Tag:

Avoid

Peacemaker doing the Peaceful Hips emote.

Fortnite insists it wasn’t stitched up by Warner Bros. and the Peacemaker emote, but is modifying it anyway ‘to avoid any confusion’

by admin October 2, 2025

Last week, Fortnite pulled the Peaceful Hips emote—which recreated a portion of the opening dance in James Gunn’s DC show Peacemaker—after the latest episode’s bombshell completely changed the context around the movement.

After Epic said it would “inquire into our partner’s creative intentions in this collab emote,” it’s now determined that Warner Bros. most definitely was not trying to stitch the developer up. But, you know, it’s changing the emote anyway. Just to be safe.

Warning: spoilers for Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 6 ahead!

The Peaceful Hips emote was added to the Fortnite store earlier in September, before being promptly removed just a few days after Peacemaker’s sixth episode of its second season aired. The reason? Well, the episode revealed a pretty major plot twist: John Cena’s character has been milling around in a seemingly-perfect alternate universe… which turned out to be an America that lost to Germany in World War 2. An all-white America, a swastika in place of the American flag’s stars. A Nazi utopia, essentially.

We’ve worked closely with our partners at Warner Bros. Games to confirm there were no creative intentions to connect the Peaceful Hips Emote and the current Peacemaker storyline. To avoid any confusion, we’re modifying the Emote choreography in next week’s update. If they prefer,…October 1, 2025

The revelation gave some rather damning new context to the goofy dance number Peacemaker performs in the show’s opening—at one point, he’s seen flapping his arms in a way that could be perceived as resembling a swastika. More importantly, the move seems to be an exact replica of one performed by Donald Duck in the anti-Nazi propaganda short film Der Fuehrer’s Face from 1942.

That also happens to be the exact snippet used for the Peaceful Hips emote. You see the problem here.

Now, in a follow-up post, the Fortnite Status X account wrote: “We’ve worked closely with our partners at Warner Bros. Games to confirm there were no creative intentions to connect the Peaceful Hips emote and the current Peacemaker storyline. To avoid any confusion, we’re modifying the Emote choreography in next week’s update.” Epic says that players who purchased the emote prior to its removal are free to return it without spending any refund tickets.

Presumably the updated emote will take a slightly less damning portion of the dance, while still being from the second season’s choreography.

Ultimately it’s probably the best move for Epic, even though the response as to whether it’s a necessary move is mixed. Removing the implication entirely is likely to save the developer a massive headache—and even if that wasn’t the emote’s intention, it was most certainly going to be exploited in that manner. Will that go away even after an alteration? Who knows

Source link

October 2, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

OpenAI’s new video generation tool Sora 2 is here, but don’t worry, Sam Altman says it will avoid the ‘degenerate case of AI video generation that ends up with us all being sucked into an RL-optimized slop feed’

by admin October 1, 2025

Sora 2, the latest model of OpenAI’s text-to-video tech, has now launched alongside a dedicated app. Besides spitting out all of the soulless, AI-generated Studio Ghibli-style animation one could ever want, Sora 2 can now generate live action clips with both sound and a frankly scary level of visual accuracy.

Granted, not all of the clips OpenAI shares in its announcement are flawless, with its AI-generated snippet of a practicing martial artist featuring a warping bo staff and smooshed phalanges. Still, OpenAI is keen to highlight Sora 2’s gains in depicting consistent body mechanics that adhere to the rules of the physical world; the twirling body horror of earlier models generated gymnastics clips may be a thing of the past.

The company also touts Sora 2’s ability to “directly inject elements of the real world” into its AI-generated clips. It elaborates, “For example, by observing a video of one of our teammates, the model can insert them into any Sora-generated environment with an accurate portrayal of appearance and voice. This capability is very general, and works for any human, animal or object.” If you’re so inclined to descend into the realm of deepfakes, the Sora app, powered by Sora 2, is available on the iOS store now.

OpenAI touts the app as not just a video generator but also a social environment.

“You can create, remix each other’s generations, discover new videos in a customizable Sora feed, and bring yourself or your friends in via cameos,” the company writes. “With cameos, you can drop yourself straight into any Sora scene with remarkable fidelity after a short one-time video-and-audio recording in the app to verify your identity and capture your likeness.”

One can see the whimsical appeal of sharing AI-generated clips of yourself riding ostriches and pulling off extremely dangerous stunts, but I also can’t ignore the risk posed by deepfakes. For one thing, US president Donald Trump shared an expletive-laden deepfake video on Truth Social literally the day before Sora 2’s launch (via Ars Technica).

The sombrero superimposed over representative Hakeem Jeffries is hopefully a telltale sign for most viewers that the remarks senator Chuck Schumer is depicted as saying in this clip (which was not created using Sora 2) are wholly fabricated. However, given that a Microsoft study suggests folks struggle to accurately identify AI-generated still images 62% of the time, it’s hard not to be concerned about deepfakes’ capacity for disinformation.

Videos generated with Sora 2 don’t even feature a tiny AI watermark, like those introduced in Gemini’s ‘Nano Banana’ image-editing update. OpenAI say they are ‘launching responsibly,’ with in-app features designed to “maximize creation, not consumption,” and address “concerns about doomscrolling, addiction, isolation, and RL-sloptimized feeds.” But comments made by company CEO Sam Altman on his own blog read contrapuntal even to this stated feed philosophy.

“It is easy to imagine the degenerate case of AI video generation that ends up with us all being sucked into an RL-optimized slop feed,” Altman first admits.

As such, he shares that the app has various “mitigations to prevent someone from misusing someone’s likeness in deepfakes, safeguards for disturbing or illegal content, periodic checks on how Sora is impacting users’ mood and wellbeing, and more.”

Altman even goes as far as to say that, if OpenAI cannot sufficiently address aspects of the app that lead to negative social outcomes, then the company would discontinue the service.

But Altman also caps off a longer passage regarding how the Sora feed aims to show content that users are interested in by writing, “And if you truly just want to doom scroll and be angry, then ok, we’ll help you with that.” To me, this reads not only as a shrugging off of responsibility, but also fairly nihilistic; for all OpenAI’s talk about the Sora app’s safety features, what can be done if its users still choose to gaze into the abyss?

(Image credit: OpenAI)

I’d be remiss if I didn’t also reference the existentialism and labour concerns the launch of the Sora 2 model will no doubt inspire in my freelance creative friends. Altman writes on his blog, “Creativity could be about to go through a Cambrian explosion, and along with it, the quality of art and entertainment can drastically increase.” And I would like to suggest that he may be right, just not how he thinks.

While Altman wants OpenAI’s app to be at the forefront of a tidal wave of creativity, my personal hope is that audiences get sick of realistic, computer generated imagery as a result of Sora 2’s proliferation. My blue sky thinking—however naive it may be—is the hope that, in response to audiences seeking out visual art that could only ever be made by humans, practical effects and puppets make a comeback in a big way.

Best PC build 2025

All our favorite gear

Source link

October 1, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Can Bitcoin Avoid a Correction to $108,000 This Week?

by admin September 29, 2025

Bitcoin (BTC) goes for a late September comeback as the monthly and quarterly close arrive.

BTC price action surprises with a push above $112,000 for the weekly close, setting up a tug-of-war between bulls and bears.
Liquidity games are back, but observers warn of a move down to liquidate late longs next.
Employment data from the US forms the week’s macro highlight amid ongoing pressure on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Gold sets fresh all-time highs to start the week, sparking calls for Bitcoin to follow at last.
On-chain data shows speculators panic-selling BTC at the lows, while old hands stay put.

Bitcoin bulls battle for control of $112,000

It seemed highly unlikely recently, but Bitcoin closed the weekly candle above a key price level.

After threatening new September lows under $109,000, BTC/USD staged a last-minute rebound to reclaim $112,000 as support.

BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirms that BTC price point holding into the week’s first Asia trading session.

Commenting on the latest BTC price action, market participants remained wary, arguing that more evidence is needed before assuming the bull market is back in full force.

“$BTC also had a pump just like $ETH, mostly due to short positions getting closed,” crypto investor and entrepreneur Ted Pillows wrote in a post on X, referring to a similar recovery for largest altcoin Ether (ETH).

“For a strong Bitcoin rally, a daily close above $113,500 is needed. Otherwise, BTC will most likely revisit its lows again.”BTC/USDT one-day chart. Source: Ted Pillows/X

Popular trader Roman shared that sentiment, expecting the price to gyrate between its narrow trading range’s upper and lower boundaries.

“Currently just retesting and resistance so unless we blow through on high volume, I expect some ping pong between here and 108k,” he summarized, demanding that bulls retake $118,000.

With the monthly and quarterly close less than 48 hours away, volatility was expected.

Data from CoinGlass shows that at $112,000, BTC/USD would lock in 3% September gains, with Q3 upside at around 4.4%.

Those numbers would represent average performance for Bitcoin, with both September and Q3 returns historically highly variable.

“$BTC Has seen very little volatility and is closing the quarter relatively flat. This is not out of the ordinary for Q3 as you can see,” popular trader Daan Crypto Trades wrote about the data in an X post Monday.

“It’s the worst quarter on average with ‘only’ a ~6% increase on average throughout its history. So we’re pretty much in line just like Q2.”BTC/USD monthly, quarterly returns (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass

Daan Crypto Trades conversely anticipated a “very exciting” Q4 based on past performance.

“BTC has been pretty reliable though so it makes more sense to watch in my opinion. Especially with it lagging behind the likes of $GOLD & Stocks the past few weeks,” he concluded.

Long liquidations on the radar as new CME gap appears

Bitcoin returning above $112,000 overnight sparked a considerable reshuffling of liquidity on exchange order books.

CoinGlass data shows how price sliced through late short positions, with large players subsequently adding more ask liquidity around $113,000.

BTC liquidation heatmap. Source: CoinGlass

In the 24 hours to the time of writing, total crypto liquidations were $350 million, with shorts accounting for $260 million of the total.

Crypto liquidations (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass

Commenting on the order-book setup, market commentators are now keen to determine where BTC price may head next, with liquidity acting as a “magnet” both up and down.

“I like when the market sentiment is bearish after a correction during a HTF uptrend,” popular trader CrypNuevo wrote in part of an X thread Sunday.

“I think it’s the case – a drop below $100k seems to be the market consensus right now. So instead, I’m inclining more towards a recovery from here or the liquidity grab at $106.9k and then up.”BTC/USDT one-day chart. Source: CrypNuevo/X

Current data suggests that a trip below $107,000 would liquidate a giant $5 billion in longs.

This and the incoming monthly close continue to provide grounds for caution among some market participants.

These include popular trader Killa, who noted the new weekend “gap” appearing in CME Group’s Bitcoin futures — a price “magnet” on its own.

“If we re-evaluate price action, we pumped on CME open. Usually, when we do that, these particular gaps can take a few days or a week to fill,” he noted Monday.

“Since we have both monthly and quarterly closes, I believe they’re building long liquidity before taking out the weekend lows.”BTC/USD chart with CME futures gap. Source: Killa/X

US jobs data comes amid more pressure on Fed’s Powell

A familiar sight greets crypto and risk-asset traders this week as US employment data and Federal Reserve officials take center stage.

Various high-ranking names will comment on the US economic outlook amid an emerging split in attitudes toward interest-rate cuts.

Those cuts are what traders want to see going forward, as they represent an easing of policy and imply more liquidity flowing into risk assets.

As Cointelegraph reported, members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) are far from unanimous when it comes to cuts and the pace of their implementation.

In a speech of his own last week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell — already under heavy pressure from US President Donald Trump to speed up policy easing — sought to strike a balance between hawkish and dovish language.

“In recent months, it has become clear that the balance of risks has shifted, prompting us to move our policy stance closer to neutral at our meeting last week,” he said after the FOMC agreed a 0.25% cut at its September meeting.

Fed target rate probabilities (screenshot). Source: CME Group FedWatch Tool

Trump and others, meanwhile, continue to demand that the Fed take more drastic action. In a now-deleted post on Truth Social over the weekend, Trump posted a cartoon of him firing Powell, having called for his resignation throughout 2025.

“If it weren’t for Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell, we would be at 2% right now, and in the process of balancing our budget,” part of a further post stated.

“The good news is that we’re powering through his Incompetence, and we’ll soon be doing, as a Country, better than we have ever done before!”

Private and public sector employment data and initial jobless claims are due throughout the week, forming the primary potential volatility catalyst.

Gold smashes $3,800 as the week begins

The week may have started with some modest relief for Bitcoin bulls, but gold is already stealing the show once again.

XAU/USD hit a fresh all-time high on Monday, passing $3,800 per ounce for the first time in history amid a comedown in US dollar strength.

XAU/USD four-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The latest move repeats a pattern already on every Bitcoin trader’s mind this quarter — gold outperforming Bitcoin.

In its latest regular newsletter, “Macro Monday,” market insights resource Reflexivity Research drew attention to the weakening Bitcoin/Gold Ratio. It said this is “signaling a preference for gold over Bitcoin as a hedge.”

BTC/USD vs. XAU/USD one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Proponents nonetheless maintain that BTC price strength can copy gold after a statutory delay, thus preserving historical trends.

Andre Dragosch, European head of research at crypto asset manager Bitwise, tied the current situation to different macroeconomic phenomena.

“Why has bitcoin been lagging behind gold in 2025? Because gold has been more sensitive to monetary policy & US Dollar while bitcoin has been more sensitive to global growth expectations,” he told X followers Monday.

“So, gold’s price action reflects strong monetary easing already while bitcoin’s price action still reflects weak growth expectations.”Macro impact on gold, Bitcoin returns. Source: Andre Dragosch/X

Dragosch said that just as growth expectations follow monetary policy changes with a lag, so too will Bitcoin follow in gold’s footsteps with a “significant rally.”

Bitcoin speculators panic at local lows

When it comes to Bitcoiners’ reactions to the recent BTC price dip, new analysis reveals textbook market behavior.

Related: The hidden force behind Bitcoin and Ether price swings: Options expiry

The difference between long-term (LTH) and short-term (STH) holders is notable, with the latter selling coins at a loss while “old hands” ride out the storm.

In one of its “Quicktake” blog posts Monday, onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant used a classic onchain metric to show that for investors, this dip is like any other.

“We saw the same setup in late 2024—short-term capitulation while LTH conviction stayed strong—right before a major rebound,” contributor Woo Min-Kyu summarized.

“Historically, these low-ratio zones often align with price bottoms, marking the late stage of corrections.”Bitcoin SOPR Ratio (screenshot). Source: CryptoQuant

The post used a derivative of Spent Output Profit Ratio (SOPR), which measures the extent to which coins moving onchain are doing so in profit or at a loss. The “ratio” of LTH and STH SOPR confirms that newer investors responded to the dip by selling at a loss.

“Short-term pain, long-term gain,” CryptoQuant concluded.

As Cointelegraph reported, STH entities — those hodling for up to six months — have always been sensitive to snap BTC price volatility, especially when the market crosses their aggregate cost basis.

The average STH cost basis, per CryptoQuant data, is currently around $109,800.

Bitcoin STH realized price. Source: CryptoQuant

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Source link

September 29, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

11 Things You Should Avoid Using ChatGPT For

by admin September 24, 2025

ChatGPT was released in 2022, and in the years since its revolutionized daily life for millions of people. From organizing schedules to rewriting emails, it’s good at plenty of things. However, this chatbot isn’t capable of handling every aspect of your life or business.

Large language models like ChatGPT sometimes generate incorrect or outdated information while sounding completely confident. That’s not a huge deal if you’re brainstorming a party theme or writing a practice email. But when it comes to sensitive areas like money (especially your taxes), health, or legal issues, a wrong answer can create serious problems.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

That’s why it’s just as important to know when to avoid ChatGPT as it is to know how to get the most from it. To help you steer clear of the biggest pitfalls, here are 11 specific situations where turning to an AI chatbot could cause more harm than good.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, the parent company of CNET, in April filed a lawsuit against ChatGPT maker OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

1. Diagnosing physical health issues

I’ve definitely fed ChatGPT my symptoms out of curiosity, but the answers that come back can read like your worst nightmare. As you pore over potential diagnoses, you could swing from dehydration and the flu to some type of cancer. I have a lump on my chest and entered that information into ChatGPT. Lo and behold, it told me I may have cancer. In fact, I have a lipoma, which is not cancerous and occurs in one in every 1,000 people. My licensed doctor told me that.

I’m not saying there are no good uses of ChatGPT for health: It can help you draft questions for your next appointment, translate medical jargon and organize a symptom timeline so you can walk in better prepared. And that could help make doctor visits less overwhelming. However, AI can’t order labs or examine you, and it definitely doesn’t carry malpractice insurance. Know its limits.

2. Taking care of your mental health

ChatGPT can offer grounding techniques, sure, but it can’t pick up the phone when you’re in real trouble with your mental health. I know some people use ChatGPT as a substitute therapist. CNET’s Corin Cesaric found it mildly helpful for working through grief, as long as she kept its limits front of mind. But as someone who has a very real, very human therapist, I can tell you that ChatGPT is still really only a pale imitation at best, and incredibly risky at worst.

ChatpGPT doesn’t have lived experience, can’t read your body language or tone, and has zero capacity for genuine empathy. It can only simulate it. A licensed therapist operates under legal mandates and professional codes that protect you from harm. ChatGPT doesn’t. Its advice can misfire, overlook red flags or unintentionally reinforce biases baked into its training data. Leave the deeper work — the hard, messy, human work — to an actual human who is trained to properly handle it. If you or someone you love is in crisis, please dial 988 in the US, or your local hotline.

3. Making immediate safety decisions

If your carbon-monoxide alarm starts chirping, please don’t open ChatGPT and ask it if you’re in real danger. I’d go outside first and ask questions later. Large language models can’t smell gas, detect smoke or dispatch an emergency crew. In a crisis, every second you spend typing is a second you’re not evacuating or dialing 911. ChatGPT can only work with the scraps of info you feed it, and in an emergency, it may be too little and too late. So treat your chatbot as a postincident explainer, never a first responder.

4. Getting personalized financial or tax planning

ChatGPT can explain what an ETF is, but it doesn’t know your debt-to-income ratio, state tax bracket, filing status, deductions, retirement goals or risk appetite. Because its training data may stop short of the current tax year, and of the latest rate hikes, its guidance may well be stale when you hit enter.

I have friends who dump their 1099 totals into ChatGPT for a DIY return. The chatbot simply can’t replace a CPA who can catch a hidden deduction worth a few hundred dollars or flag a mistake that could cost you thousands. When real money, filing deadlines, and IRS penalties are on the line, call a professional, not AI. Also, be aware that anything you share with an AI chatbot will probably become part of its training data, and that includes your income, your Social Security number and your bank routing information.

5. Dealing with confidential or regulated data

As a tech journalist, I see embargoes land in my inbox every day, but I’ve never thought about tossing any of these press releases into ChatGPT to get a summary or further explanation. That’s because if I did, that text would leave my control and land on a third-party server outside the guardrails of my nondiscloure agreement.

The same risk applies to client contracts, medical charts or anything covered by the California Consumer Privacy Act, HIPAA, the GDPR or plain old trade-secret law. It applies to your income taxes, birth certificate, driver’s license and passport. Once sensitive information is in the prompt window, you can’t guarantee where it’s stored, who can review it internally or whether it may be used to train future models. ChatGPT also isn’t immune to hackers and security threats. If you wouldn’t paste it into a public Slack channel, don’t paste it into ChatGPT.

6. Doing anything illegal

This one is self-explanatory.

7. Cheating on schoolwork

I’d be lying if I said I never cheated on my exams. In high school, I used my first-generation iPod Touch to sneak a peek at a few cumbersome equations I had difficulty memorizing in AP calculus, a stunt I’m not particularly proud of. But with AI, the scale of modern cheating makes that look remarkably tame.

Turnitin and similar detectors are getting better at spotting AI-generated prose every semester, and professors can already hear “ChatGPT voice” a mile away (thanks for ruining my beloved em dash). Suspension, expulsion and getting your license revoked are real risks. It’s best to use ChatGPT as a study buddy, not a ghostwriter. You’re also just cheating yourself out of an education if you have ChatGPT do the work for you.

8. Monitoring information and breaking news

Since OpenAI rolled out ChatGPT Search in late 2024 (and opened it to everyone in February 2025), the chatbot can fetch fresh web pages, stock quotes, gas prices, sports scores and other real-time numbers the moment you ask, complete with clickable citations so you can verify the source. However, it won’t stream continual updates on its own. Every refresh needs a new prompt, so when speed is critical, live data feeds, official press releases, news sites, push alerts and streaming coverage are still your best bet.

9. Gambling

I’ve actually had luck with ChatGPT and hitting a three-way parlay during the NCAA men’s basketball championship, but I would never recommend it to anyone. I’ve seen ChatGPT hallucinate and provide incorrect information on player statistics, misreported injuries and win-loss records. I only cashed out because I double-checked every claim against real-time odds, and even then I got lucky. ChatGPT can’t see tomorrow’s box score, so don’t rely on it solely to get you that win.

10. Drafting a will or other legally binding contract

ChatGPT is great for breaking down basic concepts. If you want to know more about a revocable living trust, ask away. However, the moment you ask it to draft actual legal text, you’re rolling the dice. Estate and family-law rules vary by state, and sometimes even by county, so skipping a witness signature or omitting the notarization clause can get your whole document tossed. Rather, let ChatGPT help you build a checklist of questions for your lawyer, then pay that lawyer to turn that checklist into a document that stands up in court.

11. Making art

This isn’t an objective truth, just my own opinion, but I don’t believe AI should be used to create art. I’m not anti-artifical intelligence by any means. I use ChatGPT for brainstorming new ideas and help with my headlines, but that’s supplementation, not substitution. By all means, use ChatGPT, but please don’t use it to make art that you then pass off as your own. It’s kind of gross.

Source link

September 24, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Hollow Knight: Silksong devs admit it has “moments of steep difficulty” but also a “higher level of freedom” to avoid getting stonewalled

by admin September 18, 2025

Team Cherry’s long-awaited Hollow Knight follow-up Silksong has spawned lengthy discourse around difficulty in games, and now the developers have addressed the topic too.

The game is part of the Game Worlds exhibition at Australia’s national museum of screen culture (ACMI), which was attended by Dexerto. The exhibition’s co-curator Jini Maxwell spoke with Ari Gibson and William Pellen from Team Cherry at the event.

“The important thing for us is that we allow you to go way off the path,” Gibson explained. “So one player may choose to follow it directly to its conclusion, and then another may choose to constantly divert from it and find all the other things that are waiting and all the other ways and routes.”

Hollow Knight: Silksong Review – Beautiful, Thrilling And CruelWatch on YouTube

While Gibson admitted Silksong “has some moments of steep difficulty”, he added “part of allowing a higher level of freedom within the world means that you have choices all the time about where you’re going and what you’re doing.”

So instead of players repeatedly attempting a particular boss fight, they “have ways to mitigate the difficulty via exploration, or learning, or even circumventing the challenge entirely, rather than getting stonewalled.”

Gibson further noted that as Hornet is “inherently faster and more skillful than the Knight” of the first game, even base level enemies had to be “more complicated, more intelligent”.

Added Pellen: “The basic ant warrior is built from the same move-set as the original Hornet boss. The same core set of dashing, jumping, and dashing down at you, plus we added the ability to evade and check you. In contrast to the Knight’s enemies, Hornet’s enemies had to have more ways of catching her as she tries to move away.”

Team Cherry’s approach was therefore to “bring everyone else up to match [Hornet’s] level”.

One other area of contention are the boss runbacks, which often task players with repeating difficult platform sections before re-attempting a boss. But have boss runbacks had their day?

“Pretty and charmingly mean-spirited, this is a game filled with revelations and genuine personality,” reads our Silksong review.

Source link

September 18, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

xStocks Issuer Chose Switzerland to Avoid Whitelisting Tokenized Tesla Shares: CEO

by admin September 17, 2025

In brief

Switzerland allowed Backed to avoid whitelisting xStocks.
Tokenized Tesla shares have the largest supply.
xStocks have roughly 30,000 unique holders.

Balancing compliance needs against the open and accessible nature of decentralized finance ultimately brought Backed Finance to Switzerland, according to co-founder Adam Levi.

The company was registered in the European nation because it allowed them to issue digital representations of stocks like Tesla and Nvidia, called xStocks, that are freely transferable, as opposed to those constrained by a so-called whitelist, he told Decrypt.

“We were looking into five jurisdictions, and lawyers told me, ‘Yes, you can do it. It will be permissioned with a whitelist,’” Levi recalled. “And I said, ‘No, I’m not interested. I don’t want to build it because I will not use it.”

In crypto, whitelists are typically used to grant individuals approval to participate in a specific event, whether that’s minting an NFT or investing in a cryptocurrency’s debut. Within the context of tokenized equities, one could dictate who’s allowed to hold the digital representations of stock.

Backed began issuing tokenized stocks under its xStocks brand in June, and as the company competes with similar offerings from retail brokerage Robinhood and tokenization platform Securitize, Levi argued that a permissionless approach is best for adoption.

“Think about a stablecoin being permissioned,” he said. “No one would use that.”

As of Wednesday, xStocks currently had 30,300 total unique holders, according to a Dune dashboard. Tesla’s associated token was the most popular, with 43,000 tokens tied to $18 million in Tesla shares—which serve as its backing.

That distinction is key. Some forms of tokenized stock are “native,” meaning that they carry the same entitlements that investors receive when purchasing stock through traditional means, but xStocks are essentially a wrapper for tokens that are held off-chain.

It’s similar to how most stablecoins function as an IOU for $1, Levi said. They are not issued by a central bank or government, so they are not dollars themselves. And xStocks can be redeemed for actual shares in a company for a fee.

“Were creating wrappers on top of stocks,” he said. “You’re not holding Tesla—that’s important—but you basically have a right to the economic value of Tesla.”

XStocks aren’t available in the U.S., and the tokens are issued under sweeping legislation passed by the Swiss Parliament in 2020. The legal framework is explicitly “innovation-friendly,” according to a fact sheet published by a Swiss government agency in 2023.

Regulators in the U.S. have raised eyebrows in relation to tokenization this year, with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce saying in July that tokenization doesn’t trump existing securities laws. Companies like OpenAI have also denounced tokens tied to them as unauthorized.

Still, Levi thinks xStocks could see real adoption outside of the country, for similar reasons that have pushed people toward products from stablecoin issuers Circle and Tether.

“People around the world started using stablecoins as a way to run from inflation, and I think the same will [happen] for xStocks,” he said. “Bitcoin is very volatile, but if you want to have something that is safe and growing, the S&P 500 is a very good product.”

Daily Debrief Newsletter

Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.

Source link

September 17, 2025 0 comments

Esports

LocalThunk delays Balatro update to avoid “crunch mode”

by admin September 15, 2025

Balatro’s 1.1 update has been delayed indefinitely, with creator LocalThunk explaining they’ve returned to working on the game “as a hobbyist.”

In a post titled “I’m Slow” published on the developer’s website on September 12, 2025, LocalThunk – the sole developer on the critically acclaimed poker roguelike – revealed that Balatro’s 1.1 update won’t come out in 2025, as previously announced.

“I know, I announced that it would, but it has become clear now that it won’t happen by the end of the year, and I wanted to tell you all now,” LocalThunk wrote in the post. “I feel bad for not keeping that promise, and I am sorry.”

“The truth is that I probably shouldn’t have announced any date for the 1.1 update at all,” the post continued.

LocalThunk explained that they have become “all too familiar with the crunch and stress that inherently come with professional game development” since Balatro “went public” in 2023 and that these struggles “didn’t stop at launch.”

Following the release of Balatro 1.0 in February 2024, the developer “dove right in” to the game’s 1.0.1 balance patch, which was released in August 2024, then into the mobile port. By the time Balatro’s mobile version was released in September 2024, LocalThunk was “well and truly burned out.”

“I took a break from everything to do with the game for a few months until the start of 2025, when I very slowly eased myself back into the work,” the Balatro creator explained.

“However, I chose to only work on the game like I did when the project began, as a hobbyist (a few hours per day, and not always on the 1.1 update), and it turns out that it’s a lot slower than working in crunch mode 12 hours per day like I was around launch.”

The developer said they still consider game development their “hobby,” but “the prospect of rushing the work and going back into crunch mode to get it out this year just felt terrible.”

“I am working slowly, but I like it that way,” the post continued. “I love getting sucked into rabbit holes and I don’t like trying to force things creatively.

“I have never, before Balatro, set a deadline for any of my creative projects and I now realize how important that is for my process.

“I am in a very lucky position in that I can choose to work this job however I wish, and I think the best version of ‘work’ for me is the version that makes me want to come back to my keyboard every day, healthy, and hopefully just as excited about game development 5 years from now as I am today. I don’t want 1.1 to be the last update this game gets.”

LocalThunk now says Balatro’s free 1.1 update will be “done when it’s done/”

“I posted a few months ago that I finally got 100% of the achievements in Balatro, and for a bit of reassurance, the Balatro player in me will absolutely not allow me [to] walk away from developing this game,” LocalThunk continued.

“I’m already super excited to try and 100% the game all over again from a second profile when 1.1 is ready. Rest assured, it will happen.

Released on February 24, 2024, Balatro has been a huge success for both LocalThunk and the game’s publisher, Playstack.

The deck-building roguelite grossed $1 million within eight hours of its release and has swept up numerous awards, including Game of the Year at the Game Developers’ Choice Awards 2025 and Best Debut Game at the BAFTA Game Awards 2025.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz in May 2025, Harvey Elliott, CEO Playstack, called the indie hit a “changer” for both Playstack and the industry.

“I think it’s really shown, once again, [that] when great, highly captivating games come to market, it doesn’t matter if it’s made by one person or a hundred people,” he said.

Source link

September 15, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Hollow Knight: Silksong Has A “Cheat Code” That You’ll Probably Want To Avoid Using

by admin September 9, 2025

Hollow Knight: Silksong is finally here, and players agree that the game kicks ass–mostly their own. Team Cherry’s metroidvania is a challenging adventure, but if you’re feeling masochistic, you can dial up the difficulty further with a “cheat” code that references (but is different than) the infamous Konami code. Simply head to the “Extras” section of the main menu and enter this sequence on the D-pad to unlock Steel Soul Mode:

Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right.

So what does Steel Soul Mode do? Once you start a new game, you’ve only got a single life with which to complete the game. No respawns or reloading saves: just a failed run if you fall. Veteran Hollow Knight players might recognize the mode as well, as it was in the first game and it was unlocked after the campaign was beaten for the first time.

If you are struggling right now, there is some good news as Silksong’s first patch will offer a “slight difficulty reduction” to the early bosses–Moorwing and Sister Splinter–when it goes live next week. PC players can also tweak the overall difficulty with several mods that have been released, and if you’re looking for walkthroughs, you can check out GameSpot’s Hollow Knight: Silksong guides hub for several helpful features.

After years of waiting, it looks like Silksong has been a massive hit right out of the gate. The game has reportedly passed 5 million players already and it’s one of the most popular games on Steam currently.

Click the button below to add GameSpot as a preferred source on Google

Source link

September 9, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

Crypto Endorsements Get A Makeover As Athletes Avoid Scandal Traps

by admin September 7, 2025

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

Reports have disclosed that athletes and their teams are growing more cautious about crypto endorsement deals.

According to a recent interview with Shelly Socol, a marketing executive at BTCC Exchange, sports stars now demand deeper checks on a crypto firm’s history, compliance record, and staying power before signing.

Past scandals such as the FTX collapse have left a mark. Deals that once moved fast are taking longer to clear.

Athletes Demand Stronger Vetting

Based on reports, a recent CoinGecko analysis shows a 38% drop in crypto sports sponsorships from 2021 Peaks, and that fall has changed how offers are handled.

Players are often consulting legal and financial advisers before they sign. Some are even choosing Bitcoin pay. For example, posts on X have highlighted USC recruit Matai Tagoa’i’s NIL deal paid entirely in Bitcoin, and lists like Bitbo.io’s roundup show several pro athletes leaning toward crypto as a hedge.

Market Data And Sponsorship Models

From industry outlets, sponsorships are becoming more layered. A 2023 report — updated with 2025 insights — found that crypto firms are adding NFTs and fan tools to deals so the contracts do more than put a logo on a jersey.

Euromonitor International research points to brand perception shifts when blockchain elements are added to sports marketing.

Regulatory moves are also in the mix; recent SEC fines and the passage of MiCA in Europe are pushing sponsors to show cleaner compliance paths. When laws tighten, partners want proof of proper behavior.

Total crypto market cap currently at $3.78 trillion. Chart: TradingView

Exchanges Seek Credibility Through Stars

BTCC’s deal with NBA All-Star Jaren Jackson Jr. is a case in point. Reports describe the exchange working to use the partnership to build trust, not just get attention.

The campaign reportedly includes a $500,000 USDT prize pool aimed at user engagement. Such moves are being watched closely.

Endorsements are now as much about reputation signals as they are about audience reach, the WPN report by Andrew Cain disclosed. In some deals, sponsorships are being structured to include education for fans and long-term incentives.

Risk Factors And Industry Forecasts

Analysts have warned that volatility can still hurt athlete income streams. Novatia Consulting’s December 2024 analysis warned that market crashes may reduce the value of crypto-based pay.

At the same time, a Vestinda blog post from December 2024 predicted wider use of tokenized assets for athlete compensation.

Brand Vision’s 2025 overview points out that some crypto-infused deals are beginning to rival classic sneaker contracts, and that stars like LeBron James and Cristiano Ronaldo command big premiums because they pick partners carefully.

The message from experts is simple: choose partners with clear rules and steady records.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

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.

Source link

September 7, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Demonschool Delayed To Avoid Releasing Near Hollow Knight: Silksong

by admin August 26, 2025

After years of anticipation, Team Cherry announced last week that Hollow Knight: Silksong will finally be released on September 4. This took many fans and, evidently, other studios by surprise, namely Ysbryd Games. In response to Team Cherry’s announcement, the indie publisher has delayed the upcoming tactical RPG Demonschool, which was planned to launch one day before Silksong.

In a press release, Ysbryd announces it has pushed Demonschool’s planned September 3 launch to a new release date of November 19. With Silksong arriving next week on the 4th, Ysbyrd read the tea leaves, realizing that releasing a game so close to the most anticipated indie game in recent memory is a bad idea.

“We have to remind ourselves that gaining visibility for Demonschool is our main goal,” says Ysbryd’s Brian Kwek in a statement. “Thus, the Ysbryd team strongly believes we would not be doing our game any favors by wading into waters we can clearly see are blood red. If the September period is going to be Silksong’s moment, then we need to be elsewhere on the calendar to give Demonschool its own moment to be seen and talked about meaningfully.”

Ysbyrd states that developer Necrosoft Games will spend the extra two months enhancing and polishing Demonschool. One positive of the delay, according to Ysbyrd, is that the added time allows Necrosoft time to add additional endings and minigames that were originally going to be included in a post-launch patch.

Similar to Silksong, Demonschool has been in development for some time as well, suffering several delays before this one. It centers on teenage students battling demons in turn-based tactical combat similar to titles such as Into the Breach. We were impressed with the demo we played at Summer Game Fest, and are optimistic about the full release.

Demonschool launches on November 19 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC for $24.99.

Source link

August 26, 2025 0 comments