November 19, 2022

Crypto is Dead But Web3 is Thriving

GM web3 explorers! 

It’s time for the Weekly Rollup—your FTX-free news source. After all, crypto is dead but web3 is thriving. 🔥

This week: 

  • Nike makes yet another big move 🚀

  • Web3 is catching World Cup fever 🥵

  • Forget Elon colonizing Mars, we’ve got babies in the metaverse 👶

  • DAO of the Month. Hint: it’s the epicenter of the Arbitrum ecosystem 🎯

Let’s dive in. 👇


Tired of Elon's antics? It's time to switch to web3 social with Lens!


🟣 JUST DO IT

Nike Launches Web3 Platform .SWOOSH 

Here’s how Nike describes .Swoosh, “a web3-enabled platform that champions athletes and serves the future of sport by creating a new, inclusive digital community and experience and a home for Nike virtual creations.”

Essentially, Nike is launching a platform for NFT creation and trading, with the potential for users to even co-create virtual creations—Nike’s language for NFTs. 

But these virtual creations aren’t just for show. Owners will be able to use them as in-game wearables or in immersive experiences (aka metaverses). 

On top of this, they also plan to onboard their web2 community by partnering with wallet provider, BitGo. For people without wallets, Nike’s website will automatically create them while web3-natives will be able to use their usual wallets. 

What’s interesting is that they’re also launching a Nike identity system powered by Polygon ID. It works similarly to ENS, where people can substitute their 40-digit wallet addresses with something simpler except with Nike’s own domain—for example, kyle.SWOOSH. 

We don’t really know why they went down the identity route just yet, but it’s clear that they plan to be a big web3 player. And the way they’re doing it is by onboarding the billions of people still in web2. 

How? 

They’re using understandable language. No one from web2 cares about the technology we’re using, they want to understand the end product. In this case, Nike avoided words like blockchain, crypto, and NFTs, instead focusing on calling NFTs virtual creations. 

Why? 

Nike shared that, “new technology brings new opportunities to innovate, inspire and move boundaries. Sports and culture are evolving, so we want to build a future that’s creative, inclusive, and brimming with unlimited possibilities for everyone. 

As more fans find new ways to express themselves in the games and social platforms they love, we’d love to invite more of our Nike community to help co-create these products alongside us.”

Nike obviously sees the superpower of web3 technology—unlocking ownership. This looks like being able to buy and sell NFTs, co-creating experiences, and building deeper community bonds. 

Want the web3 playbook? Nike is creating it right before our eyes 👀


🟣 WORLD CUP FEVER

Brands Are Entering Web3 Through the World Cup

While many of these campaigns haven’t been widely publicized, there are numerous big brands launching web3 engagements for the largest sporting event in the world. More than 5 billion people are projected to tune in starting this Sunday.

We’ve got names, such as Budweiser, Manchester United, and FIFA running activations right now. So we thought we should break down some of the ways marketing teams are using web3. 

First up, we’ve got the Budverse World Cup NFT. 

Budweiser has been working on the Budverse for a while now, so they’re no stranger to web3. However, they’re expanding their reach into the football world. 

The collection allows you to choose your team (aka country) and then mint an NFT for $100. It’s not just an NFT, though, buyers also receive some Budweiser merch and private Discord access. 

What’s interesting about the drop is that Budweiser uses dynamic NFTs, meaning they can change based on live data. In this collection, it means that when your team is playing a match the NFT gif will change based on what’s happening. 

It displays the background of the stadium where the match is happening, a live scoreboard, and team and tournament information.

It may be pretty hard to justify $100 for what seems like a pretty basic NFT. But if we consider the fact that owners of Budweiser’s previous Heritage Can collection could claim free Budverse x FIFA NFTs, it could be a small price to pay to get into the Budverse.

Now let’s go with a poorly executed NFT drop 👇

It’s obvious from the beginning that this was a paid promotion. There’s no excitement or community spirit behind this announcement, and the video screams Binance Marketing Department. 

First of all, we guarantee that Ronaldo’s fan base is 90% web2 folk. So why would he put the name of the blockchain in the first sentence of the marketing launch? Why mention NFT as the second word in the launch?

We’d say it’s pretty obvious that Ronaldo isn’t the one trying to build this “community.” 

👉 Tune into the podcast to learn about the importance of collecting wallet addresses.


🟣 BABIES IN THE METAVERSE

Baby Registries Go Digital

Babylist, a registry service, recently launched Babylist Land – Gifting Edition, the first baby gift registry, and showroom in the metaverse. 

It’s essentially a virtual showroom where you can walk around and look at different items on parents’ baby registries. Think of it like a retail store, except everything inside it is curated by the expectant parents. 

Shoppers can also invite friends to join them in the showroom via a Zoom-like feature, and there are integrated games that unlock special offers. There’s also a photo booth for virtual selfies and an astrology-themed wall with baby name suggestions.

There are three reasons why this is big for web3: 

  • 49% of millennials and 35% of Gen Z say they’re likely to access the metaverse in the next year—not bad considering how loosely defined it is.

  • Parents spend about 40 hours building a registry. Since they’re putting in that time already, it’s likely that doing it in the metaverse isn’t much different.

  • Babylist has grown to host registries for about one in three expectant U.S.parents.

Overall, virtual or metaverse shopping gives consumers a more tangible way to shop online. For example, you could better understand how a new couch or table could fit in your home. 

It’s also a much more engaging experience as people can access more information about products with just a few clicks. For example, businesses could integrate tutorials and product reviews into the browsing experience. 

Virtual Stores also present an opportunity for retail stores to gather user data since it’s next-to-impossible to track customer actions in-store. 

The Babylist virtual store was built by Obsess which is one of 6 companies (alongside one of our favorites, Polygon) that’s in Disney’s Web3 Accelerator program. Obsess is also working with Ralph Lauren, AT&T, Crocs, and Coach to name a few.

While metaverse shopping may sound weird right now, it seems that big brands consider it the next digital revolution. 


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🟣 DAO OF THE MONTH

Arbitrum News DAO: Bringing Value and Fun to Arbitrum

In this week’s community poll, we had four DAOs duke it out for the coveted DAO of the Month award. 

But there could only be one winner…

And the winner with 67% was Arbitrum News DAO.

Here’s what they’re all about 👇

Arbitrum News DAO is a group of people that have come together with the mission of bringing more value and fun to the Arbitrum ecosystem. As the name suggests, this DAO is sharing the latest news happening inside the Arbitrum ecosystem through their socials and their recently launched newsletter.

But it’s more than a newsletter—they’re also focused on helping Arbitrum's startup projects build their community and expand their marketing.

The Arbitrum News DAO isn’t only promoting them (for free) on their socials, they also act as advisors (at no cost) for native startups.—in particular, those that lack a marketing budget or the bandwidth to practice marketing.

In a brief Twitter conversation, Arbitrum News DAO shared, “To date, we’ve helped over 100 NFT teams and over 20 DeFi teams on Arbitrum achieve some big milestones.”

The most interesting part? They haven’t even created an NFT collection or minted fungible tokens. 

This is the power of a tight-knit community! 


🟣 NUMBERS TO KNOW

32 USDC

That's how much we're giving away to 1 lucky person that replies to this email with their prediction of who's winning the World Cup.

1,100,000,000

That's the volume (in ETH) traded on Uniswap on Tuesday, when it became the 2nd largest exchange by trading volume, overtaking Coinbase, being just behind Binance. Source

$218,750

That's the amount someone paid for an old pair of Steve Jobs’ Birkenstock sandals and an accompanying NFT. Source


🟣 AROUND WEB3

Other Web3 News

  • Circle will allow users to pay in USDC using Apple Pay for eligible businesses that build with Circle. Source

  • Coachella NFTs are stuck and ‘disabled’ on FTX. Source

  • Sony files patent for tracking in-game digital assets with NFTs. Source

  • Blur follows the trend and enforces royalties for selected 'permissioned NFT collections'. Source

  • Yuga Labs welcomes Beeple's collections to their ecosystem. The artist will also join the company as an advisor. Source

  • Binance set to launch a recovery fund for struggling crypto companies. Source

  • The creator of 'Magic: The Gathering' launches web3 PvP card game on WAX (Worldwide Asset eXchange) blockchain. Source

  • Mexico will have its first shopping mall in the metaverse. Source


🟣 FOR THE DOERS

READ

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