web3 Memo #20
Welcome! If you’re new here, I aggregate & curate the best of web3 headlines every week; on what major brands, key public figures and projects are up to. Get your free weekly email here:
Happy Monday! and I hope you’ve had a relaxing weekend.
To the web3 Memo frens who got in touch over the past week with feedback, questions and interesting points of views - thank you. I’ve been less responsive on emails & on social media due to illness in the family and with work deadlines. I apologise if I have yet to respond but I do read every single message and I’ll reply as soon as possible.
📰 In the News
Mercedes-Benz joins LVMH, Richemont, PRADA and OTB as the 5th founding member of Aura Blockchain Consortium. Aura will enable Mercedes to explore new strategic dimensions of digital brand development and provide blockchain and NFT technology that can be used to elevate customer experiences.
Hublot (LVMH) secured an ENS domain (Hublot.eth) to continue with its web3 journey after launching Hublot x Takashi Murakami NFTs last month.
TAG Heuer (LVMH) partnered with BitPay to accept crypto payments online in the US.
Kering-owned Balenciaga will also accept crypto payments in all of its flagship stores in the US.
Balmain announced partnership with MINTNFT and Ripple XRPL - “to create Balmain’s space in the Metaverse—and to work on a host of singular and exciting projects in the future.”
Fast fashion retailer Boohoo dropped a generative avatar NFT collection named “boohooverse” which promises its holders with a range of utilities; including 20% off online orders and future airdrops with access to celebrity collaborations and music festivals.
Bella Hadid announced an NFT collection “CY-B3LLA”, in partnership with REBASE, as a new way for her to connect with fans.
Linktree (the link-in-bio service for creators to promote their web links in one place) has added support for Ethereum NFTs via an OpenSea integration, NFT-gated access points and a brand-new NFT gallery feature.
eBay launches a genesis NFT collection in partnership with web3 platform OneOf.
Meta files five trademark applications for 'Meta Pay' teasing crypto and digital payment platform features.
Apple showed its new AR/VR headset to the board indicating the development of the device has reached an advanced stage, according to Bloomberg. It’ll be its major new product category since the Apple Watch in 2015.
The U.S. military is building its own Metaverse, using the virtual and augmented reality, Wired reports.
Atlanta Braves partnered with Epic Games on the first MLB stadium replicated in the Metaverse.
Getty Images will team up with Candy Digital to transform its extensive library, including iconic and defining moments from its 170-year-old photographic archive, into a diverse portfolio of NFT products & collections.
Mr. Bean is set to debut its digital collectible NFTs in collaboration with producer Banijay and FOMO Lab.
Universal Music Group and LimeWire (yes, that file sharing service but its new web3 version) signed a global deal which will enable UMG artists and its myriad imprint labels to release NFTs on LimeWire’s Algorand marketplace.
UK’s Wembley Stadium adopts blockchain mobile ticketing, powered by TIXNGO, starting with Ed Sheeran’s upcoming concert in June.
Japanese investment bank Nomura confirms plans for a new digital asset company to provide institutional clients and investors with products and services linked to cryptocurrencies, stable coins, decentralised finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other tokens.
Global consulting firm Accenture is onboarding all its 150,000 new hires this year in the Metaverse. It also purchased over 60,000 Oculus headsets for its new employees to use, and says “we believe what we've created, and are operating in the largest enterprise Metaverse in the world,” - Fortune reports.
Big four accounting firm EY unveils supply chain tracking service on Polygon Nightfall.
💻 Tech Platforms, Wallet Providers & NFT Marketplaces
OpenSea launches a new marketplace protocol dubbed ‘Seaport’. Bidders who use the protocol can bundle different assets in exchange for an NFT, unlike now where only crypto can be exchanged for an NFT.
Ledger will launch a new browser extension that lets users easily connect their hardware wallet to web3 applications.
Coinbase unveiled a new dApp wallet and dApp browser system.
Revolut plans to launch a native token ‘REVcoin’, a non-custodial Ethereum wallet as well as staking and lending services in its main app.
Robinhood announced the development of a non-custodial and multi-chain web3 wallet compatible with NFTs.
GameStop launched a self-custodial crypto and NFT wallet.
Aave launched Lens Protocol on Polygon. It’s an open-source tech stack that lets developers build decentralised social networking applications.
Gem introduced a new feature that allows sending NFTs to another wallet in batch.
web3 platform Foundation is now open to all creators.
NFT Worlds released a high-level deck highlighting platform stats and roadmap.
Sandbox announced their 2022 roadmap and SAND airdrops to all land owners.
🐻 Notable Projects
Nike’s RTKFT announced owners of the Space Drip NFTs will be able to redeem the sneaker NFT and ‘forge’ to claim the physical sneaker for 0.333 ETH.
Azuki holders were airdropped with special tokens that will be redeemable for a limited edition Azuki Twin Tigers jacket, which will be completely free of charge.
Tom Sachs: Rocket Factory airdropped Spacesuit MMU Jetpack Smart Wearable to Mothership Ticket NFT holders.
Moonbirds holders were airdropped Oddities which will reveal in July.
World of Women appointed a new COO.
Wagmi-san opened a new 10KTF shop.
DeGods announced a new collection named Duppies.
Cool Cats released their 2022 roadmap.
First-ever VeeCon took place in Minneapolis. As it came to a close, Gary Vee and Snoop Dog took the stage to announce a collab called ‘DoggFriends.’
Bored Ape Yacht Club announced its second annual gathering Apefest.
💰 Deals & Dollars
Peer-to-peer filing sharing service Napster was acquired by web3 companies; Hivemind and Algorand…… Nansen acquires DeFi Portfolio Tracker….. Andreessen Horowitz debuts $600M gaming fund…… Blockchain gaming startup N3TWORK Studios raised $46M in Series A….. Singapore-based Metaverse start-up BUD raised $37M in Series B… and more tracked here by VenturePost.
Other things I read, listened to and watched - and found interesting below.
📖 Read
The Merge: what effects will it have to ETH? - by Blockworks Research. Context: Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin confirmed at the ETH Shanghai web 3.0 Developer Summit that the Merge will happen in the summer.
Virtual Beings: a new Internet-native medium for shared storytelling by Justin McAfee - to explore how web3 has ushered in a whole new era of innovation around the space; from AI, 3D modelling and animations to synthetic media.
Struggling digital artist turns to NFTs, goes viral on Twitter. An artist who previously earned less than $10,000 a year sold his first NFT for more than $40,000.
State of Crypto report by a16z. One of the interesting highlights (to me) was on creator earnings. In 2021, around ~22K creators collectively made $3.9B from primary sales of Ethereum-based NFTs and royalties paid from secondary sales on OpenSea. Figures likely to be much more if we include other blockchains and marketplaces. When compared to web2 creator platforms such as Spotify, YouTube and Facebook, this leads to a significantly higher payout per creator. What does it mean for the future of creator economy?
🎧 Listen
State of Crypto and web3 (45 mins) by Techmeme Ride Home with a16z’s Chris Dixon on the recent report (above).
▶️ Watch
Instagram bringing NFTs to 2.9B people (65 mins) by Bankless with co-founders of Polygon. It was all over the headlines last week; watch this clip to go deeper into how Meta, together with Polygon and other blockchains, could enable mass adoption of NFTs and web3 via their platforms.
That’s it for this week.
Thanks for reading & have a great week!