web3 Memo #21
Welcome! If you’re new here, web3 Memo is a weekly email where I curate the best of web3 headlines I’ve consumed recently. Get your free weekly email here:
Happy Monday to you all, and Happy Memorial Day weekend to our U.S. frens! I hope you’re all having a great time with your family and loved ones.
It was another busy week again for me personally with work project deadlines and family matters. In fact, still trying to get through a lengthy to-do list for this week so I’ll dive right in!
📰 In the News
German Automotive OEM Audi launches fractional NFTs of The Art of Progress; an animated art installation that uses AI.
Adidas teamed up with China’s Tencent to host a virtual concert that attracted 1.3M participants.
Frédéric Arnault, CEO of TAG Heuer, showed off his latest acquisition; a Bored Ape NFT. While his brother Alexandre Arnault of Tiffany & Co also re-affirms publicly of his belief in the JPEGs (aka NFTs).
Condé Nast, publisher of glossy titles such as Vogue, Wired, The New Yorker, and GQ, launched a dedicated web3 team with a strategy around extended storytelling, creator partnerships and member perks leveraging web3 technologies.
Rival publisher Hearst, with media brands that include Harper's Bazaar, ELLE, Esquire and Cosmopolitan, launches HearstX in the UK - its new experiences division.
Sony readies Metaverse revolution with a cross-platform push, Reuters reports. Sony also shared its corporate strategy pillars that include Metaverse at the Annual Corporate Strategy Meeting.
Atari announced a web3 initiative dubbed Atari X.
Netflix launched a digital scavenger hunt inviting players to find and mint NFT collectibles with the recent release of Love, Death, and Robots - Season 3.
NFL partnered with Mythical Games to develop the NFT-based game NFL Rivals. The fantasy football game—where users act as an NFL team’s general manager—will feature all 32 teams and all league players as tradeable NFTs.
Coinbase became the first crypto company to break into Fortune 500, landing at 437. It reported 2021 annual revenues of $7.8B, just over the $6.4B qualifying criteria.
French banking giant BNP Paribas joins JPMorgan’s Onyx Blockchain repo platform that enables intraday borrowing against liquid assets.
Diageo-owned Johnnie Walker teamed up with NFT Marketplace BlockBar to drop 7 bottles of exceptionally rare whisky as NFTs, plus exclusive VIP experience for ~$35,000.
Boutique fitness brand Dogpound announces an NFT release in support of New York City students’ fitness and web3 education.
Callaway, one of the largest golf equipment manufacturers and owner of driving-range game Topgolf, joins LinksDAO as Equity Investor and Strategic Partner.
Dubai creates a special committee to help solidify its position in the Metaverse.
💻 Tech Platforms, Wallet Providers & NFT Marketplaces
Solana overtakes Ethereum in daily NFT trading volume while Magic Eden is closing the gap with OpenSea with its impressive growth.
Australian unicorn start-up Immutable released the first cross-rollup liquidity solution layer for NFTs. Listen to this podcast by Bankless with Immutable Co-Founders on what it is and what all means for the NFT space (58 mins).
NFT Marketplace Rarible is deploying on Immutable L2.
GameStop is bringing Immutable X’s gaming collections to its future NFT marketplace.
Mirror launched ‘Writing NFTs’ to allow creators to mint their writing as NFTs and set a customisable supply and price for it.
MetaMask partners with Asset Reality to help victims of wallet hacks.
🐻 Notable Projects
NBA Top Shot reaches $1B in all-time sales; huge milestone for Dapper Labs and its Flow blockchain.
Dolce & Gabbana shared details on the DGFamily Glassbox reveal, alongside a future roadmap.
Nike’s RTFKT purchases ‘DotSwoosh’ ENS domain for 19.72 ETH (~$35K).
STEPN to block mainland China users (IP addresses) in compliance with regulations. Mainland Chinese users account for 5% of the platform's overall user base.
💰 Deals & Dollars
Andreessen Horowitz launches the largest crypto fund ever with $4.5B, just days after it announced another $600M gaming fund. And they’re looking to hire a meme lord if anyone’s interested.
WeWork Co-Founder Adam Neumann is back in the game with a blockchain-based carbon trading project Flowcarbon, and his redemption story is now sponsored by a16z, Horowitz's crypto unit.
Sequoia makes another big bet on web3, leading $450M investment in Polygon blockchain.
…. and more tracked here by MilkRoad.
Other things I read, listened to and watched - and found interesting below.
📖 Read
Adam Mosseri Says He Wants Big Tech to Give Up Control by Wired: the Head of Instagram has a vision for using web3 to shift power from tech platforms to content creators—which he says will ultimately benefit both.
Warner Music's Oana Ruxandra on How web3 is Transforming the Music Industry by Music Week: WMG’s Chief Digital Officer explains the music studio’s strategy in NFTs, virtual real estate, and gaming.
Summer 2022: NFT Winter? by Lisa Xu: the writer digs into the data and creator sentiment to help answer the very question on everyone’s mind - “will the summer of 2022 be the beginning of a long NFT winter?”
🎧 Listen
Market Design Masterclass with Scott Komiers (52:35 mins) by Tokens, But How? Scott is a professor at Harvard Business School. He is also a part of a16z’s crypto research team, and an advisor to many web3 companies. If you prefer reading instead, here’s a transcript of the podcast.
▶️ Watch
DraftKings Goes Crypto (36 mins) by Decrypt: DraftKings CEO Jason Robins shared how the sports entertainment and gaming company is embracing NFTs as prizes, when it might accept crypto for entry fees and bets, and how his experience dealing with regulators and lawmakers mirrors what crypto companies are now going through in Washington.
Thanks for reading!
If you have any questions, feedback or even want to say hi, feel free to hit me up in the DM’s on Twitter or just reply to this email!
love it! Thank you for this Than <3