exchange Bithumb, was arrested on February 2 on charges of embezzlement, dereliction of duty, market manipulation, and fraudulent transactions.?
3. The Cool Cats NFT project has been rebranded?and expanded to offer customizable avatars.
4. OpenSea recorded higher sales of individual NFTs?on Polygon than on Ethereum. In January, OpenSea processed 1.5M NFT sales on Polygon and 1.1M on Ethereum.
5. Coinbase NFT announced that?it is "pausing" future NFT drops but not closing its marketplace completely. The focus will shift to other features and tools that creators have requested.