Back to Life

Back to Reality

September 08, 2022

Welcome to The Web 2.5 Newsletter featuring news, content, musings, and memes at the intersection of Web 2.0 and Web 3.0.

And We’re Back (or not)

We’re back to life, back to school, and back in our jeans (or maybe not). But we’re definitely not back to early 2022 trading volumes. If you’re feeling sluggish, here’s why:

Estate Sale

Two big “estate sales” were in the news this week. First, the David Bowie Estate is launching a charity NFT collection, teaming up with nine artists to incorporate artifacts from the late musician’s archives.

And…there will be an Elvis DAO! The Elvis Presley Legacy Council is launching a full fledged digital membership to all things Elvis complete with voting rights, exclusive content, collectibles, metaverse experiences, and a say in the DAO treasury. There’s a litepaper on the the project, and an impressive interactive site.

Bad Actors (we don’t mean you, Bill)

Just hours after Bill Murray’s NFT auction closed, a hacker stole $185,000 that was destined for charity. Murray’s wallet security team was able to step in and shield a few of Murray’s personal NFTs by transferring them to safe wallets. But they were less successful with the funds. While the original ETH is gone, the auction’s runner-up replaced the lost funds with a donation to the beneficiary, Chive Charities 

Quote of the Week

This is a nice segue into Randi Zuckerberg’s comment at Global Supertrends Conference 2022 on Wednesday as reported by CNBC.

“There needs to be more protections for consumers … I think we will wind up [with] web 2.7, where there is some centralization, keeping people safe, but the ability to port your assets with you to any site.”

From your lips to my wallet’s ears.

Liquid-ation Sale

You’ve heard of ghost kitchens, but did you know there are also ghost distilleries. Johnnie Walker is selling 75 limited edition bottles of scotch this week on BlockBar recovered from a “ghost” distillery that has since closed. Kudos to the copywriter who got the brief asking to reposition “a liquidation sale of 75 expiring whisky bottles from now defunct distilleries” and turned it into this masterpiece.

“Each release offers an opportunity to savor whiskies from “ghost” distilleries that have long-since closed, but whose spirit still lives on in the dwindling stocks of their maturing Scotch…Built in 1811, Port Dundas closed its doors in 2010. Only the rarest and most distinctive casks of maturing whisky from Port Dundas were selected alongside other ‘ghost’ whiskies from Cambus and Brora distilleries and exceptional rare single malts.”

SportsCenter

Autograph is launching an NFT-connected fan club with access to its cofounder Tom Brady.

After minting 5 million ticket NFTs in its pilot program, Ticketmaster announced that it will continue working with Dapper Labs' Flow blockchain for future NFT ticket activations.

The NBA and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) have struck a deal with Sorare to create the league’s first NFT-based fantasy basketball game.

The Catwalk

Puma launched into web3 at New York Fashion Week.

Get your Ready Player Me avatar dripped in Tommy (Hilfiger, not Bahama).

VC Corner

Kevin Rose’s Proof raises $50M, aiming to debut a token and new Moonbirds collection next year.

Y Combinator is doubling down on backing crypto founders despite market volatility. Here’s a roundup of the crypto-related companies in the cohort.

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) released a series of agreement templates to help NFT creators explore more varieties of commercial license options.

A chart listing the NFT licenses described in the story

Drops of the Week

Everything you need to know about chart-topper y00ts, including their innovative approach to trademarks. Turns out ⓨ is the new ⓒ.

And who needs the American Girl doll store when you can just mint your own Poolsuite avatar using their build-your-own retro computer NFT generator.

How did I do?

Data of the Week

It turns out being a blue chip is hard.

SponCon of the Week

When you can sponsor a post AND write your own headline.

Web 2.5 Jobs

Head of Trust & Safety, Legal Support and Investigations, OpenSea. 😳 Apply.

Licensing Manager, Digital Games, NFT, Metaverse, Major League Baseball Players Association. Apply.

General Manager, New Sport, Sorare. Apply.

Communications Director, Immutable. Apply.

Not Web 2.5 Jobs

Snap announced layoffs of 20% of its workforce, including the unwind of its web3 team.

And Finally…

Me at the next NFT.NYC.

And that’s a wrap! See you out there in the interweb3s.