Yuga Labs / Wins Court Case — A U.S. district court ruled that Ryder Ripps' RR/BAYC collection infringed on Yuga Labs' copyrights and trademarks. The ruling establishes that Yuga Labs owns the unregistered BAYC marks, which are valid and enforceable, and that NFTs are considered goods under the Lanham Act (trademarks)— more
Circle / Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol — Circle's Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) has been released for Ethereum and Avalanche, allowing users to move USDC between the two blockchains seamlessly. CCTP aims to address liquidity fragmentation and poor user experiences. Apps built on CCTP can "teleport" native USDC from one chain to another, offering users a way to transact in multi-chain environments — more
Phantom Wallet / Expands Multi-chain — Solana wallet Phantom expanded its support to include Ethereum and Polygon starting May 1st. With this integration, users will have a separate address for each wallet on the three networks, allowing for a more comprehensive view of assets — more
Filecoin Web Services / AWS Alternative — Filecoin Web Services (FWS) launched this week to build an open-source alternative to AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure. FWS is a stack of compute, storage, and networking services that developers can use to build decentralized applications — more
Yuga Labs / New CTO — Former Epic Games executive Mike Seavers will join Yuga Labs as CTO on May 22, four months after the company's appointment of Activision Blizzard veteran Daniel Alegre as CEO. Miami-based Yuga Labs is known for NFT collections Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, the Otherside metaverse, and ApeCoin — more
Coinbase / Files Legal Action — Coinbase has filed an action in federal court asking the SEC to respond to their July 2022 petition, which asked for a formal rulemaking process to provide guidance for the crypto industry. Over 1,700 entities and individuals have submitted comments supporting Coinbase's request for clarity — more
Google Cloud / Supports Web3 Startup Program — Google Cloud announced the ‘Startups Cloud Program’, offering grants from foundation partners Aptos, Celo, Solana Foundation, HBAR Foundation, and Near, totaling up to $1M. The program features two tiers: the starting tier for pre-seed, unfunded projects and startups, and the scale tier for seed to Series A startups with up to $100k in Google Cloud credits — more
Apple iOS Tax / New Ruling — A US federal appeals court ruled that Apple's policy of forbidding app developers from using alternative payment methods, which forces them to pay a 30% fee on most transactions through the App Store, violates California's Unfair Competition Law. This decision is part of a re-evaluation of a 2020 lawsuit filed by Fortnite creator Epic Games, which could have significant implications for NFTs and crypto builders — more
Solana / New AI Grant Program — The Solana Foundation has announced a $1M fund for small-scale grants aimed at exploring the intersection of the Solana blockchain and AI. Grants range from $5k to $25k, and both new and existing projects are eligible — more
Credora / $6M Raised — Credora, a startup building “privacy-preserving technology that enables real-time credit analytics and powers transparent and efficient markets”, raises round co-led by S&P Global and Coinbase Ventures, with participation from Spartan, Amber Group, CMT Digital, Hashkey, GSR, KuCoin Ventures, Paradigm, Pirata Capital, Breed VC, and WAGMI Ventures — more
Tribe3 / $2.1M Raised — Tribe3, a social and gamified decentralized NFT futures exchange, raises round from Spartan Capital, Newman Capital, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Modular Capital, Cogitent Ventures, Blockbuilders, Founderheads, Lapin Digital, Blockhype, and others — more
Cata Labs / $4.2M Raised — Cata Labs, a startup building a cross-chain bridge called Catalyst, raises round led by Spartan, with participation from Robot Ventures, Maven 11, Alchemy Ventures, HashKey Capital, Circle Ventures, and Superscrypt — more
Thetanauts / $17M Raised — Thetanauts, a startup aiming to offer multi-chain structured financial products with plans for a buy-side altcoin options market, raises round co-led by Polychain Capital, Hyperchain Capital, and Magnus Capital — more
Rise / $3.8M Raised — Rise, a web3-enabled payroll & compliance solution, raises round co-led by Sino Global Capital and Polymorphic Capital, with participation from Draper Associates, Hashkey Capital, Paradigm Shift Capital, WW Ventures, P2P, and Cosmo Capital — more
MetaGravity / $9.5M Raised — MetaGravity, a London-based provider of metaverse infrastructure, raises seed round from Sino Global, Spartan Group, Market One Capital, and others — more
Shield / $2.1M Raised — Shield, a web3 security firm aiming to build an industry standard for companies to securely operate their businesses, raises pre-seed round from Kraken Ventures, Eterna Capital, Alchemy, MoonPay, and others — more
TinyTap / $8.5M Raised — TinyTap, an Animoca Brands subsidiary aiming to “disrupt education with web3”, raises round from Sequoia China, Polygon, Liberty City Ventures, Kingsway Capital, and Shima Capital — more
Crypto-Native NFT IP: A New Era For Consumer Brands / p3terpan x Mikey0x at 1kx — “…we believe that crypto-native IP has revolutionized the way that projects can produce, distribute, and expand on IP, all within a permissionless and transparent ecosystem that enables consumer empowerment. In the near future, our thesis is that NFTs will emerge as the most adopted origin content medium for budding IP brands, which could naturally translate to the creation of some of the most valuable IPs of the future.” — more
What is Web3 luxury? / Dani Loftus x DRAUP — “Taking attention as the mark of value, the question stands: What drives and keeps attention? I’d argue that in both the context of fashion, and digital objects as a whole, the following 3 things hold sway: brand - an object’s narrative, scarcity - how hard people believe an object is to acquire, and craft - the skill behind how an object is made.” — more
The AI writer: The human remains the hallmark to emulate / Terry Nguyen x Dirt (🤝) — “The camera—which Susan Sontag once compared to a gun—didn’t eradicate painters or painting as a medium. On the contrary, photography led to the birth of Modernism. Much like how smartphone owners are all casual photographers, the prevalence of ChatGPT will, in theory, streamline the process of creative writing and production for the average person. How will this impending textual metamorphosis alter our relationship to language? The metrics of how we comprehend, create, and criticize writing will undoubtedly have to change.” — more
How BrainDrops Is Curating AI Art’s Future / Eric James Beyer — “To get a better sense of the trajectory of the AI art movement and why it matters, we sat down with BrainDrops co-founder and Stability AI investor and advisor Justin Trimble to talk about the platform’s origins, the impact of AI on the future of media and entertainment, and why the proliferation of AI art was inevitable.” — more
Why Privacy Failed - ZK Part 2 / Cam x Zee Prime — “So no, privacy has not failed. Imagination has failed to create captivating, marketable products. Privacy is not the product, but a feature improving a more extensible offering. The zero-knowledge engineering space opens up new realms of privacy-enhancing product design.” — more
The Role of Cryptocurrency in the Failures of Silvergate, Silicon Valley, and Signature Banks / Paul Tierno — “The involvement of a number of recently failed banks with the cryptocurrency industry seemed to be the manifestation of crypto market volatility affecting traditional finance. Failed banks’ exposure to crypto adds to the policy debate over the appropriate relationship between banks and the crypto ecosystem. This “Insight” discusses the crypto activities of these banks and whether they may have exacerbated other bank risks.” — more
NFTfi (🤝) / Introducing NFTfi Rewards — NFTfi, a platform for NFT-backed loans, introduced a rewards program that lets borrowers and lenders earn non-transferable reward points, with OG points reserved for those who participated in repaid loans before the snapshot. To secure OG Points, users must start an eligible loan by May 15th. Earn Season 1 begins on May 15th, allowing users to receive rewards points for new loans — more
Floor (🤝) / Solana Integration — Floor, a mobile app enabling NFT collectors to easily track their portfolios, announced it will fully integrate with Solana on May 8th. Early access will be available to select Solana NFT launch partners, while the Solana Beta Waitlist is open now — more
Sound xyz (🤝) / New Homepage + Features — Sound xyz introduced a revamped homepage, featuring daily top 5 trending songs and top backers, a section to see what top collectors are minting, an overview of upcoming and recent drops, and curated playlists from the community — more
Vertex (🤝) / Live on Arbitrum Mainnet — Vertex is now live on Arbitrum mainnet, offering fast transactions and universal cross-margin trading across spot, perpetuals, and money markets. Vertex allows users to trade like a CEX while maintaining the self-custody benefits of a DEX — more
Solana Labs / ChatGPT Plugin — Solana Labs is developing a ChatGPT plugin to enable users to interact with the Solana blockchain using OpenAI's conversational chatbot tech. The plugin aims to simplify tasks such as checking wallet balances, transferring tokens, and purchasing NFTs through the ChatGPT user interface — more
MNTGE / Digiphysical Drop — MNTGE launched its first physical apparel drop featuring 100 pairs of upcycled vintage Levi's jeans with embedded NFTs, designed by co-founder Sean Wotherspoon. The jeans contain IYK’s (🤝) NFC tags that allow owners to claim a free NFT on Polygon. Each pair of jeans will be sold for $200 to MNTGE Pass owners or $250 for non-holders during the public sale — more
Dune / API Launch + Revamped Plans — Dune announced the launch of the Dune API and revamped its subscription plans and increased capabilities for free users. The Dune API allows ‘wizards’ on any plan, free or paid, to turn a query result into an endpoint, which improves data accessibility — more
CyberConnect / Announces Token Sale — CyberConnect, “web3's earliest & biggest decentralized social network”, is launching its $CYBER token public sale on May 18, 2023, through CoinList. The token will function as the native currency and governance mechanism within the decentralized social network — more
0xDEAFBEEF / NOUMENON + CHRONOPHOTOGRAPH — “I'm proud to announce my new work released in partnership with Cactoid Labs and LACMA, responding to work in their archive, the chronophotography of Edweard Muybridge, who in mid 19th century was one of the first to work with high speed serialized photographs in close succession … The work developed into 2 collections, that will interact with each other via a blockchain mechanism.” Follow Cactoid Labs + join the 0xDEAFBEEF discord for drop details — more
Daniel Greenwood / BrainDrops: Metalands — “Let me take you on a journey through the vast, infinite world I call Metalands. Metalands is a project depicting AI landscapes from the depths of my mind. Take a journey through these mystical places directly contrived from the imagination. Places that solely exist within our minds.” 500 pieces dropping April 29th — more
Various Artists / Verse: Re-placement — “Nighttimestory is delighted to unveil re-placement, an avant-garde collective showcase, conceived in partnership with Verse and Fakewhale, two pioneering endeavors championing the realms of digital contemporary art and NFTs … The works included in ‘Re-placement’ all point to something physical: a painting, a structure, a book, a poem. Their digital forms are like memories: something new made from the idea of what something used to be.” Minting now through May 1st — more
glitch / The First e30d Exhibition: XCOPY + Cozomo de’ Medici 🔥
Mona (🤝) / PROOF (🤝) x Moonbirds New Virtual Home — more
RealJonahBlake / BasedAF (🤝) + The Future of Entertainment — more
Josie Bellini / The Gang at Consensus 😀 — more
gmoney / Top 25 Network Points —> Free 9dcc (🤝) Affiliation — more
Gallery (🤝) / Introducing AutoGallery — more
404 (🤝) / Introducing The Museum of Human Studies — more
Async Art (🤝) / Forever Supper: Course II🍴 — more
Grimes / Collaborating with AI + Splitting Royalties — more
angelbaby3045 / AI Music w/ angelbaby + WesGhost + Grimes — more
Jack Butcher / Opepen Update on Drop 001 + 002 — more
WarDaddyCapital / Liquid Culture 003 with Ben Roy, LFG — more
Fini / finiliar, Meet Fini — more
keiran / “The era of passive ‘hearts’ and ‘likes’ is over” — more
Indigo Herz / CONFIRMED x ALTS by Adidas — more
Otherside x Yuga Labs / Environment Tiers Revealed — more
Harry Lui / Otherside April Update — more
Runway ML / Gen-1 Available on iOS — more
🤝 = Collab+Currency Portfolio Company
Curated by @Collab_Currency x @_cutbank
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