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One of the Best Presales of 2025 Ends in 26 Days; Solaxy Raises $38M

by admin May 21, 2025

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

Solaxy ($SOLX), one of the best presales of 2025, is set to end in 26 days. It’s had an impressive run, having already raised over $38M since its start. With over $500K pouring in after the deadline announcement yesterday, investors are racing to grab $SOLX at its current presale price of $0.00173 before it lists on exchanges.

The project is set to revolutionize Solana by tackling the main issues that plague the ecosystem: slow and failed transactions, downtime during peak times, and high fees.

The upgrade couldn’t come at a better time. Solana’s ecosystem is booming – its total value locked (TVL) has hit $9.1B, outstripping Ethereum’s top Layer-2s like Arbitrum and Optimism. Staking also highlights confidence in Solana, with $65B $SOL staked. However, while Solana grows, so do its challenges, and Solaxy is here to fix them.

$SOLX is both one of the most promising meme coins and a utility-imbued token that allows for high-speed and low-cost transactions within Solana’s ecosystem. It’s perfectly timed for a buzzing market – Solana-based tokens like $WIF (138%) and $BONK (63%) have soared in the last month.

What Solaxy Aims to Achieve

According to the whitepaper, Solaxy ($SOLX) is the next evolution of Solana – its first Layer-2 – implementing several innovative technologies to enhance scalability:

Roll-Up protocol: Reduces network congestion by bundling transactions to speed up the on-chain validation process.
Modular infrastructure: Offers developers flexibility with plug-and-play tools for custom dApps, ideal for gaming, DeFi, and meme coin platforms.
Off-chain processing: Allows for infinite scalability and faster transactions without compromising Solana’s functionality or security.

Long-term, Solaxy showcases clear potential applications, especially for high-frequency dApps like gaming ecosystems – Solana already captures 50% of gaming fees with 1M daily active users in Q1 12025 – meme coin platforms like Pump.fun.

Its cross-chain bridge with Ethereum even further boosts its interoperability and skyrockets its versatility.

Is Solaxy One of the Best Presales of 2025?

As of right now, Solaxy is clearly one of the best presales and one of the most promising new crypto projects, and the stats speak for themselves:

$38.7M raised since its start with a token price of $0.00173
A token pool of 138B, 11B staked, with a dynamic APY of 104%
4,377 $SOLX per $ETH as rewards
A clear roadmap with several milestones and constant upgrades

The tokenomics distribution is fair, designed to fuel the ecosystem in the charts post-launch:

Treasury: 20% (27.6B)
Development: 30% (41.41B)
Marketing: 15% (20.7B)
Rewards: 25% (34.51B)
Exchange liquidity: 10% (13.8B)

More importantly, the devs work on updating and polishing the project constantly, posting regular updates with the newly-implemented features like the Testnet Bridge for smoother and faster transactions.

Then there’s the Igniter Protocol (announced May 19), a no-code token launchpad for holders of $SOLX to create their own tokens, fueling the ecosystem’s decentralized economy.

It’s Not Too Late to Join The Solaxy Presale

These are the latest in a long series of updates that keep pushing Solaxy to new heights as the launch day approaches. Even though the presale is nearing its end, you can still join to reap the benefits, as our analysts believe that the token will rally in the long run.

According to our official Solaxy 2025–2030 price prediction, we expect $SOLX to reach a $0.2 price point by the end of 2026. This translates to a wealth-producing percentage boom of over 12,400%. Short-term, $SOLX should experience a solid 2025 run, as our analysts envision a 3,100% growth by this year’s end.

Check our ‘how to buy $SOLX’ guide today if you like what you’ve read and don’t want to miss out.

Remember, this isn’t financial advice. You should always DYOR (do your own research) before investing in any crypto project, no matter how promising.

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.

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May 21, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Off The Grid, The Cyberpunk Battle Royale From District 9 Director Neill Blomkamp, Hits Steam Next Month

by admin May 21, 2025

Gunzilla Games has announced that Off The Grid, its cyberpunk battle royale featuring a narrative by District 9 director Neill Blomkamp, is coming to Steam in June. It launched into Early Access on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via the Epic Games Store last October, and now, it’s coming to Steam via Early Access as well.

Disclaimer: Gunzilla Games is the parent company of Game Informer Inc.. All editorial coverage is selected and completed by our content team, without influence from owners or other outside parties.

As part of the Steam launch, Off The Grid will support full crossplay across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC, allowing players to link up regardless of where they’re playing the game. Gunzilla says it has been actively evolving the game in line with community feedback with “improved performance, refined balancing, and introduced new cybernetic limbs, weapons, locations, and game modes.”

“Bringing Off The Grid to Steam is a major milestone for us, not just because of the platform’s reach, but because it allows us to welcome an entirely new wave of players into a game that’s been built hand-in-hand with the community,” CEO and co-founder of Gunzilla Games Vlad Korolov said in a press release. “From new limbs and weapons to map expansions and performance upgrades, every major step forward has been shaped by player feedback. This launch is a celebration of that collaboration, and it’s only the beginning.”

You can wishlist Off The Grid on Steam starting today. It launches there next month, though Gunzilla did not announce the exact date.

Are you going to check out Off The Grid on Steam next month? Let us know in the comments below!

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May 21, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

When a traditional gaming laptop just won’t do

by admin May 21, 2025

On paper, the idea of a PC gaming tablet doesn’t really make sense. Anything with a screen larger than eight to ten inches is generally too big to hold for longer sessions. Their thin chassis don’t leave much room for big batteries, ports or discrete graphics. But with the second-gen ROG Flow Z13, ASUS is turning that line of thought on its head with a surprisingly powerful system that can do more than just game — as long as you don’t mind paying a premium for some niche engineering.

Design and display: Not exactly stealthy

For better or worse, the Z Flow 13 looks like someone tweaked a Surface Pro to accommodate the stereotypical gamer aesthetic. It has cyberpunky graphics littered across its body along with a small window in the back that’s complete with RGB lighting.

ASUS

The ROG Flow Z13 fills the gap between traditional gaming laptops and portable workstations, but its keyboard and price are hard to love.

Pros

Nice screen
Surprisingly good performance
Customizable shortcut button
Decent battery life for productivity

Cons

Expensive
Flimsy keyboard
Big power brick
Loud fans in turbo and performance modes

$2,300 at Best Buy

Unlike a lot of tablets, ASUS gave the Z13 a thicker-than-normal body (0.6 inches), which left space for a surprising number of ports. Not only do you get two USB 4 Type-C ports, there’s also a regular USB-A jack, full-size HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm audio and even a microSD card reader. This instantly elevates the tablet from something strictly meant for playing games into something that can also pull double duty as a portable video editing station.

ASUS’ 13.4-inch 2.5 IPS display leans into that even more thanks to a 180Hz refresh rate, strong brightness (around 500 nits) and Pantone validation. Regardless of what you’re doing, colors will be both rich and accurate. Rounding out the package are some punchy speakers, so you don’t have to suffer from subpar sound. But there are limitations here, as deep bass is always tough to produce on smaller systems like this.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Finally, there are some pogo pins along the bottom of its display for connecting its folding keyboard. Sadly, this is one of the system’s weak points. Because the Z13 is heavier than a typical tablet PC, its keyboard has to carry a hefty load. On a table, it’s fine. But if you try to use this thing on your lap (or any uneven surface), I found that the keyboard can flex so much it can result in accidental mouse clicks. It’s a shame because the bounce and travel of the keys generally feels pretty good. Nothing is more of a bummer than playing a game while relaxing on the couch and then having to fight with the tablet to avoid errant clicks.

Performance

Instead of relying on discrete graphics, ASUS opted for AMD’s Ryzen AI Max 390 or Max+ 395 APUs, which feature up to 32 cores and a whopping 128GB of unified RAM. However, our review unit came with a more modest, but still ample, 32GB. Unsurprisingly, this makes mincemeat out of basic productivity tasks while having more than enough power to quickly edit videos on the go.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

But without a proper graphics card, can it actually game? Yes, and rather well, I might add. In Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p and Ultra settings, the Z13 hit an impressive 93 fps. And while numbers weren’t quite as high in Control at 1080p on Epic presets, 70 fps is still very playable. The one wrinkle is that when I tested Cyberpunk 2077 a second time on Ultra with ray tracing enabled, the Flow’s performance was cut in half to just 45 fps. Unless you’re playing a brand new AAA title that requires RT support (of which there are a growing number), the Z13 is a shockingly good portable gaming companion for frequent travelers.

You just have to be careful about how you configure its power settings. That’s because if you’re out in public or a quiet room, high performance (especially turbo) can result in a fair bit of fan noise, which may draw some unwanted attention. Or in my case, it got much harder to talk to someone sitting next to me on the couch.

Battery life

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

When it comes to longevity, you’ll get one of two outcomes. In normal use and on PCMark’s Modern Office productivity battery life test, the Z13 fared quite well, finishing with a time of six hours and 54 minutes. That’s not quite a full day’s worth of work untethered, but it’s good enough for most folks. You’ll just want to keep its chunky power adapter nearby.

However, if you plan on gaming without plugging this thing into the wall, just be prepared for the Z13 to conk out after two hours at best. When I played League of Legends’ Teamfight Tactics, I only made it through two games (about 30 to 40 minutes each) before its battery got dangerously low (around 10 percent). And suffice it to say, TFT isn’t a very demanding title.

Wrap-up

The right side of the ROG Flow Z13 features a customizable button that can be programmed to launch an app of your choice. (Sam Rutherford for Engadget)

The Flow Z13 is a niche device that’s more of an all-rounder than it might seem at first glance. This system fills an interesting gap between ASUS’ gaming machines and more creatively-focused PCs from its ProArt family. In a lot of ways, slapping an ROG badge on it doesn’t really do this thing justice. It’s got more than enough performance to breeze through general productivity or video edits, and its built-in microSD card reader makes transferring footage to the tablet a breeze. Its screen is bright and vibrant, while also offering accurate colors and a decently high refresh rate. And even without a discrete GPU, the Z13 didn’t have much trouble rendering games with lots of graphical bells and whistles turned on.

However, this tablet’s issues boil down to a couple of major sticking points. Its detachable keyboard is simply too flimsy, to the point where if you use it anywhere besides a table or desk, you risk fighting with it just to ensure your mouse clicks are correct. But the bigger hurdle is price. Starting at $2,100 (or around $2,300 as tested), the Flow Z13 costs the same or more as a comparable ROG Zephyrus G14 with a proper RTX 5070. Not only does it have worse performance, it’s less stable too due to its tablet-style design. For people trying to get the most value out of their money, that proposition is a hard sell.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Deep down, I want to like the ROG Flow Z13. And I do, to a certain extent. It’s got a funky build and unapologetically aggressive styling. But unless you have a very particular set of requirements, it doesn’t fit neatly into most people’s lives as an equivalent laptop. And that’s before you consider how much it costs.

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May 21, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Michael Bay Skibidi Toilet adaptation officially in production

by admin May 21, 2025

A Skibidi Toilet adaptation from Michael Bay is officially in production.

The project was first floated last year, when it was reported there had been talks to launch a Skibidi Toilet film and TV franchise, with The Rock and Armageddon director attached. It left me scratching my head a bit, to be honest.

Does Anyone Really Want Long Games Anymore?Watch on YouTube

But fast forward to today, and those talks are now firmed up, with the news that yes, we are indeed going to be getting a Skibidi Toilet adaptation from Michael Bay.

Media Company Invisible Narratives – of which Bay serves as a chief creative advisor – will be producing, developing, and financing the project. You can see an image of its Skibidi Toilet project on the company’s website (or you can look at the screenshot I took below).

Bay along with partner Jeffrey Beecroft have reportedly been working on their Skibidi Toilet project since last summer, with a press release stating it is “an early creative take on the franchise”, which will bring “Bay’s signature visual intensity to one of the internet’s most unlikely breakout IPs”.

Image credit: Invisible Narratives

Skibidi Toilet, for those still mercifully unaware, is an enormously-popular online animation series made using Valve’s Source Filmmaker software and featuring assets from Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike. It features a race of evil toilets with human heads, and has clocked up a whopping 65bn views on YouTube, another 15bn on Tiktok, and is ubiquitous on Roblox, where countless spin-off games lie.

Elsewhere in adaptation news, yesterday Netflix announced it was gearing up to release a Clash of Clans animated series, which will feature a “determined but in-over-his-head Barbarian who must rally a band of misfits to defend their village and navigate the comically absurd politics of war”.

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May 21, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

Many NFTs that pay creators over time are not securities: SEC’s Hester Peirce

by admin May 21, 2025

United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester Peirce said many non-fungible tokens (NFTs), including those with mechanisms to pay creator royalties, likely fall outside the purview of federal securities laws.

In a recent speech, Peirce said NFTs that allow artists to earn resale revenue do not automatically qualify as securities. Unlike stocks, NFTs are programmable assets that distribute proceeds to developers or artists. The SEC official said that mirrors how streaming platforms compensate musicians and filmmakers.

“Just as streaming platforms pay royalties to the creator of a song or video each time a user plays it, an NFT can enable artists to benefit from the appreciation in the value of their work after its initial sale,” Peirce said.

Peirce added that the feature does not provide NFT owners any rights or interest in any business enterprise or profits “traditionally associated with securities.”

SEC never prohibited NFT royalties

Oscar Franklin Tan, chief legal officer of Enjin core contributor Atlas Development Services, told Cointelegraph that the recent remarks by Peirce on NFTs and creator royalties have been widely misunderstood.

Peirce had clarified that NFTs that send resale royalties to artists are not necessarily securities, a view Tan says is legally sound but mischaracterized in some media reports.

“So Hester Peirce said that an NFT that sends royalties back to the creator after a sale is not a security. This is correct, but the way some media reported this is completely out of context,” Tan told Cointelegraph. “The actual context is that this is not controversial, and it was never considered a security.”

The lawyer said US securities law focuses on regulating investments and not compensating creators for their work.

“The artist or creator is not an investor, not a passive third party in the NFT,” he said, noting that royalty payments are not considered investment income.

Instead, Tan told Cointelegraph that this type of earning is “analogous to business income,” which the SEC does not regulate. He added:

“The SEC never prohibited contracts where artists and creators get royalties from secondary sales of their work, not royalties from paper contracts or blockchain protocols.”

Tan explained that the legal distinction becomes more complicated when NFTs promise shared profits from royalties to multiple holders beyond the original creator.

Tan also urged regulators and market participants to apply traditional legal reasoning to new blockchain technologies. “Ask yourself, if this were done by pen and paper instead of blockchain, would there still be a regulatory issue?” he said. “If none, slow down.”

Source: Oscar Franklin Tan

Related: SEC charges Unicoin crypto platform over alleged $100 million fraud

OpenSea calls on the SEC to exempt NFT marketplaces from oversight

While NFT royalties may not have been a controversial SEC issue, NFT marketplaces are a different case. In August 2024, NFT trading platform OpenSea received a Wells notice from the SEC, alleging that NFTs traded on the marketplace could qualify as unregistered securities.

On Feb. 22, OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer announced that the SEC has officially closed its investigation into the platform. The executive said that this was a win for the industry.

Following the conclusion of the SEC’s investigation, OpenSea’s lawyers penned a letter to Peirce, who leads the SEC’s Crypto Task Force. OpenSea general counsel Adele Faure and deputy general counsel Laura Brookover said in an April 9 letter that NFT marketplaces don’t qualify as brokers under US securities laws.

The lawyers said the marketplaces don’t execute transactions or act as intermediaries. The lawyers urged the SEC to “clearly state that NFT marketplaces like OpenSea do not qualify as exchanges under federal securities laws.”

Magazine: NBA star Tristan Thompson misses $32B in Bitcoin by taking $82M contract in cash

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May 21, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Guatemala’s largest bank integrates blockchain for cross-border payments

by admin May 21, 2025

Guatemala’s largest bank, Banco Industrial, has integrated crypto infrastructure provider SukuPay into its mobile banking app, allowing locals to more easily receive remittances powered by blockchain technology.

SukuPay’s infrastructure has been fully embedded inside the Zigi payment app, allowing Guatemalans to receive funds from the United States instantly for a $0.99 flat fee, the company disclosed on May 21.

Users of the Zigi app do not need a crypto wallet or an International Bank Account Number (IBAN) to receive the funds, the company said.

SukuPay CEO Yonathan Lapchik told Cointelegraph that the “key to mainstream adoption of blockchain technology is making it invisible to the end-user” so that there are no technical barriers.

“That’s the only way we’ll scale blockchain to billions of people — by building the rails, not forcing people to learn how they work,” said Lapchik.

Established in 1968, Banco Industrial has more than 1,600 service locations throughout Guatemala. As of 2023, it had over 150 million Guatemalan quetzals in assets, equivalent to roughly $20 million US. SukuPay said its integration with Zigi marks one of the first crypto-native protocols to be used inside a major Latin American retail bank.

Banco Industrial has a long-term issuer default rating of BB. Source: Fitch Ratings

The bank also has operations in Honduras, Panama and El Salvador and is a key player in local remittance markets.

Related: Bitcoin treasury adoption grows in LATAM, mirroring US strategic BTC reserve plan

Remittances are lifelines for Latin America

Remittances, or money sent by migrants to their home countries, play a vital role in Guatemala and the broader region.

The Inter-American Development Bank projected that remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean would total approximately $161 billion in 2024. Monthly remittances typically range from $131 to $648, representing between 6% and 23% of the sender’s average income.

“Remittances are lifelines in this region, but they’re broken,” Lapchik told Cointelegraph.

“Guatemala alone sees $21 billion in remittances every year, and families are losing 6% to 10% of that to fees and delays. These are people sending $300, $400 a month, and they can’t afford to wait days or pay that much just to get money home,” he said, adding:

“Crypto solves this when it’s used the right way. It lets us move money instantly and at a fraction of the cost, integrated into the bank apps people already use.”

Latin America is the second-fastest growing region in terms of crypto adoption, though Guatemala lags behind regional leaders Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia, according to a 2024 Chainalysis study.

The study cited stablecoins as a primary adoption driver in the region.

Crypto adoption in Latin America by total value received. Source: Chainalysis

Lapchik said stablecoins facilitate cross-border transactions more easily, but that “people don’t wake up saying, I need a stablecoin.’”

“Stablecoins are just the best way to make that happen,” he said.

Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

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May 21, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Dell’s 15.6″ Touchscreen Laptop Is $1,200 Off, You Could Buy Two for Less Than the Original Price of One

by admin May 21, 2025

If you’ve been waiting to upgrade your laptop to something faster, smoother, and more versatile, keep an eye on this amazing deal, as you will not find a better time to invest in a laptop like this. The Dell Inspiron 15.6” Touchscreen Laptop offers an amazing combination of everyday power, responsive touch controls at your fingertips, sharp and vibrant colors, and a clean, premium design. All backed by Dell’s trusted build quality. Whether you’re working, playing games, studying, browsing, or streaming your favorite shows, this laptop can handle it all with ease and can do it in style.

See at Amazon

For a limited time only, Amazon is offering the Dell Inspiron 15.6″ Touchscreen Laptop for just $999.99, down from its original price of $2,199.99. That’s a solid 55% discount on a dependable laptop that delivers a premium feel at a surprisingly affordable price point. You need to act fast.

Experience Instant Responsiveness

Under the hood, this powerful machine is run by the strong, high-end AMD Ryzen 5 5500U processor, paired with 16GB of RAM, which means responsiveness, multitasking, and smooth and snappy overall processing. You’ll also get a fast 1TB SSD, which has plenty of room for files, games, videos, and much more, with speedy load times due to it being solid and quick boot-ups for the operating system. The 15.6-inch Full HD touchscreen adds a level of interactivity that makes everything from casual use to creative work more intuitive and enjoyable. With its sharp and vivid colors, it is great for both students and professionals. For either work, tech enthusiasts, and anyone who just prefers the flexibility of touch input. Also, this laptop features Windows 11 Pro for enhanced productivity and built-in security. Plus, it includes a lifetime Microsoft Office license — no subscriptions required.

You will also be getting a full-size keyboard, integrated webcam, and strong connectivity options alongside it. Including HDMI, USB-A, and USB-C ports, making it easy to connect with other devices to satisfy your needs. Whether you’re docking it for productivity, or taking it on the go in your backpack, the Dell Inspiron 15.6” Touchscreen Laptop has the balance of performance and portability you want from a modern laptop. Plus, Dell’s clean, silver design gives it a professional look that works in any setting.

At just $999.99, the Dell Inspiron 15.6″ Touchscreen Laptop is a strong value compared to its original $2,199.99 price, saving you a whopping 55% on a fast, flexible machine with premium high-end features. If you’ve been waiting for the right moment to upgrade, this is it. Head to Amazon right now and take advantage of this incredible limited-time offer while it’s still live.

See at Amazon

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May 21, 2025 0 comments

Esports

Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut preview

by admin May 21, 2025

This is the first time I’ve returned to Yakuza 0 since I first played it when it was released on PS4 in 2017. Despite coming out the same week as other notable PS4 games like Resident Evil 7 and Gravity Rush 2, it went on to be a massive success.

For those unfamiliar with Yakuza or the larger Like a Dragon series, the series started on the PlayStation 2 and is often seen as a successor to Shenmue. The original games are 3D beat-em ups with gripping crime drama stories that house tons of twists and turns. They’re also known for their copius amounts of side activities and those are just as plentiful as the story itself. Whether you’re playing classic Sega arcade games, singing karaoke, racing RC cars, playing darts, or even a business management minigame. Yakuza 0 specifically is a series prequel that first launched worldwide in January 2017 and this Director’s Cut release is the first time the game has come to a Nintendo platform.

Yakuza 0 made its way to Xbox and PC but that port was content adjacent to that original PlayStation 3 and 4 releases. Director’s Cut adds tons of additional content such as additional cutscenes, a new English dub, and the biggest addition is probably an entire raid mode with online support. Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves here, as we didn’t get to experience a ton in the short time we had with the game.

We were dropped into the beginning of Chapter 3, playing as Majima with his standard form for combat. I ran around Sotenbori for a bit, tried to go fishing but failed, played some Space Harrier, and punched some goons. The game ran at a decent frame rate and resolution, 1080p and 60 frames per second. Though it’s worth noting the high amount of pop in and the texture quality being low on both the UI and the signs around the city. I imagine the game will look fine in handheld mode, but it was worth noting.

Combat felt responsive, I was able to pull off combos consistently enough though options were limited because of the placement in the story. Given how short our playtime was, we didn’t get to hear much of the English dub but I imagine if you’ve enjoyed Matt Mercer’s take on the Mad Dog so far, you’ll enjoy his performance here.

After a while we were told to hop to the main menu to try the new Raid Mode. The raid mode has multiple challenges from level one to six, though we only were told to try levels one and three. Each one has multiple stages – each with their own layouts, weapon pickups, and even some boss fights.

There are over 60 playable characters, mostly comprised of various goons you’ll encounter in Yakuza 0. But all three forms of Kiryu and Majima, along with a few of the boss characters like Kuze – with their own movesets. I immediately jumped into the third rank, safety be damned. I’m a gamer, I’m tough enough. And yeah, if you’ve played a decent amount of Yakuza 0, the first couple tiers may be a bit easy. But even then, what I played felt like a well-balanced challenge.

I played as Kiryu just to keep things simple for the time being but there’s an entire system of landing hits to build up combos which grants additional money and time. It’s a fun beat-em up mode but like some Yakuza side modes, this is more of an extensive minigame than it is its own entire game.

Maybe in a demo setting, it doesn’t feel as satisfying since almost everything gets unlocked after finishing one round. There is a leveling system as well, which I imagine will add replayability, using the money you earn from challenges to increase the capabilities of your lineup. It’ll be interesting to see how well the full mode plays once the game is out, but for what it’s worth, this was a fun time. I imagine it’ll all come together more once we have access to the online modes where you can play with friends or randoms.

Overall, Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut is shaping up to be yet another fantastic experience. Yakuza 0 is already one of Sega’s greatest games of the modern era with its intense narrative and cavalcade of side content both heartfelt and silly. Having all of that portably on Nintendo Switch 2 with additional options, features, and a new mode has me really excited for the full release on June 5th. Thanks again to Sega for the opportunity! You can expect GamingTrend will be covering Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut and more near launch in just a couple weeks. We also have previews for Atlus’s Raidou Remastered and Sega’s Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S if you’re interested in those so keep it locked to GamingTrend!

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May 21, 2025 0 comments

GameFi Guides

Iowa Court Rules in Favor of Bitcoin ATM Operator in Scammed Money Case

by admin May 21, 2025

In brief

The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Bitcoin ATM operator Bitcoin Depot.
The court ruled that money paid into a Bitcoin Depot ATM as part of separate scams in 2023 and 2024 must be returned to the company.
The decision reversed a lower court ruling that the seized cash should be returned to the scam victims.

The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled that money paid into a Bitcoin Depot ATM as part of separate scams must be returned to the company, and not to the victims, reversing a lower court ruling.

The two scams happened in July 2023 and February 2024, when the corresponding victims were separately contacted by scammers and coerced into transferring Bitcoin worth $14,000 via a Bitcoin Depot ATM in Linn County.

Police had seized the deposited cash as part of their investigations but were unable to retrieve the transferred BTC.

A district court had ruled that the seized cash, totalling $28,000, should be returned to the victims, prompting Bitcoin Depot to appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court.

According to the ruling from Justice Dana Oxley, the victims entered into a contract with Bitcoin Depot ATM, which warned the victims about potential scams prior to the transfer of the purchased BTC.

The victims had specified that they owned the wallets to which they were sending BTC, since this is the only way of completing a transfer using Bitcoin Depot ATMs.

However, one victim, Carrie Carlson, argued that the contract she’d entered into with Bitcoin Depot should be voided, since she was acting under duress.

But the Iowa Supreme court ruled that the company had no way of knowing that Carlson and the other victim were acting under duress, with Judge Oxley rejecting Carlson’s arguments that the warning shown by Bitcoin Depot was evidence of prior knowledge.

“Here, the fact that Bitcoin Depot recognized risks in its industry and the use of its ATMs and then warned its customers—to the point of barring a transaction unless the user certifies that the wallet is their own—does not make it liable for every improper transaction,” she wrote.

The court has therefore ruled to “remand the case with instructions to return the seized funds to Bitcoin Depot,” leaving the victims out of pocket.

Bitcoin Depot told Decrypt that the decision supports the importance of due process and reinforces the role crypto operators can play in preventing and addressing fraud.

“Bitcoin Depot respects the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision and views it as a positive step toward clarifying the legal framework surrounding crypto transactions and affirming the importance of working with compliant, transparent operators like Bitcoin Depot,” the spokesperson said.

The company is separately embroiled in a larger legal battle in Iowa, after Attorney General Brenna Bird sued the company and fellow ATM provider CoinFlip in February.

According to the allegations, Iowans have lost around $20.4 million as a result of sending funds via Bitcoin Depot and CoinFlip.

The Attorney General’s office says that scams account for 98.16% of the money Iowans have sent via Bitcoin Depot since October 2023, when it began an investigation into cryptocurrency ATM firms (the corresponding percentage for CoinFlip is 94.92%).

Bird also alleges that Bitcoin Depot and CoinFlip take cuts of 23% and 21% of all cryptocurrency transactions sent via their respective ATMs, and that Bitcoin Depot is misleading about the terms of its refund policy.

“We already know that [fraudsters] target older Iowans, but now it seems that they even hunt through obituaries to target widows […] And the crypto ATM companies take a cut of the profits,” said Bird.

Decrypt has contacted CoinFlip for comment.

Bitcoin Depot told Decrypt that it has already implemented several layers of protection, including ID verification, transaction monitoring, live support and automated scam warnings.

“Our dedicated law enforcement liaison team, staffed by former law enforcement, works closely with agencies across the country,” said the spokesperson. “We regularly assist investigators using our blockchain analytics to trace transactions, recover stolen funds, and help solve active cases, and we’ll continue supporting and assisting law enforcement wherever possible.”

Edited by James Rubin, and his team will be discussing internally around that as well. So you’re very excited to like, stay abreast of how things progress as they build out the product suite itself. I think they’ve chosen a pretty difficult area to build towards, in the sense of like, out like automating and creating access to like algorithmic trading strategies is hard.

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May 21, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Xbox mobile game store launch “stymied” by Apple, says Microsoft

by admin May 21, 2025

Microsoft has sided with Epic in its feud against Apple, claiming the iPhone maker has “stymied” the company’s efforts to launch its Xbox mobile game store.

Back in May last year, Microsoft announced plans to release a new Xbox mobile game store. At this time, the company envisioned it to be ready for release by that summer. However, this did not happen.

Now, Microsoft has filed a legal brief in support of Epic Games as part of Apple’s appeal against a recent ruling, which follows a five-year legal battle between Epic and Apple, and has now resulted in Fortnite making its return to the App Store in the US. Here, Microsoft shed more light on the delay to its own mobile store.

The Death of Console Exclusives Is Inevitable and I Don’t Know How I Feel About It. Watch on YouTube

Microsoft stated it wishes to “offer consumers a workable solution by launching its own online store”, but efforts have been “stymied” by Apple and its strict App Store rules.

As shared by The Verge, this is how Microsoft explains its current situation:

“The district court’s injunction allows Apple to maintain its in-app exclusivity but at least should have enabled Microsoft to offer consumers a workable solution by launching its own online store – accessible via link-out – for in-app items to be purchased off-app and used in games or other apps. And that is what Microsoft wants to do. But even this solution has been stymied by Apple.

“Prior to the district court’s most recent order, Microsoft had been unable to implement linked-out payments (or even inform customers that alternative purchase methods exist) because of Apple’s new anti-steering policies that restrict Microsoft’s communication to users and impose an even higher economic cost to Microsoft than before the injunction.”

As noted by the publication, the recent court ruling does make it possible for Microsoft to launch its mobile store, but the company still wants to ensure Apple’s appeal against the ruling is unsuccessful, in order to avoid having to potentially remove its own store further down the line.

Microsoft notes in its filing that Apple “makes no argument that the technical or policy changes cannot be undone”, and that the company’s own “experience managing app stores confirms that Apple’s policies could be restored if Apple ultimately prevails on appeal”.

We will keep you abreast of any further developments regarding both Epic vs Apple, and Xbox’s mobile store.

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May 21, 2025 0 comments