Astar and Animoca Brands Join Forces

As one of the leading parachains within the Polkadot ecosystem, Astar Network has positioned itself at the forefront of onchain development. Through this new investment, Animoca Brands plans to expand its global Web3 entertainment vision in collaboration with Astar. Animoca co-founder Yat Siu described the investment as a strategic move aligned with the company’s mission to support the open metaverse and digital ownership rights.

Soneium: A New Chapter in the Web2 to Web3 Transition

Soneium, the Ethereum Layer-2 solution developed by Sony’s blockchain division, will play a central role in driving Web3 adoption. This partnership will introduce entertainment-focused campaigns and integrations designed to onboard users. A key initiative is Anime ID, a digital identity and reputation system powered by Moca Network in collaboration with San FranTokyo.

Bringing Japanese and Asian IP Onchain

The collaboration is expected to pave the way for iconic Asian entertainment properties to enter the Web3 space. Events like Anime Art Fest will provide opportunities for creators, artists, and developers to explore new possibilities in decentralized content creation.

Astar Network founder Sota Watanabe called the investment a strong vote of confidence in the long-term potential of blockchain and digital assets.

The Role of ASTR in the Astar Ecosystem

At the heart of the Astar ecosystem lies its native token, ASTR, which powers liquidity, incentivizes innovation, and fuels user engagement across projects including Soneium. By supporting incentivized DApps, ASTR helps attract new users and developers into the ecosystem.

Animoca Brands Eyes Public Listing in the U.S.

Beyond this strategic investment, Animoca Brands is preparing for a public listing in the United States. According to Yat Siu, this move is not just financial—it signals that crypto-native companies can deliver real, innovative business models beyond the norm. He also noted that evolving regulatory perspectives in the U.S. could help accelerate this initiative.

You can also freely share your thoughts and comments about the topic in the comment section. Additionally, don’t forget to follow us on our Telegram, YouTube, and Twitter channels for the latest news and updates.

The post Astar Network Secures Strategic Investment from Animoca Brands appeared first on Coin Engineer.

Open Campus, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) focused on onchain education, launched its layer-3 blockchain, EDU Chain, on Arbitrum Orbit on January 17.

This blockchain is designed to support educational apps and onchain education powered by the EDU token.

A standout feature of EDU Chain is the Open Campus (OC) Achievement system, formerly known as Verifiable Credentials. This system allows educational institutions and training centers to create decentralized and tamper-proof records of learners’ qualifications.

Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands and a council member of the EDU Foundation, said: “Currently in private beta, Open Campus Achievements is a decentralized universal system that enables educational institutions and training centers to issue records of learners’ qualifications and accomplishments.”

EDU Chain: Launched as the Largest Layer-3 Blockchain with $150 Million TVL!

According to Siu, OC Achievements are self-sovereign records stored in a learner’s digital wallet, wholly owned and controlled by the learner. No entity, including OC, can access the data without the learner’s permission.

Siu: “By allowing users to selectively share their academic records, educational providers can gain access to relevant information, enabling them to tailor personalized learning experiences.”

EDU Chain has reached $150 million in total value locked (TVL), making it the largest layer-3 blockchain by this metric. This information was confirmed by L2Beat. The mainnet launch follows a testnet campaign with 86.2 million transactions and 358,684 unique active wallets. Developers behind 47 decentralized applications (DApps) from the testnet are now deploying their applications on the mainnet.

Open Campus: Revolutionizing Education with Hackathons, Rewards, and Blockchain

To expand its ecosystem, Open Campus has launched two major initiatives.

• The first is a hackathon series with a $1 million prize pool.
• The second initiative, the OC Incubator, is a 12-week program to scale projects from hackathon winners.

This program provides developers with mentorship, funding opportunities, and support to help bring their DApps to market.

OC has also launched a rewards program for mainnet users. In season one, users can earn Yuzu points by engaging with DApps on the EDU Chain.

Shaping the Future of Education with AI, Web3, and Blockchain Technologies

Siu explained that tokenized educational content can empower educators to transform their knowledge into capital assets, allowing them to easily own, control, and monetize their content. He also highlighted learn-to-earn models, which reward continuous skill development by linking it to real-world value.

Siu emphasized that blockchain-based education finance could improve access to funding and simplify processes for lenders and students. He pointed out that the combination of AI, Web3, and education in 2025 would bring significant changes.

“AI-powered platforms are rapidly evolving to deliver personalized, adaptive learning experiences, while blockchain technology ensures the security and verifiability of educational data and credentials. This synergy of AI and Web3 in education represents a paradigm shift that will have a fundamental impact on global education,” he added.

---

You can also freely share your thoughts and comments about the topic in the comment section. Additionally, don’t forget to follow us on our Telegram, YouTube, and Twitter channels for the latest news and updates.

The post Open Campus Launches Layer-3 EDU Chain on Arbitrum appeared first on Coin Engineer.

The FCA issued a warning regarding the Solana-based “Retardio” project, citing unauthorized financial promotions and activities targeting UK consumers.

In a statement on December 16, the FCA warned that the token might be providing or promoting financial services without the regulator’s approval.

The regulator reminded consumers to transact only with FCA-approved firms to ensure adequate protection. According to CryptoSlam, the Retardio project features a Solana-based NFT collection that has achieved $31 million in total sales.

The associated memecoin, as reported by Dexscreener, is currently trading at around $0.08 with a market capitalization of approximately $87 million.

The Retardio Project Responded To The FCA

According to the FCA, UK-based users dealing with the Retardio project will not have access to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which resolves complaints between consumers and financial services firms. The regulator also stated that consumers would not be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which protects consumers if financial firms go bankrupt.

The FCA added, “This means it’s unlikely you’d get your money back if the firm goes out of business.”

The FCA urged citizens to deal with authorized firms. The regulator emphasized that authorized firms provide greater protection to consumers when things go wrong and suggested users check their registry to ensure the firm they are dealing with is authorized in the UK.

The government agency also encouraged reporting unauthorized firms through official channels. In a humorous response, the memecoin and NFT project said, “We’ve issued a warning about the UK’s financial regulator.”

Memecoins Represent The Value of Attention

Yat Siu, Chairman of Animoca Brands, stated that memecoins capture the value of user attention, which is different from traditional metrics on social platforms.

Siu mentioned that attention on social platforms does not transparently reflect the value of user-generated content (UGC), but memecoins work differently.

He explained that in the Web3 world, UGC culture is integrated into memecoins, with their market capitalization reflecting the value of the attention they receive.

“If attention were a token, that’s exactly what memecoins represent. So I see it as correlated between the two,” he said.

---

You can also freely share your thoughts and comments about the topic in the comment section. Additionally, don’t forget to follow us on our Telegram, YouTube, and Twitter channels for the latest news and updates.

The post FCA Warns UK Citizens Against Solana-Based Memecoin! appeared first on Coin Engineer.

NFT Market Struggles to Replicate 2021-2022 Highs

Although Animoca has long-term NFT investment experience, the whole market is failing to replicate its 2021 and 2022 high figures. Cryptoslam data shows that although the market registered about $80 million last week, the week of Aug. 22, 2021, had a total NFT trade volume of $3.24 billion.

NFTs are currently vying for attention with memecoins, Yat Siu remarked in an interview with The Block at the Foresight 2024 event in Hong Kong. Though they are fungible, memecoins have become increasingly important for many celebrities, influencers, and users in expressing their culture, he said.

“Three years ago, I didn’t know how many thousands of NFT projects were launched daily; now that’s seen in memecoins,” the Animoca chairman stated. “Eventually, when that cycle follows through … what will become more important for your reputation, not for money? NFTs.”

Web3 and the Future of Reputation in Blockchain

Yat Siu also mentioned that Web3 will be the main focus of future efforts aimed at establishing a good reputation. “One of the problems right now we have in Web3 is that too many people are only thinking about economic capital, and they haven’t yet fully identified their Web3 persona as a reputation,” he stated.

Users will understand the value of a reputation layer in blockchain, where NFTs play a major role with their non-fungibleness as Web3 advances to reflect cultural, social, and symbolic capital, says Yat Siu.

U.S. Presidential Election’s Impact on Crypto Leadership

The results of the forthcoming U.S. presidential election could thus decide the course of crypto growth the biggest economy in the world is following.

“Come November, the U.S. is going to aim to reclaim leadership in crypto,” Yat Siu remarked. ” If it’s Trump, it’ll be guns blazing; if it’s Harris, I think it’s more cautious but not negative.”

According to the Animoca creator, in his positive view, a return to crypto optimism in the United States would resurrect venture capital activity that has been comparatively quiet since the FTX fall-off. Yat Siu also claimed that the possible rise in capital flow would encourage contact among the Web3 companies in the United States, Asia, and other regions of the world.

“In Web3, every token holder is an investor. So imagine that all of America now is becoming more open to crypto… This basically opens up a whole new form of liquidity.” Yat Siu stated.

At the time of writing, the odds of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris winning the election on the distributed prediction platform Polymarket were 53%; Donald Trump’s chances of winning decreased to 46% from 70% in mid-July.

Although Trump has indicated his support for blockchain and cryptocurrencies, the Harris team has lately begun collaborating with crypto entrepreneurs like Mark Cuban to advocate “Crypto for Harris.” On Wednesday, at an event known as “Crypto4Harris,” a group of crypto analysts and legislators are slated to appear in an attempt to reinterpret the links of the crypto sector to Harris.

You can also freely share your thoughts and comments about the topic in the comment section. Additionally, don’t forget to follow us on our Telegram, YouTube, and Twitter channels for the latest news and updates.

The post Yat Siu: NFTs and Memecoins Battle for Attention appeared first on Coin Engineer.

Staking discussions are ongoing in Hong Kong, which approved spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs after the US.

While there is speculation about whether Hong Kong regulators will allow ETH staking for spot Ethereum ETF issuers, Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu has said that Hong Kong could allow staking for spot ETH ETFs this year.

Speaking to The Block, Yat Siu also said that Hong Kong ETF issuer HashKey has prepared a draft proposal to add ETH staking to ETFs.

Backpack (BP) Brings Good News to Early Users

One of the notable projects in the crypto ecosystem, Backpack, has officially entered its token

23
Mar

What is Ant.FUN (ANB)?

One of the projects that has recently attracted attention in the crypto market is Ant.FUN

16
Mar

Strategy’s Massive Bitcoin Purchase Moved the Market!

Institutional investment activity continues to attract attention in the cryptocurrency market. One of the companies

16
Mar

What is WandrLust (AFK)?

WandrLust (AFK) is a Web3 project that aims to bring real-world physical activities together with

16
Mar

Is Artificial Intelligence Data Centers a Threat to Bitcoin Mining?

The rapid increase in investments directed toward artificial intelligence data centers has brought a new

16
Mar

Michael Saylor Signals New Bitcoin Purchase

Michael Saylor hinted that Strategy may announce another Bitcoin purchase as soon as tomorrow. The

16
Mar

Yat Siu’s statements:

“Discussions are currently underway to add a staking feature to spot Ethereum ETFs in Hong Kong. I believe that ETH staking is inevitable to be approved in Asia before the US, and that staking will be approved before the US. I think this will happen within 2024. However, if there is not much movement on staking this year, no matter how fast it is, I can say that the US election result will be decisive in determining which region approves staking first.”

Statements of HashKey CEO Livio Weng:

“We have prepared a staking plan designed to earn rewards without increasing risk in ETH, and we are moving forward in a controlled manner. ETH ETF staking is considered the biggest missing piece of the puzzle.”

The post Spot Ethereum ETFs Staking: When Will It Arrive? appeared first on Coin Engineer.

Forget “monkey JPEGs” – NFTs are poised to disrupt industries and empower individuals, argues Yat Siu, founder of Web3 giant Animoca Brands. In a recent interview, Siu dives deep into the potential of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and how they represent the foundation of a new, democratic digital capitalism.

While the NFT market has cooled from its 2021 frenzy, Siu sees this as a positive shake-out, weeding out speculators and leaving behind those who truly believe in the technology’s potential. He emphasizes the core value of NFTs: digital ownership. This opens doors to revolutionary changes in various sectors, from education to gaming.

Imagine: teachers selling their educational content directly through NFTs, bypassing traditional publishing houses and earning directly from their work. Siu’s company, TinyTap, exemplifies this with its platform empowering educators to monetize their content, especially in regions with limited opportunities.

But NFTs are more than just money-making tools. Siu views them as the building blocks of a more equitable and financially literate society. He sees a strong correlation between digital capitalism, as embodied by NFTs and blockchain, and a healthy democracy. He argues that property rights and a capitalist foundation are essential for democracy to flourish.

However, Siu acknowledges the negative perception of NFTs, particularly in the US. He blames this on a lack of understanding and emotional reactions to the financial aspects of NFTs. He stresses the need for education to bridge this gap and address these perceptions.

Interestingly, Siu sees the rise of inequality as a factor driving the popularity of NFTs and blockchain in Asia. He views these technologies as a way to empower individuals and bridge the wealth gap. However, he cautions against the dangers of extreme left-wing ideologies, which he sees as a threat to democracy.

The post Don’t Dismiss NFTs: They’re Pillars of Digital Capitalism, Says Animoca Founder appeared first on Coin Engineer.