📝 Field Notes #56: Visa Enters Web3 Loyalty

Visa rolls out Web3 loyalty to 80m+ partners globally. Bitcoin's year. ETF imminent. Goldman Sachs eyeing ETF role. Record asset inflows in 2022. NYT sues OpenAI. Top reads & more.

Hey, it’s Marc.

Welcome to 2024 and the first obsessively curated field notes on Web3 & crypto to help you filter out the noise. ✌️ — brought to you by MINTangible, the solution for protecting IP rights for NFTs. Learn more

⏱️ Reading time: 3 min

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“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.” — George Orwell

📚 Top 5 Reads

  • It’s all a game. By Colleen Sullivan. Link

  • Make Ethereum cypherpunk again. By Vitalik Buterin. Link

  • How NFTs will make a comeback in 2024. By S. Kominers & S. Kaczynski. Link

  • NFTs are the new cookies. By Matthew Iles. Link

  • Messari Crypto Thesis 2024. By Ryan Selkis. Link

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✨ Web3 + NFTs

Visa enters Web3 Loyalty 💳

Stepping back: Loyalty is one of the emerging Web3 narratives (read deep dive) – and it matters. Retaining a customer is 5 to 25 times cheaper than acquiring a new one.

Yes, but: Web2 loyalty needs an update. Customers often feel the rewards aren’t worth it. Americans rack up about $50 billion in rewards points and miles each year, but 30% go unredeemed. And 61% of consumers switched from one brand or provider to another in the last year.

Zoom in: Visa’s drag & drop platform allows brands to engage next-gen consumers, enabling:

  • Web3-powered, gamified campaigns

  • Branded, custodial wallets where customers can apply rewards

  • A CRM + real time event triggers, incl. first-party data management.

Be smart: Web3 enables an active and fair value exchange between customers and brands.

Punchline: Visa allows brands to engage next-gen consumers with virtual, digital, or real-world experiences. With 4bn debit and credit cards and over 80m partners, this is a massive step for Web3 adoption.

More on Web3:

  • Vitalik Buterin shares updated 2024 roadmap for Ethereum. Link

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🌎 Crypto & Macro

2024 – Bitcoin’s year?🟠

  • The SEC is reportedly giving final comments on the spot Bitcoin ETF applications, with Bloomberg Intelligence analysts estimating a 90% probability of approval. Link

  • NFT sales on Bitcoin hit a record of $881m in December 2023, the highest single-month sales record, causing a spike in fees.

  • Meanwhile, Michael Saylor starts selling $216m in MicroStrategy shares to purchase more BTC. Link

Zooming out: Bitcoin’s upcoming halving in April will reduce its supply, causes scarcity, potentially driving up demand and, as a result, the price of Bitcoin.

Punchline: Bitcoin’s stage is set.

Keep it flowing 🌊

  • Digital asset investment products saw $2.25bn of inflows in 2023, the 3rd largest year since 2017 and 2.7x the inflows seen in 2022.

  • Bitcoin represented 87% of total flows. 

By the numbers: Back in June, over 60% of institutional investors positive about crypto over the next year. And 64% of current investors expect to increase allocations in the next three years.

Why it matters: Total asset inflows is a good indicator for institutional interest, which increased significantly over the last months, driven by a potential BTC spot ETF and the upcoming halving in April.

More on crypto:

  • Goldman Sachs is eyeing Bitcoin ETF role via BlackRock and Grayscale. Link

  • In December 2023, cryptocurrency exchange trading volume surpassed $1 trillion for the first time since September 2022. Link

  • DWS Group - part of Deutsche Bank - announced to start building an Euro stablecoin with Galaxy. Link

🧠AI

  • The NYT sues OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement. Link

  • OpenAI is in talks to raise additional funding at a $100bn+ valuation. Link

That’s all for now, folks. Thank you for being part of the journey.Talk soon,

– Marc

PS: Follow me on LinkedIn for shorter insights.

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