Playboy is set to enter the meta universe with the self-titled “MetaMansion.”
The American lifestyle brand, founded by Hugh Hefner, is famous for its bunnies – scantily clad women dressed as rabbits – at the Playboy Mansion.
The virtual version of this mansion, which is being developed by the gaming platform The Sandbox, will host gaming, social and programmed events, as well as the release of irreplaceable tokens.
Playboy already has one NFT project, Rabbitars, 11,953 tokenized bunny avatars that sold for around $800 apiece in October 2021 and are now worth around $200. Holders of these NFTs will gain access to exclusive experiences at the “MetaMansion”.
It will also be possible to buy virtual plots of land near the estate.
“Playboy is a symbol of charm, lifestyle and entertainment content that transcends generations and has already achieved success on Web3,” said The Sandbox COO and Co-Founder Sebastien Borget.
How to protect yourself from crypto fraud
Crypto fraud has increased in the past year as criminals have targeted people struggling during the economic downturn.
Despite the collapse of the cryptocurrency market, which has seen the total market capitalization drop from more than $3 trillion to less than $900 billion today, fraudsters are more likely than ever to steal virtual currencies.
New figures from cyber security company NordVPN show a 58% increase in the last 12 months, with victims in the UK losing an average of £36,250 per attack.
Dan Holmes, head of small and medium business at Feedzai, says that “during economic downturns, we tend to see an increase in the number of customers falling for these types of scams.”
He added: “Consumers who are struggling are more emotionally and financially vulnerable, and the allure of high returns on investments like crypto creates an increased susceptibility to fraud that scammers prey on.
“The subtleties of crypto scams can vary greatly, but ultimately the compelling element at the macro level is always the same – the promise of something free.”
Feedzai is a data processing company that develops machine learning technology for financial risk management for the world’s largest banks, merchants and processors.
“Consumers can follow some simple guidelines to avoid falling prey to these scammers,” Holmes said.
“Ignore any advertisement that creates an offer that is too good to be true, such as guaranteed high investment returns and free coins as a signup bonus. Carefully check any crypto ads that use celebrity endorsements, as they are likely to be fake.”
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While banks in the UK will consider refunding fraud victims under the Conditional Reimbursement Model (CRM), there is no regulatory guarantee that the victim will get their money back.
For example, a recent UKF document showed that in 2021, only 51% of consumers who were victims of fraud received compensation from banks.
“This should be the biggest trigger for the consumer and should always trigger a final check before making a payment,” Holmes explained.
“Be aware that banks will do everything in their power to block transactions where they suspect a customer has been defrauded – the technology that enables this is extremely complex and passive for the consumer, so they don’t know it’s happening.
“However, despite best efforts, it will never be possible to stop them all, but heed the banks’ additional warnings in the form of ‘instant’ education and awareness and open warnings.
“If you have any doubts about a call you’ve received or a payment you’re making, call your bank and seek advice straight away.”
Cryptocurrency shorts
The founders of collapsed crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital have gone into hiding, according to a statement from advisory firm Teneo, which is expected to liquidate its remaining assets. A Reuters report said no one had been seen at the Singapore offices since late May or early June. 3AC held $3 billion in assets at the end of April and $10 billion in cryptocurrencies at the start of this year. Christopher Farmer and Russell Crumpler, the BVI court-appointed liquidators, say there is an “imminent risk” that Kyle Davies and Zhu Su will move the remaining assets offshore.
More than $4.7 million was stolen in Uniswap’s fake token phishing attack.
Brazilian FinTech PicPay to Launch Crypto Exchange as well as Stablecoin Pegged to Brazilian Real. The company has 30 million active users.
Black Seed Ink is creating a crypto storage solution for registry nanowallets, launching a Kickstarter campaign – ‘The X Series’ – for a potential multi-million dollar cryptocurrency organization.
42% of crypto exchange Coinbase’s assets are in bitcoin, up from 40% at the end of last year. Edith Reeds, CFO of TradingPlatforms.com, who analyzed the data, said: “Coinbase has always held Bitcoin and other crypto since its inception. He did this because of his firm belief in the long-term potential of BTC and the crypto-economy.”
Crypto prices
Over 20,100 coins have a total market cap of $889.8 billion at the time of writing (7am UK), down 2.6% in the last 24 hours.
Market leader Bitcoin – the original cryptocurrency created by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto – fell 3% to $19,950. BTC is down 2% for the week.
Ethereum, the second-most valuable cryptocurrency built as a decentralized network for smart contracts on the blockchain, fell 5% to $1,085. ETH is down 6% for the week.
Binance Coin is a cryptocurrency created by the popular crypto exchange Binance to help it become an infrastructure service provider for the entire blockchain ecosystem. Its BNB token lost 3% to $225, taking it down 4% in seven days.
Ripple’s XRP token, a payment asset exchange and money transfer system, acts as a bridge for transfers between other currencies. XRP lost 1% to 31.5 cents, down 4% from seven days ago.
Cardano is an open-source dApps-facilitating network that bills itself as an upgraded version of Ethereum. Its ADA token, designed to allow holders to participate in the operation of the network, fell 3% to below 44c and 7% on the week.
Solana is a blockchain built to make decentralized finance available on a larger scale – and is capable of processing 50,000 transactions per second. Its SOL token fell 5% to $33.75 and is 6% lower than its value a week ago.
The DOGE meme coin was created as a satire on the hype surrounding cryptocurrencies, but is now a major player in the space. DOGE lost 5% to 6.2c, making it 10% lower for the week.
Polkadot was founded by the Swiss Web3 Foundation as an open source project to develop a decentralized network. Its DOT token, designed to securely connect blockchains, fell 3% to $6.57, down 7% from a week ago.
Avalanche is a lightning-proof platform for institutions, businesses and governments. Its AVAX token lost 5% to $17.58 and is down 2% for the week.
To see how the valuations of major coins have changed recently – and get a roundup of the latest cryptocurrency news – Click here.
See below for the top 100 coins by market cap in USD plus 24-hour price change.
