LensLinks: Issue 60

Today in LensLinks:

• SEC Chair Gensler Warns of Imminent Crypto Crackdown

• 1.6M People Watch Metaverse Concert in Sky: Children of the Light

• HSBC Files Trademarks for a Wide Range of Digital Currency and Metaverse Products

• "14 Most Interesting Blockchain Projects to Watch in 2023"

• In 2022, I stopped Using My VR Headset

• Extended Reality to Rise of AI

• Crypto "Without Centralized Exchanges Like FTX" - What it would look like.

• RETRO: The Early Days of Crypto Exchanges

• And Much, Much, More... (phew - good to be back!)

The Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reportedly says that a crackdown on the crypto industry is imminent in the wake of FTX’s high-profile collapse.

According to a new report by Bloomberg, SEC Chair Gary Gensler says that the regulatory agency is coming after crypto firms that don’t comply with its rules, and compares such companies to casinos.

Earlier this year, Thatgamecompany announced it had more than 160 million people who downloaded Sky: Children of the Light, since the mobile game launched in 2019. And now the company has figured out a way to keep those players coming back through a virtual concert with the artist Aurora.

HSBC has filed two crypto-currency-related trademark applications for its name and logo with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Mike Kondoudis, a trademark attorney and USPTO licensee, noted in a tweet Friday that HSBC’s trademark applications indicate that the bank plans a number of digital products and services, including those related to the exchange and transfer of virtual currencies.

Nonfungible token (NFT)-friendly Japanese gaming giant Square Enix has invested 7 billion yen ($52.7 million) into game developer Gumi to create “high-quality” mobile games, blockchain games and a Metaverse initiative, among other things.

Metaverse & Gaming - A Little More...

Blockchain, Tokens & Defi - A Little More...

Crypto Trading - A Little More...

Today, buying cryptocurrency is relatively easy, and crypto exchanges are focused on security and user experience (UX), but this hasn’t always been the case. After the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto launched bitcoin (BTC) in 2009, there were a limited number of ways to obtain this novel form of money, and most methods required users to incur significant risks. While the story of crypto exchanges’ early days is punctuated by hacks, scams, and legal scrutiny, the events that transpired planted the seeds for a new global financial system.

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