⛓️ What The Block - The road to web3 mass adoption

WTB #04

Apr 25, 2022

Welcome back to What The Block, a newsletter packed with insights & intelligence about the Web3, Blockchain, NFTs and the Metaverse—written by me, David Klingbeil

gm everybody,

The Web3 we know today is still in its infancy. The field - created by the publication of the Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008 - is only 13 years old and the term "web3" itself has become popular less than 1 year ago.

Only a small number of people use and own any of these technologies at this point. Web3 is still a playground for early adopters, with 100M holders of BTC, 80,000 NFT collections and only 10,000 bored apes.

Vitto Rivabella 🇺🇦 🥑 @VittoStack

The best time to start your web3 career is now.

However, many people involved in the web3 space feel we are on a positive trajectory when it comes to mass adoption. It seems that interest is growing steadily year after year. The last few years have been an exciting journey and the early signs of future mass adoption are piling up.

Now is the perfect time to discuss it, learn about it and imagine the future of money, trust, technology, art and gaming.

Through this newsletter, I hope to make the world of web3 more accessible and entertaining by curating news and insights that will make you think... What the Block ?!

WAGMI*

David Klingbeil
(Twitter - LinkedIn)

PS: feel free to hit reply to leave a comment, I read and answer every message

*We’re All Gonna Make It, a popular way to cheer in Web3 ;)

This week’s must read

🎨 NFTs

Coinbase Unveils Social NFT Marketplace
Moonbirds becomes #1 with $290 million in sales in 4 days
Luxury beauty brand Guerlain reveals Cryptobees, an NFT collection on Tezos
Number of NFT collections doubles to 40,000 and Total Trading Volume Exceeds $54,000,000,000
How NFTs are revamping the ticketing industry

Bored Ape Yacht Club @BoredApeYC

One year ago today, the Bored Ape Yacht Club mint began . . . What an insane year. Here’s to many more to come. Happy Birthday, apes! 🎉🎂🦍

💸 Cryptocurrencies

3.6M Americans to use crypto to make a purchase in 2022, research firm predicts
EU Politicians Do Not Understand The Importance Of Crypto
Ukraine bans bitcoin purchases amid martial law
Shopify To Bring Bitcoin to a Quarter of Global Population
Tornado Cash Blocking Sanctioned Addresses Shows Privacy Is a Myth

🕹️ Gaming & the Metaverse

A review of the Most Popular Virtual Worlds
The Metaverse needs to keep an eye on privacy
Increased adoption of Metaverse NFTs will power the next NFT growth cycle

✌️ Misc

Venture Capital Giant Andreessen Horowitz Launches Crypto and Web3 Research Lab
New Leak Reveals Prices for Celebrity-Endorsed Social Media Posts
Twitter and Stripe roll out USDC payout program for creators via Polygon

Food for thought

Basic and weird: What the Metaverse is like right now

Consumers and brands have high expectations for the metaverse. However, visiting virtual worlds such as The Sandbox or Decentraland may still be a little underwhelming, at least for now — and especially for gamers.
The tech has its challenges, but the fundamentals are truly intriguing. It’s still in an entrepreneurial testing stage and financially driven by the degens driving it.
Many brands have explored the possibilities of the metaverse (like the Fashion Week on Decentraland). Still, the main usecase remains events and attractions. They seem to work well in the Metaverse. But for now, it’s like throwing goo against a wall. Some things will stick.

How Play To Earn Is Transforming Gaming

Video games have universal appeal because they’re immersive, allow us to escape the outside world and we’re willing to pay for this experience. In the P2E business model gamers are empowered as owners, as well as creators.
There are essentially two ways gamers can make a supplementary income on certain games on the P2E business model.
- Earn crypto through gameplay (for example, SLP tokens on Axie Infinity).
- Earn NFTs and sell them on the market.
Many P2E games require investment to begin with, making the barrier to entry high. For instance, to start playing Axie Infinity, you need to buy three Axie NFTs (for up to $300). Renting and loaning NFTs have emerged as ways to provide access to other players while allowing owners to make additional profits.