📝 Web3 Field Notes #9

Crypto creator economy; the state of NFTs; Mike Novogratz; Web3 identity; The flippening of L2s; Beeple Studios; EY & Polygon; Active devs growing; New start-ups & more.

Jan 20, 2023

"We forget, in our generation, that things don’t have to be physical. They can be digital, and they have meaning to people." — Bob Iger, CEO of Disney

📚 Readings:

The crypto creator economy. Link
How NFTs changed the art game. And whether you knew the old game or not makes no difference. Link
Progressive decentralization: A playbook for building crypto applications. Link
A primer on Web3 identity and reputation management. What if credentials and identity could be verified on-chain? Link
Bloomberg: Mike Novogratz wants to punch disgraced crypto titans in the face. Entertaining read. Link
Generative art & 1/1s vs. PfPs. Uhm… what? How different types of digital art evolved. Link
ConsenSys: The state of NFT markets, December 2022. Link
Liquidium: A lot of exchanges have started issuing proof-of-reserves. But that doesn’t take into account off-chain assets and liabilities. Liquidium might be an alternative. Link

🚨 What caught my eyes:

Crypto broker Genesis files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Let’s see what happens with DCG, Gemini, and Grayscale now. No price impact so far. Bad news is now good news? Link
Monthly active devs grew to 23k+ or 5% y/y. The builders keep building. Link
The flippening no one is talking about: Optimum overtakes Arbitrum with daily active addresses. I expect Layer 2s to gain huge momentum in 2023. Link
Beeple, the most famous NFT artist, opens “Beeple Studios”, a physical gallery and event space. Link
Foundation launches “World”: A web3 native curation tool. Worlds allows anyone to coordinate with sellers, curate an on-chain exhibition, and share in the sales. Link Art X Machine
N26, the German neobank, launches a crypto offering. Competition in the retail segment is heating up – and is being commoditized. The times are long over when such news would impact markets. Link
EY and Polygon work together on privacy-preserving transactions on the Ethereum blockchain to enable enterprise blockchain solutions. “Enterprise” and “blockchain” – we’ve heard this many times. Be cautious. Link
Bank of International Settlements (BIS) addresses the risks in crypto. Its approach is to ban, contain or regulate it. Nothing surprising, but still relevant. Link