National Basketball Association Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen is forming a new partnership with Web3-based entertainment company Orange Comet.

The company will launch a limited edition of 1,000 Pippen Kicks NFT sneakers to commemorate Pippen’s storied career. The sneakers are scheduled to launch on December 20 on OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT marketplace.

The state of Texas is offering a temporary, voluntary blackout program for “large flexible loads (LFLs),” encouraging bitcoin miners to reduce electricity consumption during periods of high electricity demand.

The move will help the state’s grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), ease concerns that mining will put additional strain on the system during times of high demand. In a statement, ERCOT said that in anticipation of the increasing interconnection of large flexible loads in the ERCOT region, ERCOT is establishing a temporary voluntary curtailment program to allow these loads to assist ERCOT in ensuring reliability during periods of high system demand.

This interim scheme is expected to go live around 1 January 2023, but may be terminated at any time as ERCOT plans to develop a permanent reliability framework for LFL in the future.

NBA Chicago Bulls star Scottie Pippen announced the launch of the first digital sneaker NFT series Metawear, which will start on December 20, with a total of 1,000 pieces.

Metawear NFT holders will receive a mysterious physical blind box in 2023, and 33 lucky holders will also have the opportunity to obtain a pair of physical Metawear sneakers.

Sir Geoff Hurst, one of the last surviving English footballers from the 1966 World Cup winning team, has announced an Everlasting Memory NFT collection in collaboration with British artist Reeps One (Harry Yeff).

The Everlasting Memory NFT project includes 1of1 and the open NFT. These NFTs will be auctioned on Rarible. The multi-version NFT will be released on December 3rd. One-for-one NFTs will go on sale on December 16th.

Bitcoin fast payment application Strike announced the launch of the global remittance function Send Globally, and achieved instant payments to Africa through cooperation with the African payment platform Bitnob.

According to previous news, Bitcoin fast payment application Strike has completed a financing of 90 million US dollars, led by Ten31, Washington University St. Louis Endowment Foundation, University of Wyoming Endowment Foundation and Susquehanna participated in the investment.

Strike is an encrypted payment application based on the Lightning Network. The company aims to challenge credit card giants Visa and Mastercard in everyday payments.

Maple Finance token Maple (MPL) fell more than 24% on Monday following news that Orthogonal Trading defaulted on a $36 million loan on the crypto lending protocol.

According to a statement, Maple Finance has severed all ties with Orthogonal Trading, the parent company that operates both crypto hedge funds and credit businesses.

The crypto lending protocol will cancel Orthogonal Trading as the borrower of the platform and Orthogonal Credit as the principal, and close its lending pool.

DFINITY has integrated the Bitcoin network. Currently, Bitcoin can be saved, sent and received locally on the IC (Internet Computer) without the need for a third-party cross-chain bridge to provide smart contract functions for Bitcoin on the IC.

The DFINITY Foundation is currently researching ckBTC, a Bitcoin encapsulation asset, which can be circulated on IC at low cost, aiming to enable IC developers to code locally on Bitcoin.

As previously reported, in August DFINITY launched an IC (Internet Computer) Beta version directly integrated with the Bitcoin network.

ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence platform launched by Open AI, expressed its views on Dogecoin DOGE, pointing out that DOGE is a force to be reckoned with.

It is said: Dogecoin’s not just a novelty, it’s a legitimate form of currency, used by many to transact and facilitate, transactions and payments with ease and speed, making it a valuable asset, in the world of finance, indeed.

Coca-Cola has partnered with Crypto.com to release a collection of 10,000 FIFA World Cup NFTs. The NFT will be developed and hosted on Crypto.com’s NFT platform by GMUNK, a digital artist who has worked with Nike, DoorDash, and musician Grimes.

The 10,000 NFTs were generated by tracking players’ in-game movements during FIFA World Cup matches.

CZ, the founder of Binance, said on social media that the more and more developers in the encryption industry, the greater the possibility of the developer’s private key being stolen, both good and bad.

Binance needs time to verify before deciding to freeze hacker addresses, otherwise anyone will ask Binance to blacklist someone else’s address, which, like most things in life, requires a balance.

In cases such as freezing hacker funds, the Binance team has been working closely with law enforcement. When responding to whether Binance is actually testing how to deal with hacker contracts, CZ said that it is not a Binance smart contract, and Ankr is an independent project team in the DeFi ecosystem.