📝 Field Notes #50: Hall of Fame

Tod's goes blockchain. Nike drops another phygital. Balenciaga's clothing tech. Lacoste's world tour. Binance & CZ: The fall of a titan. SEC hits Kraken. OpenAI appoints new CEO. Top charts & more.

Nov 24, 2023

Hey, it’s Marc. Today’s field notes are brought to you by MINTangible – my partner of choice for protecting IP rights for NFTs. Grab their free NFT IP cheat sheet here.

⏱️ Reading time: 3 min, 403 words

Be inspired✨

"Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts." — Winston Churchill

📚 Top 4 Reads

When will digital ownership reach the average consumer? By Ian Rogers. Link
The builders perspective on consumer crypto. By M. Segall & W. Collier. Link
Web3 Washing: Why Even Web3 Commerce First-Movers are Headed for Disruption. By Justin Banon. Link
Brian Armstrong on Binance. Link

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🚨 Top Stories That Caught My Eye

✨ Web3 + NFTs

Getting physical 💦

Tod's is now part of the Aura Blockchain Consortium, alongside luxury brands like Richemont and LVMH. Link
Nike has released RTFKT x Nike Dunk sneakers in a token-gated sale. The physical shoes will come with a corresponding NFT.1 Link

Connected clothing. Balenciaga partnered with digital identity company, EON, for tech-enabled clothing. Owners can access exclusive content, like a song. EON’s solution is cloud-based, but has blockchain features available through partners such as KORE Technologies or Arianee.

New regulation. Upcoming EU regulation mandate a Digital Product Passport (DPP) for product traceability and life cycle information. Blockchain is one of many technologies enabling this.

Zooming out: Phygitals are gaining traction. While indie brands like 9dcc experiment with creative use cases, luxury brands focus on authenticity and traceability. Read my latest piece on this topic here.

🌎 Crypto & Macro

The fall of a titan ⛰️

Binance's CEO, CZ, has stepped down after admitting to breaking anti-money laundering rules. Link
Binance faces a $4bn settlement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ), which has accused the company of helping in fundraising for groups like Hamas, al-Qaida, and ISIS.

The Times They Are a-Changin'. This is a major hit for Binance, affecting its reputation and access to the US market, once accounting for 20-30% of its revenue.2 It also marks the end of an era – and a new beginning?

Punchline: Crypto is growing up. The big winners are compliant entities like Coinbase, which struggled for years to keep up with unregulated peers. The hall of fame is growing.

SEC hits again🤯

The SEC charged Kraken for operating an unregistered securities exchange. Link
This comes after Kraken stopped its staking services in February and paid a $30m fee to the SEC.

Punchline: Coinbase and Kraken, the two largest remaining US players, are now both engaged in similar and potentially existential lawsuits against the SEC. The outcomes of these cases could mark another watershed moment.

🧠AI

OpenAI appoints a new CEO: Sam Altman. Link

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💰 Money Moves

Privy: The Web3 onboarding solution has raised a $18m series A led by Paradigm. Link
Saga: A protocol that helps crypto game developers launch their own blockchains, has announced a $5m seed extension. Link
Blur: Its founder raised $40m funding to develop its ecosystem. Link
Blast: An EVM-compatible, optimistic rollup as raised $20m led by Paradigm. Link
Sleek: A Hong Kong-based Web3 social networking platform has raised $5m in seed funding. Link