Renee Francis, Take3: The transformative potential of Web3

The Block caught up with Renee Francis, Founder and Director of Take3, to discuss the transformative potential of Web3.

With a background in marketing and extensive experience with platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google, Francis offers a unique perspective on the issues that Web3 aims to address.

In this interview, she shares insights into the benefits of Web3, the challenges it faces, and her excitement for various projects in the space.

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Kayak makes blockchain push with new enterprise corporate travel offering

Travel search engine Kayak is dipping its toe into the water for corporate travel for large companies – and is looking to eliminate expense reporting for flights with a solution built on blockchain technology.

The company launched its free Kayak for Business tool in 2020 for small- and medium-sized organisations, with a full launch coming a year later. Yet the enterprise-focused solution – which understandably carries a much bigger prize – has come about through a...

Web 3.0, the metaverse and NFTs are capturing UK consumer interest

Web3

Toluna, a global insights technology and panel provider, today revealed key UK insights from its worldwide consumer study, 'A new age of the internet: Web3, the metaverse, and NFTs'. 

With blockchain technology ushering in a new digital era in the form of Web 3.0, the research study explores consumer perceptions of emerging Web 3.0 concepts – such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse. Toluna’s research aims to decipher how consumers view and interact with these...

TSB and FinTech Scotland open applications for annual Innovation Labs programme  

TSB is taking applications for fintechs to participate in its third annual TSB Innovation Labs programme – as the bank and Fintech Scotland encourage a new round of fintech collaboration. 

Under the programme, winning fintechs will officially partner with TSB to offer innovative services and money-saving solutions to customers, as the Bank expands its fintech partnership programme.  

The scheme also helps boost the UK’s fintech sector – as between...

Blockchain could play major role in UK’s digitisation of trade documents

British businesses will be able to trade easier, faster and cheaper around the world thanks to new plans to remove needless paperwork and bureaucracy.

The Electronic Trade Documents Bill, expected to be introduced in Parliament today, will boost the UK’s international trade, already worth more than £1.4 trillion, and will reduce the estimated 28.5 billion paper trade documents printed and flown around the world daily.

Business-to-business documents such as bills of...

China to train half a million blockchain experts amid national research centre launch

Here’s a good example of how you can separate the blockchain signal from the crypto noise: China is to train 500,000 blockchain professionals after launching a national blockchain research centre in Beijing.

The centre, as reported by the South China Morning Post (SCMP) citing state-run media outlet Xinhua, will work with universities, research institutes and companies, as well as establish a ‘national-level blockchain network’ to connect existing blockchains in China as...

Chris Dixon, a16z, says crypto can shift power away from Big Tech

Web3 network

After raising a record-breaking $4.5 billion (£3.8bn) for its latest crypto fund earlier this year, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has said it sees the ongoing market downturn as an investment opportunity.

Chris Dixon, the founder of a16z’s crypto arm, believes cryptocurrency has the ability to disrupt the power imbalance between consumers and big tech companies like Meta and Twitter.

In an interview on FT's Tech Tonic podcast, Dixon said that power on the internet...

KPMG invests £25m into web3 training as it preps for the metaverse

Metaverse

KPMG, one of the Big Four global accounting firms, is investing £25 million into web3 training for its employees to explore potential metaverse use cases.

The centrepiece of the project will be a collaboration hub built to explore metaverse applications in industries such as healthcare, retail, and financial services.

Laura Newinski, deputy chair and chief operating officer at KPMG in the US, said: "The metaverse is a market opportunity, a way to re-engage talent, and a...

JPMorgan enters the metaverse alongside new report on its potential

Metaverse

JPMorgan is officially the first major bank to enter the metaverse, having opened a lounge in blockchain-based virtual world Decentraland.

That’s right. The United States’ largest bank has a virtual space called the Onyx Lounge fitted with a portrait of Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s CEO, a walk-in presentation on cryptocurrency, and even a roaming tiger.

Named after the bank’s suite of permissioned Ethereum-based services, the Onyx Lounge was revealed alongside a...

Super Bowl sees crypto adverts break into the mainstream

NFL Super Bowl

Sunday’s Super Bowl LVI, the annual playoff game for the US National Football League (NFL), saw four major exchanges debuting cryptocurrency adverts during the commercial breaks.

Long renowned as a clear sign of pushing into the mainstream of marketing, Super Bowl ads are eye-wateringly expensive and tend to generate significant online discussion by themselves.

This year saw adverts from Coinbase, Crypto.com, eToro, and FTX, despite growing sentiment amongst regulatory...