Are you ready for some dancing classes in the metaverse? Retail brokerage giant Fidelity Investments has taken a rather interesting approach to attract young investors in the metaverse. Meanwhile, a user is having to find out that the metaverse is no place for hate speech.Here’s a roundup of some of the top metaverse news over the past week.
Taking a look at Nansen’s Metaverse-20 Index, we see that the sector is seeing a month of consolidation. Most collections are down 30-50% from their all time highs and showing no sign of life the last 30 days. However, there are a few outliers. Meebits, NFT Worlds and Adidas’s collection are showing signs of life with double digit percentage increases in their floor price over the last 7 days.
Dubbed Meta Hollywood, the initiative has an offering for creators, fans and studios. Creators can tap on the platform to showcase their work and share behind-the-scenes processes while gaining exposure to new online communities. Fans, on the other hand, can create their own channels, offer paid content to users, as well as interact with their favorite celebrities and industry professionals. And as for studios, they can crowdfund independent movies and projects.Meta Hollywood also provides a marketplace for iconic movie moments, imagery and merchandise in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Over 60,000 memorabilia and IP from top movies will be recreated as digital collectibles as part of the joint venture. A section of the website states:
The entire ecosystem will be fueled by a native utility token called HWOOD. 10 percent of the token’s supply will be channeled to a fashion and content developing fund. HWOOD will also function as a governance token.
“The MetaHollywood joint venture will create tremendous opportunities by leveraging Planet Hollywood’s vast network of celebrities and IPs and combining them with our industry expertise and our broad portfolio of products and companies,” said Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chair of Animoca.
Snoop Dogg Launches Digital Weed Farms in the Metaverse
Last month, Heineken threw a jab at the metaverse mania with the debut of its first virtual beer. Weeks later, Coca-Cola joined the party with a virtual soda that “brings the flavor of pixels to life.” Now, the metaverse party is literally going high as American rapper, and avid NFT collector, Snoop Dogg is gearing up to farm weed in the online world.
Snoop Dogg, along with his son Cordell Broadus aka “ChampMedici” are bringing digital weed to the metaverse following a partnership with mafia-themed metaverse project Mobland.
Mobland, which described itself as the “first-ever mafia metaverse” announced the collaboration on Twitter on April 20, a day that holds particular significance for weed smokers. Collectors and players will be able to purchase limited items from the rapper’s weed farms, and while they may not be able to physically get high on virtual marijuana, they’ll certainly want to see the prices moon.According to a press release received by FXEmpire, the digital weed farms are part of the third generation of collectibles. MOBLAND co-founder Roy Liu explained that “NFT 1.0 is about individual character and item, NFT 2.0 is about land and real estate, NFT 3.0 is about business and utility on top of the land and real estate.”Snoop Dogg is no stranger to the metaverse world. He has a mansion to himself on The Sandbox and has continued to expand his influence within the space. Commenting on his latest collaboration, he said – “My son showed me the importance of collaboration with MOBLAND to introduce the first-ever digital weed farms as NFTs. There is a paradigm shift happening here and I want to be at the forefront of this.”
“I saw my father play video games my whole life. Cannabis and game controllers live hand in hand with him, that’s why I think it’s no brainer to bring the metaverse and digital weed together,” added Champ Medici, who is also quite active in the NFT community.
Shiba Inu Clamps Down on User Who Drew Hate Symbol on Metaverse Land
Although the metaverse is supposed to be a home for all, events have shown that malicious actors may simply be moving their malevolence to the virtual world. For instance, a woman working as a beta tester on Meta’s Horizon Worlds was sexually harassed by a stranger last year. There have also been other cases of harassment on the blockchain.One of the most recent displays of malicious behavior happened on Shiba Inu’s metaverse platform. On April 12, Shiba Inu put up approximately 36,000 out of its 100,000 metaverse plots for sale. Users who had locked the ecosystem’s LEASH tokens and holders of Shiboshi NFTs were able to bid on the metaverse lands for 0.2 ETH to 1 ETH per square plot.
Every time a user placed a bid on a plot, the color changed from grey to black when viewed from the map. However, a malignant user capitalized on this feature to form a swastika, a symbol used as the emblem of the German Nazi party. Members of the Shiba Inu Discord community discovered the action of the user on April 15 and quickly raised an alarm.
As the news spread, other users began bidding on land around the symbol until it eventually became a window shape.