Everything Web 2.5 for Thanksgiving

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.

It's Thanksgiving. But that doesn't stop us from staying on top of the news. This week we've got:

• A Web 2.5 Holiday Gift Guide

• A Must-Listen-To Podcast Episode before you get asked "WTF is an NFT" at Thanksgiving dinner

• All the news that's fit to Gmail

Also, I customized this snazzy Canva template to share my thanks.

I'm so grateful to each of you that took the time to subscribe, open, click, and share this work over the past few months. I appreciate you all so very much.

And now, on to this week in Web 2.5.

💥 THE WEB 2.5 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 💥

Ok before we get to the news, we rounded up a few of the best Web 2.5-inspired holiday gifts. Let's hope none of my IRL friends see this as I may or may not be getting some of these for our gift exchange.

1. Prince x Vacation Tennis Ball-Scented Candle. Shop.

2. A Ledger Wallet + a Black Friday deal. (you can never be too safe!). Shop.

3. CPG's Composable Clothing (note NOT Compostable, but Composable. You attach patches of your favorite NFT communities onto the clothing). Shop.

4. Adidas Virtual Goods (see below for more). Shop.

5. Meta Angels x Jiggy Puzzle. Shop.

6. Overpriced Jin, a collab bottle of gin between journalist Carly Reilly, artist Amber Vittoria, and Former Liquor.com Founder & CEO Kit Codik. PS there's also a Fallen Angel tequila too. Shop.

💥 BUT FIRST, A NEW PODCAST EPISODE 💥

You asked. And here it is! A special Web 2.5 podcast episode explaining the "what is it" and "why does it matter" of Web3. It's everything you might get asked about at the Thanksgiving dinner table.

And we have Web3 expert Zeneca from ZenAcademy to explain it all (he has an email course called 30 Days of NFTs that is perfect for those who want even more).

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

💥 WEEKLY WEB 2.5 NEWS ROUNDUP 💥

📉 FTX WTF

So it was a doozy again in FTX land. Here's the round-up of the top 10 stories from the week. We'll use SBF as shorthand for former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.

1. SBF didn't know he was on the record, and his DMs with a journalist were shared publicly.

2. FTX filed for bankruptcy in a 30-page filing.

3. The Securities Commission of the Bahamas says it ordered FTX crypto to be transferred to government-controlled wallets which confused a lot of people.

4. We learned that in a past fundraising round, SBF personally took $300 million of the $420 million raised.

5. An anonymous exploiter drained FTX wallets and traded the funds for Bitcoin, causing ETH to decrease over 7%.

6. FTX asked fellow exchanges to help track and return the lost funds.

7. FTX has $1.2 billion in cash reserves and owes over $3 billion to its 50 largest creditors.

8. SBF's parents bought $300 million worth of property in the Bahamas.

9. SBF wrote an apology letter.

10. And an unlikely victim in all of this -- Coachella lifetime pass holders.

🚀 Markets

We were down. Then we were up. So we're kinda flat on the week. That's the gist. More here for the crypto curious.

Coinbase's shares fell more than 8% on Monday, extending a slide that’s pushed the crypto exchange to its lowest point since its market debut in April 2021. According to CNBC, "nineteen months after going public with a market cap of over $85 billion, Coinbase has fallen below the $10 billion mark and has lost over a quarter of its value in the past four trading sessions."

👑 Royalties (literally)

This week, we're talking about the other kind of royalty. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are collaborating with pax.world to create their own metaverse. The "Meg-averse" is expected to house 3D avatars of the iconic duo, online communities, and a gaming experience.

⚽ Sports

After teasing a launch in its Discord, Adidas Originals revealed its 16-piece interoperable NFT collection, which is a fancy term for "Virtual Gear." The collection features clothing wearables that can be used to dress your avatar across a variety of metaverse platforms. The collection also features collabs with three web creators -- Bored Ape Yacht Club, Gmoney, and Punks Comics.

Oracle Red Bull Racing, a Formula One racing team, has partnered with Chiru Labs to feature an Azuki NFT on the team cars in the 2022 season finale in Abu Dhabi. This activation marks the the first time a blue-chip NFT will be displayed on an F1 race car.

📺 Media, Advertising & Entertainment

Web3 media company Bankless launched a digital collectible platform which offers limited edition NFTs for the 100 true fans of every Bankless podcast episode. Basically they are taking a clip from a show, minting it on the blockchain, and offering it for sale in limited quantities.

🖼️ Art

Pharrell Williams' Gallery of Digital Assets (GODA) held an auction for NFT digital recreations of Hilma af Klint's artwork. Although the late artist's family members criticized the launch, the Hilma af Klint Foundation was onboard and involved in the project. Two identical sets of 193 NFTs were minted; one "non-commercial" set was donated to the Foundation, 163 pieces from the second set were put up for auction, and the remaining 30 pieces were kept by GODA.

🎮 Toys, Games & Gaming

Mattel is launching a NFT marketplace called Mattel Creations. The toy giant's marketplace will give fans a place to purchase digital collectibles of classic products like Hot Wheels and Barbie.

Macy's is holding a Thanksgiving Day Parade in the metaverse via the OnCyber platform in a move to attract younger, tech-savvy fans to the event. The experience gives attendees the opportunity to vote on a balloon design that will be showcased in the 2023 IRL parade.

🎵 Music

Meta is hosting a virtual-reality Notorious B.I.G concert in celebration of his would-be 50th birthday. The event features a hyperrealstic Biggie avatar in the Horizon Worlds metaverse and will include performances from P. Diddy, The Lox, Latto, Nardo Wick, and Lil' Cease.

✨ Web3 Deals, Drops & Alpha

Magic Eden, an NFT marketplace, is integrating with Polygon to expand its presence in the blockchain gaming and NFT universe. Co-founder and COO, Zhuoxun Yin, stated that "by offering this integration, we are continuing to remove any chain-specific barriers and open NFTs to the masses." The Polygon network hosts many large Web3 platforms such as Ubisoft, Atari, Animoca Brands, Decentraland, and Sandbox.

™️ Trademarks Don't Lie

📚 Must-Read Weekend Reading

• Inside a Crypto Nemesis’ Campaign to Rein In the Industry. The New York Times.

• Even in the Metaverse, Women Remain Locked Out of Leadership Roles. McKinsey & Company.

• What is Web 2.5? CoinGeek.

• Decentralization. Not Boring.

• NFT Possibilities For Disney Are 'Extraordinary': How Bob Iger's Return Could Propel Web3 Growth. Benzinga.

☠️ And Finally

Brrr! Drake iced out his Ledger.

Shatner gets it.

Ever wonder who your neighbors are? Check out the Sandbox metaverse map. Just don't get lost.

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

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).