Hey, it’s Marc. I write about Bitcoin, Web3, and technology. ✌️
Welcome to another issue of my obsessively curated field notes.
⏱️ Reading time: 4 min
“Life isn’t happening to you, it’s happening for you”.
– Tony Robbins
📚 Key Reads
Brands in Web3. Lighthouse report, highly recommended. By NFT Tech. Link
The current SEC disclosure framework is unfit for crypto. By Paradigm. Link
Anti-crypto regulators are blocking the pathway to a digital American dream. By Li Jin, Variant Fund. Link
All Punk 6529 mega-threads. By Punk 6529. Link
The Bitcoin monthly, April report. By Ark Invest. Link
Guest essay on AI in the NYT. By Yuval Harari. Link
‘The Godfather of A.I.’ leaves Google and warns of danger ahead. By NYT. Link
🚨 What caught my eyes
✨ Web3 + NFTs
Sotheby's launched a secondary marketplace for fine art NFTs, which builds upon the Sotheby's Metaverse, the company's digital collectibles platform. The marketplace will honor creator royalties. Link
POAPs announced POAP Drops, a new, easier interface for creating and distributing precious digital collectibles. Link
Mattel, one of the largest toy manufacturers in the world, launched its own peer-to-peer marketplace, allowing owners of Mattel virtual collectibles to display, trade, and sell their assets. Powered by Rarible. Link
Lens protocol announced Bonsai, an Optimistic L3 scaling solution, that will process transactions at hyperscale. It is designed to support the next generation of web3 social users. Lens.xyz currently runs on Polygon’s L2. Link
US judge rules Bored Ape Yacht Club ripoff NFTs violated Yuga trademarks. In short: NFTs can be protected as trademarks. Link
A former product manager at NFT marketplace OpenSea was at the center of a trial that kicked off in Manhattan last week over whether his alpha constituted a form of insider trading. On Wednesday, he was convicted of fraud and money laundering for using inside knowledge. Important: The outcome of that trial could determine whether NFTs constitute securities or commodities, which is still an evolving area of law and regulation. Link
🌎 Crypto & Macro
Coinbase and Gemini launch businesses outside the US. Gemini announced “Gemini Foundation” – a non-US crypto derivatives platform. Coinbase announced “Coinbase International Exchange” to trade perpetual futures. US-based crypto providers are now diversifying in case the SEC prevents them from continuing a viable business in the US.
Coinbase shared its response to the SEC’s Wells notice from last month. Nothing surprising, except that Coinbase is now publicly clashing with the SEC. No time to waste, and no time to hide. Link
Third-party “wallet” bot on Telegram adds Bitcoin support to its web interface following USDT integration. Important: This is not natively supported by Telegram. Nevertheless, a nice addition.
The White House announces plans to address AI's risks, including $140M for new research centers and draft guidelines for government agencies using AI safeguards. Link
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🚀 Hot Web3 start-ups:
Mona: The platform for fully custom interactive worlds.
SourceCred: A tool for communities to measure and reward value creation.
DAOHaus: A protocol for DAO governance.
Holder: A Web3 CRM and automated community engagement platform. Integrates with Web2 platforms.
💡Word on the Street:
With Disney and Walmart shutting down their “metaverse teams”, a narrative about retail players walking back their metaverse strategies is forming. Two thoughts on that:
We’re bullish on Web3. And the metaverse is not Web3. Web3 is blockchain based, while the metaverse is a more fluid concept focusing on immersive and ideally interoperable virtual worlds that aren’t necessarily blockchain based. Combining both could pave the way for a new cultural economy of digital ownership, new business models and ways of engaging clients. This will certainly go beyond virtual worlds in [insert your 3D platform], e.g. Roblox. We’ve had virtual and 3D for 20+ years – that’s nothing new.
Blockchain, NFTs, AR & VR, and immersive experiences are architectural layers to hopefully, eventually address real world problems. It's not about "being in NFTs" or “being in the metaverse” but about finding solutions.
That’s all for now, folks. Back to building! 🚀
– Marc
⚡️ Partnership Opportunity
I’m looking for suitable partners willing to put their brand in front of thousands Web3 opinion leaders, brand builders and innovators and to support my work. Limited spots available. You can email me at [email protected] or reply to this email. I have a sponsorship deck I can send you. Talk soon!
🐦 Tweet of the week:
📈 Top charts to share with friends:
🎨 Artwork: “Self-portrait in Summer” by Hayden Clay
