Alpha Schedule #17 - Former Twitter CEO announces WEB5
Hi frens,
Again, this newsletter is hit by a significant delay - all to blame due to offline events and opportunities. It's something you can expect for the next few weeks as well, as I will be traveling to New York from 17 to 27 June, in order to attend NFT NYC.
The truth is: my main priority is to deliver a quality and insightful newsletter; it beats a fast but inaccurate one - even if that means working on a Sunday!
It's a massive newsletter once again, and my main takeaway is the fact that brands don't care about a bear market. Additionally, I found these Twitter threads very insightful as well:
That's it for now - hope to see some of you face-to-face in NYC next week!
— 🩸💀 AMERICAN RADASS
JACK DORSEY ANNOUNCES ‘WEB 5’
Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has announced a new platform on Twitter called ‘Web5’, a combination of Web3 and Web 2.0, built on the Bitcoin blockchain. The platform promises to fix the issue of securing personal data.
Jack Dorsey also announced a collaboration with Jay-Z in order to develop the Bitcoin Academy.
EPIC GAMES STORE WILL HOST ITS FIRST WEB3 GAME
Wild West-themed gunslinger game Grit will become the first web3 game hosted on the Epic Games Store, the game’s publisher Gala Games announced.
The company described Grit as a ride-or-die battle royale set in the Wild West. In it, players face off in showdowns and shootouts, and different modes allow for teaming up with other players and squads.
BAYC CO-FOUNDER ALERTS ABOUT A POSSIBLE HACK
Otherside and the Bored Ape Yacht Club, two of the most well-known NFT collections, requested Twitter’s help for security. Following that, it was discovered that a Twitter insider was participating in a deliberate assault on the company’s social media accounts.
Earlier this week, 32 NFTs were stolen because the Discord servers of the Bored Ape Yacht Club and OtherSide were compromised.
📰 OTHER NEWS FROM THE PAST WEEK
OpenSea's co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer said the NFT marketplace would redouble its efforts to curb fraud and plagiarism on the platform.
For the first time ever a temporary restraining order was served as an NFT to a defendant's Ethereum wallet who is suspected of cryptocurrency fraud.
MasterCard announced it has formed strategic partnerships with prominent NFT marketplaces in an effort to make a further step toward NFT payment services and Web3 technology.
PayPal users with Bitcoin and Ethereum held on the platform can now withdraw their holdings to external wallets.
Brian Armstrong, the Coinbase CEO, addressed an anonymous post from a Coinbase employee who called for the removal of three executives over their contribution to a negative workplace culture at the firm.
Actor Seth Green paid 165 ETH (around $297,000 at the time) to recover his BAYC, which had previously been stolen in a phishing attack.
Yuga Labs has removed its ability to mint an infinite number of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs — removing a potential hack vulnerability that could have seen new Apes flood the market.
JulyTheGinny released a new song to honor the GoblinTown NFT collection.
Aprilynne Alter is quitting NFTs because she lost her passion.
Ethereum’s oldest testnet Ropsten was merged, with minor software releases to be expected over the next few days.
✨ NEW IN THE SPACE
Nickelodeon has hinted at a future NFT drop in partnership with the Recur NFT platform.
Warner Bros has announced a collaboration with Nifty to launch a Looney Tunes NFT Collection.
Electronic dance music festival Tomorrowland is launching the 1st Ever NFT Tickets as the first step in one of their many experiments.
KAWS is now on the founding team of a digital art platform called The Goda (Gallery of Digital Arts).
American cloud-based software company Salesforce is piloting a new NFT cloud service for minting, managing, and selling NFTs.
💀 HOW TO RECOGNIZE A RUG PULL
Be careful of targeted spear-phishing attacks; some users have reported receiving emails from “lawyers” accusing them of doing atrocious deeds.
POSSIBLE RUGPULLS
A Twitter hacker has compromised the account of EL Universal, a Latin American newspaper, to promote a fraudulent goblintown.wtf giveaway.
A nametag team member's discord account was compromised, and the founding team explains how they were impacted and how they responded.
Did Do Kwon cash $2.7 billion out from the LUNA & UST ecosystem over the span of mere months?
✨ HOW YOU DOIN' NFTNYC?
We're bracing ourselves for NFT NYC in less than 10 days, so make sure to bookmark my google document which tracks interesting NFT community events and parties.
I also created a dedicated NFT NYC Telegram group which now contains over 250 members!
🔮 LOOKING FORWARD
It’s no financial advice, but you might want to start doing your research and grinding for these allowlists before it’s too late.
📖 LEARN HOW TO DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH
A Twitter thread mentioning 5 things to know before you start trading NFTs: Volume, Whales, don't get attached, cut your losses, and make friends.
Another interesting Twitter thread did a deep dive into how to use NFT Twitter, from Fake engagement and Twitter lists to GMs and Pump and Dump Schemes.
😂 LAUGH OUT LOUD
I felt this one ..
😊 ENJOYED THIS WEEK'S ALPHA?
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🤓 DISCLAIMER: NFA & DYOR
This newsletter is a curated overview of the most interesting things I’ve read the past week, the projects I’ve researched, and the NFTs I’ll be trying to buy.
This means I’m - per definition - biased, so don’t consider this as financial advice and keep doing your own research if you see something you like.