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Polygon Emerges As A Preferred Destination For Crypto Initiatives

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The Polygon ecosystem is teeming with a lot of activities. Originally marketed as Ethereum’s scaling solution, or the so-called Layer 2 blockchain, has rapidly evolved to become what co-founder Mihailo Bjelic claims, a “one-stop-shop for anything that a developer would need to spin up a node or application.”

Last year its $250 million acquisition with the ZK rollup Hermez network was merged as Polygon Hermez, which has boosted its privacy-enhancing functionality by hiding transacting addresses and amounts from prying eyes.

Polygon also pledged $100 Million to bootstrap growth. Just a couple of months after its February launch, Paper, a crypto-focused payments processing firm has closed a $7.3 million seed round after a $2 million angel investment, for a total of $9.3 million in fresh capital, James Sun, co-founder and CEO of the firm said.

The round was co-led by Electric Capital and Initialized Capital with participation from Polygon, FalconX, and Long Journey Ventures among others.

“Paper enables users to create wallets through their email addresses and purchase NFTs with credit cards [or crypto wallets] across the MATIC blockchain to provide non-crypto consumers a “frictionless” bridge for entry into the marketplace,” the announcement read.

Meta Chooses Polygon Blockchain to fuel its Web 3 Ambitions

Another significant development was when Meta announced that they will use the blockchain to expand their reach into the Web3 space. 

Ryan Wyatt, CEO of Polygon, tweeted, “We’re excited to share that Meta is partnering with 0xPolygon as they push into web3. Facebook is choosing it due to our carbon neutral footprint, the scale we can offer, and the developer ecosystem choosing to build on the blockchain.”

Last month, the layer-2 protocol unveiled a new plan, “The Green Manifesto,” to transform into a more sustainable era and aims to be ultimately carbon negative by the end of 2022.

It has allocated a $20 million fund to help realize its goal. As per the team behind the project, the fund will be directed at community initiatives and projects that use technology to combat climate change.

Wyatt who is also the former Head of Gaming on YouTube declared, “The most reputable companies in the world are choosing Polygon after due diligence.”

Meta Sued by Dfinity Over the Infinity Logo

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Facebook’s parent corporation Meta has been sued by Lawyers of the Dfinity Foundation, a Swiss organization behind the Internet Computer blockchain, over a trademark infringement case for its infinite logo.

Dfinity’s legal team claimed Meta Platforms was making use of its logo, which also symbolizes the mathematical symbol for infinity, “in some of the same or similar areas in which Dfinity has already obtained registration for its mark” in a Friday court filing with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Facebook’s parent company submitted an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Body, or USPTO, in March 2022, according to the blockchain business, and the same office awarded Dfinity registration in October 2018.

Meta vs. Dfinity

Dfinity’s legal team further said that the infinite symbol had been used on the company’s website since March 2017.

Many experts believe that mathematician John Wallis was the first to use the “loopy” symbol to depict the notion of infinity in the 17th century, but the design might date back centuries.

Dfinity’s complaint seems to be centered on registering a trademark for use in industries offering comparable products and services, such as computer software utilizing blockchain technology, rather than on Meta’s logo employing the infinite sign itself.

“Further, both Meta and Dfinity utilize the same marketing channels such that consumers will likely encounter the marks through those same channels […] Despite knowledge of Dfinity’s mark, Meta chose to proceed with its application to obtain registration in some of the same or similar areas in which Dfinity has already obtained registration for its mark.”

Meta “knowingly infringed” on Dfinity’s trademark based on its USPTO registration, according to Dfinity, and showed “willful and wanton contempt of Dfinity’s established and superior rights.”

The attorneys stated that Dfinity had already lost money due to a misunderstanding over identical logos. While the apparent disparity persists, the company will continue to do so and risk “reputational injury.”

Based on Meta’s claimed trademark infringement and “false designation of origin,” Dfinity’s legal team has asked for lawyers’ costs.

In addition, the corporation requested punitive damages for any potential uncertainty about Meta’s products and services “as to the source, origin, sponsorship, and relationship.” The blockchain company has asked for a jury trial.

Meta Plans to Open Physical Metaverse Store in San Francisco

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Meta, the parent company of social networking giant Facebook, will construct a retail store in the San Francisco Peninsula that will offer virtual reality devices encompassed in its virtual space.

The team said on Monday that a retail location in Burlingame, California, will open on May 9 to provide interactive demos for the company’s hardware products, which include virtual reality headsets, video communications displays, and smart eyewear.

The store, which will be on the company’s campus (the company’s offices are in Menlo Park), will include a wall-to-wall curved LED screen that will show what consumers view when they wear their headsets.

Image of the Meta Store

Meta to provide hands-on experience to its customers

“The Meta Store is going to help people make that connection to how our products can be the gateway to the metaverse in the future. We’re not selling the metaverse in our store, but hopefully people will come in and walk out knowing a little bit more about how our products will help connect them to it.”

Martin Gilliard, Head of Store

The Store features a compact footprint for an engaging experience, at around 1,550 square feet. They also wanted to open the first Store near Reality Labs’ headquarters, where they were working to construct the metaverse.

Martin Gilliard, Store Director also said that having the shop in Burlingame allows them to explore more and maintain the consumer experience at the forefront of their growth. He also said that the key points that they discover at the store will help them to establish a retail strategy in the future.

The final objective with the Store is to demonstrate what is now feasible with their products while also providing a look into the future as the metaverse comes to life – ideally demystifying the notion in the process.

In October 2021, Facebook rebranded, stating that its emphasis was moving beyond social media at the moment and subsequently introducing its Metaverse ambition for linking online social interactions with the actual world.

Despite the fact that software companies such as Apple have physical locations throughout the world, Facebook’s 2.9 billion members have not been able to visit one since the business was created in 2004.

Many companies are buying virtual properties in the virtual world, with electronics giant Samsung opening a metaverse store in the blockchain-powered realm of Decentraland in January.

According to reports, large stores such as Walmart are also planning to enter the realm.

Meta Exec-“We have the opportunity to shape the global metaverse”

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Meta’s VP and Managing director, India Ajit Mohan spoke at length on the future of internet advertising in the metaverse. In an exclusive interview with a local media outlet, the exec highlighted the roles played by the platform especially during the pandemic by bringing attention to the “public health agenda” and reiterated that political ads comprise only a small proportion of its revenue.

To a query on the future of advertising in Web 3.0, Mohan said the firm in a short span of time, had carefully articulated the idea of a virtual immersive world and the change of identity to Meta. Without mincing any words, the top exec stated that they haven’t cracked the metaverse yet and have still miles to go.

“We have no illusion that we are building the metaverse. We know that we are going to contribute to what will become metaverse and that different companies will create different spaces. It should be interoperable,” he added.

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With regards to the importance of formulating policies for cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens, Mohan said “a lot of these laws and policies had to be developed post-facto” and they were proactively working with stakeholders, including regulators around the world to ensure innovation while absorbing the learnings of the last two decade.

Meta will shape the Web 3.0 – Exec

When asked if the firm would lead the Web 3.0 landscape, the VP observed that when the firm first arrived, the ecosystem was at its early stage and that now “it really is an open canvas”. Expressing confidence, Mohan believes that the firm is in a better position to create value and have the right opportunity to shape the next generation of the internet.

A few days ago, the firm’s CTO Andrew “Boz” Bosworth tweeted that Meta is working on a web version of its social virtual reality Horizon Worlds platform. The post was part of a thread defending the platform’s 47% cut of sales in Horizon Worlds. 

Bosworth revealed that when the web version of Horizon Worlds launches, the fee for sales would be 25% to avoid the Meta Quest Store’s 30% cut. He argued that this percentage is “a much lower rate compared to other similar world-building platforms.”

Meta’s Plan to Disappoint Creators – 47.5% Cut on Every Sale

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Facebook’s parent company, Meta, is collecting a 47.5 percent cut on digital assets sold through Horizon Worlds, its virtual reality platform.

Horizon Environments is a free virtual reality game that allows players to create and explore their own virtual worlds. While all of this is part of Mark’s ambition to build a virtual “metaverse,” it comes at a cost to authors.

Horizon Worlds was released last year and is now accessible for Oculus VR headsets in the United States and Canada.

Within the worlds they construct, creators may sell virtual things and effects. Wendy’s “Wendyverse,” for example, is simply an advertisement where frosty aficionados can communicate with one another.

A Meta spokesperson told CNBC:

“Meta will take an overall cut of up to 47.5% on each transaction. That includes a ‘hardware platform fee’ of 30% for sales made through the Meta Quest Store, where it sells apps and games for its virtual reality headsets. On top of that, Horizon Worlds will charge a 17.5% fee.”

Meta’s decision will disappoint the creators

After openly criticizing Apple for collecting a 30% developer charge for in-app purchases in the App Store, this news appears dishonest.

“As we build for the metaverse, we’re focused on unlocking opportunities for creators to make money from their work,” he said. “The 30% fees that Apple takes on transactions make it harder to do that, so we’re updating our subscriptions product so now creators can earn more.”

Mark Zuckerberg

In virtual worlds like Decentraland and The SandBox, organizations and people have been buying everything from art to real estate in the last few months. Snoop Dogg, the hip-hop artist, has bought virtual land, and a fan spent $450,000 for a piece next to him on The Sandbox in December.

“We think it’s a really competitive fee in the industry,” Meta’s VP of Horizon, Vivek Sharma, allegedly told The Verge. We feel that other platforms should be allowed to participate.”

Horizon Worlds (previously Facebook Horizon) is a free online virtual reality game that allows users to create and explore virtual worlds. The game was released on Meta’s Oculus VR headsets in the United States and Canada on December 9, although it has yet to be released globally.


Meta to roll out ‘Zuck Bucks’ for Instagram and Facebook Users

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Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is working on virtual currency for Facebook and Instagram users, dubbed “Zuck bucks” by staff.

It is part of a suite of goods aimed at reducing his platforms’ reliance on advertising in the future metaverse.

Meta, Facebook’s parent company, is working on a variety of virtual goods, including digital tokens and “creator coins,” to diversify revenue and re-energize its user base, which is rapidly flocking to upstart competitors like TikTok.

Meta is the largest social media network provider, with revenues rising 37% to $118 billion in 2021.

As advertisers clamored to access Facebook and Instagram’s 4.9 billion monthly active users, TikTok has built up a significant non-ads economy centered on in-app purchases and e-commerce.

Meta is looking for alternative revenue streams

As the popularity of its key social networking sites, such as Facebook and Instagram, declines, the firm, led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is looking for new income sources and features to attract and keep users, a trend that threatens its $118 billion-a-year ad-based business model.

According to many people familiar with the work, Facebook’s finance unit, Meta Financial Technologies, has been researching the establishment of a virtual currency for the metaverse, which employees internally have called “Zuck Bucks.”

“Social tokens” or “reputation tokens” are examples of products that might be utilized as incentives by consumers. It’s also looking into “creator coins,” which influencers on Instagram might use.

TikTok, like Amazon’s Twitch, has a tipping system where fans may buy coins and then use them to buy presents for their favorite producers.

Creators may also buy coins to utilize tools like Promote to raise the popularity of their TikTok videos and gain more viewers or followers.

The projects, sponsored by Facebook’s financial department, Meta Financial Technologies, come after the company’s ill-fated attempt to develop a worldwide cryptocurrency, dubbed Libra and subsequently Diem, which was shelved earlier this year because of regulatory concerns in the United States.

That wasn’t the first time Facebook has considered entering the virtual money realm. It introduced Facebook Credits in 2009 to allow in-app purchases in then-popular games like Zynga’s FarmVille.

While it was a success, it was shut down four years later due to Facebook’s worldwide expansion, which necessitated costly currency changes.

Meta is also considering entering the realm of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), with ambitions to integrate them into social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.

Web3 related trademarks found in new filings of Meta

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Meta, formerly known as Facebook, intends to enhance its position in the Web3 space. The social media behemoth has applied for eight trademarks to offer Web3 services, including a dating app tailored to cryptocurrency investors.

The social media giant’s attempts to improve its standing in the crypto and metaverse worlds will benefit from the move. Cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will be key aspects of blockchain-based Web3, the next phase of the Internet as we know it, which will boost the metaverse sector. Meta is seeking to bring in new blockchain-based products and services to match with the Web3 market.

According to local media, the company’s future goals include the launch of additional social networking platforms, computer software, e-commerce services, telecom services for digital asset owners, and a metaverse-focused advertising platform.

Meta is also interested in Virtual Reality (VR)-enabled entertainment and digital publishing services, as well as a line-up of VR wearables.

The social media titan is also exploring developing software for e-wallets. However, the corporation has not made any official announcements about its trademark filings. It could take months for Meta to receive permission. However, according to statistics, the typical time for the US Patent and Trademark Office to consider an application is roughly nine and a half months.

8 Web3 related trademark applications

The United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, has received eight trademark applications from Meta, previously Facebook, relating to blockchain technology and its projected metaverse.

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The following are the applications and their fields of interest, sorted by serial number:

  • 97320155: Online social networking and dating services, along with a branch dedicated to cryptocurrency investor networking.
  • 97320153: Design and development of Web3-related computer hardware and software, including gaming, e-commerce, and blockchain transactions, among other things.
  • 97320149: Entertainment and electronic publishing services, partly within virtual reality.
  • 97320147: Telecommunication services for electronic assets held on its platform.
  • 97320146: Financial transaction processing services relating to tokens, blockchain assets, cryptocurrencies and other virtual assets.
  • 97320144: Advertising services via virtual or augmented reality networks and the metaverse. 
  • 97320140: Wearable peripherals for video games connected to virtual reality. 
  • 97320136: Downloadable software in the nature of a mobile application, such as for user authentication, online charitable fundraising and most notably, for hardware or e-wallets.

Last week, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, announced that NFTs would be integrated into Instagram’s numerous products in the near future. However, not all of Web3’s crypto projects have been successful. About the same moment, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission filed a lawsuit against Meta, alleging that it engaged in “false, misleading, or deceptive conduct” by running fake celebrity crypto adverts on its platform, resulting in investment losses.