What's Going On In Web3 | Feb 7, 2023

GM whats up, long time no talk!

It's been a while since I wrote here. To be honest, I got burnt out from writing multiple articles per week, hosting spaces, and doing live streams while dealing with the crypto and NFT market decline, which also impacted my income as a web3 consultant. I'm now working for FoolProof Labs as a growth strategist and content director/creator, which has been a great experience and has given me the ability to start working on these newsletters again.

Most recently, I was covering the slope wallet supply chain attack which resulted in $4 million being drained from users' wallets. After that, I had to decide whether to keep writing about the evolving FTX situation or find a good place to cover it. I might do a full FTX video later but, for now, there are already many great content creators who have done an amazing job covering the story.?

Now I’m back and will post this newsletter at least a couple of times a month, maybe pausing for a week or two when our new baby arrives here in a couple weeks. I’m excited to get back in the saddle and look forward to continuing to help keep you up to date with what’s going on in web3!

Now, let's talk about what's happening in web3!

What’s up with the Checks?

VV Checks is a NFT series created by artist and designer Jack Butcher and his team.?

It was influenced by Elon Musk's $8/month announcement and was one of the first Open Editions of the year, releasing on January 3 with a total of 16,031 NFTs minted.?

The collection's floor price has significantly risen and has sparked a thriving ecosystem of related projects.?

Butcher was taken aback by the success of VV Checks, which he initially created as a commentary on Elon's fee for the checks.?

However, due to its popularity and cult following, he intends to continue developing the project and is exploring innovative burn mechanics for future phases.

NFTs on Bitcoin?

Ordinals is a digital collectible platform built on the Bitcoin blockchain. It enables users to transfer, receive, and explore individual satoshis with unique inscribed data such as videos and images.?

The inscriptions are stored in a Bitcoin transaction’s signature and stay entirely on the Bitcoin network without the need for a sidechain or additional token. The Ordinals protocol is designed to be Bitcoin native and efficient, with low impact on the Bitcoin network.?

The creator of Ordinals, Casey Rodarmor, is a former Bitcoin Core contributor who aimed to create a system that numbers satoshis, gives each satoshi a serial number, and tracks them across transactions.?

Despite criticism from some Bitcoin maximalists, Rodarmor believes that inscriptions make blocks full without changing the size of the Bitcoin block and do not cause any problems for the Bitcoin network.

Uniswap === A16z? No.?

Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has been accused of being a centralized force in the governance process of Uniswap, a decentralized trading protocol.?

a16z has used all of its 15 million UNI tokens to vote against the current proposal to deploy Uniswap on Binance's BNB Chain.?

The firm is advocating for using LayerZero, a bridge protocol backed by a16z, instead of the Wormhole bridge, which is backed by Jump Crypto.?

This vote has sparked debate in the crypto community, with some seeing it as anti-competitive and others seeing it as how a free market is supposed to work.

The extent of a16z's control over Uniswap may have been overstated, as the firm's 15 million "no" votes represent only 2% of the circulating supply and 1.5% of the total supply of UNI tokens.?

The current vote tally is ~71% for the proposal and ~29% against.

FTX political contribution clawback

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, has requested the return of "contributions or other payments" that were made to political figures, political action committees and other recipients under the direction of its founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.

FTX’s new CEO, John John Jay Ray III, has warned that if the funds are not returned voluntarily by Feb 28, the company will seek recovery through legal means, adding that donations linked to FTX to third parties, such as charities, will still be pursued.?

Bankman-Fried, who has been charged with eight financial crimes including securities fraud and campaign finance violations, has donated millions of dollars to political candidates and organizations, both Republican and Democrat.?

Some politicians, such as former representative Beto O'Rourke, have already returned funds they received from Bankman-Fried, while others, like Senators Dick Durbin and Kirsten Gillibrand, have stated they will donate to charities the same amount they received from FTX.

(Bonus) Amazon FTX Mini-Series Currently In Production

Amazon has signed up for an eight-episode limited series about the FTX scandal from the Russo Brothers' production company AGBO.?

David Weil is set to write the pilot and executive produce, while the Russos are in talks to direct and executive produce.?

The series will be based on "insider reporting" by journalists who have covered FTX and its former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, and may feature Marvel actors in key roles.?

The series will be the latest in a string of limited series about entrepreneurs and the rapid collapse of their companies, including “The Dropout,” “WeCrashed,” and “Super Pumped.”?

The Russos signed a deal with Amazon in 2018 for the big-budget spy drama "Citadel".

OE 99 Red Spy Balloons x Checks Derivative??

So, I've been itching to make my own version of the popular Checks NFTs ever since they started popping up. And then, when I heard all the buzz about the spy balloon, something just clicked in my head and I knew I had to act fast. That's why I created my first Checks derivative NFT! It's an open-edition ERC721 that features 99 red balloons arranged in a grid, just like Checks. You can mint your own for just .0099 ETH, which is about 15 bucks. And the best part? You have until Friday at 11 PM EST to mint it!

Mint link: https://app.manifold.xyz/c/99-luftballons????