The season of inspiration

Welcome to GM, BFF, a newsletter hitting your inbox every week with key insights from web3, crypto, our community and beyond.?This newsletter is written by?Guest Editor Megan DeMatteo ?while I am on maternity leave.

Subscribe to get GM, BFF in your inbox each week.

Happy holidays from BFF! We hope you are relaxing somewhere warm, surrounded by your favorite people.?

We talk a lot about innovation in the Web3 world — especially during bear markets. But this week, we want to discuss?inspiration, the life-giving force that keeps us pivoting, learning and innovating in the first place.

The word itself — “inspiration” — is related to “breath” and has been used to mean “putting spirit into the human body.” Web3 is full of people who take action — but we invite you to consider when your actions last felt?inspired.?

So often, we innovate under pressure because we want to crush the next goal or capture the first-mover advantage. But what value does innovation have when it’s not coming from a place of inspiration? Isn’t the point of Web3 to chart a different way forward?

To answer this question, we looked for insights in BFF’s most inspiring articles of 2022. Here are a few that stood out.

True inspiration is sustainable

Web3 is a long game. Take blockchain voting, for instance — one of the more commonly purported beneficial use cases of Web3 technology. BFF contributor Isabel Doonan reported this year that West Virginia was the first state to experiment using blockchain technology in 2018 for casting and recording votes. Over the past four years, the pros and cons of blockchain voting have been widely debated, inspiring experts to examine the true potential of decentralized civic engagement.

Four years is a long time — and special interest groups are?still?far away from having a clear verdict on the efficacy of blockchain voting. However, some argue that this process of debating blockchain’s merits adds an enriching layer of discourse to the civic engagement process. And isn’t that what democracy is all about?

Read: The Long Road To Blockchain Adoption At The Polls

Inspiration meets people in the middle

There’s been a lot of talk about how genius Starbucks’ new Polygon-based Odyssey rewards program is. Specifically, people expect it to work because it meets customers where they are at, by presenting NFTs as recognizable loyalty points.?

This year, our Editor in Chief Caroline Fairchild spoke to Athletic Greens' Kat Cole about how Starbucks' Web3 pivot signals a larger trend of brands making big bets on blockchain. Cole predicts a leading brand like Starbucks is just the ring leader we need to inspire mainstream adoption.?

“They not only will teach the industry — they will bring the masses along,” said Cole.

Read: Athletic Greens' Kat Cole Breaks Down Starbucks Going Into NFTs

Inspiration begets inclusivity?

The Web3 space is growing rapidly. As we resist the way things have always been done and invite boundary-pushing ideas, women around the world are stepping into their leadership game in totally new ways.?

In particular, women of color and women from underrepresented communities have risen to the top this year, as Web3 has afforded more people a sense of well-deserved financial and creative freedom. BFF Contributor Sabrina Bonini curated an inspiring list of Hispanic and Latinx Women who shone their creative genius throughout the space, both elevating the caliber of work being done?and?expanding inclusivity in the process.

Bonini’s list featured founding BFF and The DeFiant founder Camila Russo, Cuban art historian and ClitSplash cofounder Gladys Garrote, prolific NFT poet Ana María Caballero — and many others.?

Read: Hispanic And Latinx Women Breaking Barriers In Web3

Inspiration battles burnout

As we close out the year 2022, we have a few final opportunities to explore what inspires you. On Tuesday, we will host a?Twitter Space ?addressing burnout and exploring some strategies to help anyone feeling spent reconnect with their inner force.?

And, if you haven’t already, be sure to check out this popular BFF Discover article by contributor Carlee Lloydz:?How to Beat Web3 Burnout .?

Catch Up Quick?

SBF gets released on bond. ?The $250M bond was 25 times greater than Bernie Madoff’s $10 million bail authorized in 2008 before the fraudster received his 150-year prison sentence. However, SBF’s bond was secured only by equity in the Bankman-Fried family home and the signatures of his parents plus two other individuals with “considerable assets.” Some say the terms of his personal recognizance bond were?too lenient . Meanwhile, Alameda’s Caroline Ellison and FTX’s Gary Wang?pleaded guilty ?to criminal charges and are cooperating with federal investigators.

Gemini announces liquidity resolution plan. ?Gemini cofounder Cameron Winklevoss?tweeted ?that a member of the creditor committee advising DCG, Genesis and Gemini presented a plan to resolve the liquidity crisis triggered by the FTX contagion.??

Elon hints at goodbye. ?The Twitter CEO said he will step down once he finds a successor, complying with the results of a Twitter poll he created in which millions of users voted for his departure.

Warner Music Group and DressX pair up. ?The record and entertainment label announced a collab with digital fashion platform DressX to create virtual merch — or “verch” — for fans to wear in the metaverse.??

Visa publicly explores account abstractions. ?Catherine Gu, infrastructure and crypto specialist at Visa, shared on Twitter the financial service company’s decision to experiment with account abstraction (AA) — or the use of smart contracts to enable customizable, programmable payments. Gu also expressed Visa’s ambition to become a trusted liaison between crypto and legacy payment networks.

BFF?Updates

Traditional marketing gets an upgrade.?Fed up with same-old, same-old social marketing strategies,Lively founder Michelle Cordeiro Grant dove headfirst down the Web3 rabbit hole. This week, BFF Guest Editor Megan DeMatteo interviewed Cordeiro Grant to learn about how she onboarded herself to crypto and NFTs.?Read the story.

From Our Founding BFFs?

CapitalT Founding Partner Janneke Niessen?made EU-Startup’s?list of Europe’s top 25 most active female angel investors ?in 2022.

Journey Chief Metaverse Officer Cathy Hackl?was featured in an?article ?by The Weekly Journal exploring the possibilities of the metaverse.

Two Founding BFFs on one stage! Ledger VP of Communications Ariel Wengroff?joined?Sound Ventures Partner Maaria Bajwa?during Consensus 2022 for a conversation on how to protect your crypto investments. Check out the?replay on YouTube .

BFF Events

Thanks for reading! We’d love to hear from you. Feel free to let us know what you think of this newsletter and what you’d like to see from it in the future by replying directly.?

?? This newsletter and all the information in it does not constitute financial advice. If you don’t want to invest money or time in Web3, you don’t have to. As always: Do your own research.

Megan DeMatteo ?is BFF’s Guest Editor