Jan 8
Web3 Newsletter — Edition #5
This week’s newsletter is stuffed as there was a ton of news and activity in Web3 to start the year. Welcome to all of the new people who have recently joined the distribution list. As a reminder, John Alleva and I (Aaron Radin) started this project to help get ourselves and others better educated about the space. To do so, we share articles, ideas, companies, etc. that we think are important to be aware of and hope that you will share back with us.
Essential Web3 Concepts
Discord is the predominant communication channel for gaming and has become so for Web3. In order to keep up, familiarizing yourself with how information is shared, how useful it is for having questions answered and how automated response tools can interact with a group, you must dive in. I am a recent convert and, though it is like drinking from a fire hose, am learning a ton in a short amount of time.
We have a Discord server (that is the vernacular of the platform) for this newsletter. Please sign up and join us in the conversation and learn your way around.
How Discord, Born From an Obscure Game, Became a Social Hub for Young People — NY Times profile of the company.
Discord: Imagine a Place — A very long, but compelling blog post about what Discord is, what it’s options are and how it is key to an intersection with Web3
Other Things We Are Reading…
Blockchain
Convince them that this is real: How publishers are getting audiences to adopt the blockchain — Blockchain and NFTs are generally unapproachable for consumers. This article shares how Saatchi Art and Turner are attempting to make it easier to understand.
Cryptocurrency
JP Morgan Says Ethereum’s DeFi Dominance at Risk Due to Sharding Delays — Analyst suggests that alternative blockchains (Terra, Binance, Avalanche, Solana, Fantom, Tron and Polygon) will gain irreversible market share before Ethereum scaling update. (This note could be a cause of the sharp drop in Ethereum this past week)
Companies
Arcade Raises $15M in Series A Funding for NFT-Backed Loans
Gaming
Here are two related stories about the evolution in gaming to reward play by earning crypto.
Animoca’s Crazy TD Games Show The Value of Adding Crypto to Live Games
Jobs — This wasn’t a category I expected to have in the newsletter, but if people share interesting Web3 roles, happy to post them here.
Founder/CEO NFT Vault — Founders Factory is looking for someone to lead a business focused on making NFTs easier to manage.
NFTs
A Visual Guide to Profile Picture NFTs — Illustration of some of the tactics employed to create scarcity when NFTs are created.
Sell NFTs on Shopify — Shopify is now offering the ability to mint NFTs for their merchants.
OpenSea Freezes $2.2m of Stolen Bored Apes — Is it a decentralized market when demand can be turned off? Ben Thompson wrote about this earlier this week (subscription required).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8f-BQFo7lw
As a reminder the value of this community will be greatly increased if we are all sharing, so our request is to PLEASE SHARE WITH US. Send anything that you think this group will find interesting to web3newsletter@gmail.com. We will compile them and give you credit for the share (or post them anonymously if you choose). Feel free to forward the newsletter to people who you think can contribute to this community.
Thanks (Content Submissions) — Michael Alvarez, Paul Greenberg, Lynn Anderson Clark
Feedback — We’d love to hear what you think, especially since we have never put together a newsletter. Constructive criticism is welcome.
Discord — Join the Web3 Newsletter community on Discord.
Archive — All of the previously published newsletters can now be found here and on Mirror.
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