The NFT equivalent of Apple buying Microsoft just happened...
GM, we take the day's Web3 news and translate it into plain old English. Here’s what you can find in today's edition:
NFT equivalent of Apple buying Microsoft (and making their software free to resell)
The EU takes a swing at Bitcoin mining
Ryan from The O.C. takes aim at celebrities shilling NFTs and crypto projects
NFT equivalent of Apple buying Microsoft (and making their software free to resell)
Don't tell the SEC, but one of the biggest NFT companies, just bought one of the other biggest NFT companies.
Yuga Labs, the team behind Bored Apes Yacht Club, acquired the intellectual property rights of CryptoPunks, then - get this - gave those IP rights back to the NFT holders.
That means NFT holders can use their NFT's imagery commercially.
That's like you buying a picture of the Nike swoosh, then finding out you can legally print and sell that swoosh on anything you want.
If Yuga Labs' plan was to pump the price of CryptoPunks, it worked - they're up 1,200% since the announcement.
The EU takes a swing at Bitcoin mining
There are two common systems used for mining cryptocurrency: Proof of Work (which Bitcoin uses) and Proof of Stake.
One is highly energy intensive, the other is not - and now the EU wants to incentivise crypto networks to switch to Proof of Stake by either banning Proof of Work altogether, or heavily regulating its use.
This would usually work if they were regulating an industry made up of centralized companies, but in crypto everyone has a voice - which is great! But it also makes change very slow and (sometimes) damn near impossible.
That's why crypto projects will hold a majority ownership of their total coin supply - so they can get things working the way they want before liquidating their holdings and decentralizing their network.
Much like a private company before it goes public.
If the bill passes, it won't be catastrophic for Bitcoin and other Proof of Work cryptocurrencies as much as it will the European miners.
Pierre gets it:
Ryan from The O.C. takes aim at celebrities shilling NFTs and crypto projects
Ben Mackenzie (aka Ryan Atwood) first protected Seth Cohen from on-screen bullies, now he's protecting us from celebrity crypto scams...looking at you, Kim.
Ben joined a panel, along with Michael Winkelmann (aka Beeple), at this years SXSW to:
"offer his dissent on the whole crypto craze and, specifically, the role celebrities have been playing in recent months shilling for blockchain-based assets."
Will this discussion change much? Probably not.
But balanced discussions like these are a step in the right direction for legitimising the wonderful world of blockchain technology.