Web3 Weekly Wonderland | Edition #6 – Sept 2022
Hola Web3ers!
We know you've been craving another Web3 ride to cap off your week a rockin' way! So, whatcha waiting for? Sit back and enjoy the Web3 thrill ride 🎢 filled with adrenaline-pumping adventures ⚡ across five stunning themes drawn from the decentralised world. Let's get it going, huh?
First up, check out this tweet for an extra dose of info on the Web3 world –
Click here to read the whole thing.
Here's the TL;DR:
The Web3 party is in high spirits, with Spirit Blockchain Capital Inc. announcing its investment in AVAX and having set up its own validator node to help secure the Avalanche network. PUMA further pumped up the vibe by unveiling its metaverse website (called Black Station) during New York Fashion Week!
Driving into the metaverse were also Renault and The Sandbox, who partnered to present Renault-based virtual automotive experiences to customers. The madness of metaverse continues 一 Metaverse Magna (MVM) raised a massive $3.2M seed sale token round to expand its efforts to build Africa's largest gaming DAO.
Immersing further into the virtual universe ― Nigerian government agency EPZA announced plans to work with Binance and establish a "virtual free zone" to promote blockchain technology. Riding the NFT wave, Reddit launched its limited edition NFT avatars that boosted secondary sales on OpenSea, outpacing its own store's sales.
A huge win for Gate Global UAB was in the cards, as it received a licence to offer virtual asset services in Lithuania. Another success story was that of Credix, which raised $11.25M in a Series A funding round for platform development, hiring, and integration with Web3.
Silence Laboratories wasn't so silent as it made some noise by raising $1.7M seed funding to further widen its product offerings towards decentralised security. Entering like an interstellar into the universe of decentralised identity, SPACE ID closed its seed round fundraising led by Binance Labs.
Let's dig deep into the decentralised dimension –
Decentralised Currency 一 brings you all the action from the decentralised currency ecosystem, along with a host of snazzy stories from the world of Crypto, DeFi and Tokenised Assets.
All thumbs were up for regulating crypto's booming yet shakey world – with the Bank of Russia agreeing to legalise crypto for cross-border payments in light of the current geopolitical climate, which makes cross-border crypto transfers inevitable. We now move on to Brazil, where the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission wanted to change the country's legal framework since the current bill does not treat tokens as securities or digital assets.
It was a damn good moment for dAMM Finance, which launched to bring a decentralised, transparent, capital-efficient lending and borrowing model to institutional investors.
The money jiggling resumes making its impact like a song stuck in one's head, with Credix raising $11.25M in a Series A funding round for platform development, hiring and integration with other Web3 projects. Further, 21.co raised $25M in a funding round to continue expanding key markets, acquiring strategic talent, and developing first-of-their-kind products.
Adding the ultra to the funding saga was Ultrade, which raised $2.4M in seed funding. The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach.
The one to scuttle the deal was Crypto.com, which backed out of a 5-year sponsorship deal worth $495M with the UEFA Champions League because of regulatory concerns in the UK, France, and Italy. Another backing out event was Netflix's plans to filter out some ads, including cryptocurrency advertisements, on its new ad-based streaming service (to be launched later this year) to ensure only family-friendly content goes on the platform.
Congratulations were in order for Gate.io's Lithuania-based arm Gate Global UAB, which received a licence to offer virtual asset services in Lithuania, expanding its scope of service to reach more users worldwide.
In a not-so-chill moment, Seychelles-based crypto exchange KuCoin highlighted flaws in Acala's community proposal to recover millions of dollars erroneously issued by August's exploit.
Bidding farewell to the ecosystem was Babylon Finance, which will close its operations after making losses of nearly $3M as a result of the Rari Fuse exploit.
Streaming their way to success, Blockstream, Sevenlabs, and Poseidon Group joined hands to launch a decentralised exchange for bitcoin and security assets.
Decentralised Tech – brings a party in the sphere themed around Blockchain, Smart Contracts, and Oracles – a perfect way to stay on top of everything Web3!
To add to the slew of offerings was Caduceus Foundation, announcing the launch of M4TTER, an incubator to promote DeFi, NFT, GameFi and other blockchain projects. Driving the party spirit forward was Spirit Blockchain Capital Inc, as the company announced its investment in AVAX and set up its own validator node to help secure the Avalanche network.
Making the frolic more vibrant, we move over to India, where Maharashtra Government developed blockchain technology to store property buyers' e-registration data and authenticate it. Blockchain tech is on its way to legitimising real estate!
On the integration front, Meter Network is all set to integrate with Pocket Network, boosting a more decentralised technology stack and better user experience for the Meter community.
To bring more oomph to the boosting game, China's state-backed Blockchain Service Network (BSN) brought on more than 10 Hong Kong-based conglomerates to its new Spartan Network, including Hong Kong's Emperor Group, HSBC, Lan Kwai Fong Group and Maxim's Group.
We now turn our attention to Nigeria, where the Nigerian government agency EPZA announced plans to work with cryptocurrency exchange Binance to establish a "virtual free zone" dedicated to blockchain technology and the digital economy.
The American Blockchain Political Action Committee (PAC) also partnered with Reaper Financial to advance the blockchain and distributed ledger industry towards mainstreaming regulatory adoption.
In other news, HIVE Blockchain made the bulletin for its plans to explore mining Ethereum alternatives ahead of the merge. The company is reportedly mining nearly $350,000 in crypto daily and plans to diversify its operations after the merge.
Virtual Assets World – The place where you can find all the goodies of the Web3 universe through NFTs, Metaverse, and eXtended Reality!
Noteworthy NFTs
Kryptomon embraced the best of both worlds, as it launched its official sale on Binance NFT, bringing "Physital NFT" collections that merge the physical and the digital into existence.
As if out of Aladdin's lamp, Geenee AR launched a metaverse multiplayer experience for mobile and web browsers, enabling players to enjoy the game using their custom blockchain avatars and digital wearables.
Reddit’s launch of limited edition NFT avatars also led to a significant premium on secondary sales on OpenSea, outperforming the platform's proprietary store.
Not just that, but Solana NFT startup Dust Labs raised $7M in seed funding for building out the $DUST ecosystem, comprising of NFT projects like yoots and DeGods.
Glitzy GameFi
With an eye on building its empire, Kingdomverse made headlines for announcing that it will be at Tokyo Game Show 2022, aiming to introduce a new "freemium" model that will form the foundation of the metaverse and mobile gaming ecosystem.
PODA platform of US GODA CAPITAL was also peddling up, with plans to launch its second game product in October to support the continued development of the entire blockchain industry and game platform applications.
Foraging into the GameFi space was Polemos with an introduction video to the Polemos Forge, a new protocol for blockchain gaming enthusiasts worldwide.
Majestic Metaverse
Meta's major milestone to make a mark in the metaverse map 一 the company will be opening ten virtual campuses as part of its Immersive Learning project, which seeks to take education to virtual reality environments.
As we drove across Silicon Valley, headlines about Franklin Templeton's forthcoming metaverse ETF popped up, offering European investors exposure to companies supporting blockchain technology and the metaverse.
Talking about drives and cars, Hyundai Motor India launched their new Venue N Line edition in Metaverse on Roblox, offering an interactive experience virtually before the product hits showrooms. Anyone up for a test drive in the metaverse?
Syncing in the tempo of the metaverse, Swiss crypto bank Sygnum announced the opening of a metaverse hub on Decentraland to bolster its position in the emerging metaverse economy.
It's not just Switzerland that's hooked by the metaverse, though. The Korean subsidiary of Renault also established a partnership with The Sandbox to enter the metaverse space and to present Renault-based virtual automotive experiences to customers.
The headline of PUMA strutting on the meta runway by unveiling its metaverse website, called Black Station, during New York Fashion Week created quite the glam in the metaverse world last week.
Compounding its presence in the metaverse, DBS, too, announced a partnership with The Sandbox to create DBS BetterWorld to showcase the importance of building a better, more sustainable world and inviting others to come alongside.
Decentralised Governance – A sing-along of events took place throughout the week, spanning across dozens of activities like partnerships, launches, and everything else!
In the last week, a spate of new launches bloomed into the decentralised governance sphere. Beginning with Sudoswap, which introduced its own governance token called SUDO after laying the groundwork for a 60 million airdrop of the same.
What's more, you ask? Property development company Brik by Brik was stacking the bricks for the launch of a blockchain-powered DAO ecosystem, BRIKN, which rewards token holders in conjunction with the company's future property portfolio.
Furthermore, Wafini also grabbed headlines for its plans to launch its Multi-Asset NFT marketplace, enabling users to sell Cardano NFTs as an offering bundle instead of listing them individually.
On the regulatory front:
Amid the widespread thunderous clouds surrounding crypto from financial regulators and government authorities, MakerDAO intends to intentionally lower the value of its trademark token to prevent assets from being seized or ruled out.
Taking the political road, KlimaDAO announced that it is collaborating with politicians to provide a legal framework for DAOs in the Lummis-Gillibrand Responsible Financial Innovation Act.
As for the partnerships, TRON DAO and MasterBlox announced plans to create a joint acceleration and incubation program to develop the TRON ecosystem to incentivise the adoption of Web3 technologies.
Decentralised Identity bowed to a bonanza, with lots going on around it at the moment that is causing quite the buzz and hype in the blockchain world.
Joining hands seems to be the key to scale in the decentralised identity ecosystem – ID verification service Veriff and remote medical testing service Certific announced a partnership to improve and streamline the latter's global expansion and remote medical diagnostics capabilities. Then there's Trezor, which created a tremor by revealing that it is working with Wasabi to bring privacy-enhancing transactions known as CoinJoins to hardware wallets.
But that's not all – crypto trading MEXC geared up to list Web3 infrastructure project Point Network (POINT) on its platform.
Money seemed to keep pourin' in the decentralised identity world:
SPACE ID successfully closed its seed round fundraising led by Binance Labs to integrate the .bnb Domain Name Service into the BNB Chain ecosystem and to its universal multi-chain domain development.
In a not-so-silent event, Silence Laboratories made some noise by raising $1.7M seed funding to further widen its product offerings towards decentralised security and much more.
In other headlines, the universal overlay network Axelar announced it would introduce quadratic voting to further advance cross-chain security and add to the robust cross-chain interoperability infrastructure.
It can sometimes be overwhelming for our Web3 wanderers to get their heads around the Web3 world 🌎 with new things popping up every other day 🆕. So, let's learn more about Web3 as we wrap up. Come learn with us! ✨
Web3 Word Of The Week
CryptoPunks: CryptoPunks was among the first non-fungible token projects built on the Ethereum blockchain. The project comprises 10,000 algorithmically generated 24x24 pixel portraits displaying random things such as a hat-wearing individual or a pipe smoker. Inspiring the modern CryptoArt trend, each CryptoPunk is one of a kind — meaning that no character is exactly the same. The CryptoPunk could originally be acquired for free (minus a transfer fee); however, the ever-growing market for NFTs and the coveted digital portraits has sent the price soaring.
Last but not least, get a taste of these Web3 bites 🍩 over the weekend and discover the Web3 World!
A simple guide to the web3 developer stack – Coinbase
Ethereum 2.0 – Crypto.com
That's all for now!🤘
We hope you enjoyed this edition of the Web3 Weekly Wonderland experience, and we'll see you next Friday! 💌
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