This Week in Web3: Friday, December 3, 2021
Square re-brand, memes and the future of money, your guide to DAOs, Meta and the Metaverse, the Bored Ape breakdown, Budweiser’s record breaking NFT drop and Matrix Resurrections NFT crash
Hey folks,
Whatever you do, don’t blink. This week has been reliably nuts and filled with drama, breakthrough projects, tons of volatility, and some wild NFT drops.
Here’s what we’ve been paying close attention to.
News we’re following
Square Changes Name to Block, Days After CEO Jack Dorsey Leaves Twitter
“New name for financial-services company aligns with its chief’s interest in bitcoin and blockchain”
Blockchain.com to Introduce NFT Marketplace as Interest Booms
“The company has opened a waiting list for the new platform, which will allow users to buy, sell and store NFTs.”
Shiba Inu: Memes Are the Future of Money
“LOL u mad bro?”
Things we’re reading
“One of the main benefits of a DAO is that they are more transparent than traditional companies since all actions and funding in the DAO are viewable by anyone. This significantly reduces the risk of corruption and censorship. Publicly traded companies must provide independently audited financial statements, but shareholders only get to see the financial health of the organization at a snapshot in time. Since a DAO's balance sheet exists on a public blockchain, it is completely transparent at all times, down to every single transaction.”
Facebook’s Metaverse Play Is a 'Battle for Future of the Internet': Axie Infinity Co-Founder
“Centralized firms like Facebook are trying to “buy the soul of the internet,” said one of the popular Ethereum game’s creators.”
Idea Legos, by Pactrick McCormick, Not Boring
“Ideas compound and compose just like interest and software. Whether web3 protocols, APIs, or open source software, composability means building in such a way that the next builder can pick up where you left off, add their own twist, and leave the combined work for the next builder.”
“A look into the reasoning behind the explosive growth of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) while highlighting challenges and opportunities associated with building a DAO ecosystem for the long-term.”
Things we’re listening to
“Given all the activity and interest recently around crypto and web3, as well as in upcoming holidays and art events, we’re re-running our episode all about NFTs (from March 2021) -- where we covered everything you need or want to know about NFTs. You can also find a curated list of resources to learn all about NFTs at future.com/nftcanon.”
Exponent Podcast: Forecasting the Metaverse with Ben Thompson
“Ben and James discuss Facebook and Microsoft’s metaverse announcements, and how the future might play out.”
Web3 Breakdowns with Eric Golden - Bored Ape Yacht Club
Eric Golden is a former Portfolio Manager at Fidelity. We cover the Bored Ape Yacht Club in detail, use Bored Apes as a lens to understand how NFT projects are creating strong membership communities, and explore the tools projects are using to differentiate themselves.
Project’s we’re following
Budweiser's First NFT Collection Sells Out Within an Hour
“Buyers of legal drinking age could purchase the NFTs on the brand's website using Ethereum, Bitcoin or a credit card. On Monday, Budweiser joined the non-fungible token craze with the launch of its first collection of unique pieces of digital art — depictions of beer cans that sold for hundreds of dollars each.”
‘Matrix Resurrections’ NFT Website Crashes After Overwhelming Demand, By Todd Spangler
“Nifty’s late Wednesday evening said it re-opened the purchase queue for the “Matrix” NFTs after completing an audit of its platform. About an hour later, the company said it had officially sold out. “We know it wasn’t the experience we’d hoped for, but we’re happy to see so many of you able to mint your base avatar,” Nifty’s said.]”
Loot is a viral social network that looks like nothing you've ever seen
“Loot (and Vine) creator Dom Hofmann on creating an open-source, decentralized game / financial asset / art project / metaverse (?)”
People we’re following
How we are educating ourselves?
“The NFT Canon is a go-to resource for artists and creators, developers, corporations and institutions, communities and other organizations seeking to understand or do more with non-fungible tokens.
It’s a curated list of readings and resources on all things NFTs (inspired by the a16z Crypto Canon), and is organized from the big picture of what NFTs are and why they matter to how to mint, collect, and do more with them — including FAQs, ecosystem overviews, and various applications such as art, music, gaming, social tokens, creator DAOs, and others.”