ETH Denver recap + All the Web3 news you missed this week

Last week was ETH Denver, a mostly developer focused conference. More importantly, it was one of the first big conferences. I posted a recap on The Axial Studio substack, the TL;DR is:

1. The crowds were big and there was a large international presence

2. Many people seem to be building for an enclosed crypto economy

3. People believe that there is/will be a big consumer backlash against centralized crypto/web3 ecosystems

4. “Cross-chain” and “zero-knowledge proofs” win the most frequently-heard buzzwords

(Read more on The Axial Studio) and now on to all the Web3 news you missed this week

General

What Web3 must do if it wants to attract 1 billion users (Yahoo)

Web3 needs to take the following steps to attract 1 billion users:

1. One-click accessibility with fewer steps to onboard

2. Onboarding businesses so their customers follow suit

3. Celebrities taking stakes in Web3’s creator economy

4. Improving interoperability between layer-1 chains

5. A clear and consistent regulatory landscape

NFTs

Amazon NFTs Will Be Tied to Real-world Assets, Token Possible (Blockworks)

Amazon is laying the groundwork to give its customers the ability to purchase NFTs tied to real-world assets that are delivered to their doorstep, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The move is a significant upgrade from the e-commerce giant’s earlier steps in developing its NFT platform.

Critic Says Yuga Labs Bitcoin NFTs Auction Sets 'Really Bad Precedent’ (Decrypt)

The firm behind Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs opened bids for its first 300-piece Bitcoin NFT collection, called TwelveFold, early Monday morning. The auction process requires interested TwelveFold buyers to transfer Bitcoin to a Yuga Labs deposit address to place their bids. The company then custodies users Bitcoin until the auction ends; if a bid is unsuccessful, the funds are returned. According to a Bitcoin Ordinals user, this is a "scammer's dream," adding that “Yuga is establishing a REALLY bad precedent running an auction like this.”

Coinbase ‘Iterating Quickly’ on NFT Marketplace Despite Lackluster Rollout: Protocols Head (Decrypt)

In April 2022, Coinbase launched an NFT marketplace that did not catch on as strongly as the company had hoped - but the firm is iterating quickly to insight growth.

Metaverse

Mark Zuckerberg Quietly Buries the Metaverse (The Street)
There will be no press release, no big announcement, as he would have to acknowledge that he was wrong. But make no mistake: Mark Zuckerberg just buried the metaverse. The metaverse is dead. 

Inside the metaverse hype train at MWC 2023 (Techcrunch)

Metaverse hype was hanging like a multicolored fog over the Mobile World Congress (MWC) connectivity trade show in Barcelona this week.

Conference organizer, the GSMA’s, program pitched attendees into a smorgasbord of metaverse-themed discussions — most of which seemed designed to generate maximum FOMO, as a parade of tech evangelists took to the stage in Spain, armed with a new generation of acronyms and luridly colored slide-decks, urging the audience not to sweat the detail of whatever this metaverse thing is (or isn’t). And just focus on monetizing it before someone else does.

Crypto

Crypto is facing two distinct, yet related problems. First, a bunch of people have lost money due to the decline in coin prices and the collapse of major firms, such as FTX. At the same time, regulatory scrutiny is also increasing. And of course, the reason that scrutiny is increasing is in part due all the lost money. So how is the industry dealing with all this? On this episode of the podcast, we speak with Brian Armstrong, the co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, the biggest crypto exchange in the US. He talks about the trajectory of the industry, where he sees it going, the impediments it faces, and much more.

DeFi

Crypto Funding: DeFi replaces CeFi as VC Favorite (Blockworks)

According to a CoinGecko report, DeFi funding rose by 190%, while CeFi funding fell 73% from 2018 to 2022.

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About Me

Hi, I’m Andrew Chang - I created the Web3 Roundup to share what I’m learning in this space. I’ve spent my career at the forefront of the technology industry in areas such as crypto/blockchain (Former COO @ Paxos, co-founding partner of Liberty City Ventures), video and adtech. I learn by meeting with founders, investors and other thought leaders and approach Web3 with the same enthusiasm – and skepticism – I had about crypto/blockchain technologies 10 years ago. 

You can connect with me on LinkedIn