📝 Web3 Field Notes #29 - Yoga, Music, and Global Web3 Adoption
📝 Web3 Field Notes #29 - Yoga, Music, and Global Web3 Adoption
Warner Music x Polygon. Shanghai's megaplan for Web3. ConsenSys' global Web3 survey. Staked ETH milestone. Fidelity's & HSBC's Bitcoin ETFs. Alo Yoga's approach to Web3. Top charts, start-ups & more.
Hey, it’s Marc. I write about Bitcoin, Web3, and brands. ✌️ Welcome to another issue of my obsessively curated field notes to help you filter out the noise.
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“Memes narratives, community and Web3 tech = Composable creativity & Co-Creation” ― Jamie Burke, CEO Outlier Ventures
📚 Key Reads
Factors of decentralization of Web3 protocols. By a16z. Link
The future of Web3 IP. By Outlier Ventures. (audio) Link
Alo Yoga’s Global Head of Marketing & Innovation on NFTs & community. I love how Alo Yoga approaches Web3. By by Anthony Day and Diego Borgo. (audio) Link
Global survey on crypto and Web3. By ConsenSys. Link
🚨 What caught my eyes
✨ Web3 + NFTs
Warner Music Group partnered with Polygon for a new Web3 music accelerator to support companies and entrepreneurs operating at the intersection of music, technology, and Web3. This is not Warner Music’s first foray into Web3. The company has been one of the most active mainstream brands looking to leverage Web3 tech for fan engagement and brand value. Link
After Beijing released a Web3 whitepaper in May, Shanghai has unveiled a megaplan that aims to help its tourism and culture sectors to generate 50 billion yuan (US$6.9 billion) in metaverse-related revenue by the end of 2025. The city's vision is to build a metaverse ecosystem that integrates technology, culture, entertainment, education, and tourism. Link
Polimec, a decentralized funding protocol developed on Polkadot, and Deloitte Switzerland have announced a collaboration to issue reusable Know Your Customer (KYC) credentials to enhance regulatory compliant fundraising. These banking grade KYC credentials are multichain, ensuring data ownership for all stakeholders, and could be used for various additional use cases in the future. This initiative could be crucial for digital identity in Web3. Link
🌎 Crypto & Macro
ConsenSys unveiled its global survey on crypto and Web3. The highlights: While 92% of respondents reported an awareness of cryptocurrencies, only 8% were very familiar with the concept of Web3. Among people familiar with NFTs, 76% in the UK have never owned an NFT, compared to only 24% of respondents in Vietnam. This shows how niche Web3 still is – lots of opportunities ahead. Link
Staked ETH hit the 20m milestone, doubling since the start of year. Staked ETH makes up roughly 16% of the total 120.2 million ETH in circulation. This is still well below the average of around 60% of the top 20 PoS networks.1
Asset manager Fidelity is preparing to file with the SEC for a spot bitcoin ETF, joining Blackrock, WisdomTree, VanEck, and others.2 This comes amidst a more positive sentiment in the crypto markets, which investors view as a vote of confidence. Link
HSBC, one of the world's largest banks, has announced that it will allow its customers in Hong Kong to trade Bitcoin and Ether future ETFs on its online platform. This is a significant move for the bank, which has previously been cautious about cryptocurrencies, and comes amid a push by the city to establish itself as a hub for the alternative asset class. Link
🧠 AI
MidJourney, one of the most popular generative AI tools, released version 5.2. Competitors include OpenAI’s DALL-E and Stable Diffusion. Link
Databricks announced plans to acquire generative AI startup MosaicML in a ~$1.3bn deal set to close by July 31; MosaicML debuted in 2021, raised $64M, and has 62 employees. Link
ChatGPT now lets ChatGPT Plus users use Bing’s web search on iOS. It allows to search the internet in real time with results being tied to a ChatGPT answer.
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🚀 Interesting Start-Ups
Spindl: Solves Web3 attribution. Just joined forces with Addressable.
Dimo: Dimo is an open connected vehicle platform allowing drivers to monetize the data from their vehicles. Over 14k vehicles are now minted onchain and connected to the network.
That’s all for now, folks.
Thank you for being part of the journey.
Back to building! 🚀
– Marc
🐦 Tweet of the week
📈 Top charts to share with friend
🎨 Artwork: “Tropical Bliss”, by Palette Box
Staking is the process of locking up a cryptocurrency in a proof-of-stake blockchain to contribute to network security and earn rewards. Similar to depositing cash into high-yield accounts at big banks, staking enables token holders to earn passive income on their assets without having to sell or trade them.
Alex from Galaxy wrote a terrific analysis on Blackrocks recent filing. He writes:
Actually, with concerns about the integrity of underlying spot BTC markets as the primary concern cited by the SEC in its prior rejections, perhaps Blackrock sees now as a particularly auspicious time to file. The SEC’s actions against Coinbase and Binance can be seen to provide a certain clarity to underlying spot markets, and the announced launch this week of EDX, the disaggregated crypto exchange backed by Citadel, Fidelity Schwab, and Virtu Financial, could be just the type of underlying spot market that the SEC needs in order to approve an ETF. And if you look across the gamut of the SEC’s enforcement actions, one name is conspicuously omitted from scrutiny: Bitcoin.