Amazon / Free NFTs for Prime Members — Planet Mojo (🤝), the company behind the game Mojo Melee, has teamed up with Amazon to offer free NFTs and in-game currency to Prime members. The partnership includes monthly drops of free in-game NFTs and other content over a six-month period — more
Coinbase / Base Mainnet Launch — Coinbase's Layer 2 network, Base, will launch its mainnet on August 9. The launch will feature over 50 prominent brands, including Coca-Cola, Atari, Fini, and FWB (🤝). Base aims to celebrate the launch of its "Onchain Summer" campaign with daily NFT drops to encourage broader participation in the onchain economy — more
Yuga Labs / Acquires Roar Studios — Yuga Labs acquired Roar Studios — a company known for its immersive media experience called ROAR, which combines gaming, social media, and the metaverse. Eric Reid, Roar Studios' Founder and CEO, will join Yuga as the General Manager of Otherside — more
Hurley / Super Sufer + The Hurleyverse — Hurley is entering the web3 world with the Hurley Super Surfer™ Game and the Hurleyverse™, “merging gaming and blockchain technology while honoring their surf DNA”. Fans can purchase Hurley NFT digital collectible players and compete in a new game launching on August 30th — more
Ralph Lauren / Digiphysical Boots in Fortnite — Ralph Lauren released the Polo P-Wing Boot, a physical shoe inspired by a digital garment that was sold as an in-game asset in Fortnite last year. To accompany the drop, Ralph Lauren also opened a custom-branded “Fortnite” experience named “Race to Greatness by Polo Ralph Lauren.” — more
Solv Protocol / $6M Raised — Solv, a Singapore-based onchain fund protocol, raises round from Laser Digital, UOB Venture Management, Mirana Ventures, Emirates Consortium, Matrix Partners, Apollo Capital, HashCIB, Geek Cartel, and Bytetrade Labs — more
Inworld / $50M Raised — Inworld, a company building a Character Engine that uses AI to create non-player characters (NPCs), raises round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Stanford University, Samsung Next, Microsoft’s M12 fund, First Spark Ventures, and LG Technology Ventures, bringing Inworld’s total valuation to $500M — more
Orbital / $5.5M Raised — Orbital, a startup aiming to expand crypto and traditional payment capabilities for global companies, raises round led by Golden Record Ventures, with participation from New Form Capital, GSRV, Psalion, and Luminous Futures — more
Digital objects, economies, and the challenge of meaning: a beginning / Holladay Saltz x Art Blocks (🤝) — “A meaningless asset (like a penny stock or credit default swaps) will crater in value as anxiety about its future increases, whereas a meaningful asset is less likely to be dumped even in times of high strain and pessimism about the future … In short, meaning is a hedge against asset volatility, and a liquid asset market is a hedge against meaning’s inherent relativity and fragility.” — more
Zach Lieberman on the Resonance of Generative Art / Peter Bauman x Le Random (🤝) — “Resonance can refer to qualities of sound and acoustics as well as the power to evoke deep emotions. Peter Bauman (Monk Antony) speaks with Zach Lieberman, artist, MIT professor and co-founder of openFrameworks, about generative art's relationship to music as well as its ability to make us feel something.” — more
Sound (🤝): A Look At Long Tail Creator Monetization / kel x Messari — Creator platforms have been a frequently-looked-at sector in consumer crypto. What are the prospects for platforms like Sound to catalyze the next leg up in crypto user growth?” — more
Hair is Money: Hair DAO / Matti x Rapolas x Zee Prime — “Today, with efforts like HairDAO in its infancy, this early movement of DeSci is much more a Degen rather than Decentralized Science. While DeSci indirectly celebrates the experimental nature of Victorian-era tinkering, it also acknowledges the advancements and rigor of modern scientific methods. The movement embraces a blend of creativity, ingenuity, and respect for scientific principles to go after unexplored and potentially overlooked territories to uncover new knowledge and deliver solutions.” — more
Zeko / Customizable zk Stack on Mina (🤝) — Zeko, an L2 zk rollup ecosystem, has been unveiled as a partnership between Mina Protocol, O(1) Labs, and cSpark. Zeko aims to be the first fully isomorphic L2 for the Mina ecosystem focusing on zkApps, providing compatibility with existing infrastructure and tooling while offering enhanced speed and a customizable zk stack foundation — more
Zora / Introducing Protocol Rewards — Zora introduced Protocol Rewards, allowing creators and developers to earn onchain rewards. Zora’s Mint Fee, set at 0.000777 ETH per mint, will now be automatically split between creators and developers, providing them a portion of the fee on every mint for new collections and projects — more
nftperp / End-of-V1 & Looking Ahead to nftperp V2 — The nftperp team sunsetted V1, finding the Protocol-as-LP vAMMs did not scale effectively. Looking ahead to V2, the team plans to develop a hybrid protocol featuring Fusion AMM with external LP and decentralized limit order books — more
HEAT / Opens Beta — Heat, a platform and marketplace for motion data capture, opened its first wave of Beta Testers. The marketplace aims to be a destination for other creators to purchase motion capture data NFTs and use them for their own projects, online games, or virtual worlds — more
Yuga Labs / HV-MTL Retention — Yuga Labs' latest game, Forge, has achieved a 42% day 10 retention rate, which is double that of their previous title, Dookey Dash. This comes after Dookey Dash generated over $110M in trading volume for its Sewer Pass NFTs earlier this year — more
Casey Reas / Bright Moments (🤝) x Art Blocks (🤝): 923 Empty Rooms — “923 Empty Rooms is an evolution of An Empty Room, commissioned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) for the Coded: Art Enters the Computer Age, 1952–1982 exhibition. 923 Empty Rooms will be minted and revealed IRL over the course of six days. Each day at 12pm EDT, 154 new outputs will become available to mint via a dutch auction on Art Blocks.” Dropping August 14th — more
Aleksandra Jovanić / Alba: Stride — “"Stride" is an evocative art piece that encapsulates the power and determination of the human spirit. The composition portrays a solitary figure in an atmosphere of both tranquility and anticipation. The artwork invites viewers to reflect on their own journeys, aspirations, and the courage required to take decisive steps forward.” Minting August 9th — more
rudxane / Grailers DAO: Fold — “Fold has two values close to its heart; structure and deformation. Born from a fascination of the infinite pull of gravity, where it thrusts everything towards a single point … Fold has been a year long exploration to try to limit the math to a conceptual basis and push the emergence possible from there. There is tremendous identity yet variety in this algo which is why the Grailers Curation Board and Rudxane decided on 400 outputs.” Dropping August 8th — more
PROOF (🤝) / Derek Joins as Co-Host on Grails IV Reveal Aug. 11th 🔥
Bright Moments (🤝) / 923 Empty Rooms: Casey Reas x Art Blocks (🤝)
Delegate (🤝) / New Name, New Site, New Look, New Features
Beetle / Dune Dashboard on Delegate (🤝)
Rainbow (🤝) x Poolsuite / Present: The Rainbow Poolboy
J. Hackworth / Ethereum Address Stats
Hunter Solaire / PFPs <> Royalties <> Visualized
Andrew Milson / Submitted Proof to StarkWare’s (🤝) Verifier
Sam Spratt / The Monument Game
Forgotten Runes Wizard’s Cult / Game Ready 3D Collection
Ronin / Cyberkongz Mint Sold Out on Ronin Network
Ryan Selkis / Messari Coverage of Coinbase Earnings
🤝 = 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.
Collab+Currency is an investor in companies labeled with the “🤝” emoji.
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.
The above material and content is educational in nature and should not be considered to be a recommendation to invest in a digital asset. Investing in digital assets, NFTs or cryptocurrency (collectively “digital assets”) is highly speculative and volatile, and digital assets are only suitable for investors who are willing to bear the risk of loss and experience sharp drawdown. Past performance is not indicative of future results.