In their Tweet, Albacore seemed excited about the upcoming feature, which would be offered by Microsoft Edge, their default web browser. This shall be among the rare instance where a feature like this is introduced into the default web browser. If it works correctly, this step from the tech giant could start a new era of crypto adoption.

The onboarding pages in the tweet suggest that Microsoft could soon be rolling out a non-custodial crypto wallet giving users exclusive control over their private keys and assets.

After the recent crypto collapses like the FTX-saga and others, a wild debate regarding the custody of assets began. Although such an incident crippled the industry, the root cause that emerged was excess power in the hands of a select few. Thus, several attempts are being made to boost the non-custodial and fully decentralized scenarios after this. 

The non-custodial wallet will be embedded in Edge; this eliminates the need for the installation of any extensions or links. As Edge has a strong reputation and is believed to be trustworthy, along with the fact that it has been used by millions daily, it can vastly improve crypto exposure.

Images shared on Twitter, hints that the new feature will also support NFT marketplace browsing. It would also allow a news feed feature, relaying news and the latest information about the industry. Interestingly, the features will also allow the users to choose between two options:

They can use the built-in Edge wallet, or

They can use the extension wallet to manage their assets.

A Microsoft spokesperson while speaking with Bleeping Computer,said that the company loves testing new features, allowing its customers to explore new experiences. They are always eager to learn and collect customer feedback and suggestions, but they have nothing more to say right now.

Since its inception, the crypto industry has struggled with its adoption rates. In theory, they do have great potential to revolutionize the financial demographics of the world. But the complexity of blockchain, lack of regulations, and recent bad events rocked the trust of general investors to the core.

The crypto industry has tried many tricks and methods to call for mass adoption, and many of them are working, and the industry can be seen increasing its user base. Any significant event in this arena is closely monitored by many. As in advertising, when a big star endorses or rejects a brand, the brand image is greatly affected in both cases.

When an influential company like Microsoft ventures into crypto and embeds a crypto feature in its default web browser, it will gain eyeballs soon.. This step from the tech giant has strong potential, but whether it will work as intended should be left to the future.

• https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2023/03/20/microsoft-to-now-embed-crypto-wallet-nft-features-in-edge/

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The former president—who is currently facing a Manhattan district attorney probe into whether he illegally paid off two former sexual partners for their silence during the 2016 presidential election—launched the trading cards in the form of "non-fungible tokens" in December. NFTs include any digital art with a unique signature on a blockchain or database. The launch drew criticism and disappointment from a number of his supporters who felt he wasn't taking his burgeoning 2024 campaign seriously enough.

However, all 45,000 of the $99-a-piece trading cards that were released—depicting Trump's face photoshopped into a series of hypermasculine and patriotic scenes—quickly sold out upon their launch, with prices fluctuating up and down at rapid pitch.

In addition to their intrinsic value, the cards were also sold with the possibility of buyers receiving benefits like dinner or even an in-person meet-and-greet with Trump. As of this week, Trump's vendor on the NFT marketplace OpenSea, Trump Deployer, was selling tickets on the platform for buyers to join a group Zoom call with the former president, with prices ranging between $25 and $88.

The trading cards, however, were among Trump's most lucrative products on the digital platform.

On December 17, two days after launching the NFT series, the floor price for the trading cards on OpenSea peaked at 0.82 Ethereum, the equivalent of about $999. The following week, the floor price stood at 0.23 ETH, or around $280, before falling to a price of approximately 0.212 ETH in early January.

Since then, the price of Trump's NFT trading cards has ranged as high as 0.68 ETH—a little over $1,776 dollars—to as low as 0.42 ETH (or $722) earlier this month. Since news of Trump's imminent arrest last week, however, the floor price of Trump's NFTs has spiked more than 32 percent, with OpenSea data showing the total number of sales increasing by double-digit percentages.

• https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-nft-prices-soar-indictment-manhattan-district-attorney-1788951

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The company’s newly-published patent is titled ‘NFT Framework For Transferring And Using Digital Assets Between Game Platforms’ and explores the potential for NFTs to be played with and transferred between video games, with players reaping the benefits in multiple games.

‘Current systems are technologically inadequate for the owner to use the asset across different games and platforms,’ the patent says. ‘Accordingly, as further recognised herein, the functionality of the game may be enhanced by enabling gamers and/or spectators to exclusively use the asset and possibly transfer its rights to others via NFT.’

While the technology is not yet available, Sony has proposed a system by which NFTs could be used to provide specific benefits to select players.

For example, it suggests a player who is the ‘first’ to beat a particular boss in a game could be rewarded with a special NFT that grants a unique weapon, or another reward. Given complications like the fact that games press and influencers often receive early access to titles, it’s unclear how this would be fair – but Sony appears enthusiastic about this application regardless.

The patent further enthuses about the potential for ‘a certain level, score, and/or points accumulation in a particular video game‘ to be minted, with this progress then able to be transferred or sold, allowing players to advance their own gameplay via NFT.

‘The NFT may then be transferred to someone else, who may then resume the game where the transferor left off according to the NFT so that the transferee begins gameplay at the same level, with the same score, and/or with the same points accumulation as the transferor,’ the patent says.

The intrinsic benefit of having another player complete these NFT-charged gameplay segments is not dwelt upon – nor is the precise reason why people play games: for fun. Transferring your gameplay, or skipping parts of games to gain some intangible digital reward, feels at odds with the joy of gaming.

At this stage, it’s unclear how these NFTs will be implemented in a meaningful way. The bubble of enthusiasm for this technology has already burst, and the benefits outlined here aren’t tantalising enough to make a case for the potential loss of goodwill that may spawn from their inclusion. For now, we’ll have to wait to see what Sony has in store for NFTs.

• https://www.gameshub.com/news/news/sony-nft-patent-transfer-sales-use-2609895/

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The “Natively Digital: Oddly Satisfying” auction will run from March 17 to March 24 in Paris. Prominent NFT artists including Anyma, Beeple, Lucas Zanotto and Josh Pierce will showcase their 3D animated works in the sale inspired by a trend that originated as a "subreddit" in 2013.

Sotheby’s said Wednesday it will hold a non-fungible token (NFT) auction featuring digital art inspired by the popular internet trend “oddly satisfying,” from social network Reddit.

The “Natively Digital: Oddly Satisfying” auction will run from March 17 to March 24 in Paris. Prominent NFT artists including Anyma, Beeple, Lucas Zanotto and Josh Pierce will showcase their 3D animated works in the sale inspired by a trend that originated as a "subreddit" in 2013.

• https://www.coindesk.com/web3/2023/03/15/sothebys-holding-meme-inspired-nft-auction-featuring-beeple/

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Critics on social media said the decision to launch an NFT collection is a divergence from Sesame Street’s origins as an educational program to help level the playing field for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds, particularly Black and Latino children. Some pointed out the cost (each NFT is priced at $60) also makes it inaccessible to many viewers.

“NFTs are very much against the ideals I associate with Sesame Street,” said Becca Petunia, a writer for ToughPigs: Muppet Fans Who Grew Up, a Sesame Street online fan community.

The Cookie Monster NFTs seem financially inaccessible for most people and aimed to those with disposable income, Petunia continued.

“The environmental impact is questionable, which contradicts Sesame’s many ecological messages," she said. "It isn’t a product which feels purposeful or important."

Others online had similar reactions.

“Sesame Street was built on helping educate children in lower income living. To give those less privileged the opportunity to learn before entering preschool,” one fan account, called "Muppet History," tweeted. “This nostalgia fueled cash grab goes against that ideology entirely and it’s sickening."

“Who even asked for this?! Who does this appeal to?” wrote another Twitter user.

Some also questioned the relevance of NFTs. “NFTs are still around?” one Twitter user wrote.

"This is pure disrespect for a education institution like Sesame Street… but… the NFT market is collapsing," another user added.

A spokesperson for Sesame Workshop did not address the backlash when asked for request for comment.

• https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/sesame-street-fans-say-cookie-monster-nfts-dont-honor-shows-original-l-rcna74956

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Then, Uniswap presented the NFTs on its site so the financial institutions and precocious children who dominate the platform could trade any picture, video or Mp3 file logged on the Ethereum blockchain in one handy place.

One thing stuck out almost immediately after launch. In its first month of trading Uniswap’s decentralized aggregator overwhelmingly redirected trades from two of the most popular NFT marketplaces: the very centralized OpenSea and the slightly more decentralized NFT trading platform LooksRare. Most of the trades then came from OpenSea, a platform so centralized that one rogue employee was charged with insider trading in June 2022.

It might seem strange for a decentralized exchange’s (DEX) first dip into NFTs to rely so heavily on centralized marketplaces, where employees and founders are free to run the platforms in the same way that feudal lords command small fiefdoms.

After all, Uniswap launched four and a half years ago with the purpose of cutting out the need for centralized cryptocurrency exchanges, like Binance or Coinbase. The DEX allowed traders to swap coins on-chain by having other Uniswap users fund large liquidity pools, then relying on algorithms to rebalance the prices of cryptocurrencies held within them. The platform has since processed over a trillion dollars worth of trades and is steadily eating away at the market dominance of centralized exchanges.

Despite the culture shock, Uniswap doesn’t consider its integration of centralized marketplaces into its new NFT marketplace a major roadblock to its mission of decentralized trading. “We're only acting as a wrapper around these marketplaces,” Scott Gray, Uniswap’s head of NFT product, told CoinDesk in an interview at launch.

Uniswap has also taken some pains to protect its users from the perils of centralized control. If a customer buys an NFT on Uniswap that comes from a centralized marketplace, Uniswap only hands the NFT to the customer after receiving it from the marketplace.

Indeed, far from compromising Uniswap’s ideal of decentralization, Gray said linking up centralized marketplaces solved a problem that has long plagued the NFT market: “the fragmentation of liquidity across marketplaces.” It’s not very “capital efficient,” he said, to split NFTs across different marketplaces. “If you're not seeing all listings, you're not getting the floor.”

By supporting listings from all marketplaces, “no matter their royalty stance or their fee structure,” Gray said the outcome is better for customers. He added the aim is for Uniswap to become a platform that puts “all the options in front of the consumer” so that “the consumer can easily decide which marketplaces they support.” That “allows for everyone to create their own preference schedule and have the community decide what they value,” he said.

It’s a lofty goal, and one that hadn’t initially paid off. Uniswap’s new NFT platform generated a cumulative trading volume of just $2.5 million about a month after launching, according to one Dune Analytics dashboard. Since then, that figure has only grown to $7.8 million – while other NFT marketplaces like Blur shot off like a rocket.

Uniswap’s NFT venture’s slow start may be down to timing. NFTs took off in 2020 after convincing traders of the necessity of property rights to virtual plots of land or one-of-a-kind renditions of an infinitely reproducible Internet meme.

• https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2023/03/15/uniswaps-nft-platform-shows-defis-reluctant-acceptance-of-centralization/

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The latest club to suffer problems with a sponsor from the crypto sector is Celta Vigo. The club partnered with the Turkish crypto exchange Bitci in 2021.

But in a press release published on Twitter earlier this week, Celta claimed that the exchange has “not made any payments” since the deal was struck.

Celta wrote that it “has been forced to demand Bitci to fulfill its payment obligations on several occasions.”

The club wrote that Bitci had “limited itself to offering various promises of payment, which it has never fulfilled.”

The club stated it had “decided to initiate legal action” to “request the full compliance of what the parties agreed.”

The club concluded that it was making “the greatest efforts” to solve an “unpleasant situation” that had been “caused exclusively by Bitci.”

But Celta’s case is not an isolated incident. Xataka reported that Bitci had requested payment delays to a number of its other Spanish partners – including Celta rivals Valencia, as well as the Barcelona-based La Liga side Espanyol.

Espanyol said they were attempting to take Bitci to court over unpaid fees last year.

Xakata reported that Bitci claims it has the “solvency” to pay its bills to Spanish clubs. But it reportedly says that its hands have been tied by recently introduced Turkish legislation.

The same crypto platform also has sponsorship deals with Cádiz, Alavés, and Real Betis. It also penned a deal with the Royal Spanish Football Federation – with its logo printed on Spanish national team training attire.

But Bitci is not the only crypto platform to embark on a rocky ride with La Liga teams.

Xakata also reported that last year, Real Sociedad’s main shirt sponsor, a fan token issuer named Iqoniq, folded. Iqoniq owed Sociedad $875,000 in unpaid sponsorship fees at the time of its liquidation.

Earlier this month, two top-level Brazilian footballers announced their intention to sue a fellow pro player, claiming that he had convinced them to invest in a crypto pyramid scheme.

• https://cryptonews.com/news/spanish-football-clubs-sue-crypto-sponsors-which-teams-are-affected.htm

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Coinbase’s Base layer 2 network is built using the Ethereum-scaling protocol Optimism and uses Ethereum’s native cryptocurrency ETH for fees on the network.

“Coinbase is in the process of recruiting a bunch of protocols to Base. Uniswap and Aave are two of those,” a person familiar with the situation said.

Uniswap will probably appear on Base within a couple of months, the person added.

Decentralized apps have held up well amid the turmoil that is afflicting the crypto industry. While Coinbase is among the largest and most influential of the centralized crypto trading platforms, the firm clearly understands the value attached to ecosystems and hence the drive to incubate a decentralized blockchain network.

Uniswap is also going to be connected to the BNB Chain platform, which was launched by crypto exchange Binance, according to a recent governance vote.

Coinbase declined to comment.

• https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/03/14/coinbase-is-adding-defi-apps-uniswap-and-aave-to-its-base-blockchain-source/

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On the heels of the first phydigital shop’s successful launch, Fastex announced the opening of another physical ftNFT shop in the Dubai Mall, the largest shopping mall in the world. Designed as a one-of-a-kind physical NFT shop, the cozy atmosphere of the ftNFT store transforms purchasing an NFT into a social experience in the real world for customers.

Visitors to the shop will be able to enjoy a guided tour across the vast library of NFTs available in the ftNFT marketplace, choose one for themselves and take home their favorite digital art piece. In-store activities such as a DJ cabin, a 3D-scanner-supported “avatar booth,” and the accompanying physical pendants of digital NFT collections all elevate the shopping experience to direct interaction with the digital world.

The ftNFT shop also helps artists easily add their NFTs to the ftNFT marketplace. For anyone who wants to present their first NFT to the world, the in-store 3D NFT scanner provides a quick way to create a digital counterpart of any physical appearance.

Fastex plans an opening ceremony for its ftNFT shop at Dubai Mall on March 1617, 2023, where visitors will be able to come and explore the rich NFT catalog firsthand. Aside from launching the first NFT stores in the real world, Fastex provides a complete Web3 ecosystem with a range of services, including digital asset exchange, payment gateway, staking and decentralized finance.

As the foundation for nonfungible tokens (NFTs) has been laid in the digital universe, buying or selling NFTs was always thought to be an online practice.

However, online shopping lacks some key aspects of the overall buying or selling experience that’s craved by customers. Numerous reports show people still prefer to shop at physical stores and need an on-site expert nearby when in-depth information is needed about a specific item. Another reason for the social nature of NFT is that NFTs serve as status symbols for their owners: according to a recent study, 74% of respondents buy NFTs for the status they confer.

ftNFT, the first NFT retail stores to open in Dubai, fill this gap and bring the necessary social aspect directly to the customer. With such unique locations set to welcome tens of millions of foot traffic annually, Dubai has the potential to become home to the next step of NFT evolution.

• https://cointelegraph.com/news/first-nft-real-world-stores-are-setting-a-phygital-trend

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Santander (SAN), HSBC (HSBA), Deutsche Bank (DB), BankProv, Bridge Bank, Mercury, Multis and Series Financial are still willing to connect with crypto firms, according to the memo.

DCG's efforts come after recent bank failures in the U.S., which left a lot of crypto firms and tech startups stranded and hunting for new banking partners.

DCG had also reached out to BlackRock (BK), JPMorgan (JPM) and Bank of America (BA), according to the list included in the memo. DCG is the parent company of CoinDesk.

The memo notes that banks may restrict some services for crypto firms such as brokerage and money market services and the ability to wire money to third parties. Traditional banks may be willing to set up banking accounts for crypto firms but would place restrictions based on the level of crypto exposure, according to the messages.

Western Alliance and Bridge Bank are still opening accounts for crypto firms, despite the fall in their share prices. DCG had also reached out to international banks including Revolut in the U.K., United Overseas Bank (UOB) in Singapore and Bank Leumi in Israel.

A DCG representative will meet with Senate Banking Committee staff on Wednesday on the fallout from SVB, Signature and Silvergate, according to the memo.

CoinDesk has reached out to DCG, Santander, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, BankProv, Mercury, Multis, Series Financial, BlackRock, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Revolut, UOB and Bank Leumi for comment.

• https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/03/14/santander-hsbc-deutsche-and-others-still-willing-to-serve-crypto-clients-after-banking-failures-dcg-says/

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The Fed embarked on an aggressive campaign to tame inflation a year ago when it lifted interest rates from near zero last March. Now that interest rates rest between a target range of 4.50% to 4.75% and the U.S. banking sector is showing signs of stress, the chances of the Fed pushing rates higher have gone down.

The chance of the Fed raising interest rates by 50 basis points at its meeting next week fell from 40% on Friday to 0%, according to the CME FedWatch tool. The probability that the Fed will put interest rate hikes on pause has since shot up to 34% from 0%.

Though Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has signaled that interest rate will remain high until inflation in the U.S. is well on its way to 2%, Chief International Economist at ING Bank James Knightley told Decrypt the central bank’s stance will likely turn cautious.

“If there is a situation that warrants it, they will change their view very, very quickly,” Knightley said. “What we've got now is a situation whereby we could be at the peak, potentially, right now.”

If interest rates have peaked, a change in the Fed’s monetary posture could result in investors allocating more money to risk assets such as stocks and crypto. Higher interest rates have made risk assets less attractive compared to conservative ones like U.S. Treasury Bills, which have seen their yields trend upward as the Fed tightens.

Any uptick in liquidity would be beneficial for crypto markets, digital asset data and information services provider Kaiko’s Dessislava Aubert told Decrypt. The Fed’s newly established BTFP facility—which offers loans to banks as a source of liquidity—will also benefit risk assets, she said.

Cryptocurrency prices rose Monday as markets recalibrated their expectations of future rate hikes by the Fed. Bitcoin surged 13.5% to around $24,280 and Ethereum rose 8.1% to just over $1,680, according to CoinGecko data.

Knightly said the failure of Silicon Valley Bank last week was clearly a sign of stress that has materialized as a result of interest rate hikes, echoing comments made by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday.

Fed Futures markets are predicting the U.S. central bank will likely begin cutting interest rates at some point in the near future, with only a 7% chance that interest rates will be at their current levels or higher by the end of this year.

But there’s still a chance the Fed could decide to raise interest rates at their policy meeting next week if tomorrow’s inflation reading comes in above expectations, said Knightley.

As the Fed tries to cool the economy and bring inflation down by making it more expensive for businesses and consumers to borrow, it runs the risk of tipping the economy into a recession by tightening too much or too quickly.

• https://decrypt.co/123345/could-silicon-valley-bank-crisis-end-crypto-winter

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“We’re looking closely at what we prioritize to increase our focus. We’re winding down digital collectibles (NFTs) for now to focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses,” he wrote. Kasriel didn’t offer any reasoning or justification for the decision, but said that creating financial opportunities for creators “remains a top priority.”

Representatives from Meta told nft now that the company didn’t have any more information to share about the reasoning beyond what Kasriel offered in his tweets. The company also didn’t release any information about precisely when the features would be disabled, but representatives told nft now that dates should be decided in the coming weeks.

Ultimately, the news came as a shock to many creators on the platform, especially as the company only rolled out the features in recent months.

Instagram first started testing its NFT features with select creators in May of 2022. However, most users only got their first real taste of the platform’s NFT integrations in August of the same year, when the company enabled the features for users in 100 countries all over the world.

However, at the time, the features only allowed users to display NFTs they created or collected. The platforms’ core NFT functionalities had yet to be added — namely, the ability for users to mint, buy, and sell NFTs with one another.

It wasn’t until November of 2022 that things changed. Just ahead of the new year, Instagram allowed a handful of creators to start selling NFTs on the platform. The artists who were selected were hopeful, believing that the move would lead to a new and more equitable creator economy.

“The NFT community would be wise to understand how intertwined we are with social media, […] I think with our powers combined, we can create a more sustainable system for creatives who work in interconnected online communities,” Dave Krugman, one of the creators selected to test Instagram’s NFT marketplace features, told nft now at the time.

That was only four months ago.

When nft now asked what comes after NFTs and how Instagram plans on supporting creators in the future, representatives said that they didn’t have any product updates to share. Instead, they pointed to their existing monetization offerings as examples of where they are investing in creators, which includes enabling creators to earn from Meta directly, via direct support from fans, and with brand partnerships.

When pressed, the representative added that Instagram is looking to bring ads to reels on Instagram later this year and pointed to other ongoing projects. Specifically, they noted that eligible U.S. creators on Facebook and Instagram can receive gifts on Reels from fans who purchase them directly using Stars. They also noted that they scaled subscriptions on Instagram to all creators in the U.S.

Of course, these product offerings do little to assist creators who aren’t based in the U.S. or who are in the U.S. but aren’t eligible for the programs.

• https://nftnow.com/news/breaking-instagram-is-sunsetting-digital-collectibles-nfts/

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The Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer’s applications have been filed for its Infiniti, Nismo, and Nissan divisions.

The company intends to create virtual clothes, stores, NFTs, Metaverse advertising services, and a marketplace to trade and mint NFTs.

NISSAN has filed 4 trademark applications for

• INFINITI

• NISMO

• NISSAN

The filings signal plans for

• Virtual Clothes + Cars

• Stores for Virtual Goods + NFTs

• NFT Marketplaces + Trading + Minting

• Metaverse Advertising Services

Specifically, the application noted that the company intends to provide,

“Entertainment services, namely, providing on-line, non-downloadable video, images, artwork, tickets, audio, sounds, music, and trading cards; informational services, namely, hosting an interactive website providing information regarding non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and video, images, artwork, tickets, audio, sounds, music, and trading cards for authenticating non-fungible tokens (NFTs)”

According to the filing, the company also intends to look into “downloadable computer software for use as a digital wallet.”

Prior to this, the automobile company filed for another handful of trademark applications for some of its “most iconic” car models including GTR, SKYLINE, and Z. At that time, it revealed that it had NFT, marketplace, digital wallets, and storing software related plans.

A few days back, Nissan Japan announced a metaverse-related initiative on its official Twitter handle. According to the translated version of its announcement, the firm started a “demonstration experiment” of the virtual store, Nissan Hype Lab. Moreover, via the said initiative, users “can conduct everything from considering a car to making a purchase contract with Nissan Tokyo Sales on the Metaverse.”

In other related news, Amazon is gearing up to sell NFTs on its website. In fact, the collectibles will reportedly be “tied to real-world assets,” and delivered to users’ doorsteps. The platform will allegedly be launched in April-May 2023.

• https://watcher.guru/news/nissan-files-4-web3-nft-metaverse-related-trademark-applications

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The "Siren Collection" of NFTs opened at 12 EST on Thursday and members were allowed to purchase two Stamps — all priced at $100. Upon its launch, the site experienced errors as it was overwhelmed by the traffic and the 2000-Stamp collection sold out in just 18 minutes.

The limited-edition Stamps have already been listed on the Nifty Gateway secondary market, with one selling for over $1,500. As of Friday morning, the average sale price is $442. According to the Nifty Gateway platform, the Stamps currently have a total secondary market volume of $121,795.

Starbucks launched its Odyssey program partnering with Forum3 with the intention to create an experience catered to non-crypto users, emphasizing that Stamps could only be purchased with a credit card. Andy Sack, co-founder and co-CEO of Forum3, told Coindesk that Odyssey is a "next-generation loyalty platform," and intends to build relationships between Starbucks customers and the brand.

• https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/starbucks-odyssey-nfts-sell-out-in-minutes-reselling-for/447372

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Under the third bullet point, the job listing states that you'll bring "Deep knowledge and understanding of Web 3, including blockchain technologies and NFT, and/or metaverse". And just underneath, it states that the person should also be "deeply connected" to others in the Web3 and metaverse spaces.

Perhaps not the news many Pokémon fans were looking for. Last year, The Pokémon Company took an Australian company to court over an NFT game that was promoting an upcoming NFT game called 'PokéWorld'.

This doesn't mean that TPCi — which is a subsidiary of the larger Pokémon Company — is planning to move into the blockchain industry just yet, but this listing does suggest it's potentially interested in dipping its toes in. Game Freak handles the development of the Pokémon video games, with Nintendo acting as the publisher alongside The Pokémon Company. Pokémon, of course, isn't just video games — there's a huge array of merchandise and media under the Pokémon umbrella, and the "catch 'em all" aspect might just lend itself to the metaverse and blockchain.

Just last week, Square Enix's current president reiterated that it would be producing blockchain games and hopes that we "will look forward" to their release over the next few years. Konami, EA, and Sega have all previously commented or expressed interest in NFTs, while Minecraft developer Mojang has said "no" to them.

• https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2023/03/the-pokemon-company-is-looking-to-hire-someone-with-nft-knowledge

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The Singapore-headquartered exchange is only now able to provide euro-denominated banking services to users in the European Economic Area (EEA), having previously lost the ability to accept U.S. dollar (USD) deposits because of issues with its banking partners.

For any crypto exchange, maintaining adequate fiat off-ramps is key to ensuring liquidity and impacts the ability for digital asset prices to rise. Market analysts attributed a 10% correction in bitcoin prices in January to Binance halting USD transfers.

An exchange that only has the ability to service users in one part of the world, and then in euros, a far less liquid currency for crypto (most crypto trading pairs are denominated in USD), is going to have questions raised about its liquidity.

“Our EUR fiat wallet service provider recently reduced access to EEA residents via the single euro [payments area (SEPA) system],” a spokesperson for Crypto.com told CoinDesk.

“As SEPA’s intended purpose is to facilitate local borderless transfers between network participants within EEA, the EUR deposits/withdrawals via this service provider are not available to those not residing in the EEA,” the spokesperson added.

• https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/03/09/cryptocom-struggles-to-maintain-fiat-on-ramps-in-the-face-of-crypto-banking-crisis/

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A White House official confirmed the budget will include a tax provision intended to reduce wash sales trading by crypto investors. At present, investors can sell any cryptocurrencies at a loss, claim the loss on their taxes and then buy the same amount and type of cryptocurrencies again.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the provision would be expected to raise up $24 billion.

The president's proposed budget will lay out his fiscal priorities. White House officials told the Journal the plan would lower the U.S. deficit by $3 trillion over the next 10 years.

Any budget would need passage through the House of Representatives and the Senate before going to the president's desk for his signature.

This isn't Washington's first effort to close this "loophole" – lawmakers introduced a bill in late 2021 that would similarly prevent investors from claiming a loss only to repurchase the same cryptocurrencies again.

The president's team has already passed one crypto tax-related piece of legislation into law; in 2021, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework, which later became the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, included a controversial tax provision that would impose certain reporting rules onto brokers facilitating crypto transactions. The definition of "broker" was seen by many in the industry to be overly broad, to the point where miners and other types of entities that don't directly facilitate transactions or collect personal data from those conducting the transactions could be considered brokers.

The U.S. Treasury Department has indicated that it would define the term brokers more narrowly, though it has yet to publish formal guidance on the matter.

• https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/03/09/biden-budget-plan-would-close-crypto-tax-loss-harvesting-loophole/

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In one week, collectors minted 9,221 tokens at a floor price of 0.5 ETH, or about $770. The collection has already hit the secondary market in full force. According to data from OpenSea, the collection’s trading volume of 7,763 ETH, or nearly $12 million at the time of writing.

The mint, which was executed by blockchain funding company Gitcoin and NFT platform Metalabel, aims to commemorate a 2018 paper about Quadratic Funding, a public fundraising mechanism written by Buterin, Harvard University economist Zoë Hitzig and economist and social activist Glen Weyl.

In one week, collectors minted 9,221 tokens at a floor price of 0.5 ETH, or about $770. The collection has already hit the secondary market in full force. According to data from OpenSea, the collection’s trading volume of 7,763 ETH, or nearly $12 million at the time of writing.

The mint, which was executed by blockchain funding company Gitcoin and NFT platform Metalabel, aims to commemorate a 2018 paper about Quadratic Funding, a public fundraising mechanism written by Buterin, Harvard University economist Zoë Hitzig and economist and social activist Glen Weyl.

The collection’s profits will be shared among Gitcoin, Metalabel and technology research firm Plurality Institute, with the goal of continuing to fund public goods.

“Since this idea was introduced, more than $70 million has been directed to public goods and open source projects using quadratic funding by Gitcoin and other organizations,” according to the collection’s website.

• https://www.coindesk.com/web3/2023/03/09/gitcoin-and-metalabel-vitalik-nft-collection-takes-top-spot-on-opensea/

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The safekeeping or administration of virtual digital assets and the participation in financial services related to the offer and sale of virtual digital assets will also be covered, the notification added.

India is yet to finalise legislation and regulations surrounding cryptocurrencies even as the country's central bank has cautioned against their use multiple times.

The Reserve Bank of India has said that cryptocurrencies should be banned as they are akin to a Ponzi scheme.

Extending India's money laundering rules to cryptocurrencies will give authorities greater authority in monitoring the transfer of these assets beyond the country's borders.

The Narendra Modi-led administration, as part of its leadership of the G-20 forum, has been pushing for a wider global agreement on dealing with the risks brought on by cryptocurrencies.

• https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-money-laundering-rules-apply-crypto-trade-govt-notification-2023-03-08/

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While speaking about competition policy at the Keystone Conference, Vestager highlighted how the digital transition and the shift to a digital economy had brought risks and opportunities for everyone.

The commissioner also revealed that the European Commission would enforce antitrust investigations from May 2023 aimed at the Facebook marketplace and how Meta uses ads-related data from rivals.

Feb. 15 marked the launch of the European Blockchain Regulatory Sandbox, which provides a space for regulatory dialog for 20 projects per year through to2026.

On the other end of the spectrum, European Union lawmakers are in talks about using zero-knowledge proofs for digital IDs.

Zero-knowledge proofs have recently been at the center of researchers’ attention as a way to ensure regulatory compliance and privacy in digital currencies.

• https://cointelegraph.com/news/eu-commission-to-ensure-healthy-competition-in-the-metaverse

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