London-based REALM has secured $10 million investment to accelerate its play2own sustainable metaverse platform.
The mobile-first platform will allow people to play, create and socialise while positively impacting the real world. REALM rewards its players, creators and token holders with ⅓ of its profit, and shares another ⅓ with impact projects, via partners like Eden Reforestation and Plastic Bank.
The funding comes from global investment group LDA Capital and will be utilised to accelerate the product roadmap, advance metaverse accessibility and deliver more unique experiences and games.
The goal is for REALM to expand its creator tools, make the platform hardware agnostic, increase the number of virtual experiences (realms), and position itself as a leading brand in the space.
“LDA Capital is enthusiastic about the advancements brought by REALM to the virtual worlds and games,” said Warren Baker, managing partner, LDA Capital.
“REALM will bring the blockchain to mainstream consumers and allow them to really engage and interact inside the metaverse, whether it is purchasing real estate in the form of NFTs, participating in events, or building their own microverse with simple tools.
“REALM is not only accelerating the entertainment industry, but also a new economy as a whole.”
REALM aims to be a key player in the global metaverse industry, changing the way NFTs are showcased and personalised. It says it is bringing a new way of customising and monetising the space, representing a revolution in the user experience.
“Our hybrid fiat & crypto metaverse unlocks the power of the blockchain, without the need for wallets, bridges or any environmental impact from ledger technologies,” said Matthew Larby, founder & CEO at REALM.
“With LDA’s commitment we will be able to create an infinitely scalable metaverse that equally supports our community, brands and creators, while positively impacting the wider society.”
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Metaverse pax.world to launch first land sale
pax.world has announced its first public land sale for 26th July ahead of the virtual world’s public launch, scheduled for September 2022.
The anticipated market launch, which follows its private and seed round of $5.8 million, is the first time the public can access and purchase land. Anyone with an OpenSea account can buy land as an NFT and access it before pax.world’s opening.
The metaverse allows users to create realistic 3D avatars and build on their land using a toolbox, accessible on any device with the internet.
pax.world’s early partnership initiatives include a series of collaborations with world-renowned architects – the first of which to be announced was Grimshaw Architects – to create gigantic and beautiful communal trade, commerce, cultural and social hubs known as ‘Metaserai’, inspired by the ancient roadside trade-route inns ‘Caravanserai’.
“pax.world is a platform created to enable commerce, culture, education and community to flourish in a technologically sophisticated virtual environment,” said founder Frank Fitzgerald.
“We hope that our users help pax.world become a social space that our token owners govern via our DAO. We are excited to announce more renowned architects and partners as we put the finishing touches on pax.world.”
pax.world’s first sale offers 500 tiles ranging from 0.6 to 5.5 ETH, granting early adopters first access to this brand-new metaverse.
Its ambition is to evolve the concept of the metaverse into a virtual world that truly functions as a civil society, governed with freedom and fairness by a Decentralised Autonomous Organisation.
Cryptocurrency shorts
Epic Games “definitely won’t” follow Minecraft’s developers in banning non-fungible tokens. Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of the company behind the Unreal Engine used to build many commercial games as well as Fortnite, said: “Developers should be free to decide how to build their games, and you are free to decide whether to play them. I believe stores and operating system makers shouldn’t interfere by forcing their views onto others. We definitely won’t.”
Enjin, a platform for creating NFTs, is partnering with gaming giant Square Enix for a number of Final Fantasy VII-related NFTs to celebrate the legendary game’s 25th anniversary.
Decentralised finance trading platform Hashflow has raised $25m in a Series A funding round featuring Jump Crypto, Wintermute, GSR, LedgerPrime, QCP, Altonomy, Dragonfly Capital, Electric Capital and the venture capital arms of cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Kraken.
Crypto exchange KuCoin has raised over $10m in a strategic investment from Susquehanna International Group. They will also work together to help incubate and build networks for crypto startups.
Polygon, which aims to securely connect blockchains as a sort of decentralised internet, has unveiled Nightfall, a new zero-knowledge proof solution that offers privacy for companies that want to use Ethereum blockchain. It claims to be eight times faster than Ethereum base layers, transfer non-private ERC20s six times more cheaply, and is fully public.
Candidates for state and local offices in California will soon be able to accept cryptocurrency campaign donations – as long as they are then immediately converted into US dollars.
Residents in nations with volatile economies are more likely to receive their pay in crypto, according to global hiring platform Deel. Despite the 2022 bear market, crypto represented 5% of all global payments withdrawn from the platform every month, up from 2% in the second half of 2021. Latin American nations represented two-thirds of all crypto withdrawals.
A Google Pay in-app purchase option will soon be available on the cryptocurrency wallet and trading platform Crypto.com App, allowing users to buy cryptocurrency.
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Crypto prices
The overall market cap of the more than 20,300 coins is at $1.05 trillion at the time of writing (7am UK), a 2.7% increase in the last 24 hours.
Market leader Bitcoin – the original cryptocurrency created by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto – gained 1% to $23,150. BTC is 12% up in a week.
Ethereum, the second most valuable crypto coin – created as a decentralised network for smart contracts on the blockchain – rose 7% to $1,600. ETH is 32% up over the course of a week.
Binance Coin is a cryptocurrency created by popular crypto exchange Binance to assist its aim in becoming the infrastructure services provider for the entire blockchain ecosystem. Its BNB token climbed 5% to $267, leaving it 12% up over seven days.
The XRP token of Ripple, a payment settlement asset exchange and remittance system, acts as a bridge for transfers between other currencies. XRP gained 2% to 36.6 cents, with its price 7% up on seven days ago.
Cardano is an open source network facilitating dApps which considers itself to be an updated version of Ethereum. Its ADA token, designed to allow owners to participate in the operation of the network, climbed 3% to almost 50c and is 13% up in a week.
Solana is a blockchain built to make decentralised finance accessible on a larger scale – and capable of processing 50,000 transactions per second. Its SOL token rose 5% to $43.10 and is 16% higher than its price a week ago.
Meme coin DOGE was created as a satire on the hype surrounding cryptocurrencies but is now a major player in the space. DOGE gained 2% to 7c and is 12% up over seven days.
Polkadot was founded by the Swiss-based Web3 Foundation as an open-source project to develop a decentralised web. Its DOT token, which aims to securely connect blockchains, climbed 3% to $7.56 and is 12% up on its price a week ago.
Polygon aims to securely connect blockchains as a sort of decentralised internet. Its MATIC token grew 9% to almost 91c, while it is 31% up in a week.
Avalanche is a lightning-quick verifiable platform for institutions, enterprises and governments. Its AVAX token rose 8% to $25.05 and is 27% up in a week.
To see how the valuations of the main coins have changed in recent times – and for round-ups of recent cryptocurrency news developments – click here.
For valuations of the top 100 coins by market cap in US dollars, plus 24-hour price change, see below.