Shibarium, Shiba Inu's Ethereum Layer-2 Blockchain, Launches to Drive DeFi Expansion
Neal Stephenson's Metaverse Concept Takes a Leap Forward with the Launch of Lamina1 Blockchain Betanet
Web3 Developers Remain Enthusiastic Despite the Chilly NFT Trading
In recent developments, leading Web2 entities have introduced novel tools aimed at making Web3 more accessible to the general public. Alibaba, the technology giant from China, unveiled Cloudverse, a metaverse launchpad designed for brands and built on the Avalanche blockchain. Meanwhile, Sports Illustrated launched a non-fungible token (NFT) ticketing platform on the Polygon network.
In other news, Sotheby's has launched a new secondary art marketplace that enables NFT collectors to trade with each other while prioritizing the interests of the creators through the payment of royalties.
This Week's Alpha
Alibaba’s Cloudverse: Alibaba, the prominent technology company from China, has created a launchpad named Cloudverse, which enables brands to develop metaverse experiences using the Avalanche blockchain. This platform employs the computing and storage capabilities of Alibaba's Cloud division, in addition to Avalanche's technology.
- Quick builds for brands: The goal of this initiative is to offer a comprehensive solution for brands that simplifies their entry into Web3 and enhances their customer experience. By providing a turnkey system, this platform aims to facilitate the adoption of blockchain technology and metaverse experiences among businesses.
- Onboarding billions: Alibaba Group's consumer-focused businesses in China reportedly have more than 1 billion combined annual active users, presenting a substantial opportunity to introduce a large number of brands and users to Web3. This massive consumer base provides a significant potential market for Cloudverse and other Web3 initiatives to onboard new users and expand the reach of blockchain technology.
SI Tickets: Sports Illustrated, a popular publication, is introducing a new NFT ticketing platform called SI Tickets, which is built on the Polygon blockchain. With the "Box Office" feature, event organizers, promoters, and owners can leverage this platform to foster deeper fan engagement opportunities. By using NFTs, this ticketing platform can provide enhanced security and unique experiences for attendees.
- NFT ticketing on the rise: The adoption of NFTs as event and club tickets is steadily increasing and has the potential to serve as a widespread method for introducing users to Web3. By using blockchain technology, NFTs offer a secure and unique way for event organizers and clubs to provide exclusive experiences to their attendees. As this trend gains momentum, more people may become aware of the possibilities offered by Web3.
Sotheby’s enters the secondary market: Sotheby's, an art auction house that has shown great enthusiasm for Web3 technology with its Sotheby's Metaverse platform, is introducing a secondary marketplace that is specially curated for digital art and operates on a peer-to-peer basis. This new marketplace provides a secure and transparent platform for buying and selling NFTs while offering artists the opportunity to receive royalties for their work.
- Artists first: The fully on-chain sales system will offer direct transactions between collectors and will honor creator royalties through smart contracts embedded into its platform. "Sotheby’s commitment to honoring artist royalties comes amidst a larger debate about royalties within the NFT community, and signals Sotheby’s artist-first ethos as one of the only major NFT marketplaces committed to artist resale royalties," it said in a press release.
Projects on the Rise
Big Inc
Who: The team behind the NFT project Goblintown is Truth Labs.
What: Goblintown, a surprising success story in the world of NFTs, is a collection of 9,999 unique editions. Its creators, Truth Labs, are now releasing a sequel called Big Inc, which will expand the goblin mythology even further. This new collection will have 15,000 unique editions and will prioritize collectors based on their "rekt activity" - a measure of their poor trades in the NFT space.
How: Collectors who are interested in the new Big Inc NFT collection can apply to mint them. Truth Labs will analyze the wallet data of applicants to evaluate the quality of their transactions, and rank them on the "Down Bad Board" - a leaderboard of the worst traders in the NFT space. The top 1,000 worst traders in the NFT space will have the opportunity to mint their Big Inc acceptance letter for free within a 24-hour period.
Participants in the minting process can either pay 0.096 ether or receive a 50% discount by paying with the meme coin, Pepe. However, the company has not yet announced a specific date or time for the minting to occur.
In Other News
Token-gated kicks: Tokenproof, a company specializing in Web3 experiences, has recently entered into a three-year partnership with Adidas. The partnership aims to introduce token-gated drops and experiences to Adidas' Confirmed app, which is primarily used for purchasing exclusive footwear releases.
Bernard Arnault’s secret NFTs: Ian Rogers, the Chief Experience Officer at Ledger, has revealed that the founder of LVMH, who also happens to be the wealthiest person on the planet, has been discreetly amassing NFTs.
“Shark Tank” + Web3 = “Killer Whales”: CoinMarketCap and Hello Labs have joined forces to create a reality competition show similar to "Shark Tank," but with a focus on Web3 companies pitching their ideas to secure funding.
A lotta y'all get it: One year has passed since this tweet first appeared on our timelines:
Non-Fungible Toolkit
Meme Coins: Here's what you should know before "aping in":
The latest craze in meme coins has moved beyond canine-themed tokens and into the realm of amphibians with pepecoin (PEPE), a cryptocurrency named after the online meme Pepe the Frog. Shortly after its initial release, a single investor, who had only invested 0.19 ETH (roughly $385), held over $1 million worth of PEPE. These tales of exponential value growth often attract new investors to meme coins, but caution is advised. Once such stories become widely known, it is likely that the trend has already peaked, and those who invest late may miss out on any significant gains. In fact, investments in meme coins often result in losses rather than profits.
Source Coindesk
