This Week in Web3: Friday, Dec 17, 2021
Bringing the Metaverse to 1B devices, a land grab for virtual real estate, Crypto theses for 2022, top NFT artists from 2021, how to kickstart network effects, and a camera protocol, owned by everyone
Good day to you!
Second to last This Week in Web 3 before we wrap what has been the most incredibly insane year in the history of years. I’m not taking my eye off this thing even for a minute.
See you next week friends.
News we’re following
This New Startup is Bringing the Metaverse to 1 billion Devices
“As 2021 rounds off, NFT and metaverse narratives continue to dominate headlines. Beginning in relative obscurity at the start of the year, these markets have captured the attention of tech commentators and mainstream audiences alike, attracting billions of dollars of investment and creating entire industries seemingly out of thin air.
But there remains a problem—despite the attention, the mainstream is still struggling to understand the utility of these sectors. Despite all their promise, NFTs and the metaverse lack the tangibility for the average user to grasp, and the high cost of entry makes it difficult for most people to even get started.”
Almost 25% of NFT Purchases in Early December Were for Digital Land
Early December saw a massive land grab for virtual real estate
Today is still a good time to buy NFT real estate, though
Virtual real estate profits continue to boom, in both fiat currency and crypto
An early December virtual land grab put metaverse real estate in the spotlight as sales surged to 25% of total sales. Is it too late to invest now?
Third Web (Web3 Development Platform) Gains Investment From Mark Cuban And Gary Vaynerchuck
“Thirdweb announced today via techcrunch that they have closed $5m in funding from top business leaders in the space including Mark Cuban and Gary Vaynerchuck. The company, based in London and San Francisco is leading the way providing tools for web3 developers to build web3 projects across a myriad of blockchains including Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon.
“We knew that builders would want to build in this space and that they would need a tool,” Rydhan said. “We started with a base set of ideas, and over the course of a year, built out Thirdweb and now have hundreds of customers integrating SDKs. Like the way Stripe made it easy to plug in, our code is similar, but we wrote it to give to everyone.””
Things we’re reading
Crypto Theses for 2022 (Warning this is 160 pages long!)
Key trends, people, companies, and projects to watch across the crypto landscape, with predictions for 2022
Best of 2021: Top 12 NFT Artists and Crypto Art Projects, By Emma Taggart and Pinar Noorata
“Since the conception of art, many paintings, drawings, and sculptures have existed in the physical world. As technology has advanced, so have the ways for making and experiencing art. More and more artists are creating work digitally, and many of their pieces exist purely as pixels on a screen. However, just because we’re not able to hold these artworks in our hands, it doesn’t mean they’re less valuable. In fact, digital art is quickly becoming one of the most valuable art forms of our time.
The art world is rapidly changing with the introduction of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. In particular, 2021 has seen a spike in digital art sales, with many high-profile artists and brands exploring new ways of selling their work through blockchain technology.”
Best of 2021: Top 12 NFT Artists and Crypto Art Projects
By Emma Taggart and Pinar Noorata
Since the conception of art, many paintings, drawings, and sculptures have existed in the physical world. As technology has advanced, so have the ways for making and experiencing art. More and more artists are creating work digitally, and many of their pieces exist purely as pixels on a screen. However, just because we’re not able to hold these artworks in our hands, it doesn’t mean they’re less valuable. In fact, digital art is quickly becoming one of the most valuable art forms of our time.
The art world is rapidly changing with the introduction of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. In particular, 2021 has seen a spike in digital art sales, with many high-profile artists and brands exploring new ways of selling their work through blockchain technology.
Things we’re listening to
A16Z: Kickstarting Network Effects
“Network effects can be found powering almost every major technology company, from messaging apps and workplace collaboration tools, like Slack and Zoom, to marketplaces, like Airbnb and Instacart to even the internet itself. In this podcast, we look at the role of network effects creator-driven social platforms, with Alexis Ohanian, cofounder from Reddit, Paul Davison, cofounder from Clubhouse, and a16z general partner Andrew Chen, whose new book, “The Cold Start Problem: How to Start and Scale Network Effects” comes out this week (see coldstart.com for more).
We cover: how do you cold start and get your first creators? How does your relationship to creators change as you scale? And how is web3 changing the incentives and dynamics around network effects?”
Side Chain Scaling with Sandeep Nailwal, Co-Founder of Polygon
“Polygon Ethereum side chain co-founder Sandeep Nailwal joins Kevin to discuss what makes Polygon so unique, the secure mobility of NFTs minted on Polygon, future fixes to bridge assets to Ethereum, the future of the MATIC token, and much more.
Sandeep Nailwal is a co-founder and the COO of Polygon. Sandeep discovered the revolutionary nature of blockchain in 2017 and set his sights on solving for scalability issues with the founding of Matic Network (now Polygon) alongside Jaynti Kanani and Anurag Arjun. His main responsibilities include spearheading branding, marketing, adoption, operations, and stakeholder partnerships in service of pushing forward the vision of Polygon.”
All The Hacks: Health Hacks, Crypto and NFTs
“Entrepreneur and VC, Kevin Rose, joins Chris to talk about the best and latest in everything from wellness to digital currency. They dive into all Kevin's health hacks, what led him to be such a successful investor, and they answer many of your questions about the latest in crypto and NFTs.
Kevin Rose (@kevinrose) is an entrepreneur, investor, venture capitalist and crypto and NFT expert. He is a partner at True Ventures, the host of two podcasts, Modern Finance, which talks about crypto and traditional finance, and Proof, which talks in depth about all things NFTs. Kevin previously founded the social news site, Digg, the intermittent fasting app, Zero, and the meditation app, Oak. He’s also one of the most successful Angel Investors out there, being an early investor in companies like Twitter, Facebook and Square.”
Project’s we’re following
Mint NFT: The Next Generation Of Nft Experiences
“Build a more engaged community with our simplified platform to merchandize, monetize, and market your NFTs”
Mint and sell your own branded NFTs with Shopify and Shopify Payments—right from your store. Join the NFT Beta Program today.
A New Way to Shoot Photos, Make Filters, and Get Paid
A camera protocol, owned by everyone.
“The Internet Camera protocol is currently running in a private beta, and documentation is coming soon. The protocol is designed to be fully decentralized, financially sustainable, and publicly owned. More details on transitioning the protocol to a publicly governed organization will be available soon.”