Hamster Wheel of Fortune
Crypto Gamblers. Ubisoft NFTs. And the FTX TV Series We've All Been Waiting For.
👋🏽 Hello everyone, gm gm, WELCOME BACK to another edition of the Overpriced JPEGs newsletter, where we’re catching you up on web3, NFTs, and the greater world of emerging tech.
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You know NFT traders have hit peak boredom when everyone starts hard flocking back into shitcoins - which is kinda what’s been happening of late - only this time, with an unexpected rodent-like twist. We’ve got the latest on crypto Twitter X’s fave hamster trend and all the news you missed in this week’s edition of The Good, The Rad, and The Rug-ly …
😀 The Good
In a quest to build an ‘Everything App’ for the masses, Elon’s leveling up his newly rebranded company by integrating more AI into the platform and preparing to handle crypto payments in-app. Good news in theory, but forgive us for not being overly X-cited. First off, Twitter isn’t exactly known for safeguarding against hackers. And secondly, you know who else wanted to build an Everything App?
Nearly 2 years after Ubisoft became the first major studio to announce it would launch in-game NFTs, their first assets have hit the market. They’re usable in an obscure game (sorry, Ghost Recon) on a chain that’s been seeing its fair share of struggles (sorry, Tezos), but at $10, may be worth taking a flier on. It’s Ubisoft, after all.
Pudgy Penguins and PROOF are coming off terrific weeks, with Pudgies selling thousands of toys to a nonstop crowd at their Comic Con booth and the Birbs celebrating the grand opening of their new event space, Foundry, with a launch party for the highly-lauded Mythics collection
This probably barely qualifies as ‘Good’ for the space, but we appear to be mainstreaming, sort of:
Airing this fall, The Simpsons’ ‘Treehouse of Horror XXXIV’ parody will feature several prominent NFT collections, including BAYC, Doodles, Punks, and Crypto Kitties. We can’t wait to see what Homer and the gang think of our JPEGs.
McDonalds Hong Kong is celebrating the 30th anniversary of McNuggets in a way that maybe only Hong Kong locals can appreciate. On the plus side, they are giving away 100k of SAND and a year’s worth of free nuggets.
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😎 The Rad
Let’s face it, the next truly big thing in web3 probably won’t be a PFP (sorry, Beeple) and it certainly won’t be a shitcoin (sorry, $HAMS fans). It’ll probably be some sort of consumer app or activation that onboards hundreds of millions of normies who have no clue they’re even interacting with the blockchain.
To that end, I wanted to highlight some of the innovators building and laying the groundwork for wider-spread adoption of the next generation of the internet:
We’ve gotta kick off with Reddit digital collectibles, which launched their Gen 4 collection of avatars yesterday. New in this series: web3-native artists Clon from Cool Cats and Micah Johnson from Aku. (Pro Tip: Learn more about Reddit avatars in our recent interview!)
Several teams are working hard to develop wallet messaging solutions, a concept that’s gained more traction recently after Vitalik himself said he envisions a future where using crypto wallets will be as easy as checking your email thanks to account abstraction
Coinbase recently enabled encrypted in-wallet messaging with a portable inbox that holders can take across apps. XMTP CEO says ‘It’s a fully private inbox inside of Coinbase Wallet, much like WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram inboxes, but with portability and interoperability’
Building on the news of the Coinbase integration, Web3 CRM + Marketing platform Holder launched Holder Messaging, a customer engagement tool that lets brands reach out directly to its users directly in their wallet apps
You don’t see a lot of NFTs sold in mobile apps due to Apple & Google’s enormous take rate on in-app purchases. Floor’s bucking the trend and taking one for the team by absorbing the 30% cut in the hopes of onboarding more users and growing the user base for its already-popular app that boasts 25k active users
Event ticketing remains one of the best use cases for NFTs and it’s awesome to see major music fest Tomorrowland delivering quality experiences + utility for holders; collectors of all 3 NFTs will gain lifetime ticketing access 🤯
NFT mega-whale Pimp Capital released a tool that lets derivative artists create collections that link back to the original NFT and can only be transferred if the new owner also has the original NFT: “I want their works to be recorded onchain w/transparent ownership status and clear binding to the original NFT”
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🥸 The Rug-ly
Look, I should prob caveat that not everything in this section is a literal rug - in fact, most aren’t - but the ties that bond are a little bit of *ick factor* and at least a couple 🚩🚩🚩
You may have heard that something called Worldcoin launched this week
Worldcoin is the ambitious brainchild of ChatGPT Founder Sam Altman and it aims to: Establish ‘Proof of Personhood’ by scanning the eyeballs of humans worldwide; and develop a model for an equitably distributed Universal Basic Income.
It’s as controversial as it sounds (and then some) but that still hasn’t stopped droves of people from queueing for iris scans. CT had no shortage of opinions on the matter, with everyone from ZachXBT to Vitalik chiming in with feelings.
After raising $4M from crypto companies to develop NFTs and a metaverse for its virtual pet-raising game, old school fan-favorite Neopets is straight rugging and abandoning its web3 strategy and existing community
The hamster wheel is spinning and degens can’t seem to get off. Not only are people betting on hamster races and the underlying crypto currency, $HAMS, which shot up to > $3 at one point … they’ve since begun shamelessly throwing money into dozens of racing derivatives, from hedgehogs to turtles to rocks. Yeah, rock racing. I wish Iw as kidding.
Actors from Silicon Valley and Nacho Libre will star in FORTUN3, an animated satirical TV series about the origin story of FTX airing this fall; As if that isn’t entertaining enough, fans of the show can get in on the action with an NFT-enabled online game
Former first lady Melania Trump is in hot water with NASA after featuring an iconic image from the space agency in her latest
griftNFT collectionSEC Chair Gary Gensler put his foot in his mouth after being asked how he felt about the recent court ruling in the SEC’s case against Ripple
Lastly, let’s all take a moment to grieve for the holders of these new Puma kicks:
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PeckShield Alert shared a graphic representing the $480M in losses due to major hacks so far this year
US Central Bank has a real-time payments service, FedNow to make instant payments and settlements available around the clock year-round
Congress is set to amend a law that, effective Jan. 1, requires businesses receiving more than $10k in digital assets to disclose various info to the IRS, including personally identifying details of the client; Coin Center’s challenge was dismissed by district court
A bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate would tighten requirements for DeFi operators + crypto ATM kiosk owners; also attempts to make operators liable for certain actions of users of its platform
Razzlekhan & Dutch, the couple convicted for stealing $4.5B in Bitcoin, reached a plea deal with prosecutors
Kucoin’s KYC policy effects bottom line; exchange is reportedly looking to cut staff
NYT says Alameda Research’s Caroline Ellison knew she wasn’t ‘comparatively advantaged at or well-suited’ to run the company
A woman put a hit out on her ex-hubby and paid the would-be-killer in Bitcoin
Canadian securities regulator floats proposal giving their securities commission surveillance authority over crypto exchanges
🌐 web3 + NFTs
VeeFriends partners with Jazwares to launch Squishmallow plushies for fans and collectors ‘of all ages’
Powerhouse web3 dev platform thirdweb acquires Paper; brings its wallet and payment solutions into its growing product suite
LooksRare introduces ‘gm-to-Earn’, rewards users with $LOOKS for hitting that gm button on the regular
Chimpers continues its gameplay with Adventure 5, ‘The Fluorescent Isles’
Tokenized collectibles platform Americana begins offering ‘concierge vaulting’ for the high-end physical collectibles space; Service is backed by OpenSea + Alexis Ohanian
Bankless and TechCrunch have rounded up the biggest announcements that came out of EthCC in Paris
Odele.io aims to make NFTs more easily accessible and help web3 marketing teams by integrating sales directly into advertisements
OpenSea Pro announces Bulk Instant Sales for batch selling items into offers
Transient Labs introduced a new feature that gives collectors the power to review, approve, and reject proposed metadata changes to their NFTs
Blockchain investors are said to be nearing a $125M to buy CoinDesk, whose parent company Digital Currency Group is taking a beating in the crypto winter
Yuga Labs officially launched ‘Made by Apes,’ to verify, support, and amplify holder-made brands and products
VC investments in web3 dropped 76% in Q2, from $7.5B last year to $1.8B this year
📈 Brands + Biz
Silicon Valley’s T.J. Miller will voice SBF in FORTUN3, an animated satirical TV series about the origin story of FTX airing this fall
Viewers can level up their involvement in the show by playing an NFT-enabled online game
French-based luxury jewelry designer Bäumer Vendôme is launching a LE collection that includes access to physical merch + IRL experiences; prices range from 116k - 320k euros
10KTF announced its Gucci Cloth NFTs are redeemable for a Gucci wallet or duffel bag
McDonalds Hong Kong is celebrating the 30th anniversary of McNuggets in The Sandbox with games + prizes, including 100,000 SAND and a year’s worth of nuggets
🤖 AI + Metaverse
Apple Vision Pro headsets are now available in limited quantities for devs to tinker with
Variety’s keeping tabs on the ongoing SAG-AFTRA battle as the AI debate heats up
User-generated AI episodes of popular TV shows are coming; here’s one of South Park
Someone created a game filled with AI NPCs (non-playable characters) that go around trying to explain to other NPCs that they in fact, aren’t real … and let’s just say they didn’t take it very well
Mastercard’s web3 artist accelerator music program marks the debut of AI-driven singles from artists around the globe
India’s has AI anchors reporting the news and IRL broadcast journalists may be in trouble
AI is upending the $200B a year gaming industry, cutting production costs in half or more in some cases
More than 13 million new wallets have been created to collect Reddit’s wildly popular digital collectible avatars. Reddit’s Daniel Conway, Conall Murray, and Stephanie Quan attribute part of their success to their unique standing as one of the only social media platforms with anonymous, decentralized communities. They share insightful lessons from the launch, how deep their conviction is in blockchain tech, and some takeaways for traditional NFT collectors. This one’s a must-watch.
Buckle up folks, Carly, Gavin, and Zeneca are wilding’ out in the weekly recap 🤠. They’re breaking down the latest crypto gambling craze on Rollbit, celebrating a terrif week of generative art, and bidding farewell to the end of an NFT era. Plus: Singing and Dancing. You’ll wanna see this one - catch it here!
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Got something to share with our readers? Leave a comment below or connect with me @hawaiianft on Twitter or @sparkitysparkz on Threads 🤙🏾
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