STN #105 - Proof of ... Community ??

?? Proof of ... Community ??

About ten days ago, there was a historic event for blockchain and for Ethereum, in particular: understanding what happened and why is important, I think it is crucial for anyone who wants to launch projects in Web3.0 or, simply, to better understand what awaits us from the new era of the Internet.

First, for the uninitiated, Ethereum is a decentralized Web 3.0 platform for the peer-to-peer creation and publication of smart contracts created in a full programming language. The cryptocurrency linked to it, Ether, is second in capitalization behind Bitcoin.

10 days ago, Ethereum's operating mechanism changed from the so-called Proof of Work to the "new" Proof of Stake.

Leaving aside, the more IT aspects of the change, this shift made it possible to achieve a very important goal for the historical phase we were in: Ethereum can work consuming 99.95% less energy, allowing the same reliability and level of security.

Environmental impact was one of the major criticisms aimed at Ethereum (and Bitcoin, which, on the other hand, continues to operate under the Proof of Work mode), while nothing has changed with respect to speed (the number of transactions that can be recorded in each block) and the cheapness of transactions (so-called gas fees).

Now Ethereum is also ready to be adopted by large corporations that are, evidently, more sensitive to environmental issues. But beyond the ESG aspect, there is much more behind this historic event for blockchain that I think we should delve into in order to better understand some fundamental dynamics of web3.0.

This transition of Ethereum was possible thanks to the joint work of developers worldwide who worked to make sure that the change went smoothly and without putting at risk the billions of dollars of transactions handled on the network.

And the main point is really the Community of developers and supporters who enabled this evolution the real new force to be considered in web3.

To summarize, web3 can be explained with a tweet:

- web1 (early 1990s to early 2000s): read. The web was a large library that users could access to read content

- web2 (early 2000s to present): read/write. Users can create content and they themselves become protagonists of the web thanks mainly to social media

- web3 (from now and for the next few years): read/write/own. The concept of asset ownership and digital identity is introduced thanks to blockchain technology.

And web3 will impact the distribution of value in many sectors, including sports.

If in web2 we have been accustomed to having most of the value retained by Investors, Entrepreneurs, Creators and Users in that order, in web3, users, from last in the ranking, will rise to the same level as others.

And, in fact, the main innovation of web3 is precisely to align everyone's interests to the same common purpose, and the distribution of wealth will take place through tokens, fungible and non-fungible.

Today many players in the world of sports are launching NFT platforms, for example, without the slightest consideration of this, trying to monetize digital assets and experiences at the expense of only the fans.

This is not what web3 is all about, and if we don't understand this now, we risk being overwhelmed by the power of Communities...

?? LootMogul platform raises $200 million ??

Sports-focused blockchain gaming platform LootMogul has raised $200 million from investment firm Global Emerging Markets.?

LootMogul will use the capital to build gaming environments that allow fans to interact with athletes, teams and brands through virtual "sports cities."?

LootMogul has already partnered with more than 180 professional athletes in the United States, engaging more than 1.5 million high school and college athletes.

With the investment, the platform will build more than 200 virtual cities, making them available on multiple platforms, including Meta's Oculus.?

?? It's time to invest in Sportstech startups ??

In Italy, we absolutely need more investment in Sportstech startups, which are still too few and still too small to make a real impact on the future of sports.

And, so, I absolutely agree with a blog article by Amir Raveh, President of Hype Sports Innovation, who argues that now is the best time to invest and these are the 5 reasons to support his argument:

1. Economic downturns and recessions have historically been some of the best times to found (and invest in) startups;
2. Sports technology continues to grow at a rapid pace (166% valuation increase over last year);
3. Looking to the long term: what sets successful VCs apart from others is their ability to take risks and identify the potential for startups to grow over the long term, during scary and uncertain times;
4. Investment in the sports sector continues to increase;
5. Steadily increasing demand for new and emerging technologies in sports.

Here is the link to read the entire article: enjoy your reading!