Crypto News Recap: Hydra Being "Abandoned", New Blockchain Games And Partnerships
Tags: cryptocurrency, news, gamedev
Published: 2024-03-21 07:56:38

With each passing week, the crypto industry is increasingly pleasing us with a variety of events. This also applies to the gaming space of the crypto world: new games are constantly being released, tokens are being issued, and many events are being held. How did the next crypto week go and what interesting partnerships did it bring us this time? This is the topic of today's article.

**New Game on The Solana Blockchain**

The developers of a popular game called Parallel have spoken about their upcoming project on the Solana blockchain. On March 14, the team [published](https://paper.parallel.life/colony_paper_v1.pdf) technical documentation for a new game called Colony. The crypto game is an artificial intelligence-based survival simulator that will run on Solana.

The team claims that the game will introduce players to AI agents that evolve and make decisions on their own. Players create their characters by answering starter questions to determine their key personality traits. However, over time, these agents will be able to develop their own goals and behaviors. In addition, they will be able to decide whether to respond to your commands or not. Sounds pretty interesting.

To receive cryptocurrency rewards, players will need to have an NFT avatar. The game will have a free version, but these users will not be able to receive PRIME rewards, store or transfer items, or create unique NFTs. However, even those who use the free version will have to pay the costs associated with the large language model (LLM) on which the artificial intelligence is running.

**Game Features Provided by LinkedIn**

The popular social network LinkedIn is planning to introduce gaming features into its services. This strategy aims to increase user engagement and diversify content for the community. The company develops puzzle games like Wordle.

Nima Owji, a developer who analyzes the LinkedIn platform code, noticed signs of gaming innovation on the platform and published his [discovery](https://twitter.com/nima_owji/status/1769016601360146640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) on X. An interesting point under consideration is the possibility of organizing player ratings based on their tasks, with a possible company ranking based on these ratings. This element introduces a certain competitive dynamic that will help strengthen connections and communication between professionals using the platform.

A LinkedIn spokesperson confirmed the company's plans to introduce games, but the specific launch date has not yet been disclosed.

**A New Cooperation From MetaMask**

The popular Web3 wallet MetaMask continues to simplify the lives of its users, so it is constantly introducing new partnerships. One of them was the cooperation with the tax calculation platform CoinLedger.

As [announced](https://twitter.com/CoinLedger/status/1769785604827381925?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet) on March 18, wallet users now can connect their accounts to the platform and upload their transaction history to the CoinLedger software. This integration aims to facilitate the process of collecting, transferring, and combining tax reports from different accounts or wallets.

David Kemmerer, co-founder of CoinLedger, told to Cointelegraph that the partnership provides full integration with MetaMask Portfolio: 

> "Users can now directly sync their portfolio with CoinLedger and then generate tax forms automatically directly from MetaMask Portfolio."

In his statement, Kemmerer also added that _"by reducing the friction associated with calculating and reporting taxes, we're making the cryptocurrency ecosystem more accessible to everyone."_

This is not the first cooperation with Web3 Wallet. MetaMask is one of the most popular, so numerous companies continue to implement it in their work. For example, the recent [announcement](https://medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.coindesk.com%2Fbusiness%2F2024%2F03%2F11%2Fwith-mastercard-metamask-tests-first-blockchain-powered-payment-card%2F) of the introduction of a payment card together with Mastercard. In addition, it has been [collaborating](https://mercuryo.io/explore/article/metamask-launch) with Mercuryo for a long time, which allows users to buy tokens in various ways. As well as integration with some of the leading crypto exchanges, such as OKX, WhiteBIT, and Bybit, to create a more convenient way of authorization.

**Aptos Uses Google Cloud to Improve Gaming Experience**

Google Cloud, a platform known for cloud technologies, has announced a new collaboration with Aptos blockchain developer Aptos Labs. As part of the partnership, Google Cloud has added the latest company's development called Aptos GameStack to its platform. This development is described as a universal platform for creating and integrating blockchain into video games.

Using Google's capabilities, the company plans to improve its software solution with the help of analytics and the introduction of artificial intelligence and machine learning products, along with Web3 gaming tools.

Developers intend to implement various products, including access to the Unity API for digital wallets, transactions, NFT collections, and other Web3 elements. In addition, the development kit will allow the creation of custom scripts for logging into Web2, which will allow integration them with social networks such as Facebook or Gmail.

_"Games of any kind can now easily harness the power of Web3 technology with Aptos GameStack. Our partnership with Aptos Labs elevates the player benefits of Web3 technology into the mainstream of the games industry."_, commented Jack Buser, Director of Game Industry Solutions for Google Cloud.

**Hydra Being Abandoned Is "Just Pure FUD"**

On March 17, a YouTube channel The Cryptoviser posted a video, devoted to the announcement of Cardano co-founder Charles Hoskinson's abandonment of Hydra. However, Hoskinson quickly denied the rumors about the closure of the Hydra layer-2 scaling project for the network.

_"I'm seeing some videos claiming that Hydra has been abandoned. It is just pure FUD. The team has never been more productive and motivated, there is great community engagement and new papers on the way for enhancements to the protocol."_, he [wrote](https://twitter.com/IOHK_Charles/status/1769056625480847506) on X.

The Hydra protocol is designed to increase transaction processing power and reduce transaction costs on the Cardano blockchain. The development team is constantly implementing updates to improve the protocol and ensure the smooth operation of its functions.

This is not the only FUD that the co-founder had to refute over the weekend. Another news item concerned the alleged cooperation with the digital identification platform World Mobile and its scaling plan.

_"Man, it's raining FUD this weekend, and I'm not sure about the origin. I guess it's that time of the cycle where everyone freaks out about Cardano's potential and roadmap, so they throw a wave of FUD at us"_ [commented](https://twitter.com/IOHK_Charles/status/1769452455257845806) Hoskinson.

[DefiLlama](https://twitter.com/IOHK_Charles/status/1769452455257845806)'s data shows that Cardano has shown a significant increase in total blocked value (TVL). On March 14, the figure reached a record high of $520 million.