01区块链 · 174

They all say it's now the early days of blockchain's Web3 and metaverse, but how early? How many more opportunities?

Blockchain is a new decentralized economic organization model implemented by a series of technologies. It was born in 2009 with the construction of the Bitcoin system and became a hot spot in the global economy in 2017, but there are few successful applications of blockchain, and this emerging industry is far from mature. Today, Vernacular Blockchain brings you a compiled article on the current state of blockchain development. I will tell you in detail where blockchain has developed so far. Here's the text: We're actually still in the early stages, and even in the next few years, the phrase “we're still in the early stages” will still be very effective. If you've been in the blockchain technology space long enough, the phrase “we're still in the early stages” is definitely something you've heard or even said a lot. But have you ever thought about when exactly you want to arrive? In this post, we'll take a look at how early the blockchain technology industry is currently developing, and how early can we go if we decide to join the industry later? But first, we need to figure out when it's considered too late? First, let's talk about the definition of being late here? Being late is like “Oh sorry, you're late; you can't go in” or, “Oh, sorry, Mr. XX, you're too late; we're done.” No matter what kind of definition of late this question reflects, in the blockchain industry, it's never too late. Ethereum, any other crypto asset, or an NFT doesn't reach a specific price, and once that price is reached, its value never rises or falls. Let's move on to the more important question: How early are we in the world of blockchain technology? To accurately answer this question, we need to dive deep into the various industries of blockchain, namely blockchain itself, web3, crypto assets, DeFi, NFTs, and the metaverse. 01 Blockchain Blockchain is more than just a storage for transactions; as more people adopt this technology, people are discovering more and more about its functions. Recently, the South Korean government revealed that it plans to embed blockchain-based digital identities into citizens' phones in 2024 to boost its economy. Additionally, Google Cloud recently launched the Blockchain Node Engine — a technology designed to help Web3 developers build and deploy new products on blockchain-based platforms. And more and more entities and companies are taking advantage of blockchain technology. Yes, products developed by these entities and companies using blockchain will help advance blockchain technology in the long run, but until then, we are still in the early stages. 02 Crypto Assets The whole idea of building digital assets based on blockchain technology began with Bitcoin, a type of crypto asset developed by an anonymous person or entity under the pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto” in 2009. About 13 years have passed since this year. From the creation of Bitcoin in 2009 to Bitcoin today, there is clearly a huge difference. When Bitcoin was first created and released, not many people knew about it. People who knew it called it “just an internet scam” or “criminal asset,” then people gradually downplayed its existence until a man named Laszlo Hanyec sold his 10,000 bitcoins for just two pizzas. Fast forward to 13 years later, and Bitcoin is the biggest crypto asset by market capitalization. Everyone (me included) wishes they had bought Bitcoin at a bargain price 13 years ago. Well, time can't be turned back, let's continue to talk about the development of crypto assets. Bitcoin was created as a digital payment method on the internet. The idea behind creating Bitcoin was to make digital assets an alternative payment system that operates in a decentralized manner. While some of the reasons Bitcoin was created have been debunked on the internet, even some countries, such as El Salvador, have accepted Bitcoin as legal tender. Although some of the primary purposes for which Bitcoin was created have already worked in the 21st century we live in, it still hasn't become as mainstream as its white paper or Satoshi Nakamoto hoped. Not everyone on the internet today uses Bitcoin as a means of payment, and some don't even know what Bitcoin is. If we were to put it in writing, let's say that about 45% of people on the internet have probably heard of Bitcoin, 33% know that Bitcoin is a cryptographic asset, and only 5% of people on the internet can use Bitcoin as a means of payment. Now let's talk about the crypto asset industry as a whole. First, if Bitcoin becomes mainstream, what should the industry look like? At this rate, we need to compare the crypto market to the stock market. The US stock market New York stock exchange platform...

1331d agody zhang#NFTs #VR #WEB3 #metaverse #pays

Hong Kong's “Declaration” opens a breakthrough for Mainland NFTs

Source | 01 Blockchain Author | Pak Leung Hong Kong announced its ambition to compete for a global virtual asset center in the digital economy era through the “Policy Declaration on Hong Kong's Virtual Asset Development” (“Declaration”). The mainland industry has also been ignited; it may even be more burning than Hong Kong. The “metaverse” is in full swing in the mainland, and dozens of regions and cities have released metaverse development plans. However, in the development of the metaverse, apart from investment in related industries, what the industry is most concerned about is the transaction of virtual assets in the metaverse economy. NFTs are the main vehicle for this type of virtual asset. The mainland has strict restrictions on virtual asset transactions, and NFTs became “digital collections” after “de-financialization” in the mainland. However, the functions and markets of digital collections are far from meeting the needs of metaverse development. The establishment of a compliant virtual asset market in Hong Kong may open up a breakthrough for the mainland's NFT market by drawing on the experience of cross-border transactions in traditional financial markets. Meanwhile, the “NFT confirmation, overseas transaction” proposed by Hengqin provided an idea of “mainland confirmation of rights, overseas transactions.” Mainland NFT restrictions There is broad scope for the development of the metaverse and NFTs in the mainland, but due to the stage of market development and regulatory requirements, the development of the virtual asset trading market is limited. For example, in NFTs, the mainland government and institutions have basically no longer used this term in public statements, but instead used “digital collection.” In April 2022, the China Internet Finance Association, the China Banking Association, and the China Securities Association released the “Initiative on Preventing Financial Risks Related to NFTs”, which “resolutely curbs the trend of financial securitization of NFTs and strictly prevents the risk of illegal financial activities”: does not include financial assets in the underlying NFT products; does not weaken the non-homogenized characteristics of NFTs through division of ownership or batch creation, and carry out token issuance and financing (ICO) in disguise; does not provide services such as centralized trading, continuous listing transactions, standardized contract transactions, etc. ; Virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, Ether, and Tether are not used as pricing and settlement tools for NFT issuance transactions; financial institutions do not directly or indirectly invest in NFTs and do not provide financing support for investing in NFTs. There is basically no convenient secondary market for digital collection transactions in the mainland, eliminating the possibility of financialization. Currently, there are thousands of digital collection platforms, but the overall transaction scale is still very small. The metaverse and creator economy will generate a large number of virtual assets. Virtual asset transactions provide a new way for entrepreneurs, creators, and investors in this field to monetize returns. Without a virtual asset market, returns can only be achieved through traditional sales revenue and equity appreciation, and excessive revenue from innovation cannot be obtained. Just like the blockchain industry in the past few years, the business model of most blockchain companies has actually become software outsourcing and has not created a new business model or economic model. As a result, investment opportunities to obtain social capital have declined, and the growth rate of blockchain entrepreneurship has also declined. Until now, there are no blockchain-supported listed companies born in mainland China. The issue of NFT planning in Beijing and Shanghai has received sufficient attention. Among the metaverse industry policies in various regions this year, the policies of first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai all expressed concern and development of the NFT market. The “Beijing Urban Sub-Center Metaverse Innovation and Development Action Plan (2022 to 2024)” states “Vigorously develop digital asset trading services. Explore the full life cycle management of digital asset rights to provide safe, stable and trustworthy digital asset trading services. ... Track cutting-edge trends in NFT technology,... explore digital cultural and artistic asset trading and financial service systems supported by blockchain and digital finance, explore the construction of digital asset platforms, and achieve the creation, distribution and circulation of digital assets.” The “14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Digital Economy in Shanghai” states “supporting leading enterprises to explore the construction of NFT trading platforms, research and promote the digitalization of NFTs and other assets, the global circulation of digital IP, and digital rights protection.” The “Shanghai Action Plan to Cultivate a New Circuit for the “Metaverse” (2022 to 2025)” states “Pilot the establishment of a digital asset trading section on the Shanghai Data Exchange to cultivate and improve the digital asset factor market and promote the standardized development of the digital creative industry. Gradually improve compliance transaction mechanisms for digital assets, digital art, digital film and television copyright, etc.” However, it is very difficult to break through the regulatory system; it is rooted in the mainland's real economy structure, capital structure, investor structure, and financial culture. Predictably, the mainland is unlikely to liberalize NFTs with financial attributes over a long period of time. The Hong Kong market's “Declaration” states, “Hong Kong has a booming virtual asset...

1380d ago元宇宙之心MetaverseHub#Bai Liang

How Goldman Sachs lays out blockchain

With the continuous development of blockchain technology, blockchain has had a great impact and impact on the financial sector. Earlier, 01 Blockchain wrote “The Big Five US Banks' Views on Cryptocurrency”. In the early days, traditional banks such as Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase were not optimistic about the future of blockchain. However, over time, traditional banks have entered the market one after another to lay out related businesses. For example, J.P. Morgan Chase has made frequent moves. So what is Goldman Sachs's layout as a traditional investment bank in the blockchain field? What is the current concept of blockchain? Goldman Sachs built a blockchain trading platform August 22, 2022. The Wall Street Journal stated that Goldman Sachs has been using the Ethereum network to trade bonds and process business for customers for some time. In 2021, Goldman Sachs helped European investment banks arrange the issuance of 100 million US dollars of bonds. The bond was registered in France and processed using a self-built platform on Ethereum. The physical bond sales meeting, which originally took about five days, was completed in just one hour. The high liquidity also helped customers to have more flexible capital turnover. Furthermore, due to the nature of blockchain, the risk of a counterparty disrupting the completed transaction is also reduced. The Wall Street Journal said that currently Goldman Sachs's digital asset department is responsible for all blockchain-related technologies. Mathew Mc Dermott, the global director of Goldman Sachs's digital asset division, is currently responsible for leading about 70 employees, and is committed to making Goldman Sachs use blockchain technologically and legally to bring profit. Interestingly, Mathew Mc Dermott had a relatively bad impression of blockchain before. However, with the maturity and popularization of blockchain technology, many investment banks are using blockchain technology to build their own trading platforms, etc. Mathew Mc Dermott said that in the next 5 to 10 years, the financial system will evolve into a way where all assets and liabilities are generated natively on the blockchain, and all transactions will take place on the chain. Due to the characteristics of blockchain, migrating transactions etc. to blockchain platforms will greatly improve efficiency, including bond issuance, asset securitization, and loan generation. Basically, the digital financial system ecosystem can adapt very well to blockchain platforms. The Wall Street Journal said that although Goldman Sachs is unwilling to disclose how much resources it has invested in the digital asset department, what is certain is that Goldman Sachs's vision is to build a trading platform that can serve itself and its customers, and may also be used by other banks. On August 23, 2022, Goldman Sachs also publicly stated that it will build a new system for transactions based on blockchain technology, which is faster, cheaper, and more profitable. Goldman Sachs said in this regard that using blockchain technology on trading platforms may reduce transaction risks, and that the system will help securities issuers track holders of assets such as stocks. Goldman Sachs Investments in Blockchain In June 2021, Goldman Sachs participated in the $28 million Series A investment of blockchain infrastructure provider Blockdaemon. Greenspring Associate, BlockFi, Support, Voyager Digital, Illuminate Financial and others participated in this round of investment. This financing also brought Blockdaemon's valuation to $5 billion. Blockdaemon provides blockchain services that allow users to trade with leverage. Konstantin Richter, CEO and founder of Blockdaemon, said that for Blockdaemon, this funding is an important milestone. With investments from industry-leading financial technology providers and venture capital firms, this round of financing will enable Blockdaemon to further expand Blockdaemon's node infrastructure services, increase Blockdaemon's growing team, and strengthen Blockdaemon's presence in emerging markets around the world, while deepening Blockdaemon's existing strategic relationships with global financial institutions. Blockdaemon provides its customers with a “simplified” gateway to the blockchain industry and provides tools for “scalable operations”, the latter of which Goldman Sachs may be particularly interested in. Blockdaemon allows institutional customers such as Goldman Sachs to own and deploy nodes, and the company provides secure, scalable, and relatively reliable services. Through Blockdaemon's services, companies can access Ethereum's beacon chain (Eth 2.0), Bitcoin, Lightning Network, Cardano, Polkadot, Cosm...

1391d ago01区块链#01 Blockchain #Goldman Sachs

Overview of China's Metaverse & Digital Collection Financing (2022Q3)

According to incomplete statistics from 01 Think Tank, in the third quarter of 2022, a total of 37 metaverse and digital collection projects in the domestic primary market received 38 equity financings. The total amount of publicly disclosed financing was about 394 million yuan. In terms of amount, it was mostly around 10 million yuan, up to the XR chip developer GravityXR (Universal Gravitation) Pre-A round financing of 100 million yuan or more; judging from the round, almost all of them were early financing from round A and earlier. Furthermore, the “metaverse” concept stock Feitianyundong launched a stock offering on September 29 and was officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on October 18. In its current IPO, Feitianyundong issued 271 million new shares, HK$221 per share, and raised approximately HK$600 million. Table 1: Financing Status of China's Metaverse and Digital Collections Projects in 2022/Q3 (in descending order of amount) Data Source: 01 Think Tank, 01 Blockchain

1398d ago01区块链#01 Blockchain #Digital collections

What are some interesting VR/AR companies that have funded this year?

The VR/AR industry experienced a boom in 2017, then gradually declined in popularity. In 2021, the VR/AR industry once again received widespread attention due to the metaverse, and VR/AR companies were favored by many investors due to the boom, and valuations soared. So how many interesting VR/AR companies have received financing this year? What are their main businesses and fields? AmazeVR On September 28, 2022, AmazeVR announced the completion of the second round of B-round financing of 17 million US dollars to develop its virtual concert platform. Launched in 2015, AmazeVR is a virtual reality concert platform that allows users to experience VR concerts of their favorite artists through content generation tools. In fact, in January 2022, AmazeVR conducted a round of financing (Series B funding), which raised $15 million at the time and was oversubscribed within three weeks. The financing at the time was co-led by Partners Investment and Murex Partners, and participants included Smilegate Investment, Quantum Ventures Korea, ABC Partners, Everrich Group, GS Group's corporate venture capital firms GS Futures, We Ventures, Base Investment and Dunamu & Partners. At the time, financing was mainly used to recruit more employees. Ernest Lee, AmazeVR's co-CEO, said that AmazeVR started in 2021 with 12 employees, but now the company's teams in Hollywood and Seoul have tripled to 41 employees. The financing on September 28 enabled AmazEVR to raise a total of 32 million US dollars in Series B financing. Up to now (September 2022), the total amount raised by AmazeVR has reached a total of approximately US$47.8 million. The new round of financing in September mainly came from companies such as Mirae Asset Capital, Mirae Asset Ventures, CJ Investment, Smilegate Investment, GS Futures, and LG Technology Ventures, as well as follow-up investment from CJ ENM and Krafton. After completing a new round of financing, AmazeVR plans to expand partnerships with musicians, artist agencies, brands, and copyright agents. The company also plans to hire more artificial intelligence engineers, virtual engine engineers, and visual effects (VFX) musicians to advance its proprietary technology and host top VR concerts. Furthermore, AmazeVR further stated that its music metaverse service will be launched in major VR app stores in the first half of 2023, and can be visited with devices such as VR headsets from brands such as Meta Quest Pro and Apple. Like many industries, the entertainment industry has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many music artists have had to cancel or postpone their live events during the pandemic. Some artists and music institutions have turned to virtual or online concerts. AmazeVR believes that under the influence of the pandemic, virtual shows loved by artists and fans will shine brightly in the entertainment industry. AmazeVR seized the rare opportunity to launch a virtual concert service to meet people's entertainment needs during the pandemic. CJ ENM, a well-known Korean entertainment company, plans to use AmazeVR technology to transform concerts and music TV programs into VR music experiences, and to convert other original content, such as dramas and movies, in the future to maximize the value of its content and obtain more commercial opportunities. CJ ENM said that the products developed by AmazeVR are indeed first-class. The VR entertainment industry is growing rapidly, and music and games are two of the most promising fields in the future. In addition to Korean entertainment companies, famous American rapper Megan Thee Stallion also announced a collaboration with the AmazeVR platform to host the virtual reality concert “Enter Thee Hottieverse”. This is the first virtual reality concert tour to be held in various US cities in history. Concert tickets range from $20 to $25. AmazeVR is currently cooperating with the US...

1398d ago01区块链#01 Blockchain

Metaverse exhibition, future trends

Among the many possible metaverse business models, metaverse exhibitions have already taken shape. Earlier, in the article “Metaverse Advertising, Models and Opportunities” published by 01 Blockchain, it was mentioned that metaverse exhibitions are a form of metaverse advertising. Indeed, companies participating in the exhibition hope to gain more popularity and partners through advertising. In fact, the metaverse exhibition has received the attention of many large companies, pioneered the layout, and launched related solutions. Metaverse exhibitions have broken physical and geographical limitations and expanded publicity effects. In the future, as demand rises, more and more metaverse exhibition cases will appear around us, and metaverse exhibitions will also become popular in the predictable future. Metaverse exhibition, future trends in the past 2 years. The metaverse has received the attention of many people, giving people many limitless fantasies. And with the advancement of technology and changes in people's lifestyles, future metaverse exhibitions will be a future trend. In terms of a relatively complete definition, an online virtual exhibition refers to the main goal of creating a virtual experience. Through a combination of technical means such as 3D modeling, virtual reality, augmented reality, digital twins, multimedia animation, video technology, social technology, etc., the virtualization and digitization of display objects such as exhibition participants, exhibition spaces, booths, exhibits, and docking projects can create an immersive display environment for exhibition visitors. In fact, metaverse exhibitions are a derivative of offline exhibitions, adding experiences that cannot be obtained offline to offline exhibitions. Today, the epidemic is still recurring, and mass travel is restricted. In this context, metaverse exhibitions have received more attention. With the advancement of technology, people want more fresh experiences and want the exhibition to be more convenient, without having to go to an exhibition by boat, etc. In fact, regardless of whether there is an epidemic or not, the metaverse is a future trend; the pandemic has only accelerated the process of digital transformation. Major companies scramble to set up metaverse exhibition-related businesses. On August 19, 2022, Baidu Xiyang officially launched an exhibition metaverse solution in Beijing, launching a one-stop metaverse conference and exhibition service, which can achieve a convenient metaverse exhibition experience of 3 days of customization and 1 day exhibition. For example, in terms of metaverse exhibitions, curators can obtain 8 exhibition templates of different sizes and styles to support various exhibition types, including paintings, video animations, sculptures, installation art, and NFT digital collections. Whether building a 200-square-meter compact display space or constructing a 1,000-square-meter large-scale art exhibition, curators only need to prepare exhibition materials such as exhibits, promotional posters, and guide information, and can host their own metaverse exhibition as quickly as needed in a week. At present, Baidu Xiyang has provided one-stop metaverse services for dozens of brands in various fields such as automobiles, marketing, culture, art, technology, etc., and will continue to create more metaverse exhibition cases in the fields of pan-entertainment and finance in the future. In addition to Baidu, NetEase has released its own online exhibition system NetEase Yaotai in addition to Baidu's metaverse venue and subsidiary exhibition area. NetEase Yaotai is an immersive event system owned by NetEase Fuxi. Through technology such as replicating real offline meeting scenes and real-time migration of facial expressions, NetEase Yaotai breaks the traditional video conferencing model and brings users a more technological and immersive event experience. At present, NetEase Yaotai has been successfully used in many events such as the Henan Smart Cultural Tourism Conference. Other NetEase companies in Yaotai also have varying degrees of layout in the metaverse exhibition field. For example, Daoke Cloud has built its own metaverse platform based on 3D, VR virtual reality, big data, artificial intelligence and other technologies, and recreates offline exhibition scenes 1:1 through live shooting and 3D panoramic imaging. The benefits and value of metaverse exhibitions are, first and foremost, innovative scenarios that bring new experiences. With virtual cloud venues, digital virtual hosts, AR special effects, holographic projection presentations, live forum broadcasts, remote guest connections, AI artificial intelligence customer service, cloud reporting, cloud signing, and the application of intelligent simultaneous interpretation technology, more than ten innovative application scenarios have been created for metaverse exhibitions, which can greatly expand and enrich the exhibition experience. Currently, virtual exhibitions are mostly flat, making it difficult for the two parties to interact. The metaverse, on the other hand, allows participants to move freely (for example, currently they can only sit in front of a computer and can only stare at a screen, and the sense of participation is much lower). After registering for an account through a web link, participants can enter the metaverse exhibition in just ten seconds. Just like entering an offline exhibition, they will appear in the virtual exhibition space as virtual characters. Next, it was a breakthrough in virtual space, which improved marketing effectiveness. One limitation of offline exhibitions comes from physical space, because physical space is limited, and the number of visitors that even the best exhibition can receive...

1404d ago01区块链#01 Blockchain #metaverse

Metaverse trends of major foreign companies in the third quarter

The popularity of the metaverse seems to have declined a lot recently, and people's attention to the metaverse is also waning. What about big companies? Big companies haven't actually stopped in the metaverse, and Meta made some big moves in the third quarter. Meta is still making big moves. On July 14, Meta released its first annual human rights report. The report specifically mentioned human rights principles and anti-bullying and anti-harassment policies. It also explained data policies, how its law enforcement response team and due diligence assessment work protect people from illegal or excessive government surveillance, and emphasized the important role that end-to-end encryption plays in protecting privacy on WhatsApp, and how it can be extended to other messaging apps. The report notes that human and civil rights are central to the development of its metaverse and will reflect its commitment to human rights in the future metaverse. Previously, related harassment was frequently reported, including Meta's internal testing staff. Earlier, 01 Blockchain wrote “The Metaverse Brings Four Challenges at the National Level”, which included legal issues, monetary issues, metaverse enterprise issues, and social issues. If the metaverse is to be implemented in the future, related human rights and legal issues must be resolved. On July 20, Meta announced a partnership with digital fashion startup DressX to offer new virtual clothing on Meta's AvatarStore. DressX clothing officially went on sale on July 19, and users can buy and wear it on Meta platforms including Messenger, Facebook, Instagram, and the VR headset Quest. Costumes cost between $2.99 and $8.99. The market was initially launched in countries such as Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Thailand, and will expand to more countries in the future. DressX is based in Los Angeles and was founded in 2020. Currently, the company has raised $3.3 million and is the first digital fashion brand to launch a series on Roblox. DressX previously collaborated with H&M to launch virtual fashion and was shortlisted for LVMH's 2022 Innovation Award. On August 26, Zuckerberg said Meta's next VR headset will launch in October and will focus on “socializing in virtual scenes.” Currently, Meta's Oculus Quest 2 is the most popular VR headset on the market, accounting for more than half of the market and very popular on many websites. Meta's further launch of next generation headsets in October may further strengthen its position in the VR/AR field. VR headset market share in January 2022 Source: MIXED9 On January 13, Meta announced the launch of the extended reality promotion program “XR Startup Program” with the Indian startup ecosystem Meity Startup Hub to promote India's extended reality (XR) ecosystem and help build the foundation for the metaverse. The XR Startup Program is supported by Meta XR program and a research fund that aims to invest $50 million in metaverse projects over a two-year period. The XR Startup Program includes an accelerator and a Grand Challenge to encourage innovation that may impact multiple fields such as education, learning, healthcare, etc. The accelerator program will support 40 early-stage startups to build XR technology, and each business will receive 2 million rupees in funding. For the Grand Challenge, 80 early innovators will be screened to participate in the bootcamp, and 16 of them will be given 2 million rupees to help them develop product prototypes. In September 2022, META and VictoryXR, a virtual reality education startup headquartered in Iowa, USA, collaborated to create and open 10 metaverse virtual campuses. The project invested $150 million. Meta said as part of its immersive learning program, which aims to bring education into a virtual reality environment. Education is one of the biggest applications of virtual reality and metaverse technology, and Meta is implementing this idea to help 10 universities launch metaverse-based virtual campuses. As the most aggressive company to lay out the metaverse, even though the popularity of the metaverse has declined a lot recently, Meta has not stopped laying out the metaverse, and is even investing more in the metaverse...

1404d ago01区块链#01 Blockchain #metaverse

Global Blockchain Investment and Financing TOP50 List (September)

According to incomplete statistics from 01 Blockchain, there were 196 financing incidents in the global blockchain-related industry in September 2022. Of these, 162 revealed the specific amount of financing, and the total amount of financing exceeded 2,233 billion US dollars (based on the real-time exchange rate of October 9). Specifically: (1) The average amount of financing for a single project reached 11.39 million US dollars in September 2022. Judging from the global blockchain-related financing situation in the past year, there were an average of 140 more financing incidents in a single month, the highest in December 2021, with 197 cases. The amount of financing has shown a downward trend in the past year. In September 2022, the monthly financing amount was US$2,233 million. This figure was up from August, but decreased by about 40% year on year. Figure 1. Data sources on the amount and amount of financing in the global blockchain industry: 01 Blockchain, 01 Think Tank, based on publicly available financing amounts, the average financing amount for a single project fell to 11.39 million US dollars/month in September 2022, further strengthening the downward trend since this year. Figure 2. The average monthly financing amount trend (unit: 10,000 US dollars) Data source: 01 blockchain, 01 think tank (2) A round and previous financing rounds account for 75%. Judging from the perspective of financing rounds, early financing occupies an absolute position. Seed Angel, Series A (including Pre-A, A, and A+ rounds), and strategic investments were the main forms of financing in the blockchain sector in September, with 90, 25, and 15 cases, respectively, accounting for 59%, 16%, and 10%. Figure 3. Global blockchain industry financing round distribution data source: 01 Blockchain and 01 Think Tank (3) had outstanding performance in million-level financing, accounting for 65% of the projects with disclosed financing amounts in August. 62% of the funded projects were in the range of 1 million to 10 million US dollars; financing events at the level of 10 million US dollars, less than 1 million US dollars, and hundreds of millions of dollars accounted for 31%, 5%, and 2%, respectively. Figure 4. Global blockchain industry financing range distribution data source: 01 blockchain, 01 think tank (4) The regional distribution of global financing incidents is uneven. 43 cases occurred in the US from a regional perspective. In September, the US led with 43 financing incidents in a single month. China and Singapore followed with 18 and 14 cases in a single month, followed by 6, 6, 5, and 5 cases in Switzerland, India, the United Kingdom, and Canada, respectively. Figure 5. Data sources for the global blockchain financing industry in some regions: 01 Blockchain, 01 Think Tank (5) Top 50 of the Global Blockchain Single Financing List for September 2022 The following table is the top 50 in the global blockchain sector financing amount ranking for September 2022. There have been 9 financing incidents with a single loan amount of 50 million US dollars or more. Among them, there were 35 cases where a single loan amount reached 100 million yuan. On September 8, 2022, Web3 infrastructure company Mysten Labs closed a $300 million Series B round with a valuation of over $2 billion. Led by FTX Ventures, the venture capital arm of Sam Bankman-Fried's cryptocurrency exchange. Other investors in this funding round include Andreessen Horowitz's a16z Crypto division, among others. This is also the investment and financing event with the highest single loan amount in a single month. Table 1. Global blockchain sector single financing amount ranking data source: 01 blockchain, 01 think tank...

1404d ago01区块链#01 Blockchain #Investment and financing

An unpopular new profession in the metaverse

The metaverse has garnered a lot of attention in the past two years. As a new thing, the metaverse has brought new opportunities, and naturally created some new jobs. Earlier, 01 Blockchain wrote “New Careers Brought by the Metaverse”, which included metaverse research experts, metaverse event planners, metaverse ecosystem developers, metaverse hardware engineers, metaverse storytellers, metaverse world builders, and metaverse cybersecurity experts. The above can be said to be relatively popular occupations. In fact, the metaverse also has some unpopular occupations, including metaverse facialists, metaverse land agents, metaverse architects, metaverse fashion designers, and metaverse ad blocking experts. These unpopular occupations aren't well known, but there are probably plenty of career opportunities for them. Metaverse Face-Pincher One of the most important elements in the metaverse is an avatar (Avatar). Each avatar can be the same or unique, depending on the user's choices. For example, currently Roblox has launched its own avatar for users to choose freely. However, as more people participate in the metaverse, the demand for virtual images will also increase. Naturally, the demand for unique avatars will increase. Everyone wants to be unique to get more attention. This has inspired people to pursue unique and good-looking virtual images. As a result, the job of a virtual face-pincher was created. In fact, many game development requires the participation of game character design positions. Since there are certain techniques to shape character images, such as some good-looking character templates, which require professional processing, and users generally cannot operate them, the profession of face-pincher was born. With the popularity of the metaverse, face-pinching is no longer limited to games; it has begun to appear in metaverse social networking and other aspects. Because in the metaverse world, character images are very important and relate to a person's personality and identity. For example, in the metaverse social networking platform Soul, there are quite a few professional or part-time metaverse face-pinching services for metaverse social platforms. The metaverse virtual face pincher is not particularly different in how it works; in fact, the metaverse is more of a conceptual endowment, making it more special and trendy. However, it is foreseeable that the career of metaverse virtual face pincher will definitely differentiate in the future, because metaverse face-pinching is more biased towards trendy ideas in terms of design style (relatively traditional in games), and there are certain prospects and independent development routes in the future. Metaverse land intermediary virtual real estate/virtual land is one of the most important components in the metaverse. Many platforms are known for their exorbitant virtual land auction prices, such as Decentraland and Sandbox. The popularity of virtual land has also prompted many people to scramble to enter this market, or hope to become “neighbors” with celebrities (a group of domestic and foreign stars such as Lin Junjie and Snoopdogg bought valuable land on some overseas metaverse real estate platforms). However, land resources are limited. If you want to buy land, you can only buy it with landlords. This has created a metaverse land intermediary position. Metaverse land intermediaries act as a bridge to help connect buyers and sellers. Everyone can participate in the metaverse, including people of different languages, races, and cultures. For example, if a domestic buyer wants to buy a virtual land, he can't speak English, then metaverse land intermediaries can play a role. He can negotiate with the seller on behalf of the buyer and get a desired price, then he can facilitate the transaction. Or there are people who want to “invest” in virtual real estate but don't know how to find or find a good target, then metaverse land intermediaries can also play a role by recommending land based on their own experience, helping buyers find cost-effective and suitable properties for investment, and serving some less experienced investors. When it comes to moving bricks, many people think of metaverse architects as a painstaking job that requires a lot of hard work. But have you thought about moving bricks in the metaverse? Being a metaverse architect is probably one of the most unpopular jobs in the metaverse. Virtual real estate/virtual land is one of the most important components of the metaverse. Many metaverse platforms, such as Decentraland, Sandbox, etc., actually use land for many activities. And when they buy land, many people will want to build their dream home on it. However, not everyone has time to build their own home and entrust others to help build their own buildings; this demand has led to the birth of the metaverse architect position. In fact, metaverse architects not only provide design plans, but also provide layouts for virtual items such as furniture...

1410d ago01区块链#01 Blockchain #metaverse

Four major challenges in metaverse education

Author | Chenglin Pua (Malaysia) Editor | Yu Baicheng Publishing | Wang Jilongyan In September 2022, META and VictoryXR (a virtual reality education startup headquartered in Iowa, USA) collaborated to build and open 10 metaverse virtual campuses. The project invested $150 million. Meta said as part of its immersive learning program, which aims to bring education into a virtual reality environment. Education is one of the biggest applications of virtual reality and metaverse technology, and Meta is implementing this idea to help 10 universities launch metaverse-based virtual campuses. Although metaverse education provides more possibilities and flexibility, in reality metaverse education still needs to overcome many problems if it wants to be implemented. Examples include time and financial costs, issues such as data privacy and personal safety, lack of advanced infrastructure, and potential legal issues. The cost of time and money The metaverse is a virtual world. However, virtual worlds require a lot of time and capital costs to build (including manpower, fiber costs, etc.). In addition, the later operation of the metaverse also requires a large amount of resources to maintain its operation, such as the huge operating costs of the database, including electricity, water cooling resources, and related maintenance personnel. Although to some extent, the metaverse provides a low-cost learning alternative. For example, building a lab costs millions of dollars and requires a lot of space and manual maintenance, and a virtual lab perfectly solves this problem. In reality, however, there are many hidden costs behind the metaverse. In addition to that, the associated hardware costs actually invisibly increased the cost to the school. Examples include licensing of VR content, construction of digital twin campuses, VR headsets, and other investment costs. A metaverse course license could cost at least $20,000, and a digital twin campus could cost as much as $100,000. VR companies (Meta is currently free for the time being, but that won't be easy to say when it becomes popular; even when this fee is removed, other related costs are huge for many schools) will also charge each student a subscription fee of $200 a year to access their metaverse. At current prices, the lower version of each Oculus Quest 2 costs $399.99. This is just the cost of purchasing equipment; in fact, there are more maintenance costs later. Schools are also required to hire special personnel to maintain the above equipment, which has invisibly increased costs. Schools also need a lot of time to get students used to these devices. After all, it takes a long time to face electronic screens, which may cause eye fatigue, etc. Finally, there are textbooks related to the metaverse. Unlike traditional textbooks, most textbooks in the metaverse are three-dimensional and dynamic. In this case, teachers will need to rewrite textbooks, etc. The reality, however, is that most educators currently don't have the ability to create their own metaverse teaching materials, which may involve merging video, still images, audio, text, and interactive elements into an immersive online experience. Issues such as data privacy and personal safety previously, 01 Blockchain wrote “Seven Challenges in the Metaverse”, which included intellectual property disputes, data protection and privacy, legal challenges, monetary and payment system challenges, technical challenges, public acceptance, high investment, and commercial monopoly. With the advent of new technology, privacy data protection has always been one of the biggest concerns in the real world, and has received attention from all sectors of society. The internet we use today involves lots of data and privacy issues, not to mention the metaverse. The metaverse necessarily involves more data and privacy than the internet. The metaverse will most likely be a virtual space created by multiple companies in the future. For consumers or users, how to coordinate data protection between companies and how to ensure the security of private data must be the biggest concern. The amount and richness of personal data collected by the metaverse will be unprecedented, including individual physiological responses, movement, and possibly even brainwave data. Will this data hire a dedicated security company to take responsibility for its data security? If a user's personal data is stolen or misused in the metaverse, who is responsible, what impact will it have on users in the real world, etc. In the construction of the metaverse, each company should strictly consider the privacy issues of such personal information and set up good mechanisms to prevent the leakage of personal data. Research agency Centre for International Governan...

1424d ago01区块链#01 Blockchain