Reddit / Collectible Avatars (NFTs) — Reddit launches Collectible Avatars for its users, resulting in the creation of 3M new digital wallets and a market cap of > $120M at time of writing. Minted on Polygon, the Avatars act as PFPs for Reddit users and have introduced a large non-crypto-native user base to the value of scarce digital objects — more
Elon Musk / Twitter’s New CEO — Elon Musk quickly fires top executives (CEO, CFO, Head of Legal Affairs) and appoints himself as CEO after his $44B deal closed. Musk, now the self-proclaimed “Chief Twit”, says he plans to ensure the platform offers “free speech” and doesn’t become a “free-for-all hellscape.” — more
Apple / NFTs x App Store — Apple clarifies ruling on NFTs and states that apps may sell NFTs and also allow services like minting, listing, and token transfers as long as all purchases are made using Apple’s in-app payment mechanism and the NFTs don’t unlock additional features or content. Apple takes 30% of all in-app payments — more
Google Cloud / Ethereum Node Service — Google Cloud opens up a new blockchain node engine that streamlines the process of setting up a brand new node and reduces friction related to hardware setup. Google’s first supported blockchain is Ethereum — more
JPMorgan / Digital Wallet “Proof of Concept” — In a detailed video, JPMorgan outlines plans for a digital wallet that would enable users to control their digital identity and assets across web3. The product is a proof of concept and its level of decentralization is undetermined — more
Twitter / NFT Tweet Tiles — Twitter is now testing a new integration called “NFT Tweet Tiles”, which lets users buy + sell + display NFTs within tweets. In partnership with Rarible (🤝), Magic Eden, Dapper, and JumpTrade, the new feature will display relevant details like an NFT’s title and creator in a dedicated panel within a tweet — more
Meta’s Reality Labs / Tough Quarter — The division in charge of Meta’s metaverse technology lost ~$3.7B in the third quarter. This exceeded losses in Q1 ($2.9B) and Q2 ($2.8B). Reality Labs will continue its efforts to build a social metaverse platform with avatars, AR, and neural interfaces — more
Google Acquisition / AI Startup Alter — In efforts to bolster its digital content presence, Google acquires Alter, an AI avatar startup, for ~$100M. Alter helps creators and brands express their virtual identity through the creation of customizable avatars — more
MrBeast / Plans to Raise at $1.5B Valuation — MrBeast, the seventh largest YouTuber famous for his unique, large scale content, looks to expand his reach by raising $150M for new media and business ventures — more
Equifax x Oasis Labs / Web3 KYC Solutions — Equifax, a credit reporting company synonymous with one of the largest data breaches in history, partners with privacy-focused cloud company Oasis Labs to build a KYC product for web3 startups in the DeFi and NFT space — more
LooksRare / Optional Royalties — NFT Marketplace LooksRare eliminates creator royalties following other marketplaces like SudoSwap, X2Y2, and Magic Eden. To compensate for this, LooksRare said it will offer a quarter of its protocol fee to creators (~0.5% royalty fee on all collections) — more
Norwegian Government / Tax Office in the Metaverse — In a move to educate youth about tax implications related to DeFi and NFTs, the Norwegian government partners with Ernst and Young to establish a tax office in the Decentraland metaverse — more
Zoop / $15M Raised — Zoop, a digital collectibles trading platform, raises $15M and announces partnership with Ready Player Me (🤝) to provide interoperability between Zoop’s avatars and compatible games and apps — more
Origami / $6.2M Raised — Origami, a project aimed at assisting DAOs in their transition from pre-launch community group to a funded, growth-stage entity, announces round led by Bloomberg Beta, with participation from Protocol Labs, VC3 DAO, Balaji Srinivasan, and Orange DAO — more
Thala Labs / $6M Raised — Thala Labs, a project building out the DeFi stack on the Aptos blockchain, raises seed round co-led by ParaFi Capital, White Star Capital, and Shima Labs — more
Kollider / $2.35M Raised — Kollider, a bitcoin derivatives exchange with plans to expand its business to include a new suite of “Lightning-native” financial tools, raises seed round led by Lemniscap, with participation from Polychain Capital, Alameda Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, and others — more
Paragraph / $1.7M Raised — Paragraph, a publishing platform enabling web3-powered newsletters, raises pre-seed round led by Lemniscap, with participation from Sfermion, FTX Ventures, Binance, Seed Club Ventures, and others — more
Airstack / $3M Raised — Airstack, a project building APIs for data-aware web3 experiences, raises pre-seed round with participation from Polygon, Animal Ventures, Resolute Ventures, and others — more
Mintify / $1.6M Raised — Mintify, a project building a “Bloomberg-like trading terminal” for NFTs, announces seed round led by Arca, with participation from Alchemy Ventures, Psalion, GSR, and others — more
Spice Finance / $1.7M Raised — Spice Finance, a platform offering aggregated NFT lending liquidity, raises pre-seed round led by Shima Capital, with participation from Big Brain Holdings, ProtoFund, Side Door Ventures, and others — more
Notebook Labs / $3.3M Raised — Notebook Labs, a project using zero-knowledge proofs to build anonymous and accountable identities in web3, raises seed round led by Bain Capital, with participation from Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Abstract Ventures, and others — more
Decentralized Engineering Corporation / $9M Raised — DEC, a company aimed at building a Solana-based decentralized ride-sharing platform, raises seed round co-led by Foundation Capital and Road Capital, with participation from 6th Man Ventures and several early Uber employees as angels — more
The Crypto Story: Where it came from, what it all means, and why it still matters / Matt Levine — “In a sense it’s a dumb time to be talking about crypto, because the lines went down. But really it’s a good time to be talking about crypto. There’s a pause; there’s some repose. Whatever is left in crypto is not just speculation and get-rich-quick schemes. We can think about what crypto means—divorced, a little bit, from the lines going up.” — more
Dirt (🤝): Worldbuilding, Pt. 1 / Terry Nguyen — “The future of the internet, as some have theorized, might consist of micro-communities, enclosed worlds with fewer but more engaged members. Through video games like Minecraft and collaborative worldbuilding projects, which are popular in the Web3 space, users already seem keen to build a world anew, one that cherishes their participation and reflects their personal tastes.” — more
NFT Royalties: The $1.8bn Question / Sal Qadir + Gabe Parker — “Major brands in NFTs, across both legacy players and crypto-native organizations, have raked in hundreds of millions of dollars in income from royalties generated on secondary sales. In fact, just 10 entities accounted of 27% of all royalties earned and 482 NFT collections accounted for 80% of all royalties earned thus far.” — more
The Telecom Cowboys of the Decentralized Wireless Movement / Sami Kassab — “A new generation of telecom cowboys is pioneering the decentralized wireless (DeWi) movement. These cowboys offer an alternative method to deploying and operating networks using cryptoeconomic protocols.” — more
Welcome to the Age of Digital Mysticism / Moyosore Briggs x FWB (🤝) — “The emergence of mysticism through information technology, specifically through Web3 and the concept of the metaverse, allows for the transmission of mind and meaning across new digital planes… this intersection between technology and human expression gives birth to a belief/action: As I imagine, so I become. This is the very essence of mysticism.” — more
Real World Assets: Finance’s Bridge to Crypto / Vaish Puri — “Real World Assets (RWAs) offer a unique opportunity for yield-starved DeFi investors to access diverse off-chain debt markets, while also allowing TradFi institutions to tokenize and issue debt/assets, agnostic of market geography.” — more
Can web3 make the world a better place? / Wallace Morgan x Noise DAO (🤝) — “‘Music was always the thing that kept me safe and kept me at peace,’ says HENO. a first-generation Ethiopian-Eritrean American who grew up in Maryland, a state with one of the country’s highest incarceration rates for Black men from ages 18 to 25, HENO. at age 29 says he didn’t even expect to live this long, much less find himself in a place of abundance–in part thanks to web3.” — more
Sound.[xyz] (🤝) / Secondary Marketplace — Sound.[xyz] launches the Sound Secondary Market, a Music NFT marketplace with 0% listing fees, aggregated liquidity across marketplaces, floor sweeps, collections offers, and powerful discovery features — more
Axelar (🤝) x Polygon / Supernet Interoperability — Axelar, a cross-chain communication network, has partnered with Polygon to enable Supernet interoperability. Supernets are app-specific, scalable, customizable blockchains — Polygon has committed $100M for the development of Supernets — more
Internet Game (🤝) / SAW Games — In partnership with with Lionsgate and Autograph, Internet Game announces new interactive game based on the famous horror film, SAW. The experience will bring together thousands of people to compete for SAW-themed rewards, NFTs, + other prizes — more
Art Blocks (🤝) / New Website — Art Blocks launches new website with revamped content pages for artists + generative art, plus an in-depth online journal called Spectrum that includes artist interviews, educational info, and archived AB content — more
IntoTheBlock (🤝) / New NFT Analytics — IntoTheBlock launches new suite of NFT analytics aimed at providing financial insights into individual NFT collections. The new insights include an NFT In-Out-Of-The-Money indicator, Daily Sales Tracker, and Historical Concentration metrics — more
LlamaLend / Protocol Launch — LlamaLend, a protocol offering instant ETH loans against NFT assets, announces launch — the protocol aims to provide NFT-collateralized loans for long tail markets (small illiquid NFT collections that don’t make it into main NFT lending markets) — more
Squiggle DAO / Art Blocks (🤝) x 10 Squiggle Mints — Erick Calderon, founder of Art Blocks, will be minting Squiggle DAO ten new Squiggles to help the DAO hit the 300 Squiggle milestone. Squiggle DAO's aim is to create a community-governed, publicly accessible treasury of Squiggles. Minting live at 9am PT, Oct. 28 — more
0xSplits / Liquid Splits — 0xSplits announces “Liquid Splits” — a way for recipients of Splits (on-chain income) to easily transfer their shares, either wholly or partially, between wallets, to friends or family, or interested bidders on NFT marketplaces. Songcamp (🤝) was one of the first projects to experiment with this model during the Camp Chaos project — more
Art Blocks (🤝) / The Friendship Bracelet Project — Art Blocks founder, Erick Calderon, announces collaboration with artist Alexis André to bring “generative art and ephemeral physical objects together in the form of friendship bracelets.” Offered as an appreciation to the AB community and free to claim starting Nov. 3rd for owners of any wallet containing an AB piece as of Oct. 26th — more
K-Pop Group æspa / NFT Collection x Sotheby’s — All-female k-pop group, æspa, teams up with artist Blake Kathryn for a three-part series of NFTs available via the Sotheby’s Metaverse auction platform. Sold out as of Oct. 28th — more
Loie Hollowell / Art Blocks (🤝) x Pace Verso: Contractions — “Loie Hollowell’s first-ever NFT project, titled Contractions, comprises 280 unique, generative works that center on the artist’s embodied experiences with childbirth.” Minting Oct. 28th at 12pm EDT on Art Blocks — more
David Mrugala x Faction / Stencils — “Stencils is a series of 500 unique generative artworks with the option to receive a corresponding physical multi-layered artwork. Each are made with a laser cutter directly from the artist’s studio.” Minting live as of Oct. 27th — more
OG Art x Random International x Danil Krivoruchko / Life in Our Minds — The Life in Our Minds (LIOM) NFT project, produced by Pace Verso and Snark, mints out 990 pieces. NFTs reveal on Nov. 1st with rare custom patterns for LIOM NFTs held in wallets containing NFTs from Fingerprints, Tom Sachs Rocket Factory, Meebits, Moonbirds, PROOF (🤝) Collective, and others — more
Willard / SuperRare (🤝) Genesis: The First Snow — “Ultimately, the work is a meditation on the age-old process of manifesting our dimensional reality on a planar surface. Whether painted, coded, or rendered, the magic of this spatial illusion remains as profound now as it was when our predecessors drew their scenes on cave walls.” 2.69 ETH offer accepted on Oct. 27th — more
glitch marfa / 15 days 👀 👀
9dcc / Iteration 02: 9dcc x Snowfro — Art Basel Miami
AB / Reddit Avatars - NFT Trojan Horse?
Derek Edws / MrBeast x Attention Scarcity + Monetization
Zeneca / Chat w/ SuperMassive x BasedAF
Daniel Mason / Apple x App Store
Sound.[xyz] (🤝) / The Sound Secondary Market
Chris Maddern / Floor (🤝) x Reddit 👀
Hume Collective (🤝) / Angelbaby “All Gold Spaceship” NFT Mint
Chris Burniske / BASE’d Portfolio Theory
Squiggle DAO / Ten Fresh Squiggles
p1xelfool / Friends With Benefits (🤝) at MoMA
ChrisF / The Dynamics of Digital Scarcity
Punk9059 / Marfa, TX x Art Blocks 👀
Blur / Open API
Nansen / ↑ Activity on Blur’s NFT Marketplace
Garret Hughes / Rabbithole’s (🤝) New Head of Engineering
gmoney / Networked Products
🤝 = Collab+Currency Portfolio Company
Curated by @Collab_Currency x @_cutbank
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