<![CDATA[F T R LENS: Web3 Roundup]]>https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/s/web3-rounduphttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!S820!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F53f4b233-d90d-4604-923a-781e2f42704d_1050x1050.pngF T R LENS: Web3 Rounduphttps://www.lens.ftrworld.com/s/web3-roundupSubstackSun, 19 Apr 2026 01:01:30 GMT<![CDATA[Emerging Tech Round Up 5-6-24]]>https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/emerging-tech-round-up-5-6-24https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/emerging-tech-round-up-5-6-24Mon, 06 May 2024 11:35:53 GMTBrand Activity

Manchester City to Launch Unseen City NFTs

man city unseen city shirts

  • Manchester City is no stranger to NFTs and has been working with their jersey sponsor, OKX, for over two years

  • Their latest drop is the second installment of their free NFT program titled Blue Moon after the iconic 23/24 shirt

  • The free to claim NFTs will be soulbound tokens, meaning they cannot be sold or transferred once claimed

  • The NFTs will have various tiers of rarity and come with perks such as tickets, hospitality booths, merch, and more

  • Manchester City’s last free NFT titled ‘The Roses and the Bees’ saw 67k NFTs claimed in under 5 hours

    • For anyone lucky to receive a rare tier NFT they also got the added perk of tickets to a game as well as a private tour of the stadium

  • Article links:

Louis Vuitton Offers Exclusive Physical to NFT Holders

  • Last year Louis Vuitton sold out 200 soulbound NFT tokens for a whopping $39,000 each

  • These NFTs holders the opportunity to buy an exclusive item every couple months

    • Users must pay for this item but it will very exclusive as it is only available to that unchanging group of 200 holders

  • The third exclusive offering is a jacket dubbed “Varsity Blouson” by Pharrell and will cost $7.9K if owners choose to purchase it

    • If owners do purchase this item they will be given a digital representation as well as the physical jacket

  • Article links:

Nike / .SWOOSH Offers Gamified Way to Earn Unique Shoes

  • Nike is currently selling their latest Air Force titled ‘The 404’ exclusively to .SWOOSH members

  • As this sale went live, .SWOOSH tweeted out a fun browser based game and stated that the first four thousand players who completed the game via their .SWOOSH account would qualify for exclusive access to a limited edition remix of the product called “404 ERROR”

  • The game was completed by 4,000 players in just a couple minutes after going live

  • It’s interesting to watch Nike funnel their consumer base into using their .SWOOSH accounts more and more

    • In the past they offered a limited time item in the Fortnite marketplace for .SWOOSH players who completed the Nike experience in UEFN

  • Article links:

Artificial Intelligence

Drake vs. Kendrick Rap Beef Leverage AI Verses from Snoop and Tupac

  • Last year, Kendrick Lamar released The Heart Part 5 which made waves for its use of deep fake technology, changing Kendrick into other black celebrities as he rapped

  • Now, deep faking voice is taking center stage and this time being leveraged against Kendrick

  • In a highly visible rap beef, Drake recently deep faked Tupac and Snoop Dogg’s voices to criticize Kendrick Lamar

Sam Altman and Others Join Homeland Security AI Safety Board

  • As AI continues to accelerate, finding it’s way into nearly every aspect of our lives, the government is trying to both understand risk and proactively mitigate against security risk

  • The Department of Homeland Security has assembled what could be referred to as the Justice League of AI to form a safety board

  • The AI safety board consists of over twenty leading AI developers including but not limited to, Sam Altman, Google, Microsoft, Nvidia and more

  • The goal of this board is to help the government harness the power of AI to protect vital US infrastructure as well as mitigate outside AI threats

  • The board will meet this month and will give the secretary of Homeland Security a list of recommendations to help ensure America’s security

  • Article links:

Rabbit AI Fails to Impress

  • Rabbit is the latest piece of AI hardware to be dismantled by Marques Brownlee (who recently called Humane AI’s product the worst he has ever reviewed)

  • So how did Rabbit R1 do? Unfortunately, not much better… while Marques doesn’t call it the worst product that he has ever reviewed, he does call it “barely reviewable”.

  • The Rabbit R1 is a piece of hardware with an inbuilt AI system that can be remotely upgraded

  • Unlike the Humane pin the Rabbit R1 is not wearable and offers a screen to navigate the device in lieu of a projector

  • The device is supposed to act as your digital assistant however it is plagued by many of the issues you would expect including significant latency in the device when asking questions, AI model hallucinations, and a camera that often mis-ID’s

  • What Marques finds the most frustrating is the promise of future utility, which is becoming a trend throughout the tech world… releasing unfinished products and are instead upgraded in the coming months and years

  • The founders of Rabbit have responded to this video claiming the device will be almost unrecognizable in a couple months due to the upgrades

Metaverse / Gaming

NFT Game Rumble Kong Scores Gatorade Deal

Rumble Kong League x Gatorade promotional artwork. Image: Rumble Kong League

  • Rumble Kong League is an upcoming basketball focused mobile game built on the Avalanche blockchain

  • They recently announced they have inked a long term partnership with Gatorade who will be the Official Sports Drink partner of the mobile game

  • Their first activation is already live on the Rumble Kong website

    • Users can complete social quests for G coins which can be inserted in a Gatorade Machine via the website

    • The G Machine will give players access to exclusive skins and wearable items ahead of the mobile games release

  • Rumble Kong also has garnered the support of several basketball players such as Steph Curry who invested via his capital venture fund as well as Paul George

  • Article links:

Supercell to Invest in NFT Gaming

  • When it comes to mobile gaming there a couple standouts that have helped define the genre for over a decade such as Clash of Clans

  • Clash developer Super Cell is starting to look at the possibility of NFT enabled gaming and has invested into a crypto gaming startup “Games for a Living” taking part in their $3.2M seed round

  • “Games for a Living” is led by industry titan Trip Hawkin who founded and led Electronic Arts

  • The studio currently has no playable games out in the marketplace

  • Article links:

Web3 Natives

Pudgy Penguins Enters the Trading Card Space

https://tk-storage.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/host/ckeditor/GMXXNZmXkAAjGRt_20240430165419.jpeg

  • Pudgy Penguins are one of the most dynamic and active NFT collections out there

    • They have digital and physical extensions as well as plushy toys in major retailers across the world like Walmart

  • Most recently, Pudgy Penguins partnered with Orange Cap Games to develop a physical card game based on their IP

    • The game will also be released digitally and onchain

  • As usual Pudgy Penguin holders were able to submit their NFTs to be potentially licensed by Orange Cap and put on the actual cards

  • Orange Cap was offering 200 licensing spots to potential penguins for the images on the cards

  • Article links:

Yuga Announces More Layoffs / Hosts Town Hall in Otherside

  • Yuga has announced yet another round of layoffs coming on the heels of founder Greg Solano stepping back into the role of CEO

  • In explaining his reasoning for the layoffs, Solano went on to state that Yuga had lost its way and that to get back on the right track they needed a smaller swifter team of crypto natives

  • Following that announcement, Yuga held a Town Hall in the metaverse game they are developing to lay out a revised roadmap for the brand

  • Article links:

Crypto

PayPal Integrates MoonPay to Increase + Simplify Crypto Offerings

Stripe Expands Crypto Payments in Major Way

  • Stripe is one of the biggest online payment processing companies in the world doing roughly $1T in volume in 2023

  • Six years ago, it discontinued its crypto offerings on the platform due to user experiences, however at their latest keynote conference the Stripe president announced that crypto is back

  • Stripe will focus first on its stablecoin offerings which are set to go live globally this summer

    • One unique feature is that one user can send a stablecoin like USDC and if the receiver wishes they will automatically receive fiat currency

    • Stripe is building out an extensive network in order to handle crypto payments as well as self custody

    • The willingness to settle USDC for fiat on their part also flags a belief in the underlying asset of a stablecoin

  • Article links:

Consensys Sues the SEC

  • Consensys has had enough of the SEC’s unwillingness to provide clear regulations of their views on the crypto market and has filled a preemptive lawsuit to block the SEC from labelling Ethereum as a security

  • Consensys has a personal stake in this as they have received a Wells Notice and three subpoenas from the SEC

  • If Ethereum were to be labeled a security they would be charged as an unregistered securities broker due to customers being able to send and receive Ethereum via their MetaMask product

  • However the implications are much bigger than the Consensys lawsuit

    • If Ethereum were to be registered as a security the blockchain would effectively be illegal within the United States.

  • Article links:

    • https://forkast.news/consensys-files-lawsuit-against-sec-over-ethereum-status/

]]><![CDATA[Emerging Tech Round Up 4-22-24]]>https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/emerging-tech-round-up-4-22-24https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/emerging-tech-round-up-4-22-24Wed, 24 Apr 2024 12:14:20 GMTBrand Activity

Adidas Announces Long Term Partnership with STEP’N

Leading "move-and-earn" app STEPN partners with adidas on exclusive NFT sneakers

  • STEP’N is a Solana based move-to-earn game that launched in 2021

  • Users can equip NFTs that award tokens when moving, running, or jogging

    • Those tokens can then be used to upgrade your digital sneakers, buy power ups, or be cashed out to USDC

    • STEP’N was one of the first crypto applications to be in the Android and Apple mobile app stores and currently has around 5 million players; perhaps the biggest player base of any Web 3 application.

  • STEP’N announced a long term partnership with Adidas (via the Alts NFT collection)

    • The first of many announced activations will be an NFT sneaker mint that will have perks within the STEP’N game

    • The sneakers will be raffled on STEP’N marketplace starting at $2,500 with the Alts by Adidas’ NFT holders receiving preferential treatment

  • The sneaker mint is getting heavy PR support from Solana and its' affiliates as this marks Adidas’s first foray into the Solana Blockchain

  • Article links:

Nike Releases New .Swoosh Shoe and Sock

  • Nike has released two new items exclusively for their .Swoosh members

    • The first item is an Air Force 1 Low 404 which was inspired by the 404 error page that pops up when you have an incorrect domain

    • The sneaker is exclusively available for .Swoosh members via the SNKRS app

    • The bar to entry is low, as anyone who signs up for a .Swoosh account before April 18th will have access to the drop

  • In other news, .Swoosh also announced an exclusive sock design that will be dropping to members on 4/23

    • A six pack will cost $28 and feature multiple color ways

  • In ‘non-news’, we are still waiting for the promised update from .Swoosh concerning their digital items and interoperability in games that Nike is associated with

  • Article links:

Telegram Doubles Down on Crypto Interoperability

  • Telegram has been working on incorporating the TON blockchain into its social messaging app

    • Their last development introduced a novel way to buy ad space via crypto as well as letting users tokenize their user names

  • This week they announced introducing NFT’s to the platform:

    • Telegram intends to tokenize all stickers, emojis, and gifs native to the platform via the TON Blockchain

    • The use of stickers are popular on all social media apps, but Telegram’s community especially loves them, sharing roughly 700 billion stickers a month

    • We will have to wait and see how the tokenization effects the usage of these stickers and if a marketplace will eventually be introduced

  • Article links:

AI

New Text-to-Music AI Application Udio Impresses

  • In the past, there have been a number of underwhelming music AI applications; with one of the most challenging hurdles for AI has been the ability to pitch someone's voice to different octaves within the same track

  • Udio has solved this and is capable of creating music across a variety of genres

    • The lyrics are surprisingly coherent and enjoyable, and the rhythms and song compositions are well-produced and interesting

    • The quality is comparable to that of songs you might hear on the radio

  • The application itself works like previous image generating applications such as MidJourney

  • The user can write out a prompt in a chat bar that then generates the output which in this case is music

    • The more specific you are in the prompt the better the output

    • The application is also filled with other users’ songs, creating a sort of AI Spotify hybrid

  • Describing the impressive output pales to listening to it, so we encourage you to play around with the platform below

  • Article links:

Humane AI Faces Backlash

Humane officially launches the AI Pin, its OpenAI-powered wearable - The Verge

  • Humane AI released a product called PIN which is a wearable AI device

  • The device runs on its own network and has an internal AI that can answer questions, give you direction, and make recommendations based on your location

  • It also features a projector that is hand activated with users being able to use hand movements to control the dashboard

  • The goal of the product is to act as a sort of replacement of a majority of smart phone features while enabling the user to keep their eyes on their life and not a screen

  • In practice, the AI itself is incredibly unreliable, and unforgivingly slow

    • Siri or Alexa respond much faster than the Humane AI Pin with more accuracy

    • The projector dashboard is hard to use and clunky

    • The price point is high at $700 in addition to a monthly subscription that has a monthly cost to work

    • Tech reviewer Marques Brownlee called it the worst product he has reviewed.

  • Article links:

Metaverse / Gaming

A Bitcoin Based Gaming Console Sells Out Entire Supply

The silhouette of the BitBoy One. Image: Ordz Games

  • Ordz Games is a Bitcoin focused gaming company that recently unveiled its first hardware product which is called BitBoy One

  • BitBoy One resembles a high tech Gameboy of sorts that promises tons of functionality with a $500 price point

  • The BitBoy One can not only run games created on Bitcoin but can also act as an emulator, playing a variety of titles from previous consoles

  • It can also act as a Bitcoin hard wallet as well as mine tokens by simply leaving the device running

  • Article links:

Ragnarok Online Makes the Jump to Crypto

Ragnarok: Monster World Gets Ready to Launch on Ronin | by Zero X And | Ragnarok: Monster World | Apr, 2024 | Medium

  • Ragnarok Online is a widely popular online MMORPG that was released in 2002 and boasts an impressive 167 million downloads

  • It was recently announced that Ragnarok’s next game will be integrated into the Ethereum gaming network Ronin which also houses popular games such as Axie Infinity

  • This partnership focuses on Ragnarok’s upcoming release Ragnarock Monster World which combines tower defense gameplay with monster collecting

    • Users will be able to capture, train, and eventually battle each other’s monsters

    • How exactly Ronin’s blockchain will be utilized has yet to be announced

  • It will be interesting to see if the existing community will take the jump and try out this new release on the Blockchain

  • Article links:

Web3

Yuga Sells off some of its IP

  • In a move that is being welcomed by many within its community Yuga has sold off two of its gaming focused collections

    • The first being HV-MTL which had players creating a visually appealing base that would then be voted on by the rest of the community with winners recieving $APE

    • The second was Legends of Mara was plagued with technical difficulties from day 1

      • However the sale of Legends of Mara is somewhat surprising as the game itself was supposed to set some of the lore up for Yuga’s upcoming game Otherside

  • Yuga’s head of gaming will also be departing the company and joining Farside (the purchaser of these games) as Chief Product Officer

  • Article links:

Doodles Make an Appearance at Coachella

Crypto

Hong Kong Approves ETFs

Uniswap Hit with Lawsuit from SEC

  • Uniswap is one the largest decentralized exchanges built on Ethereum allowing users to swap and sell tokens

  • Decentralized exchanges are sometime preferred in crypto over centralized exchanges due to the security they offer

    • In a decentralized exchange the transactions are done peer to peer with no intermediary, so no bad actor can influence the exchange such as the case was with SBF and FTX

  • Unfortunately the SEC has sent a Wells Notice to Uniswap Labs and intends to sue them over security charges

  • This comes in a broader SEC crackdown within the crypto sector as they have already come for Ripple, Coinbase and others over the last year

  • Uniswap’s founder Hayden Adams vowed to fight the charges in court saying “I am confident that the products we offer are legal and that our work is on the right side of history. But it’s been clear for a while that rather than working to create clear, informed rules, the SEC has decided to focus on attacking long-time good actors like Uniswap and Coinbase, all while letting bad actors like FTX slip by."

  • Article links:

]]><![CDATA[Emerging Tech Round Up 4-8-24]]>https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/emerging-tech-round-uphttps://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/emerging-tech-round-upMon, 08 Apr 2024 14:35:02 GMTBrand Activity

Coachella Launches NFT Enabled Quests

Image: Coachella Music Festival/Ava Labs

  • The popular music festival Coachella has launched an app called “Coachella Canvas” where users will be tasked to complete specific tasks or go to specific locations in order to receive a stamp

    • Stamps can be traded in for perks such as drinks or VIP access

    • This will all be done on the blockchain with stamps as NFT’s, however the consumer will be none the wiser and there is no need to set up anything crypto related to participate

  • Beyond simply being a fun activation, these quests will allow the Coachella organizers to gain insights into the behavior and interests of attendees who choose to participate

  • The choice of implementing blockchain technology was not done as a PR move, rather a Coachella spokesperson was quoted saying “Fans don't know or care that it is an NFT, but an NFT is useful for us because the fan's privacy is still protected, but we can know more about what people want to do on the festival side,” he said. “It's like a new version of a web browser cookie”

  • Article links:

US Government Sues Apple

  • The US Government has launched an antitrust lawsuit against Apple, alleging it has created an illegal monopoly on smartphones that stifles innovation and keeps prices artificially high

  • The lawsuit also takes aim at how Apple products don’t offer inter-functionality

    • For example, the only smart watch that will pair with an iPhone is an Apple Watch

    • Other examples include the non inter-functionality of iMessage (the famous green vs blue text bubbles), limiting 3rd party contactless payment options in order to drive customers to Apple Pay, streaming, and more

    • This is a grand and sweeping lawsuit that targets many of Apple’s core businesses.

  • The lawsuit has been compared to the government’s anti-monopoly case against Microsoft almost 25 years ago

  • Apple claims that the government is misinterpreting the law and vows to vigorously defend itself in court

  • Article links:

Nike Launches New Fortnite World

  • Nike was one of the first brands to take advantage of the Fortnite UEFN platform releasing their own custom map titled “Airphoria” last year

    • The experience was primarily supporting a product launch of Nike’s Airmax shoe

    • The experience had players participate in a scavenger hunt for Nike products and was only available for a limited time before the activation disappeared

  • Nike’s new map is called “Airphoria 2 Enter the DN Dimension” and is supporting the upcoming product launch of the Nike AirMax DN

  • The experience has light story telling elements and introduces a new character/IP called Max

  • Max is uploading a precious new element to the DN shoes that is unstable and opens a portal to another dimension

  • Players must embark on a parkour solo experience to collect four air chambers that activate the sneakers

  • Nike also supplemented this activation with two new skins that were purchasable in the Fortnite official store titled “Airphorian” and “Eclipse”

  • This map followed in the same vein as the last Airphoria and was only available for a very limited time

  • It never had more than 700 concurrent players and the strategy of a single player experience within the UEFN system could be questioned as being ineffective

  • Article links:

Telegram Enables On-platform Ad Purchases Via Crypto

  • Telegram has had a long relationship with the TON blockchain, with Telegram actually participating in the initial development along side founder Nikolai Durov

  • Telegram has recently further cemented this relationship by allowing users to purchase ads on their platform using $TON, the native token of the blockchain

  • In true web3 spirit the owners of the channels in which ads will appear will receive 50% of revenue generated via ads purchased with Telegram collecting the remaining 50%

  • As of now, channel owners can already participate in the profit sharing but the ability to cash out these tokens is still a couple weeks out

  • Telegram has stated this profit sharing model is only possible due to the incorporation and ease of use of crypto currencies

  • Article links:

AI

Microsoft is Testing Chatbots to be Used in Xbox Customer Support

Illustration of Xbox’s chatbot.

  • Everyday AI is more interlaid into our everyday lives, sometimes in ways we may not even notice… In the future it will probably be quite hard to identify while online who is human and who is AI

  • Microsoft is currently exploring this frontier with the use of Chatbots doing customer service, specifically for those who are experiencing technical problems with their Xbox

  • Microsoft is going a step further and personifying this AI as a animated character that users will be able to type and talk to

  • The character will then provide troubleshooting tips for players

  • What this character will look like remains to be seen, though a possible mockup has leaked

  • Microsoft is no stranger to AI solutions within its gaming portfolio

    • Blizzard has confirmed it uses AI in World of Warcraft to help make armor fit various character body types, a task that used to be painstakingly boring for their designers

    • Over at Call Of Duty they are using an AI tool to track and ban toxic players and has seen an 8% decrease in repeat offenders since the tool has been in use

  • This follows Klarna’s strong chatbot case study: https://www.klarna.com/international/press/klarna-ai-assistant-handles-two-thirds-of-customer-service-chats-in-its-first-month/

  • Article links:

OpenAI Can Recreate Human Voices

  • OpenAI now has a couple products that they are holding off releasing to the general public due to the possible ramifications of their potential misuse

  • The most prominent being Sora, their text to video AI tool that generated some jaw dropping clips

  • The newest product that they are not releasing to the general public due to the possibility of misuse is a text to voice application that can mimic any voice in the world

  • Currently titled “Voice Engine”, this product can create synthetic voices or recreate someone’s voice off of just 15 seconds of recorded audio

  • Once a voice is cloned the user will be able to get that voice to say anything they want

  • Open AI had planned to allow a select few developers to test the product this month, however after considering the ethical implication the company has decided to hold off

  • While one can definitely imagine all the possible implications of how this technology could be misused, there are some interesting benefits to take into consideration

    • For example, those who lose their voice due to disease could train a model to speak in their original voice

    • Another benefit is the ability to translate your voice into any language in the world

    • To hear the examples Open Ai has released click here

  • Article links:

Metaverse / Gaming

Elixir Games Raises $14M from Industry Veteran

  • Elixir Games aims to be a crypto gaming store that helps launch developer’s projects; the web3 version of Steam or Valve

  • Elixir Games has just announced they have raised $14M for the continuing development of their platform, with the majority of those funds coming from veteran gaming developer Square Enix who is behind the popular Final Fantasy franchise

  • Elixir already has an impressive offering, boasting 130 titles on its platform and 500,000 registered users

  • The idea of a central hub in which to play crypto games is something Square Enix is bullish on as they also lead a fundraising round for Elixir’s main competitor Hyper Play

  • Article links:

Popular Trading Card Game Announces Massive Raise

Parallel on Steam

  • Parallel is a popular trading card game built on the Ethereum blockchain and is similar in style to popular games like Magic the Gathering or Hearthstone

  • Parallel recently announced a new game that will live on the Solana blockchain as well as a whopping $35M

  • The raise included some impressive players including VanEck, Solana Co founders, Pudgy Penguins founder Luca Netz, and more

    • This comes after Parallel raised $50M from Paradigm in 2021

  • Parallel plans to use this money to continue their open beta of their trading card game, Parallel, expand their ambassador program, launch the free to play beta on both Epic Games and Steam, as well as create a mobile version of the game

  • They will also use the funds to continue development of their Solana based game which they are calling a “generative AI survival simulation game”

  • Article links:

Web3 Native

Doodles Announce Mysterious Project with Pharrell William and Lil Wayne

  • Doodles announced they are working on an animated film called Dullsville and the Doodleverse

  • The animation will be handled internally by Golden Wolf, the animation studio Doodles purchased in 2021

  • Here’s what is known so far:

    • The film will be directed by Doodles artists Burnt Toast

    • The project will also release a soundtrack under Doodles Records, a new LLC

      • The soundtrack will feature music from Lil Wayne, Pharrell, and Coi Leray, and three animated music videos will accompany the sound track

    • Lil Wayne and Coi Leray will also voice characters in the central animated film.

  • How and if this will tie into the main Doodles NFT collection or if holders will have a chance for premium perks within this activation has yet to be revealed

  • Article links:

Pudgy Penguin and VanEck Team Up to Take Over Wallstreet

Crypto

BNB offers $1M for Memes

  • Memecoins offer little intrinsic value usually, except for the ability to trade them, however they do massively benefit the blockchain they are built on, often onboarding new users and bringing traffic and volume

  • The two most popular Blockchains to trade memecoins are Solana and Ethereum,

    • Binance is tired of being memeless and is offering a million dollars in hopes to cure their lack of memes

  • BNB is offering a challenge to developers: deploy memecoins

    • If in a month total volume of all memecoins on the BNB chain has exceeded $30B in trading volume then the top 10 coins will split the million dollars

    • This initiative received a lackluster response when announced with Solana Cofounder replying, “You cant buy culture”

  • Article links:

Sam Bankman Fried is Sentenced

  • Sam Bankman Fried, the disgraced exchange founder who stole billions of dollars from his customers, has finally been sentenced

  • While many were hoping for a life sentence due to the brazen nature of his crimes, equally as many thought it likely that he would be given a slap on the wrist as has happened for similar white collar crimes in the past

  • The Judge split the difference and gave Mr. Fried a 25 year sentence

  • The Judge cited Sam’s lack of remorse and refusal to take responsibility as a factor in his sentencing

  • He of course plans to appeal both his conviction and his sentencing

  • Article links:

]]><![CDATA[Web3 Round Up 3.25.24]]>https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-up-32524https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-up-32524Mon, 25 Mar 2024 14:52:15 GMTBrand News

NASCAR Partners with Cryptoys on Digital Collectibles

  • NASCAR is entering the digital collectibles space in partnership with Cryptoys, a digital toy company that combines toys, gaming and entertainment

  • The collectibles will also being “playable” suggesting an interactive element

  • Article links:

    • https://www.licenseglobal.com/technology/onchain-studios-inks-multiyear-cryptoys-partnership-with-nascar

Neuralink Unveils First Human Patient

  • Neuralink made waves recently, announcing that they had implanted the first chip into a human’s brain

  • That patient has made a full recovery from the procedure and is now able to control a computer curser just by thinking

  • They have now have released a live stream of the 29 year old quadriplegic demoing his new found abilities

  • Noland says the experience feels like “being able to use the force on a computer” saying the first thing he did when realizing that he could now fully control a computer with his brain was binge his favorite game Civilization 6

  • Beyond gaming, this marks a major change to his quality of life and will probably usher in a new frontier of medical advancements

  • Article links:

LEGO Makes IP Available in Fortnite Creative

  • The State of Unreal is a yearly conference where Epic Games shows off the latest developments around the Unreal Engine, usually focusing on capabilities around animation and meta-humans

  • This time, there were a number of announcements related to Fortnite included deepening it’s relationship and integration with Lego by making those assets available to creators using UEFN

  • This is obviously a big deal as now for the first time the Lego IP is in the hands of creators who can monetize it via the Fortnite platform

  • Further additions to UEFN that were revealed were a save feature, first person mode, the ability to follow creators, and save maps

  • The Fortnite developers are so confident in the new tooling for UEFN that the next season of Fortnite will be built using only tools available on UEFN

  • Article links:

Epic Games Plans to Launch Own App Store on iOS and Android

Epic Games Store mobile

  • Recently a court ruled that Apple would be allowed to keep its 30% fee on app revenue via the iOS app store, but Epic would be allowed to embed payment options in its apps allowing consumers to avoid the fee

  • Epic has now also revealed that they will beaunching their own App Store on Apple and Android devices

  • Epic plans to only charge a 12% commission from developers which is less than half of what Apple as well as Google charges

  • The App Store will unsurprisingly focus on gaming as well as encouraging indie developers to launch via the Epic app store

  • It has not been confirmed if Epic plans to pull popular mobile titles such as Fortnite or Rocket League from the IOS app store and make them exclusive to Epic games upcoming app store

  • The App Store is expected to launch at the end of 2024.

  • Article links:

Starbucks Shutters its Web3 Loyalty Program

  • Starbucks announced they would be shuttering the Odyssey loyalty platform on March 31 as well as shuttering their Discord server March 25

  • There is currently no clarity if this loyalty program will be revived with a Starbucks rep saying, “The Starbucks Odyssey Beta must come to an end to prepare for what comes next” implying that elements may be adapted to existing or new programs

  • One interesting idea that has been floated is that it is possible for a brand to enter the web3 loyalty space and give new utility to the once Starbucks enabled badges thus co-opting the once Starbucks Odyssey holders

  • We will have to wait and see what will become of the remaining now defunct Odyssey NFT’s

  • Article links:

Native Web3

Owners Behind Popular Meme WIF Sell Image as an NFT

Artist's rendition of Sphere Wif Hat. Image: Wif on Sphere Campaign

  • Crypto is in the midst of another meme-coin mania, this time with different dogs

  • One stand out has been DogWifHat, otherwise known as WIF

  • Believe it or not WIF has minted many new crypto millionaires this cycle coming from a market cap of less than $100k to now over $2.2B

  • The meme behind this popular coin features a dog with a crocheted hat

  • In true crypto fashion the owners of this dog who posted the picture had no idea that there was a multibillion dollar coin centered around the likeness of their dog

  • Naturally they wanted in on the action and posted the original photo as a 1/1 NFT on the NFT exchange Foundation which fetched a whopping $4.3M for the dogs owners

  • At the same time, the WIF community got together and crowd sourced an impressive $700k to feature it prominently on The Vegas Sphere

  • The $700k is reportedly enough to buy a week’s worth of advertising on the sphere and has been dubbed the “Sphere Wif Hat” campaign

  • Article links:

AI News

Google Bans Gemini From Answering Any US Political Questions

  • In anticipation of the 2024 presidential election Google has put parameters in place around its chatbot Gemini that will limit its responses pertaining to any questions involving the presidential election

  • This was first rolled out during India’s presidential election and now Google has decided to make it policy for all elections going forward

  • The ban on information is very thorough, with Gemini refusing to even answer what day the elections will be held

  • It seems Google is taking a rather safe approach as they are probably still reeling from their text to image mishap from a couple weeks ago

  • Article links:

Figure Incorporates OpenAI into Robot

  • Everyday it seems we get one step closer to a sci-fi reality, and this week is no different

  • Robotics startup Figure has incorporated a generative form of ChatGPT into one of its robots, resulting in a very impressive demo

  • The demo saw the robot engaged in a conversation with Figure’s lead engineer as well as performing a variety of tasks around a kitchen

  • Figure claims they have no remote controlling around this robot and everything was done autonomously

Mercedes to Incorporate AI Enabled Robots into Their Assembly Lines

  • Mercedes has partnered with a 7 year old robotics firm Apptronics and will be using their humanoid AI enabled robots to help out on the car maker’s assembly line

  • The robots cannot speak or do complicated tasks like Figure, but rather they will be used to automate “low Skill, physically challenging repetitive manual labor”

  • Mercedes goes on to say “enlisting Humanoid Robots allows us to to put Robots in work environments designed for humans, eliminating the need to redesign the space”

  • Apptronics Robots are nearly 6 feet tall, weigh 160 pounds can lift roughly 55 pounds of weight and have a battery life of 4 hours

  • Article links:

Metaverse / Gaming

Cypher Clans Launches $1M Treasure Hunt

  • New crypto gaming project “Cypherland” has issued a challenge to all of web3’s on chain sleuths in what they describe as “Da Vinci Code meets web3”

  • Participants will need to solve thirteen puzzles, with the first to solve them receiving the keys to a wallet that contains a whopping $1M in it

  • NFT’s will be minted across thirteen different disciples such as science, cryptography, and classics; the NFT’s themselves will act as clues to one of the thirteen puzzles

  • The NFT’s will also be tiered, with the more rare the better the clue

  • Excess NFT’s that do not get purchased will be subsequently burned

  • It will be a fun experiment to watch play out in real time once the puzzles go live and eager participants are already forming clans in order to tackle the riddles as fast as possible as well as split the cost of clues

  • Article links:

Crypto Gaming Continues to Grow

  • Crypto enabled games have been one of the most talked about products this cycle with many games going live on mainstream marketplaces such as the iOS App Store and the Epic Games store

  • It’s been a monumental year for Crypto gaming adoption and many early believers have reaped the reward of skyrocketing token prices

  • It seems as if this mania is not slowing down as the number of wallets playing crypto games increased by an incredible 20% between February - March 2024 with March logging 1.9 million daily active wallets playing blockchain games

  • One factor in the rise of players is undoubtedly the number of games doing play to earn airdrop campaigns

    • These games will usually host some sort of challenge for a limited time around playing the game as well as spreading the word on social media after a set period of time those who participated will usually be rewarded financially via the games native token

    • Pixels, a popular web 3 game, airdropped over 8 figures to its player base and subsequently experienced a over $1B in trading volume the next day on their platform

  • Currently there are a plethora of play to airdrop campaigns going across several of the most popular games such as, Nifty Island, the Saga Blockchain, Nyan Heroes, Shrapnel, and more

  • Article links:

Crypto

Apple Exploit Leaves Users Crypto Currency Vulnerable

  • In very unfortunate news, security experts have found an exploit in all Apple products that incorporate the popular M chip series

  • The exploit would allow hackers to steal cryptographic keys designed to protect user’s data stored on their device

  • To make matters worse this exploit cannot be patched and will be present on all past computers

  • Apple’s newest computers set to launch in October will not contain this exploit

  • It will fall on wallet providers such as MetaMask and CoinBase to add extra security to their applications to mitigate such an attack

  • Apple has issued a response that shows how to potentially mitigate such an attack but did not speak on the exploit itself

  • Article links:

Robinhood Launches Crypto Wallet for Android Users

  • Robinhood is known as an online trading platform primarily for the US stock exchange

  • They have long been crypto friendly and last year even released their own wallet service for Apple users in which customers could easily store, buy, and sell crypto assets

  • They have recently announced they are expanding this offering to Android users with the Robinhood crypto wallet set to go live March 20th

  • Users will have to keep their own seed phrase safe as Robinhood has no access to customers data once the wallet is created

  • On day one the wallet was downloaded over 10,000 times

  • The firm currently holds a whopping $14B worth of clients’ crypto currencies, almost double the $8.4B they owned in 2022

  • Article links:

Block Releases Hardware Wallet

  • The Jack Dorsey led payments company Block has long been friendly to crypto incorporating payment options into their popular service Cash App

  • Block has taken a further step into the crypto world by releasing “Bitkey” a self custody Bitcoin specific hardware wallet

  • The hardware wallet will allow users to have self custody over their Bitcoin and not rely on third party custodians such as Coinbase

  • The wallet is also integrated with Cash App and Coinbase allowing users to purchase more Bitcoin directly from the Bitkey app and have it directly stored in their hardware wallet rather than having to manually transfer it

  • Article links:

Van Eck Lowers Bitcoin ETF Fee’s to Zero

  • Multiple major financial institutions launched Bitcoin ETF’s on the same day and have been vying for market share and customers ever since

  • BlackRock currently has the biggest Bitcoin ETF which currently has over $13B in assets under management in their IBIT ETF

  • Van Eck has felt the pressure and is slashing their fees from .2 to 0 from March 12, 2024 to March 31, 2025 for the first $1.5B in inflows

  • After $1.5B in funds have flowed into Van Eck the fee will be reinstated

  • Van Eck currently only has $237M in its Bitcoin ETF so this will hopefully help them attract the digitally curious

  • Article links:

]]><![CDATA[Web3 Round Up 3-11-24]]>https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-up-3-11-24https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-up-3-11-24Mon, 11 Mar 2024 15:06:04 GMTBrand Activity

Maison Margiela collaborates with Fabricant

  • Maison Margiela is collaborating with digital fashion house “Fabricant” for their latest release titled MetaTabi

  • The NFT drop will consist of 15 digital versions of the iconic Tabi Boot in white that will come with a physical counter part

  • 1,500 digital Tabi Boots in black will also be available for purchase redeemable for a physical custom wallet

  • The physical backed tokens will come with a range of benefits according to Maison Margiela including but not limited to AR capabilities, Metaverse explorations and gaming integrations

    • However no specific platforms have been named for these future benefits

  • The collection is slated to launch late March 2024 and will take place on the Fabricants platform.

  • Article links:

Meta Has Major Outage

  • Meta faced a major outage on all of its platforms including Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp on March 5th

  • This was unfortunate timing as it coincided with Super Tuesday voting which usually correlates with major use of these platforms

  • Meta personnel had to take to rival platform X to provide users with information on the outage as well as give updates on the expected fix

  • No specific cause for the outage has been provided a this time.

  • Article links:

Coachella Wades Back into Web3

Artwork from Coachella's NFTs on Avalanche. Image: Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival

  • In 2022 Coachella in partnership with FTX auctioned off 10 lifetime passes to the festival and generated over $1.5M

    • FTX would implode shortly after making this activation difficult to deliver on

  • Coachella is returning to the space however, this time with OpenSea

    • Coachella is selling 1,000 NFTs on the Avalanche blockchain that will grant owners VIP access to the 2024 festival including access to the Oasis lounge and complementary drinks

    • The passes cost roughly $1,500 and have been on minting since the 3/4

    • At time of writing they have only sold 33 NFT’s or roughly 3% of the total collection.

  • Coachella has two more mints planned ahead of its April festival but details and utility have not been revealed

  • Article links:

Native Web3

Yuga and Magic Eden’s Royalty Enabled Marketplaces Launches

  • Royalties for artists and creators was one of the major features that made NFTs capture the publics attention in 2021, however as new marketplaces popped up it became easier and easier to avoid royalties

  • In collaboration with Yuga Labs, Magic Eden has officially launched the first major Ethereum platform to automatically honor creator royalties

  • Joining Yuga in bringing their collections to the royalty enforced marketplace are fellow web 3 powerhouses Pudgy Penguins, Azuki, Degods and more

  • However while this may be a net positive for creators, traders are obviously not pleased and Yuga Labs has suffered a decline in price and frequency of trading across all their collections since the launch of the marketplace

  • Article links:

Truth Labs New Protocol Allows Users to Burn NFTs for Equity

Image

  • Truth Labs, the company behind the immensely popular Goblin Town NFT collection continues to bring new ideas to the space

  • Truth Labs merged with Upstream to create a new entity called “Truth Arts”

  • The new entity’s first order of business is a limited time event called “The Resurrection” giving owners of Truth Arts NFTs the ability to burn their NFT for equity in Truth Arts

    • Furthermore the equity granted will be equal to the purchase price of the NFT not the current value of the NFT

  • Once burned, users will receive a soul bound token with the art of their burned NFT allowing them to partake in token gated experiences within the Truth arts ecosystem

  • Article links:

    • https://x.com/white_house_eth/status/1762582788182565083?s=46&t=_7pDgE5H9aTXqeaCBEEtYw

    • https://nftnow.com/news/exclusive-truth-labs-and-upstream-merge-launch-burn-for-future-equity-program/

NFT Markets Explode Following Cryptos Price Increase

  • The crypto markets have been on a tear recently with BTC reaching new all time highs and other cryptos following

  • As a result, NFTs are seeing more activity:

    • Between March 1-7 NFTs surged to over $412M equivalent of sales, a roughly 35% increase from the week before marking the third consecutive week of sales growth within the NFT sector

  • A massive reason for this increase is the exploding popularity of Bitcoin NFTs or ordinals

    • The Bitcoin Blockchain did more volume than any other blockchain with a whopping $154M in weekly volume

    • Top performing chains for NFT volume were Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, BNB and Mythos

  • Article links:

    • https://news.bitcoin.com/nft-market-booms-with-35-sales-increase-as-cryptocurrencies-rally/

    • https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-beats-ethereum-week-nft-sales-with-ordinals-comeback

Crypto Punk Sells for a Staggering $16M

  • Its not just the volume of NFTs collections increasing, there have also been an uptick in collectors buying rare traits as well as generative art

  • Last week we saw the biggest sale of generative art on the Ethereum blockchain and this week we saw a jaw dropping sale of a Crypto Punk

  • Crypto Punks are legendary early NFT’s that have become a grail for digital collectors including celebrities like Jay-Z

  • They currently trade for somewhere between $150k-170k per Crypto Punk, however certain traits such as zombie or ape can fetch extremely high prices

  • An anonymous buyer really wanted an alien trait Crypto Punk and shelled out over $16M

  • Article links:

AI News

Apple Kills Car, Invests in AI

  • Apple has been working on the “Apple Car” for over a decade with many customers eagerly awaiting news

  • Unfortunately they will be waiting for quite sometime as an employee at Apple has confirmed it is shuttering that division and will be moving most of the engineers working on that product into AI focused endeavors

  • While it would have been amazing to see what an Apple car would have had to offer, Apple is also behind almost all major competitors such as Microsoft, Google and Open AI when it comes to AI offerings

  • Apple is set to debut some of its AI applications later this year

  • Article links:

Elon Musk Sues OpenAI

  • Elon Musk has a complicated past with OpenAI as he was one of the first people to give funding to Sam Altman with the understanding of it being a non-profit

  • Since then, OpenAI has changed it’s structure to include a for profit entity

  • It is this breach, “that open AI has abandoned its original mission of developing Ai for the good of humanity not profit” as well as the hidden nature of how Chat GPT 4 was created which is the basis for Musk’s lawsuit

  • It should be noted that Elon Musk now owns a for profit AI company that is a direct competition to Open AI, as well as Open AI is on track to do $2B in revenue in 2024

  • Article links:

Metaverse / Gaming

PUMA Collaborates with Rec Room

  • PUMA has collaborated with popular metaverse Rec Room, releasing a limited time collection of three designs, featuring the iconic T-7 tracksuit as well as beanie and hoodie

  • The collaboration has been well received by the Rec Room community especially the promotional video which has amassed 22 thousand views in under one week with many positive comments

Apes Come Home Otherside Trip

  • YUGA hosted its latest trip to its metaverse Otherside for holders last week

  • This was the first preview after the announced shift from a competitive MMORPG ala World of Warcraft to a more user generated content focus a la Roblox

  • The announcement left many disappointed and wondering why they had paid thousands of dollars for a deed to digital land if the game’s core concept wasn’t yet certain

  • However it seems the majority of people had a great time in the latest preview - All 10,000 Bored Ape NFT’s were playable as avatars and users got to explore an island with much more freedom than previous trips to the Otherside

  • One feature that proved extremely popular and gave an added bonus of some free PR was the selfie feature which allowed players to take selfies with their apes across various landscapes and activities

    • The pictures proved popular on X with many posting selfies from the experience

  • Article links:

Sony Files for Major Web3 Patent

  • Sony has been filing web3 patents in the background for years at this point and they show no signs of slowing down

  • Their latest patent details the concept of “super fungible tokens” for games that would be stored on a distributed ledger and transferable player to player…. this of course sounds a lot like the concept of ingame NFTs

  • The term distributed ledger effectively a synonym for blockchain, however if Sony has plans on launching their own blockchain or utilizing one already available remains to be seen

  • Of course it should be noted that many major companies file a multitude of patents that are never acted upon

  • Article links:

Coinbase partners with Parallel Trading Card Game

  • Parallel is an Ethereum based trading card game that has exploded in popularity in recent months, the cards are minted as NFT’s and have done 80,000 ETH in volume alone

  • Until recently the game was only playable for NFT holders, however the game is now in Open Beta and Parallel has teamed up with Coinbase to entice new players

  • Interested players can access Parallel via Coinbase and will be gifted with $5 of in game credits and two packs of digital trading cards

  • This will allow players to access the game before spending any personal funds

  • Article links:

Crypto

Bitcoin Hits All Time High

  • On Friday March 8th Bitcoin briefly rallied to $70,000 per Bitcoin, a new all time high

  • It was short lived as it fell to the mid 60s later in the day but is now trading at over $72,000

  • Bitcoins rapid rise in price also had some ripples in the stock market, with Coinbase’s stock rallying over 300% in the last 12 months

  • Microstrategy’s stock has also risen so much due to its Bitcoin holdings and will join the S&P as a result

SEC Delays Ethereum ETF Again

  • In a move that surprises no one the SEC has delayed their decision regarding spot Ethereum ETF’s

  • The decision was supposed to be made on March 10th which was already a delay from the original decision date

  • The new decision date is May 23 and the SEC will have to give an answer as they have run out of ability to delay any more times

  • There are currently 8 applications waiting approval

  • Article links:

BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Sets Single Day Trading Record

]]><![CDATA[Web3 Round Up 2-26-24]]>https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-up-2-26-24https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-up-2-26-24Mon, 26 Feb 2024 15:46:37 GMTBrand Web3 Activity

Reddit Signals Web3/Crypto Moves with IPO Filing

  • Reddit is has filed to IPO revealing a number of web3 and crypto initiatives in progress and planned:

    • First, it was revealed that Reddit has been buying Bitcoin and Ethereum with its excess cash since 2022

    • Reddit also revealed that they have a Digital Assets Research Team and that its product and engineering teams hold crypto currency for “specific uses”

  • Reddit has been a leader in digital asset sales with it’s avatars on Polygon and at one point allowed subreddits to create their own cryptocurrencies tied to posting

  • Article links:

Forbes Launches Multiple Web3 Initiatives

  • Media conglomerate Forbes has recently started leaning into web3 starting with the announcement of their permanent presence in the NFT enabled metaverse Sandbox

  • While many spaces in Sandbox revolve around a game of sorts, this space will serve as a hub for their web3 community, hosting interactive events, workshops, and more

  • Additionally, Forbes has added wallet connectivity to their website and are running a promotion for those that create or connect a wallet to receive 6 months of free Forbes premium content

  • Lastly they announced the Forbes Inner Circle which consist web3 natives and thinkers from a wide spectrum across the industry

    • The Inner circle will help advise Forbes as they continue to grow their web3 presence.

  • Article links:

Native Web3

YUGA Labs CEO Switch Up

  • YUGA Labs CEO Daniel Alegre has announced he is stepping down from the position after less than a year and it is unclear if he will leave the company entirely or transition into another role

  • Daniel Alegre has a background in gaming and tech, serving as COO for Activision and before that as the president of Google’s global shopping revenue

  • YUGA Labs cofounder Greg Solano has returned to assume the title of CEO and stated that he intends to run the company with a more crypto native focus across everything YUGA does

  • He also announced he is spinning the Bored Ape team into its own LLC in order to “unshackle them”

  • Article links:

GMoney’s NFT Clothing Brand Makes Waves

Pieces from 9dcc Collection 01

  • GMoney is a widely known figure in the web3 space and spent the last couple years working on launching a clothing brand called 9dcc

  • GMoney calls this a connected brand, meaning each piece of clothing has an NFC chip that pairs the garment with an NFT

  • In the past he has released a limited number of items, however a full 60 piece collection will be previewed during NFT Paris this week

  • GMoney has long evangelized the benefit of NFC chips and their ability to give on chain benefits to customers

    • One novel way this is taking place is in the form of digital signatures

    • This collection will allow creators such as GMoney to digitally sign certain pieces

  • Article links:

Doodles Launch Stoodio

Image

Pudgy Penguins Re-Ups with Walmart

  • Pudgy Penguins set the web3 world on fire last year when they announced that their toys would be available in 2000 Walmart stores across the nation

  • This was seen as a massive onboarding experience and as a trojan horse as each toy came with an NFT character that could be adorned with traits

  • Users could dress up their characters and unlock more traits with more physical toy purchases

    • This digital character can then be used in a penguin themed metaverse

  • After selling over $10M dollars worth of toys in 2023, Walmart has ordered a second batch of toys, a second toy line, and is integrating Pudgy Penguins in an additional 1100 stores

  • As always the new toy line will be based on the NFT collection and actually be licensed from the NFT holder

    • The NFT holder then enters into a profit split based on how the toy of their NFT sells

  • Article links:

Digital Art Sets New Record

  • Autoglyphs are a legendary art collection on Ethereum, long hailed as the first generative pieces of art minted on any blockchain ever

  • On February 19th a wallet sold 10 Autoglyphs in one of largest on chain digital art transactions ever

  • The collection was purchased for a whopping $14.5M equivalent of ETH

  • The purchaser, who wishes to remain anonymous, plans to present the art in museums and institutions going forward

  • Article links:

AI News

OpenAI’s Sora Wows the World

Reddit Signs Deal with Google on Data for Model Training

  • Reddit has signed a deal to allow Google to train its AI models on over two decades of user generated content

  • Google will pay Reddit $60M to access this information

  • Reddit will also harness the AI model and use it on its platform with the aim of making Reddit communities and content easier to find for users

  • The Reddit community’s reaction to the news was mixed, with some finding it problematic that their content was being sold without them getting compensated

  • Article links:

Google Pulls Walks Back Gemini’s Image Generation Capabilities

  • Google is the latest company to release to a less than complete AI model, this time in the form of its text to image AI tool tied to Gemini

  • Gemini was released to the public earlier this month and at first people were actually quite impressed with the images being produced

  • However users noticed that when prompting historical scenes the AI bot would insert people of a race and nationality that would not be possible during that time period

  • Online trolls soon took advantage of this and prompted Gemini to create ridiculous images highlighting this misstep in the product

  • Google pulled down Gemini shortly after that picture was circulated and has apologized for “missing the mark”

  • Article links:

Metaverse / Gaming

The Weeknd Debuts Music Video in Fortnite

Fortnite Festival Jam Stage Popular Music Video

  • The Weeknd has taken a novel approach for premiering his latest music video by giving Fortnite the exclusive rights to it for a period of time before broader distribution

  • This comes as Fortnite has been trying to grow the musical side of its platform, having recently launched a rhythm focused game titled “Fortnite Festival”

  • The new game sees players teaming up and jamming alongside their favorite songs and even making original songs

  • The Weeknd has been a partner for the first season of this new game with Lady Gaga recently announced to helm season 2

  • Article links:

Otherside Plans Next Trip

  • YUGA Lab’s Metaverse Otherside has announced their next playable demo titled “Apes Come Home” to launch at the end of February

  • In the past these demos have been largely a guided experience showing off something in particular or showcasing a certain gameplay element

  • This next offering will be slightly different in that the users will have more freedom to explore in an unguided setting

  • This next demo also marks the first time that all 10,000 Bored Ape NFT’s have been modeled into 3D assets, meaning that NFT owners will actually get to play as their ape

  • Holders of OtherDeeds, Kodas, Bored Apes, Mutant Apes, and Gtag can attend this activation which is slated to go live 2/29/2024.

  • Article links:

Crypto

Coinbase Advertises on Liquid Death

  • Canned water company, Liquid Death recently ran a novel campaign auctioning the rights to advertise on 500k cases of water

  • The eventual bid was won by Coinbase for $500,115 who is now determining how to leverage the ad space

    • Interestingly enough the bid was paid in USDC saving Liquid Death $12k in fees had they used traditional currency

  • Article links:

Ledger and Coinbase Team Up

  • Ledger and Coinbase have partnered to offer a serious ease of life upgrade to Ledger users

  • Ledger is a hardware wallet that allows people to store their precious crypto currencies off an exchange; it’s basically the digital equivalent of putting cash into a home safe

  • The problem has been that in the past if you wanted to add crypto currencies to your ledger, you first needed to purchase them on an exchange and transfer them

  • Now, Coinbase Pay has integrated into the Ledger Live app allowing users to purchase digital assets directly into their ledger without the need for a hot wallet

  • While this may seem like a small step in the scheme of things, it is a significant advancement in allowing people to hold custody of their assets with ease.

  • Article links:

]]><![CDATA[Web3 Round Up 2-12-24]]>https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-up-2-12-24https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-up-2-12-24Mon, 12 Feb 2024 15:54:26 GMTBrand Web3 Activity

Disney NFTs Sell Out in Seconds

Image

  • On February 7th Disney Pinnacle released a limited collection of digital pins on their O&O NFT marketplace that sold out in seconds

  • Disney’s platform is currently in early access and only available to those who signed up via a waiting list

  • The marketplace platform was built in collaboration with Dapper Labs and utilizes the Flow blockchain (minimizing gas fees and abstracting the crypto elements)

  • Disney has explored web3 in the past, usually via licensing their IP to projects such an FUNKO digital collectibles, among others

  • Article links:

    • https://x.com/DisneyPinnacle/status/1755276797200199921?s=20

Disney Invests $1.5B into Epic Games

Epic and Disney collaboration in Fortnite

  • Disney has made a whopping $1.5B investment into Fortnite’s parent company Epic Games

  • Epic Games has a wide portfolio of self published games, a popular game store that allows other publishers to sell their games, and of course the widely used Unreal Engine which is utilized by artists, game designers, architects, and a whole bevy of creatives

  • Disney and Epic have a history of collaboration with Disney owned IP such as Marvel, Tron, and Star Wars, popping up in the Fortnite universe over the last several years

  • This investment will see Disney receiving an equity stake in Epic Games and the two companies will collaborate on more games using the Disney IP as well as working on what’s being called “an entertainment universe” where players will be able to play, watch, shop, and engage with the Disney universe

  • Article links:

G-Shock and Doodles Put Out Limited Watch Collection

Doodles x G-Shock DW-6900

  • G-Shock is taking another swing at the web3 world after their last collection failed to mint out

  • They will be collaborating with the once dominant collection “Doodles” to release a limited edition collection of physical watches

  • The collection will be available to the public for two hours in Tokyo and then released online, but only to Doodle holders

  • The collection is expected to also have a brief window of purchase somewhere in the US but that has not been confirmed at this time

  • Neither have any sort of digital extension of the collaboration

  • Doodles have surged 62% on the news of this collaboration

  • Article links:

ENS Partners with GoDaddy to Merge ENS/DNS Domains

  • ENS is the company behind .ETH addresses

  • They have been a trailblazer in the space for many years and just announced a partnership with GoDaddy, the popular domain registry and website hosting company, to allow any web address to also be used as a crypto wallet

  • How it works is a domain (.com or .net) can now be tied to an ENS(.eth), allowing the domain to now interact with crypto apps, wallets, and more

  • GoDaddy has added this feature to their domain dashboard so all domains registered with GoDaddy can take advantage of this new feature and what’s even more exciting: it’s all free and there are no fees

  • Article links:

Mastercard, Moonpay and UEFA team of For NFT Enabled Activation

  • Mastercard is launching an NFT enabled trivia activation that has some great prizes for the soccer fans out there

  • Fans can claim a free NFT from the Mastercard enabled site “Pass to Priceless” 30 minutes before every UEFA game in the upcoming season

    • NFT holders will get to participate in a token gated trivia competition. The NFT pass will only be claimable by Mastercard holders

  • Players who participate and guess correctly will be awarded “Match Tickets” and the player with the most digital tickets on April 30th will be awarded real tickets for the champion’s league final at Wembley Stadium

  • Article links:

Native Web3

Web3 Social Protocol Farcaster Gains Adoption From Crypto Twitter

  • Farcaster is a web3 social protocol that has launched a Twitter clone app called Warpcast

  • Warpcast has a couple key differentiators:

    • The main function that has attracted the crypto community in swathes is called “Frames”

    • Frames allow a users to mint NFT’s, buy and sell currencies, read external posts, and answer surveys all without ever needing to leave the Warpcast platform

    • This seamless integration of diverse siloed experiences within the platform addresses a persistent challenge faced by traditional Web2 social media platforms.

  • On January 1st Farcaster had roughly 1,500 users however, after the first version of Frames released, that number has shot to 20,000 users

  • Article links:

Magic Eden Assembles ‘Creators’ to Support its Marketplace Launch

Magic Eden Creator's Alliance

  • Magic Eden has been on a tear recently: adding a slew of new features, announcing a loyalty program, and an upcoming token drop

  • They have just unveiled their latest endeavor, 'The Creator’s Alliance'

  • While details at this point are scarce, it seems as if the major collections across Ethereum and Solana have pledged to support and use the upcoming royalty enforced marketplace currently being built in collaboration with Yuga Labs

  • If this collections will become exclusive to the new Magic Eden x Yuga marketplace remains unknown.

    • Currently announced collections are Degods, Pudgy Penguins, Doodles, RTFKT, Adidas, Animoca brands, Azuki, Chimpers, Veefriends and much more.

  • Article links:

Bored Ape Restaurant Expanding

Bored N Hungry

  • NFT intellectual property was one of the many things that were speculated on during the infamous bull run

  • The premise was that as these collections grew in popularity, owners of these popular NFTs would be able to cash in on brand licensing deals or use the NFTs themselves to help launch businesses

  • While there have been a couple of cases of notable success in this realm, the vast majority of NFT IP ended up being useless

  • Bored and Hungry were one of these early successes; launching during the bull run, an owner of a Bored Ape opened a Bored Ape themed restaurant in Long Beach

  • Somehow it has managed to survive the bear market and is now expanding to Korea and the Philippines! The doors to the permanent restaurant in Seoul will open Feb 7th and the Philippines location is already open

  • Article links:

Solana Adds New Feature in Hopes of Attracting More Game Creators

  • On February 5th, Solana Labs released what it’s calling “The Gameshift Tool Suite”, with the intended purpose of making it easier for game developers to integrate functionality onto the Solana Blockchain

  • The most exciting feature seems to be an out-of-the-box custom NFT marketplace for in-game assets

  • These marketplaces include things such as royalty support and the ability to trade NFT’s for USDC

  • Developers can also shift already existing in-game items into NFT’s seamlessly.

    • Other features include credit card support, interoperability between marketplaces, dynamic NFTs, asset lending, and more

  • Article Links:

GMoney Takes Out Biggest NFT Enabled Loan

  • Popular Crypto influencer GMoney has borrowed approximately $1M leveraging iconic crypto punk PFP as collateral]

  • The loan runs for 6 months and GMoney will pay roughly $68k in interest if he wishes to secure his NFT

  • G Money credits the Rolling Stone article from 6 months ago that proclaimed NFTs were now worthless as the primary motivation for taking out such a large loan against a digital asset

  • G Money took out the loan for another reason: to shine a light on the crypto-specific capabilities of NFT lending protocols

    • For example, anyone who owns an NFT of value can use an NFT lending platform

    • You don’t need proof of identity, you don’t need a credit history, you don’t even need a bank account

  • Article links:

Binance Enables Bitcoin NFTs

  • Binance is launching an in-app marketplace that will allow users to partake in the Bitcoin NFT craze currently gripping the industry

  • The marketplace will also allow users to trade coins minted on the Bitcoin blockchain as well

  • While many celebrate the success of Bitcoin ordinals and the artists/ projects behind them there is an unfortunate consequence to the Bitcoin Blockchain being used in this way

  • Recently the price to send Bitcoin has shot up and even hit a 2-year high earlier this month

  • Article links:

AI News

Google Replaces Bard with Gemini

  • The latest competitor to ChatGPT is an upgraded Google Bard

  • Here’s Gemini is distinct from Bard, in it’s own words:

    • Essentially, Gemini is an upgrade to Bard. It's built upon the foundation of Bard and shares many of its features and capabilities. However, there are some key differences:

      • Underlying model: Gemini utilizes a more advanced model called Gemini Pro compared to Bard's original model. This allows for:

        • Improved reasoning and planning: Gemini can better understand context and draw connections between different pieces of information

        • Enhanced understanding: It's trained on a wider dataset of text, code, images, and audio, leading to a deeper understanding of the world and language

        • High-fidelity image synthesis: Gemini can generate more realistic and visually appealing images

    • Overall, Gemini represents an evolution of Bard with more advanced capabilities and broader integration into Google's ecosystem

AI is Being Used to Translate Ancient Scrolls

Vesuvius Challenge

  • 2,000 years ago, Mount Vesuvius erupted and crushed the town of Pompeii

  • Around 1800 papyrus scrolls survived and offer us a glimpse into what life may have been like in Pompeii

  • The only problem is that in the past as researchers have tried to unravel these scrolls they have crumbled to dust, or the writing simply vanished when exposed to the elements

  • Thanks to 21 year old SpaceX intern Luke Farritor and two colleagues, we now have a path to unlocking the information withheld in these brittle scrolls

  • By utilizing advanced CT scans of the rolled scrolls to reveal some of the writings, those scans were then fed to an AI that Luke designed to translate the writing

  • After a painstaking process they managed to translate around 5% of one scroll.

  • While 5% may not sound impressive, this breakthrough will set the groundwork for a much more rapid translation of the remaining scrolls

  • Article links:

Roblox Adds Major AI Feature to Their Platform

  • Roblox is one of the biggest games in the world, enjoying players from various countries… now, thanks to AI, they can and understand each other a bit better.

  • Roblox has rolled out a real time AI translation function that allows 16 languages to be translated between players in real time

  • It is now feasible to not even know if the player you are talking to is a native English speaker or not, funnily enough this would be something extremely useful in the real world!

  • Article links:

Metaverse / Gaming

Shrapnel Set to Launch Beta on the Epic Game Store

  • Shrapnel is an upcoming free-to-play first person shooter that utilizes blockchain technology, tokens, and NFT’s

  • While the final release will be free to play, if you would like to participate in early access that will cost you

    • Players can purchase an extradition pack that will allow them them take place in an upcoming Beta hosted on the Epic game store

  • While the game does incorporate those web3 elements, the cofounder has confirmed that if players would rather not interact with that side of the game they wont be forced too

    • In the future players will be able to customize maps and skins and mint and sell them in the games marketplace.

  • Article links:

    • https://www.techradar.com/gaming/pc-gaming/shrapnels-first-early-access-build-will-be-playable-this-week-via-the-epic-games-store

Mobile Game Offers Airdrop to Players

Image: Skrice Studios

  • Heroes of Mavia may be one of the most widely played web3 games - and it was only released January 31!

  • The most likely reason may be that it’s almost impossible to see the web3 connection via the game and the game is available in all major mobile app stores

  • Upon release it quickly shot up the charts of multiple countries app stores and amassed over 1 million downloads in under 24 hours

  • For those who were aware of the web3 elements, if you were on of the first 100,000 users to sync your wallet via the games website and linked it to your account you were given 12 Mavia tokens which would roughly be $70 at time of writing

  • Article links:

Serum City is a F2P Game but Only for Apes

Image: Novel Labs/Faraway

  • Serum City is a fun and uniquely web3 game that has recently been released

  • It is token gated but free for owners of either a Mutant Hounds, Bored Ape, Mutant Aps and Mutant Cartel Oath

  • In future seasons more collections will be included, but for now anyone who wishes to play who does not own one of those NFT’s must buy the game pass off of someone else

  • Serum City was not built in collaboration with Yuga Labs - rather it utilizes the decentralized commercial rights given to people who own Yuga assets

  • Furthermore, the entire game also runs on ape coin, the currency of Yuga’s ecosystem

    • While Serum City was not built with Yuga Labs, the developers are now working in partnership with Yuga for future releases

  • Article links:

Crypto

MetaMask Integrates with Robinhood

Solana blockchain has another outage

  • The Solana Blockchain has exploded in popularity in recent years becoming the 5th biggest crypto currency by market cap currently

  • However, Solana has long been criticized for not truly being decentralized with the possibility of technical bugs being able to effectively shut off the blockchain

  • This has happened in the past and as recently as last week when Solana went down for over 5 hours

  • The reason why the blockchain suffered its outage is highly technical and the Solana Labs team worked diligently to ship a fix in a timely manner

  • Article links:

]]><![CDATA[Web3 Round 1-29-24]]>https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-1-29-24https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-1-29-24Mon, 29 Jan 2024 15:22:02 GMTBrand Web3 Activity

Hilton Hotels Launches Loyalty Program in Roblox

Paris Hilton recreated in Roblox for a Hilton campaign

  • Hilton Hotels and Paris Hilton’s media company 11:11 are integrating a loyalty program within a gaming experience built on Roblox

  • Players who visit the Hilton Lobby within Roblox can complete challenges in exchange for Hilton Points which can be redeemed at physical hotels

  • Through the activation Hilton will be giving away 12 million Hilton points as well as elevating 11 players to diamond tier status for a year

  • Hilton Hotels will also be giving away 50,000 digital wearables on Roblox and additional points to those who tweet about the Roblox experience

  • This is a first in tying an actual loyalty program directly to a gaming experience

  • Article links:

Disney Previews HoloTile Floor

  • While Apple and Meta are releasing headsets, Disney is also thinking about the same paradigm shift but from a different angle

  • On January 18th Disney unveiled what it is calling “The worlds first multi person, omnidirectional treadmill ground that can move any person or object for an immersive virtual reality experience”

  • The small interconnected tiles allow the user to walk an unlimited distance in any direction without hitting walls or objects

  • Multiple people can use the HoloTile at the same time and interact with each other in VR

  • Another interesting application is the ability to move props and objects remotely that are placed on the HoloTile using hand gestures

  • A full demo of the HoloTile can be seen in the article below.

  • Article links:

Trump To Release Ordinal Collection

  • Trump seems to show no signs of slowing down his web3 presence having released multiple trading card collections all featuring his likeness in various scenarios

  • His latest release will see him taking advantage of the Bitcoin ordinal craze, but with a twist:

    • People can become eligible for a Trump Ordinal if they buy 100 digital collectibles from his “Mugshot collection” for $99 a piece

    • Upon receiving the ordinal, owners will not be able to trade the NFT for a full year… the team has said this is meant to restrict their appeal as investment vehicles, but it is a strange move regardless

  • Article links:

Reddit Reportedly Looking to IPO in March

  • According to insiders, popular social media company Reddit is looking to go public with a reported $10B dollar valuation in March

  • This would come three years after the company hired IPO advisors to help with the process

  • The company reportedly plans to sell about 10% of the total stock during the IPO

  • If Reddit does go public it will be the first social media company to do so since Pintrest in 2019 and one of just a few IPOs in the last two years

  • Article links:

Mercedes Incorporates NFTs and AI at CES

Mercedes-Benz MBUX Collectibles app

  • Mercedes brought their A-game at CES this year, showing off their latest tech advances

  • The most notable takeaway is the incorporation of “MBUX virtual assistant” which is a large language model AI that can be shifted across 4 emotional profiles

    • These profiles can be switched between natural, predictive, personal, and empathetic

    • Over time the AI will learn and naturally adjust radio stations, air conditioning, seat massagers, and more to suit the driver’s preference

  • They also announced a new in car app that will act as an NFT gallery for all those times you’ve wished to display your digital collectibles across your car’s dashboard.

  • Article links:

GameStop NFT Marketplace to Officially Close

  • In May of 2022 it seemed GameStop was intent on adopting blockchain technologies and making it a core part of its business

  • They announced their own self custody wallet as well as their own NFT marketplace - however the launch of the marketplace was plagued by odd choices from day one

    • Creators had to submit projects for approval, and both offered no utility other than pfp style projects.

    • Finally, months later, the marketplace incorporated NFT game assets through Immutable X that could be utilized in a host of games, but by that time the attention of the Web 3 community was focused elsewhere.

  • Then came a flurry of bad news: sales had a significant downtrend and the CEO who led the push into crypto was fired

  • Over the summer support for the crypto wallet was stopped and the wallet itself was eventfully shutdown

  • Article links:

Epic Games Legal Battle with Apple Finally Ends

  • The Epic Games and Apple lawsuit has been going on for a number of years and was centered around Apple taking a 30% cut from in-app purchases as well as limiting the iPhone to only accessing the official Apple app store

  • Epic Games makes the majority of their revenue via skin purchases in Fortnite so they altered their app and directed their users to make payments via an external website in order to get around Apples paywall leading to the initial lawsuit

  • Unfortunately their is no resolution to this multi year battle as the Supreme Court has declined to hear the case

  • This has resulted in a compromise that neither side is happy with; IOS will not open to competing app stores and Apple can keep their 30% take of in app purchases though developers can still embed their apps with buttons and links that take users to external payment methods

  • Article links:

Native Web3

Pudgy Penguins Launches “Overpass” IP Licensing System

Pudgy Penguins NFT

  • Pudgy Penguins continues to expand both in the web2 and web3 space and launched a platform by which holders can opt-in to license their NFT’s IP

  • The on-chain platform puts the NFTs in a pool for potential licensors to comb through to choose the IP that best fits their need

  • This platform will likely not be unique to Pudgy Penguins holders and could expand well beyond to any project that gives its holders IP rights

  • Article links:

    • https://luckytrader.com/nft/pudgypenguins/news/pudgy-penguins-releases-project-overpass-beta

Magic Eden Announces Points System

  • Cross-chain NFT marketplace, Magic Eden became relatively popular in the last six months or so

  • Originally Magic Eden only offered access to NFT’s on the Solana blockchain but began adding cross chain capabilities as Solana faltered (post FTX)

  • It is also working in collaboration with Yuga Labs to release a marketplace that enforces royalties to support creators

  • Magic Eden has had a loyalty program for a while, with any interaction on the platform from buying and selling to attending community events earning users “diamonds”

  • Until recently, these diamonds have had limited utility or reason for existing but Magic Eden has confirmed that sometime in the future diamonds will be able to be exchanged for a liquidity token called $NFT

  • Diamonds can be earned through interactions with Magic Eden but they are also being awarded retroactively for past use which has led to intense speculation and many now using Magic Eden over competitors such as OpenSea or Blur

Solana Announces Saga 2 Crypto Phone

Image

  • The Solana Saga phone quickly became a hot topic in crypto after the community at large began including owners in various airdrops

  • The phone is still selling on eBay for roughly three times the retail price

  • As a follow up, Solana recently announced a new model phone that will be released in 2025 and sell for a lower price point than the original Saga phone

  • Solana is currently taking preorders on this model and saw over 30,000 preorders in 48 hours, already making this phone a bigger success than the previous model

  • Solana also announced a referral campaign to go along with the preorders; the referral campaign has leaderboards of the most used referral links

    • Winners will receive valuable Solana NFT’s as well as Solana coins.

  • Article links:

AI News

Sony Creates New AI Personas from Dialogue

  • Sony has created an AI model that is able to fleshed out personas from just snippets of dialogue

  • According to Sony the end goal is to make generic AI less dull, however many are seeing further applications of this if it is successful, especially in gaming

  • For example, based on some written backstory, this model could generate NPC characters with depth to fill out a large video game world

  • Unfortunately, the possibility to abuse this system presents ethical concerns

    • The biggest being that if this is successful it would be possible to train an AI as an advertising agent on specific customer data, allowing the advertisements to become extremely targeted on an individual basis

  • Article links:

OpenAI and Arizona State University Partner

  • LLMs like ChatGPT work and learn best when they have access to large amounts of data which is why we’ve seen OpenAI offering their services to companies such as Axel Springer for free in return for access to their past and future data

  • OpenAI is now partnering with Arizona State, but not for their data:

    • ASU will be the first higher learning institution to collaborate with Open AI… beginning in February faculty and students alike can submit proposals on how the AI will be integrated into the school

    • They hope to incorporate AI into three main fields within the university, student success, new avenues for innovation research, and stream lining organizational processes

  • Article links:

Microsoft CEO says Rabbit R1 was Most Impressive New Device Since the iPhone

  • Rabbit R1 is a handheld digital assistant complete with a 2.88 inch LED screen, camera, and wheel that allows users to scroll

  • Its internal AI is what’s called a large action model which can surf the web and learn from live data, allowing it to be a more useful assistant than say ChatGPT or Siri

  • The Rabbit R1 has the tech community pretty divided, some hailing it as the beginning of a new era of handheld technologies with others saying its only slightly better than Siri and just overblown hype. Well Rabbit R1 has picked up an impressive fan with Satya Nadella, the current CEO of Microsoft. In an interview Satya compared the demo of Rabbit R1 to seeing Steve Jobs unveil the first generation iPhone. Certainly high praise from one the most important figures within tech.

    • To see the demo of Rabbit R1 please click here

  • Article links:

Metaverse / Gaming

NFT Game Gas Hero Does $90M in Volume

  • Satoshi Labs is the web3 game developer behind popular walk to earn app Step’N which has been downloaded over 4 million times and was one of the first blockchain games to be available in the App Store

  • Now, Satoshi Labs has another hit on its hands with Gas Hero

  • Gas Hero will be a mobile game but for the time being is only available on browser

  • Nevertheless players have flocked to it - boasting a robust 10,000 player base, Gas Hero has done $90M in secondary volume this month alone and was the second most traded collection in the world on January 23

  • Article links:

Palworld Sets Records, Angers Pokemon

  • Palworld has burst onto the gaming scene out of nowhere… Best described as a survival game that includes Pokemon-like creatures with guns, Palworld has sold 7 million copies in just over 5 days and passed 2 million concurrent players on Steam

  • As technological advancements make game development cheaper, independent gaming studios have become more viable and able to compete with AAA game studios

  • In just 7 days Palworld in terms of sales is the 11th most successful independent game ever:

    • In less great news, Pokemon’s parent company has announced they will be looking into Palworld for any instances of IP infringement.

  • Article links:

Dookey Dash is Returning as a F2P Game

Image: Yuga Labs

  • Yuga Labs is releasing a free-to-play version of its popular endless runner game “Dookey Dash” in an effort to bring their IP beyond web3

  • Originally Dookey Dash was only playable for a limited time for Yuga Lab NFT holders

  • At the end of the campaign the top scorer was given an NFT that was later sold for $1.63 million dollars with many others also receiving prizes

  • Dookey Dash will soon be releasing an updated version of the original game to the masses

    • Updates will include custom skins, new game play loops, and a leader board

    • Yuga NFT holders will still get perks as well, with those players being eligible for “Token Benefits”, Yuga has yet to clarify what those benefits are exactly

  • Dookey Dash will be playable on Mac, PC and in the mobile App Store. It’ll be interesting to see if the app can draw players outside of the web3 bubble.

  • Article links:

Nifty Island’s Open Beta Receives Major Praise

Nifty Island Coming Soon - Epic Games Store

  • Nifty Island launched its beta game last week with a different angle in on web3 based metaverses

  • Unlike Sandbox, Decentraland and others, Nifty Island is not based on limited purchasable land tokens… but is taking a more Roblox style approach, allowing anyone to create their own Island (game) for free

  • The game still runs on web3 rails however and allows players to connect their wallets and play as their NFT avatars (over 180 projects have integrated)

  • Nifty Island will also launch a token ($ISLAND), which will be distributed to those players that engage the most others (by building great islands) and for simply playing the game

  • Article links:

Crypto

India Bans All Foreign Crypto Exchanges

  • India has recently made waves in the crypto industry as the ministry of finance banned all foreign crypto exchanges including but not limited to industry giants such as Binance and OKX

  • It’s estimated there are $4B dollars worth of Indian crypto investments being held in foreign exchanges

  • This new law aims to bring that $4B back to India via Indian owned crypto exchanges and increase the Indian governments tax revenue in regards to the crypto industry

  • Many Indian exchanges are taking advantage of this moment offering lucrative deals for natives transferring their crypto from foreign companies

    • Inflows across most major Indian crypto exchanges surfed 2000% after the announcement of this new measure

  • Article links:

Fidelity Ethereum ETF delayed as Leveraged Bitcoin ETF Applications Flood the SEC

  • In non surprising news, the SEC has delayed its decisions in regards to approving an Ethereum spot ETF

  • After the recent passing of the Bitcoin ETF all eyes are on Ethereum as the most likely contender of the second major crypto ETF

  • The SEC was supposed to give their answer on January 18 and has delayed their decision for 45 days to March 5

    • In other news, the SEC has been flooded with leveraged Bitcoin applications in January, with 11 being filled in the past two weeks alone

  • Article links:

Franklin Templeton X Account Leans into Crypto Culture

Laser-Eyed Franklin Templeton Sets Sights on Ethereum, Solana After Bitcoin - Decrypt

  • Franklin Templeton is one of the largest TradFi asset managers in the world managing around $1.4T and as such is usually very “buttoned up”

  • That’s why everyone was surprised when the X account associated with the company started tweeting in depth analysis of several blockchains and tokens such as Bitcoin, Solana, and Ethereum

  • The account also posted memes and interacted with crypto Twitter in a surprisingly web3 native way

  • This was likely an attempt to advertise their new Bitcoin ETF to a web3 native audience

  • Article links:

]]><![CDATA[Web3 Roundup 1-15-24]]>https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-roundup-1-15-24https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-roundup-1-15-24Tue, 16 Jan 2024 15:42:55 GMTBrand Web3 Activity

Nike Commits to Video Game Fashion via .SWOOSH

  • On Friday .SWOOSH laid out their plans for the coming year announcing a focus on the joy of collecting and unlocking rather than speculating over a transaction

  • To achieve this goal they announced a new line from .SWOOSH “Nike In Game Wearables.

    • .SWOOSH users will be able to link their game accounts to their . SWOOSH accounts and virtually wear collectibles in games

    • In the past players have bought Nike products in game, but his new feature allows Nike to control the customer experience across every game they are licensed to from a central hub

  • Additionally, they called out that they would not be building a marketplace, but would make their items tradable on secondary markets

  • Article links:

Visa Launches Web3 Loyalty Product

  • Payments giant Visa has been experimenting with web3 for some time, and is now launching a web3 based loyalty solution

  • Similar to startups in the space, the platform allows brands to offer branded wallets that can receive points and digital collectibles to engage consumers

  • Article links:

X Kills NFT Enabled PFPs

Twitter Hexagonal NFT Profile Pictures | Know Your Meme

FOX Corp Launches Blockchain Platform

  • Fox Corp, the conglomerate behind Fox News and Fox Media, has partnered with Polygon to launch a blockchain platform that tracks how their content is being used online

  • The protocol is currently called “Verify” and will be a B2B product whose main purpose is to combat AI enabled disinformation while still allowing AI language models to use their media for learning

  • A company can register its media via Verify and grant usage rights to AI platforms

    • The media is cryptographically signed allowing users to easily trace it back to the original source

    • Over 89k pieces of media were logged on the first day of the public beta

  • Article links:

Mercari to Accept Bitcoin

  • Mercari is a Japanese ecommerce platform with 22 million monthly users and recently announced that they will accept Bitcoin as a payment option

  • Mercari is not doing this via a third party, but rather building the internal infrastructure to custody BTC and swap to Yen if preferred

  • Mercari has also confirmed that in the future the platform will incorporate NFT’s but the timeline has not been made public

  • Article links:

Sotheby's Hosts First Curated Ordinals Auction

Image

  • Sotheby’s will be hosting a curated auction featuring some of the most prominent artists working on Ordinals

  • Their first foray into the space will include art from crypto natives, fine artists, and even a piece made by Bugatti

  • Aside from art Sotheby’s is also auctioning Rare Satoshis which are fragments of Bitcoin that have specific relevance because of when they were mined or who they were mined by

    • Rare Satoshi’s are not inherently different than any other piece of Bitcoin; the significance put upon them is entirely prescribed to them by collectors. The nature of Rare Satoshi’s makes them not well known and an incredibly niche collectible so it’s surprising to see Sothebys include them in their lots. Nevertheless they are expected to sell for 50,000-120,000$.

  • Article links:

Native Web3

Azuki Announces Narrative Project

Azuki Partners with Gorō Taniguchi for Anime Anthology

  • Azuki is attempting to expand its IP beyond their NFT collection and has announced it will be releasing a three part narrative anthology series this year

  • Each part will have its own self contained team of directors and character artists and focusing on the storylines

  • The anthology will be helmed by Creative Producer Goro Taniguchi who has had wide success in the anime genre in Japan

  • The casting will be lead by Japanese talent agency Dentsu and is set to release in 2024

  • Article links:

Forgotten Runes Wizard Cult Sells Out Ordinal Collection

The Wizardry of Shadow Hats

  • Forgotten Runes Wizard Cult are an OG NFT collection that has expanded into gaming, comics and more

    • FRWC has a complex ecosystem made up of many collections and a community led on-chain lore system call the Book of Lore

  • Recently a lot of the NFT attention has been on the burgeoning Ordinals scene which are NFTs inscribed onto Bitcoin

  • Forgotten Runes Wizard’s Cult were not keen to be left to the wayside and released a collection of Ordinals titled “Shadows” that sold out in under 1 hour

  • The collection was sold as a ascending bucket auction and the maximum price was hit for each piece netting Forgotten Runes Wizard Cult over $5.5M

  • Article links:

OpenSea Announces Self Custody Wallet

  • OpenSea is attempting to make buying and selling NFTs more accessible to mainstream consumers via the implementation of a simpler self-custody wallet

  • What makes the wallet unique compared to others like Metamask is that users will not need browser extensions, seed phrases, or to transfer any crypto

  • Users can create a wallet just by submitting their email address and setting up 2FA

  • Further, users will not need to fund the wallet with cryptocurrency to make transactions OpenSea already supports credit and debit card purchases

  • Article links:

AI News

George Carlin Standup Special Release (Post-Mortem) By AI

  • A comedy based AI model trained on George Carlin’s material put together a 1 hour long special

  • The video leverages his voice and has him talking about current events well after his death

  • The special has seen wide reach but was heavily criticized by his daughter

Tesla Releases Footage of Optimus

  • While most think of Tesla as a car company, Elon Musk has stated that it is an AI company first and that it’s primary product may ultimately be something else

  • This idea came further into focus as footage of the upcoming Tesla Optimus robot was release

  • While the task of folding laundry may not be the most exciting feature, we can expect that the AI will rapidly improve

  • “The robot is designed for tasks that are unsafe, repetitive, or boring for humans. Musk noted that Optimus isn't yet capable of autonomously performing tasks like shirt folding but aims for it to achieve such autonomy in various environments.”

Metaverse / Gaming

Futureverse is Building a Metaverse for Ready Player One

The Readyverse (@TheReadyverse) / X

  • Ready Player One was one of the first IP’s that introduced the idea of a metaverse to the mainstream through the book and eventual Spielberg movie adaptation

  • Now they are teaming up with a metaverse platform called Futureverse to bring the idea to life

  • The metaverse is being developed by the Ready Player One author and film producer in conjunction with Futureverse cofounders

  • The Metaverse currently being called “The Readyverse” and aims to be interoperable with other worlds

  • Article links:

Crypto

Bitcoin ETF Approved

  • After an extremely dramatic couple of days, 11 Bitcoin ETF products have been approved by the SEC allowing retail investors easier access to BTC exposure via their banks

  • In the first day of trading volume has exceeded 4.5 billion dollars breaking analysts’ expectations

  • While the SEC’s hand was more or less forced, they made it clear that they do not think investors should put their money into these products… Further, industry titans like Vanguard and Merrill Lynch have blocked their customers from accessing any and all Bitcoin ETF’s (and are seeing backlash as a result)

  • Article links:

SEC’s X Account Hacked

  • In the leadup to the Bitcoin ETF approvals, the SEC’s official X account was hacked and used to prematurely announce the approval of the Bitcoin ETF

  • The compromised X account was swiftly brought back under the control of the SEC however by then billions of dollars of market fluctuations had occurred

  • Many assumed the SEC had accidentally prematurely posted a drafted tweet as a top government agency being hacked seemed unlikely, however X did an internal security review and confirmed that their account had indeed been compromised

  • Surprisingly, the SEC had failed to set up two factor authentication making the account more vulnerable to a hack

  • Article links:

BTC ETF Marketing Approaches

  • With 11 ETF products hitting the markets at the same time, issuers are trying to distinguish their products from a fees perspective but also in the marketing of it

  • Some like Bitwise and Van Eck are leaning into the is leaning into web3 culture

    • Bitwise is using the ticker HODL for it’s product

    • And Van Eck is adding a charitable twist to their future potential profits pledging 5% of all profits to the open source Bitcoin developers at Brink

  • Others like BlackRock are targeting a non-web3 audience and highlighting the security of their product

  • Notably, Fidelity is the only issuer that will be custodying it’s own Bitcoin while the rest are working with Coinbase and Gemini

  • Article links:

]]><![CDATA[Web3 Roundup 1-2-2024]]>https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-roundup-12-27-23https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-roundup-12-27-23Tue, 02 Jan 2024 14:47:53 GMTBrand Web3 Activity

FIFA is Minting New NFTs

Image: FIFA+ Collect

  • FIFA has historically minted NFTs on its on platform “FIFA+ Collect” on the Algorand blockchain, but their next mint will be on Polygon in partnership with OpenSea

  • FIFA is releasing 1000 NFTs to celebrate the FIFA Club World Cup in Jeddah

    • The first 100 will be available on FIFA + Collect and the remaining 900 will be minted directly on the OpenSea homepage

    • Some rare NFT’s come with perks such as tickets to Jeddah and the games, merch, and more

  • Article links:

Trump Drops Third NFT Collection With Phygital Element

  • Donald Trump is dropping a third round of his digital trading card sets, this time with a larger ‘phygital’ element connected to his infamous mugshot

  • Those who purchase 47 of the new digital trading cards will receive a piece of the suit Trump was wearing during his mugshot picture

    • Those that purchase 100 digital trading cards will receive a piece of his tie

    • Each digital trading card retails for $99

  • Article links:

Casio Drops G-Shock NFT

  • Casio has dropped two NFT collections celebrating their iconic G-Shock watch

  • The NFT’s come in two designs: one centered a balloon concept with the other being centered on a “Leaf Spring concept”

  • Both NFT’s have the same utility which includes but is not limited to a:

    • Tour of the G-Shock endurance factory in Tokyo

    • Round table discussion with G-Shock designers

    • And the ability to pre-purchase future NFT drops

  • 2000 NFTs were available however only roughly 220 sold

  • Article links:

Christies Continues to Champion Digital Artists

Line Next Raises $140M for Push into Web3

  • The West is pretty unfamiliar with messaging app “Line”, but in the East they are the dominant messaging app akin to Whatsapp (in Japan it is basically a monopoly)

  • Recently Line Next (their NFT arm) has raised $140M in cash to expand its global NFT business and and promote wider web3 adoption

    • The round was lead by private equity firm Crescendo Equity Partners.

  • Line plans to build out an NFT exchange on a separate app as well as incorporate their beloved IP into blockchain based games

  • Last April, Line collaborated with popular NFT collection Azuki by working in their Beanz IP into stickers that could be sent through the messaging app.

  • Article links:

Native Web3

Ledger Hack Further Damages Their Reputation

  • Popular hardware security provider Ledger has unfortunately (not a good look for a security provider)

  • The hack occurred on Dec 14th which injected a malicious drainer in the Ledger Connect Kit software which allows users to connect hardware wallets to Dapps and websites

  • The exploit temporarily compromised a great number of active web3 oriented website, with the hacker stealing digital assets directly out of peoples wallets

  • While the reach of this hack was extraordinary, the hacker was only able to steal roughly 500,000 USD worth of digital assets

    • It seems that the only reason the hack was not more damaging was the incompetence of the hacker

  • Article links:

AI News

Instagram Adds Significant AI Features

Instagram's New 'Backdrop' Tool Lets You Replace Image Backgrounds Using AI - News18

  • Instagram has added a new feature on stories called “Backdrop” that allows users to replace their background with one generated from a text to image AI

  • Users can replace a messy living room with a forest, underwater setting or just about anything they can imagine.

  • For now the technology is limited to users in the United States

  • Instagram joins Snapchat who recently released similar features for their users

  • Article links:

Meta Releases Demo of New AI Audio Tool

  • Meta recently demoed its latest development in the AI sector, a text to audio generator called “Audiobox” which allows users to generate a variety of sounds and custom voices from a text prompt

  • Many have raised concerns due to the potential misuses of this technology

    • For example an AI generated deepfake audio recently rocked an election in Slovakia

    • The fake audio had one of the candidates discussing buying votes from an ethic minority within Slovakia and that politician went on to lose the race

  • To combat the potential for misuse Audiobox includes a digital watermark that cannot be heard by the human ear, but can be broken down and traced by a computer

  • To see the demo of Audiobox click here

  • Article links:

OpenAI Partners with Axel Springer for Article Summaries Tied to GPT Answers

  • OpenAI is partnering with legendary publisher Axel Springer who is best known for publishing iconic magazines such as Rolling Stone, Politico, Business Insider and many others

  • The collaboration will allow users to access summaries of articles created by ChatGPT

  • ChatGPT will also be used to analyze reader patterns and recommend articles and respond to users’ queries

  • In return Axel Springer will allow future GPT’s to be trained on their past and present publications.

  • Article links:

Dating App Installs AI Wingman

  • Popular LGBTQ focused dating app Grindr is adding their own AI virtual assistant to their platform, but with a twist

    • This AI is specialized to have emotionally meaningful and resonant conversations

    • The hope is that users will use this AI tool as a virtual wingman to help engage with other users

    • The bot can offer dating advice, help craft responses to messages and even suggest date venues in the area

  • The AI was developed by Ex-Human who have created a range of AI’s represented by Talking Heads

    • Their AI characters can be accessed on Botify.AI and users can chat to a wide range of AI enabled characters such as Santa, Hermione Granger from Harry Potter, Billie Eilish, and many more.

  • Article links:

Metaverse / Gaming

Ubisoft’s Free Mint; Sees Millions in Volume

The Warlords is an NFT collection tied to Ubisoft's Champions Tactics blockchain game. Image: Ubisoft

  • Ubisoft has recently doubled down on its web3 ambitions, licensing its iconic IP to metaverses like the Sandbox and announcing that they would be building an NFT enabled game titled “Champions Tactics”

  • Recently they announced a free mint of an NFT collection titled “Warlords” that would be connected to Champions Tactics

  • The mint went on to sell out within 20 minutes and Warlords quickly saw over $2M of volume in secondary sales a few hours after the mint

  • Currently there is not much available info on Champions Tactics or how the Warlord NFT will be integrated into the game

    • What we do know is Warlords can be playable avatars

    • Holding a Warlord guarantees access to the upcoming Champions mint and that Ubisoft has arranged two collaborations with native web3 gaming projects, Pixelmon and CyberKongz

  • Article links:

Hacker Leaks 1.3M files From Insomniac

  • Unfortunately the hackers are coming for every industry this holiday season with Insomniac games being the latest victim

  • On December 12th, Insomniac’s data was breached with a 50 BTC ransom

  • Insomniac refused to pay and the hackers leaked 1.3 million documents onto the internet

  • The documents range from mundane to explosive

    • Some of the most impactful are early gameplay trailers of Insomniac’s upcoming Wolverine game that was scheduled for a 2025 release

    • To make matters worse the hackers released a playable demo which has subsequently been modded by the online community

    • Insomniac is tracking the IP address of everyone who downloads the demo and individually reaching out with a legal notice

  • Other leaked documents include upcoming releases for the next ten years, past sales, projected profits, employee social security numbers and passports, and proprietary information for partner studios Sony and Marvel

  • Article links:

Ultra Marketplace Exploring First of its Kind Transactions

  • Ultra is a video game marketplace where users can buy PC games and is now experimenting with tokenized ownership of those games

  • Ultra has released a new feature for a web2 game titled Josh Journey which will be the first digital PC game that can be resold to other users via a tokenized license

  • Players can buy the license to Josh Journey, complete the game, and then sell off the license to allow other users to play

  • It should be noted that the base game has no NFTs or blockchain integration

  • Developers will be cut into every resale of the license and can control things such as minimum sale price and royalty share

  • Article links:

Farcana Raises $10M for NFT Shooter

Image: Farcana.

  • Web3 gaming continues to be a crypto sector that attracts intense speculation with many hoping that through games crypto will achieve mainstream adoption

  • Farcana is a third person tactical shooter that can be compared to popular games Overwatch and Valorant and raised $10M in a round lead by Animoca brands and Polygon Labs

  • Farcana subsequently released a free mint on the Polygon blockchain that is currently re-trading for roughly $2,500

  • Further, every asset in the game with be tokenized as well as using its own token: $FAR

  • Article links:

Immutable Games Passport Goes Live

Image: Immutable.

  • Immutable Games is a crypto based startup that aims to give web3 game developers a platform to create on as well as a marketplace ecosystem

  • Currently there are over 150 NFT enabled games on the Immutable platform with 20 unique marketplaces

  • They have just debuted their newest feature for their ecosystem titled “Immutable Passport” that allows for the consolidation of accounts/wallets

    • Before Immutable Passport players would need unique profiles and sometimes different wallets for all 150 games

  • Now with Immutable Passport players profiles will be the same across all the games as well as have easy access to their NFT’s from those games

  • The goal is take out as much crypto complexity as possible and make these games more appealing for the average player

  • Article links:

Crypto

Coinbase Enters the French Markets

Bitcoin ETFs Signal Imminent Approval as Advertising Spend Ramps Up

  • A number of Bitcoin ETF commercials have sprung up as providers feel confident in their imminent approval

  • The commercials also signal an expectation of fierce competition among them in the largely untapped retail audience

  • The ad has a familiar face in Jonathan Goldsmith who was popularized in the viral “Most Interesting Man Slive” ad campaign by Dos Equis

  • Article links:

Solana Phones Sell Out (After Initial ‘Flop’)

Premium Hardware For The Mobile Web3 Era | Solana Mobile

  • The Saga phone which boasted the first ever built-in hardware wallet and dApp store was released last year to limited fanfare, initially selling just 2,500 of the over 20,000 supply and prompting Solana’s founder to consider ending the program

    • In fact, Solana phone was rated the worst consumer phone by popular tech YouTube Marques Brownlee

  • Everything changed in the last two weeks with the phones immediately selling out and now reselling on eBay for thousands over the initial price

  • The change in narrative around the Solana phone is tied a recent explosion in the Solana ecosystem that has seen SOL, but more importantly meme coins like $BONK (which the phone came with) dramatically increase in value

  • Now, the Solana community has rallied around the phone with popular projects promising airdrops to owners of the phone

  • Article links:

]]><![CDATA[Web3 Round 12-11-23]]>https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-12-11-23https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-12-11-23Mon, 11 Dec 2023 15:28:18 GMTBrand Web3 Activity

FIAT Enters Web3 With NFT Sale

  • European car manufacturer FIAT is joining the many car brands now involved in the wider web3 ecosystem

  • FIAT currently has an NFT for sale dubbed “FIAT PASS” which comes with some immediate benefits upon purchase.

    • Owning a FIAT PASS will entitle the owner to a guaranteed priority order of their latest north American release the “500E Red”

    • A $180 mobility credit in the FIAT ride sharing app, “Free2Move”

    • And a unique piece of generative art from Italian artist Stefano Contiero

    • The NFT will also have future applications such as invitations to FIAT unveilings and future priority preorders of new models.

      • FIAT Pass is currently being sold for $165

  • Article links:

Louis Vuitton Trunk NFT Has First Offering

an exclusive image of Louis Vuitton's Via Trunk NFT

  • About six months ago Louis Vuitton sold a $41,000 soul bound token collection called Treasure Trunks

  • The Trunks could not be sold or transferred but they did come with a physical counterpart along with promised future utility

  • Louis Vuitton has just announced what the first utility will be for a lucky number of Treasure Trunk owners:

    • 200 randomly selected trunk owners will have the opportunity to purchase a $6,000 fashion piece titled “Via Tile Trunk” that has been designed by the artistic director Nicolas Ghesquiere

  • Article links:

Funko to Drop NFT Trading Cards Using Disney IP

  • Popular toy company Funko is no stranger to digital collectibles, and their latest offering is bringing along some of the most iconic characters of all time as well as incentivizing trading by collectors

  • Titled “Mickey and Friends” the Funkos drop will see Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and more included in the upcoming collection

  • On December 12th Funko will be selling packs of NFT trading cards

    • Packs containing 5 cards will retail for $9.99 and packs containing 15 cards will retail for $29.99

    • Each set of packs has a limited supply of 21,250.

  • Once packs have been opened, certain sets of cards can be redeemed for the physical limited Funko toy

    • Collectors will have to trade with one another to get the right set or be extremely lucky upon opening packs

  • Article links:

Native Web3

Pudgy Penguins Announce Pudgy Worlds Game

Image

  • Popular web3 project, Pudgy Penguins continues to expand the brand beyond the blockchain

  • Their latest announcement (which was long rumored) is a metaverse style game called Pudgy World which will allow users to utilize their various characters and digital collectibles

  • The game is expected to release in Q1 2024

Nova Labs Partners with T-Mobile to Support Their Decentralized Cell Network

  • In 2019, Nova Labs launched the Helium Network which has used tokens to reward individuals who launch nodes with the goal of one day creating a decentralized wireless network

  • On December 5th, Helium Mobile announced a nation wide $20 unlimited plan that leverages this network

    • With the average American spending $157 a month on their cellular plan, this has the potential for a huge amount of disruption

  • Helium Network has also partnered with T-Mobile to cover any service areas

    • The Helium Network gets individuals to run nodes which then act as node network for cellular calls

    • Helium Network’s nodes don’t cover entire nation, so anytime a Helium user is not in a covered area T-Mobile will step in and provide coverage

    • Helium will pay T-mobile every time this happens so they are heavily incentivized to increase their node network.

  • Article links:

Magic Eden Announces Upcoming Multi-Chain Wallet

  • Popular multi-blockchain NFT exchange Magic Eden is developing its own browser based wallet

  • The wallet will be focused on cross chain compatibility as well as the user experience of buying and selling NFTs

  • The rationale behind the wallet came from users Magic Eden needing three separate wallets to experience all the different products available on the exchange

    • The wallet is currently in closed beta with no release date announced.

  • Article links:

Kingship Experience Launches in Roblox

Bored Ape avatars in Kingship's Roblox game. Image: Kingship

  • Fictional metaverse band Kingship is a trio of Bored Apes and one Mutant Ape formed by music label, 10:22 (a subsidiary of Universal Music Group)

  • An NFT collection centered around the band was minted in 2021 and has proven to be a place for web3 music lovers to gather

  • Popular musicians Hitboy and James Fauntleroy are also working on music that will eventually be released by the metaverse band.

  • While the community awaits the Kingship album, Kingship has harnessed Roblox for a fun interactive experience that grows the band's narrative while providing new perks for NFT holders

  • In the experience, players are tasked with reuniting all the band members on a tropical island

    • Owners of the Kingship NFT have special access to a secret area within the Roblox experience

    • The experience currently has had 165 thousand visits and has been favorited 660 times

  • Article links:

AI News

Mountain Dew Launches AI Enabled Competition on Twitch

  • Mountain Dew has unleashed a new campaign titled “RAID” in partnership with Twitch

  • The campaign urges streamers to stream with a Mountain Dew product visible on the live stream which is confirmed by AI

  • Players who stream with a Mountain Dew product will automatically be entered into a raffle where the lucky winners will have their stream featured on the Twitch home page as well as the Mountain Dew Twitch page

  • The Mountain Dew Twitch page will be cycling through various streamers, thus incentivizing the streamers to have a Dew visible at all times during the competition

  • Article links:

Pika Labs Raises $55 Million and Debuts Demo

  • Pika Labs is an AI startup founded just 6 months ago and has a beta product titled “Pika”

  • Pika’s aim is to democratize the field of video production and allow anyone to become their own video director

  • The demo is impressive and the beta already boasts a community of half a million users

  • Pika 1.0 can do text to video, image to video, and even video to video.

  • It seems the wider world of VC’s were also impressed by Pika’s product as they raised $55M

  • Article links:

Amazon launches AI assistant Q

  • Amazon has launched an AI assistant called “Amazon Q”

  • Q is a little more businesses/technically oriented than Siri or Alexa

  • With 17 years of AWS data trained in its model, it can assist developers and IT professionals as well as be given a goal or task and independently start coding towards it

  • It is early days, but the long term goal is to compete with Microsoft’s “Copilot”.

  • Article links:

Metaverse / Gaming

Eminem Holds First Virtual Concert in Fortnite

  • Fortnite recently hosted an in-game event titled “The Big Bang” which was the culmination of Fortnite’s Chapter 4

  • It also teased upcoming features: players were able to jump through portals and test out new game elements as well as see new characters

  • The event culminated in an interactive digital concert:

    • Players were greeted with a giant digital Eminem

    • His first track “Lose Yourself” had players interacting with the performance via a rhythm game while his second track “Monster” saw players on a rooftop while Eminem destroyed a digital city a la Godzilla

  • The concert was much shorter than previous musical offerings

  • There was also an Eminem skin for sale in the digital store afterwards

  • The event had roughly 12M individual users when it went live and has since been viewed many million times more

  • Article links:

LEGO X Fortnite

I BEAT LEGO FORTNITE! - YouTube

  • Fortnite is launching one of it’s most unique and integrated brand collaborations yet, this time with LEGO

  • Generally, Fortnite brand collaborations are cookie cutter:

    • A cosmetic skin and other items available for purchase

    • Change in the map offering branding

    • Limited time game item or game mode (for example players could play as Thanos during the Marvel Endgame collaboration)

  • The LEGO collaboration is completely unique in comparison and boasts a full stand alone game

    • Instead of competing against each other, players are building towns, farming, exploring, and defending their towns from LEGO wolves and skeletons

    • This experience can be played alone or with up to 7 friends

    • Many are comparing the game to Minecraft, Zelda and Valheim

  • And players are loving it: at time of writing there are 2.3M active playing the new game (and less than 1 million active players on Fortnite Battle Royale)

    • This is the first time in Fortnite’s history that the Battle Royale is not the most played game within Fortnite

Swedish House Mafia has a Virtual Concert in Roblox

Swedish House Mafia concert announcement screenshot

  • Popular EDM group Swedish House Mafia just had their first virtual concert within the popular metaverse Roblox

  • The experience went live December 1st and was played every hour on the hour until Monday

  • The experience was closer to something one would expect in a Fortnite concert with players being transported to various digital environments with interactive gameplay elements

  • It should be noted this was not an official Roblox concert but rather something Swedish House Mafia did independently while utilizing the Roblox platform

  • The event had 380k visits throughout the duration of the multi-day concert.

  • Article links:

Forgotten Runiverse Recap

  • Popular NFT collection Forgotten Runes Wizards Cult recently closed the alpha of their upcoming blockchain based MMO RPG game “Forgotten Runiverse”

  • They released an impressive recap of the week long experience

    • Highlights include:

      • The collection of NFT rings that gave some early access utility minted out in 5 minutes

      • 128% more people were playing on Day 7 opposed to Day 1

      • 40% of people playing on Day 1 were playing on the final day of the beta

      • 1123 people max leveled their character

      • Bosses were defeated 333,629 times, and 482K pieces of equipment were crafted (that can be minted on chain)

  • https://runiverse.world/eve-of-memory-event-recap/

Square Enix Holds NFT Auction for Upcoming Game

  • Square Enix is behind one of the longest running and most beloved game franchises of all time, Final Fantasy so naturally there was a lot of excitement when they announced they would be entering web3 via an NFT enabled game titled “Symbiogenesis”

  • Square Enix is preparing for the imminent launch of the game on December 21st by holding a round of auctions for in game characters

    • The game will be free to play for everyone but owning a character grants access to exclusive content provide “a role to play determining the tale’s ultimate ending”

    • The auction has been heavily gamified with only active community members who took part in “Discord missions and raids” allowed to put in bids

    • All characters will start as free, but if two or more people attempt to claim the same character an auction will trigger

    • Furthermore in game bonuses are given to anyone who bids over $100

  • Article links:

Crypto

Coinbase Wallet Adds Peer-to-Peer USDC Transfer Via ‘Link’

  • Crypto has long been criticized for being unwieldy and complicated to the average person but has become more accessible over the last 4 years as banks working with exchanges like Coinbase offer same day deposits

  • Coinbase has been a trailblazer in this area and continues to be with their latest offering:

    • Now users with Coinbase Wallet can send crypto and stablecoins just by sending the recipeient a ‘claim link’

    • Users with a Coinbase account can generate a link with the currency they would like to send and then send via text, DM or any other means

    • The recipient will be able to transfer the currency into their account with both users being charged zero fees

  • Article links:

Philippines SEC to Block Access to Binance.

Sinbad Sanctioned by US Treasury Department

  • Crypto transactions are public by nature of the blockchain however sometimes people would rather be anonymous when transacting

  • To meet this need applications called “coin mixers” were created which mix together incoming cryptocurrencies in a giant pool and redistribute the same amount of coins at random to the depositors thus ensuring anonymity

  • The most popular of these were Blender and Tornado cash which were used infamously by the North Korean Hacking syndicate to launder over $700M

    • Both services were subsequently shut down by the US Federal Government

  • The developers behind Blender relaunched the app under a new name (Sinbad) and were met with similar results: a sanction by the US Government and their exchange being seized

    • These actions have spurred a greater conversation within the crypto currency community with regards to the right to privacy and government intervention (as well as the the liability of developers when their products are used for crime)

  • Article links:

Blockchain Interoperability Company, Wormhole Raises $225M

  • Wormhole is the latest crypto venture to raise money at an eye watering valuation

  • Wormhole is a developer platform that allows different blockchains to communicate with one another on chain while also developing tools intended to increase cross chain activity

  • Wormhole was once a part of a broader crypto company called Jump Trading Group, however they recently separated from their parent company and raised $225 million dollars at a $2.5B valuation

  • The round was lead by former parent company Jump Trading Group and Coinbase Ventures

  • Article links:

Crypto.com Secures Regulatory Approval in the UK

  • Popular crypto exchange Crypto.com has just added another territory to its portfolio

  • The UK financial regulator has approved Crypto.com’s application for an Electronic Money Institution License

  • This license will allow Crypto.com to broaden its crypto related offerings within the UK

  • The UK has garnered the reputation of being notoriously hard to obtain these sorts of licenses

    • Crypto.com joins Gemini and Coinbase as the only exchanges which have been successful in obtaining an EMI license.

  • Article links:

]]><![CDATA[Web3 Roundup 11-27-23]]>https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-roundup-11-27-23https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-roundup-11-27-23Mon, 27 Nov 2023 14:42:36 GMTBrand Web3 Activity

NHL Launches Highlight Platform on Polygon

  • The NHL along with the association of retired players has launched their own digital collectible marketplace titled “Highlights”

  • The concept is very familiar to that of NBA Top Shot where users collect specific moment that happen in games (though has no association with Dapper Labs)

  • Highlights is a bit more gamified than Top Shot:

    • Fans can earn rewards like rare packs or NHL experiences by fulfilling challenges, like completing a set of great plays or players from their favorite team

  • Article links:

Nike and RTFKT Begin to Work Together (Joint Sneaker Release)

Oops, You Stepped Into the Future': Nike Drops Sneakers With NFTs - Decrypt

  • Since Nike acquired RTFKT people have wondered how closely RTFKT would be working with its new parent company and after the acquisition and initial co-posts, it seemed the two companies would stay in their own lanes

  • This was further expanded when Nike dropped .SWOOSH leaving many RTFKT customers feeling as if they had been left to the side

  • RTFKT has currently been running a sale of their reimagining of the classic Nike Dunk

    • These shoes have a unique futuristic look and were only available in limited color ways to RTFKT NFT holders

  • However at ComplexCon Nike and RTFKT teamed up to drop two color ways that would be available for everyone with heavy marketing support from Nike

    • The shoes will retail for $222 with no NFT requirement for purchase

    • Each shoe will come with an NFC chip that ties the owner of the physical sneaker to a digital sneaker

  • Article links:

Disney (Re)Enters Web3 With a New Marketplace

Native Web3

Cool Cats is the First NFT Company to Have IP in the Macy TG Parade

  • Cool Cats has partnered with Macys to have their main character IP Blue and Chuggs featured as floats in their annual Thanksgiving Parade

  • Exclusive physical merch was made available at local the local Macy’s which included digital clones (via NFC chips)

  • Article links:

    • https://decrypt.co/207254/cool-cats-nft-collection-joins-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade

Seek Raises $5m for Specialized Marketplace for Tokenized Knowledge

  • The web3 social company Seek has raised $5M in a round led by Binance Ventures to create a specialized marketplace that would allow users to “tokenize their knowledge”

  • Seek hopes to capitalize on the proliferation of online educational content by turning online creators’ knowledge into ‘liquid and accessible assets’

  • Seek debuted its first product earlier this year in the form of business cards that can share telegram contact info and display NFTs when placed near a phone

  • Article links:

Decentraland Has Annual Music Festival

Decentraland stage

FVCKRENDER and Ledger Released Limited Collaboration

  • Popular digital artist FVCKRENDER has released a limited edition collaboration in partnership with the hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger

  • The collaboration sees one of FVCKRENDER’s artworks laser etched onto the Ledger Hardware

  • The collaboration also includes a hat with pockets to hold your Ledger

    • This was widely mocked online as most people who use a ledger have quite valuable digital assets that would not want be held on your person

  • Article links:

New Marketplace Allows Users to Sell NFT Utility

  • In a novel application, the “Delegates” marketplace aims to allow users to sell off specific utilities provided via holding an NFT

  • So, say for example your Bored Ape grants you access to Ape Fest, the Delegates marketplace would allow you to sell that access to someone wishing to attend without selling the NFT

  • One collection that is gaining momentum from this feature is “Loud Punx”

    • Each Loud Punx acts as a forever ticket to any Rolling Loud music festival, and multiple festivals are held all over the world on a yearly basis

    • Holders are now able to sell off the ability to attend specific festivals in locations they don’t live or don’t wish to attend

  • Article links:

NFT Founder Indicted on Defrauding Buyers

Mutant Ape Planet' NFT developer accused of $2.9 million rug pull | PC Gamer

  • NFT collection “Mutant Ape Planet” was minted during the bull market of 2021 and was a knock off of the wildly successful Bored Ape Yacht Club

  • The developer pocketed over $3M and then abandoned the project

    • This developer has now been arrested, faces 5 years in prison, and must pay back $1.4M in damages

  • While it is great seeing law enforcement target bad actors in the space this was a pretty open and shut case due to the developer posting in the discord that he was rugging the project due to the communities toxicity

  • Article links:

AI News

Sam Altman Fired and Rehired from OpenAI

  • Many were shocked to read that the board of OpenAI had fired the founder and CEO for relatively vague reasons that came as a surprise to him, Microsoft (49% shareholder), and the public

  • Over the weekend, there was a steady stream of updates to the drama revealing an internal struggle at OpenAI:

    • Another co-founder had left in protest to the board’s decision…

    • Shortly after, Microsoft announced hiring Sam to lead their AI division

    • Upwards of 90% of workers at OpenAI signed a petition, and were ready to leave should Sam Altman not be rehired

  • As the dust has finally settled, the struggle seems to have been won by Sam Altman who was reinstated as the Open AI CEO

  • Sam requested that if he were to return as CEO the current board must resign and limitations are to be put on the new board’s control over OpenAI

  • Speculation abounds about the details of the power struggle

  • Article Links:

Music Platform Behind Grimes AI Voice Raises $4.6M

  • Triniti Music is a music platform that allows producers and writers to leverage the latest in AI music technology

  • They are most well known for creating the Grimes voice creator suite that allows song writers to use Grimes’ voice in their music for a royalty fee

  • Triniti raised $4.6M which will be used to expand their AI tool kit for creators

  • The round was lead by Polychain Captial and included investments from Kendrick Lamar’s manager, Paris Hilton's venture capital fund, and Moon Pay, among others.

  • Article links:

Metaverse / Gaming

Ubisoft Releases Rayman into the Sandbox

"Captain Laserhawk" avatars in The Sandbox. Image: The Sandbox

  • Last week, Ubisoft continued to expand into the world of web3 with a few announcements:

    • They will be creating an NFT enabled game in the future

    • And will sending some of their beloved IP into the Metaverse (Sandbox) in support of their upcoming Netflix show “Captain Laserhawk”.

      • The upcoming series and Sandbox collaboration will incorporate several Ubisoft IP’s

  • On November 29th, Sandbox users will be able to mint 1866 avatars spanning 9 character IP, the most recognizable being Ray Man

    • At present the price to mint has not been revealed

  • Article links:

Crypto

Aave Rebrands

DOJ Charges Binance and Their CEO

Binance (BNB) to Settle U.S. Charges, Source Says; WSJ Reports CEO Changpeng 'CZ' Zhao to Step Down

  • The DOJ has officially charged Binance, the world biggest crypto exchange with a massive fee of $4.1B in one of the largest penalties the U.S. has ever obtained from a corporate defendant

  • Binance was accused of failing to maintain a proper anti-money laundering program, operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and violating sanction laws

  • The DOJ also charged Binance founder and long time CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ) with violating the Bank Secrecy Act

    • He was fined $50M and may not operate as an executive at Binance for at least 3 years

    • CZ has has appointed Richard Teng, a former Abu Dhabi regulator, as the new acting CEO

  • General sentiment from the crypto community is actually positive, as the charges had been looming for some time causing anxiety around a market crash

  • Article links:

SEC Comes after Kraken… Again

  • Not to be outdone by the DOJ the SEC has filed charges of their own against the crypto exchange

  • The SEC is alleging the Kraken has been selling unregistered securities and commingling customer funds with company funds

  • The SEC has provided a list of which tokens they are alleging as securities and confusingly enough most of these tokens are available on other exchanges that the SEC is not going after such as Polygon, MANA and SAND.

  • Kraken has released a statement that they plan to vigorously defend their position and that it does not list securities

    • The SEC had previously charged Kraken in regards to their staking services. Kraken agreed to pay $30m to settle those charges and discontinued their staking services within the US

  • Article links:

Unstoppable Domains Faces the Wrath of Crypto Users after Recent Patent Filing

  • In January, Unstoppable Domains was granted a patent which claims the founders are the inventors of a technology that uses blockchain technology to determine domains

    • The only problem? Anyone who has been in the space longer than a year knows that the real inventors of this technology work for a company called ENS the popular and widely used .ETH domain technology

  • Following the news of this patent getting out, the CEO of ENS has publicly called out the CEO of Unstoppable Domains on Twitter urging him to drop this patent or face a lawsuit

  • The wider crypto community quickly jumped on this exchange with the vast majority siding with ENS

  • Patents are widely hated by the crypto community as many programmers believe in an open source internet and freedom in innovation

  • Article links:

SEC Delays Bitcoin ETF and Ethereum ETF Decision Again

]]><![CDATA[Web3 Roundup 11-13-23]]>https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-roundup-11-13-23https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-roundup-11-13-23Mon, 13 Nov 2023 15:47:11 GMTBrand Web3 Activity

Simpsons Release NFT Themed Episode

  • The iconic animated sitcom, The Simpsons, recently dropped their annual Halloween episode, known for featuring multiple mini-episodes

  • This year one of the mini-episodes was entirely to the theme of NFTs

  • In the episode Homer accidentally mints his son Bart into an NFT and is at first sad, but then finds relief when he finds out his sons token is quite valuable

  • Many prominent NFT collections were featured in the episode and even the likeness of individual NFTs within collections have been pointed out on X

    • Collections featured include, Beeple’s Everydays, Doodles, Bored Apes, Crypto Punks, Crypto Kitties, Nyan Cat and more.

  • After the episode was released there was a flurry of Simpson themed NFT collection minted which have all since dropped drastically in value

  • Article links:

    • https://nftnow.com/news/the-simpsons-tap-into-nft-culture-in-their-latest-episode/

Gucci Launches New Sandbox Activation

Gucci avatars in the new Gucci Cosmos Land experience on The Sandbox

  • Gucci is building on its past activations within the Sandbox Metaverse, this time transporting their current retrospective “Gucci Cosmos” on view at the Strand in London into the digital experience

  • Players will be able to explore the digital retrospective, learn about the brands history and complete mini games

    • The first 100 players to complete all games will unlock a Gucci avatar NFT

    • This collaboration comes of off last years Gucci Vault which was also accessible via the Sandbox Metaverse s

  • Article links:

    • https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephaniehirschmiller/2023/11/08/why-gucci-cosmos-blockbuster-show-is-launching-in-the-sandbox-game/?sh=114e762ad89f

Native Web3

NFT Sales Surged in October and November

  • The sale price / volume of NFTs across all types of collections and blockchains are up significantly in October and November 2023

  • Between September and October there was a 32% percent increase in sales which is equivalent to an extra $99M in sales

  • Early data shows this trend continuing into November though the NFT market still has a long way to go in regaining the previous highs of the bull market

  • Interestingly, while total price of sales jumped the actual number of individual NFTs sold were down around 5% between September in October

  • One possible reason for this is the market has contracted to a handful of relevant projects, making the average consumer is more likely to bet on those projects than taking a gamble on a new unproven project

  • Article links:

Popular NFT collection Claynosaurz to Release Plush Line

Credit: Claynosaurz

  • Solana based NFT project Claynosaurz are following in Pudgy Penguins footsteps and releasing a line of plush toys

  • However where Pudgy Penguins blitzed the market, Claynosaurz are taking a crawl-walk-run approach

  • The first offering will be a limited run that can only be purchased via an NFT

    • The Claynosaurz community will have first access to the NFT and it will cost roughly $40

    • Once the NFT’s are redeemed this color way will be retired

    • In the future Claynosaurz will look to have a full release of their plush line.

  • Article links:

Phantom Wallets Introduces Mobile Minting Feature

  • Solana based wallet, Phantom, has rolled out a unique new feature for their users

    • From November first onwards, users will be able to choose images or videos from their camera rolls and mint them as Solana NFTs at the touch of a button no code required

    • The images and video will then be saved in perpetuity on the blockchain

    • The NFT’s can then be traded but some are pointing out that most will not want to sell these photos, rather use them as memories stored within their wallets.

  • Article links:

OpenSea Lays Announces Layoffs

Neo Tokyo | OpenSea Addresses Their Broken Policy Regarding Stolen NFTs

  • Once valued at $13B, OpenSea is facing rough waters

  • OpenSea has long been the dominate marketplace in web3

  • Founded in 2017 they had the first moved advantage by a long shot and quickly capitalized going into the NFT bull market

  • However in recent times they have made some questionable moves and lost the support of some of the biggest players in the space such as Yuga Labs

  • On November 3rd the Open Sea CEO announced the company would be laying off 50% of its work force in an effort to retool the platform and focus on speed to market for future updates

  • This comes as a flurry of new competitors arise (see next article)

  • Article links:

Yuga Labs and Magic Eden Team Up for Creator Focused Marketplace

Image

  • After taking their collections off of OpenSea, Yuga Labs has announced it is teaming up with competitor marketplace Magic Eden to help them launch their upcoming Ethereum NFT marketplace

  • This marketplace will come with a twist however, as it will be the first Ethereum marketplace with a contractual obligation to uphold creator royalties

  • Going forward Yuga says it will only work with marketplaces that enforce creator royalties as they see it as a win for themselves and the overall web3 space

    • One cannot help but see this as at least in some part a retaliation of OpenSea’s recent decision to not enforce royalties which led to the public spat with Yuga

  • Article links:

Ape Fest Attendees Injured by UV Lights

  • Yuga Labs recently held its annual Ape Fest In Hong Kong

  • This was Ape Fest’s first time being outside of the United States and community members travelled from all over the world for the meet up

  • Unfortunately it seems a few club members were injured during the festivities

    • While reports are still being collected, Yuga has completed their own independent investigation and it seems that one UV light used during the stage performances was the wrong type of light and actually burned and exposed viewers eyeballs to UV radiation

    • While the effects are reportedly painful they are not long lasting

  • Article links:

Rarible Launches RaribleX

  • NFT marketplace Rarible has launched their newest feature “RaribleX”

  • Instead of competing with OpenSea and Blur for marketshare within the web3 world, RaribleX aims to be a turnkey solution for brands who want to create and control their own NFT marketplace

  • Brands will be able to work with RaribleX to custom design a marketplace to their specifications and needed features

    • Current clients of RaribleX include Mattel who has launched custom marketplaces for their IP Hot Wheels and Barbie and Animoca Brands

  • Article links:

AI News

ChatGPT Launches Build Your Own GPT Feature

How To Create Your Own Custom GPT: Beginner's Complete Guide | Bizway Resources

  • ChatGPT continues to roll out exciting new features at a breakneck pace

  • Open AI CEO Sam Altman recently demoed the “Build your GPT” feature that will allow users to create their own ChatBots specially designed and curated by users to be experts in certain subjects

  • Users can not only tell their own GPTs what to do, but they can also upload their own documents to be used and studied by the AI

    • For example a professor could upload all their lectures and notes on the subject as a learning tool for the AI

  • OpenAI will also be releasing a GPT store where GPTs that are built by the community, the creator will then be able to monetize their GPT based on how many people are using it

  • Article links:

Elon Musk Unveils Competitor to Chat GPT “Grok”

  • Elon Musk has entered into the AI arms race with his own chatbot currently called “Grok” integrated into the X platform

  • Grok is quite different than most AI chat bots out there:

    • First it has much fewer guard rails than other GPT’s and will answer questions that contain sexual, racial, political, and otherwise provocative themes that other GPTs would not

    • Second unlike most other GPTs Grok is trained on real time knowledge via the X platform and can access real time world developments

    • And third Grok was trained to resemble the AI from Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy and will respond to questions “ With a bit of humor and has a rebellious streak”

  • Article links:

Animated Films Could End up Costing 90% Less

  • In an interview, DreamWorks SKG cofounder Jeffrey Katzenberg noted that it would take 500 artists five years to create a world class movie

  • Thanks to AI, in the future it may take 10% of that, leaving many animators without a job

  • Instead, ‘prompters’ will generate the majority of the scenes

  • Article links:

Metaverse / Gaming

Fortnite Brings Back OG Map - Active Player Count Skyrockets

  • Fortnite has long been dominant in the Battle Royale space, however their constantly changing map and gameplay elements left some players nostalgic for a simpler time, specifically the first map that Fortnite launched with in 2017

  • Epic Games has heeded the calls of their community to truly astounding results

    • After rolling out their OG map, Fortnite servers reported 44.7 million unique players with over 102 million hours of play, making November 5th the biggest day in Fortnite’s 6 year history

  • Article links:

Ubisoft is Making a Blockchain Gaming Experience

  • Ubisoft, the developer behind popular gaming franchises Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry are dipping their toes into the blockchain gaming world

  • They have recently announced they are teaming up with web3 based gaming company Immutable for a “crypto gaming experience”

  • Details on what exactly is being built are scarce but the Immutable CEO was quoted saying “The companies will offer digital ownership to players through the collaboration” leading many to speculate that NFT’s will play a prominent role

  • Article links:

Roblox CEO Talks Future of NFT’s on Roblox.

  • Roblox has long been thought of as a perfect platform to integrate NFTs and it seems the CEO has been thinking along the same the lines

  • In an interview with CNBC the Roblox CEO spoke of a future where creators could sell digital creations that could then be taken off platform via NFTs

  • While no immediate plans were announced its still exciting to see the blockchain tech discussed so openly

  • Article links:

Crypto

BlackRock Files for Ethereum ETF

  • American financial firm BlackRock has revealed in a filling with the Nasdaq stock that it is proposing an “Ishares Ethereum Trust” that would allow for investors to get exposure to Ethereum’s price movements via the traditional stock exchange

    • Ethereum jumped 10% on the news

  • Article links:

Hong Kong Joins USA in Considering Crypto ETFS

Sam Bankman Fried Found Guilty on All Charges

Sam Bankman-Fried Released on $250 Million Bail Ahead of FTX Trial

  • SBF’s much publicized trial has ended in guilty charges on all 7 counts of fraud and conspiracy

  • SBF was accused of embezzling billions of dollars of customers deposits on his crypto exchange FTX as well as defrauding lenders of FTX’s sister company Alameda Research

  • Sam Bankman Fried will be held at a federal prison in Brooklyn awaiting his sentencing on March 15

  • He will also stand trail for an additional 5 charges in March as well

  • Article links:

]]><![CDATA[Web3 Round Up 10.30.23 ]]>https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-up-103023https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-up-103023Mon, 30 Oct 2023 13:51:41 GMTBrand Web3 Activity

Reddit Collaborates with Deadfellaz

Image

  • Reddit has continued to expand its popular Polygon based NFT avatar program most recently with a collection that spans several artists all celebrating the Halloween theme

  • Reddit’s avatar program usually incorporates Reddit based artists

    • And while this drop is no different, “Deadfellaz”, a popular web3 project was aptly included

    • DeadFellaz released 3 avatars that could be minted 1050 times

    • The avatars sold out in seconds making them one of the fastest selling pieces in the collection

  • Overall this artist focused Halloween drop is selling much better than Reddit’s last collaboration with the NFL

  • Article links:

Maison Margiela Mints Soulbound Collection

  • Paris based fashion house, Maison Margiela, is entering the world of web3 through a gamified mint

    • The game is simple: upon loading the web page there is a timer that counts up to 23

    • Each number can be minted but doing so resets the timer to zero - the first 100 people with all 23 numbers win

  • The collection is on Polygon and Maison Margiela is paying user gas fees

  • The collection is also soul bound, meaning owners cannot transfer or sell these NFTs

    • Soulbound collections are something luxury brands are starting to lean more into as it allows them to set a price and never let low price assets reflect poorly on the brand

  • What winners with all 24 tokens will receive has not been revealed nor has any future uses of these tokens

  • Article links:

Nike Floods Web3 with Multiple Product Drops

  • Nike and RTFKT have had a busy couple weeks in web3

  • First, .SWOOSH released their first physical pair of sneakers titled TINAJ

    • TINAJ was available for purchase if a user had revealed an OF1 Box NFT before October 16

    • However that only made the sneaker available to purchase within the Sneakers app, the TINAJ was a limited run sneaker and not every OF1 Box holder got to purchase one

    • Upon arrival of the physical sneakers, purchasers also received an unexpected digital twin NFT airdropped to their .SWOOSH profile

  • RTFKT is seeing a cultural resurgence in web3 as well

    • The Air Force 1 drop that was sold a couple months ago has started arriving to customers and most seem pleased with the design and quality

      • Some have already started to resell for a hefty price on traditional sneaker flipping sites such as StockX

      • Additionally, there was a special surprise for customers who minted all 10 color ways of the Air Force One

        • They will be receiving a “What the RTFKT” shoe that is limited at 40 pairs and consists of design elements of all 10 color ways

  • RTFKT also has a forging event (redeeming an NFT for a physical shoe) going on right now

    • This forging event centers on RTFKT’s take on the traditional Nike Dunk which can be minted in 3 color ways

    • At time of writing 8,658 shoes have been redeemed

  • Article links:

X to Charge All New Accounts a Nominal Fee to Fight Bots

Snap and The Louvre Team Up

  • The Louvre has enlisted Snap’s AR functions to enhance their latest exhibition exploring ancient Egypt

  • The collaboration is titled “Egypt Augmented” and museum visitors will have the opportunity to launch augmented experiences at three different points within the exhibit

  • This collaboration marks the 200 year anniversary since Egyptian Hieroglyphics were cracked using the Rosetta Stone

  • Those unable to make it to the Louvre can check out a free face lens inspired by the exhibit on the snap platform

  • Article links:

Multiple Brands Confirmed for Ready Player Me Skins

  • Platform agnostic avatar company “Ready Player Me” is doubling down on collaborations with brands and IP when it comes to dressing up their avatars

  • Ready Player Me has recently announced it will be producing skins and wearables on its platform with Angry Birds, Warner Music, The Voice, McLaren and others

  • They will be joining an already impressive roster of collaborations that includes Adidas, New Balance, and BMW

  • Article links:

Native Web3

Twitter Troll Ryder Ripps and Pauly Ordered to Pay Yuga $1.5M Over Copyright Claim

Azuki’s Beanz Collection Releases Vinyl Toy

Image

  • Chiru Labs, the parent company behind Azuki and Beanz NFT collection, is raffling off 530 vinyl toys made after one of their most memorable Beanz “GUS”

  • The raffle can be entered by those who have a Beanz or Hoarder badge via the Azuki collector profile

  • Each toy will come equipped with a physical backed token and winners will only need to pay for shipping

  • Article links:

AI News

Deepfake Used to Sabotage Slovakia’s elections

  • A deepfake audio recording recently went viral days before Slovakia’s general election

  • The deepfake had two high ranking members of the left wing government discussing buying votes from an ethnic minority in Slovakia

  • The recording was only proven false after the voting in the the incredibly tight elections had taken place

  • While the exact damage of the deepfake is unknown many are calling this the first election swayed by AI

  • Article links:

Meta’s New AI Can Read Your Mind

  • Meta is working on brain scanning technology that decodes visual representations in the brain which are then paired with an AI to create real time visual representations of thoughts

  • In the short term this will help decode how a brain processes information, but in the long term it is potentially the start of technology that would allow humans to communicate telepathically and there is currently a debate on the ethics of mind privacy

  • Article links:

Universal Music Group Sues Amazon Backed AI Startup

  • Warner Music Group is suing Anthropic alleging unauthorized use of Universal’s music catalog to train their AI chatbots

  • Universal is joining in their lawsuit as well as 5 other prominent music labels and publishers

    • Universal is seeking $75M in damages

  • This case is the first major lawsuit by the music industry against an AI developer and the ruling in this case may set the framework for how AI developers interact with the music industry in the future

  • Article links:

Biden to Use Emergency Powers, Claiming AI is a National Security Threat

  • The order would compel major AI companies to notify the government when developing any system that ‘poses a serious risk to national security, national economic security or national public health and safety’

  • The broad nature of the order will give the government purview to intervene into a wide range of fast growing AI technologies

Metaverse / Gaming

Web3 Gaming Studio Neon Machine Raises $20M

Image: Shrapnel/Neon Machine.

Microsoft Completes Acquisition of Activision and Blizzard

  • After ongoing battles with regulators across a handful of countries Microsoft has officially acquired game publisher Activision Blizzard (Call Of Duty, World of Warcraft, Candy Crush, Overwatch and more)

  • Microsoft has been acquiring game studios with increasing frequency

    • The latest acquisition brings the number of in game studios to over 23

    • Most recently they purchased Bethesda which publishes the popular Fallout and Elder Ring game series

    • Many have questioned if Microsoft is becoming too dominant in the gaming world with the latest acquisition being called the beginnings of a monopoly

  • Article links:

French Government Regulates NFT Games

  • In a win for crypto enabled gaming, the French government has ruled that games incorporating NFT’s and play to earn mechanics do not fall under the same regulation as gambling or regular video games

  • This paves the way for crypto enabled gaming to have a new set of regulatory frameworks crafted just for these types of games

  • Hopefully this will provide clarity for developers and startups who are launching NFT and crypto enabled games

  • The bill still needs to be approved the by the constitutional council before it becomes law

  • Article links:

Upland Raises $7M

  • Real estate centered crypto game Upland has just expanded its Series A raise with $7Million led by EOS network

  • This extension follows the $18M raise in 2021

  • The funds will go towards more features, a token tied to the Ethereum blockchain, and a marketing push

  • Upland has 3 million downloads, 30,000 daily active players and has had past collaborations with FIFA and the NFL Players Association

  • Article links:

Crypto

NYC AG Offices Sue Gemini, Genesis Trading and DCG

  • The NYC attorney general Letitia James has filled lawsuits against three crypto companies: Gemini, Genesis Trading and DCG

  • The AG claims that these companies lied to 232,000 investors and tried to hide over a billion dollars in losses

  • The three named companies have all put out statements reflecting their surprise and shock at the charges and their willingness to fight the allegations in court

  • Article links:

Ferrari to Accept Crypto Payments

Reddit Shutters Cryptocurrency Service

  • Reddit has shuttered its Community Points program that awarded helpful content creators with crypto tokens linked to specific subreddits

  • This program was ambitious and if it was successful may have been paradigm shifting in how content creators are paid for their services

  • Reddit cited uncertain regulation guidelines from the SEC as to why they were shuttering this service

    • This move is not without controversy as moderators and Reddit insiders dumped their tokens hours before the announcement, leaving many unsatisfied Reddit community members

  • Article links:

Circle is Building Web3 Solutions

  • Circle is attempting to create a one-stop-shop ecosystem for Blockchain developers and just released two new features: “Gas Station” and “Smart Contract Platform”

  • Gas Station allows developers to pay for customers’ gas directly through their credit cards

    • This allows for developers to sponsor gas for anyone minting from the contract

  • The Smart Contract Platform lets developers deploy smart contracts with a click of a button

    • The Smart Contract Platform currently can launch smart contracts on Ethereum, Polygon and Avalanche

    • The next feature to be rolled out will be a no code solution for Ethereum smart contracts.

  • Article links:

]]><![CDATA[Web3 Round Up 10-16-23]]>https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-up-10-16-23https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-up-10-16-23Mon, 16 Oct 2023 13:27:10 GMTBrand Web3 Activity

Monopoly Partners with World Of Women

World of Women Reveals WoW Galaxy Monopoly Game - Boardroom

  • NFT collection World of Women and popular board game Monopoly are collaborating on a crypto/NFT themed version of the popular board game

  • The board game will see the Ethereum symbol used for money and include World of Women characters among other web3 references

  • World of Women holders will not receive exclusive access or discounts

  • The collaboration notably does not have a digital extension either

  • World Of Women have said that there will be special rewards for holders but there is no clarity as of now

  • Article links:

Vee Friends Collaborate with Crocs

VeeFriends and Crocs Launch Halloween Jibbitz Charms | License Global

  • Vee Friends continues its recent run of collaborations, this time partnering with Crocs to design Halloween themed jibbitz that can be displayed on Crocs

  • The collaboration will include 5 Vee Friend characters such as “Well Connected Werewolf” and “Jolly Jack O Lantern”

  • Aside from the jibbitz the collaboration will also see a Vee Friends and Crocs designed float at the 50th Annual Village Halloween Parade in NYC

  • The collection goes live on Oct 19th and will be priced at $19.99

  • Article links:

.swoosh Debuts First IRL sneaker

Nike's .Swoosh Air Force 1 Low "Tinaj" Release Info | Hypebeast

  • Nike’s web3 counterpart .swoosh has just shown off what will be its first physical sneaker

  • The sneaker “TINAJ” will be available for people who have unveiled an OF1 Box NFT before the cut off date of October 16

  • All eligible holders will be able to purchase a TINAJ for $120 exclusively on the SNKRS app

  • Article links:

Adidas and Moncler Collaboration Includes AI and NFTs

Image: Adidas/Moncler

  • Adidas and Moncler have teamed up for a web3 friendly collaboration that involves a variety of emerging technologies

  • The collaboration is titled “The Art of Explorers” and the video promotion sees the inclusion of AI generated “explorers” alongside mixed media sculptures

  • There is also an immersive digital experience that can be accessed from desktop

  • Users can purchase the collection directly from the digital experience by interacting with billboards

  • Finally there is also an NFT element with 3,000 digital boots being up for grabs

    • Certain Adidas NFT holders can claim for free with the rest going out for sale

    • The boots are just an art piece for now but “will evolve through the Adidas web3 ecosystem” according to their website

  • Article links:

X Launches Creator Streaming Service

  • X has ventured into the creator streaming world with its newest live stream feature

  • The newest feature puts the social media app as a direct competitor to sites such as Twitch and Rumble though adoption of this feature is still in its infancy

  • In an effort to encourage streamers on the platform Elon Musk has been streaming himself play his favorite video game Diablo 4

  • Article links:

Starbucks Odyssey Activates Around Pumpkin Spice Season

  • The loyalty program continues to engage consumers with activations and sell NFTs tied to cultural moments on the brand calendar

  • The latest ‘Journey’ includes a metaverse activation that has the player collect ingredients used in Pumpkin Spice lattes

  • The associated stamp sale is five versions of its popular fall drink: the pumpkin spice latte

  • The stamps were sold for $20 each and roughly 9,000 pumpkin spice NFT’s were minted

  • The stamps provide users 250 points towards their account score and can be combined through an NFT burn mechanism to create

  • Article links:

Louis Vuitton Launches Discord

  • Louis Vuitton is no stranger to web3 having released several NFT projects over the years, though now they are giving their digital communities a place to connect in the form of a discord server

  • There will be a separate channel for Via Trunk holders

    • Via is a Louis Vuitton NFT collection that minted over the summer with each soulbound NFT costing $41,000

  • Article links:

Sotheby's and Ledger Release a Limited Line of Wallets

  • Sotheby’s and Ledger have teamed up to release a limited line, though it will not be hitting the masses anytime soon

  • These limited edition hardware wallets will be presented to “purchasers of top digital art” through a Sotheby’s auction

  • There is also an educational element to this collaboration with Ledger Academy producing content that will be published to the Sotheby’s Metaverse

    • The goal being to introduce art buyers to digital art and self custody safety

  • Article links:

Native Web3

Gutter Cat Gang Acquired

  • Gutter Cat Gang has been acquired by a prominent community member “Noah”

  • The deal saw the original Gutter Labs LLC dissolved and a new LLC Gutter Entertainment created

  • Details are sparse but many are reporting that the original founders did not receive any monetary compensation for the company

  • Noah will be injecting the company with $500k of his own funds

  • The news was generally received well with the Gutter Cat collection raising over 50% in price after the announcement

  • Article links:

OpenSea Announces Creator Studio

  • OpenSea has added one of their biggest features yet; the ability for artists to mint NFT’s directly on the platform through the OpenSea website

  • This allows artists from all walks of life to join the platform, as minting a collection is now as simple as clicking a couple of buttons and requires no coding knowledge

  • This feature allows creators to mint NFTs on a variety of blockchains as well as in a variety of ways, it also allows customers to use a credit card opposed to a crypto wallet when purchasing

  • Article links:

Yuga Labs Announces Lay Offs

  • Web3 behemoth Yuga Labs has announced lays offs and a refocusing of the company

  • The restructure saw the Metaverse Otherside absorbing many of the business units within Yuga such as 10KTF and MEEBITS

  • This news comes during a tough time for the company, with many of their most die hard fans upset over the lack of rewards and and disappointing game releases

  • Forge as well as their most recent game Legends of the Mara are still not being fully operational despite its release two weeks ago

  • The Yuga Labs CEO stated that going forward “Every ongoing digital connection will be part of and reinforce the Otherside evolution. This encompasses gaming, entertainment experiences, interactive social connections, and a range of unique initiatives”.

  • Article links:

Pudgy Penguins Plushies Available in all Smyth Stores

Image

AI News

Adobe Showcases Next Gen Fashion

  • Adobe has just given the world a taste of what may be the future of fashion

  • During the Adobe Max 2023 event they unveiled “Primrose” an interactive dress that can change shape and design seamlessly in a matter of seconds

  • The dress can not only change designs but also incorporate animated moving patterns

  • The dress truly must be seen to be believed and the full demo can be found below

Deepfakes Are Becoming More Prevalent

  • Deepfakes are getting harder to distinguish and are beginning to see the nefarious uses that many predicted

  • Recently there has been a slew of deepfake videos of celebrities endorsing products or asking customers to click on scam links

    • Mr. Beast recently tweeted to his 24 million followers alerting them to a deepfake video of him that promises users $2 iPhones if they click the link attached to the video

    • Tom Hanks alerted his social media audience to a similar scheme involving a fake dental plan using an AI generated version of himself

  • Scams links aren’t the only dangers of deepfakes

    • There are also many videos of deepfake celebrities offering false endorsements of products and even Robin Williams voice has been used to narrate a commercial

  • Article links:

Metaverse / Gaming

Mythical Games Launches New Web3 Mobile Game: Nitro Nation

Nitro Nation: World Tour

  • Mythical Games has been on a mobile gaming tear as of late

  • They recently shifted their flagship game Blankos Bloc Party to mobile, released the popular NFL Rivals which has now done over $2M in secondary volume on their marketplace

  • And now they have released a racing mobile game titled “Nitro Nation World Tour”

  • The game itself is a drag racing game where the cars themselves are NFTs

  • These cars have all been licensed from major brands such as Mclaren, Aston Martin and Jaguar

  • The game is also collaborating with popular electronic musician DeadMau5

    • A DeadMau5 car can be unlocked by completing the DeadMau5 in-game racing event

    • DeadMau5 will also be using the game as tour visuals on his upcoming tour

  • Article links:

Amazon is Giving Away Gaming NFTs

  • Amazon is doubling down when it comes to blockchain gaming

  • All Amazon Prime subscribers can currently claim several free NFTs as well as a number of non NFT items that can be used in Amazon supported web3 games

  • The games include, Mojo Melee, Blankos Bloc Party and My Pet Hooligan, which recently announced a 12 month collaboration with Prime Gaming

  • Article links:

Yuga Labs Invests in Spatial Computing Startup

Crypto

Coinbase to Launch in Singapore

]]><![CDATA[Web3 Round Up 10-2-23]]>https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-up-10-2-23https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-up-10-2-23Mon, 02 Oct 2023 13:28:29 GMTBrand Web3 Activity

Meta Unveils New Smart Glasses with Ray-Ban

  • Meta has introduced their newest line of product with the upgraded “Smart Glasses”

  • The glasses allow users to take photos, videos and live stream directly onto Facebook or Instagram

  • However the most exciting update is the AI integration which allows users to interact with Meta AI

    • The AI will be able to see through the user’s glasses and assist with everyday tasks like asking AI for information on historical sights and buildings, translate signs or even get help fixing home appliances

  • Article Links:

    • https://about.fb.com/news/2023/09/new-ray-ban-meta-smart-glasses/

MLB Hosts First Game in Digital Venue

  • Metaverse company Improbable streamed the first MLB game in a digital MLB venue on September 20th

  • The platform showcases live 3D renderings powered by Sony’s Hawkeye camera with the final result being fully realized 3d avatars playing out the game

  • Spectators can create their own avatars, pick their spot to view the game and interact with each other through spatial audio and text.

    • The real game was also be streamed on 2D digital video boards within the digital arena

  • Article links:

Pokémon Cards Tokenized on Polygon

Image

  • Pokémon Cards are arguably the most popular trading card game in the world, with robust collector base and massive sales for rare cards

  • Now, some of these cards are tokenized on the Polygon blockchain

  • Courtyard.IO sold out 175 digital packs of Pokémon cards in just minutes

  • Once the packs are opened the customer received a random assortment of digital Pokémon cards, with their physical counterparts housed at a Brinks warehouse (redeemable at anytime)

  • This marketplace allows users to trade digital cards at a much faster pace than traditionally a

  • Following this, sports cards, Marvel cards and Veefriends cards are all also available on the platform

  • Article links:

Gucci Brings the Milan Fashion Show to the Metaverse

  • Gucci is celebrating its Milan Fashion show by bringing a gamified digital experience of the show to three Metaverse platforms: Roblox, Zepeto and QQ

  • Users of QQ could live stream the actual show from their virtual spaces

  • While in Roblox the existing Gucci Town square got a makeover to resemble Milan

    • It also included three new mini games that if completed rewarded a digital piece of clothing mirroring fashion from the show

  • Article links:

Native Web3

Bored Ape Yacht Club collaborates with BAPE

Image

  • Popular NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club is dropping a collection with legendary streetwear brand BAPE

  • With both brands centering around apes this collaboration has been something many have speculated on for quite a while

  • Details on the collection are scarce, however we do know it will be of a limited quantity and debut November 4th at Ape Fest Hong Kong

    • Initially the collection will only be available to Bored Ape Yacht Club holders, then slightly later BAPETAVERSE holders

  • Article links:

    • https://nftnow.com/runway/bayc-x-bape-unveil-streetwear-collaboration/

Pudgy Penguins Go Mainstream with Walmart

Image

  • Pudgy Penguin plushy toys are now available at over 2,000 Walmart’s across the US in what many care calling the most mainstream adoption of web3 IP yet

  • Pudgy Penguin physical toys were already doing impressive numbers, topping the Amazon toy charts and reportedly grossing $10M a month in revenue

  • Every plushy has been licensed from a Pudgy Penguin holder with that holder receiving a revenue share based on how many units their Penguin sells

  • Furthermore every plushy is also equipped with a QR code that unlocks digital traits that can be redeemed on the Pudgy Penguin digital social experience

    • Traits can be equipped by users and then shown off on what many are comparing to a revamped version of legendary digital game “Club Penguin”

    • Notably some of the traits leverage other web3 IP like DeGods

  • Article links:

    • https://nftnow.com/news/pudgy-penguins-toyline-debuts-in-2000-walmart-stores/

Vee-Friends Collaborates with Mattel

  • Building upon their recent collaborations with Reebok and Uno, Vee-Friends is back with another physical release.

  • This collaboration will see Vee-Friend character Skilled Skeleton and legendary bad guy Skeletor from the He-Man series be sold as a action figures

    • The action figures will have interchangeable heads

    • No details on if there are any digital extensions from this collaboration as of yet

  • Presale goes live on October 6th.

  • Article links:

AI News

ChatGPT Launches Major Upgrades

  • ChatGPT launched one of it’s largest updates since release about a year ago

  • For one, like Bard it is now able to access up to date information via web search

  • More exciting is it’s new ‘multi-modal’ abilities that allow users to interact with ChatGPT via imagery and voice (with ChatGPT able to reciprocate in kind)

  • “Snap a picture of a landmark while traveling and have a live conversation about what’s interesting about it. When you’re home, snap pictures of your fridge and pantry to figure out what’s for dinner (and ask follow up questions for a step by step recipe). After dinner, help your child with a math problem by taking a photo, circling the problem set, and having it share hints with both of you.”

  • Article links:

Writers Strike Comes to an End With Major AI Ramifications

  • The Writers Strike has come to an end after almost half a year

  • The deal struck between the union and major publishers addresses a number of concerns that stemmed from the new ‘streaming’ paradigm, but also in the realm of AI

  • The deal could be a blueprint for other industries

    • It bars the use of AI for writing or rewriting literary material and forbids studios from enforcing writers to use it

    • But does allow writers to choose the use of AI to aid their writing upon receiving consent for the same from studios

  • Article links:

    • https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/09/27/hollywood-writers-strike-ends-deal-finalized-after-148-day-work-stoppage/?sh=78ffaba78cbf

Tubi’s AI helps Users Find Things to Watch

  • Tubi has rolled out its latest feature titled Rabbit AI; a chatbot built off of ChatGPT that is geared towards helping users find what they want to watch

  • Users can tell the chatbot what they are in the mood for and then work with it to refine options

  • Tubi’s CEO has said the company will never accept credit cards, so the company only making revenue when users are actively watching content

  • He hopes this feature will cutdown the endless scrolling of finding something to watch and help users find content faster

  • Article links:

YouTube Adds AI Features to Aid Creators

  • YouTube has a new feature called “Dream Screen” which allows video creators to enter a prompt and generate backgrounds for their videos

  • YouTube has also launched an app called “YouTube Create” which leverages AI to allow creators to streamlines the editing process, offers automatic voice over as well as a suite of effects

  • These features are still currently in the beta phase

  • Article links:

Amazon Invests $1.4B into AI Startup “Anthropic”

  • With Microsoft, Google, Meta and Apple all owning their own proprietary chatbots, Amazon has now joined the fray.

  • Amazon is investing $1.4B with the option to increase that investment to $4B in the AI startup Anthropic which is responsible for the chatbot “Claude 2”

  • Not only will Amazon make a cash investment but it will also allow Anthropic to train future version of Claude using its web servers computational power and data

  • Article links:

    • https://decrypt.co/198573/amazon-invest-4b-ai-firm-anthropic

Metaverse / Gaming

Lex Friedman Interviews Mark Zuckerberg in the Metaverse

  • Popular podcast host and Lex Friedman had Mark Zuckerberg on for a 3rd time, but this time breaking the podcasts cardinal rule: the interview must be in person

  • Lex made an exception for Mark and held the interview in the ‘metaverse’ leveraging the Quest headset and high fidelity 3D scans that gave a true sense of ‘presence’

  • During the interview Lex Friedman remarked at how intimate and real the experience felt

  • Article links:

    • https://decrypt.co/199263/metaverse-zuckerberg-lex-fridman-future-ai-ultra-realistic-avatars

Proof of Play Raises $33M

  • Despite the overall downturn in the broader web3 ecosystem, the gaming sector remains resilient, attracting investments, raising funds, and fueling speculation

  • It has even seen web2 game makers entering the space to much success such as Zynga’s (the publisher of Farmville) recent massive success with SugarTown

  • Although Zynga is a recent entrant into the web3 arena, the co-creator of their most popular game, Farmville, has been an active participant in the web3 space for quite some time

    • They founded "Proof of Play" and introduced the moderately successful social role-playing Pirate Nation

  • It was announced September 21 that Proof of Play has raised $33M to continue to build fully onchain games

    • The funding round was lead by Andreessen Horowitz and Greenoaks Capital

    • The raise also saw Emmet Shear the cofounder of Twitch joining Proof of Play’s board

  • Article links:

Legends of the Mara Launch Plagued by Bugs

  • Yuga Labs has launched its third game titled Legends of the Mara

  • The game can only be accessed if a player owns an Otherdeed NFT as well as an Otherside Vessel

  • The game is quite complicated and requires a 5 minute video explainer to fully grasp the mechanics

  • Upon launch players have only been able to access the first half of the game that pertains to gathering resources on their Otherdeed

    • The actual battle gameplay has been marred with bugs and on September 29th Yuga Labs announced they were taking down this feature until further notice

  • All resources and items gathered in Legends of the Mara will be usable in the upcoming launch of the Otherside Metaverse.

Crypto

Mixin Network Hacked

  • On September 23rd the Mixin Network was hacked for approximately $200M worth of digital assets

    • This hack was possible due to the protocol relying on having a centralized database opposed to a decentralized network

  • Following the hack, the Mixin Network has paused deposits and withdrawals from the platform

  • The Mixin Network has offered the hackers 10% of the stolen funds if they are returned however at this time the hackers have not responded

  • Mixin Network is a blockchain and wallet that offers cross-chain asset transfers

  • Article links:

Congress Urges SEC to Approve Bitcoin ETF

  • It seems Congress has had enough of the SEC’s policy towards the crypto industry

  • In a rare form of bipartisanship Congress Members from across the aisle have sent a letter to Gary Gensler urging him to approve pending Bitcoin ETF applications

  • Gary Gensler also faced very hostile Congress in his appearance before the House Financial Services Committee with some members calling for his resignation over his handling of the crypto industry

  • Article links

Grayscale Applies for Ethereum ETF

  • Several weeks following ARK Invests submission of its Ethereum ETF application, Grayscale the investment behemoth overseeing a portfolio exceeding $50 billion, has now filed its own Ethereum ETF application

  • Many in the crypto community are excited by this development as it hopefully signals a continuation of mass crypto adoption

  • Article links:

Citi Group Tokenizing Assets

]]><![CDATA[Web3 Roundup 9-18-23]]>https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-roundup-9-18-23https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-roundup-9-18-23Mon, 18 Sep 2023 14:04:28 GMTBrand Web3 Activity

Snapchat Collaborates with The London Design Museum During Fashion Week

  • The onsite collaboration allows attendees of the upcoming Museum’s London Fashion Week to use AR filters to display iconic runway looks on their faces

  • The AR features allow attendees to display not only makeup but also hair styles and full facial wraps

  • The filters were made using machine learnings that enable several features such as AR hair swaying with user movements

  • Article links:

Reddit and Re-Ups with the NFL, Selling Team NFT Avatars

  • Reddit and the NFL have released another set of NFT avatars, this time celebrating the start of the 2023 football season

  • Their previous collaboration was a free to claim avatar centered around the 2023 Super Bowl

    • Users could either pick an avatar representing the Eagles or the Chiefs

  • This year every football team is represented with 500 avatars for sale for $25

  • This sale has been live since September 6th and unfortunately most teams have yet to sell more than 50 avatars

  • Article links:

Casio Enters the Web3 Space with the G-Shock Creator Pass

  • Casio is taking a community centered approach when it comes to web3 and recently opened a Discord that is expected to serve as a hub for co-creative projects and other innovative experiences

  • To start, they will be releasing 15,000 free, Polygon based NFTs centered around their iconic G-Shock watch on Sept 24

    • And the community will have the opportunity to shape the ultimate aesthetic of the Pass

  • Casio will be holding community building activations in the Discord prior to mint with those who are most active and helpful receiving access to the mint

  • Article links:

Google to Allow Advertising of NFT Based Games

  • Building off of recent news of the Android App Store policy being rewritten to allow NFT’s, Google is now allowing NFT games to advertise on the search engine

  • However not every game will be able advertise:

    • Games centered around gambling or that involve staking an NFT will not be allowed to advertise on Google

    • Nevertheless this is still a big step from the blanket ban previously implemented by Google

  • Article links:

Adidas Launches Web3 Digital Artists Residency Program

Justin Bieber Song Minted Into Royalty Sharing NFT

  • Justin Bieber’s 2015 song “Company” has been turned into a royalty sharing NFT

  • Fans are able to purchase a limited collection of 2000 NFTs and in turn receive a share of 1% of the songs streaming revenue going forward

  • It is important to note that Justin Bieber had nothing to do with this project

    • This project was created by the song’s producer with the royalties coming out of his percentage on the song

  • Article links:

Native Web3

Christie’s and MNTGE Team Up for Keith Haring Patches

The Christie's x MNTGE Keith Haring patch. Image: MNTGE

  • Christie’s Auction House is auctioning off 5 digital paintings Keith Haring made in the 1980s

  • The paintings have been minted as NFTs and will hit the market this month with expected bids in the $250,000-$500,000 range

  • In addition, Christie’s has teamed up with web3 fashion company, MNTGE, to release a set of patches displaying the art work currently being auctioned

  • These patches all come equipped with an NFC chip that provides proof of ownership via the blockchain and are being sold at a more obtainable price of $39.99

  • Article links:

Macy’s Day Parade to Feature a Cool Cats Float

Image

  • Cool Cats are set to join the iconic Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City

Pudgy Penguins Launches Clothing Line: Igloo

Pudgy Penguins expands into Clothing brand IGLOO | NFT CULTURE | NFT News | Web3 Culture | NFTs & Crypto Art

  • Pudgy Penguins have been on a roll lately, been dominating the physical space with their toy collection doing over $10M in sales per month

    • And with higher end figurines selling out within seconds on the NTWRK platform

  • Now the Penguins are wading into a new area of commerce: clothing

  • The clothing line “Igloo” has its own webpage separate from the Pudgy Penguin website

    • The website also offers no mention of NFT’s or the relationship between Igloo and Pudgy Penguins

  • The clothing line is available to everyone and owners of NFT’s do not receive discounts

  • Article links:

    • https://igloo.shop/

SEC Comes After NFT Collections

  • During the bull market an upcoming TV show called Stone Cats and a project called Founders Keys raised millions with NFT sales

  • Both collections promised future utility but more importantly promised buyers would profit after the initial purchase

  • The SEC is arguing that the sale violated the Unregistered Securities Act and is forcing the parent company to offer a full refund to purchasers in addition to significant fines

  • This enforcement has helped clear up confusion around NFT regulation:

    • Promising a return on an investment or promising utility without delivering seems to be the offenses the SEC has in its sights

  • Article links:

Binance to End Support for Polygon NFT’s

  • In a sudden move, the biggest crypto exchange in the world is winding down support of Polygon NFT’s due to “ongoing efforts to streamline product offerings”

  • While there may be a legitimate reason for ending support many consumers don’t think that’s the case

    • Binance has their own chain (BNB) on which they sell NFT’s,

    • The BNB chain has never picked up significant market share even though stars such as Messi exclusively put out digital offerings on the BNB chain

    • This has lead many to speculate that this move was done in retaliation and in an effort to support the BNB chain at the expense of Polygon

  • Article links:

Yuga Labs Unveils Cypher Centered Around Bitcoin Collection “Ordinals”

  • Yuga Labs’ “Ordinals” collection is having its first activation with 12 puzzles released over 12 weeks

  • To participate you need a specialized Bitcoin wallet that will allow users to send their guesses on the Bitcoin network via ‘inscription’

  • The first wallet to inscribe the right answer to the puzzle on the Bitcoin blockchain will receive a prize:

    • The first puzzle has already been solved with the winner receiving .12BTC (roughly $3000 USD as a prize)

  • You do not need to own an Ordinal in order to participate in this activation

  • Article links:

AI News

Epic Games to Allow AI assisted Games on their Platform

  • Recently, gaming giants Valve and Steam have made moves to ban all games that incorporate any AI technologies

  • Learning of this on Twitter the Epic Games CEO publicly tweeted that those developers should “Put it on the Epic Game Store. We don’t ban games for using new technologies”

  • While this split from the competition may seem drastic, it is not the first time

  • In 2021 Valve blocked all games that incorporated the blockchain, crypto, or NFT’s from releasing on their platform

  • In similar fashion Eric Reed tweeted out that those developers would have a home on the Epic Games platform.

  • While Epic may support AI and Blockchain game developers the company itself has not released any titles that incorporate either AI or blockchain technology

  • Article links:

Metaverse / Gaming

Diesel Teams Up with DressX and Meta

Image: Diesel

  • Diesel has teamed up with digital fashion company DressX to create a limited line of 10 Diesel digital looks that will be available for purchase and use on Meta Avatars:

    • Meta Avatars can be utilized across Facebook, Instagram and the Meta Quest VR platforms

  • Diesel has been open about their ongoing commitment to the emerging digital space, championing AR, NFTs and digital avatars

  • Just last Tuesday Diesel minted an NFT collection that doubled as tickets to their upcoming Milan fashion show

  • Article links:

Roblox Expanding to Meta Quest and Playstation

Creator League Postponed Due to NFT Backlash

  • Esports tech firm “Efuse” planned to launch an activation they were calling “Creator League”

  • The concept is simple enough: 8 content creators face off against each other for big cash prizes across a variety of games and challenges

    • Fans will be able to buy a “Creator Pass” which will allow them to join the team of their favorite creator and play along side them

    • In addition to cash prizes being split among the creator and those who buy their pass they will also be able to vote on key factors in the tournament

  • However there has been severe backlash with many of the content creators pulling out due to the blockchain element in “The Creator Pass”

  • While the Creator Passes are not traditional NFT’s in that they can’t be sold or traded, the assocation with blockchain still riles up the gaming community

  • The Creator League has been indefinitely postponed and Efuse has had to lay off roughly 30% of their company following this fiasco

  • Article links:

Crypto

Telegram Set to Integrate a Self Custodial Crypto Wallet “TON”

  • Telegram, the popular private messaging app with over 800 million active monthly users has announced that it will be integrating a crypto custodial wallet from a third party app in November

  • The move makes sense as Telegram has become the go-to chatting application for crypto traders and investors

  • However the wallet will not be available in countries with unclear crypto regulations such as the US

  • Article links:

Mark Cuban looses 800k in wallet hack

  • Mark Cuban decided to reactivate his wallets after months of inactivity

  • Unfortunately he downloaded a fraudulent application pretending to be MetaMask and logged in using his real passwords

  • Once the hackers had his passwords they accessed his wallet and transferred roughly 870K worth of various assets

  • Web sleuths were quick to notice the unusual wallet activity and were able to get in contact with Mr. Cuban extremely fast leading to him being able to transfer out Polygon tokens as well as his NFTs

  • Article links:

Etherum Founder “Vitalik Buterin” has Twitter Hacked

  • On September 9th, Vitalik Buterin’s Twitter account tweeted out a link to a free NFT celebrating the latest upgrades to the Ethereum network to his nearly 5 million followers

  • Unfortunately this link lead to a wallet drainer and nearly $1M dollars of various assets were stolen

  • This hack was achieved through “Sim Swapping”, a social engineering tactic that grants the hacker access individual’s accounts by taking control of an individual’s phone number (via tricking the phone company) and resetting/accessing two factor authentication protocols to various accounts.

  • Article links:

Ark Invest files for Ethereum ETF

  • Cathy Woods, the financial wiz behind the Ark Invest platforms, has filled for her newest ETF

  • Ark previously was the first company to file for a Bitcoin ETF and now they are breaking similar ground becoming the first company to file for an Ethereum ETF

  • While the news is exciting, don’t expect the SEC to make a speedy decision as they have just delayed their decisions in the Bitcoin ETF application yet again

  • In the coming weeks it is quite likely that more companies will file for an Etherum ETF

  • Article links:

North Korea Suspected in Stake hack

  • Recently a popular crypto gambling site “Stake” was hacked for a whopping $41M and the FBI have named a suspect

  • According to the FBI the most likely culprit is the North Korean State hacking syndicate the “Lazarus Group”

  • The Lazarus Group has been a scourge on the crypto community, constantly targeting crypto companies and web3 games

  • A rough estimate has them responsible for 2 billion in stolen funds with 700M coming just from the Axie Infinity hack

  • Article links:

Crypto Exchange CEO Receives 11,000 Year Prison Sentence

  • In 2021 the biggest crypto exchange in Turkey “Thodex” collapsed, leaving 400,000 customers unable to access their Crypto holdings

  • After the collapse of the exchange the CEO went into hiding in Albania until he was found in late 2022 and put on trial

  • On September 8, 2023 the trial came to an end and the CEO Faruk Faith Ozer was charged with money laundering, running a criminal organization and fraud

  • Faruk was given an 11,000 year sentence as well as a 5 million dollar fine.

  • Article links:

MetaMask Announces New “Sell” Feature

  • MetaMask, the most popular browser extension crypto wallet in the world, has rolled out what may be their most useful feature yet: the ability to sell crypto holdings for Fiat currency

  • The Fiat currency can then be sent to a bank account or Paypal

  • Before this feature MetaMask users could swap cryptocurrencies for other cryptocurrencies but needed to send those currencies to platforms like Coinbase or Binance before being able to exchange them for fiat currencies

  • Article links:

]]><![CDATA[Web3 Roundup 9-5-2023]]>https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-roundup-9-5-2023https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-roundup-9-5-2023Tue, 05 Sep 2023 13:03:27 GMTBrand Web3 Activity

Snoop Dogg and Sketchers

snoop dogg skechers

  • Snoop Dogg has released a collaboration with Sketchers where he leverages ownership of IP provided by owning a BAYC

  • While the collaboration contains colorways and designs celebrating Snoop Dogg and his career, one shoe that bears the image and design of Snoop’s Ape whom he calls “Dr. Bombay”

  • This follows their recent collaboration between Rebook and Gary Vee’s NFT collection VeeFriends

  • Article links:

Lufthansa Airlines Launches Polygon Based Loyalty Program

Image

  • Lufthansa Airlines has launched a loyalty program called “uptrip” for its frequent flyers on the Polygon Blockchain

  • Like Starbucks, the program is a more gamified experience than traditional loyalty programs

  • uptrip gives customers collectable digital trading cards minted on Polygon

  • Once a set of cards is collected it can be turned in for free airline miles, flights, and access to airport lounges

  • The soft launch saw 20,000 people claim 200k digital trading cards, however Lufthansa’s traditional loyalty program has 36M members so there is plenty of room to grow

  • Article links:

Doodles and Crocs Team Up

  • Doodles and Crocs have collaborated to release an exclusive limited supply of Doodle themed Crocs

  • The Crocs also come with a random assortment of Jibbitz charms designed by original Doodle artist Burnt Toast

  • The collection was accessible a day earlier and at a discounted price for Doodle holders

  • There is also a digital component to this collaboration; buyers of the physical Crocs will receive a digital loot box with a random assortment of digital wearables that can be equipped for to your Doodle

  • The collaboration sold out just before the cut off and after it had hit public access

  • Article links:

LimeWire is Back

  • LimeWire, the popular music hosting site from the early 2000’s, has announced they are making a comeback as a web3 based company

  • LimeWire is now launching as a subscription platform for content creators and run exclusively using the $LMWR token

  • This model looks to be a cross between a creator driven streaming service like Twitch and the creator support app Patreon, but all on blockchain

  • Fans will have the ability to own content as NFT’s from their favorite creators under this model and may have monetization opportunity from this content in the future

  • Unsurprisingly, LimeWire sees a big opportunity for musicians in this space and has already inked two deals with record labels such as Republic Records

  • Article links:

Ralph Lauren Unveils Digital Store

Step inside Ralph Lauren's surreal new digital store | Wallpaper

Native Web3

Yuga’s Legends of the Mara Open Beta to Launch this Month

Image: Yuga Labs.

  • Yuga Labs is set to roll out another game following their success with Dookie Dash and HV-MTL

  • Users will get their first taste of Legends of Mara, a 2D based strategy game this month

  • All holders of Otherside Land Deeds will receive an new egg NFT when the beta launches

    • This egg will then evolve based on decisions players make within the game

  • The exact date of launch has not been revealed as of yet

  • Article links:

Earl Sweatshirt and Alchemist Release Album Exclusively on Gala Music

Earl Sweatshirt x The Alchemist at The Novo (The Scenestar)

  • Earl Sweatshirt and The Alchemist have been teasing out their rumored collab album for years

  • However over the last several months the speculation hit a fever pitch as QR codes started appearing at all of Earl’s recent shows

  • Scanning the QR code would reveal a poster that was hosted on the Gala website

  • When it was finally confirmed that Gala Music would be exclusively streaming the album on their web3 music platform fans were surprised to realize that anyone who scanned a QR code at the recent shows had also inadvertently created a Gala Music account and wallet

  • Users with Gala Music accounts can stream the album for free

  • Fans are also invited to purchase songs off the album as NFT’s which can then be plugged into a Gala node giving the owner tokens based on how many streams that song receives.

  • Article links:

AI News

Midjourney Adds New Feature: “Inpainting”

  • MidJourney has announced a new feature on their popular text to image AI tool titled “Inpainting”

  • Inpainting allows users to isolate a specific segment of an AI generated image and further tweak that specific segment

    • For example: Say you generated a picture of a house but did not like the style of window on the house, this feature would let you isolate the windows and change them to your preference.

  • While this is a new feature for Midjourney, competing products have had this feature for some time

  • Article links:

Warner Music signs AI Assisted Digital Avatar

Noonoouri and German DJ and producer Alle Farben (Warner Music Central Europe/PA)

  • Warner Music recently offered a record deal to a digital character called Noonouri

  • Noonouri’s singing voice was created through an AI trained on several singers, however the track and lyrics were all written by humans.

  • There is precedent for success; in 2007 a digital character and voice software dubbed Hatsune Miku was released in Japan

    • Hatsune Miku soon sky rocketed to popularity, opening for Lady Gaga, getting remixes from the likes of Pharrell

    • Hatsune Miku then went on to be one of the most licensed characters ever appearing on a variety of merchandise and generating well over a billion dollars.

  • Article links:

Snapchat Rolls Out New AI Powered Feature

  • Snapchat has unveiled a new AI driven feature titled “Dreams” for their social media platform

  • Dreams will allows users to take a selfie and then augment that selfie with a “dream pack”

    • Dream packs are centered around themes such as back-to-school or doppelgängers

    • When selected, a “dream pack” will overlay over your original selfie creating a new image

    • The first dream packs are complimentary and then will cost $1 a pack going forward

  • Article links:

Metaverse / Gaming

Nikki Minaj Digital Human Arrives in COD

  • After seeing success with celebrity bundles (Neymar), Call of Duty is leaning into the absurd

  • But this provides one more example of the lucrative potential for ambassador digital humans

Blankos to Switch Focus to Mobile

  • Blankos was one of the first playable web3 games that incorporated NFT’s into gameplay

  • As such they garnered a lot of attention in the initial NFT craze as well as experiencing a similar loss of revenue and secondary trading of many projects in the industry

  • To combat the rough market conditions, Mythical Games CEO has announced that the game will now pivot and solely focus on development of an Android app for the future of the game

  • This move comes after Mythic Games, the publisher of Blankos, released an Android and desktop game titled NFL Rivals that quickly surpassed $1M spent on their NFT marketplace despite market conditions

  • Mythic Games seems to see mobile X web3 gaming as the current trajectory of the industry

  • Mythic Games raised $297M in early 2020 to create blockchain based games (only SoRare has raised more to develop web3 games)

Gala Games Launches Two Mobile Web3 games

NFL Rivals Incorporates NFT’s for Their Android Based Mobile Game

  • NFL Rivals (also by Mythic Games) is allowing users to buy gameplay changing NFT’s directly off the Android app

    • Previously this feature was only available online on the Mythical Marketplace but Android has changed their stance on in-app NFT purchases

  • Interestingly users convert USD into an in game currency that then can be used to purchase the NFT, completely removing the crypto currency element

  • This is only available in the Android version as the Apple app store still has an unfriendly policy towards web3 mobile gaming

    • But expect to see more and more Android developers incorporating NFT’s into their games

  • NFL Rivals has amassed 2M downloads since its soft launch in April with its world wide launch planned just before the NFL season

  • Article links:

BlackPink Enters Roblox

Crypto

Tornado Cash Charged with Laundering $1B

  • Tornado Cash is a service that aims to give more privacy on the blockchain by allowing users to conceal transactions across a wide range of crypto currencies

  • While there are plenty of valid reasons to want privacy in crypto, Tornado Cash soon became the go to platform for scammers and hackers to hide and eventually cash out their illicit gotten gains

    • Most famously the platform was utilized by the notorious North Korean hacking syndicate The Lazurus Group to help launder their $700M hack of Axie Infinity.

  • The SEC has now charged the platform developers with laundering and one act to commit conspiracy to violate the International Economic Emergency Powers Act

    • Both charges carry a 20 year sentence.

  • These charges have created an uproar from the crypto community as the developers themselves never laundered any money, it was their platform that was used in illicit way

  • Many argue that the developers had no control as to how third parties used their platform after launch

  • The SEC does not agree with this view with one developer currently being in custody and the other currently at large

  • Article links:

Twitter (X) to Potentially Integrate Crypto

  • Internet sleuths have uncovered that on August 28 X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, acquired a Rhode Island currency transmitter license which allows the company to store, transfer, and exchange digital assets on the platform

  • While no concrete announcements have been made, the platform has become more and more crypto and creator friendly since Musk acquired the company

  • X already allows content creators to be tipped in bitcoin, and recently they have rolled out their content monetization feature

  • Elon Musk has stated that he wants X to become an ‘everything app’ akin to WeChat (in China)

  • Article links:

SEC Takes Another L

  • In another victory for crypto adoption in the US, Grayscale won their appeal against the SEC

  • Major financial institutions like BlackRock and Fidelity are applying to launch Bitcoin based ETFs in midst of a lawsuit over the same thing (SEC vs. Grayscale)

  • “The judge told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that its denial of crypto asset manager Grayscale’s spot Bitcoin ETF application would have to be reviewed.”

    • And the Federal appeals court said the SEC failed to provide a coherent explanation for its denial

  • Article links:

    • https://cointelegraph.com/news/grayscale-victory-sec-delays-decision-on-bitcoin-etfs-law-decoded

]]><![CDATA[Web3 Round Up 8-21-23]]>https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-up-8-21-23https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-up-8-21-23Tue, 22 Aug 2023 13:43:59 GMTBrand Web3 Activity

Coca Cola Re-Enters Web3

  • Aligning with Coinbase’s ‘Onchain Summer’ initiative, Coca-Cola launched a new NFT collection on Base (their new L2, more in Crypto below)

  • The launch brought in $543,660 with over 80,000 NFTs minted

  • “Each collectible intertwines with the Coca‑Cola bottle for a one-of-a-kind convergence of iconic brand imagery, classic art and contemporary creativity in the digital realm”

  • The collection is an extension of their AI generated commercial that launched a few months back

McDonalds Enters Web3

McDonald's Singapore launches exclusive Grimace NFTs | Marketing-Interactive

  • McDonald’s Singapore is jumping into web3 with an old IP, Grimace

  • 2,000 soulbound NFTs on the Polygon blockchain are being distributed via the McDonald’s Singapore mobile app

  • While the NFTs are framed as digital collectibles, there is some utility offered: “exclusive treats in the future”

  • Article links:

Adidas Partners with BAPE

  • Adidas ALTs NFT platform is continuing to strike apparel based partnerships, this time with BAPE

  • The exclusive collection (100 total) will be purchased via auction on 8/22

    • Notably, the auction is open to everyone, but ALTs holders will have automatic increases to their bids

  • The shoes include an NFC chip and corresponding NFT for the purposes of provenance

  • Article links:

Forbes Launches Web3 Twitter Account

  • While official plans are unconfirmed, Twitter (X) sleuths have noticed a Forbes Web3 account that references being in ‘building mode’

  • While largely inactive, it did shift its PFP to a custom Opepen, so someone is manning it

  • We’ll stay tuned for more details

  • Links:

Native Web3

Azukie Partners with Patrick Mahomes

Image

OpenSea Admits Defeat: Makes Creator Royalties Optional

  • OpenSea has announced that after February 29th all artist and creator royalties will become optional

    • This will include already existing collections as well as collections that try to collect royalties onchain through the smart contract

  • The move is largely in reaction to competitor marketplaces using this same practice

  • Many were shocked by this pivot as OpenSea has generally been a champion of artists and creators with their initial launch allowing creators to set the royalty as high as 10 percent

  • YUGA Labs reacted to this shift by announcing they will be taking all their collections off the OpenSea platform by February 2024

  • As it stands now the YUGA collection are the most traded collections on OpenSea with OpenSea collecting a 2.5% fee on every trade

  • Some have speculated that this move will cripple OpenSea’s cashflow.

  • Article links:

Pixel Vault acquires Wolf Game and Reorganizes Ecosystem

Wolf Game Integrates with the Intellectual Powerhouse Pixel Vault

DeGods Season 3

  • DeGods has had a turbulent start to Season 3 after their announcements were met with resounding criticism from their community

  • Season 3 was slated to have an art upgrade that users could pay for using $DUST (the token that powers the DeGods ecosystem)

  • At announcement holders would have to pay the equivalent of roughly $750 to upgrade their NFT

  • Many thought this was too much and were underwhelmed by the art sneak peaks

    • Shortly after the announcement the DeGods team announced a pivot with new art at a lesser price

  • After the announcement several big holders floored their holding seeing $DUST dropping 50% and the DeGods collection dropping 30%

  • Season 3 also includes an upcoming points parlor where DeGods will be able to spend points that are accrued through staking on real life assets, merch, experiences and NFT’s

  • Article links:

Y00ts find a new home (again)

  • The second collection in the DeGods ecosystem, “Y00ts” will be moving too the Ethereum block chain

  • Originally Y00ts were minted on the Solana blockchain and then migrated to the Polygon blockchain (while DeGods migrated to Ethereum)

  • Polygon gave Dust Labs a grant for this move reportedly worth about $3M

    • As a part of this transition the Y00ts team will be returning the funds from the grant

Niftys Platform to Shut Down

  • NFT platform Niftys will be shutting down due to a lack of funding

  • Niftys represents one of the biggest missed opportunities in the space, with NFT drops that were done in partnership with some of the biggest IPs in the world including Space Jam, The Matrix, Game of Thrones and more

  • However almost every drop encountered technical problems, lackluster art, bad utility and no connection to the greater web3 world

  • Nifty’s is in the process of updating their self custody wallet so users can move assets to Metamask as the Niftys wallet will also be shutting down.

  • Article links:

AI News

Roblox is Turning Players into Creators Using AI

Roblox Is Bringing Generative AI To Its Gaming Universe

  • Popular gaming platform Roblox is harnessing the power of AI allowing users to turn text into in game assets

  • Gamers will be able to describe different avatars or clothing and the AI tool will create it within the game

  • The clothing can then be equipped and worn throughout all the game on the Roblox platform

  • Roblox wants to take this a step farther and extend this generative AI to let players who are not necessarily developers create their own environments, worlds and games on the platform

  • Roblox already has two beta AI tools out for developers which can be seen in action below

  • Article links:

Apple Utilizes AI to Allow iPhone Users to Clone their Voice

  • Apple will allow users of the iPhone to clone their voices for use across the device and on 3rd party apps

  • The main use for this feature is to make the iPhone more accessible for users that may be in danger of losing their voice permanently or have trouble with prolonged speech

  • Users will be able to use text prompts and have their phone communicate for them

  • Article link:

Microsoft to train AI models on Aptos Blockchain data

  • Microsoft has been at the forefront of the AI boom, most notably acquiring a large stake in OpenAI which would go on to release the popular chat bot, ChatGPT

  • Microsoft has now turned its eyes to the blockchain and has partnered with Aptos to allow their AI models to learn from verified blockchain transactions

  • The hope being that the AI will one day be able to offer solutions in blockchain development

  • In return for sharing their data, Aptos will be using the Microsoft cloud service to run their validator nodes making their network more reliable for the consumer

  • Article links:

Google and Universal Music Team Up to Address Deepfake Music

  • Google and Universal have announced they looking into setting up parameters on how fans would be able to license and profit off of AI replicas of musicians voices

  • We’ve seen the flood of AI generated tracks ranging from Drake to the Weeknd and even Frank Sinatra

    • However these songs have not been licensed and are technically illegal

    • Under this new vision fans would be able to license the voices of artists who opt-in and if the song gains any traction the streaming profits would be divided among the creator, the artist and the label

  • UMG has also stated they would like to create a tool that would make artists aware when unlicensed AI versions of their voices are released onto the internet

  • Article links:

Metaverse / Gaming

Major Players from Web2 Enter Web3

  • A web3 trend of 2023 has been the entrance of major gaming companies into web3

    • Major players include: EA Sports, Ubisoft, Zynga, Square Enix, SEGA

  • While web3 native gaming had a moment in 2021/2022 (like Axie Infinity), the lack of strong graphics, gameplay, and the inclusion of ponzi like ‘play-to-earn’ mechanics were a downfall

  • The entrance of web2 players in the space does validate the initial premise of web3 gaming however; that players want to truly own their digital assets

  • A list of web2 companies and their web3 oriented releases can be found below

  • Article links:

Live Experiences Look to Engage Digital Natives in the Metaverse

Eyes Up! Hamilton Roblox Immersive Video Game Available Now | Playbill

Zynga Announces First Web3 Game and IP

  • Popular mobile game developer Zynga who is best known for Farmville and Words With Friends have announced an upcoming web3 game and platform titled SugarTown

  • This makes them the first mobile game developer to create a web3 game entirely from the ground up from both a technology perspective as well as creating original IP

  • The game will center around three farm animals who accidentally open a portal into another dimension changing SugarTown forever.

  • There is no word if this will also be a mobile game at this time, as well as no firm release date

  • Article links:

Gala Games Shifts All NFT Game Assets to Their Own Blockchain

  • Gala Games is one of the biggest publishers of web3 games in the industry, most notably for having blockchain enabled games available on the Steam Store and the Epic Games platform

  • In the past Gala has used the Polygon blockchain for their gaming assets as players don’t have to pay gas fees when using NFTs in game, however they are now shifting to their own blockchain

    • Future gaming assets will be purchasable using the Gala Games token.

  • Article links:

Crypto

Coinbase Launches Onchain Summer Campaign

OCS_Blog Header1_2400x1256.png

SEC Delays Decision on Bitcoin ETF

  • The SEC has delayed popular investor Cathy Wood’s application to create the first Bitcoin ETF

  • Her application was filed in 2021, however the SEC has requested more time to review the process

  • While Cathy Wood was the first to file for the ETF she is now by no means alone, with industry giants such as Blackrock and Fidelity also having Bitcoin ETFs application under review by the SEC

  • Article links:

Sam Bankman Fried is Heading to Jail

  • Sam Bankman Fried has had his bail revoked and is back in jail

  • Originally he was out on bail after he misappropriated $8B of customers funds from his failed crypto exchange FTX

  • However this ended when Sam Bankman Fried committed a litany of offenses including witness tampering and intimidation, speaking to the media and more

  • The judge presiding over his case revoking bail until the commencement of the trial on October 2

  • Sam Bankman Fried’s lawyers are currently appealing this decision.

  • Article links:

PayPal Debuts Stablecoin tied to US dollar

  • PayPal has debuted its own stablecoin which is tied to the US dollar and lives on the Ethereum blockchain (and potentially beyond)

  • This is the first time a major US company has created a stablecoin and will no doubt attract a lot of attention from the SEC and Congress

  • PayPal users will be able to purchase, send and convert the stablecoin in the upcoming weeks

    • Users will also be able to send the stablecoin to certain crypto wallets though which specific wallets have not been announced as of yet

  • This stablecoin offering is just the latest in crypto friendly features on the app with users already being able to purchase Bitcoin and Ethereum

  • Notably, popular consumer payments app, Venmo, is owned by PayPal

  • Article links:

]]><![CDATA[Web3 Round Up 8-7-23]]>https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-up-8-7-23https://www.lens.ftrworld.com/p/web3-round-up-8-7-23Mon, 07 Aug 2023 14:21:50 GMTBrand Web3 Activity

Reebok Partners with VeeFriends on Physical Shoe

product image of the veefriends reeboks collab

  • VeeFriends continue their push out of the digital world and into retailer

  • Most recently they teamed up with Reebok to launch a collaborative shoe showcasing the IP of the VeeFriend character “Aspiring Alpaca”

  • The shoes themselves will be available on the Reebok e-commerce site as well as the VeeFriends website

  • The shoes will retail for $99 and owners of the Aspiring Alpaca can claim a pair for free

  • Article links:

Doodles Partners with Crocs for August Drop

Lacoste Launches a Digital Storefront

A screenshot from Lacoste's new virtual store. Image: Lacoste/Emperia

  • Lacoste has launched a virtual storefront that allows users to explore the space, learn about product, and then directly buy the product from the moveable web space

  • The experience has two rooms with a third ‘VIP’ room that is only accessible to Lacoste NFT holders

  • The VIP room contains the UNDW3 apparel collection, which is a collection co-designed by the Lacoste NFT community and only offered to Lacoste NFT holders

  • There is also an evolving scavenger hunt in the digital experience to keep holders engaged

    • Finding all the crocodiles each week earns consumers a variety of prizes

  • Article links:

Ducati releases free NFT’s

  • Ducati has teamed up with Ledger to release a free NFT on the XRP blockchain

  • The NFT is a video that details Ducati’s logo changes from the company’s inception in 1946 to present day.

  • Ducati has not revealed anything about their Web3 roadmap other than that by holding this NFT it will grant access to future releases

  • Ducati is the latest among Lamborghini, Renault, Bugatti, DeLorean and many other automobile companies entering Web3

  • Article Links:

Reddit Drops Generation 4 of their Avatar Collection

Image

Native Web3

Yuga Labs acquires ROAR Studios

Yuga Labs Roars into the Future: A Roaring Acquisition of Roar Studios" | NFT CULTURE | NFT News | Web3 Culture | NFTs & Crypto Art

  • Yuga Labs has acquired the metaverse startup company Roar Studios citing their expertise in proprietary AI technology and metaverse design as the primary reasons for the acquisition

  • ROAR is known for hosting music experience in the metaverse and will likely bring those types of live experiences to Otherside

  • Former Roar Studios CEO Eric Reid will join Yuga as GM of Otherside, the upcoming Bored Ape themed metaverse

  • Article links:

Americana Vault Services Partners with Opensea

Image

  • An obvious use case for NFTs is the tokenization of assets that are valuable but difficult to physically move: statues, sculptures, rare watches, art, collectible automobiles etc.

    • Despite the tech being simple enough, a lack of trustworthy actors in the space was a major roadblock

  • Americana Vault is a vaulting and authenticating service that is backed by OpenSea and 776 Venture Firm that allows users to store any object ranging from a stamp to a car

  • Once the item has been authenticated the user will be given an NFT that will allow the vaulted item to be displayed online, traded, or sold

  • Users will be given profiles that reflect a collectors dashboard showing off all vaulted items

  • When it comes to art, royalties for the original artists will be baked into the smart contract

  • Article links:

VeeFriends Collaborates with Squishmallow for Plush Offering

VeeFriends x Squishmallows Characters

Yuga Labs Launches “Made by Apes”

Image

  • Yuga Labs allows for owners of their Bored Ape collection to profit from the IP of an owned ape

  • Holders have created a number of businesses around their Apes such as:

    • Bored and Hungry, a Bored Ape themed burger restaurant in Long Beach

    • A number of cannabis businesses focused around specific apes

    • And even holder led NFT projects that build upon the lore of a specific Ape like Jenkins Valet

    • Other holders have even been able to snag lucrative licensing deals for their apes

  • Now, Yuga has launched a platform to help users find and support Ape led businesses via the “Made by Apes” platform which allows users to register their Ape centric products

    • It also allows non holders to offer licensing agreements directly on the platform

  • Article Links:

MNTGE Injects the NFT space with a Fresh Phygitial Offering

Still from MNTGE Patchwork

RENGA collaborates with the Haas F1team

  • Popular NFT collection RENGA has teamed up with the Haas F1 team to release a new collection minting 8/1

  • Owners will have access to IRL utility such as access to activations, virtual meet and greets and product like fire suits and replica helmets

  • One lucky holder will have their name imprinted on the Hass F1 car

  • The NFT artwork will also be constantly updating to displace race locations, among other information

  • Article Links:

AI News

OpenAI Shuts Down their AI Detection Tool

  • OpenAI has shuttered its AI detection service

  • The service was originally launched in January and was quickly adopted by educators to aide in combatting students using chatbots to complete assignments and essays

  • A lack of accuracy and more competent chatbots OpenAI has chosen to end this service (but may roll it back out in the future)

  • At time of writing, Open AI’s detection tool could only identify 26% of AI written content as AI, and misrepresented 9% of human writings as AI

  • Article links

Netflix doubles down with AI centered hires

  • Netflix is under fire for posting new AI centered job listings in the R&D labs and Machine Learnings division

  • Netflix is looking to hire a technical director and an AI centered product manager with the salary ranging from $300-$900K annually

  • These postings come as SAG and the WGA continue to strike (an AI being a major point in negotiation)

  • While Netflix does not use AI to generate content yet, the company has been utilizing AI for a number of years in its recommendation algorithm as well as other subtle changes on the platform that are tailored to the user

  • Article links:

ChatGPT to be available for Android users

Metaverse / Gaming

Wreck League to Use YUGA IP

still from fighter game wreck league by nway

  • Upcoming Web3 multiplayer game Wreck League has recently announced that four of Yuga Labs NFT collections will be enabled within the game

  • Wreck League is a multiplayer fighting game with players designing their own fighting robots

  • The robots are built with NFT based parts

    • The parts can be combined into 1.5 quadrillion unique robots allowing users complete customization of their character

  • Owners of Yuga Labs collections, Bored Apes, Mutant Apes, Ape Kennel Club, and Kodas will be able to claim mech parts that are unique to the Yuga collections thus creating Yuga mechs within the game

  • This marks a step forward for the decentralization of the Yuga IP as it is now finding use cases outside of the Yuga Labs ecosystem

  • Article links:

Elvis Enters the Sandbox

  • Sandbox continues to be the leading platform for Web2 collaborations, currently boasting over 400 partnerships

  • The latest collaboration is with Elvis ‘The King’ in the form of an avatar mint

  • The drop will consist of 3000 Elvis themed avatars boasting famous outfits and dance moves from Elvis’ career

  • The avatars will cost $41 each and live on the Polygon blockchain

  • Article Links:

Amazon Prime Gaming Partners with NFT Enabled Game

screenshot from mojo melee game which has partnered with Amazon NFT

  • Mojo Melee is a game accessible through web browser and the Android app store and now also the Amazon Prime gaming portal

  • Prime members are given a free exclusive in-game NFT which will double as a playable character and will receive an airdrop of in game currency

  • This marks Amazons continued advancement into the Web3 world, easing their customers into the idea of owning and using digital collectibles

  • It is worth noting that “digital collectible” is used on the platform in lieu of “NFT”

  • Article links:

Bandai Namco Enters Web3 Gaming

screenshot of a creature from the new Bandai Namco blockchain game

  • The gaming giant behind legendary games such as Pac-Man and Tekken has officially entered Web 3 gaming with their latest offering RYUZO

  • RYUZO is a take on the virtual pet experience popularized by games like Tamagotchis and Nintendogs

  • However RYUZO is using AI and NFTs to put a spin onto this genre.

  • RYUZO will see players taking care of an egg

    • Once the egg hatches it will actually be a soul bound token and tied to a player’s wallet forever

    • The AI component is less known as of now with Bandai promising that the AI features will help each creature develop unique personalities and connections with the player

  • Article links:

Yuga Labs Showcases Otherside to Select Group of Holders

Image: Yuga Labs

  • Yuga Labs recently invaded the CBS backlot in Hollywood to showcase their upcoming metaverse “Otherside” to a select handful of holders and superfans

  • The demo showed off Yuga Labs progress with this new platform with the most obvious being users now having the ability to play as the avatar of their Bored Ape

    • Past demos have had all users using the same uniform avatar

  • The demo allowed users to explore iconic Bored Ape imagery such as the clubhouse and the swamp which has been featured in their promotional material

  • The event eventually culminated in a sneak peak of their upcoming game “Legends of Mara”

  • Article links:

British Museum expands with digital space in Sandbox

Crypto

Suko Allows Users to Mint Directly on Twitter

  • Suko is a company that is focusing on innovating in the crypto wallet space with their goal primarily being to allow users to send and receive cryptocurrencies through their social media accounts

  • Suko recently teamed up with Polygon to make this reality

  • Users simply had to tweet and tag both Suko and Polygon

    • After posting users were directed to the Suko site and were able to log in with their Twitter handle to gain custody of their free NFT

  • Over 48,000 Suko accounts were created to claim the free NFT within a 48 hour time frame

  • Article links:

GameStop Shutters Crypto Wallet Extension

]]>