The week in fact n°35
Summary:
- Mobility: Best Sighting of the Production Beta Tesla Cybertruck Shows the Gigawiper Lives On
- Metaverse: Paris Hilton to Launch Metaverse Dating Experience ‘Parisland’ in The Sandbox
- NFT: OnChain Monkey NFTs Double in Price After Creators Put Them on Bitcoin
- Luxury: Estée Lauder lowers forecast as China recovery lags
- Web3: Bitcoin NFT Mints Are Rising—But So Are Transaction Fees
- Fashion: Chloé launches ‘instant resale’ using digital IDs on Vestiaire Collective
Mobility: Best Sighting of the Production Beta Tesla Cybertruck Shows the Gigawiper Lives On
Tesla is preparing for the production of its Cybertruck at its Giga Texas factory and plans to start production this summer.
The company has covered the windows of the facility to prevent spying and hints at an imminent announcement, likely to be at the Investor Day event in March.
A lucky Tesla fan got a glimpse at the Cybertruck prototype, which lacks rear-wheel steering and has spot taillights, but has a tetrahedral design for the side mirrors. The latest view of the prototype showed a gigantic wiper in the lower-left corner of the windshield, nicknamed "the gigawiper."
The Cybertruck reservation holders are hoping for the many small tweaks promised by Elon Musk, and some have complained that the truck appears smaller than previous prototypes.
Metaverse: Paris Hilton to Launch Metaverse Dating Experience ‘Parisland’ in The Sandbox
Paris Hilton has launched "Parisland" within the metaverse game, The Sandbox, where players can virtually meet five other players, complete quests and ultimately find love.
The experience is being billed as an "imaginary reality show" and includes activities such as shopping for outfits, selecting wedding rings and investigating a secret.
The Sandbox is built on Polygon and has seen celebrities like Snoop Dogg and deadmau5 buy virtual land in its metaverse. Parisland was developed in partnership with 11:11 Media and hopes to help players make real romantic connections.
Although Parisland may be an appealing alternative to online dating, there are risks of harassment, as seen in other metaverses.
The Sandbox operates using its native token SAND and is restricted to adults over 18 years old. Paris Hilton previously collaborated with Roblox on a virtual space called Paris World for her "Cryptoween" event.
NFT: OnChain Monkey NFTs Double in Price After Creators Put Them on Bitcoin
Ordinals, the recently launched Bitcoin-based NFT protocol, is causing a stir in the crypto world, with record-breaking mints and high-value sales over the past few days.
OnChain Monkey, a collection of 10,000 Ethereum NFT profile pictures, has used Ordinals to "inscribe" all of its existing artwork on Bitcoin.
The Ethereum NFT prices have almost tripled since the announcement, with a 12,200% increase in NFT trading volume over the past 24 hours compared to the previous span. Metagood, the startup behind OnChain Monkey, plans to build a bridge between Ethereum and Bitcoin to allow NFT holders to switch between the two versions.
The project’s Discord server is filling up with users who claim to have purchased one of the Ethereum NFTs and are asking for details on how it will work. OnChain Monkey is part of Metagood's push to use Web3 initiatives to fund programs that benefit communities. Metagood raised $5 million in December.
Luxury: Hermès wins case against Metabirkins over digital NFTs
A jury trial in the Southern District of New York ruled that artist Mason Rothschild has infringed on the trademark protections of luxury brand Hermès with his 100 "Metabirkins" NFTs.
The jury found that the NFTs were not artistic commentary and therefore not protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
The decision is the first to address the relationship between digital art, NFTs, and physical fashion, and suggests that digital representations of luxury goods have value even if they don't perform the original function of the physical items.
The jury awarded Hermès $133,000 in total damages for trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and cybersquatting. Rothschild has stated that he plans to appeal the decision, and the case is likely to have implications for future artists commenting on social constructs through branding and imagery. It is a landmark case in determining how NFTs will be used by artists, and good news for brands as it classified the NFTs as "knockoff Hermès."
The verdict signals that the NFT market is not a legal free-for-all, and it highlights the importance of protecting intellectual property in the digital world.
Web3: Bitcoin NFT Mints Are Rising—But So Are Transaction Fees
For nearly a decade, creators have enlisted sidechain or layer-2 solutions to link digital art to the Bitcoin blockchain. But how this is accomplished—or whether it should even be done—has Crypto Twitter up in arms after new project Ordinals developed a way to add digital items to on-chain Bitcoin transactions.
Bitcoin has only limited smart contract support.
To address this, earlier projects like Counterparty and Stacks developed alternative solutions that use a native token for the contract piece but ultimately settle their transactions back on the Bitcoin blockchain.
The most recent example of Bitcoin NFTs is Ordinals, and it takes a different approach. Launched in January, Ordinals aims to add NFT-like assets directly onto the Bitcoin blockchain.
Despite the controversy, Ordinals brings the quest for NFTs on Bitcoin closer than ever, as it does not require a sidechain or layer-2 solution (or similar) or an additional cryptocurrency to work.
Bitcoin remains the top cryptocurrency by market cap, but as Ordinals and past examples show, some developers are still trying to use its decentralized network to power new use cases.
Fashion: Chloé launches ‘instant resale’ using digital IDs on Vestiaire Collective
Chloé, a luxury fashion house owned by Richemont, is launching Chloé Vertical, a project designed to make its products more circular and to improve the production of key raw materials. Bags, shoes, and ready-to-wear in the SS23 Chloé Vertical collection use 100% traceable materials and are equipped for Instant Resale, a first for the industry.
The resale of the products will be hosted by Vestiaire Collective, Chloé's exclusive partner, and will offer a price to sellers once they've uploaded product imagery and details through a pre-filled listing form.
This will allow for payment to be delivered immediately before the product has necessarily sold.
Digital identification is gaining traction as a tool to promote sustainability in fashion and Chloé claims to be the first brand to launch a resale system integrated with digital ID technology.
The objective of the Digital Passport is to empower customers to make informed sustainable purchase choices with disclosure, transparency, and traceability.