A Vietnamese billionaire has invested in a company which says its virtual world will create millions of jobs.
MetaWorld Blockchain, based in Switzerland, has been backed with $30 million from Mai Vu Minh, according to a press release.
“Meta World (METAD) will create millions of jobs for developers and creators and be one of the most advanced digital infrastructures in the world,” said the billionaire, the executive chairman of the SAPA Thale group.
The virtual ecosystem will be developed in six areas – smart contracts, financial services, play-to-earn games, supply chain, healthcare and cryptocurrencies – to serve the ecosystem and partners of METAD worldwide, according to its CEO Michael Sam.
SAPA Thale is aiming for ‘a large digital economy’ that will open up inside the virtual universe – currently under construction – with users able to sell both physical and digital products.
“Using blockchain can bring unprecedented security, trust, automation and efficiency to almost any type of transaction,” said Minh.
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Cryptocurrency shorts
DeepNFTValue, a machine learning company that uses deep neural networks to price non-fungible tokens and other NFT assets, has raised $4m in a round led by Rockaway Blockchain Fund and featuring 1Confirmation and Cygni Capital.
Crypto investment platform CoinFLEX is taking an individual account holder to court in Hong Kong in an attempt to reclaim $84m it believes it is owed. Withdrawals have been suspended on the platform since June 23rd due to liquidity issues which is says have been caused by the ‘whale’.
Kenya has the highest rate of cryptocurrency adoption in Africa. 8.5% of its population – 4.25m people – holds crypto, according to a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). That is more than the US, where 8.3% owns digital currencies. War-torn Ukraine is top worldwide, with 12.7%, followed by invader Russia (11.9%), Venezuela (10.3%) and Singapore (9.4%).
Binance has obtained a licence to offer crypto services in Spain. The Bank of Spain approved its Spanish subsidiary, Moon Tech Spain, to act officially as a recognised virtual asset service provider – the 16th firm to receive this licence.
Cryptocurrency platform OKX is to pay a reported $20m+ this season to be the official training kit partner of Manchester City. Already announced as City’s official cryptocurrency exchange partner in March, the deal will see players star in crypto education content produced by OKX.
Get paid in WhatsApp? Social commerce platform launches in UK
Crypto prices
The overall market cap of the more than 20,100 coins is at $913.69 billion at the time of writing (7am UK), down from $962.35bn on Friday morning.
Market leader Bitcoin – the original cryptocurrency created by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto – dropped more than $1,300 to $20,477. BTC is 7% up in a week.
Ethereum, the second most valuable crypto coin – created as a decentralised network for smart contracts on the blockchain – shed $100 to $1,145. ETH is 9% 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 lost $11 to $230, leaving it 6% 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 lost more than 3 cents to below 32c, with its price where it was 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, shed 3c to below 45c and is slightly down 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 dropped $2.50 to $35.21 yet is 7% 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 lost more than 0.5c to 6.5c, leaving it 2% down in a week.
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, shed 50c to $6.74 and is slightly down on its price a week ago.
Avalanche is a lightning-quick verifiable platform for institutions, enterprises and governments. Its AVAX token lost almost $2 to $18.32 and is 9% 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.