Japan invests in Metaverse.

During a public policy speech delivered before Japan's National Diet, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced plans to expand investments into the metaverse and NFTs.

ida said that the government will continue its focus on supporting the use of digital technology in society and promote initiatives to expand the implementation of Web3 services powered by the Metaverse and NFT technologies.

He also stressed that the government’s investment in the country’s digital transformation already encompassed issuing NFTs to local authorities using digital technology to solve jurisdictional issues.

Japan’s steps towards embracing a Web3 future

Kishida made Web3 development one of the pillars of economic revitalization when he assumed office in 2021. The recent speech marks another stride in the country’s focus on embracing a digital future through investing and promoting players in the Web3 space.

In September, the Japanese government awarded NFTs to seven local mayors at the “Summer Digi Denkoshien 2022” ceremony who utilized digital technology to solve local challenges.

In July, Kishida’s administration and the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) launched a Web3 Policy Promotion Office to integrate Web3-related departments within the ministry. The team collects data from businesses from all walks of society and incorporates relevant ministries and agencies to develop Web3-related projects.

Kishida’s Liberal Democratic Party published an “NFT White Paper” in April, which outlined Japan’s strategy for Web3. It recognized the importance of the wealth of intellectual property Japan has, such as animation and games, and the potential of its IPs to spearhead the international NFT and Web3 economy. It also included policy recommendations for user protection and advancing a national strategy for the Web3 era.

In addition, the Japanese government is planning on implementing regulations to mandate crypto exchanges to provide user data to prevent criminals from money laundering using cryptocurrency by 2023.

Binance invests in Twitter.

Binance founder Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao confirmed a $500 million equity investment in Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter Inc.

CZ explained the investment as a move to bridge social media and web3 and spur cryptocurrency and blockchain tech adoption. He also described the investment as “a small contribution” to help Musk realize his new vision for Twitter.

Binance first announced its $500 commitment to support the acquisition in May. 5, 2022.

Musk finalized the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter Inc on Oct. 27, a day before a court-ordered deadline that would otherwise see the Delaware Chancery Court recommence trial in November.

A day before the deal’s closing, the billionaire announced that he acquired Twitter because it is essential to the future of civilization via a tweet. He expressed his concerns about social media censorship and his motivation to promote dialogue as a way past political fragmentation via his acquisition.

Musk wants to shape Twitter as “the most respected advertising platform in the world,” free from low-relevancy advertisements and fake and spam accounts — usually operated by bots. He sees the platform replaced with advertising that strengthens brands and grows enterprises.

Musk estimates that 20% of Twitter accounts are bots, but the two firms he hired to clear the issue — Cyabra and CounterAction — estimate the percentages to be 11% and 5.3%, respectively.

Bots have emerged as a problem among crypto influencer accounts, as even verified accounts with a blue tick are not immune to bots. Vitalik Buterin and CZ’s accounts have been hacked to promote fake giveaway scams of cryptocurrency to gain access to investors’ crypto wallets.

In June, Musk held his first meeting with Twitter employees to discuss plans for the platform following his takeover. He highlighted plans to make Twitter’s anti-bot algorithms accessible for public review and add an optional paid-tier service for identity verification. He also confirmed that cryptocurrency payments would be integrated into Twitter.

Besides support from Binance, Musk’s acquisition is currently financially backed by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, Lawerence J. Ellison Revocable Trust, Sequoia Capital Fund, Vy Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Aliya Capital Partners, Fidelity Management and Research Company, among others.

Germany has the second-highest concentration of ETH nodes in the world.

Germany operates one of the world’s largest networks of Ethereum validators, according to the 2022 German Blockchain report published by CV VC Labs.

The report, which offers a structural overview of the country’s blockchain ecosystem, also indicated Germany accounts for nearly 6% of Europe’s blockchain funding. 

The European country has a 22.8% share of all Ethereum nodes, while the United States leads with 45.3%. Both countries operate more than half of the entire Ethereum ecosystem, which is concerning given the need for optimal decentralization. 

According to the report, geographical decentralization means so much for a network’s overall decentralization. Furthermore, the risk of censoring or controlling transactions would be too high, where only a few countries dominate validator nodes.

Ethereum’s mission is to become the world’s leading computer of smart contracts, which cannot happen if validation is in the hands of a few players. 

Better yet, the numbers have been growing since last year. The percentage share of Ethereum validators in the U.S. was 36.92% in 2021, while Germany’s share stood at 21.16%.

Despite the network’s perpetual growth, the concentration of validators still appears to be higher in particular regions. 

In 2022 alone, Germany’s blockchain projects raised approximately $8 billion.  The total number of projects receiving funding came to 220, while the number of unicorns in the European nation totaled 34.

The report indicates the country received 2.4% of the world’s venture funding and 6% of Europe’s blockchain funding. Interestingly, venture funding value on a quarter-over-quarter basis fell by 50%, whereas deal count soared by 10%. 

Equally important, the most significant share of funding went to early-stage blockchain enterprises, which made up 72% of all funding deals.

Most of 2022’s blockchain funding went to infrastructure innovations and development, to which VCs allocated over 55% of all funding. According to the pie chart below, DeFi came second with a percentage funding of 27%, followed by NFTs at 6%.