Decentraland’s Times Square NYE Party

The decentralized Metaverse project Decentraland will unveil a virtual reality version of the iconic Times Square through a New Year’s Eve party, which coincides with the real-life celebrations in New York City.

The event is called “MetaFest 2022 NYE Party” and will be held in the Estate 4 district of Decentraland at 8:00 am UTC on January 1st. It will feature live music, rooftop VIP lounges, new tokenized collections and wearables, live broadcasts of real-world NYE events around the world, CryptoArt galleries, and games.

The virtual reality equivalent of a famous attraction in the heart of New York City is called “Times Square,” and the “one-off” pun implies that the structure may dissolve after the party.

Celebrate the New Year in Times Square…in Decentraland!https://t.co/phe7qr10LY

-Decentraland (@decentraland) December 29, 2021

“Let’s have a party like 2022: For Meta or worse,” Decentraland puns in the invitation to the event. So far, only about 150 people have registered for their attendance, but you know what the party is like-first you worry that no one will come, and then everyone will show up immediately.

Interest in mutant great apes surges

Yuga Lab Boring Ape Yacht Club The derivative project Mutant Ape Yacht Club has risen to the top of the secondary sales rankings.

according to data From CryptoSlam, the interest of Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFT has soared by 355.29% in the past 30 days, generating sales valued at US$76.8 million in the secondary market.

NFT depicts a mutant version of the popular avatar of Bored Ape, which is currently the highest ranked project in 24 hours and 7 days.

The recent trend seems to be part of Yuga Lab’s greater demand for NFT, as the 7-day secondary transaction volume of its other projects (such as Bored Ape Kennel Club and Bored Ape Chemistry Club) also increased by 915% and 345%, respectively.

Although Yuga Lab’s NFT projects are in the top 10 of the 7-day sales volume, the surge in demand seems to be based on Solana’s Crypto Astronauts NFT, and the secondary sales volume increased by 172,235% during this period.

Bring NFT to the bank?

Mecro Bank, a cryptocurrency-friendly Swedish bank, outlined its plans to enter the NFT and Metaverse fields.

The bank provides services in Europe and is currently carrying out a pilot project to launch digital asset custody services in the future.

According to the announcement on December 29, Metro Bank Target Launching their own NFT collections as a new way to “make money” is currently formulating a strategy to launch a virtual banking experience in a virtual world based on Metaverse.

The company mentioned the importance of combining its services with emerging technologies and trends to meet the growing needs of users.

“[The] Metaverse has become a digital financial platform for banking and financial transactions, as well as personal and corporate interaction, and its importance is increasing day by day. In order to make this new environment as immersive and real as possible, effective management of finances and transactions will be crucial,” the announcement read.

related: Leading toy manufacturer launches NFT on carbon neutral blockchain

Cipher Punks NFT drop causes a sensation

An unlicensed NFT project called “Cipher Punks” depicts key figures in the Cypherpunk movement, and the project has been closed after being opposed by the characters in the tokenized artwork.

The team behind the project, ItsBlockchain disclose In a blog post on December 29, it closed the collection of 500 NFTs only three days after its publication, and cited feedback from cypherpunks that they “dislike the idea of ??using their images as NFTs and digital drawings “.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) speech activist and director Jillian York and other figures pointed out on Twitter on December 27 that they “disapprove of this in any way” and asked the team to delete the NFT and the digital artwork depicting them.

I do not approve of this approach and hope to delete it. https://t.co/xy6W2w97NF

— Jillian C. York (@jiilliancyork) December 26, 2021

The ItsBlockchain team stated that it will refund every penny spent by anyone on the project, including gas fees, and the project has completely disappeared from the Internet, and its social media pages and OpenSea accounts will no longer be accessible.

“We don’t know the similar laws in NFT because the market is not regulated. It was our fault. We must admit it,” the blog post wrote.

Well, someone reposted the NFT collection. Is this not going away? https://t.co/4jQo0kUQ9h Cc: @mattblaze @kataclyst @runasand @escape @joncallas

— Jillian C. York (@jiilliancyork) December 27, 2021

Other good news

Kraken co-founder and CEO Jesse Powell revealed last week that the cryptocurrency exchange will launch a non-fungible token (NFT) market, enabling users to Borrow their NFT funds.

Italian luxury sports car manufacturer Ferrari is taking action in the blockchain industry Cooperation with Swiss blockchain startups Vilas Network. The transaction may introduce a licensed Ferrari NFT, because the startup is particularly focused on the industry.