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Payments Giant PayPal Invests in New Crypto Wallet Software to Boost Web3 Adoption

Payments giant PayPal is investing millions in Magic, the San Francisco-based crypto wallet company, in its latest venture into the digital asset space.

According to Magic’s press release, the wallet-as-a-service (WaaS) provider has raised $52 million in a strategic funding round led by PayPal Ventures.

According to Alan Du, partner at PayPal Ventures,

“Mass adoption of Web3 is a hot topic, and Magic is facilitating it with a simple and secure solution. discover Web3. We are proud to invest in Magic and are confident that the company will help increase the number of use cases for Web3 among global brands.”

The funding round also included investments from Cherubic, Synchrony, KX, Northzone and Volt Capital, bringing the total amount raised by Magic to $80 million, according to the release.

Magic, a 2018 tech startup, provides a non-custodial crypto wallet infrastructure for companies that want to give their customers a simple and secure Web3 experience.

The company uses a unique Software Development Kit (SDK) which is implemented to allow customers to instantly create wallets using their existing email, social media accounts or SMS. To date, Magic has created more than 20 million unique wallets, according to the release.

Current Magic customers include several branded companies, including Mattel, Macy’s, Xsolla, and Immutable.

Magic co-founder Sean Li said the funding will allow the company to expand its presence in the European Union (EU) and Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

says Li,

“With this new funding, we are focused on expanding functionality and growing use cases to continue to deliver more value to our customers. We also look forward to achieving deeper integration in the EU and APAC.”

Paypal’s recent filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows that the company held approximately $604 million in digital assets, including $291 million in Bitcoin (BTC) and $250 million in Ethereum (ETH), in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Last December, they also announced a partnership with cryptocurrency firm ConsenSys to integrate PayPal with MetaMask, one of the most popular cryptocurrency wallets in the world.

In April, PayPal-owned Venmo announced plans to allow its more than 70 million users to transfer cryptocurrency to other Venmo users, as well as move digital assets to wallets and external exchanges.

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Spanish Football League Laliga partners with Globant to support new Web3 and Metaverse initiatives

Laliga, the top soccer league in Spain, announced a partnership with Globant, an Argentine software giant, to bring Web3 and metaverse experiences to its fans. The association will combine Globant’s technological resources with Laliga’s technology division to create products that expand the organization’s reach in the digital world.

Laliga asks Globant to help him build his metaverse stack

Large sports organizations are approaching the digital world as a way to reach new fans and offer new interaction possibilities for their users. Laliga, the main football league in Spain, recently announced a partnership that will serve to expand the company’s digital reach. The organization has partnered with Globant, a software giant based in Buenos Aires, to create metaverse and Web3 experiences for current fans and new users.

These new additions would complement the current digital offer of Laliga’s technology division, which currently includes fantasy games, web design and development, among other areas. The press release outlining the deal hints at possible game development using these new technologies. However, no specific products were announced directly as a result of the partnership.

Oscar Mayo, CEO of Laliga, stated:

LaLiga Tech was created to help sports and entertainment accelerate their digital transformation, and the increase in demand we have seen shows that it remains a core priority for the industry. Partnering with Globant will allow us to continue this growth on a global scale while creating the most immersive and valuable technologies for our customers.

Laliga metaverse movements

Laliga is one of the sports league organizations that has been making several moves to digitize part of its operations. This month, the company partnered with Ethereum-based metaverse platform Decentraland to offer licensed IP experiences in one of the packages available in its metaverse. In addition, the organization recently launched its own application, called MAS, which includes blockchain technology to protect the identity of its followers.

Additionally, the company is entering the traditional game asset market by offering licensed products in Mojang’s Minecraft block game. In the game, users will be able to purchase a pack of skins to equip any character with jerseys from the different teams present in the Laliga squad.

Laliga has also featured NFT-based projects before. In 2021, it partnered with Dapper Labs, makers of NBA Top Shots and Cryptokitties, to issue NFTs depicting the greatest moments in league history.

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Cristiano Ronaldo and Binance Partner: Web3 for Football Fans

Cristiano Ronaldo stated that he would like to provide his fans with unprecedented experiences through the NFT.

Football star Cristiano Ronaldo has signed an exclusive multi-year NFT partnership with cryptocurrency exchange Binance. As part of this collaboration, football fans will be introduced to the Web3 ecosystem through NFT’s global campaigns.

In the announcement, Binance explains that as part of the partnership, several NFT collections will be created with Cristiano Ronaldo. They will be sold exclusively through the Binance NFT platform, with the first collection expected to launch later this year.

Changpeng Zhao, CEO and founder of Binance, praised Cristiano Ronaldo’s achievements in football, saying that the athlete “transcended the sport to become an icon in various sectors”. Zhao also said:

“Through his authenticity, talent and charity work, he has built an extremely loyal fan base.”

Zhao further stated that Binance hopes to provide Ronaldo fans with “unique opportunities to connect with Ronaldo” if they own pieces from NFT collections. Meanwhile, the football star also commented on the planned NFT releases. He said fans would certainly be happy about it. Ronaldo also commented:

“The relationship with the fans is very important to me, so the idea of ​​delivering unprecedented experiences through the NFT platform is something I wanted to do as well.”

In March, Ronaldo was rewarded with crypto tokens for his sporting achievements. The football star received JUV tokens for every goal he scored in his career. This is the official supporter of the Italian football club Juventus Torino.

Despite the current crypto winter, the Binance CEO expressed his optimism in early June. Zhao explained that this is the third crypto winter for him and the second for Binance. So, he said, the team knows how to navigate a bear market. In addition, he said that the exchange will take advantage of this as an opportunity to hire more available professionals during this period.