Tag: Dapper Labs

Job Cuts at Circle and Dapper Labs: Bear Market Not Over

by Blockchain News

Even the crypto giants are not immune to market pressures. Recent reports have highlighted significant workforce reductions at two major blockchain companies, Circle and Dapper Labs, despite their substantial fundraising successes.

Circle, a leading stablecoin issuer, has recently reduced its workforce slightly to maintain a “strong balance sheet”. The company has raised a total of $1.1 billion in funding over 11 rounds, with the latest funding raised on April 12, 2022, from a Private Equity round.

Despite this financial backing, the company has found it necessary to reduce or end investments in non-core activities and reduce operational expenses, which includes a marginal reduction in headcount. However, Circle continues to identify new areas for investment and hire in key areas of focus on a global basis.

Similarly, Dapper Labs, known for developing popular NFT collectibles such as CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot, has announced its third round of staff layoffs in less than a year as a reflection of the broader slump in the crypto and NFT markets.

The company has let go of 51 employees, representing around 12% of the company’s staff. This comes despite Dapper Labs raising a total of $612.5 million in funding over seven rounds, with the latest funding raised on November 21, 2022.

Although Bitcoin price has been above $30,000 for nearly 20 days and some traders have anticipated a bull market, the workforce reductions at both Dapper Labs and Circle remind us of the ongoing challenges in the crypto market overall and the bearish market is not over yet.

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Dapper Labs Restricts Russian-based NFT Accounts, Abides by EU Sanctions

by Blockchain News

Dapper Labs – a company behind NFTs like CryptoKitties, NBA Top Shot, NFL All Day, UFC Strike, and the Flow blockchain – has confirmed it is cutting off payment services for non-fungible owners with links to Russia – said the move is due to new EU sanctions on Russia.

The NFT company said it is blocking Russian accounts from being able to purchase, sell or gift NFTs, as well as make other NFT purchases or withdrawals from the platform. Dapper stated: “It is now prohibited to provide crypto-asset wallet, account or custody services of any value to accounts with connections to Russia.”

Dapper explained that the sanctions prohibit companies from providing crypto wallet and custody services to accounts associated with Russian users. The company said its business service offering is based in the EU, which has ordered it to comply with the sanctions.

The Vancouver-based firm said while affected users cannot move funds, gift tokens, sell NFTs or purchase new ones, they still own their assets on the platform and can continue viewing them.

The announcement comes after several crypto users raised complaints that they could not access their accounts and even showed email communication from Dapper Labs about the restrictions.

Last Thursday, the European Union introduced another wave of sanctions against Russia due to the prolonged invasion of Ukraine. The new sanctions enforced a complete ban on cross-border crypto payments between Russians and the EU. The ban prohibits all crypto-asset wallets, accounts, or custody services, regardless of the amount of funds in the wallet.

The EU introduced the new sanctions in response to Russia’s continued escalation of conflicts in Ukraine. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the EU has continued evolving packages of sanctions on Russia in a bid to close potential loopholes which could allow Russians to move funds abroad.

The latest sanctions come shortly after Russian officials approved cryptocurrency usage for cross-border payments. Late month, Russia’s Central Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Finance approved crypto payments for cross-border use. This way will help the country evade the multiple financial sanctions that have been levied against it.

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Dapper Labs Restricts NFT Accounts Associated with Russian Users

by Blockchain News

Dapper Labs – a company behind NFTs like CryptoKitties, NBA Top Shot, NFL All Day, UFC Strike, and the Flow blockchain – has confirmed it is cutting off payment services for non-fungible owners with links to Russia – said the move is due to new EU sanctions on Russia.

The NFT company said it is blocking Russian accounts from being able to purchase, sell or gift NFTs, as well as make other NFT purchases or withdrawals from the platform. Dapper stated: “It is now prohibited to provide crypto-asset wallet, account or custody services of any value to accounts with connections to Russia.”

Dapper explained that the sanctions prohibit companies from providing crypto wallet and custody services to accounts associated with Russian users. The company said its business service offering is based in the EU, which has ordered it to comply with the sanctions.

The Vancouver-based firm said while affected users cannot move funds, gift tokens, sell NFTs or purchase new ones, they still own their assets on the platform and can continue viewing them.

The announcement comes after several crypto users raised complaints that they could not access their accounts and even showed email communication from Dapper Labs about the restrictions.

Last Thursday, the European Union introduced another wave of sanctions against Russia due to the prolonged invasion of Ukraine. The new sanctions enforced a complete ban on cross-border crypto payments between Russians and the EU. The ban prohibits all crypto-asset wallets, accounts, or custody services, regardless of the amount of funds in the wallet.

The EU introduced the new sanctions in response to Russia’s continued escalation of conflicts in Ukraine. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the EU has continued evolving packages of sanctions on Russia in a bid to close potential loopholes which could allow Russians to move funds abroad.

The latest sanctions come shortly after Russian officials approved cryptocurrency usage for cross-border payments. Late month, Russia’s Central Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Finance approved crypto payments for cross-border use. This way will help the country evade the multiple financial sanctions that have been levied against it.

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Metaverse Giants Collaborate to Form DAO Metaverse Alliance

by Blockchain News

The blockchain metaverse giants have collaborated to form the DAO Metaverse called “Open Metaverse Alliance for Web3” (OMA3), which aims to bring together multiple virtual worlds to solve the key challenges of the metaverse and maintain users’ freedom of information.

Game developers joining the consortium of the Open Metaverse Alliance for Web3 include Animoca Brands, a developer of games and other applications for smartphones; blockchain-based game Alien Worlds; a consumer-focused flow blockchain product made for fun and games Dapper Labs; Decentraland; Star Atlas, and The Sandbox, etc.

OMA3 is established on a competitive Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) structure, incentivizing the entire industry to share data ownership and attract user interaction from a more transparent and objective perspective.

The DAO, a form of investor-oriented venture capital fund, aims to provide enterprises with new decentralized business models. Community members come together and have the power to vote on governance decisions, create flexible workflows and allocate resources, enabling new decentralized business models for the entire team.

The official statement states: “We believe in a metaverse without restraining walls, where individual platforms are interconnected and fully interoperable. To realize this goal of an open metaverse, we are announcing the creation of OMA3 and inviting all blockchain-based metaverse companies to join.”

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Metaverse Giants Collaborated to Form DAO Metaverse Alliance

by Blockchain News

The blockchain metaverse giants have collaborated to form the DAO Metaverse called “Open Metaverse Alliance for Web3” (OMA3), which aims to bring together multiple virtual worlds to solve the key challenges of the metaverse and maintain users’ freedom of information.

Game developers joining the consortium of the Open Metaverse Alliance for Web3 include Animoca Brands, a developer of games and other applications for smartphones; blockchain-based game Alien Worlds; a consumer-focused flow blockchain product made for fun and games Dapper Labs; Decentraland; Star Atlas, and The Sandbox, etc.

OMA3 is established on a competitive Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) structure, incentivizing the entire industry to share data ownership and attract user interaction from a more transparent and objective perspective.

The DAO, a form of investor-oriented venture capital fund, aims to provide enterprises with new decentralized business models. Community members come together and have the power to vote on governance decisions, create flexible workflows and allocate resources, enabling new decentralized business models for the entire team.

The official statement states: “We believe in a metaverse without restraining walls, where individual platforms are interconnected and fully interoperable. To realize this goal of an open metaverse, we are announcing the creation of OMA3 and inviting all blockchain-based metaverse companies to join.”

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NFT Platform LÜM Cooperates with 25 World-renowned Musicians to Launch the “Access Pass” NFT

by Blockchain News

U.S.-based music blockchain NFT platform LÜM has announced 25 partnerships with world-renowned musicians to launch the “Access Pass” NFT.

These musicians can build their own communities and launch their own access passes on this platform for crowdfunding projects such as releasing new albums.

Founded in: 2018, LÜM will introduce blockchain technology and NFTs to an entire generation of artists and fans.

For which specific 25 artists remain unknown. Still, the LÜM platform aims to cooperate with 100 top musicians in 2022, and the longer-term goal will be to collaborate with tens of thousands of artists to create a platform for fans and musicians—a revolutionary new way to combine music and blockchain.

LÜM posts on its official Twitter that:

“When designing our First Fan Access Passes, every detail was taken into account. We wanted to create something that felt exclusive, collectible, but looked & felt functional. Something fans will cherish but could expect to use IRL and in the future music metaverse. “

According to LÜM, it does not require artists to sign any rights or intellectual property rights to intermediaries.

LÜM CEO and founder Max Fergus chose to launch this NFT project on Dapper Labs’ Flow blockchain thanks to the many successful and user-friendly NFT projects on the Flow blockchain, such as the popular project NBA Top Shot.

The decentralized Flow framework will provide a platform for NFT-powered games and apps, and has already formed development partnerships with big names such as Warner Music Group, Ubisoft, and UFC.

Max Fergus says that：

“For us, we really wanted to model ourselves off NBA Top Shot. A community that was building collective value by bringing players underneath an individual umbrella.”

LÜM has raised a total of $4.4M in funding over 3 rounds from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and Alumni Ventures

Many pop musicians have begun to dabble in the NFT market, and LÜM will collaborate with the popular R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo in 2020.

Furthermore, on August 27, 2021, Blockchain.News reported, American DJ and electronic dance music producer Justin Blau, also known as 3LAU, established the blockchain music investment company Royal, supported by a $16 million seed round led by cryptocurrency investment company Paradigm and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.

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LÜM to launch ‘Access Pass’ NFTs for 25 globally known musicians

by Cointelegraph

U.S.-based music platform LÜM is set to announce 25 partnerships with globally known musicians as part of a re-launch involving NBA Top Shot’s Dapper Labs later this quarter.

LÜM was founded in 2018 and built up a user base of more than 200,000 users with a platform that provided services such as social media, music streaming and micro-tipping for its partnered musicians and fans.

The firm has raised around $4.4 million worth of funding since 2018 according to data from Crunchbase, and partnered with popular R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo back in 2020.

However, LÜM is now moving on fro that business model and is relaunching on Dapper Labs’ Flow blockchain in March with the focus shifting to musician-related NFTs.

LÜM will initially roll out an NFT marketplace and fan engagement platform alongside NFTs dubbed “Access Passes.”

Users of the platform will be able to buy NFTs tied to their favorite musicians and trade them amongst a community of fans, while long term hodlers will be granted rewards such as priority access to artists’ future NFT drops, exclusive content and live entertainment experiences.

Musicians will be able to build their communities and launch their own Access Passes which can be used to crowdfund projects such as new album releases. It does not require artists to sign away any rights or intellectual property to middlemen according to LÜM.

Aim to onboard 100 artists in 2022

Speaking with Cointelegraph, LÜM CEO and founder Max Fergus was tight-lipped on who the 25 artists will be for the launch but indicated the wider goal is to onboard 100 top musicians in 2022 to “catalyze the mass adoption of blockchain-enabled technology by artists, and fans”, while the long term aim is to partner with more than 10,000 musicians.

Fergus stated that LÜM chose to partner with Dapper Labs and launch on Flow due to the successful and user-friendly model of other NFTs projects on the blockchain such as NBA Top Shot:

“For us, we really wanted to model ourselves off NBA Top Shot. A community that was building collective value by bringing players underneath an individual umbrella.”

NBA Top Shot is the top NFT project on Flow, and has generated more than $848.3 million worth of secondary sales since launch in late 2020 according to data from CryptoSlam.

Fergus stated that LÜM’s shift to the blockchain was part of a push to get behind “revolutionary” Web3 tech and he believes the sector’s impact on the music industry will be as revolutionary as going from vinyl records to online streaming.

“I would put it on a very similar level to that. It’s an entirely new way of not just experiencing artists and music but a new way of opening up the total addressable market.”

Related: Dapper Labs becomes the first NFT company to register to lobby with the US government

Fergus stated that a major issue he sees in the music industry right now is “ individual creators trying to monetize their individual fan base,” as he emphasized the importance of introducing a blockchain-based platform that links different communities together.

“By unifying artists underneath an umbrella, we cannot only cross-pollinate fanbases but easily introduce the blockchain community into artists that maybe they’ve never even known before,” he said.