Dumb, confusing...and EXCITING!
GM, we take the latest Web3 news and translate it into plain old English - so you can stay up to date, without your eyes glazing over.
In today’s edition:
How to lose a guy $2.9M in 10 days 12 months
The NFL is warming to Web3 (aaaaw!)
RESOURCE: Crypto mining explained (in 6.5 mins)
This article is dumb and confusing, but also EXCITING!
How to lose a guy $2.9M in 10 days 12 months
Oh wow.
This one's a doozy.
Remember when when someone purchased an NFT of Jack Dorsey's first tweet for $2.9 million in March of last year?
Well, the owner (crypto entrepreneur, Sina Estavi) recently announced he would be putting it up for sale and donating half the proceeds to charity.
Nice! (though, there might be an ulterior motive to his altruism)
There was one small issue...no one wanted to buy it.
The NFT was listed at $48 million and the highest bid received before the deadline was $277.
Ooooft!
So why the crazy loss of value?
Our guess:
The NFT space moves fast. 2021 was the year of 'art for art's sake'. Creators came in, launched a ton of NFT series, and sparked a flame that brought a bunch of new users to the space.
But as things progressed, buyers no longer wanted series, they wanted projects.
Jump into any Twitter Space centered around NFTs and you'll hear the same thing: the key to success in the NFT space is utility. Buyers want to actively interact and participate within the project.
What does that look like? Here are some cool examples:
Stepn' - the NFT project that pays you to walk/jog/run (I made $40 walking to work yesterday )
Dragon Forge - an animated series that is co-written by NFT holders (and gives them commercial rights to the intellectual property)
Flyfish Club - a private dining club where membership is purchased as an NFT
Royal.io - the project that let's you buy royalty shares in artist's songs via NFTs (we recently wrote about Diplo using this service)
So what's Estavi going to do with his $2.9M $277 Dorsey tweet? Here's what he had to say:
"If I get a good offer, I might accept it, I might never sell it."
Good on you Sina, chin up!
The NFL is warming to Web3 (aaaaw!)
The NFL has previously given the cold shoulder to crypto sponsors, by restricting clubs from partnering with blockchain companies.
But it looks as though they might be about to change their tune, after thirteen NFL teams have been allowed to partner with the fan token platform Socios.com.
Nice!
But also...what's Socios? What do they do exactly?
Here's how it works:
Fans buy club based 'tokens' (eg: Miami Dolphins Token)
That token allows fans to vote in-app, on real world changes within the club.
Eg: 'Choose the design of the new entrance tunnel' or 'What message do you want on the captains armband?'. Minor changes, yes, but geared towards super fans.
Token holders can enter exclusive giveaways.
Eg: Win a jersey signed by the team; meet your favorite player; win tickets to the game - that sort of thing.
Profit (?). There are a controlled amount of club tokens released, so the idea is that fans will be able to sell their tokens at a profit if demand increases.
But is this something fans even want? The jury's out.
Some have openly bashed organizations that have embraced this approach to monetizing fan engagement - and regulators are iffy on it.
Just last year, the UK’s advertising regulator went as far as banning two Socios ads promoting Arsenal FC tokens:
"The Advertising Standard Authority said the Premier League Club was misleading fans and that the ads didn’t illustrate the potential investment risks of obtaining a token"
That being said, it looks like people are still using the platform, so...we'll see?
Resource of the day
Crypto mining explained.
(in ~8 mins)
This article is dumb and confusing, but also EXCITING!
'MetaMask Institutional Adds Ethereum Gnosis Safe, Custody Options for DAOs and DeFi'.
Ahhhh...wut?
Another day, another headline with scrambled industry jargon.
Which is annoying, because this news is actually really exciting!
MetaMask, a cryptocurrency hot wallet (see translation), are adding integrations for institutional investors (i.e. banks, corporations and crypto funds).
Ok...
So why are we getting all hot n' sweaty over something as dry as bank integrations?
Because large scale institutional investment is yet to come to crypto...and when it does, we will most likely see TRILLIONS (not a typo) of dollars flow in to the space.
This will likely result in:
Cryptocurrency values going way up.
A ton of funding going into exciting Web3 startups.
Your neighbor, who bought crypto with their stimulus cheque, all of a sudden having a lambo.
Wait, so it's these new integrations from MetaMask bringing this crazy wave of money into the space?
No, unfortunately not.
The main bottleneck is regulation. At the moment, most of the regulatory guidance is in a gray area.
Institutions aren't going to risk putting money into the space until the rules of the game are chiseled in granite and painted over in black & white.
BUT! When we take into consideration that:
1. The Biden administration has tasked multiple government bodies with creating clear regulatory guidelines for crypto over the next twelve months.
2. One of the worlds most popular crypto wallets is preparing to accommodate a potential wave of institutional investors...
We start to see some very exciting forward momentum towards mainstream adoption!
Your Daily Dose of Web3
Former NASA astronaut launches his NFT “Dreams Out of This World” (and raises $500k to help Ukraine)
Poll suggests most Wikipedia community members want crypto donations banned
Alright, that’s it for today!
Love to the family,