Ever felt overwhelmed by the number of things happening in Web3? Don't have enough time to spend on Twitter to keep up with everything? Don't worry, I got you. Kio’s newsletter is here with all the highlights from last week
Index
Crypto & NFTs
🟡 Bitcoin becomes a new home for NFTs
🟡 DigiDaigaku was the first NFT collection ever to be featured on a Super Bowl commercial
Solana News
🔵 Brave browser now offers DApp support for Solana on iOS and Android
🔵 Phantom Supports "Sign In With" Standards to Improve Web3 Authentication
Solana NFTs
🟢 HadesDAO just acquired Solana Monkey Business
🟢 SolportTom just doxxed, and he’s leaving the backend to focus on a frontend role for Taiyo
🟢 Catalina whales partners with Def Jam to create Solana’s first virtual band
🟢 ABC’s liquidity crisis
🟢 Taiyo just raised $1.8M in Graphite’s IDO
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🟡 Bitcoin becomes a new home for NFTs
Bitcoin NFTs. You heard it right. Who would have thought that the gold of cryptocurrencies could also have an NFT ecosystem? And yet, here we are, witnessing the birth of the first NFTs on Bitcoin, or are we?
While many people associate NFTs with Ethereum, the truth is that they have been a part of the Bitcoin ecosystem for nearly a decade. In fact, Counterparty with rare Pepes introduced them back in 2014. And now, we have a new NFT protocol taking center stage - Ordinals.
What Are Bitcoin Ordinals? The Ordinals protocol was launched in January and it enables users to explore, transfer, and receive individual satoshis (the smallest discrete unit of BTC, equal to .0000001 BTC), which may include unique inscribed data such as videos and images.
Using ordinal’s ability to identify and tag individual satoshis, the protocol allows users to connect that satoshi to a digital file and broadcast it to the bitcoin blockchain.
Ordinals can store texts, images, or HTML on-chain and can be authorized through a transaction.
However, it’s not as easy to create NFTs on Bitcoin as it is on Solana or Ethereum. If you want to know more about it, check the thread below.
It isn’t easy to buy or sell NFTs on Bitcoin either. There’s no marketplace where you can go and browse your favorite Bitcoin derivatives (everyone knows that each time a new blockchain appears with NFTs people rush to buy the [insert blockchain name] Punks). People are actually trading NFTs off Google Sheets. And I’m not even kidding.
As you can imagine, many Bitcoin maxis are against NFTs
Despite all this FUD from the bitcoin community, Ordinals already surpassed 15,000 mints and the sky is the limit
Apart from creating Bitcoin NFTs directly, there are also some projects which have seen an opportunity to bridge their existing NFTs to Bitcoin
Even Frank decided it was time to give some use to the 535 burned DeGods (people used to burn them for DUST a long time ago) and become Bitcoin’s best PFP collection
They also minted all of them in just one block, which is kind of elegant
If you want to know more about these Bitcoin NFTs and how to start trading them, I’ll leave another thread for you below, which was the original inspiration for this section as well
🟡 DigiDaigaku was the first NFT collection ever to be featured on a Super Bowl commercial
Super Bowl ads never leave anybody indifferent. Until now, we had only seen crypto ads, but this time we saw NFTs as well.
DigiDaigaku, an Ethereum-based game, reportedly spent $6.5M on the commercial, which offered viewers the chance to claim one of 10,000 free NFT collectibles by scanning a QR code.
Those lucky enough to claim the free mint NFT are now making easy money, as some of the NFTs are selling for hundreds of dollars. However, many NFT degens who tried to mint it (after sold out) are now frustrated because were redirected to the CEO’s Twitter account, which now has surpassed a million followers, in a move that many claim as “engagement farming”
🔵 Brave browser now offers DApp support for Solana on iOS and Android
Brave, the full-featured mobile browser, now supports Solana DApp on both iOS and Android platforms. The integration allows users to store, send, and buy SPL tokens in the wallet, as well as connect and interact with various apps, including MagicEden, Orca, and JupiterExchange.
With this integration, users can seamlessly explore and interact with Solana DApps without the need to switch between different apps.
🔵 Phantom Supports "Sign In With" Standards to Improve Web3 Authentication
Phantom, the popular Solana wallet, has announced that it will support three new "Sign In With" (SIW) standards: Sign In With X, Sign In With Ethereum, and Sign In With Solana. These standards will help protect user privacy and improve the security of web3 authentication.
When users connect their wallet to a decentralized application (dApp), they are often asked to sign a message during login. This signature proves that the user owns the wallet and allows dApps to store information like user profile information and email addresses. However, there are vulnerabilities with generic sign-in messages that can allow bad actors to intercept sign-in messages and impersonate users.
SIW standards solve this problem by validating the required message fields at the time of signing, including information like the site's domain, the time at which the message was issued, and a nonce used to prevent signature replay attacks. This extra layer of security prevents phishers from intercepting generic sign-in messages and impersonating users.
While SIW standards are still being adopted, Phantom believes they are an important stepping stone for decentralized identity providers and an important security feature for the web3 ecosystem. Users will only see this new feature if a dApp opts-in to one of the SIW formats, and it is completely opt-in for developers.
And right on San Valentine’s day, they also shared a sneak peek of what the multichain Phantom wallet looks like and some codes to try it out
🟢 HadesDAO just acquired Solana Monkey Business
Wait, what?
So, out of nowhere, SMB announced that HadesDAO (Hadeswap basically) had acquired the project. What does this mean?
Let’s start with the story behind SMB. Solana Monkey Business is one of the oldest projects on Solana, and also one of the most iconic ones. Because the project was so early and notable within the ecosystem it attracted some of the best talent in Solana.
They went on to create a half-baked marketplace and completed a few roadmap items but ultimately were outperformed by the efforts of MonkeDAO, a decentralized entity formed by SMB holders.
Over time the community became increasingly dissatisfied with the SMB devs, who they felt weren't pulling their weight proportionally to the amount of funds they were receiving. Some frustrated community members even considered them "soft-ruggers."
The devs continuously collected royalties from the project, even though they were not doing much for the project. As tensions rose between the community and the founders, holders threatened to entangle their NFTs. This meant that if they didn’t receive any funding from royalties, they would create a new NFT collection from the old one and set the royalties for the DAO.
This isn’t an ideal solution since NFTs would lose part of their provenance or historical value and would create a division between the old collection and the new one. But without funding, there wasn’t much they could do. Eventually, there was a compromise to give the DAO a share of the royalties.
Over time, efforts have been made to buy the project. MonkeDAO was in the process of drafting a buyout agreement. This was in the works for months, with documents being drafted as recently as last week according to @GivnerAriel
@iamkadense also shared some insights about the buyout, which he was leading. Devs wanted $2.5M, and there were several investors interested in the deal, but they were moving slowly, waiting for one key strategic investor to close the deal.
The recent announcement of a MonkeDAO collection, which we covered in last week’s newsletter, could have made SMB devs turn in a different direction, and ended up in the sale of the collection to HGE, who had the capital ready much faster.
The question now is, what’s going to happen with MonkeDAO?
They do not own anything. With the IP and royalties in hands of Hadeswap, what’s left for the community? Like most holders, we are still in the shadows about the details, as Hadeswap hasn’t said much about their plans.
A possible outcome is that the governance of MonkeDAO goes to HADES, so MonkeDAO would have no say in the direction of the project unless they vote on it through HADES.
If this happens, and MonkeDAO ends up launching its own collection, we could see an exodus of the community there and leave the original collection in hands of Hadeswap. The battle is on. What weighs more, provenance or community?
I don’t think this is a desired outcome by HadesDAO, as the original collection would lose a major part of its appeal, so an agreement between the two is the most likely solution.
But why is Hadeswap interested in MonkeDAO in the first place? We can only speculate for the moment, but a possible reason for the buy is that this is a strategic move in a market share war against Magic Eden. SMB is a community of builders, influencers, and thinkers and HGE could stimulate them to build on top of Hadeswap's universe.
But we’ll have to wait until Hadeswap releases more details. If you don’t want to miss any updates about the situation, you should definitely subscribe.
🟢 SolportTom just doxxed, and he’s leaving the backend to focus on a frontend role for Taiyo
Solport Tom, CEO of Taiyo Robotics, and one of the most famous personalities in the Solana space, just doxxed himself, as he announced on his Twitter account that he will be leaving the backend work of Taiyo Robotics to focus on a frontend role.
In a recent thread, SolportTom stated that he will be stepping away from hiring and development to take on a more front-facing position for the Taiyo brand. He will be showing up to events, doing podcasts and more spaces, taking calls with creators and new clients, and becoming the company's "rainmaker." This move will allow him to work more closely on the "attraction layer" of Taiyo's Graphite ecosystem and leverage his personal brand to attract the business needed to benefit holders and make the token successful.
Tom has been preparing to make this move for a long time, and he believes it's the right time to step away from the backend work and focus on what he does best.
🟢 Catalina whales partners with Def Jam to create Solana’s first virtual band
Def Jam Recordings, the legendary hip-hop music label, has announced a collaboration with Catalina Whale Mixer, the Solana-based NFT project, to create a virtual band called The Whales. The band will pair colorful whale avatars from the Solana profile picture collection with music from an all-star cast of musicians and producers.
WAGMI Beach, the studio behind Catalina Whale Mixer, was founded by music industry veterans who plan to shape The Whales' tunes. The project will also include an upcoming audition process for Whale NFT holders who can potentially have their owned NFT avatars become part of the band.
The music is expected to be upbeat and energetic, with the first music set to be released this summer through both traditional channels and collectible music NFTs. The companies also plan to perform live in real-world concerts and festivals and digital metaverse worlds. Def Jam and WAGMI Beach aim to take a similar approach to Kingship, a virtual band made up of Bored Ape Yacht Club avatars, with plans to release music across the metaverse. The collaboration is a significant milestone in the music industry and an exciting opportunity for NFT enthusiasts to be a part of a virtual band.
🟢 ABC’s liquidity crisis
The rise of new platforms and financial instruments in the NFT space has brought exciting new opportunities, but with those opportunities come financial risks. As with any rapidly growing market, there is a risk of a liquidity crisis, and NFTs are no exception.
For those unfamiliar with the concept, a liquidity crisis occurs when a company or individual cannot easily access cash or other liquid assets to meet financial obligations such as debt payments or expenses. This can happen due to a variety of factors, including poor cash flow management, overleveraging, or a sudden unexpected event. In severe cases, a liquidity crisis can lead to bankruptcy or insolvency.
In the context of NFTs, borrowing and lending have become popular strategies for traders to increase their buying power and potentially generate greater profits. Platforms like SharkyFi and Frakt offer the ability to borrow against NFTs or provide liquidity, which allows borrowers to leverage their NFT holdings. This can result in high returns, but also poses risks.
The danger lies in the fact that borrowers may over-leverage their positions or take out loans to trade new collections that may suddenly decrease in value, leaving them unable to pay back the original loan.
And that’s exactly what happened with ABCs. In an up-only market, buying and loaning to buy more NFTs could give great returns, but when things go south, you are in big trouble.
What do you think happens when lenders receive those defaulted loans in their wallets? Most of the probably didn’t care about the collection they were lending money to and were just interested in the high APYs. So once those loans default, sell pressure could be immense.
This is not the first time something like this happens either. It already happened with Taiyo Pilots
If you would like to learn more about how liquidity crisis work, you might find the thread below quite interesting
🟢 Taiyo just raised $1.8M in Graphite’s IDO
With a seed round of $1.4M led by Sol Big Brain and an open one of $480k, Taiyo Robotics has raised $1.8M to build the next generation of minting and creator tooling across multiple blockchains, under Graphite Protocol
They also released Graphite’s whitepaper, which includes details about their new self-service launchpad, Mintport, their new minting protocol, Mainframe, designed to replace the current Candy Machine model, their no-code suite for utility products, and their intentions to create sub-brands under the Taiyo umbrella to take over gambling, adult products, and legal services.
You can read all about them here