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I Don't Think You're Ready for this Jelly

Unless it's an NFT

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

It Melts in Your Mouth, not in Your Wallet

Welcome to the group chat, M&Ms. NFT music group KINGSHIP announced that it is collaborating with M&Ms and its parent company Mars to sell limited edition packs of M&Ms featuring pictures of the band members’ Bored Apes.

Do you say FInance, or fiNANce?

The most Web 2.5 news of the week is from Coinstar. Remember those cash-counting machines in the back of the grocery store? Well, you can now get crypto at a Coinstar.

And in more finance news, this time from Mastercard…

Actual Data!

Blockchain researcher Noah Levine published a dashboard of the top brand NFT collections — and the internet can’t get enough. The data was picked up across Twitter and in mainstream publications like Ad Age. Here’s the full dashboard on Dune for anyone who wants to dig it.

Even More Data!!!

New research out from Pew Research Center gives an overview of US crypto and NFT adoption. In a nutshell, only 16% of Americans have bought crypto — and 2% have ever bought an NFT. Some key take aways are below, or read the report (it’s short!) here.

AR, AF

According to Giovanni Zaccariello, SVP Global Visual Experience at Coach, the retailer worked with artist Shxpir Huang to create and launch an AR takeover of Coach’s 5th Avenue Flagship store. Check out the storefront in action below.

Legal Eagles

Shout out to Mike Kondoudis, USPTO licensed trademark attorney, who is creeping on all of the web3 trademark filings and letting the world know what brands are getting into web3 before the brands do. Trademark filings from the past week include Miley Cyrus, Milk-Bone, Folgers Coffee, Smuckers, and Arizona Iced Tea.

The Social Network

Meta has officially rolled out a new Metaverse ID system in what it’s calling Meta accounts and Meta Horizon Profiles.

The global launch will be gradual, but both “accounts” are to be used in place of the personal social media account logins — Facebook and Instagram — once used to log in to the company’s virtual reality (VR) system. Users, new and old, of Meta’s VR devices, will be required to sign up for a Meta account to log in and access the metaverse. The company is ditching the old way of logging on after complaints around privacy concerns arose regarding using personal social media accounts.

$$$

Ready Player Me, a leading platform for cross-game avatars, has closed a $56M Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz. According to a16z:

We believe the next generation of games and virtual worlds will be built with interoperability as a core tenet. Rather than hold players inside walled gardens, the virtual worlds that comprise the open Metaverse will empower players to own their identity and take their digital assets wherever they go. These open economies will be larger and more durable than any closed economy game that we’ve seen yet, with players deeply invested in their assets and driving innovation as co-creators / co-owners of the world around them.

NFTease of the Week

Deep Dives

The Metaverse is Replacing the Office. Meet the Gamified Workforce of the Future. Fortune.

Virtual Try-on is Revolutionizing Metaverse Makeup. Mashable.

The 30-Year-Old Spending $1 Billion to Save Crypto. WSJ.

So How Long Exactly is Crypto Winter?

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Warns Investors to Buckle In for a Long Crypto Winter. Fortune.

Crypto Winter ‘Could Be Over’ as Investors Add to Positions, Says Market Analyst. Yahoo.

Jobs of the Week

Senior Social Media Manager, Moonpay. Apply.

Marketing/Comms, Tokenproof. Apply via DM.

Digital Marketing Manager, Blockchain/Web3 Experience, Fox Corporation. Apply.

And finally…

In honor of my summer spent watching Matt Buechele videos over and over on Instagram, I hope this one brings you joy.

And that’s a wrap! Make sure to sunscreen up so you don’t go back to the office post Labor Day with an Oculus tan.