Do Kwon Charged with Fraud, ZkSync Launches, Web3 Games Dominate GDC

Top Stories 

• Do Kwon: Federal prosecutors in New York are charging Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon with fraud after he was arrested by police in Montenegro. Mr. Kwon was charged with eight criminal counts of fraud and is accused of conspiring with an unnamed U.S.-based investment firm to use trading strategies to alter the price of the stablecoin in May 2021 (CD).

• ZkSync: ZkSync Era becomes the first zkEVM, in alpha form, available for the wider public. As a Layer 2 network, it enables faster transactions with lower fees – but it provides additional features like native account abstraction. The network won’t have a token, for now (B).

• Arbitrum: The airdrop for Arbitrum saw 1,500 wallets consolidate into two wallets worth $3.3 million. The media is speculating that two super airdrop hunters were able to game the system (CT).  

Web3 Games

• GDC: Web3 games dominated this year’s Game Developers Conference as a slew of Web3 games saw crowded booths and high interest in testing games. Games like Shrapnel, MetaOps and Raini: The Lords of Light were just a few names making their presence known (CT). 

• Overlord: Revolving Games, a studio backed by Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser, is building a game based on the Overlord NFT project. The game is an immersive exploration of the Overlord universe where players will be battling their way to interplanetary domination through skill, strategy, and cunning (DC). 

• Wemade/Near: Wemade has announced a multi-faceted partnership with Swiss non-profit web3 organisation Near Foundation to lead the Korean web3 gaming race. According to the agreement, Wemade and Near Foundation will collaborate on initiatives that increase mutual brand awareness, invest in research, co-host community events like hackathons and boot camps, as well as, scout for potential web3 business opportunities (NG).

NFT News

• Tarzan: Tarzan is swinging from the African jungle into Web3 via a new multi-year licensing deal between digital fashion studio XLABEL. Australia-based XLABEL and Ethereum NFT marketplace X2Y2 will launch a 9,999-token Tarzan: Lord of the Apes NFT collection for 0.05 ETH (about $90) (DC).

• Sony: The gaming giant filed a patent that would allow consumers to use NFTs both inside and outside the Sony ecosystem (B).

Into the Metaverse

• Animoca Brands: Game developer Animoca Brands has cut its target for its so-called metaverse fund by 20% to $800 million, people familiar with the matter said, in a further scaling back of its ambitions following volatility in the crypto sector. Animoca Brands said in November that it was working on a new Animoca Capital fund with a target of $2 billion, but then halved that target in January to $1 billion. Recently, it has trimmed the target by another 20% to $800 million (R).

• Tim Sweeney: Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney says Apple “will try to crush the metaverse if it cannot profit from it.” He also advocates for an open metaverse, rather than “another walled garden” (NG)