📝 Web3 Field Notes #28 - Airphoria with Nike, Puma, and Powell

Hey, it’s Marc. I write about Bitcoin, Web3, and brands. ✌️ Welcome to another issue of my obsessively curated field notes to help you filter out the noise.

Special announcement: I’m very happy that NEAR has joined as an exclusive partner of Demateriald.xyz.✨

⏱️ Reading time: 4 min💎 at the end

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“So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their endings.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

📚 Key Reads

• Network effects, moats and the business of Web3. Highly recommended. By a16z. Link (audio)

• Building token-powered consumer products. By Amanda Young. Link

• Blockchains and the next generation of fandom. By Amanda Young. Link

• A new internet. By Link

• Economic models for tokenized communities. By Jihad Esmail. Link

• The state of Web3 corporate adoption. By Coinbase. Link

🚨 What caught my eyes

✨ Web3 + NFTs

• More than 80% of Fortune 500 companies are either looking into or actively deploying Web3 initiatives, according to a Coinbase report released on Monday. Across 199'347 transactions, Fortune 100 companies together have accumulated royalty revenue of approximately $101.3 million from 118'354 distinct consumers. Collections linked to Fortune 100 companies have generated secondary market volume exceeding $1.6 billion across all such portfolios. Nike leads in royalty revenue, distinct purchaser base, and number of unique collections launched. Link

• Nike launched “Airphoria”, a Air Max-themed island in Fortnite. As in other Epic games titles, in-game items aren’t tradeable, transferrable, or sellable. .SWOOSH NFT user ID holders, however, can still can earn a special achievement on their NFTs to unlock further experiences. It’s easy to see how Nike starts integrating its Web3 IP into multiple virtual platforms (incl. Roblox) to gravitate around its .SWOOSH platform. Owning Nike’s virtual products might become a top-of-the-funnel gateway drug, enticing consumers to explore and invest in the brand's physical products and experiences. Check out Nike’s whole Web3 journey here. Link

• Puma launches Black Station 2, an expansion on its digital retail experience. It offers two explorable worlds, allowing users to acquire phygital footwear. I left out the word “metaverse” on purpose, as it's “just” a 3D interface to buy shoes. More interesting is how Puma starts connecting physical with digital, with its Web3 platform as a complement to its brick and mortar shopping formats. Link

🌎 Crypto & Macro

• Jerome Powell said that crypto appears to have staying power as an asset class and that payment stablecoins are a form of money. He adds that "the ultimate source of credibility in money is the central bank." Link

• Nashville-based asset manager Valkyrie ($36m AuM) filed for a spot Bitcoin  ETF. This comes after Blackrock filed an application last week, which was big news. The company has over $10 trillion in assets under management and its clients include governments, central banks, pension funds, insurance companies, and major hedge funds. Some now speculate that the entire past year was an inside job coordinated by Wall Street and gov regulators to catch-up. After six years in the space, nothing would surprise me anymore. Link

• Deutsche Bank applied for a crypto custody license approval in Germany. Previously, BaFin, the German financial regulator, has only granted crypto custody licenses to smaller companies, e.g. a unit of Germany’s Boerse Stuttgart stock exchange, Berlin-based Finoa and well-known crypto exchange Bitpanda. Link

• Layer 2 zk-rollups are on the rise. Since its mainnet launch in March 2023, zkSync Era has experienced tremendous growth and recently surpassed 1m wallets. Daily active addresses on zkSync Era have steadily risen since early May. Polygon zkEVM solution 10x’s in TVL last month. Zk-rollups can significantly reduce the amount of data that needs to be processed on-chain, thereby increasing the transaction throughput and reducing costs.

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💡Word on the street:  

Crypto is searching for a new narrative that can go mainstream. Throughout its history, those narratives have propelled the space – more than tech and ideology.

While we're not there yet, there are glimmers of optimism. Should Blackrock's BTC spot ETC application succeed, crypto could look completely different again.

Meanwhile, Web3 tech will keep gaining traction as a creative branding and engagement tool.

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

Back to building! 🚀

– Marc

💎: The fundamental value propositions of blockchains? 🤔 Polygon Labs is curating a database of hundreds of Web3 companies/use cases across verticals and protocols. You can find it here.

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