Web3 Round Up 8-21-23

A roundup of activity in NFT, Metaverse, Gaming and AI

Brand 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

• Article links:

  • https://www.coca-colacompany.com/media-center/coca-cola--masterpiece--collection-fetches-more-than--500-000-in

McDonalds Enters Web3

• 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:

  • https://nftnow.com/news/mcdonalds-singapore-grimace-nfts/

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:

  • https://collect.adidas.com/bape

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:

  • https://twitter.com/ForbesNFT

Native Web3

Azukie Partners with Patrick Mahomes

• Patrick Mahomes launched the ‘Museum of Mahomes’ platform to engage his fans in a web3 way via digital collectibles tied to his career

• Now, it is collaborating with popular NFT brand, Azuki, around a physical trading cards collection (free to Azuki holders but presumably sold as well)

• Article links:

  • https://nftnow.com/collectibles/nfl-patrick-mahomes-azuki-debut-nft-trading-card/

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:

  • https://nftevening.com/opensea-makes-creator-royalty-fees-optional/

  • https://x.com/yugalabs/status/1692627502999691453?s=46&t=_7pDgE5H9aTXqeaCBEEtYw

Pixel Vault acquires Wolf Game and Reorganizes Ecosystem

• Web3 conglomerate, Pixel Vault, has acquired popular web3 game, Wolf Game, into their portfolio of projects as well as announcing a simplification of their ecosystem

• Pixel Vault was launched in the bull market of 2021 and quickly gained traction (was even once considered a competitor to Yuga Labs)

• However their ecosystem quickly become overly complicated with multiple collections launched and a plethora ecosystem tokens

• In this new simplification many of their old projects and currencies will be able to be burned in return for the new single token ($GG) that the entire ecosystem will run off

• Article links:

  • https://nftnow.com/news/inside-pixel-vaults-acquisition-of-wolf-game/

  • https://twitter.com/pixelvault_/status/1689016957037842436?s=46&t=_7pDgE5H9aTXqeaCBEEtYw

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:

  • https://nftnow.com/news/everything-to-know-about-degods-season-iii-the-y00ts-migration-to-eth/

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:

  • https://nftnow.com/news/niftys-announces-immediate-shutdown-nft-collection-preservation/

AI News

Roblox is Turning Players into Creators Using AI

• 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:

  • https://decrypt.co/152058/roblox-tapping-ai-generate-more-rich-dynamic-games-ceo

  • https://twitter.com/Roblox/status/1667879556080971776

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:

  • https://nftnow.com/news/apple-personal-voice-lets-users-clone-voice/

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:

  • https://nftnow.com/ai/microsoft-and-aptos-team-up-for-ai-web3-fusion/

  • https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/09/microsoft-aptos-blockchain-ai-web3/

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:

  • https://nftnow.com/ai/google-universal-music-building-ai-tool-for-using-artist-voies/

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:

  • https://twitter.com/jiqqyjones/status/1693510147937649098?s=46&t=eFu4pA65axfyA63YLtUpBw

Live Experiences Look to Engage Digital Natives in the Metaverse

• As the younger generations continue to spend their time in digital worlds, live experience are finding their way into the metaverse

• The latest include museums like the Holocaust Museum and the MET who hope to both provide education and culture to these digital natives, but also encourage them to visit the live experience

• Similarly, popular Broadway show, Hamilton, is following suit, with an experience on Roblox

• Article links:

  • https://x.com/hamiltonmusical/status/1689607676148273152?s=46&t=eFu4pA65axfyA63YLtUpBw

  • https://twitter.com/batsoupyum/status/1693021996009787571?s=46&t=eFu4pA65axfyA63YLtUpBw

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:

  • https://venturebeat.com/games/zynga-unveils-sugartown-as-its-first-web3-game/

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:

  • https://nftnow.com/news/gala-games-migrating-nft-items-to-gala-chain/

Crypto

Coinbase Launches Onchain Summer Campaign

• In conjunction with their Base L2 blockchain, Coinbase has partnered with many brands, artists and influencers to bring users to the protocol

• The initiative, called Onchain Summer, has been a major success to date and is lauded as one of the best L2 protocol launches ever

• 700,000 new users have joined the Base network, and have since bridged a total of $242 million to the network

• Activity has been driven by partner NFT collections like Coca-Cola Masterpiece as well as new applications like Friend.Tech

• Article links:

  • https://www.coinbase.com/blog/celebrate-onchain-summer-with-coinbase

  • https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinbase-base-network-first-seven-days-of-onchain-summer

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:

  • https://decrypt.co/152184/sec-pumps-brakes-on-ark-21shares-bitcoin-etf

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:

  • https://decrypt.co/152259/crypto-twitter-reacts-sam-bankman-fried-bail-revoked-ftx

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:

  • https://nftnow.com/news/paypal-launches-stablecoin-with-call-for-legislation/