Will Web3 segregate us further + All the Web3 news you missed this week
This week, we saw a continued trend of companies like Amex investing in Web3 infrastructure and big brands exploring their place in the metaverse.
Here’s the Web3 news from the past week
General
American Express Ventures is doubling down on Web3 (Fortune)
Web3 is a core area of focus for the $1.3B corporate fund. Matt Sueoka of Amex Ventures refers to Web3 as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity for a potential resetting of infrastructure.” (But not in cryptocurrency…)
Web3 Threatens to Segregate Our Online Lives (Wired)
Governance tokens give the appearance of democracy, but the reality is more complicated. “A user has to pay to be part of web3, and if web3 is the future of the internet, it’s easy to see a future where the average consumer is completely blocked from participating.”
NFTs
SEC Scrutinizes NFT Market Over Illegal Crypto Token Offerings (Bloomberg)
“The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is scrutinizing creators of NFTs and the crypto exchanges where they trade to determine if some of the assets run afoul of the agency’s rules”
NFT Buyers Furious After Art They Spent $70M on Turned Out To Be Completely Hideous (The_Byte)
“Another tale of NFT hype gone hilariously awry. What was promised to be a beautifully-designed, Pokémon-inspired NFT project called Pixelmon turned out to be a huge mess of irredeemably ugly pixel art — and investors are now furious.”
Metaverse
Building a brand in the metaverse (Fast Company)
“…the early winners in the metaverse are the brands that speak to an authentic identity—with a twist that’s relevant in these new environments.” “…the most successful brands and entrepreneurs have moved beyond e-commerce into i-commerce, or immersive commerce—transactions based on users’ deeper interactions in this new digital environment.”
Meta's Plea At MWC 2022: Come Build Metaverse-Ready Networks With Us (CNET)
Mark Zuckerberg knows his company can't build the metaverse alone. “Creating the metaverse would mean creating connectivity infrastructure that can evolve as fast as technology does, and that it would require working with partners to make this happen.”
How to create meaning and value in the metaverse (Fast Company)
The CEO of Storyblocks discusses three considerations for companies that want to compete in this immersive new world—one of which is to spread the wealth. 1. Design for diversity. 2. Provide and rich and immersive experience. 3. Share the economic benefit with your community.
DAOs
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations Are Red Hot, But What Exactly Are They? (Forbes)
This is a good overview article about DAOs - TL;DR, DAOs like any new concept have a lot of promise, but there’s still a long way to go to work out the challenges.
They Spent $3M on a Dune Script Bible - Now What? (The Verge)
Spice DAO’s existence has been messy, precarious, and sometimes remarkably convoluted. But it’s also more interesting, and maybe more earnest, than a deluge of Twitter dunks suggested.
UkraineDAO Raises $7M and Builds Global Network of Supporters, Says Co-Founder Alona (The Defiant)
The UkraineDAO is an interesting case study in how people can organize and fundraise around fast moving topics. “The most valuable thing, to me, about this DAO, is that I was able to connect with other people who were on the ground, or that could provide some help,” Alona, a UkraineDAO co-founder
Misc.
Ben McKenzie, Actor Turned Crypto Naysayer (New York Magazine)
Ben McKenzie (Of The O.C. fame) has become a celebrity anti-influencer. “He suspects most celebrities don’t actually understand what they’re helping to sell — they, too, can be lured in by the promise of a big payday (like the rumored $100 million spent on the Damon ad) or of getting in on the ground floor of something “revolutionary.”