Magic Eden / Polygon Partnership — Magic Eden, a cross-chain NFT marketplace, announces integration with Polygon. The partnership aims to expand the reach of Magic Eden to include global brands and intellectual property owners. The collaboration has already onboarded Planet Mojo (🤝), Kakao Games, IntellaX, Boomland, Block Games, and more onto MagicEden — more
Binance / Recovery Fund — Binance has announced it is aiming to amass ~$1B for an “industry recovery fund". Binance CEO CZ stated, "If that's not enough we can allocate more.” The fund will target projects which are otherwise strong, but facing a liquidity crisis — more
Consensys / MetaMask Data Collection — Consensys, the NY-based software company behind the leading Ethereum wallet, MetaMask, announced changes to its privacy policy to inform MetaMask’s 20M+ users that their IP and Ethereum wallet addresses will be collected when they transact using Infura’s Remote Procedure Call. Consensys acquired Infura in October 2019 — more
L’Oreal / Ready Player Me (🤝) Partnership — L’Oreal, the largest cosmetics and beauty brand in the world, has partnered with the cross-app avatar platform Ready Player Me. The partnership will bring L’Oreal makeup looks and hair styles to Ready Player Me avatars and the free-to-use looks can be worn across 4,000 apps and platforms — more
Binance / Bitcoin Proof of Reserves — In an effort to achieve greater transparency after the FTX collapse, Binance has put out its proof-of-reserves system that shows a reserve ratio of 101% for its users’ bitcoin balances. The snapshot of account balances shows it has 582,485 bitcoin in its reserves, while its users have a net balance of 575,742 bitcoin (a margin of 6,743 bitcoin) — more
Pantera / Buys $137M Worth of BTC — The Pantera Bitcoin Fund, funded by 141 accredited investors, announces it purchased $137M worth of bitcoin. The fund is a passive tracker of BTC with an annual management fee of 0.75% and aims to provide “quick and secure access to bitcoin while removing the burden of buying and safekeeping coins” — more
Mattel / New D2C NFT Marketplace — Mattel, a global toy company with a market cap of ~ $6.4B, launches its own NFT marketplace called The Mattel Creations Digital Collections Marketplace. Built on Flow, the marketplace was made for mainstream consumers and has already featured NFT collections for its Barbie and Hot Wheels franchises — more
Celsius / Bankruptcy Proceedings — Bankrupt crypto lending company, Celsius, requested a deadline for its customers to submit proofs of claim in the ongoing proceedings. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York approved the request and the deadline has been set for January 3rd, 2023 — more
Grand Theft Auto / Bans NFTs — Following in the footsteps of Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto has announced it is banning NFTs from its third-party online servers. This ruling limits developers from integrating in-game currencies and NFTs into “role play servers”, which are essentially spin-offs of the original GTA 5 made by fans and developers — more
Johnnie Walker x BlockBar / Blue Label Collaboration — Johnnie Walker partners with BlockBar, a direct-to-consumer NFT marketplace for wine and spirits, to launch an NFT project by streetwear designer VANDYTHEPINK. The collaboration will offer NFT holders the ability to vote on the artwork to be featured on a limited run of Johnnie Walker Blue Label — more
JPMorgan / Crypto Wallet Trademark — JPMorgan has registered a digital wallet brand. The bank filed a trademark for the ‘JP Morgan Wallet’ back in July 2020 but was just approved on November 15th. The wallet is currently being proposed as a service that provides businesses with subledgers — more
Kalder / $3M Raised — Kalder, a platform leveraging web3 to build brand loyalty tools, raises round from 500 VC, INDIGO Fund, Human Capital, Soma Capital, and others — more
Thirdverse / $15M Raised — Thirdverse, a web3 and VR gaming studio, raises round led by MZ Web3 Fund, with participation from Dash Ventures, OKX Ventures, and Yield Guild Games — more
Nucleo / $4M Raised — Nucleo, a crypto privacy startup aiming to create a private multi-sig solution using zero-knowledge tech, raises round led by Bain Capital and 6th Man Ventures, with participation from Aleo, Espresso Systems, and Aztec Network — more
Tropee / $5.1M Raised — Tropee, an NFT utility platform that aims to help brands create NFT-enabled user experiences, raises seed round led by Tioga Capital, with participation from angels Sébastien Borget (The Sandbox), Lorens Huculak (Gem), and others — more
Carv / $4M Raised — Carv, a startup developing a web3 ID solution that combines web2 and web3 gaming data to create unique user IDs, raises round led by Temasek-backed early-stage VC fund Vertex, with participation from Infinity Ventures, ECOS, Snackclub, Uphonest Capital, and others — more
t3rn / $6.5M Raised — t3rn, a Polkadot-based blockchain interoperability protocol aiming to facilitate cross-chain transactions, raises private token round led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Huobi Ventures, Figment Capital, Blockchange Ventures, and others — more
Onomy / $10M Raised — Onomy, a Cosmos-based protocol that aims to converge DeFi and forex markets, raises private token round backed by Bitfinex, GSR, Ava Labs, CMS Holdings, and DWF Labs — more
The Machine Learning Powering Generative Art NFTs / Jesus Rodriguez — “Throughout the history of technology there have been several instances in which relatively different trends are able to influence each other to gain incredible market share. The most recent example is the social-mobile-cloud revolution in which each one of those trends expanded the market of the other two. Generative AI and NFTs are starting to exhibit a similar dynamic. Both trends have been able to bring a complex technology market to mainstream culture.” — more
Dirt: Worldbuilding, Pt. 2 / Terry Nguyen x Dirt (🤝) — “In my essay Worldbuilding Pt. 1, I assess how worldbuilding is employed by entertainment franchises and brands as a means for inexhaustible story expansion. This essay considers worldbuilding as a collaborative, participatory exercise — within fandoms, virtual role-playing games, and community-driven NFT projects.” — more
How the402's Crypto-Enabled Livestreaming Benefits Creators / Livepeer (🤝) Studio Team — “In the current web2 ecosystem, many creators follow a boom-and-bust model - banking on virality, views, and ad dollars to drive revenue. With token-gated livestreams, the402 hopes to build an alternative revenue stream for creators where they can provide exciting and exclusive experiences for their communities with greater ownership of those relationships.” — more
Code as Canvas: How Olta and Transient Labs are Ushering in a New Genre of Coding as Art / Harmon Leon — “We’re talking dynamic art; we’re talking interactive art; we’re talking art that changes throughout the day or provides a functionality specific to an individual–all driven by code and data as the artistic entry point. “It’s the birth of a new genre, or at least the growth of a new genre that didn’t really have a place before,” said Strauss, who is also an accomplished landscape photographer. “It actually serves a purpose beyond just being pretty art.” — more
NFT Art CDMX / Fred Wilson — “I’ve written before about Bright Moments and the in-person experience of experiencing the creation (minting) of generative art. Too much of the NFT experience for my taste happens online and in isolation. Art is best when it is experienced by a group of people and displayed in a large format where everyone can appreciate it and discuss it together. When you experience generative NFT art that way, it is an aha moment.” — more
NFT Now / Behind The Drop: How Art Blocks (🤝) Is Paving the Way for Generative Art On-Chain — “In this episode of Behind The Drop, we travel to Marfa, Texas to hang out with Art Blocks creator Erick “Snowfro” Calderon and learn more about his generative art projects. We also sat down with artists Tyler Hobbs and Alida Sun to learn about their approach to generative art.” — more
The 402 / Livestream NFTs + Mint Functionality — The 402, a platform offering crypto-enabled livestreaming, announces new integrations with Decent, Sound, Zora, Manifold, and Mintplex that enable the minting of NFTs directly from livestreams. In addition, those in the audience will have the option to mint full livestreams as collectibles — more + more
Revel x Stable Diffusion / AI Generated Digital Collectibles — Revel, a web3 collecting and social platform, partners with open-source AI company Stability AI to launch generative AI authoring for consumers. The partnership aims to enable users to easily create and own Ai generated NFTs that can be shared with friends, fans, and collectors — more
Vertex (🤝) / Public Testnet Live — Vertex, a cross-margined DEX protocol built on Arbitrum, launches testnet and aims to offer users a way to “utilize all their funds across deposits, positions & PNL towards your margin – enabling better capital efficiency & flexibility.” — more
CyberBrokers / Support For delegate.cash — Josie Bellini’s CyberBrokers collection is now supported by delegate.cash. Integrations with delegate.cash’s decentralized registry allow NFT holders to keep their vaulted NFTs safe, while retaining the ability to claim airdrops and prove ownership from a hot wallet — more
Moonbirds x PROOF (🤝) / Birds In-Chain and Beyond — Moonbirds announce the collection is now purely “in-chain”, which means the artwork is not reliant on any external dependencies and is generated exclusively by smart contracts and stored on-chain. Additionally, holders can now reserve a username on proof.[xyz] and customize their Collector Profile — more + more
ZEBEDEE (🤝) x Ready Player Me (🤝) / Partnership — ZEBEDEE, a platform supercharging gaming economies with Bitcoin, partners with Ready Player Me to connect open-player economies with open-player identities — bringing next-gen avatars to ZEBEDEE — more
Givenchy x (b).STROY / NFT Drops — Givenchy, a French luxury fashion and perfume house, and streetwear brand (b).STROY announce an NFT collaboration that features a physical good backed by a digital token. The collaboration will include the launch of limited edition NFTs that were created by the web3 artist collective FELT Zine — more
Art of This Millennium / Vincent Van Dough — Legendary NFT collector, Vincent Van Dough, will head new global gallery ‘Art of This Millennium’ that specializes in contemporary digital art. The gallery’s aim is to work closely with artists on all aspects of career planning and execution, from ideation to sale — more
Adetona Omokanye / Quantum Art (🤝): Spiritually Fashionable — “This body of work interrogates how belief systems, tradition, and culture shape the way people dress. “Spiritually Fashionable” brings the couture of Egúngún a fancifully masked figure at the heart of the traditional religion and culture of the Yorùbá people of West Africa into sharp relief in a way that is critical and innovative.” 10 pieces, dutch auction Nov. 25th — more
The Guild / Async Art (🤝): Dream Recorder — “A dream ensemble of 24 musical and visual artists blend together to draw inspiration and share their creations through a component of our inspired dreams. Each visual layer, and each of the varied musical components that make up the hybrid compositions represent how each artist has perceived and was inspired by their ‘dreams’.” Free mint, 3k Editions, now available on secondary — more
Zancan, Entangled Others, Geoffrey Pugen, Phaust, and Paweł Grzelak / Verse: Reconciliation with the Living — “Artworks explore the theme of reconciling humanity with the natural world, asking us to consider the interdependence of different species and the benefits of intelligent cohabitation. With some works meditatively contemplating life and others referencing the theory of evolution, biodiversity is central to this exhibition.” Minting Nov. 25th — more
Casey Reas / Art Blocks (🤝): Pre-Process — “Pre-Process is the origin of a long journey that I’m still on… I want the energy to be with the system (the ideas) and the surface (the picture) in equal measure. More directly, the work exists between the instructions, the performance and interpretation of the instructions, and the resulting images.” Minting Nov. 30th — more
Ryan Selkis / The State of Crypto
BlockchainBrett / On The Crypto Creator Economy
punk9059 / SuperRare (🤝) Genesis Pass Stats
foobar / Delegate.cash Total Value Delegated > 100k ETH
9dcc / Snowfro x 9dcc Collaboration at Art Basel Miami
gmoney / The Great Liquidity Unlock
Chao / On Co-creation in web3
CHAOS x Songcamp (🤝) / SuperRare (🤝) Gallery 👀
MYTY (🤝) / Goblintown Rigging + Animation
deg3n / Blur Trading Volume
liam.eth / Ethereum Core Devs on EIP-4844
beeple / Alpha on the PROOF (🤝) Podcast about beeple’s New Studio
Stability AI / Stable Diffusion v2
Sofia Crespo / NFT Artist Gives TED Talk on AI-Generated Art
🤝 = Collab+Currency Portfolio Company
Curated by @Collab_Currency x @_cutbank
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