“We couldn’t be more inspired about the opportunities ahead for artists and digital communities in the world of NFTs, blockchain technology and the creator economy. As our physical and digital worlds increasingly converge, what has become crystal clear in the world of NFTs, and the broader creator economy, is that meaningful impact — and true differentiation — lies at the intersection of content and community. As a brand that was built at that exact intersection, we can’t wait to see how the road of crypto and NFTs leads us into the next era of internet, technology, and innovation.” (Playboy.com)
Controversial lifestyle brand Playboy is creating a MetaMansion for its voxelated Playmates in The Sandbox metaverse, making good on the initial tease during the launch of their Rabbitar NFT collection in October last year.
The ethical questions raised by an adult-orientated brand going Web3 on a platform that uses child-orientated Lego-like aesthetics are numerous.
Nevertheless, the brand had already shown itself to be an early adopter of blockchain technology by launching their Liquid Summer NFT collection in May last year. The collection sold out in three minutes and was based on the seven-decade-old history of Playboy in a collaboration with digital collage artist and 3LAU art director Slimesunday.
According to The Sandbox, this digital playhouse “will feature gaming, social play, programmed events and ongoing digital collectibles releases that leverage Playboy’s vast content library, incorporate Playboy’s talent and influencer network, and bring Playboy’s coveted fashion styles and must-attend live experiences into the metaverse.”
Their skinny dipping in non-fungibles and the digital universe shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon.
“In the future, we see blockchain as one way to bring more empowerment and independence to communities on Reddit. Reddit has always been a model for what decentralization could look like online; our communities are self-built and run, and as part of our mission to better empower our communities, we are exploring tools to help them be even more self-sustaining and self-governed.” (Redditinc.com)
Reddit, with an audience of over 400 million monthly active users, has announced early access for a limited number of Redditors to their own series of collectible avatar NFTs available via a new storefront.
Each of the limited edition avatars was made in collaboration with independent artists, many of whom came from Reddit creative communities such as r/Comics, r/ProCreate and r/AdobeIllustrator.
Users who set these NFTs as their avatars can mix and match the avatar’s gear and accessories using the Reddit Avatar Builder. For visual differentiation, similar to Twitter’s blue hexagon, profile images in comments sections will have a glow-like effect.
The wild west of crypto is about to get regulated.
Both the EU and the US have made major moves to tame the unregulated crypto space, in light of spectacular crashes of projects like Terra’s LUNA and UST stablecoin.
The EU has agreed on a landmark regulation called Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) which will provide a comprehensive regulatory framework covering digital assets and service providers for the bloc’s 27 member countries.
The US Treasury has also prepared a framework for crypto regulation in line with President Biden’s executive order on digital assets.
Both frameworks aim to reign in the use of stablecoins and crypto service providers to protect consumers, investors and businesses, while also tackling issues related to money laundering, tax and sanctions evasion, terrorist financing and other crypto-related cybercrime activities.
It is hoped that these frameworks can provide the foundation for participating member states and to also carve out new opportunities and become leaders in the development of blockchain technologies.
Review written by Quoc Nguyen
