web3 Memo #19
Welcome! If you’re new here, I aggregate & curate the best of web3 Internet headlines every week; covering what major brands, key public figures and projects are up to in the space. Get your free weekly email here:
We had a very interesting week to say the least! Everyone knows there’s a broader downturn in the stock markets with increased inflation & the CPI and the rate hikes, but for it to be accompanied by $200B of crypto value wiped off the market within a day - it was indeed very brutal! The plunge was also driven by the hottest and largest algorithmic stable coin Terra UST going up in flames; as the coin broke its peg to the dollar triggering a death spiral which eventually led to its collapse. Many lost their life savings and the impact felt across all adjacent sectors.
I rarely talk about crypto in my weekly emails, and it’s for a few good reasons. I personally follow the sector closely to trade and invest. As far as discussing about it goes, there are certainly plenty of degens far more qualified than me so there’s simply no need.
Generally speaking - when I look at what’s happening in web3, blockchains & crypto, I try to map them into roughly 3 broad categories;
DeFi and the applications built on top of it.
Brands & Creators Monetisation so it includes NFTs, The Metaverse and all things that influence the consumer culture; music, fashion & the arts etc.
Then there’s the rest, and often include projects that are re-imagining the future of existing infrastructures and ecosystems by using web3 native ethos and community & capital formation methods (e.g. Helium).
#2 is what I am most interested in and feel most excited about. That’s also what you’ll hear me discuss most about despite all the doom and gloom that surrounds us in the money markets. With that, let’s crack on!
📰 News of the Week
Instagram integrates NFTs into the platform; enabling users to connect a digital wallet, share NFTs and automatically tag creators and collections. It’s currently only available to select US users. For context, Twitter launched NFT profile picture verification feature in January and Spotify is soon following suit with plans to test features to allow artists promote NFTs on their profiles.
Mark Zuckerberg also commented that Meta plans to bring “similar functionality to Facebook soon and into other apps” and is also working on “augmented reality NFTs on Instagram Stories.”
Zuck also demonstrated how Meta’s next Mixed Reality headset will work as it continues to expand to meet their Metaverse ambitions. Worth noting though, Gen Z - the first truly digital natives - do not want a Facebook only Metaverse according to a recent research report by Multytude.
Google wrapped up its I/O presentation with a surprise demo of its new AR glasses that painted a very cool picture of a potential AR future. It kind of reminded me of the film “Free Guy” with Ryan Reynolds from last year.
Google is also forming a dedicated web3 team in its Cloud division to capitalise on booming popularity of web3 and crypto.
Roblox CEO spoke on the recent earnings call of the ability, in the future, to take Roblox virtual items off the platform wrapped in an NFT; allowing true user ownership and further IRL utilities outside its ecosystem.
WPP (the world’s largest ad agency group by revenues) and Epic Games partner to accelerate innovation for brands in the Metaverse.
NASA teamed up with Epic Games to create a VR environment, using Unreal Engine 5, to prepare astronauts for life on Mars. On a related but separate note, game engine technologies have advanced in dazzling leaps and bounds; check out this Unreal Engine 5 demo of a Japanese train station which has been going viral this week.
The city of Seoul, South Korea, shared initial details on their 5-year plan for a smart city Metaverse called “Metaverse Seoul.” The South Korean Government pledged $187M, in February, into building a “world-class Metaverse ecosystem.”
Sorare, the French start-up with a recent valuation of $4.3B, announced plans to launch an MLB (Major League Basketball) Ethereum NFT fantasy game.
Manchester City and PUMA announced their first collaborative digital art drop, 93:20, created by digital artist Musketon. The collection is an homage to the iconic 93:20 goal scored by Sergio Aguero, released to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the club's first Premier League title.
Emirates Airline will soon accept Bitcoin payments and launch an NFT collection.
AMBUSH joined forces with Monkey Kingdom for an exclusive collaboration; comprised of a unique NFT collectible and a physical T-shirt.
De Beers announced Tracr™; the world’s first blockchain-backed diamond source platform at scale.
Hong Kong’s K11 Musea puts on the Metavision Tour that spans across all nine floors of the cultural retail concept complex with immersive experiences. The exhibition showcases some 200 NFT works by 30 digital artists from world’s most coveted projects.
Florence's Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi is hosting Let's Get Digital!, to take visitors on a journey through NFT digital art installations and multimedia experiences, created by international artists such as Refik Anadol, Anyma, Daniel Arsham, Beeple, Krista Kim and Andrés Reisinger.
Digital artist Refik Anadol’s ‘Living Architecture: Casa Batlló’: the dynamic NFT of the façade of Antoni Gaudí’s iconic Casa Batlló in Barcelona was sold at Christie's for $1.38M.
Madonna and digital artist Beeple launched a collection of provocative NFTs on the popular curated NFT marketplace SuperRare. Proceeds from the sale will go to non-profits focussed on supporting women and children.
The Chainsmokers to give away NFTs that include streaming music royalties of an entire album. 5,000 super fans will receive an NFT that entitles them to a share in 1% of their royalties which will be paid out quarterly or semi-annually. Fans were chosen based on their Discord activity, record of concert attendance and music streaming etc.
💻 Tech Platforms & Marketplaces
web3 developer platform QuickNode acquires NFT analytics platform Icy Tools.
NFT marketplace aggregator Genie integrated AI powered NFT appraisal tool by Upshot.
NFT Plazas launched automated ad booking system for brands and projects to place customised billboard ads in virtual worlds including Decentraland.
🐻 Notable Projects
Azuki project’s founder found himself in hot water, surrounded by controversies.
Yuga Labs’ Otherside, the Bored Ape Yacht Club Metaverse, showed off a demo of its forthcoming game which is being developed by Improbable.
$APE holders are voting on two new ApeCoin DAO proposals.
Doodles dropped free Dooplicator airdrops.
10KTF launched Battle.town.
Invisible Friends to drop a collaboration with KITH.
💰 Deals & Dollars
Dapper Labs raised $250M in new funding and announced a $750M ecosystem fund to grow its Flow blockchain……Chainalysis valued at $8.6B after $1.7M raise…..web3 development platform Moralis reels in $40M in Series A……Barcelona-based Freeverse got €10.5M to develop “living asset” NFTs….. and more here, courtesy of MilkRoad.
Other things I read, listened to and watched - and found interesting below.
📖 Read
To Start Building a Community, Master These Two Concepts by Amber Atherton of Discord. An excellent piece to read at a time like this when we’re seeing a meta shift in projects from relying on speculators for growth to building for real users & communities. Amber explains that a community isn't just about people using your brand or writing glowing reviews but it is about people spending time forming connections with other people based on a shared affinity for it (brand/service/products).
The Economy of You by Mario Gabriele at The Generalist. A good read in which he argues that we will soon see ‘creator ETFs’ and other forms of investable web3 social assets.
Music NFT Sales Analysis by Water and Music Community. A 51 slides mega deck with learnings from tracking ~1500 music NFT drops throughout 2021, representing more than $86M in primary sales.
web3 Is Our Chance to Make a Better Internet by Li Jin and Katie Parrott: on the principles we need to agree on that’ll enable us to build and design an internet that is fair and equitable.
Decentralized Society: Finding web3’s Soul by Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin, economist Glen Weyl and Flashbots researcher Puja Ohlhave. The authors attempt to illustrate how non-transferable “soulbound” tokens (SBTs) representing the commitments, credentials, and affiliations of “Souls” can encode the trust networks of the real economy to establish provenance and reputation.
🎧 Listen
Fashion in the Metaverse - Randi Zuckerberg chats with guests from alice + olivia, Decentraland, The Dematerialised, LUKSO and with my friend Nina from FARFETCH about where the fashion industry is in the digital world, what’s next for it, how it fits into the online world, and why virtual fashion will revolutionise the industry as we know it.
▶️ Watch
Crypto Boy - probably the best thing that came out last week on social media amidst all the dramas - IYKYK 😉
I hope you enjoyed this email as much as I did learning about all these projects. If you have any feedback at all, please let me know.
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