w3 weekly web3 gems // cw18 2022

what's up in web3?

???Bored Ape’s Otherside Virtual Land Sale Was The Largest NFT Mint in History

On Saturday, the creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Yuga Labs, revealed the Otherside metaverse virtual land sale which turned out to be one of the largest non-fungible token (NFT) mints to date. The Otherside metaverse virtual land sale raised close to $320 million by selling 55,000 parcels of Otherside land.

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?????NFTs Recognized as Property in the UK

The UK judgment, slated to be published later this week, recognizes digital assets as property that can be afforded legal protections. In this case, those protections include a court injunction to freeze the assets on accounts on Ozone Networks (which hosts OpenSea) and a Bankers Trust disclosure “compelling [OpenSea] to send information about the two account holders” who are holding the stolen NFTs.

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???Algorand is FIFA’s Official Blockchain Platform, Sponsors World Cup

The blockchain will be a "regional supporter" for North America and Europe at this year's World Cup and an official sponsor of next year's Women's World Cup.

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?? Starbucks Teases Web 3 Platform in NFT Announcement

The coffeehouse chain intends to bring its ‘third place’ concept – a place to relax between home and work – from the physical world into the digital world, extending its loyalty experience.

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???Tomb Raider Publisher Square Enix sells Off Game Rights and Studios in $300m Deal to Focus on Blockchain Tech

Square Enix said the sale to Embracer "enables the launch of new businesses by moving forward with investments in fields including blockchain, AI, and the cloud.”

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???Americana's Chip Turns Physical Objects Into NFTs

The Internet of Things (IoT) is now evolving into the Metaverse of Things. But how does this tech work? Americana Technologies can embed a special kind of microchip into an object of their choice, making it eternal on the blockchain. The startup is backed by Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, rapper Future, and OpenSea.

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???FTX Announces $1 Billion Charity Fund and First Print Ad Campaign Starring Gisele Bundchen

Crypto exchange FTX officially launches its first ad campaign, "In On," which features CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and supermodel Gisele Bundchen.

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???Solana's Okay Bears Top All Ethereum NFT Projects With $18M in Sales in One Day

Okay Bears is breaking records as a Solana NFT project, and it might signal a change in NFT culture. After two years of almost complete domination of the NFT space by Ethereum projects, things are changing. With a mint price of 1.5 SOL ($147), the NFT collection quickly sold out, and now the price for one stands at almost 90 SOL ($8,850).

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w3 discord

Web 3 is all about community! Thats why we, from w3 also opened up our own Discord where we discuss all things around NFT, blockchain or the metaverse. If you haven't checked it out already – make sure to do so!

w3.fund hand-picked articles/podcasts of the week

articles:

1) “Otherside: Everything to Know About the New Bored Apes Project”, by Langston Thomas

The Otherside project was initially announced in March 2022. Subsequent speculation and a deluge of unconfirmed information in circulation made the exact details of the project fuzzy at best. And even though its launch was riddled with hiccups and rather poorly received throughout the greater NFT community, The Otherside is here to stay. With this in mind, here’s everything you need to know.

link to the article

2) “The Elondrop”, by Balaji Srinivasan

The angel investor, tech founder and formerly CTO of Coinbase has one message to Elon: “Build the political support necessary to free Twitter with the largest airdrop in history.”

link to the article

3) “Using advanced gas controls”, by MetaMask

The Otherside mint was a colossal gas war. Participants prepared themselves using adjustments in their gas control. It’s time you learn how this works.

link to the article

podcasts:

1) “RAC and David Greenstein on Why Music NFTs Are Better Than Spotify”, by Unchained with Laura Shin

André Allen Anjos, who is better known as the crypto-friendly artist RAC, and David Greenstein, co-founder of Sound.xyz, a web3 music platform, analyze the current state of the web3 music scene and discuss how artists can leverage web3 tools to get paid at fair market value for their art.

link to the episode

2) “In Defense of Bitcoin Maximalism | Vitalik Buterin”, by Bankless

Vitalik returns to Bankless once again to defend Bitcoin Maximalism of all things. On April Fools Day this year, Vitalik posted an article to his blog titled 'In Defense of Bitcoin Maximalism,' but instead of being a pure troll, the Ethereum Founder approached the piece with truth and crafted a salient & compelling argument.

link to the episode

3) “WTF is the Metaverse?”, by nft now**

Facebook recently brought the concept of a Metaverse back into the spotlight when the company changed its name to “Meta,” and promised a new world for users. This world would act as a virtual extension of our own — filled with unique 3D art, buildings, shopping, entertainment, and more. But what exactly is the Metaverse? Seriously, can someone explain WTF it really is?

link to the episode

w3.fund tweets of the week

w3.talk

Do you know that we launched our own podcast called?"w3.talk"? Every week Vicky & Marvin discuss every important topic in web3. If you haven't already – tune in & leave us a subscription!

Happy HODLing & an awesome weekend everyone! ??