This is the third week since we publish Web3 Weekly on Arweave.news. Here you can get your weekly overview of most important and interesting news in crypto, NFT and everything Web3. Let’s dive in! 

Market conditions and updates

As usually, we start with weekly prices of our most important cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum and Arweave. 

Bitcoin’s price on Friday afternoon, September 2nd, was $20,064.22 which is a lower price than it was a week ago (around $21,600). A year ago it was more than 49K USD worth. 

Ethereum price for September, 2nd was $1,587.50. Again, it has fallen since last week, when it was $1,690.45. A year ago, it was $3788.18.

Arweave price on September 2nd was $10.11. Previous week, AR closed the week at $11.50, so that means a little decrease same as the other crypto assets.

What’s happening in Web3 

Last week we touched a bit of Web3 gaming world, so let’s begin playfully and return to this topic first. 

Gaming Industry Veterans Turn to Web3 Projects

The team at Digital Insight Games have an extensive background in the world of gaming – and they have unveiled their very first project. The independent companies first game – Cloud Castles – will be released next year and, as CoinTelegraph describes: blockchain technology will be used in it, as a key of Web3 is the ownership of in-game assets, so players have full control of everything they acquire, collect, modify, build and achieve. 

Are Web3 Games Bots A Serious Problem? 

On August 30, a research was released on bots that are compromising Web3 games. Although the full report is available under a subscription to The Defiant, it is said in the abstract that Jigger, a bot detection tool, has reported 200,000 bots on Binance and Polygon. Cointelegraph, however, gives a sightful manual how to avoid those bots, using three detection tools: active users, community engagement and liquidity. Watch out and game safely! 

Gaming Within The Village

Here’s another Web3 game in progress. Web3 Metaverse Innovations Pty Ltd (Web3-MI), Australian-based cryptocurrency consultancy group, is spearheading the development of the play-to-earn game CryptoVillages. CryptoVillages combines elements of click-to-earn with multiple elements of massively-multiplayer-online gaming, GlobeNewswire writes. Moreover, you can participate in the game – without playing it. The company has incorporated passive income investment opportunities for those looking to get involved with the project, without having to play the game itself. 

Blockchain and Climate Change – Does Web3 Help It? 

Let’s change our vibe to something more momentous and talk ecology. Financial Times have published an interesting longread on British oil company’s collaboration with tech company Carbonbase to use NFTs to lock away untapped fossil fuel reserves in Greenland. This partnership’s purpose was offsetting carbon emissions using digital collectibles that come with ownership certificates. How did this scheme work out? Is there really some good cause made by it, or just another greenwashing? Read more on this topic here. 

Soulbound Tokens – A New Take On Digital Identity

It’s no secret, that one of Web3 key concepts is a different view of digital identity. Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin, along with the co-authors, have introduced the concept of ‘Soulbound Tokens’ (SBTs) in their recently published paper on ‘Decentralised Society: Finding Web 3’s Soul’. They introduce it as a brand-new concept, but here’s a piece on CryptoNews which is a comparison between SBTs and self-sovereign identities (SSI) to see which one carries the most validity as we enter Web3.

Fireblocks Launches Support for Solana

Digital asset custody platform Fireblocks has launched support for Solana, giving its thousands of users access to the developer network’s applications and infrastructure, CoinTelegraph reported on August 30. The Solana integration will come via Fireblocks’ Web3 Engine, a suite of tools designed for developers building in the DeFi, GameFi and nonfungible token spaces.

Stacked, The Twitch of Web3, Has Raised $12.9 Million

Web3 video and livestreaming platform Stacked has raised $12.9 million in a fundraise led by crypto-focused venture capital firm Pantera Capital. The raised money will be used to expand Stacked in Latin America, India and Southeast Asia. Stacked begun as Los Angeles based start-up company in 2021, they offer creators to stream gaming content, host watch parties, chat with fans or host lifestyle content. Creators can earn fiat or crypto by accepting donations or subscriptions from viewers. 

NFT news

After previous week’s highlight news about Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT’s floor prices this week seems to be a bit more peaceful. But was it really? Let’s begin with all the negative news to conclude this weekly report on a positive note. First of all, let’s ask the big questions here. 

Is NFT In Crisis? 

The Canadian newsletter globeandmail.com published a huge headline called “How much would you pay for this? NFT market in the dumps after exploding in popularity last year”. The link contains words “NFT market value collapse”. Sounds ominous. Unfortunately, it is behind the paywall, so we won’t find out why Canada is so pessimistic. 

Meanwhile, Nigerian Nairametrics posted a bit more specific article on NFT markets that fails to hit $1 billion in trades for the first time since June 2021. Nairametrics describe this situation as a bearish trend as, “the liquidity is down, prices are heavily influenced by the decline in the value of cryptocurrencies, and the potential profit from reselling is not very high.” So yes, the market situation is bearish, but it’s not exactly collapse, ok? 

If you are afraid of bear market, just don’t be, better read what to do when in bear market, we already covered it for you. Also, here is a valuable piece on CoinTelegraph that wraps up some not so greatest truths about NFTs. Better be aware of everything!

$100 Million Worth of NFTs Stolen During Past Year 

IndianExpress informs that NFTs worth $100 million were stolen in the past year, up until July. This was reported by blockchain research firm Elliptic, and they say the true scale of NFT thefts is likely to be even higher, given that not all crimes are publicly reported. On the one hand, that means that cryptoindustry still faces challenges and problems of cyber-security that are worth solving. On the other hand – NFTs are worth stealing, so in your face, NFT-sceptics! 

Belarussian Hackers Claim To Have NFT of Lukashenko’s Passport

On with the criminal news! Belarussian hackers called the Belarusian Cyber Partisans have claimed that they have gotten access to government database containing every Belarusian citizens personal documents, including Belarus state’s dictator Alexander Lukashenko. Maybe it’s fake, maybe it’s a prank celebrating Lukashenko’s birthday on August 30… Anyway, what a wonderful present that would be to the Europe’s last dictator. Anyway, the NFT sale was shut down on OpenSea as it reveals personal data. Read more about this curious case on Cointelegraph. 

More Actions Taken To Prevent NFT Washing

From crime to justice – manipulative trading with NFTs or so called NFT washing will be soon regarded more strictly by Securities and Exchange Commission regulators, as hopefully told on Cointelegraph. It’s no secret, that there has been some grey areas concerning manipulations with NFT markets. As said in the article, the SEC is already working on enforcement in the NFT market. Investigations are generally nonpublic, of course, so some traders may already be in regulators’ sights, so watch out, washers! 

Reddit Is Offering You NFTs For Free 

Are you a redditor? Then Reddit has news for all crypto-loving users – they have announced air-dropping free NFTs to “top community builders” for their contributions to their Reddit communities. Qualifying Redditors will be able to choose from four distinct new styles of Collectible Avatars, which will be offered for free, linked to the Polygon scaling network tied to the Ethereum blockchain and also listed on on the OpenSea NFT marketplace. Which ones and how to get them – read here. Funny thing is, Reddit has introduced its set of NFTs, available for purchase, all while trying to not use the term “NFT” anywhere in its original announcement, says Gizmodo. 

Web2 Social Media Is Also Trying To Jump On NFT Train

Yes, yes, not only Reddit, but also Web2 social media giant Meta has introduced NFTs on Facebook and Instagram. That means that users with digital wallets will be able to post their digital collectibles or NFTs on both social platforms by connecting their digital wallets from either of the apps. The digital wallet connection is limited to apps and doesn’t include third-party browsers, as it is told in Cointelegraph. Well, some sources claim, that not all crypto and NFT communities share the same beliefs, as e.g. Crypto Twitter has been concerned on security of Meta’s NFT integration. Why so? It is said, that there are no specific strategies disclosed by Meta how it is going to provide this security. 

In Blockworks article, it is said that Meta supported connections with several third-party wallets, including MetaMask and Coinbase Wallet and will be supporting three blockchains: Polygon, Ethereum and Flow.
Meta first revealed these plans in May, and this is all happening right after Meta revealed that it has lost $5.7 billion building out its metaverse unit so far in 2022. 

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