The fall of crypto exchange FTX appears to have already begun to impact the hundreds of grant recipients across a variety of philanthropic organizations backed by the exchange. During the COVID-19 pandemic, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried became known for backing a number of causes aimed at "humanity’s long-term prospects.” One of these was the FTX Foundation and its FTX Future Fund, which publicly launched on Feb. 28 and reported on Jun. 30 that it had made 262 grants and investments totaling $132 million in projects — many of these involved in pandemic preparedness, among other scientific pursuits. However, the leadership …

Developed countries often take for granted the ubiquity of the internet. But the reality is that some 2.9 billion people still don’t have connectivity to the world wide web. Data provided by UNICEF highlights that the majority of this internet-less mass of people reside in undeveloped countries, and children continue to be disadvantaged by the lack of internet connectivity at local schools. A UNICEF-led initiative is tackling this dilemma in a novel way through a joint venture with the International Telecommunication Union that led to the creation of Giga in 2019. Gerben Kijne, blockchain product manager at Giga, outlined the …

The Argentine Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons is jumping into nonfungible tokens (NFTs), but with a philanthropic twist. The secretive society is releasing 77 digital art NFTs under the name CryptoMasons, with profits going back to local charities supported by the chapter. According to the announcement, it is the first official NFT project supported by a local Grand Lodge. A Masonic Grand Lodge is the governing entity of a given fraternal freemasons group in a specific region. While this project comes from an Argentinian branch, there are hundreds in existence around the globe. The collection contains esoteric images …

The music industry has been a major adopter of Web3 integration, with use cases ranging from song rights, blockchain-based streaming and new forms of digital releases. Genres like pop, EDM and hip hop have represented nonfungible tokens (NFTs) in the music industry so far. However, classical music, and specifically opera, just found its entrance. Living Opera, a Web3 community that combines classical music with blockchain innovation, is turning to the emerging technology to give a new voice to the prestigious art and the artists who perform it. Soula Parassidis, CEO of Living Opera, told Cointelegraph in an interview that the …