web3 Memo # 18
Happy Monday! I hope you’ve had a restful weekend despite the market jitters surrounding us.
You will have noticed that I’m now using Substack to publish the weekly memos starting this week as the list has grown significantly since January. If this landed in your Promotions folder by mistake, please make sure to move it to your primary inbox and mark as ‘looks safe’.
If you’re new here, I aggregate and curate the best of web3 Internet headlines every week; covering what major brands, key public figures and projects are up to in the space.
📰 What’s in the news…
The holiest of the NFTs are on their way! The Vatican announced plans to launch an NFT gallery, in partnership with the VR company Sensorium, in an effort to ‘democratise art.’ Audiences around the world will be able to view the art, manuscripts and other objects held in the Vatican’s collection.
The Royal Museum Of Fine Arts Antwerp, in association with digital platform Rubey, launched its first art security token offering, centred on Belgium artist James Ensor's 1924 canvas "Carnaval De Binche."
Milan's Ambrosiana Library is set to launch a PFP collection, titled The Visi, based on a number of rarely seen Leonardo da Vinci’s works in its holdings.
GUCCI will begin accepting crypto currencies at select stores in the US.
Luxury health club Equinox will also start accepting cryptocurrency payments in NYC.
Spotify launched its own gaming interface on Roblox called Spotify Island, an interactive place where fans and artists can connect, play, and explore. Plus it has paired with select artists, who will be able to sell their virtual merchandise.
Meta (formerly Facebook) to launch 4 new VR and MR headsets over the next 2 years with its continued push for the Metaverse.
Instagram will soon support NFTs on Ethereum, Polygon, Flow and Solana blockchains; to enable users to showcase their digital assets on-chain.
Snap unveiled new features related to their AR shopping capabilities; including ‘Dress Up’ where items can be worn as 3D models before buying. It also recently announced partnership with Disney to create Virtual Murals at the Cinderella Castle at Disney World using Snap’s Landmarker AR technology.
Amazon (Advertising) brings virtual product placements to Prime Video, Freevee and Twitch. At NewFronts, e-commerce giant demonstrates how even connected TV can augment reality. “These placements can be as small as lip balm or as large as a truck,” said Alan Moss, Amazon’s VP of worldwide ad sales.
Sony and Theta Labs to create 3D NFTs that you can (almost) touch; designed specifically for use with the Sony Spatial Reality Display.
Square Enix, the maker of Tom Raider, sold 3 game studios and the IP for $300M to help its pivot into AI and blockchain gaming.
Starbucks plans to release series of branded NFT collections, the ownership of which initiates community membership, and allows for access to exclusive experiences and perks. Starbuck’s app has over 30M active users.
Johnnie Walker partners up with VeeFriends. A few lucky VeeFriend holders are getting a custom designed, limited edition Johnnie Walker Blue Label bottle and drinking accessories.
Remember the Cronuts craze? Its 9th anniversary, commemorated with NFT collection, courtesy of Dominique Ansel.
Italy’s top-flight football league Serie A becomes the first football league to broadcast in the Metaverse, according to Reuters.
Blockchain technology platform Algorand scores FIFA partnership, sponsors this year’s World Cup and next year’s Women’s World Cup.
Crypto.com to create first-of-its-kind NFT collection generated by the speed and sound of the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix.
Redbull partnered with Tezos and Bitski on an NFT collection, dubbed Red Bull Guest House Keys, for its Miami Grand Prix ticket experience.
Block (formerly Square) posts $1.73B in Bitcoin transactions in Q1. 10M CashApp accounts have purchased Bitcoin since its introduction to the user base in 2018.
Goldman Sachs offers first Bitcoin-backed loan.
VanEck, a multi-billion dollar asset management fund, launched its first NFT collection; a set of 1,000 items divided into several rarity levels with benefits such as early access to the company's digital asset research, and invitations to in-person events.
Dubai’s crypto regulator to launch Metaverse headquarters in The Sandbox.
Securities and Exchange Commission will double its crypto unit staff to help investigate abuses and corruption.
💻 Platforms & Marketplaces
Last Sunday, OpenSea set a new record for Ethereum NFTs facilitating nearly $500M in volume, shattering the $323M record set last August 29.
Coinbase NFT marketplace is now open to everyone, but it’s off to a slow start with fewer than 150 users on the first day.
Kraken, the second largest crypto exchange in the US, announced the launch of an NFT marketplace with subsidised Ethereum transaction fees for its users. It will allow users to trade NFTs custodied with Kraken with no gas fees, and use NFTs as collateral for loans.
Blur announced that it will open beta access to its trader-focussed NFT marketplace.
Tangible, a new NFT marketplace that converts real-world assets into NFTs is officially live. You can currently buy watches, wines, and gold and redeem your NFT for the physical object.
USC football stars Caleb Williams and Matt Leinart created an NFT platform built to help athletes capitalise on their NIL rights - now and in the future.
Fan token platform Socios signed a big Major League Soccer (MLS) deal.
The crypto exchange Gemini launched a web3 design studio SuperLunar to help develop solutions and solve problems around NFTs, tokenisation, the Metaverse and more.
The Metaverse VR company Spatial adds support for full-body virtual avatars.
🐻 Notable Projects
The decentralised and autonomous asset manager Index Coop launched NFT index token called JPG. The token derives its value from the underlying NFT market and fluctuates depending on the value of the NFTs that it marks. This provides users with a broad exposure to the NFT market.
Nike’s RTFKT announces IRL Clone X Experience in Brooklyn, NY.
Poolsuite NFT project launches ManorDAO to buy a giant Manor.
Elon Musk trolled the Bored Apes Yacht Club crowd.
ApeCoin is now integrated with Polygon network.
Big projects are hiring suits;
Doodles hired President of Billboard Julian Holguin, to be its new CEO.
Mable Jiang leaves Multicoin Capital to join STEPN as its Chief Revenue Officer.
Cool Cats are on the hunt for a new CEO.
💰 Deals & Dollars
Hivemapper, the web3 competitor to Google Maps, raises $18M…...Haun Ventures led a $50M round into NFT platform Zora……Americana got $6.9M for their chip that turns physical luxury items into NFTs…… and more here, courtesy of MilkRoad.
And, as always, other things I read, listened to and watched - and found interesting below.
📖 Read
Token Gated Commerce by Packy McCormick and Alex Danco (Shopify’s crypto person). Exploring what will be possible when businesses are more “wallet-aware” and know what crypto assets we hold.
7 Essential Ingredients of a Metaverse by Arianna Simpson, Eddy Lazzarin and Liz Harkavy of a16z.
State of Solana Q1 2022 by Messari. Solana experienced continued growth in developer activity, network infrastructure, usage and overall ecosystem during the quarter. It also experienced network performance challenges and declines in financial performance. What does the road ahead look like?
We’re on the brink of a revolution in venture capital… thread 🧵 by @pet3rpan.
🎧 Listen
Why Music NFTs are Better than Spotify (Unchained): Laura Shin sits with the crypto-friendly artist RAC, and David Greenstein, co-founder of Sound.xyz, a web3 music platform, to analyse the current state of the web3 music scene and discuss how artists can leverage web3 tools to get paid at fair market value for their art.
▶️ Watch
Ethereum's Hollywood Moment | Camila Russo (Bankless): Camila Russo, founder of The Defiant, is bringing Ethereum to Hollywood with the feature film adaptation of her fantastic book "The Infinite Machine." Reflecting on how she got to this point and the long road ahead, our biggest questions are... wen movie? Who's going to play Vitalik? And how can YOU get involved?
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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