Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Minecraft says no to NFTs, Tesla sells its Bitcoin

Minecraft:

to ensure that Minecraft players have a safe and inclusive experience, blockchain technologies are not permitted to be integrated inside our Minecraft client and server applications nor may they be utilized to create NFTs associated with any in-game content, including worlds, skins, persona items, or other mods. 

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Each of these uses of NFTs and other blockchain technologies creates digital ownership based on scarcity and exclusion, which does not align with Minecraft values of creative inclusion and playing together. NFTs are not inclusive of all our community and create a scenario of the haves and the have-nots. The speculative pricing and investment mentality around NFTs takes the focus away from playing the game and encourages profiteering, which we think is inconsistent with the long-term joy and success of our players.


The Verge:

Last year, Tesla made a $1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin and announced that it would accept Bitcoin as payment. Tesla started accepting Bitcoin in late March, then abruptly reversed itself in May, just 49 days later.

In the latest report, Tesla says the value of its remaining “digital assets” is $218 million, which it had reported at around $1.2 billion in previous quarters. 

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During an investor call, Musk addressed the crypto selloff, saying that it “should not be taken as some verdict on Bitcoin.” Instead, he said, Tesla sold its Bitcoin because it was “concerned about overall liquidity of the company given COVID shutdowns in China.” Basically, Tesla needed the cash.