🎁 Wrapped: The Weekly Web3 Newsletter (Edition #11)

Wrapped: The Weekly Web3 Newsletter (Edition #11) 

By @DepecheNode_

12.15.21

Nike just bought a seat at the metaverse table and CloneX volume is ripping on the news. What will it mean for the future of RTFKT? Do we like watching web2 brands acquire web3 projects? RTFKT felt very much like a web3 native creative company. Have they sold out to corporate America, or have they acquired more resources to build their own vision? The answer is probably both, and it’s a net positive for the industry. Purists may not like it, but we need to welcome web2 brands into web3 with open arms if we want to keep building and fostering a spirit of inclusion.

TL;DR: this is exciting and will set a precedent for future acquisitions…who’s next?

Crypto leaders testified in front of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee this week in an attempt to help the old guard understand our new world. Lawmakers appeared to express genuine interest in understanding web3, and provided our industry leaders with ample time to answer and educate these regulators. It actually seemed like a productive and educational meeting…dare we call this progress? We also got some great memes from the legend Sam Bankman-Fried. Kudos to Sam, Brian Brooks, Alesia Haas, Jeremy Allaire, and all of our industry leaders for making us proud. 

We’re all complaining about what’s ‘fair’ these days. When the number stops going up, CT starts bickering. 

Issue #1: What do we really own? As the NFT market begins to mature, degens are finally beginning to read the fine print. Punk 4156 famously sold his punk this week for 2,500 ETH because Larva Labs does not allow NFT holders full commercial rights. Others are disappointed in CloneX’s mixed approach of ‘partial’ commercial rights for some avatars, while avatars with the ‘murakami’ trait have none at all. BAYC otoh gives owners full IP of their NFT, while Cryptoadz waives all copyright & other rights altogether. The truth is, 99% of us will never need the IP in order to ‘build a meaningful brand’ around an NFT, but we still love to hate restrictions of any kind. 

Issue #2: Airdrops. We’re now squabbling over free money. Perhaps airdrops are preparing us all for future family squabbles when an estate is passed from one generation to the next. It simply never feels ‘fair’. Many missed the $ENS airdrop by days, while others made a killing. We’re all mad at Opensea for not releasing a token (still a small chance), we’re way too excited for a Metamask token, and we’re already arguing about the future BAYC token drop. 

Issue #3: Minting. Punks Comic #2 had what appeared to be a ‘sensible’ tiered approach to rolling out their new comic, but the outcome was anything but. The project minted out in 15 minutes amidst an extremely high gas war amongst Founders DAO token holders. I arrived at minute 14, saw gas at 1440 with a few hundred copies left, and gave up. 

The Solution: Realize nobody owes you anything. Constantly chasing giveaways, airdrops & whitelists is exhausting, and feels like someone trying to build wealth by clipping coupons and buying lotto tickets. Take a step back, form hypotheses, and invest in what you believe in. And yes, I’m definitely speaking to myself here. 

Market Vibes 

The crab-bear market continues. Generative art is hemorrhaging and is quickly establishing itself as one of the largest bubbles so far this cycle. The influx of supply continues unabated, resulting in a giant game of musical chairs. We need more ETH and more frens to come play our games. Nike’s acquisition is exciting, but likely not enough to kickstart another bull market. Let us pray that Coinbase injects more normies into the system soon. Congrats to the outperformers of the week:

🚨DISCLOSURE: I own NFTs! I own punk #2971 if you’d like to dig around. I also own a Ringer, which has lost over 100 ETH in value in just a few months (definitely not bitter at all about that).