📲  Why Solana Is Going Big on Mobile—And Making a Smartphone

Solana Labs has unveiled Saga, a flagship Android smartphone focused on Web3, releasing in 2023. Solana Labs co-founder & CEO Anatoly Yakovenko shares his insights, highlighting the phone’s privacy features and Solana’s competitive advantages over other protocols. “This is the right thing to do at the right time,” Yakovenko said.

🧸  Digital Toy Platform Cryptoys Raises $23M From a16z, Dapper Labs, Mattel

Cryptoys, an NFT-based startup, announced it had raised $23 million in a Series A funding round led by a16z. The company, which seeks to mix NFTs with the world of gaming and virtual toys, will create what it calls a “cryptoyverse,” which will also implement play-to-earn features and issue its tokens.

🪪  South Korean Exchange Korbit Issues Employee IDs As NFTs

Korbit is one of South Korea’s only five licensed crypto exchanges. Essentially, Korbit issued employee IDs as NFTs to uplift its sense of community. The NFTs feature traits such as company, favorite color, honor, nickname, position, and year of entry.

⤵️  Three Arrows Capital Falls Into Liquidation After Crypto Crash

The liquidation order comes after a high-profile notice of default: On Monday, crypto broker Voyager Digital announced that Three Arrows Capital had not made the required payments on a loan worth more than $665 million, paid partly in bitcoin.

🎪  Binance Partners With Khaby Lame, TikTok’s Most-Followed Creator with 140 Million Followers To Increase Web3 Awareness

Khaby became a sensation for his spin on "life hack" videos, navigating overly complicated scenarios without saying a word while doing the famous "Khaby move." In this multi-year partnership, he'll use his signature style to tackle some of the misperceptions around Web3. Lame will also partner on exclusive NFT collections with Binance, further enhancing the experience for his fans.

🙊  Bored Ape Founders Respond to 'Crazy Disinformation Campaign' From 'Demented Troll'

Yuga Labs, the NFT company behind BAYC and MAYC, has filed a suit against American conceptual artist and creator of NFT collection RR/BAYC, Ryder Ripps, and his partner Jeremy Cahen. Yuga Labs claims the creative director is “scamming consumers by misusing Yuga Labs’ trademarks.”

💄  How L’Oréal is Gearing Up For the Metaverse

L’Oréal and Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LMVH) have both taken tentative steps into the metaverse. Senior leaders explain how they’re approaching this new space – from deciding which brands in their portfolios are best suited to the emerging environment to how they find the budget to fund their experiments.

🔪  $100 Million Harmony Hack Linked to North Korea

Suspected North Korean hackers known as the Lazarus Group are believed to be behind the recent $100 million heist on California blockchain Harmony, a firm that tracks stolen cryptocurrency.