Unstoppable Domains’ $10M Grant for Women in Web 3
San Francisco based Unstoppable Domains has partnered with 65 companies to launch the “Unstoppable Women of Web 3” initiative. The program will focus on training new talent and equalizing the playing field in the Web 3 era. The supporting companies that include Google Cloud, Polygon, and Consensys, have also pledged to feature the work created by historically marginalized groups. Furthermore, Unstoppable Domains plans to use over $10 million worth of NFT domains to support women in Web 3.
An Account of Ukraine’s Crypto Spendings
Alex Bornyakov, Ukraine’s deputy Digital Transformation minister, shared how the country is spending crypto donations on Twitter. He stated that close to $100 million worth of crypto was donated. It has been used to procure 5,500 bulletproof jackets, 410,000 packed lunches, 500 ballistic plates for bulletproof vests, 3,125 thermal imagers and optics, 500 helmets, 3,427 medicines, and 60 walkie-talkies.
HBAR Foundation’s $100M Sustainable Impact Fund
HBAR Foundation, which provides grants and resources for developers building on the Hedera ecosystem, has launched a $100 million sustainable impact fund. This fund will be used to invest in Hedera based projects that help solve the climate crisis and address issues and inefficiencies in the carbon credits market. DOVU, a trust platform for carbon offset integrity built on Hedera, is the first recipient of the grant.
WoW and Sandbox’s $25M Fund for Web 3 Women
The World of Women NFT project is collaborating with the metaverse gaming platform The Sandbox to support women in Web 3 with the “WoW Foundation” program. This initiative will receive $25 million over five years earmarked to launch a virtual academy and create a diverse and inclusive space in the metaverse for women in Web 3.
UNICEF Gets $2.5M Crypto Donation for Ukraine
Binance Charity announced a $2.5 million donation in crypto to support the humanitarian efforts of UNICEF in Ukraine. The funds come at a time when UNICEF is scaling up its activities in the war torn nation where the lives and well-being of over 7.5 million children hang in the balance.
Women’s Day in Metaverse
NFT platform HeyLayer teamed up with the Stacks Foundation to host “HerNFT,” a Women’s Day event in the vSpace metaverse. This virtual event featured the works of over 30 female NFT artists, allowing the participants to buy the NFTs on the HeyLayer marketplace. HeyLayer plans to donate 2.5% of the proceeds from the sales to Just Love Film Academy charitable organization for Ibero-American female filmmakers.
Ukrainian News Outlets Sell NFTs
Three Ukrainian media outlets, Ukrainska Pravda, Novoye Vremya, and Hromadske, are collaborating with NFT platform Vault to sell 10,000 “NFT keys” worth $99.99 each. Each NFT offers its owner exclusive access to curated content from these outlets. The proceeds would help them keep reporting amid the war in their country.
Santander To Offer Grain-backed Loans
The multinational bank Santander announced that it is working with an Argentinian startup Agrotoken to develop a platform that offers loans backed by tokenized agricultural commodities such as soy, corn, and wheat. Santander also confirmed that a pilot has already been conducted to validate the system.
Carbon Trading Platforms on Blockchain
Two companies launched their respective blockchain based carbon trading marketplaces this week. JustCarbon announced the JustCarbon Removal Units (JCRs) platform that tokenized carbon credits issued by both Verra (VCS) and Gold Standard. Meanwhile, Likvidi revealed Liquid Carbon Credit (LCO2) marketplace for tokenizing credits given by VCS.
Ukrainian Boxer Raises Money With NFT
Ukraine’s heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko is launching an NFT collection dubbed “Vandalz for Ukraine: WhIsBe x Wladimir Klitschko” in partnership with artist WhIsBe. The proceeds from the sales of the collection, which has tiered pricing of $100, $1,000, and $10,000, will go to Red Cross Ukraine and UNICEF.
BAYC Donates $1M in Crypto
The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) tweeted earlier this week that it has donated 388.999 Ether worth $1 million to Ukraine. BAYC says it was inspired by the Bored Apes community, which donated close to $1 million in Ether using the BAYC NFTs and hence donated to match their contribution.
US President Signs Executive Order on Crypto
President Joe Biden signed a long awaited executive order that lays the groundwork for clearer crypto regulations in the US. The order targets the issues affecting the crypto space, such as consumer protection and responsible development. It calls for various federal agencies to coordinate on overseeing the crypto industry. It also asks the Treasury Department to produce a report on the future of money and payment systems.
Coinbase Blocks 25,000 Russian Addresses
Crypto exchange Coinbase has blocked over 25,000 addresses related to Russian individuals and businesses. Coinbase claims that these addresses are involved in illicit activities and hence has also shared this information with the US government for further action.
UK Bans Crypto ATMs
The UK’s financial regulator FCA has ordered the crypto ATM operators in the country to shut down their machines or face enforcement action. The FCA has reiterated that the companies offering crypto services must be registered with the FCA, but even those who can legally operate are not allowed to offer ATM services.
FTX Opens Shop in Europe
Crypto exchange FTX has got approval from the Cyprus regulator, CySEC, which allows it to offer its products and services in the European Union through an investment firm licensed to operate in the region. Switzerland would serve as the headquarters of FTX Europe, and an additional base will be set up in Cyprus.
BAYC’s Yuga Labs Buys CryptoPunks IP
Yuga Labs, the creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, has bought the IP rights for the CryptoPunks and Meebits collections from Larva Labs. The first step, which Yuga Labs is going to take, is to grant full commercial rights to the NFT holders similar to what it had done with BAYC and MAYC.
Cronje Departs, Tokens Tumble
The news of the prominent DeFi architect and developer Andre Cronje “closing the chapter” on DeFi and crypto shook the crypto industry this week. Several tokens on the Fantom ecosystem to which Cronje was an advisor fell steeply. The use of the text “terminating… ~25 apps and services” in the announcement made by Cronje’s colleague Anton Nell on Twitter got people talking and raised concerns about the future of Fantom based tokens. Fantom team, however, debunked these rumors, publishing a statement clarifying that Cronje and Nell are “terminating” only their involvement, and their ongoing work will be handed over to the existing teams.
Ethereum 2.0 Has 10M ETH
The staking contract of the upcoming PoS based Ethereum network now holds $25 billion worth of Ether. It reached a critical milestone with 10 million Ether locked away in the contract.
Adobe Partners With Polygon
Adobe, the company behind popular photoshop and PDF reader software, is integrating its Behance social media platform with Ethereum Layer 2 network Polygon. As per Polygon, creators using the Adobe platform can now display their NFTs with reduced carbon footprint and transaction fees.
Binance Launches Bifinity
Binance launched its fiat to crypto payments technology company, Bifinity, this week. Bifinity supports 50 cryptocurrencies and payment methods, including Visa and Mastercard.
Popular Names and NFTs
Italian clothing brand Diesel plans to debut its NFT collection “D:VERSE” on the Rarible marketplace today. Meanwhile, the dormant peer to peer music sharing service LimeWire is rebooted as an NFT marketplace for music. Finally, Warner Brothers is creating 6 million DC Comics trading cards with redeemable NFTs and are priced from $5 to $120.
And Finally, Stripe Is Back on the Crypto Bandwagon
Payments facilitator Stripe is back in the crypto world and has launched its crypto services that enable businesses to use Stripe as a payment method for crypto and NFT transactions. It is also offering KYC and fraud prevention services for web3 companies. At the moment, Stripe’s crypto services are available only in the US and the UK, and NFT services in these regions and Japan.
Furthermore, crypto exchanges FTX and FTX US announced that they have signed up for payments and KYC services. Meanwhile, Stripe has also revealed that it has deals in place with Nifty Gateway, Just Mining, and Blockchain.com.
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