Hi. It’s Dana. Welcome to the Web 2.5 newsletter featuring news, content, musings, and memes at the intersection of Web 2.0 and Web 3.0. This week we've got:

• A OMFG about, well, everything.

• Tejpaul Bhatia, Chief Revenue Officer of Axiom Space, on our latest podcast episode.

• The full weekly roundup of news and views in web2 meets web3.

So, let's get after it. Feel free to Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V this for any future NGMI needs.

💥 Breakdown of the Week: Everything 💥

The breakdown of the week is...an actual breakdown of everything.

I started this newsletter to help bridge the gap between the worlds of web2 and web3. But honestly, this week sucked for everybody in all the web-point-whatevers.

• The Job Market: Layoffs at Twitter, Facebook, Salesforce, Wall Street, Dapper Labs, Mythical Games, and more.

• The Crypto Market: FTX imploded. Roblox stock sinks 20%. Crypto prices are down this week (14/15% for BTC and ETH, over 40% for SOL).

• The Market Market: Well, we're up today in the stock market on hopes that inflation has peaked, so that's good.

But it was really feeling like the only market doing well was Boston Market, which announced Thanksgiving holiday meal options starting at $11.99 per person.

Oh and also, we had an election here in the US, a raging debate about creator royalties, and a debate over Twitter's blue check marks. It's just been...a lot.

So this week, I want to offer some goodness. Here's three ideas for feeling better about the world:

1. Head on over to LinkedIn to like or re-share a post from someone in your network seeking their next job opportunity.

2. Watch Malala and her husband, officially named Malala's husband, basically not take themselves too seriously.

3. Watch Penn Badgley crush TikTok.

And now...off the the news (including the so-what and WTF of FTX).

💥 New Podcast Episode: Tejpaul Bhatia 💥

We dropped our fourth Web 2.5 podcast this week featuring guest Tejpaul Bhatia, Chief Revenue Officer at Axiom Space. Tej and his team are exploring new ways to create off-earth economies, including leveraging web3 to get there. Oh, and Axiom minted the first NFT from the International Space Station. NBD.

Have a listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. 🎧

💥 Weekly Web 2.5 News Roundup 💥

💰 Finance

Trying to write about the unfolding story of FTX's collapse feels like trying to catch a dropping knife. But I'll do my best (and hopefully I won't injure myself in the process).

Basically, FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange, imploded this week. The company faced a liquidity crisis after FTX’s corporate sibling, Alameda Research, was believed to have a balance sheet that relied heavily on FTX's illiquid tokens, FTT.

FTX (minus the US business) then agreed to sell itself to rival-firm Binance, signing a non-binding letter of intent. However, in a turn of events, Binance pulled out of the deal hours later following due diligence.

The so-what of all of this -- it's just bad all around.

1. It's bad if you owned FTX's token called FTT, the value of which plummeted this week.

2. It's bad if you held assets at FTX. While FTX is a centralized exchange (a marketplace to convert one type of token into another), you also could have elected to hold your assets at FTX. But unlike holding your assets in a self-custodied account (where you control the assets aka "your keys, your coins"), in this case, FTX controlled your assets. And unfortunately it seems that FTX was doing other stuff with your money, violating its own terms of service. So folks with assets custodied at FTX also lost or are expected to lose their money.

3. It's bad if you were an investor in FTX (Sequoia marked its investment down to zero).

4. It's bad if you were sponsored by FTX or in a business deal with them (eg Tom Brady, MLB, Miami Heat / FTX Arena, etc).

This story is developing as we speak. Here's a good resource from Cointelegraph to stay up to date as it unfolds. But the TLDR: It's big and bad.

👑 Royalties

NFT marketplace, OpenSea, announced late yesterday that it WILL enforce creator fees on all existing collections. This came after a review period where OpenSea was considering making royalty fee payments optional for traders.

As you can imagine, many prominent web3 creators (including Bobby Hundreds, Betty NFT, FEWOCiOUS, Amber Vittoria and others) spoke up to lobby for the enforcement of fees. Why? Well, turns out when given a choice, just 18% of traders pay fees in royalty-optional marketplaces. Here's OpenSea's statement:

⚽ Sports

ASICS, the Japanese sportswear manufacturer, partnered with blockchain Solana to launch the ASICS X SOLANA UI shoe collection. The new line features two designs of limited-run GT-2000 11 running shoes, which come with an ASICS Badge NFT that unlocks future rewards and experiences. Buyers will also have the chance to win a limited edition ASICS x STEPN GT-2000 NFT.

I have personally owned every version of the GT-2000 shoe since 2005 (I'm wearing them as I write this), so this is basically my dream Web 2.5 shoe right here.

Adidas is teasing the release of its new NFT collection with a countdown on its metaverse site. The site shows a range of 3D clothing avatars, with no major indication of the collections' features (suspense!). FWIW, I'm not sure what the tagline "Unbox the Impossible" means other than every time I try to open any Amazon package without scissors, it feels like that.

Former Denver Broncos quarterback, Tim Tebow, launched a Solana-backed software company, CAMPUS.io, to serve as a college sports NFT marketplace. Tebow teamed up with Nissan Heisman House with a game plan to give eight winners memorabilia and a virtual meet-and-greet with the famous athlete and seven other Heisman winners.

🥩 Meat

School is in session! Frozen beef brand, Steak-umm? partnered with creative agency Tombras to launch the virtual experience, “Meataversity.” The Decentraland universe is dedicated to “teaching people [how] to critically think and navigate the complexities of the metaverse with healthy skepticism.” Graduates will receive an NFT diploma, along with QR codes for free Steak-umm products and avatar wearables including t-shirts, school crests, and boxheads.

🦞 Seafood

OneOf has partnered with Get Maine Lobster to create an NFT-based membership club, Lobster Perks+, which allows members to receive fresh lobster deliveries from Maine. The four tiers range from a free entry-level pass to a $2,000 bundle which includes eight lobster tails, wholesale pricing on other orders, a free upgraded side order, and 100 pounds of live, wild-caught lobster. All Lobster Perks+ NFT buyers will have the chance to win additional lobster deliveries, merchandise, or a fishing expedition with Mark Murrell, founder of Get Maine Lobster. Because if tokenizing lobsters wasn't on your list of NFT use cases, it surely is now.

🖼️ Art

How about a tattoo linked to an NFT?! Yes, please. Famous tattoo artist, Keith McCurdy or “Bang Bang,” has started creating “tech tattoos,” which are done with a photochromic ink that is activated by UV light and linked to an NFT. In June of 2022, the artist sold the first rewritable tattoo as a 1/1 NFT for approximately $100,000. Bang Bang’s goal for the technology is to “bridge tattoo culture’s desire for individuality with the provable uniqueness of NFTs.”

🎵 Music

Although Sir Elton John is retiring from his music career in 2023, I don’t think it’s gonna be a long, long time before we see his iconic performances and fashion again (sorry for the pun). The superstar has opened the Roblox universe called Elton John Presents: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road. Players will be able to walk down the Yellow Brick Road and participate in challenges, trivia, and scavenger hunts.

✏️ Education

TinyTap, a publisher NFT company that aims to create the world's largest library of games made by teachers, is "building an alternative education system owned by teachers & community." They collaborated with six teachers to create virtual learning experiences, and generated 138.926 ETH or $228,000 in total.

💛 Social Good

Podcaster, newsletter author, and media guru Carly Reilly from Overpriced JPEGs recently released a documentary profiling the blockchain scene in Puerto Rico. What's cool about it is that during its first week live, Reilly and crypto wallet company MetaMask have promised to donate $1 for every view it receives. The proceeds will fund hurricane relief for La Isla del Encanto. So click that link and get watching :).

LeafPAYS, a climate tech startup, is utilizing NFTs, web3, and the metaverse to “bring together consumers and companies that care about the Earth.” The company will eventually implement ‘Carbon Credits’ and ‘LeafSCOREs’ to motivate businesses to conduct environmentally conscious work. LeafPAYS began its first step of this project by launching AI-generated NFTs, which connect conscious consumers with green companies that are working to lower their carbon emissions.

💸 Fundraising

WalletConnect Raises $12.5 Million Ecosystem Round to Build Out a Web3 Communications Network. Business Wire.

Web3 Payments Infrastructure Start Ramp Raised $70M in Series B to Increase Product Accessibility. NFT Gators.

™️ Trademarks

The number of trademark applications filed for NFTs, cryptocurrencies, and virtual goods and services has grown out of this metaverse in 2022 (hahah cracking ourselves up over here). According to trademark attorney, Mike Kondoudis, 4,708 applications have been filed in October alone, which surpasses the 2021 total of 3,547. One of them is...

Rolex, a luxury watchmaker, which filed a trademark application for NFTs, NFT-backed media, an NFT marketplace, crypto keys, crypto transactions, and virtual goods including watches, art, digital collectibles, and more.

✨ Web3 Deals, Drops, and Alpha

Meta Angels, a web3 membership community, was acquired last week and joined HUG, a social curation platform, under their parent company Assemble. Founded by Randi Zuckerberg, Assemble has the goal of “bringing art and tech together through content, community, and commerce.” Meta Angels Co-Founder & CEO Alex Cavloulacos was on our Web 2.5 podcast a few weeks ago, so we're just going to plug that right here if you want to listen :)

OpenAI introduced its new, five-week accelerator program called Converge. Ten AI-focused startups will participate in events, office hours, and workshops and have early access to OpenAI’s latest models and software.

📚 Weekend Reading

What Happens When Crypto Meets Ted Lasso. NYTimes.

Billions Being Spent in Metaverse Land Grab. BBC.

The Metaverse Is Coming And It’s A Very Big Deal. Forbes.

Even as NFTs Plummet, Digital Artists Find Museums Are Calling. NYTimes.

What Are Edible NFTs And Can You Actually Eat Them? Tasting Table.

In the World of Web3 Fashion, Who Defines Taste? Vogue Business.

Setting a Kahlo Drawing Aflame in Search of an NFT Spark. NYTimes.

Despite the Crypto Market Downturn, DAO Treasuries Grew by $700 Million Since January. Bitcoin.com.

🌶️ Hot Takes

Web Inventor Tim Berners-Lee Wants Us to ‘Ignore’ Web3: ‘Web3 is Not The Web at All’. CNBC.

NFTs are the Key to Turning Passive Fandom into an Active Community. Cointelegraph.

Crypto Will Eventually Enjoy Mass Adoption, Mastercard CEO Says. Bitcoinist.

💼 Jobs

Director, Social Media, Yuga Labs. Apply.

🎲 Learning Corner

How to Find Your Community in Web3. Coindesk.

Nicole Muniz, CEO of Yuga Labs, explains why NFTs are much more than JPEGs. via Tiago Amaral.

💀 And Finally

Enjoy this demo of Nike Air Force 1s, with a built-in NFC chip, that enables you to link the physical shoe to a digital collectible on the blockchain:

🫶 And that’s a wrap! What a week. Thanks for reading Web 2.5. See you out there in the interweb3s.

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DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is strictly educational. None of this is financial or investment advice — and not a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please always Christian DYOR (Do Your Own Research).