web3 Memo #23
đ If youâre new here, web3 Memo is a weekly email where I curate the best of web3 content Iâve consumed recently. Get your free weekly newsletter:
GM. I hope youâre having a great week so far!
Before we get started, please note that there will be no web3 Memo next week since Iâm travelling for the rest of this week and all of next week.
Iâll be in New York for NFT.NYC. Some of youâve already reached out and arranged to meet up - thank you! If you happen to be around during 21-23 June and are available to catch up, please let me know.
đ° In the News
FARFETCH to begin accepting crypto payments, and will offer the technology to its brand and boutique partners.
Tommy Hilfiger expands presence on Roblox with âTommy Playâ space - featuring mini games and Tommy Coins.
Lacoste launches NFTs; allowing owners to âco-createâ designs.
LâOrĂ©al owned NYX partnered with People of Crypto Lab and The Sandbox for an immersive NFT experience, with diversity and inclusion in mind.
EstĂ©e Lauder owned Clinique released an NFT make-up campaign âA Metaverse more like us,â in collaboration with digital artist Daz 3D.
Budweiser is now the official sponsor of Zed Run, the hugely popular NFT-based digital horse racing game.
Adobe Analytics moves to track ads in the Metaverse, by analysing how consumers interact with branded experiences.
Salesforce launched its enterprise NFT Cloud, but will only support PoS blockchains - meaning no Ethereum, for now.
Alibaba Cloud launched NFT solution, then quickly memory holes it.
Samsung launched a Discord server to support their web3 plans.
TikTokâs parent ByteDance prepares US expansion with Pico VR.
Epic Gamesâ Unreal Engine teams up with Timberland to marry fashion design and Fortnite.
Pace Verso, a contemporary art gallery, entered into a partnership with the generative art platform Art Blocks that will centre around generative art releases.
Billboard released its NFT collection for sale. The digital collectibles will grant users access to events, concert tickets, special collections and more.
Nickelodeon is turning your favourite shows into NFTs.
Sir Anthony Hopkins claims ENS domain name and seeks his first NFT purchase.
Law firm Holland and Knight served an anonymous defendant with a temporary restraining order via an NFT airdrop.
Mastercard announced integrations with seven leading NFT and web3 players to make it easier for people to buy NFTs using their Mastercard. There are 2.9 billion Mastercard cards worldwide.
$40B payments giant Checkout.com starts accepting stable coins in a major crypto push.
PayPal enables crypto transfers to external wallets and exchanges.
Coinbase slashes workforce by 18% to prepare for 'extended' crypto winter.
Crypto.com cutting 5% of workforce amid digital asset downturn.
Binance is looking to hire 2,000 staff despite the crypto turmoil.
ââđ» Tech, Platforms & Marketplaces
Neal Stephenson, who coined the term âMetaverseâ, is building a free Metaverse called Lamina1.
Polygon partners with NFTically to launch e-commerce Metaverse, allowing businesses to build immersive storefronts in a virtual world.
OpenSea moved to its new Seaport Protocol which offers major improvements on its current infrastructure.
đ» Notable Projects
Nikeâs RTKFT announced a collaboration with Byredo (Puig) to bet on visual âaura.â
Goblintown founders doxxed themselves and are the team behind Truth Labs.
CryptoPunks turned 5.
CatBlox x PUMA Capsule Collection completed mint and reveal.
Gutter Cat Gang signed Tyrese Rice for TBT 2022.
Cool Cats partners with The Sandbox to offer holders 3D avatars.
sartoshi transferred control of the mfers project to the community and vanished.
đ° Deals & Dollars
Felix Capital raises $600M to boost web3 exposureâŠ. Ledger and Cathay Innovation combine for âŹ100M early stage web3 fundâŠ. Floor announces $8M in funding to make NFTs understandable and accessibleâŠand more tracked here by the MilkRoad team.
Other things I read, listened to and watched - and found interesting below.
đ Read
Gucci Owner Kering Says Crypto âNo Longer Niche,â Wants to be Web3 âPioneersâ - Vogue Business
The Amazing Ways Nike Is Using The Metaverse, Web3 And NFTs - Forbes
On Why the Metaverse Needs Crypto - punk6529 đ§”
Cryptoeconomics - Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok. Acclaimed by agm as âperhaps the sexiest introduction to cryptography Iâve ever readâ.
Web5: An Extra Decentralized Web Platform - as announced by Jack Dorseyâs TBD, a subsidiary of Block (formerly Square). web5 is based on views that web3 has the right ideas but the wrong tools.
đ§ Listen
The Future of Self-Custody with Ian Rogers of Ledger (64 mins)- Kevin Rose, PROOF.
â¶ïž Watch
Building the Open Metaverse with MeebitsDAO GM, Danny Greene (61 mins)- Overpriced JPEGs
Thanks for reading!