FiftyOne Insights
Posts
📝 Web3 Field Notes #35 – PayPal, Crocs, and Robots

📝 Web3 Field Notes #35 – PayPal, Crocs, and Robots

PayPal launches stablecoin. Beatport enters Web3. Doodles x Crocs. New Ether ETFs. Google's AI robotics breakthrough. All the signal from the last 4 weeks. Top charts & more.

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

⏱️ Reading time: 3 min | gem 💎 at the end!

Dematerialzd is brought to you by NEAR.

NEAR isn't just a Layer 1 blockchain - it's the Blockchain Operating System for an open web. Unlike other next generation blockchains, NEAR was built from the ground up to be easy to build on for developers and accessible and simple to onboard for their users. Create and discover decentralized apps, and help build the future of the web, today.

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.” – Henry David Thoreau

📚 Key Reads

The future of customer acquisition and community monetization. By Thomas Issa. Link
Web3 marketing: a16z startup school. By Amanda Cassatt. (video) Link
Digital objects, economies, and the challenge of meaning. By Holladay Saltz. Link
Generative AI: an investing framework. By Chandar Lal. Link

Back from the summer break? Here’s all the signal of the last four weeks:

🚨 What Caught My Eyes

✨ Web3 + NFTs

Doodles x Crocs: Doodles, one of the most popular NFT collections, announced a partnership with footwear giant Crocs to introduce shoes, wearables, and “jibbitz” (charms that can be attached to the holes of Crocs shoes). Link
- Punchline: Many of the top collections have recognized the opportunity to use their communities and existing IP to build media franchises. Earlier this year, for example, Doodles launched “Doodles V2” to expand its franchise into music, animation, consumer products, live events and more. This included a partnership with Camp for hybrid shop/play experiences. Pudgy Pengunis, another popular NFT collection, partnered with Retail Monster to launch its Pudgy Toyline on retail shelves globally. Naturally, the best NFT collections will become brands and communities that transcend the Web3 bubble and go mainstream. It will be all about content and storytelling.
DJs & NFTs: Electro-music hub and online store Beatport begins “new era for electronic music” with creation of a Web3-based marketplace, Beatport.io. The Polkadot-based platform aims to act as a space where artists and labels can share their music and art in new, collectible formats. The first project to be featured is NACHTS, a multi-part art digital art collection representing the vibrant life within Berlin’s techno scene. Link
- Punchline: Music is one of many areas where Web3 could revolutionize how creators interact with their fans and are compensated for their work. Sound.xyz, for example, the leading Web3-native music marketplace, allows artists to debut new music as a set of NFTs, giving listeners the chance to showcase their early support. It has recently raised $20M from a16z, Snoop Dogg, OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder, and several others.

🌎 Crypto & Macro

PayPal launches its stablecoin: PYUSD, the Ethereum-based stablecoin which is fully backed by USD deposits, short-term Treasuries, and cash equivalents, is rolling out to US users gradually. Link
- Punchline: This is a huge boost for Ethereum, a major milestone for crypto and arguably the biggest news of this year. What will be its impact? 1) PYUSD will enable hundreds of millions of people to safely use cryptocurrency. With PayPals high brand reputation and trust, this will likely lower the stigma built up through recent scandals. 2) PYUSD will likely be adapted for retail, cross-border and DeFi transactions. This will be a threat to traditional payment rails. 3) PayPal's use of Ethereum as a settlement layer is a significant endorsement for the network. PayPal's move reminds me of 2019 when Meta introduced its own USD-backed stablecoin, Libra (later renamed Diem), which was subsequently wound down due to regulatory backlash from the U.S. government. Open question: How will US regulators react? The US government won’t want the payments system to be run by tech companies.
Bitcoin & Ethereum ETF: According to "contacts" from inside BlackRock a spot Bitcoin ETF approval is a matter of "when, not if" likely in "four to six months", said Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz on earnings call this morning. Meanwhile, seven firms have filed applications with the SEC for Ether futures ETFs in the past week, which could be approved as soon as October. Bloomberg Intelligence analysts give Ether futures ETFs a 75% chance of launching in the US.1 Link
- Punchline: The SEC has been hesitant to approve crypto ETFs in the US, citing concerns about the volatility of the crypto. The approval of a Bitcoin or EtherETF would be a milestone for the crypto market, as it would likely push institutional adoption and liquidity in the market.

🧠 AI

AI robots: Google DeepMind has unveiled RT-2, a vision-language-action (VLA) model trained on Internet-scale data that can be integrated into end-to-end robotic control.
- Punchline: RT-2 is a significant advancement in the field of robotics. It is the first model that can directly translate vision and language into robotic actions, such as following instructions or answering questions. This means that robots can now be controlled by natural language commands, without the need for complex programming.