The Good, The Bad & The Institutions

Airphoria. CT Beefs. And TradFi Enters the Chat.

👋🏽 Hello everyone, gm gm, WELCOME BACK to another edition of the Overpriced JPEGs newsletter, where we’re catching you up on the web3, NFTs, and the greater world of emerging tech.

🍸 Happy Hour Tour Alert 🍸

Tickets are available tomorrow for the 5th stop on our OPJ Happy Hour Tour!! Carly and Betty from Deadfellaz will be live from Los Angeles on Friday, July 7 at the Danvas Art Gallery.

OPJ NFT holders can head to OPJTour.com to reserve tickets tomorrow, Friday, June 23, at 12p EST and all holders in the Deadfellaz ecosystem can claim tix next Monday, June 26. We can’t wait to see you there!!

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It’s been a mixed bag of a week in web3, with equal parts innovation and exasperation on the timeline. We thought we’d share a bit of both today, along with all the latest news on the mass TradFi movement into crypto.

😃 The Good

• Pudgy Penguins are already the best in the game at incentivizing brand ambassadors, but they upped the ante by offering compensation and Soulbound tokens for owners of physical pudgies who make and share their unboxing videos

  • Chief Pudgy Luca even showed off his unboxing chops with this reveal of his cowboy ‘rough rider’ penguin. Move over, Logan, there’s a new sheriff in town.

• Memeland continues its quest toward domination with the launch of [TBC], a teleburn of 111 of its top-tier NFT, ‘You the Real MVP,’ from Ethereum to Bitcoin Ordinals

  • With a 63E floor, MVPs are the highest-valued NFT in Memeland’s ecosystem, so Ray and the team are def out to make a statement here

  • While we’re on the topic, def check out this week’s interview with Leonidas this week, where Carly asks about all things ordinals, from Sat rarity to recursions

• Nike and Epic Games aren’t wasting any time making moves on their exciting collab, introducing Airphoria, an Air Max-themed Fortnite experience

  • Interestingly, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney pointed out that Epic isn’t getting into NFTs, but they have tools for devs and are therefore ‘neutral’ and don’t prohibit NFTs in platform

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😩 The Bad

• Despite a laundry list of catalysts on the short- and long-term horizon, Yuga FUD is at an ATH and there is no shortage of thread000r + influenc0o0r takes on the matter [see: Cirrus. Liam. Dingaling. Luca.]

  • Yuga announced a June 29 Season 1 start for its eagerly anticipated HV-MTL Forge amidst the FUD, but it appears to have done little to assuage most skeptics, as Apes have since went sub-40E and MAYC dipped below 8E

• Machi woke up and chose violence this week by suing the crypto community’s beloved on-chain sleuth Zachxbt for defamation related to an investigative article Zach published about Machi last June

  • Zach’s already receiving threats and extortion attempts over the scandal, but the community’s showing him strong support, donating heavily to his legal defense fund

  • The Memeland team donated 6.9E and Binance CEO CZ sent him $50k after - ironically (or not) - Machi sent his apes to support Binance’s legal battles with the SEC

• Former* Azuki Researcher in Residence Elena postponed her hyped upcoming drop, Atomic Ordinals, after being accused of cashing in on her influence and using blatantly copied art for the project

  *Chiru Labs, ‘in light of the information,’ decided not to extend the grant that funded her role at Azuki

🤨 The Institutions

• When it rains it pours. And it’s absolutely storming on the institutional crypto front. We’ve gotten battered by headlines over the past week, so let’s dive in:

• EDX Markets, a new crypto exchange backed by Citadel, Fidelity, and Schwab, has gone live, hoping to reach an untapped pool of sidelined crypto investors with its non-custodial model that adopts rules and investor protections from TradFi markets

  • Unlike traditional exchanges, EDX doesn’t directly hold clients’ digital assets during trading, instead, it runs a marketplace where firms agree to execute trades, using its platform to agree on prices

  • They’re also launching with just 4 tokens: BTC, ETH, litecoin & Bitcoin Cash

• Despite 30+ so-far unsuccessful filing attempts for spot Bitcoin ETFs by various firms, heavyweight BlackRock threw its hat in the ring with a filing late last week

  • All eyes are on this application, which names: 1) Coinbase as both its custodian and a potential risk-factor, given its SEC embroilment; and 2) Nasdaq as the entity overseeing pricing data (an effort to mitigate market manipulation concerns, which is the main reason most ETFs are denied)

• While the SEC has yet to approve a single spot Bitcoin ETF, BlackRock has an impressive 575-1 record for getting its ETFs approved, and it’s application has sparked a flurry of new and renewed filings from other firms, including Invesco, WisdomTree, and Valkyrie

  

  credit: adamscochran.eth

• Global banking giant DeutscheBank this week also applied for regulatory permission to operate a custody service for crypto in a move aimed at increasing fee income

• The markets have largely reacted to the news favorably, with BTC topping $30k and approaching one-year highs

• As for CT and decentralization maxis, on the other hand, well, let’s just say the jury’s still out …

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• Market conditions force Crypto payments firm Wyre to close up shop

• UK parliament is in the final phase of cementing stablecoin & crypto regulations

• Do Kwon gets four months in a Balkan prison for forging docs; US and South Korea still seeking his extradition from Montenegro

• Wallet integration, chat messaging, and cross-chain integration help advance adoption of web3 usernames

• Coinbase & CashApp will begin beta testing Jack Dorsey-backed Bitcoin wallet ‘Bitkey’ in a couple weeks 

• Person who bought Beeple’s First 5000 Days NFT for $69M sues for trademark infringement 

• FTX has already paid $200+M in legal and advisor fees to wind up the exchange, while users and creditors still wait in limbo to access their funds

• Crypto.com is allegedly deploying internal market-making teams to trade tokens for profits

🌐 web3 + NFTs

• Truth Labs’ Big Inc. burn starts this Friday; Goblins popping off after being featured in trending Twitch game Only Up! 

• German Intelligence Agency releases dog-themed PFP collection in effort to recruit new talent to help mitigate cybercrime

• Floor teases Apple Pay integration for its NFT portfolio app 

• Blur adds a ton of mobile support (sweep, bid, list, lend, BNPL, portfolio mgmt) plus finally enables browsing on desktop & mobile w/o wallet connection

• DeLabs dropped a limited edition merch bundle of 333 tees + orange trucker hats

• CBS News profiled Beeple with an interview direct from his new studio + gallery in Charleston, SC

• Okay Bears embarks on Bitcoin journey; will inscribe Golden Glow-eyed Bear ordinals

• Gmoney introduces framework for Network Points aimed at rewarding buyers for paying royalties 

• Nouns: A Movie is debuting this week; Nouns DAO snags a Producer credit

• DeeZe gives a somewhat bearish take on collecting Tezos NFTs based on the weakness of the chain’s currency

📈 Brands + Biz

• Mercedes is piloting an in-car app that displays digital art 

• Metalwood + Hypebeast created a LE capsule collection only available to those who minted an AmEx POAP at the US Open in Los Angeles

• The Voice taps into ‘the world of deep immersive engagement’ with blended entertainment in the metaverse

• Mastercard files new trademark app for blockchain + crypto transaction software and ‘interconnecting virtual asset service providers for crypto transactions’

• Animoca Brands secures a strategic investment from Mitsui & Co., one of Japan’s largest trading companies

• Marvel Studios founder David Maisel shares his thoughts on creating a new universe with emerging technologies

• NFC tags are becoming a staple as luxury fashion brands crossover into web3

• Fast food chain Wendy’s is doling out IRL rewards to people engaging in activities in its virtual world, Wendyverse

• Starbucks Odyssey drops its first OE stamp, available for 48 hours beginning June 22

🤖 AI + Metaverse

• Etherscan drops beta version of an AI-powered code reader to audit NFT and crypto smart contracts in minutes

• Alethea AI integrates ChatGPT, enabling iNFTs with generative AI capabilities

• Improbable reveals plans for its metaverse, MSquared

• Sam Altman says OpenAI is considering opening an app marketplace for AI models

• The Verge and NY Mag explore the hidden human labor behind AI

• Former FTX US President is back with an AI company that uses ChatGPT to help customers with trading

• Global bank HSBC files new trademark apps for metaverse banking, consulting & financial services; virtual credit cards; and NFTs

• Recording Academy says ‘only human creators’ are eligible for Grammys under new AI protocols

• The Weeknd and Binance launch ‘Metaverse Dimension,’ a 3D treasure hunt that unlocks exclusive content and rewards

• Unchained Crypto explored whether AI is a tool for artistic expression in its AI Art Hackathon recap 

• Roblox creating a new 17+ age category with more graphic content and adult themes; requires IDs and selfies

• On the fourth stop of our Overpriced Happy Hour Tour, Carly is joined in Miami by two powerhouses, Double Down Founder Mags Kala and Vayner3 President Avery Akkineni. They cover the highs and lows of investing in web3, where AI meets the blockchain, and how brands are navigating this era of regulatory uncertainty.

• Carly and Gavin are back with another weekly recap. They’re talking: The rise of Ordinals, Hinman docs, and ApeCoin DAO politics. Later in the pod, they’re joined by Galxe’s Charles Wayn, who shares deets on their recent Linea zkEVM partnership and building community engagement. Catch up here!

Thanks again to our generous sponsor, Stickies!

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Got something to share with our readers? Leave a comment below or connect with me @hawaiianft (Sparkitysparkz) on Twitter or @jacy (Sparkz) on Bluesky 🤙🏾

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