Web3 Weekly Wonderland | Edition #12 – Oct 2022

Aloha, fellow Web3ers!

Weekends just got a whole lot cooler with the latest edition of the Web3 Newsletter! Feel the rush of the Web3 rollercoaster ???right now as you explore every angle of the decentralised world anew through five unique themes like never before. Why not give it a shot? Here's a wild ride you don't want to miss >>

Don't forget to sign up ?? for the Web3 Weekly Wonderland newsletter to stay in the loop with everything Web3!?

Metaverse’s booming popularity has got people hungry for a taste of virtual reality. In the case of Banks, it seems they have taken the Red Pill to venture deep into the metaverse rabbit hole 一

Find out how the Metaverse Madness in the field of banking in?Banks Compounding Their Interest In The Metaverse .?

Let's move on to our blue bird update ? A while back, Kim Kardashian made headlines after being fined by the SEC, and this time, it’s Kanye West who made it to the bulletins:

Read the whole thread?here .?

Here's the TL;DR:

It looks like renowned names are surfing the Web3 waves ―?Walmart?is all set to dive its feet in the metaverse world;?Ripple?announced the second wave of recipients selected to join its $250M Creator Fund.

• A lot has been happening around Polygon this week ― While?Nubank?announced the creation of the?Nucoin?token on the Polygon blockchain,?Quadrata?integrated its passport identity technology with?Polygon.
• The ecosystem's players are trying out crypto chips ― We saw?Mastercard?entering into an agreement with?Paxos Trust Company?to launch a program that will let financial institutions offer crypto trading and?MetaMask?integrating with?Sardine?to enable cryptocurrency purchases from banks.
• The idea of building stuff seems to be the thing lately ―?Otonomi?raised $3.4M in a funding round to build a first-to-market blockchain-powered parametric cargo platform.?Nvidia?introduced?Metaverse-as-a-Service, a service that puts an industrial focus on emerging technology.?
• Lastly, even the big boys jumped on the Web3 rollercoaster― While?Adobe?partnered with?Meta?to introduce Substance 3D,?Binance?became the second-most powerful voting member of the DAO governing?Uniswap.?

Let's dig deep into the decentralised dimension –

Decentralised Assets 一??Setting the wheels in motion for the building blocks of the Web3 world, including Crypto, DeFi, and Tokenised Assets.

In the past week, a whole lot of regulatory-related events took place in the Decentralised Assets segment. Starting off —?France?announced plans to review crypto tax rules in 2023 as it seeks to become the world’s leading blockchain hub.?

• Moving the Web3 wheel to?South Africa, which declared crypto assets to be a financial product, according to a new notice from the country’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority making clear that a crypto asset is a digital representation of value that is not issued by a central bank but can be traded, transferred or stored electronically for payment, investment and other forms of utility. South Africa's all into the crypto wave!
• Regulatory development for bankrupt?Voyager Digital?also made it to the news after it received initial court approval for a $1.42B sale of its assets to FTX, soliciting votes from creditors.?
• New launches are making a big splash in the Web3 arena —?Nubank?announced the creation of the?Nucoin?token on the Polygon blockchain, which will be available in the first half of 2023 and will recognise customer loyalty and engagement with the bank products without cost or fees for its users.?
• Furthermore,?Fidelity’s crypto platform, Fidelity Digital Assets, announced it would add ether trading for institutional clients days after launching a new Ethereum Index Fund for accredited investors.
• Mastercard?hit the bulletins as it entered into an agreement with?Paxos Trust Company?to launch a program that will let mainstream financial institutions offer crypto trading to their customers by enabling them to buy, hold and sell cryptos.?
• Digital bank N26 also joined the party after launching a crypto trading service, starting with Austria as the first market for the product.
• Strengthening their footprint-?Gemini?officially launched its services in Ireland after the cryptocurrency firm secured a licence to serve as a Virtual Asset Service Provider.

In other news, to diversify payment options for users, the Ethereum wallet?MetaMask?integrated with?settlement merchant?Sardine?to enable instant bank funding for US customers and purchase crypto through the latter. Further,?JPEX?also sealed up a partnership with?Simplex?by Nuvei?to devise an innovative strategy for onboarding CeFi users to the DeFi ecosystem by using Visa debit cards as a gateway between fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies.

Decentralised Tech?– There won't be a dull moment at this event which focuses on the coolest bits of the Web3 space, i.e. Blockchain, Smart Contracts, and Oracles – a must-attend!

There has been a huge inflow of money on DLT street as companies gathered around to leverage the technology –?Celestia Labs?raised $55M in a combined Series A and B round, pushing Celestia into unicorn status; the company intends to build infrastructure that will make it easy for anyone with the technical know-how to deploy their blockchain at minimal expense.

• Meanwhile, Insurtech?Otonomi?raised $3.4M in a funding round led by ATX Ventures to build a first-to-market blockchain-powered parametric cargo platform.?
• Money continues to hit the DLT coast - layer 1 blockchain?Shardeum?raised $18.2M in a seed funding round so it could hire more employees, expand its network and increase its community.?
• Blockchain infrastructure and implementation technology firm?ChainSafe Systems Inc?also made it to the news after it raised a whopping $18.75M in a Series A funding led by Round13 to expand its developer products.
• Talking about the regulatory events,?Turkey?announced it would tap into blockchain to power its e-human project, where the president can share data related to its services and tools related to career, remote education and talent acquisition.?
• Similarly, the?Israeli government?announced it plans to test blockchain-based digital bonds as it seeks to modernise financial market processes and reduce associated costs in association with the?Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE).

Additionally,?Aptos Labs?blockchain launched its mainnet, which can be utilised by developers to create decentralised applications and for analysing by users.?

Virtual Assets World?– The hub is home to the shining stars of the Web3 universe: NFTs, Metaverse, and eXtended Reality!

Magnetic Metaverse?

• Aboding the metaverse rails ??Adobe?partnered with?Meta?to introduce?Substance 3D, a modelling software that solves the early Metaverse problem of creating content at scale.?
• Enhancing the metaverse realm ??MetaversusWorld?announced its new partnership and successful integration with?Ready Player Me,?as a result of which MetaversusWorld citizens will be able to access all the benefits of Ready Player Me including the most realistic and fun avatar customisation possible. Further,?Metaverse Group?signed a partnership agreement with?Aftermath Islands Limited,?which granted the former company three islands in its Metaverse.?
• Catering to the audience's needs, Indian e-commerce giant?Flipkart?partnered with Polygon-incubated organisation?eDAO?to launch a virtual shopping world in the Metaverse,?Flipverse, aiming to bridge the best of the online and offline shopping experience.?
• It’s raining money in the metaverse world ? The past week saw?Delysium?receiving $10M in a strategic funding round which will be used to accelerate the development of its open-source, decentralised publishing ecosystem for web3 games. The money poured into?MetaStreet?as well, raising a fresh round of venture funding of $10M that will be used for product development, marketing and employee hiring.
• Adding another feather to its hat,?Sensorium, the company behind the industry-leading?Sensorium Galaxy metaverse, confirmed its expansion into the United Arab Emirates to extend its global reach and speed up metaverse initiatives in the MENA region.
• In a world full of SaaS and BaaS,?Nvidia?introduced?Metaverse-as-a-Service, a service that puts an industrial focus on emerging technology. Further, multinational retail behemoth?Walmart?intends to take a dip in Metaverse anytime soon.

Newsy NFTs

• Creating cascades of success ??Ripple?announced the second wave of recipients selected to join its $250M Creator Fund focused on promoting the development of NFT-related projects on the XRP Ledger.?
• Never a dull week in the NFT town ??Anime-based NFT project?Azuki?launched a physical backed token (PBT) on the Ethereum blockchain to unlock the use of physical goods to create digital experiences, thereby creating a new generation of storytelling and experiences.
• Reddit?users appear to be upvoting NFT ? The social network’s users opened over 2.5 million crypto wallets on the platform since Reddit released its NFT marketplace in July.
• For a fruity travel experience, Latin American crypto exchange?Lemon?integrated with?TravelX?– a tokenised travel products marketplace – to allow its users to buy airline tickets, offering tickets for low-cost Argentine airline Flybondi that are converted into non-fungible tokens called NFTickets after purchase.

Decentralised Governance?– Prepare for a jam-packed bonanza encompassing everything from partnerships and launches and every little thing in between!

A couple of launches shed light on Decentralised Governance this week:?Unit21?and other members of the US consumer fintech community came together to launch the?Fintech Fraud Decentralised Autonomous Organization (DAO), a decentralised network enabling greater transparency and quicker identification of suspicious and potentially fraudulent activity.?

• Shaping the Web3 sphere, decentralised trading platform?ShapeShift DAO?released a mobile app that provides biometric protection for wallets and allows users to claim yield in-app.
• What’s more - Blockchain-based project launchpad?Uplift DAO?partnered with?MoonPay?to make Web3 more accessible for users by enabling them to invest in Web3 projects using traditional fiat payment methods.?
• Hitting a milestone,?Binance?became the second-most powerful voting member of the DAO governing?Uniswap?by delegating 13.2 million UNI tokens, Uniswap’s governance token, from its own books.

Decentralised Identity –?Here's where you get all the buzz in the blockchain space, trailblazing the concept of digital identity in the Web3 realm!

• Kicking off this segment with various launches:?Aftermath Islands Metaverse?launched its?Liquid Avatar?app, which replaces usernames and passwords with proof of humanity and lets users sign into metaverse apps with verified face recognition instead of normal logins.?
• Moving on, PoA algorithm?Clique?announced that it would roll out an identity-oracle protocol in 2022, enabling marketing teams to securely incentivise user behaviours across social media and content distribution platforms.?
• GameFi development platform?BinaryX?also caught the eye after it announced the launch of? its official?RhinoX?roadmap, which reveals its ambitious plan to develop a soul breeding mechanism that gives existing RhinoX token holders the ability to breed 2nd generation NFTs from their existing NFTs.?

That’s not all -?Quadrata, a passport network bringing the identity and compliance layer to public blockchains, integrated its passport identity technology with?Polygon, providing applications being built on Polygon with access to identity and compliance solutions, and will deliver on Quadrata’s roadmap to support multiple blockchains.?

Wrapping up the edition, South Korea’s?Woori Bank?announced its plans to offer citizens a smartphone blockchain-secured digital identity in a wish to boost economic growth.

It can sometimes be overwhelming for our Web3 wanderers to get their heads around the Web3 world ?? with new things popping up every other day ??. So, let's learn more about Web3 as we wrap up. Welcome to the LearnVerse! ?

Web3 Word Of The Week

Lightning Network:?Due to its design, Bitcoin has slow transaction speeds and high transaction costs. The Lightning Network is a "second-layer solution" that speeds up transactions while reducing costs by skirting the main Bitcoin blockchain. In the Lightning Network, users can create payment channels that allow them to conduct transactions away from the main blockchain but still benefit from its security and decentralisation.?

Don't forget to check out this Web3 delight ?? over the weekend for a peek into the Web3 realm, fresh from ‘The Whitehouse’!

• Uniswap v3 Core whitepaper

That's all for now!??

We hope you enjoyed this edition of the Web3 Weekly Wonderland experience, and we'll see you next Friday! ??

If you're hungry for FinTech insights, check out some of our other work at?WhiteSight .?

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