Latest In Metaverse, Web3, and NFTs

Hello, again, and welcome back to the Latest in Metaverse, Web3 and NFTs newsletter. Your Linkedin newsletter to find out about the most recent developments in these fascinating spaces.

So, without further ado, let’s dive right in!

The Merge

Last week, on 15 September, the famous Merge between Ethereum and Beacon Chain’s consensus finally took place. This merge has converted the Ethereum blockchain from a proof-of-work (PoW) to a proof-of-stake system enabling Ethereum’s electricity use to drop almost a 100%.

After this merge, it could be said that Visa uses about 60 times more energy than Ethereum per month, making the whole “crypto is bad for the environment” argument completely obsolete.

Apart from this energy saving reason, the main reason for the merge is supposed to upgrade scalability, meaning the Ethereum blockchain can now process up to 100,00 transactions per second.

Security Issues Persist

Recently crypto market maker Wintermute got hacked for $160 Million. The CEO, Evgeny Gaevoy communicated that the company is looking at this mishap as a “white hat” event, which means that the attacker was actually testing the company’s security system and not for actual financial gain, he proceeded to ask the hacker to get in touch with them.

You can check Evgeny’s tweets here.

Wintermute is the most recent addition to a long list of crypto project that have been attacked by hackers over the past few months.

Fortnite Creators Expand

Epic Games, the creators of popular video game, Fortnite, listed their first NFT based game called Blankos Block Party. A release that comes just shy of a year after Mythical Games (creators of Blankos Block Party) raised $150 million in a series C funding round at a $1.25 billion valuation.

Blankos Block Party is a free to play multiplayer game centred around collectable digital vinyl toys called Blancos, NFTs that can be bought and sold inside the game. Although the game will not be hosted on the Ethereum blockchain, it will have a link.

A New Kind of NFT

EFFORCE recently announced the public sale of its first energy efficient NFT collection, creating a new breed of non-fungible-token. The company, co-foundeed by Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak will jumpstart a new generation of energy efficient projects around the NFT, Web3 community.