Bugle Fintech Weekly Oct 23 – Oct 29 | Facebook CEO: Metaverse Will Be ‘Holy Grail of Social Experiences’

Listed Company

Facebook CEO: Metaverse Will Be ‘Holy Grail of Social Experiences’

Facebook will spend more than $10 billion on its metaverse division, called Facebook Reality Labs, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Monday. The money will go toward augmented and virtual reality products, services and other efforts to “develop the next generation of online social experiences,” he said.

“This is a major area of investment for us and an important part of our strategy going forward,” Zuckerberg told investors. “Our goal is to help the metaverse reach a billion people.”

He added that a Facebook metaverse could enable “hundreds of billions of dollars of digital commerce.”

However, the social media giant does not expect to see profits from the multi-billion dollar investment anytime soon. Zuckerberg said the investment is “long-term” but will eventually “help bring the metaverse to life.”

“This is not an investment that is going to be profitable for us anytime in the near future,” he said, adding that the company expects to see the investment grow even further in the next several years. “[However, the metaverse will be] the holy grail of social experiences.”

Additionally, Zuckerberg announced that the company will report a separate set of financials for Facebook Reality Labs, which will oversee the company’s virtual and augmented reality efforts moving forward.

The company’s revenue increased to $29 billion in Q3 from roughly $21.5 billion on year, missing analysts’ expectations of $29.6 billion. Facebook expects a total revenue ranging from $31.5 billion to $34 billion in Q4, according to its financial report.

“We made good progress this quarter and our community continues to grow,” Zuckerberg said. “I’m excited about our roadmap, especially around creators, commerce, and helping to build the metaverse.”(blockworks)

Robinhood Q3 Earnings Fall Short of Estimates as Crypto Trading Declines, Stock Drops

Robinhood’s third quarter earnings missed analysts’ estimates, sending the stock down. The losses were mostly due to crypto activity declining from record highs in the prior quarter. The stock was down 9% this morning.

Total revenue was $364.9 million, according to a financial release, missing the $423.9 million estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Third quarter transaction based revenue totaled $267 million, with only $51 million coming from cryptocurrency trading, according to the release.

Crypto activity declined from record highs in the prior quarter, leading to considerably fewer new funded accounts, a slight decline in net cumulative funded accounts and lower revenue in the third quarter of 2021 compared with the second quarter of 2021, according to the release.

Ron Levy, CEO and co-founder of The Crypto Company, told GOBankingRates that “this is a good educational moment for those active in the traditional markets as they witness the shadow effect from a company, specifically Robinhood, that is deriving a substantial part of its revenue from the crypto markets.”(finance.yahoo)

Disney and VeVe Launching New Set of Collectibles and Disney Plus Subscription Giveaway

Disney has teamed with VeVe, the largest mobile-first digital collectibles platform in the world, to announce a collaboration in time for Disney Plus Day on November 12, launching a series of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) featuring some of the most beloved characters from Disney’s franchises, including Star Wars. These are digital collectibles, part of the “Golden Moments” series, and will give fans the opportunity to interact with digital golden statues. They will be available to purchase on the VeVe app soon, and will culminate with a special ultra-rare digital collectible on November 12. (starwarsnewsnet)

GameStop memes even harder with ‘Web3 Gaming’ and NFT job listings

After a rollercoaster of a year on the stock market fueled by WallStreetBets retail trading, GameStop is going full meme and looking to build a “Web3” platform, according to a flurry of job listings posted to its careers site on Monday. One of those ads, discovered by CoinDesk, is a LinkedIn listing for a “Head of Web3 Gaming” in which the company says it's looking for someone to “accelerate the future of gaming and commerce” based on blockchains.

If you’re lucky enough to have never heard the phrase “Web3,” it’s often used to describe a decentralized, crypto-based internet. That tracks with the other job listings, which indicate that GameStop is developing some sort of NFT platform, likely based on Ethereum. While sometimes job listings are just job listings, in this case, it may be a play by GameStop to get back on WallStreetBets’ radar or to work its way into the crypto community’s good graces.

GameStop’s many job listings for NFT and Web3 Gaming-related positions.

GameStop hasn’t mentioned its ardent retail trading fans much in its earnings calls, but the company’s stock has clearly benefited from their enthusiasm — at the beginning of 2021, it was hovering around $20 per share, and it closed on Tuesday at $177.84, according to Yahoo Finance. High stock prices don’t necessarily indicate that the company as a whole is doing well, but they can at least help keep people liking the stock.

When you’re dealing with an Internet mob, though, attention eventually fades. AMC has tried to court back traders’ interest (it was caught up in the same trading fiasco as GameStop) with things like free popcorn and news that they’re looking into accepting Bitcoin and other crypto at theaters. For GameStop, it’s possible that an NFT platform promising a future of games where “play is driven by the things you bring” and incorporating buzzy phrases like “Web3” and “blockchain-based gaming” is a similar tactic to reignite the passion investors once felt for it.

Bakkt Shares Surge 180% After Pacts With Mastercard, Fiserv for Crypto Payments

Bakkt (NYSE: BKKT) shares jumped about 180% Monday and reached a record high of $28 after the digital asset platform announced two partnerships. Mastercard and Bakkt said Monday morning that they’re working to allow consumers to buy, sell and hold digital assets through custodial wallets offered by Bakkt.

Meanwhile, a Bakkt partnership announced Monday afternoon with Fiserv will allow for similar capabilities, allowing for merchants to expand their crypto payment offerings.

Bakkt shares went live on the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 18 after a SPAC deal that valued the company at about $2.1 billion. The firm’s current market capitalization is over $4 billion.(coindesk)