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Aria Protocol (ARIAIP): Tokenizing Iconic Music IP as Real-World Assets

Aria Protocol is an onchain platform that tokenizes and monetizes iconic intellectual property (IP) as real-world assets (RWAs), making traditionally illiquid music rights accessible to a global audience. Founded by David Kostiner and backed by $15 million from Polychain Capital, Neoclassic, and Story Foundation, Aria Protocol (ARIAIP) is now available on Bitget! What is Aria Protocol (ARIAIP)? Aria Protocol is an onchain platform that tokenizes and monetizes iconic intellectual property (IP) as real-world assets (RWAs), making traditionally illiquid rights accessible to investors, creators, and fans. The traditional IP market is valued at $61 trillion, but access and liquidity are limited because these assets are locked in legal contracts or corporate entities, accessible only to major players. Ordinary people rarely participate in the value or earnings from music, films, patents, or other iconic works. Aria Protocol is the onchain infrastructure stewarded by the Aria Foundation, enabling investors to access and earn income from iconic intellectual property RWAs. Built on the Story Protocol blockchain (designed for IP management) and supported by Aria Protocol Labs Inc., the platform brings cultural assets (starting with music) onchain as liquid, fungible tokens. Core Innovation: Aria Protocol transforms intellectual property into tradable, income-generating tokens and makes the IP asset class accessible and liquid. The platform tokenizes and fractionalizes IP rights into affordable tokens (IPRWA tokens), allowing broader participation and distributed ownership. IP earnings (royalties from music catalogs) are brought onchain and distributed automatically to token holders. An onchain value chain from fundraising to trading and remixing opens passive income and creative opportunities. Investors can browse, invest in, and earn from curated IP assets via purchase or staking of IPRWA tokens like $APL, which are linked to royalty-generating assets. Token holders receive proportional royalty distributions and can trade tokens on decentralized marketplaces. Rights holders can make IP remixable, launching contests and enabling new income streams for creators, remixers, and token holders. Who Created Aria Protocol (ARIAIP)? Aria Protocol was founded by David Kostiner (Co-Founder and Chief IP Officer). The team operates under Aria Protocol Labs Inc., in partnership with the Aria Foundation. David Kostiner (Co-Founder and Chief IP Officer): David is the founding partner of Counsel LLP, with expertise in IP law, digital rights and music business innovation. Kostiner co-founded IODA (Independent Online Distribution Alliance), which was acquired by Sony Music. He is an authority on music copyright, licensing, and tech-driven entertainment finance. Core Team: The team includes music executives, IP lawyers, blockchain engineers, and product developers with backgrounds in entertainment, Web3 startups, and finance. Key contributions come from advisors and partners in entertainment and decentralized technology, with input from Story Protocol, Polychain Capital, and Neoclassic. The team brings expertise from digital music distribution, intellectual property law, blockchain infrastructure, and venture investment in crypto and entertainment. There is no single CEO publicly listed for Aria Protocol Labs Inc. Kostiner acts as a key executive and public spokesperson. What VCs Back Aria Protocol (ARIAIP)? Aria Protocol has raised $15 million through seed and strategic funding rounds, backed by investors in the crypto, IP, and entertainment industries. Funding Rounds: ● Seed and Strategic Rounds (2025): $15 million raised at $50 million post-money valuation ● Public Launch: November 2025 ● IP Acquisition Fundraising: $10.95 million raised in February 2025 via Stakestone's LiquidityPad to acquire rights in music IP portfolios, including songs performed by Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, BLACKPINK, and BTS ● Additional Strategic Investment: $500,000 from OKX Ventures and Selini Capital Notable Investors: ● Polychain Capital (lead investor) ● Neoclassic Capital ● Story Protocol Foundation ● OKX Ventures ● Selini Capital ● Bron Labs Major Partnerships Aria Protocol has partnerships spanning IP infrastructure, blockchain ecosystems, entertainment platforms, and digital art. Story Protocol: Aria is built on Story Protocol, a Layer 1 blockchain designed for IP management and programmable licensing. The Story Foundation is a tech partner and strategic investor, with Aria tokens integrated into the Story ecosystem and 10% of ARIAIP supply reserved for the Story IP community. Global Music IP Holders: Aria partners with rights holders and catalog owners to acquire music IP, launching income-generating tokens tied to songs performed by global artists including Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, BLACKPINK, BTS, and Jisoo. Stakestone & LiquidityPad: Collaborated in February 2025 for a $10.95 million fundraising event to acquire music rights, using Stakestone's LiquidityPad platform for decentralized capital formation. Sedition Art Platform: Partnership to expand onchain IP tokenization to visual arts, allowing digital artists to fractionalize and monetize their work using Aria's infrastructure. Binance Alpha and Bithumb: Listing and trading partners for the ARIAIP token, providing global exchange access and airdrops. Aria PRIME (Korean Music Partnership): Institutional arm with a $100 million initiative focused on Korean music IP, in partnership with local industry leaders. Chainlink: Integrates with Chainlink for onchain pricing, asset verification, and royalty distribution. How Aria Protocol (ARIAIP) Works Aria Protocol turns iconic music and creative IP into blockchain tokens, allowing anyone to invest in, earn from, and remix these assets. Blockchain Infrastructure Aria Protocol operates on the Story blockchain, a Layer 1 protocol engineered for intellectual property management and tokenization, and leverages Ethereum-compatible standards for its smart contracts and asset interactions. Story is a proprietary Layer 1 chain optimized for IP management, programmable licensing, and royalty automation. Smart contract deployments and asset standards are compatible with Ethereum, facilitating interoperability and cross-chain activity. Technical Architecture Aria uses a three-layer architecture: Layer 1: Story Protocol Foundation ● Story blockchain foundation for legal-enforced digital rights ● Integration with DeFi platforms and marketplaces supporting Ethereum-based assets Layer 2: Asset/Token Contracts ● IP Vault Contracts manage IP asset deposits, auctions, fractionalization, revenue tracking, and automated royalty distribution ● Programmable, upgradeable smart contracts ● On-chain rights management sets permissions for licensing, remixing, and revenue splits Layer 3: Ecosystem Apps/Tools ● UI/UX for creators, IP owners, and investors ● Developer SDKs and API endpoints for customization and deployment How It Works 1. IP Digitization: Songs and media rights are acquired by Aria. They become digital assets ("IP vaults") on the blockchain, with royalties and revenue managed onchain 2. Tokenization and Investment: Each IP vault is broken into thousands of blockchain tokens called IPRWA tokens (IP Real World Asset tokens), such as $APL. Users buy these tokens from Aria's platform or crypto exchanges to own a part of the underlying IP 3. Earning Royalties: When the song earns money (from streaming, licenses, etc.), Aria automates the collection and payout to token holders using smart contracts. Investors receive royalty payments to their wallets, based on how many tokens they own 4. Remixing and Licensing: Creators and fans can join remix contests or license the music/IP to create new works, with winners or contributors sharing future royalties through Aria's platform 5. Trading and Community: Token holders can buy/sell their rights through supported exchanges or within the Aria app, and use tokens to participate in governance or exclusive community events You can access the platform at ariaprotocol.xyz and explore documentation at docs.ariaprotocol.xyz. Aria Protocol Token (ARIAIP) and Economics The $ARIAIP token is a Story-native ERC-20 token used for governance, liquidity, community rewards, and powering the protocol's IP RWA ecosystem. Token Details ● Token Ticker: $ARIAIP ● Blockchain: Story Protocol Layer 1 (Story-native ERC-20 standard) ● Total Supply: 1,000,000,000 (1 billion tokens) Token Distribution ● Core Team: 21% (20% unlocked after 1-year cliff; 2-year linear vesting thereafter) ● Early Investors: 18% (20% unlocked after 1-year lockup; 2-year linear unlock thereafter) ● Ecosystem & Partners: 21% (33% unlocked at TGE; 3-year linear unlock thereafter) ● Community Growth: 21% (33% unlocked at TGE; 3-year linear unlock thereafter) ● Foundation: 10% (100% unlocked at TGE) ● Initial Liquidity: 9% (100% unlocked at TGE, includes community airdrop, CEX and DEX liquidity) Token Utilities ● Governance: Token holders vote on protocol upgrades, IP asset listings, fund flows, reward distribution, and community initiatives ● Staking for Rewards: Users stake $ARIAIP tokens to earn yield, protocol fees, and additional community rewards ● Royalty Distribution: Holders of IP RWA tokens receive royalty payouts from actual income generated by the underlying IP through smart contract-automated distributions ● Access to IP Vaults & Remix Events: $ARIAIP tokens unlock participation in remix competitions, exclusive licensing events, and special asset launches ● Liquidity Provision: Token holders supply liquidity to trading pairs or asset vaults, earning swap fees and protocol rewards ● Protocol Fee Payments: Some service or product modules may require $ARIAIP payments Why Aria Protocol? Traditional internet systems are inadequate for making IP assets liquid and accessible. Aria Protocol addresses these gaps with proven technology and ecosystem support: Programmable IP on Story: Aria is built on Story Protocol, using on-chain primitives for permissioning, licensing, and revenue splits. Story-native design allows automated licensing and royalty logic to execute transparently and composably across apps, enabling IP to function like DeFi assets. Audited IP Vault and Staking Mechanics: Core IP Vault contracts for tokenization, fundraising, and controlled distribution were independently assessed by Halborn. Staking contracts enabling time-locked participation and KYC-aware unstaking were also audited, supporting compliant yield workflows tied to IP tokens. Off-Chain to On-Chain Royalty Pipeline: Aria implements operational rails that import music royalty income into on-chain ledgers, addressing multi-source reconciliation and verifiable payout streams. Public disclosures highlight daily royalty distributions for its first IP RWA token, demonstrating live, recurring yield. Catalog-Scale, Culturally Significant Assets: Aria brings rights linked to hit songs from global artists like BTS, BLACKPINK, Justin Bieber, and Miley Cyrus on-chain, proving the model at scale with recognizable, revenue-generating catalogs. Remixable, Licensed Creativity: By pairing programmable licensing with contests and legal remixing, Aria turns IP from a passive right into an active creative market where derivatives share revenue via on-chain splits. Proven Leadership: Founded by David Kostiner, music IP expert and founding partner of Counsel LLP. Co-founded IODA (acquired by Sony Music). Authority on music copyright, licensing, and tech-driven entertainment finance. Institutional Backing: $15 million raised from Polychain Capital, Neoclassic, Story Protocol Foundation, OKX Ventures, and Selini Capital. Additional $10.95 million for IP acquisition. Strategic Partnerships: Story Protocol for L1 infrastructure, global music IP holders (Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, BLACKPINK, BTS), Stakestone & LiquidityPad for fundraising, Sedition Art Platform for visual arts, Binance Alpha and Bithumb for listings, Aria PRIME for Korean music ($100M initiative), Chainlink for pricing and verification. Developer Tools: Technical documentation at docs.ariaprotocol.xyz covering smart contract APIs, integration guides, and architectural details. Web app for investing, staking, and royalty management. Specialized remix and licensing modules. Aria delivers an audited trust layer for IP real-world assets that people and institutions can rely on at scale. Aria Protocol (ARIAIP) Goes Live on Bitget We are thrilled to announce that Aria Protocol (ARIAIP) is now listed in the Innovation and RWA Zone. Trade ARIAIP/USDT on Bitget! Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are for informational purposes only. This article does not constitute an endorsement of any of the products and services discussed or investment, financial, or trading advice. Qualified professionals should be consulted prior to making financial decisions.

OpenLedger (OPEN): AI Blockchain for Data Attribution and Model Monetization

OpenLedger is a blockchain-powered platform that solves transparency, attribution, and fair compensation issues in AI development by enabling the monetization and decentralized use of data, models, and AI agents. Founded by Pryce Adade-Yebesi, Ashtyn Bell, and Ram Kumar in 2024, this platform has raised $8M from Polychain Capital and Borderless Capital to create the first AI blockchain with Proof of Attribution. OpenLedger (OPEN) will soon be available on Bitget! What is OpenLedger (OPEN)? OpenLedger is the "AI Blockchain," unlocking liquidity and new monetization pathways for data, models, and agents through decentralized infrastructure and novel mechanisms like Proof of Attribution. It serves as a foundation for trusted AI, empowering developers, data providers, and users to collaborate and transact with verified contributions. The platform addresses critical challenges in AI development including lack of transparency where contributors are unaware of how their work is used and are not rewarded appropriately, centralization of power where large corporations dominate AI development through proprietary systems, and attribution issues where there is no fair compensation for data creators and model trainers. Core Innovation: OpenLedger acts as a decentralized trust infrastructure, allowing users to create and monetize specialized language models while validating outputs using collective intelligence. The platform's Proof of Attribution technology tracks all contributions and rewards participants fairly through "Payable AI" models, removing intermediaries and enabling collective innovation. Who Created OpenLedger (OPEN)? OpenLedger was founded in 2024 by Pryce Adade-Yebesi, Ashtyn Bell, and Ram Kumar with extensive experience in blockchain, AI, and enterprise systems. Pryce Adade-Yebesi (CEO & Co-Founder): ● Previously co-founded and led product at Utopia Labs (sold to Coinbase), specializing in crypto-based invoicing and financial automation ● Entrepreneur-in-residence at Washington University in St. Louis, active in startup mentoring and product innovation ● Drives vision, product direction, and partnership strategy for OpenLedger Ashtyn Bell (COO & Co-Founder): ● Former Head of Product & Crypto at Candy Digital and advisor to Utopia Labs ● Founded multiple startups: Greenbook and ArdhiView, with deep expertise in AI/ML, product management, and blockchain protocols ● Leads operations, product development, and organizational strategy Ram Kumar (Co-Founder, Chief Economic Architect): ● Pioneer of "Payable AI" and decentralized attribution models ● Background in large-scale enterprise account management for Fortune 500 clients (Walmart, Sony, GSK) ● Oversees ecosystem funding, strategic partnerships, and regulatory relations Key Team Members: ● Raj Thaker - Lead Engineer with AI and blockchain development experience tied to the Skandalaris Center startup community at WashU The team includes advisors like Guy Friedman (SteadyMD CEO), Doug Villard (entrepreneurship professor, WashU), Zach Abrams (ex-Bridge/Stripe), and Kanyi Maqubela (Kindred Ventures). What VCs Back OpenLedger (OPEN)? OpenLedger has raised over $8 million in its seed round from prominent VCs and industry leaders, with additional funding committed for infrastructure expansion. Source: cryptobriefing Funding Rounds: ● Seed Round (July 2024): $8 million led by Polychain Capital and Borderless Capital Major Venture Capital Backers: ● Polychain Capital (Seed round lead investor) ● Borderless Capital (Seed round co-lead) ● HashKey Capital ● Finality Capital ● Hash3 Notable Angel Investors: ● Sreeram Kannan (EigenLabs founder) ● Balaji Srinivasan (ex-Coinbase CTO) ● Sandeep Nailwal (Polygon co-founder) ● Kenny Li (Manta) ● Scott Moore (Gitcoin) ● Sebastien Borget (Sandbox co-founder) ● Chainyoda The diverse investor portfolio positions OpenLedger as a well-capitalized leader at the intersection of Web3 and AI infrastructure. How OpenLedger (OPEN) Works OpenLedger operates through several key technologies that make AI transparent, fair, and collaborative for everyone: Proof of Attribution Protocol Every dataset, model training, and AI output is tracked, credited, and rewarded on-chain. Data contributors receive payment each time their data is used, and the origin of every model decision is auditable, solving the "black box" problem of traditional AI. Datanets: Community-Curated Data Networks Datanets are specialized networks focused on topics like finance, medicine, or Web3 that curate and clean data specifically for training advanced AI models. These networks feature transparent governance, contributor tracking, and validation processes managed on OpenLedger's blockchain. Payable AI Economy OpenLedger pioneered a "Payable AI" model where contributors are paid not just once, but every time their data or models are used in real-world applications. This creates a recurring SaaS-style economy around data, attracting high-quality data for ongoing AI innovation. EVM-Compatible Layer 2 Infrastructure Built with OP Stack and EigenDA, OpenLedger combines Ethereum's security, low transaction costs, and flexible smart contract functionality optimized for AI and data applications. Smart contracts can incorporate AI logic for real-time fraud detection, compliance, and automated business flows. Model Factory & No-Code Tools A drag-and-drop graphical interface allows users to upload, train, and deploy AI models and agents without programming requirements. Users can create specialized language models, AI agents, and chatbots through simple dashboard interactions. You can access the platform at openledger.xyz and explore comprehensive documentation at docs.openledger.com. OpenLedger Token (OPEN) and Economics The OPEN token serves as the native utility and governance token for the OpenLedger AI blockchain, powering gas fees, rewards, staking, and incentive payments across its data/model attribution infrastructure. Token Details ● Token Name: OpenLedger ● Token Symbol: OPEN ● Total Supply: 1,000,000,000 OPEN (1 billion tokens) ● Blockchain Deployment: EVM-compatible Layer 2 OP Stack (main), Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Solana ● Contract Addresses: ○ Ethereum & BNB Smart Chain: 0xa227cc36938f0c9e09ce0e64dfab226cad739447 ○ Solana: FqpVydAZgjc9yDtYvtJ7ewekdBctU7ioGSbv7muNgBgJ Token Distribution ● Community: 51.7% (testnet participants, validators, builder grants, block rewards, events, airdrops) ● Investors: 18.29% (private/seed rounds, VCs and strategic backers, 12m cliff + 36m vest) ● Team & Advisors: 15% (core team, future hiring, advisors, 12m cliff + 36m vest) ● Ecosystem Growth: 10% (strategic partnerships, product expansion, platform development) ● Strategic Reserve: 5% (treasury, governance, liquidity, emergency funds) Token Utilities ● Gas & Transaction Fees: OPEN is required for all transactions including data uploads, model training, and AI queries on the OpenLedger blockchain ● Attribution Rewards: Contributors earn OPEN whenever their data, models, or AI agents are used, facilitated by the proof of attribution system ● AI Agent Staking: Developers stake OPEN to launch AI agents and maintain service quality, with poor-performing agents losing staked tokens ● Governance: Token holders vote on model funding, upgrades, ecosystem direction, fee settings, and attribution parameters ● Inference Payments: Pay for on-chain AI model outputs, validation, and fine-tuning on a pay-per-use basis ● Cross-Chain Bridge: OPEN enables bridging assets and interoperability between Layer 1 networks and OpenLedger's Layer 2 Why OpenLedger? Traditional AI development faces critical challenges around transparency, attribution, and fair compensation that OpenLedger addresses with breakthrough innovations: Proven Leadership: Founded by entrepreneurs with successful exits including Utopia Labs (acquired by Coinbase), combining expertise in crypto, AI, and enterprise product development with strong startup track records. Strong Investor Validation: $8M raised from leading investors including Polychain Capital, Borderless Capital, HashKey Capital, and prominent angels like Balaji Srinivasan and Sandeep Nailwal demonstrates institutional confidence. Technical Innovation: First blockchain with Proof of Attribution technology that tracks every data contribution and AI model usage, ensuring transparent rewards and solving the "black box" problem in AI development. Strategic Partnerships: Collaborations with Aethir for decentralized GPU infrastructure, io.net for compute resources, Ether.fi for restaking security, and Trust Wallet for AI-powered wallet interfaces. Live Ecosystem: Already operational with Model Factory, Datanets, node applications, and developer tools generating real activity and demonstrating practical utility beyond speculation. Community-Focused Tokenomics: Over 50% of tokens allocated to community rewards, builders, and ecosystem growth with transparent vesting schedules aligning long-term incentives. The platform successfully bridges AI development with blockchain technology, creating new opportunities for transparent attribution, collaborative model building, and fair compensation in the AI economy. OpenLedger (OPEN) Goes Live on Bitget We are thrilled to announce that OpenLedger (OPEN) will be listed in the Innovation and AI Zone. Check out the details below: Trading Available: 8 September 2025, 13:00 (UTC) Trade OPEN/USDT on Bitget! Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are for informational purposes only. This article does not constitute an endorsement of any of the products and services discussed or investment, financial, or trading advice. Qualified professionals should be consulted prior to making financial decisions. Follow Bitget X to win 1 BTC

On-chain Games: A New Frontier

From knucklebones and dice to balls and frisbees, from chess and Go to Minecraft and Fortnite, we humans have always been entertaining ourselves with various forms of games over the past thousands of years. With modern-day inventions such as computers and the Internet, video games have flourished into a multi-billion dollar industry with hundreds of genres and sub-genres. But in this era where blockchain is seeking to shift the paradigm of almost every industry, the land video games seem relatively and unusually quiet. Why bringing games on-chain? In theory, blockchain has the potential to become the ultimate online game platform offering fair gameplay, unrivaled interoperability, and the potential to build a groundbreaking economy. Transparency and fairness As a public, distributed, and immutable ledger, blockchain records every operation and stores them permanently. Cheaters and scammers will have no place to hide. Rules will also be coded into smart contracts and millions of security enthusiasts will have the chance to scrutinize every line of code to improve its security. Cross-game interoperability The battle for one dominant game platform has been on for over a decade. Although Steam is the clear leader on computers for the time being, other giants like Epic Games, Ubisoft, and Rockstar are all trying to take a piece of the pie with their dedicated platforms, while Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are dueling it out in the console market. Needless to say, your PlayStation account details and assets can not be seen or interacted with on a Switch. But it doesn’t have to be like this on blockchains. With cross-chain bridges, you can easily migrate your account from one chain to another. And since many Layer-1 and Layer-2 blockchains are all EVM-compatible, games (and other applications, of course) can be easily migrated across different blockchains with minimal changes. Opportunities for blockchain-based economies Even without the help of blockchains, online video games such as Fortnite, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and EVE have fostered their own in-game economy featuring items with jaw-dropping price tags. Owner of this knife turned down a US$1.5 million offer and is asking for over US$2 million at the moment Source: https://steamcommunity.com/id/LegendOfBlue/With blockchain - the financial infrastructure with disruptive potentials - in-game economies will continue to flourish into even more complex, organic entities, with tokenized assets and complete financialized ecosystems. Why not moving games on-chain? At the time of writing, almost all the best-selling video games come with at least one of the following elements: ultra-realistic graphics and intense competitive gameplay. Moving graphics processing off-chain can easily solve the former but the latter may be somewhat difficult for on-chain games, given the state of blockchain technology. Online video games like Call of Duty or FIFA often have to host hundreds of thousands - millions at their peak - of players and provide them with millisecond-level delay in their input. Most blockchains we see today are designed for asset transfers and smart contract interactions - none of which require extremely high throughput and low latency. Even the state-of-the-art Sei blockchain, capable of finalizing thousands of transactions in as low as 300ms, falls far behind this threshold. That said, Sei is optimized for trading and order-matching engines and there’s nothing stopping blockchain developers from coming up with a blockchain dedicated for competitive gaming or even video games in general. With enough and capable infrastructures in place, on-chain games will surely thrive into a sizable industry like its Web2 counterpart. The state of on-chain games Like the blockchain industry as a whole, on-chain games are scattered on a spectrum with different levels of blockchain involvement. Over the past few years, many established game developers and publishers have been trying to dip their toes in the NFT or metaverse market by tokenizing in-game items. You don’t need to own a crypto address because, technically, the ownership of these items is established through centralized servers. This is the easiest way to move (at least a part of) your games on-chain but also the least decentralized. Most of these attempts have also proved to be a hot mess - like Ubisoft’s disastrous Quartz platform. On the other end of the spectrum lies dozens of games that are trying to bring the entire experience onto blockchains - Dark Forest, 0xMonaco, and Curio, to name a few. These games often feature simple graphics and turn-based gameplay due to some of the limitations mentioned in the previous section. As blockchain technology continues to grow and evolve, there will surely be infrastructures optimized for video games with fast-pace combat and stunning graphics. At the time of writing, the most prevalent form of on-chain games is those with on-chain identities and assets but off-chain game processing. Popular on-chain games such as Gods Unchained, Axie Infinity, and Illuvium are all built in this fashion. Many of these games also have their own marketplaces for asset trading and even DAOs for governance. These assets are not merely cosmetic add-ons but financialized as assets with market value and yield earning potential. Serving over 20 million users worldwide, Bitget has always been scouting quality assets and providing the best trading experience. Dive into our GameFi zone now, trade hand-picked GameFi tokens, and stay at the forefront of on-chain games!

The State of the Metaverse: How Close Are We To This New Reality? (Part 2)

In the previous part of our look at the state of the Metaverse, we walked through where the concept came from, and how it developed over time into early iterations such as proto-Metaverses in video games, and also explored where we are currently with the technology. In this next part, we will go deeper into some of the hurdles that are preventing the Metaverse from taking off the way tech giants had originally hoped for. Increasing the Capabilities and Accessibility of VR and AR Devices A lot of contemporary discussions have revolved around the Metaverse itself as a digital space, but the hardware to access this virtual realm also plays a massive role in the potential widespread adoption of this technology. While many proto-Metaverses of old have been accessible via flat screen devices such as your PC, video game console, or even smartphone and tablet, the new concept of a Metaverse attracts users with its immersivity, and that means a change toward VR and AR devices. The process to create such hardware has so far proven to be rather difficult, however. The likes of Microsoft, Google, and Snap have all previously worked on augmented reality glasses such as the HoloLens, Google Glass, and Spectacles, but either their design has been too cumbersome for daily use or a sleeker, more polished form factor meant weak computing power and a lack of any real substantive features. Apple has long been rumoured to be working on AR glasses themselves, but no official announcement has been made yet. Source: Adrià García Sarceda on Unsplash Similar things can be said about VR headsets and its industry. In terms of performance, there’s no question that virtual reality devices provide an overall better experience than its AR sibling, mostly because the increased size of the device – coupled with controllers – offers more immersion and computing power. However, when you compare the visuals with what an average PC or video game console can pull off these days, there’s still a sizable gap in terms of gameplay, graphics, and framerates. Even productivity apps on VR seem to lag behind your go-to software on a flat-screen device despite potentially having more innovative features, simply because we’ve become so accustomed to using things like Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Word, or Zoom on our own computers without too much trouble. At this time, VR just doesn’t seem to be offering enough of a reason for us to move away from the familiar. That said, companies pushing for the Metaverse such as Meta and Sony are working hard on developing better hardware solutions. Just earlier this year, Meta announced a new Quest Pro designed for developers, businesses, and early adopters. The headset sits at the top of the company’s range of products and offers exciting new features such as full 360-degree self-tracking, both eye and face-tracking, and even haptic controllers. In a similar vein, Sony also unveiled its PlayStation VR 2 set to work with the PS5, and industry-leading models like the Varjo XR3 can even deliver photorealistic visuals. However, at a price of US$6450, the question now is whether we’re going to see widespread adoption of such expensive gear any time soon, especially given the nascent stage of the Metaverse itself. Recent Headlines Set Back the Metaverse Source: Meta With the considerations mentioned above, it’s perhaps no surprise that the initial “hype” of the Metaverse has died down considerably. While there’s still massive interest from tech companies and brands alike to realise this concept of a virtual space that can integrate seamlessly with our own physical lives and enhance our daily experiences, development of the Metaverse is evidently shifting to a slower pace than originally anticipated, and some of the most recent headlines in the media reflect this sentiment. In an open letter addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg back in October, the company’s shareholder and Altimeter Capital’s chairman Brad Gerstner expressed concerns over the social media giant’s decision to allocate US$100 billion to develop its version of the Metaverse. “People are confused by what the Metaverse even means. If the company invested US$1-2 billion per year into this project, then that confusion might not even be a problem,” the venture capitalist wrote. “Instead, the company has announced investments of US$10-15 billion per year into a Metaverse project that largely includes AR/VR/immersive 3D/Horizon World and that it may take ten years to yield results. An estimated US$100+ billion investment in an unknown future is super-sized and terrifying, even by Silicon Valley standards.” Zuckerberg did not publicly address the letter or reply to it, but it’s likely he heeded the advice. Just weeks later in early November, the Meta CEO announced layoffs of roughly 13% of the company’s workforce, equating to a whopping 11,000 employees. “At the start of Covid, the world rapidly moved online and the surge of e-commerce led to outsized revenue growth,” Zuckerberg explained. “Many people predicted this would be a permanent acceleration that would continue even after the pandemic ended. I did too, so I made the decision to significantly increase our investments. Unfortunately, this did not play out the way I expected.” The round of firings also come shortly after Meta reported a US$3.67 billion loss for its Reality Labs division over the third quarter of 2022. The Metaverse arm of the company has now marked US$9.44 billion in losses over this year alone, and is on track to break its own 2021 record of US$10 billion. To make matters worse, the company forecasts even more growth “significantly” in operating losses over 2023 year-on-year. With such negativity in recent developments, where does this leave us? Looking Ahead Into the Metaverse Source: Julien Tromeur on Unsplash Despite these concerning financial results over the past two years and likely for the duration of 2023 as well, Zuckerberg remains optimistic about the future of the Metaverse and its importance, suggesting that the project remains one of the most important undertakings of Meta. “It’s often going to take a few versions of each product before they become mainstream,” the billionaire reassured. “I think that our work here is going to be of historical importance and create the foundation for an entirely new way that we will interact with each other and blend technology into our lives as well as the foundation for the long term of our business.” Indeed, as we covered earlier on the current state of the Metaverse, many other industry leaders and global brands have invested significant sums into building the infrastructure for this Web 3.0 future, and with millions of people already adopting AR/VR technology and proto-Metaverses into their lives, it’s unlikely for the Metaverse to fail to take off, at least in a more primitive form than what the Oasis envisions. Unlike the universal model featured in Ready Player One, however, what we’re likely going to see are multiple Metaverses that would hopefully work and communicate with one another, potentially allowing you to transfer your digital assets and property between them. Companies like Meta, Microsoft, Apple, and Google are all competing for their own share in the industry, and if past innovations are anything to go by, it’s unlikely that we’ll see these firms coming together and working on one universal Metaverse. Of course, it’s not impossible for one single Metaverse to take over eventually, but that will take a much longer time than what Web 3.0 enthusiasts have initially expected. When and if that moment comes, possibilities for the Metaverse can be endless. Provided that we manage to develop better VR hardware and it becomes more accessible, a large portion of our lives could very well take place within this digital realm. Over the pandemic, people have already gotten used to shopping online and working remotely, and the Metaverse will only further enhance your experiences in these fields. Through an avatar modelled after yourself, you may be able to walk around a virtual retail store and try on clothes to see how they look on you before making a purchase. You’ll be able to have meetings and collaborative sessions with colleagues in a digital workspace without having to leave the comfort of your own home. For entertainment, you’d be able to engage in sporting activities virtually or sit in a digital theatre together with your friends to enjoy a movie or video game. All of these things that we’re used to seeing in big Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters will finally become a reality. When will this day come? Some experts predict it to come in the 2030s, but the truth is, no one really knows. Follow us for more insights: Twitter | Telegram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram

Bitget Hot Takes (September 05 - September 11)

Bitget Hot Takes is the exclusive weekly newsletter series by Bitget Academy, the 360-degree onboarding guide for all crypto enthusiasts. Bitget Hot Takes last week can be found here. Central Themes - BGB shows a steady rise in returns and volume, even surpassing Ethereum in terms of 7D returns.- One single event awaited by the whole market this week: The Merge at the difficulty level of 58,750,000,000,000,000,000,000.- Metaverse exploration continues. Better than Ethereum? Bitget Token delivered a remarkable performance, scoring a 7-day growth of nearly 20%. Ethereum has been the best performer in recent weeks in terms of profits. However, the difference between BGB and ETH returns at the end of this week is more than 4% - with BGB claiming the first place in the weekly growth list. BGB 7D volume has been increasing in par with its returns at 24.09%. If we look at the chart below, it is clear that BGB value is going up consistently, while others show more volatility over the week. Stronger ‘up’ signals in combination with steadiness mean BGB is gaining momentum despite all ebbs and flows of the market. Definitely a gem to be explored right now. Still unconvinced? Below are our BGB reports for the last three months: BGB Sail: July Edition BGB Sail: June Edition BGB Sail: May Edition Don’t forget to check out BGB Earn to make sure that you are generating even more BGB! Market Pulse Asia might become the next NFT Metaverse hub Last month, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) announced the plan for their metaverse campuses, called MetaHKUST, to connect students and research activities across regions. Hong Kong has also become the next stop for Solana-based M2E game Stepn, who is setting up its first physical office at the startup-friendly Cyberport. Another Asian representative, the electronic giant LG is rolling out their own NFT platform, integrated into selected LG products. Despite the recent stricter moves of Singaporean authorities towards crypto, the nation’s biggest bank DBS still commits to listing over 300,000 digital assets on DBS Digital Exchange. DBS has also partnered with The Sandbox to expand its banking services to the metaverse. Meanwhile, Sony Music is figuring out how to incorporate NFTs for authentication of download and streaming activities, and Puma follows the footsteps of Adidas to showcase their digital sneaker collectibles. Basketball fans are another group to be addressed by the GameFi sector: The (U.S.’) National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) have announced a multi-year partnership with Sorare, allowing the latter to launch a free-to play fantasy basketball game via non-fungible technology. In the Eurozone, investors now can take a stake in the metaverse economy via the new Franklin Metaverse UCITS ETF, which is listed on the Deutsche Börse Xetra (XETRA), the Borsa Italiana and the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Franklin Templeton is an American multinational holding company with US$1.53 trillion in assets under management. Up and down, up and down In the early beginning of the week, PoolinWallet a.k.a the wallet service of leading Bitcoin mining pool Poolin has announced liquidity issues, thus pausing all withdrawals, flash trades, and internal transfers. Later on, Bitcoin dropped below US$19,000 and the global market cap consequently lost US$1 trillion. Nevertheless, BTC open interest was able to reach a new all-time high of 565,579 Bitcoin on September 6, the highest over the 3-year period. Source: Arcane Research That could be explained by the speculative opportunities revolving around the biggest cryptocurrency. Within the last seven days, Bitcoin had surrendered the US$19,000 mark just to cross the US$21,000 mark three days later, leading to a weekly growth of 9.55%. Flash loans still a threat Flash loan exploiters have turned to Avalanche. DeFi staking platform Nereus Finance was hit by a flash loan arbitrage on Wednesday, where the attacker successfully claimed US$370,000 in USDC after the process. One good piece of news is US$30,000 has been recovered from Axie Infinity’s Ronin hack this spring. Crypto analytics firm Chainalysis has been working with the U.S. government to seize the stolen fund. Countdown To The Merge In anticipation of The Merge, several websites have added the countdown clock for this important event, including the giant search engine Google. Screenshot from Google Search Top 5 countries that are most interested in The Merge include Singapore, Switzerland, Netherlands, Canada and China, as shown by Google Trends. Source: Google Trends The final step before The Merge went live on Tuesday (September 6). It’s the Bellatrix upgrade, which prepares the Beacon Chain for the transition to Proof-Of-Stake consensus. Investors have been finding a way to scoop more ETH so that they can share the potential staking rewards or airdrops following The Merge, hence the continuous price increase of this lad. However, prices of liquid staking derivatives have been showing discounts since the last week of August, with Coinbase’s cbETH trading at the highest discount to ETH (8%). Source: Messari Liquid staking derivatives are tokenised proofs of staking activities, here each stETH or rETH or cbETH represents one ETH staked on the platform. Ideally, the ratio between staked ETH tokens and the real ETH should stay at 1:1, but the spread here implies that investors are switching to ETH for uncertainties following The Merge’s completion. Coinbase operating model and the regulatory risk associated with it can be other reasons for the huge discount of cbETH. Regarding The Ethereum Merge, which is scheduled to commence on September 15/16, Bitget’s take on the event is as follows:- ETH transactions will not be affected during The Merge; - After The Merge, all ETH assets, perpetual swaps, futures and relevant products on Bitget will denote the PoS ETH token; - The listing of potential newly forked tokens of ETH will be announced publicly on our website and other social media channels. Stay tuned!More details can be found here. The Latest Bitget News In addition to Bitget Pop Grab - our new feature that helps connect friends and acquaintances in a fun way - we are glad to announce the launch of two more Bitget finesse: Bitget MegaSwap and Bitget Launchpool! Bitget has never confined itself to the hardcore CEX model; the introduction of Bitget Savings, BGB Earn and Bitget Launchpad earlier this year is the irrefutable proof. But we as the crypto natives know that it’s not enough for our users, who are passionate about the crypto industry as a whole. If Bitget users can now interact with several automated market makers (AMMs), one of the most influential innovations of the digital space, via Bitget MegaSwap and get access to 5,000+ tokens on Ethereum and BNB Chain, Bitget Launchpool incorporates the true spirit of DeFi into our platform: yield farming. Check out Bitget Academy’s guides to Bitget MegaSwap and Bitget Launchpool here: The Essential Guide To Bitget MegaSwap Introduction to Bitget Launchpool Don’t forget to check out these new listings below and head to Bitget Spot Trading - we are charging 0% spot fees and even offering additional trading rewards for newly listed tokens! Get access to hundreds of innovation tokens, fan-based tokens, and of course crypto blue-chips at net price or even discounted price thanks to our zero fee program and GroupCoin program! New Listings Fan Tokenzone AFCUSDT TRAUSDT INTERUSDT MENGOUSDT NAPUSDT Spot Trading Innovation Zone XMONUSDT CANTOUSDT TSUKAUSDT SKEBUSDT BITCIUSDT MCRTUSDT JNSUSDT GVRUSDT GRTUSDT Futures Trading QTUMUDT TRBUSDT MASKUSDT API3USDT GRTUSDT WOOUSDT BANDUSDT Futures Grid Trading MATICUSDTSOLUSDTXRPUSDTADAUSDT New Events Zero Fee Spot Trading on Bitget! 10,000 USDT Mystery Box For New Traders 200 MILLION SHIB To Be Won! Deposit Share 3,000 ETHW 100 USDT For The First Fan Token Promo Week! Receive $4,163 In Welcome Bonus! Good Reads Crypto Is Maturing How Will Web3 Change Our Daily Lives Copy Trade: Risks and Tips Staying Objective In Crypto Is Important The Ultimate Guide To Bitget One-Click Copy Trade Follow us for the latest updates: Twitter | Telegram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram