Welcome to another edition! We’re so back. Thanks for being here.
In an effort to emphasize quality > quantity and bring you the highest signal newsletter in consumer web3, Digitized Weekly is switching over to a monthly cadence. We’ll filter down the best insights and deliver essential content to your inbox on the first Friday of each month. As always, you can expect to find the most credible news and stories from those pushing the space forward.
Bugatti x Adidas / Generative Art Competition — Adidas and Bugatti are collaborating to auction off 99 limited-edition soccer shoes with digital twins on Adidas' web3 platform from November 8-11 — more
MoMA / Acquires First Generative AI Work — The Museum of Modern Art acquired a generative AI artwork titled "Unsupervised—Machine Hallucinations" by Refik Anadol, amidst a broader initiative to embrace digital, on-chain art — more
Walmart / Outlier Ventures Web3 Accelerator — “Walmart’s incubation arm, Store Nº8, and Outlier Ventures have joined forces to launch its web3 accelerator program, Store Nº8 Base Camp.” — more
FIAT / Prohibition Partnership — Prohibition, an open on-chain generative art NFT platform built on Art Blocks Engine and deployed on Arbitrum, announced a partnership with FIAT. The partnership “sets the stage for a community where Italian Dolce Vita intertwines with modern innovation and art.” — more
Maison Margiela / Web3 Initiative — Maison Margiela, the iconic French-based fashion house, announced its first web3 project. The brand will be utilizing a gamified minting platform and soul-bound tokens — more
JPMorgan / Debuts Blockchain Settlement — JPMorgan Chase & Co. launched its Tokenized Collateral Network (TCN), a blockchain collateral settlement system. BlackRock utilized TCN to tokenize shares in a money market fund, which were then transferred to Barclays for collateral in an OTC derivatives trade — more
Sam Bankman-Fried / Found Guilty — Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX founder, has been found guilty of all seven criminal counts, potentially facing a maximum sentence of 115 years in prison. Key witnesses in the prosecution included former members of his inner circle — more
Squads (🤝) / $5.7M Raised — Squads, the leading multisig solution on Solana, raises round led by Placeholder, with participation from 6th Man Ventures, L1 Digital, Solana Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Jump Crypto, Delphi Ventures, and others — more
Hytopia / $3M Raised — Hytopia, a game platform and engine formerly known as NFT Worlds, raises round led by Delphi Ventures — more
Blockaid / $33M Raised — Blockaid, a web3 security company used by firms like Metamask and Opensea, raises Series A led by Ribbit Capital and Variant, with participation from Cyberstarts, Sequoia Capital, and Greylock Partners — more
Fileverse / $1.5M Raised — Fileverse, a web3 workspace and file management app, raises pre-seed round co-led by Gnosis Chain and Factor Fileverse — more
Beluga / $4M Raised — Beluga, a platform aiming ease crypto onboarding, raises seed round led by Fin Capital, with participation from Anagram, UDHC, Dispersion Capital, Aptos Labs, and others — more
Elixir / $7.5M Raised — Elixir, a startup aiming to improve liquidity across decentralized order book exchanges, raises Series A led by Hack VC, with participation from NGC Ventures, AngelList Ventures, Bloccelerate, and others — more
Republik / $6M Raised — REPUBLIK, a web3 creator tooling platform, raises seed round from OKX Ventures, 6th Man Ventures, Arcane Ventures, CMS Holdings, Comma3 Ventures — more
Account Labs / $7.7M Raised — Account Labs, a wallet provider leveraging account abstraction, raises round led by Amber Group, MixMarvel DAO Ventures, and Qiming Ventures — more
CMCC Global / $100M Raised — “Blockchain-focused venture capital firm CMCC Global has raised $100 million for a new fund that will invest in Hong Kong-based Web3 companies.” — more
Shrapnel / $20M Raised — Shrapnel, a crypto-based first-person shooter game, raises round led by Polychain Capital, with participation Griffin Gaming Partners, Brevan Howard Digital, Franklin Templeton, IOSG Ventures, and Tess Ventures — more
Modulus Labs / $6.3M Raised — Modulus Labs, a project working at the intersection of crypto x AI x zkML, raises seed round led by Variant and 1kx, with participation from Inflection, Bankless, Blockchain Builders Fund, and others — more
Aera / $8M Raised — Aera, an autonomous treasury management protocol for DAOs, closes token sale led by Bain Capital Crypto — more
The Network State Company / $2.5M Raised — The Network State Company, a project aiming to “build a prosperous society where talent and wealth flow freely”, raises round from Balaji Srinivasan, Tim Draper, Aragon DAO, and others — more
Different types of layer 2s / Vitalik — “There are two key dimensions to "connectedness to Ethereum": Security of withdrawing to Ethereum and Security of reading Ethereum. These are both important, and have different considerations. There is a spectrum in both cases…” — more
Beyond 721 & 1155: Revisiting The NFT Design Space / Natalie Mullins — “Exploring the latest innovations in non-fungible token standards, utility & metadata infrastructure.” — more
Wedge is the Founder's Edge / Long Solitude x Zee Prime — “Capturing a 1% share of a $1 trillion market (while having none today) is an alluring $10B aspiration, but without a unique value proposition to a subsegment of this mega-market, it sounds like boarding a flight that has already taken off. You have to find a smaller aircraft (or a jet-pack) – your own wedge.” — more
Sincere Appeals to Artists and Collectors / Plutonium Fitzgerald — “How can the generative art community foster innovation and creativity, and a better ecosystem?” — more
The Digital Garment Age: Programmable Consumer Goods / Biff Buster — “Over the next decade, we will see more garments with NFC smart chip technology and programmable functionality, providing creators and brands with the resources to establish engaging and community-driven environments.” — more
Object Histories / Timour Kosters x Folklore — “As I stood there, the potential of the empty rooms moved me with a sweet melancholy – I wondered about the people who had lived here in those years. What were they like? What beautiful and complex lives did they lead? I suddenly had a deep longing to have some way of accessing those stories.” — more
Hydra’s Investment Thesis: All In on Specialized Communities / Hydra Ventures (🤝) — “As the investment DAO model continues to proliferate, expanding into adjacent industries beyond web3, the volume of research and specialized knowledge required to make great investments will grow proportionally.” — more
Scaling Blockchains: The Modularity Thesis / Christine Kim x Galaxy — “Making Sense of Blockchain Modularity” — more
The new AI agent economy will run on Smart Accounts / Gnosis — “Data from September and October 2023 shows that more than half of all Safe transactions on Gnosis Chain are currently made by AI agents. This signals a nascent but growing "agent economy"—an onchain economy run solely by AI agents that is turning the crypto-AI dream team into a reality.” — more
AI DAOs Series / Trent McConaghy — “Articles & Talks about AI DAOs & Humanity” — more
Navigating the Digital Frontier as Blockchain and AI Collide / James Brodie x ID Theory — “Blockchain and AI belong together. Transparency. Accessibility. Antifragility. The repercussions on industry are widespread, ushering in transformative business models and democratising access to knowledge.” — more
Doubling Down on Botto: Because Everyone’s a Critic / Caleb Shough x Variant — “Botto has templatized a model for a critic’s legitimacy in a deafening digital world. That’s why at Variant, we are proud to announce we’ve recently doubled down on our initial investment in Botto.” — more
Drop The Dash / Luffistotle x Zee Prime — “The future should be filled with crypto-native assets, not just re-ledgered ones. Issuers and investors will benefit deeply from the information and efficiencies added. Not to mention the increase in velocity that can come from near-instant settlement times.” — more
Ensemble (🤝) / Introducing Sketchbook — Ensemble introduced Sketchbook — a place where owners can mint and digitize their sketches, preserving them digitally as artifacts. The first physical sketchbooks will be available later this month, waitlist open now — more
Deca (🤝) / New Launches — Deca introduced Mint on Demand, allowing users to upload all of their art, but it only mints when someone bids at a desired price. This was launched alongside Deca Posters — digital works that pay homage to the original art. The team also launched a new social feed experience — more + more
Digitized Spotlight / Building Community-Owned Brands — “Digitized Spotlight hosts Amanda (Collab+Currency) and Winnie (BlockTower Capital) interview Ty Haney, Co-founder & CEO of TYB – a Web3-enabled community and brand management platform.” — more
NFTfi (🤝) / Protocol Upgrade — NFTfi introduced a significant protocol upgrade, allowing loans for up to five years. The upgrade will also support a broader range of assets like art, collectibles, RWAs, and IP — more
IYK (🤝) / Invest in Music Podcast — “We're joined by co-founders Ryan Ouyang and Chris to unpack the IYK Platform and their $16.8M seed round led by a16zcrypto. Dive into the future of digi-physical experiences.” — more
Gallery (🤝) / Introducing Posts — Gallery introduced Posts — a feed for creators and collectors to share art and connect. Posts are great for discovering new art and connecting with “the people and pieces that resonate” — more
Squads (🤝) / Fuse Smart Wallet + Maple Partnership — Squads announced the first smart wallet for Solana called Fuse, built for retail users looking for an alternative to cold storage for their Solana assets. Also, Squads users can now access Maple’s Cash Management product through the SquadsX browser extension wallet and earn yield from U.S. T-Bills on their idle USDC treasury — more + more
Transient Labs (🤝) / Introducing the Shatter Contract — Transient Labs Introduced the Shatter Contract — allowing artists to mint their digital creations as 1/1 NFTs, and later, collectors can 'shatter' them into editions or unique 1/1s as defined by the artist — more
Hypeshot (🤝) / Badges on Base — Hypeshot, a crypto-enabled livestreaming platform, introduced Channel Badges for creators, which are fully tradable NFTs. These badges grant holders access to private livestreams and a special status in the chat — more
IYK (🤝) / Introducing Fuse Module — IYK introduced the Fuse Module, allowing chipped items to be merged, unlocking multilayered experiences using ERC-6551 — more
Foundation / Introducing Worlds as NFTs — Foundation Worlds, originally designed for curation, are now an independent smart contract, with each world as an NFT, providing worldbuilders more ownership and control — more
DreamOS / Web3 Native OS — DreamOS is a new web3 native operating system aiming to address the widespread UX challenges in the crypto ecosystem, offering a native interface for dApps and aiming to simplify complex transactions — more
Fabric / Subscription Token Protocol — “An extension of the ERC-721 NFT standard, with a temporal dimension and economic incentives.” — more
Backpack / Launching Crypto Exchange — Crypto wallet provider, Backpack, has secured a VASP license from the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority and is set to launch a regulated exchange named "Backpack Exchange" in beta next month, with a full public rollout scheduled for Q1 2024 — more
John F. Simon Jr. / Artwrld: ComplexCity — “Artwrld is pleased to present our first generative project – John F. Simon Jr.'s ComplexCity, a new collection of generative artworks updated from his seminal software media artwork, and ode to New York City, ComplexCity (2000).” Powered by Art Blocks Engine, dropping Nov. 9th — more
Mount Vitruvius / Art Blocks (🤝): Trichro-matic — “Trichro-matic meditates on perception. As you explore the piece, your perception of the structure shifts. Elements change their relationships - what is out turns in; what is flat deepens. What stood adjacent now occludes.” Dropping Nov. 8th — more
Various Artists / Feral File: +GRAPH — “It's been two years since the opening of –GRAPH, an iconic exhibition held during Feral File’s first year. Today that early exhibition has evolved into a new one called +GRAPH, which, like its predecessor, explores the deep historical connection between coding and drawing and brings together artists who engage with both." – Casey Reas, Curator. Dropping Nov. 9th — more
Eli Scheinman / PROOF (🤝) Grails Sketch x Ensemble (🤝)
Songcamp (🤝) / Introducing the C4 Artist Lineup
Digitized / Featured #27 x NFTfi (🤝)
Parallel (🤝) / Listed on Steam in Advance of Open Beta
BasedAF (🤝) / VR Charity Stream
Hydra Ventures (🤝) / Incubates Octu Ventures
Raiden / Axie Infinity (🤝) x Web3 Gaming
Snowfro / Algorithmic [Embroider-able] Edition of 2000
Enrique / Electric Capital’s Developer Update
Zora / Share a Mint, Earn ETH
Sam / Arweave Weekly TX Count ATH
Tyler Hobbs / Generative Art Tattoos x Blackdot
Robin Linus / BitVM
0xngmi / Custom Search Prioritizing Safe Domains
Richard Chen / Account Abstraction Breakout
Teng Yan / Entertainment x Asia x NFTs
🤝 = Collab+Currency Portfolio Company
Curated by @Collab_Currency x @_cutbank
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