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📝 Field Notes #42: NFTs Hit Walmart & Meta's Metaverse Showcase

📝 Field Notes #42: NFTs Hit Walmart & Meta's Metaverse Showcase

Pudgy Penguin enters Walmart – big deal? Bored Apes' collab with iconic streetwear brand. Zuck in the metaverse. Ethereum hits 10bn in revenue. Kraken enters TradFi. New version of ChatGPT & more.

Hey, it’s Marc. Welcome to my weekly, obsessively curated insights on crypto & Web3 to help you filter out the noise. ✌️ PS: I’ve got free ad spots.

👉 List of Brands in Web3 (Sep 2023 edition, with project links)

⏱️ Reading time: 4 min

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“Crypto can do for money, finance, and digital property what the internet did for information and media.“ ― Matt Huang

📚 Top 5 Reads

What’s next for consumer Web3. By 1kx. Link
Raoul Pal speaks with leaders of global brands, incl. Starbucks. on Web3. (audio). By Real Vision. Link
The casino on Mars. By Matt Huang. Link
Mark Zuckerberg: first interview in the metaverse. (video) By Lex Fridman. Link
The future of NFTs. By William Peaster. Link

🚨 Top 5 Stories That Caught My Eye

✨ Web3 + NFTs

Pudgy's Big Retail Move🐧

Pudgy Penguins, a "blue chip" NFT community, is now in 2,000 Walmarts across the US, featuring physical penguin toys. Each toy's QR code unlocks unique traits for its corresponding digital character in Pudgy World.
Pudgy NFT holders earn royalties for each toy sold at Walmart.
In February, Pudgy partnered with Retail Monster for global retail distribution.

Punchline: As funding and royalty fees dry up, NFT IP holders seek new revenue streams to build out their franchise – and stay relevant (cf. Crocs & Doodles). While intriguing, I don’t see this as the game-changing consumer app many have awaited.

Apes on the rise 🐒

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) teams up with Japanese streetwear brand A BATHING APE (BAPE) for a limited physical collection.
Last month, BAPE and Adidas auctioned sneakers with NFC-enabled digital certificates.

Punchline: Collabs let brands penetrate new communities and subcultures. This tactic has boosted the most successful Web3 brands. Last year, for instance, Gucci teamed up with digital artist Wagmi-san and 10KTF (owned by Yuga Labs). Adidas teamed up with BAYC, while Nike partnered with RTFKT.

The future of the metaverse?✨

Marc Zuckerberg was interviewed by Lex Fridman – virtually. They used 3D-scanned avatars almost indistinguishable from their real faces.

Punchline: This is a stunning tech showcase of future AR experiences. This isn’t blockchain based, but the hypothesis stands that core technologies of Web3 (blockchain), the metaverse (AR/VR, virtual worlds, etc.) and advanced computing (AI) are converging. This will unlock incredible opportunities for brands.

🌎 Crypto & Macro

Ethereum reaches 10bn in revenues ⛓️

This is a milestone. Revenue comes from transaction fees and block rewards paid to validators who secure the network.
Ethereum remains one of the most used layer 1 chains, hosting the most dApps and the highest total value locked (TVL) by a wide margin. Daily active users are at all-time highs.
However, weekly active developers have halved since peaking at around 10k mid 2022.

Punchline: Ethereum remains the go-to chain and continues to attract the most exciting developments in crypto right now.

Kraken dives into traditional finance💸

Kraken plans to offer trading in US stocks and ETFs by 2024, its first venture outside crypto.

Punchline: Traditional and decentralized finance are converging. This could be a diversification strategy as trading volumes have declined significantly. It will be interesting to see how other crypto-native players react.

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🧠 AI

OpenAI and Jony Ive are negotiating a $1bn investment from SoftBank for an AI venture. ChatGPT now has voice, image, and browsing capabilities. Link
Meta launches AI-driven bots and features for messaging apps, plus AI-enhanced smart glasses. Link
Microsoft launches unified Copilot across products; Windows 11 will see 150+ AI updates. Link