Shalini Nagarajan

<div id="highlights-block_62a1aa8ae050e" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>&#8220;Silence of the Lambs&#8221; actor changes his Twitter handle to ENS name ‘AHopkins.eth’</li>
 <li>Critics suggest NFT interest has been shrinking, but data shows 183% jump in NFT marketplace collections from last year</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins is the latest celebrity to drop his Ethereum domain name on social media, joining a number of other public figures using their <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/what-is-the-ethereum-name-service-ens/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ethereum Name Service</a> as Twitter usernames.



On Wednesday, the 84-year-old Welsh actor changed <a href="https://twitter.com/AnthonyHopkins" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">his verified Twitter name</a> to a crypto wallet address, similar to a website URL or email address.



This naming system, based on the Ethereum blockchain, is similar to the Domain Name Service that matches IP addresses to simple website names. In Hopkins’ case, it turns his complex wallet address “0x5b4b7f43140e79a4452408ce10dd64fd17d8a2e5” into the easily readable “<a href="https://app.zerion.io/0x5b4b7f43140e79a4452408ce10dd64fd17d8a2e5/overview" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AHopkins.eth</a>.”



It isn’t the first time Hopkins has displayed an interest in Web3. His latest sci-fi movie “Zero Contact” was the first feature film to be distributed as a NFT late last year, skipping the traditional theater release route.



In addition to his Twitter handle update, Hopkins <a href="https://twitter.com/AnthonyHopkins/status/1534576219458375680" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">asked</a> fellow celebrities Snoop Dogg, Jimmy Fallon and Reese Witherspoon for recommendations on which NFT (non-fungible token) he should snap up.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">I’m astonished by all the great NFT artists. Jumping in to acquire my first piece, any recommendations? <a href="https://twitter.com/SnoopDogg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SnoopDogg</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/jimmyfallon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JimmyFallon</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ReeseW?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ReeseW</a> <a href="https://t.co/pjeP8dVNfD">pic.twitter.com/pjeP8dVNfD</a>&mdash; AHopkins.eth (@AnthonyHopkins) <a href="https://twitter.com/AnthonyHopkins/status/1534576219458375680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 8, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Fallon responded: “There [are] a bunch of great artists out there, and it’s a fun community in general. But, as the great Aaron Neville once said, ‘I don’t know much — but I know I love you.’ And that may be all you need to know. DM me.”



The TV host and comedian is an NFT owner in popular collections including the <a href="https://twitter.com/jimmyfallon/status/1459164143626424321?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bored Ape Yacht Club</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/jimmyfallon/status/1522723486778679296" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Moonbirds</a>. Rapper Snoop Dogg is <a href="https://twitter.com/Blockworks_/status/1533397830718697473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">opening</a> a Bored Ape NFT-themed dessert restaurant in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Witherspoon is a Web3 champion whose media company Hello Sunshine is <a href="https://www.protocol.com/bulletins/reese-witherspoon-nfts" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">partnering</a> with NFT collective World of Women for films and TV shows.



An NFT is a unique cryptoasset with a digital fingerprint that cannot be replicated, meaning that it can’t be replaced by another such token. Just like the authentic &#8220;Starry Night&#8221; painting by Van Gogh can’t be swapped with a duplicate, you can’t clone an NFT.



Suggestions have been floating that the NFT space is waning following a record-breaking growth in 2021, but recent data dispels that notion.



According to <a href="https://cryptomonday.de/news/2022/05/23/the-daily-average-amount-collectors-sent-to-nft-marketplaces-has-grown-by-183percent-in-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CryptoMonday.de</a>, collectors sent $37 billion to NFT marketplaces in the first quarter of 2022 — that’s a 183% jump from 2021, or nearly $308 million in daily remittances. In 2021, collectors sent $40 billion, or roughly $109 million in average daily payments, to NFT marketplaces.



Another study by <a href="https://www.los-muertos.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Los Muertos</a> found California nabbed the top spot as the most NFT-obsessed state, with data showing the term “NFT” was the most searched there than in any other state in the past year. This high ranking could be attributed to the number of celebrity endorsements of NFTs, experts said.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter</a>.



Get alpha directly in your inbox with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">0xResearch newsletter</a> — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.



The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Subscribe to daily Solana news</a> from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Sir Anthony Hopkins Claims Ethereum Name, Seeks First NFT Purchase

Morgan Chittum

<div id="highlights-block_619bd8a66a9be" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>This is the largest Series A funding round for any crypto company, MoonPay said in a blogpost on Monday</li>
 <li>Other participants in the financing round include Paradigm, Blossom Capital, Thrive Capital and NEA</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



MoonPay, a cryptocurrency payment services provider, raised a whopping $555 million in Series A funding, the company announced on Monday. This brings the Miami-based startup to a post-money valuation of $3.4 billion, according to a press release. 



The fresh capital will go towards expanding staff, scaling up MoonPay’s crypto payment solutions and its efforts to drive mainstream adoption of the digital asset class at-large, according to co-founder and CEO Ivan Soto-Wright. 



&#8220;The raise will provide the funds to continue with our aggressive growth ambitions in markets around the world to support our core goal of giving the next one billion people access to cryptocurrency by 2030,&#8221; Soto-Wright told Blockworks. &#8220;With this fundraise, we will also grow our world-class team and support an expanding number of innovations in the crypto economy for our partners, creators and users.&#8221;



Led by Tiger Global Management and Coatue, other participants in the financing round include Paradigm, Blossom Capital, Thrive Capital and NEA. This is the largest Series A funding round for any crypto company globally, MoonPay said in a <a href="https://www.moonpay.com/blog/funding-round" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blogpost</a>.



&#8220;Crypto is growing rapidly, but bringing aboard the next billion people requires services that make it even easier to access,” Matt Huang, co-founder of Paradigm, said in a statement. “MoonPay has built a simple and secure way for people globally to participate in this new economy.&#8221;



MoonPay allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies using bank cards and mobile wallets. The company made <a href="https://www.moonpay.com/blog/post-malone" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">headlines</a> earlier this month for its feature on artists Post Malone and The Weeknd’s music video. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc0tLGWIqxA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">“One Right Now”</a> has racked up over 12 million views and features Malone buying a non-fungible token (NFT) via MoonPay’s platform. (Malone owns two Bored Apes, which he purchased for a combined $734,401 or 160 ether.)&nbsp;



Founded in 2019, the company has onboarded a slew of other celebrities into the crypto world, including <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K20WJixuLV0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jimmy Fallon</a>. Fallon announced that he used the startup’s services to buy his first NFT, describing “MoonPay [as] PayPal, but for crypto.” 



“This historic financing round is a vote of confidence for what we’re doing and where we’re headed next. It’s proof that people believe in our ability to bring the next billion people to crypto, a way station to our final destination: the moon,”<a href="https://www.moonpay.com/blog/funding-round" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> Soto-Wright</a> said.



MoonPay has processed more than $2 billion in transactions and accumulated over 7 million users.



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your inbox every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">