Ethereum / Shapella Recap — Ethereum's Shapella upgrade has seen over 1.3M ETH distributed, with two-thirds comprising rewards from past validator duties. The number of validators increased by ~18,000 in the past week, with ETH briefly reaching over $2,100, a level not seen since April 16th, 2022 — more
Starbucks / First Store Collection — Starbucks announced the First Store Collection, a limited series of 5,000 NFTs priced at $100 each, as part of its Odyssey Web3 rewards program. The NFTs are inspired by the chain’s first store in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. Purchasing an NFT will earn app users 1,500 points for rewards like virtual coffee classes and charitable donations — more
Coinbase / Offshore Expansion — Coinbase Global is focusing on international expansion amid increasing regulatory pressure in its core U.S. market. The company outlined plans to enter countries such as Brazil, Singapore, Canada, and Bermuda, while also doubling down on its presence in Europe — more
SEC Chair Gensler / Questioned — Republicans on the HFSC questioned SEC Chair Gary Gensler on his agenda, which they believe “threatens the dominance of U.S. capital markets and competitiveness.” Gensler was challenged on his contradictory views on digital assets, particularly whether ETH should be considered a security or commodity. Gensler declined to answer the question directly — more
BNY Mellon / Digital Asset Future — BNY Mellon, the oldest bank in the U.S., appointed former Zodia Custody CEO Maxime de Guillebon as head of digital asset product. The bank's CEO, Robin Vince, said digital assets are the bank's "longest-term play" during January's fourth-quarter earnings call — more
Square Enix / Elixir Partnership — Square Enix partnered with Elixir to advance web3 game adoption, bringing together traditional and decentralized gaming. Elixir's platform, now integrated with the popular Epic Games Store library, aims to bridge the gap between web2 and web3 gaming with Square Enix's support — more
Stability AI / Launches StableLM — Stability AI released the open-source StableLM language model, available in 3 billion and 7 billion parameter versions, with larger models to follow. Building on experience from EleutherAI, StableLM allows developers to freely adapt and use the models for commercial or research purposes under the CC BY-SA-4.0 license — more
Helium / Solana Migration — Helium initiated a 24-hour migration to the Solana blockchain, seeking enhanced stability, speed, and cost-efficiency for its decentralized wireless infrastructure project. Until this week’s migration, Helium tokens lived on the Helium blockchain for nearly four years — more
Bittrex / SEC Charge — The SEC charged Bittrex and its co-founder, William Shihara, for operating an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency. Bittrex allegedly earned $1.3B from unregistered activities involving securities transactions since 2017 — more
Faktory (🤝) / $2.3M Raised — Faktory, a startup on a mission to connect the world of data with the world of generative AI, raises seed round led by Collab+Currency, with participation from Tribe Capital, Kestrel, and Kinetic — more
Yoz Labs (🤝) / $3.5M Raised — Yoz Labs, a Web3 notification platform, raises round led by Electric Capital, with participation from Collab+Currency, Coinbase Ventures, Dapper Labs, Form Capital, North Island, Mike Krieger, and Naval Ravikant — more
Fractal / $6M Raised — Fractal, a Switzerland-based infrastructure provider for digital asset trades on-chain, raises round led by Hack VC, with participation from 6th Man, Archetype, Avalanche Ecosystem Fund Blizzard, Circle Ventures, CMT Digital, CoinShares, GoldenTree, QCP, Spartan Group, and others — more
Protecc / $1.5M Raised — Protecc, a platform that aims to act as a “simplification layer & ecosystem partner for NFTs”, raises round led by Dialectic Group, with participation from UOB Venture Management, Signum Capital, Interlinked Capital, Side Door, 0x Ventures, Kronos, 3.0 Capital, Concave, and Cogitent — more
Helio / $3.3M Raised — Helio, a startup with a vision to build a “Stripe for the web3 economy”, raises seed round led by Peak and Lightspeed Faction, with participation from RockawayX, Solana Labs, and others — more
Karate Combat / $18M Raised — Karate Combat, a mixture of full-contact karate with immersive computer-generated environments and XR, raises round led by Bitkraft Ventures in the raise include Delphi Digital, The Operating Group, Alpha Wave Global, Hashkey, RooxieXBT, and others. The $KARATE token will be launched on the Ethereum + Hedera on May 10 — more
Berachain / $42M Raised — Berachain, a DeFi-focused EVM-compatible L1 built on the Cosmos SDK, raises Series A led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Hack VC, dao5, Tribe Capital, Shima Capital, CitizenX, Robot Ventures, and others, bringing its valuation to $420.69M — more
In the Process, Issue #1: Time Off / Time On / Ensemble (🤝) — “This inaugural issue of In the Process touches on the purity in tinkering as a child at a computer, the benefits of time off for the creative process, and the blueprint that outlined a mind-bending blockbuster film. We’d like to formally welcome you to In the Process.” — more
Consider the Chromie Squiggle / Ben Roy x Page One — “Some cultural items have gravity. They become a core part of a movement or representative of a time, place, subculture, etc. Think something like Pokemon cards for childhood in the ‘00s or Patagonia vests for Silicon Valley VC culture in the 2010s. I think Squiggles are the crypto version of this: they’re a living, moving, rainbow capsule of crypto subculture, and a Schelling point for the digital art movement.” — more
What Is A Protocol And Why Does It Matter? / Fred Wilson — “Protocols have been around for as long as computers, but we are at the beginning of a golden era of protocols that I like to call “web3.” Until recently protocols were mostly free and unmonetized. We all use the HTTP protocol every day to access web pages. We all use the SMTP protocol every day to send email. But these protocols are free to use and don’t make money for any company or project or individual. With the arrival of Bitcoin back in January 2009, we got a protocol that had monetization built in.” — more
Rainbow (🤝) Helps Users Slide Into the Crypto Economy / Daniel Kuhn — “Crypto won’t find mass-market adoption until the most basic of apps, the wallet, is easy to understand and use. That’s why Rainbow, with its fun colors and emphasis on user-friendly design, is one of CoinDesk’s Projects to Watch 2023.” — more
What is the Future of Digital Fashion in Web3 / Ashumi Sanghvi — “What is good is that the genuine creators who are developing in this space are the ones who were fed up with the traditional fashion system. Therefore, they are all attempting to create something that is the opposite of what has gone wrong. As we all know, there are many problems with the legacy fashion system. However, I believe that major innovation is still missing. We are still largely replicating the IRL within the virtual realm … Now, it is up to us to create new experiences within a new medium.” — Gala Marija Vrbanic at Tribute Brand (🤝) — more
Building Cabin’s Network City / Jon Hillis x Cabin — “Over the past two years, our online community has designed and built a thriving coliving property called Neighborhood Zero in the Texas Hill Country. We are now expanding a shared culture, economy, and governance across a global network of physical neighborhoods designed for strong community, fast internet, and access to nature. This document outlines our core beliefs and plans to build a city.” — more
Digital Artists: Next Billion-Dollar Brands / Tim Salikhov — “With further advancements in blockchain and generative AI technologies, artists will spearhead entire economies, launch billion dollar global brands, and propel digital culture to $10 trillion.” — more
He Started Resy: Now He Wants You to Take Restaurant NFTs Seriously / Luke Fortney at Eater — “Blackbird, a new restaurant loyalty program, pairs NFTs with VIP treatment, so even if you didn’t plan on owning a fancy digital asset this year, the company is banking on free food being enough to change your mind.” — more
2023 State of Crypto Report / a16z crypto — “Our 2023 report aims to address the imbalance between the noise of fleeting price movements – and the data that tracks the signals that matter, including the durable progress of web3 technology. Overall, the report reflects a healthier industry than market prices may indicate, and a steady cycle of development, product launches, and ongoing innovation.” — more
glitch / Introducing ‘Every 30 Days’ — glitch, in collaboration with Danvas, Transient Labs (🤝), and Hypeshot (🤝), is launching a monthly IRL x digital art series called 'Every 30 Days'. The series will exhibit one culturally significant digital object on a Danvas display in Marfa, Texas, paired with a 24/7 livestream. Each exhibition will be accompanied by a digital-only poster and a long-form essay to provide context for the artwork within digital art history — more
Async Art (🤝) / Forever Supper Begins — Async Art launched the Forever Supper — a homage to the first ever Async mint “First Supper”. Users can mint a blank Core room to join and then collect Expansion packs for customizing decor, backgrounds, and characters. Creators can release new Expansions and receive royalties from collaborators, broadening the Async ecosystem and fostering community engagement — more
Moonbirds / $TALONS — Moonbirds introduced $TALONS, an internal rewards system within the PROOF (🤝) ecosystem, where holders accrue tokens daily via "nesting." The tokens can be redeemed for exclusive drops, merchandise, and event access, resembling a "credit card rewards points" system as described by founder Kevin Rose — more
Rainbow (🤝) / Ledger Hardware Support — Rainbow now allows users to pair Ledger Nano X hardware wallets with their iOS and Android apps. The goal was to make create an easy-to-use Ledger experience that stores your assets offline, safely, and securely — more
Merit Circle DAO / Beam Subnet — Beam, a gaming-focused blockchain network launched by Merit Circle and Avalanche, aims to offer a thriving ecosystem for games, developers, and gamers. The Beam subnet is powered by the Merit Circle token ($MC), which acts as the native gas token and is burned with each transaction to validate the network — more
Mad Realities / Creator Collective — Mad Realities launched The Creator Collective — an invite-only incubator program for content creators that allows members to develop interactive reality shows. Drawing on past experience with interactive dating show Proof of Love, the new program offers collaboration opportunities, and hands-on support, with fans earning rewards ($MAD) by influencing the content created — more
Magi / a16z crypto — a16z crypto announced Magi — a new OP Stack rollup client written in Rust, which aims to improve network safety through client diversity. Magi intends to perform the same core functionality as op-node and work alongside an execution node to sync to any OP Stack chain, such as Optimism and Base — more
Nathaniel Stern + Sasha Stiles / Art Blocks (🤝): Still Moving — “A collaboration between Nathaniel Stern and Sasha Stiles – rooted in Stiles’ AI-powered verse and Stern’s career in digital, interactive, and networked art – Still Moving is an ars poetica about what it means to be a human body facing a machine: a showdown, a form of worship, a distraction, a mirror gaze, an other, an alter.” 400 pieces dropping April 26th at 10am PT — more
Maybe Im Wasabi / Foundation: Untraceables — “Art and life are about the limitations we choose and accept. A haiku, for example, is judged by how choice of language fits into an arbitrary number of lines and syllables. "Untraceables" meditates on creative and existential limitations, and their consequences.” 55 1/1’s dropping April 24th at 2pm PT — more
Jeremy Booth / Western Art Dept. — “Jeremy Booth introduces the Western Art Dept, a project aimed at bringing traditional Western artists into the Web3 space and highlighting NFT creators inspired by the historical genre. Launching in early May on Foundation, the collection features unique NFTs from various artists, while Boots NFT holders can burn their tokens to redeem artwork commissioned by the Western Art Dept.” 1/1’s dropping early May, details to follow — more
glitch marfa / An Invitation to Generative Art 👀 — more
Jess / “Crypto is about to have its consumer moment.” — more
Transient Labs (🤝) / Co-Sign x SuperRare (🤝) — more
Derek Edws / Casual Blockchain-Based Procedural Art — more
pet3rpan_ / Chromie Squiggle Love — more
Chris Burniske / Crypto Talent Ratchets Up — more
IYK (🤝) / NFT NYC Activations Powered by IYK — more
CyberBrokers / Mech Assembly w/ Mona (🤝) + Nifty Island (🤝) — more
Rainbow (🤝) x Finiliar / Rainbow Animal Software — more
ChrisF / Key Dates Delineating a Holding Pattern for NFTs — more
Otherside x Yuga / Legends of the Mara Update — more
Emre / Monthly Updates to the Developer Report — more
DCinvestor / On Digital NFT Art in an AI Era — more
Doodles / Doodles x BBC ICECREAM Collection — more
purplehat / GIF+MP4 Rendering, ‘They move! 〰️’ — more
seth goldstein / Around the World in 10,000 NFTs — more
🤝 = Collab+Currency Portfolio Company
Curated by @Collab_Currency x @_cutbank
If you enjoyed this edition of Digitized, please subscribe below and follow @digitizedweekly on Twitter. Let’s Form Group.
All information in this Newsletter regarding any company or investment is the sole responsibility of the company providing the information, and Collab+Currency (including its affiliates) makes no representation or warranty as to the adequacy, accuracy or completeness of such information. In no event is Collab+Currency responsible for any information contained in any links outside our website.
Collab+Currency does not offer investment advice or analysis. We do not endorse or recommend any investment, or the suitability of any investment for any particular investor. Information regarding any company or investment in this Newsletter, including any links to information on our website, should not be construed as an endorsement or recommendation of that company or investment for any purpose whatsoever, either for purposes of investment or otherwise. Any person receiving this Newsletter or accessing our website is encouraged to consult with their own financial advisor, tax advisor and/or attorney before making any decision to invest.