DeCential Media

The Web3 Rewind

A handful of the most interesting and current stories in the blockchain/web3 world not published on DeCential this past week in case you missed them

Hello and welcome back to the Web3 Rewind! Per usual with the industry, lots has happened this past week so without further adieu, let’s dive into this week’s news.

Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, were a darling of the 2021 bull market but are struggling to find their feet with recent price declines. Like all forms of art, the inherent value lies in the nature of scarcity coupled with the demand for the various pieces. It appears for many NFT collectors that the problem they face is a lack of utility. Specifically with art NFTs, the fact that they don’t provide much more than being a displayed and owned asset could leave some collectors with much slimmed digital wallets. Of course, art is in the eye of the beholder and many NFT collectors have an emotional attachment to their digital files that can be intensely personal.

This lack of utility has also left this part of web3 open to the criticisms that NFTs are nothing but “right click jpegs.” While this fundamentally misunderstands the breakthrough of NFTs — that they are the first digitally scare goods created by humans — a large swath of popular NFTs that are largely non-utilitarian now have slashed values and questionable demand. Then there’s the social element, with collectors having to face the reality that their friends and followers are a little less interested in their new profile pic.

All this being said, the outlook for NFTs has become curious indeed as they are undergoing a renaissance of development, not only in use cases, but in culture as well. As investors and developers push the need for practical utility and economic features like scarceness, much of the FOMO and froth that defined the last bull market will be blown away. This is not to say that all NFTs have to be totally utilitarian in nature, but that they will need to continuously evolve. As long as they do that, markets will do what they’ve always done: decide what is valuable and what’s not. —Parker Dresdow, DeCential Media

The Latest

Dead ape bounce dept.

Looks bare: OpenSea turns into NFT ghost-town after daily volume plunges 99% from peak

In light of the current bear market trends, NFT transaction data on OpenSea has shown a tremendous decline. CoinTelegraph highlights the fact that transaction volume is down 99 percent from the high of $405.75 million on May 1, 2021. This sharp contrast highlights what many had been saying with regards to the fact that much of the value and overall price of many NFT projects had a fair amount of hype and FOMO baked into it.

Interestingly enough, NFT projects with more robust communities and developers, such as Bored Apes Yacht Club and Crypto Punks, have likewise been affected by this downward sentiment. When it rains it pours. Both BAYC and CP have seen floor prices fall around 50 percent and 20 percent, respectively. This begs the question of the long-term viability of these projects and how they will sustain themselves and their communities beyond their core products, given that sellers are less likely to trade their assets at such a discount. This lack of transaction flow prevents the community from growing, especially given the already limited nature of the assets.

Welcome to the crypto winter, frens.

Quick Bits

Senate committee preps hearing on CFTC regime for crypto exchanges: Sources

The proposed Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act could impact the way that exchanges report and interact with federal regulators. They would have to report trades to a regulator, specifically the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as part of the bill.
This signals yet again the mixed approaches that federal regulators are taking as each of the various regimes seeks to make their mark on the space and find a way to stay relevant in the broader regulatory discussion.

Taliban Bans Crypto in Afghanistan, Arrests Dealers of Tokens

As the Taliban continues to dominate and reshape the daily life of everyday Afghanis, crypto and those participating in it have come under fire as the Afghan central bank seeks to stifle alternative currencies.
The Taliban government has indicated that it will look to see whether or not crypto can be an aspect of daily life as they continue to exercise their grip on the Islamic nation.

Binance, FTX Among Crypto Players in Hunt to Buy Voyager Digital Assets as Coinbase Backs Out: Sources

As Voyager’s demise is still fresh in the community's mind, Binance is among other firms looking to buy the firm's assets and add them to the balance sheet.
CoinDesk notes Coinbase, which was also interested in the downfallen Voyager, thought that the exchange’s financials “didn’t add up.” As Voyager’s position continues to evolve it can be imagined that more potential bidders will seek the opportunity to acquire the firm's assets.

Y Combinator Names Venture Capitalist Garry Tan As Its Next President

The venerated Garry Tan will be returning to Y Combinator as president of the highly successful accelerator. Y Combinator is currently led by Geoff Ralston, who will be helping Tan to take on the mantle.
Tan has made strong investments throughout the crypto space including a “little” company called Coinbase. Tan has been working at his own VC firm, Initialized, that he co-founded in 2011.

Latest Podcast

DeCent People Podcast With Dapper Labs Co-Founder Mack Flavelle

NFT creator of CryptoKitties and co-founder of Dapper Labs/NBA Top Shot Mack Flavelle discusses his new NFT studio Big Head Club, which empowers colleagues to be the best creative version of themselves, and how anyone who tells you they're building the future of The Metaverse is full of shit.

We try to pull quotes from the best parts of our podcasts to highlight on Twitter. That’s not possible with this one, every minute of it is a goldmine and Mack is someone you need to be listening to if you aren’t already.

You can download and subscribe to the DeCent People podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music and Audible.

Great long read

The Crypto Geniuses Who Vaporized a Trillion Dollars

Everyone trusted the two guys at Three Arrows Capital. They knew what they were doing — right?

A wonderfully thorough piece of reporting that’s well-written and chock full of great details. Start with the mega-yacht, get to the social media hype the 3AC founders fomented and stay for their disappearing act and possible resurfacing in Dubai, which has no extradition treaty with the U.S.

Good Podcasts Outside DeCential

Brian Armstrong & Vitalik Buterin Discuss Decentralization, Privacy, & More

The Coinbase podcast Around The Block goes big with a great interview with Ethereum inventor Vitalik Buterin and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. It’s technical so get your nerd on, dig into the merge specifics, Vitalik talking about alien/robot sharks and how public blockchains can walk the line between needed privacy and not enabling money-laundering hackers.

And last but not least

A Peek Inside the Vaults of Tether

Ah, the mysteries of Tether. Will they never cease? Along with the actual identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the real behind-the-scenes happenings at Tether are right up there with the most tantalizing unsolved questions in all of crypto. One the one hand, as I reported first for Bloomberg News, Tether was under investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for potentially falsifying its dollar reserves. That was in January 2018. While the CFTC ordered Tether to pay $41 million in 2021 “for making untrue or misleading statements and omissions of material fact in connection with the U.S. dollar tether token (USDT) stablecoin,” Tether has hummed on ever since. Questions still persist, however. And just because more stringent regulatory action hasn’t happened yet — like shutting the whole thing down — doesn’t mean Tether is a scam.

Now, Bloomberg is reporting on the latest “attestation” about the reserves backing the most-used stablecoin, leaving it up to readers to make up their own minds. — Matthew Leising, Editor in Chief, DeCential Media

Out of the Ether: Special NFT Edition

Have you read the definitive history of Ethereum? No? Well then get your special edition of Out of the Ether while you can. There are only 1,000 that were printed and each copy is an NFT that can be registered on the Lukso blockchain’s Universal Profile protocol.

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DeCential Media

The Web3 Rewind

Hello and welcome back to the Web3 Rewind! Per usual with the industry, lots has happened this past week so without further adieu, let’s dive into this week’s news.

The Latest

Dead ape bounce dept.

Looks bare: OpenSea turns into NFT ghost-town after daily volume plunges 99% from peak

Welcome to the crypto winter, frens.

Quick Bits

Senate committee preps hearing on CFTC regime for crypto exchanges: Sources

The proposed Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act could impact the way that exchanges report and interact with federal regulators. They would have to report trades to a regulator, specifically the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as part of the bill.

This signals yet again the mixed approaches that federal regulators are taking as each of the various regimes seeks to make their mark on the space and find a way to stay relevant in the broader regulatory discussion.

Taliban Bans Crypto in Afghanistan, Arrests Dealers of Tokens

As the Taliban continues to dominate and reshape the daily life of everyday Afghanis, crypto and those participating in it have come under fire as the Afghan central bank seeks to stifle alternative currencies.

The Taliban government has indicated that it will look to see whether or not crypto can be an aspect of daily life as they continue to exercise their grip on the Islamic nation.

Binance, FTX Among Crypto Players in Hunt to Buy Voyager Digital Assets as Coinbase Backs Out: Sources

As Voyager’s demise is still fresh in the community's mind, Binance is among other firms looking to buy the firm's assets and add them to the balance sheet.

CoinDesk notes Coinbase, which was also interested in the downfallen Voyager, thought that the exchange’s financials “didn’t add up.” As Voyager’s position continues to evolve it can be imagined that more potential bidders will seek the opportunity to acquire the firm's assets.

Y Combinator Names Venture Capitalist Garry Tan As Its Next President

The venerated Garry Tan will be returning to Y Combinator as president of the highly successful accelerator. Y Combinator is currently led by Geoff Ralston, who will be helping Tan to take on the mantle.

Tan has made strong investments throughout the crypto space including a “little” company called Coinbase. Tan has been working at his own VC firm, Initialized, that he co-founded in 2011.

Latest Podcast

DeCent People Podcast With Dapper Labs Co-Founder Mack Flavelle

NFT creator of CryptoKitties and co-founder of Dapper Labs/NBA Top Shot Mack Flavelle discusses his new NFT studio Big Head Club, which empowers colleagues to be the best creative version of themselves, and how anyone who tells you they're building the future of The Metaverse is full of shit.

We try to pull quotes from the best parts of our podcasts to highlight on Twitter. That’s not possible with this one, every minute of it is a goldmine and Mack is someone you need to be listening to if you aren’t already.

You can download and subscribe to the DeCent People podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music and Audible.

Great long read

The Crypto Geniuses Who Vaporized a Trillion Dollars

Everyone trusted the two guys at Three Arrows Capital. They knew what they were doing — right?

A wonderfully thorough piece of reporting that’s well-written and chock full of great details. Start with the mega-yacht, get to the social media hype the 3AC founders fomented and stay for their disappearing act and possible resurfacing in Dubai, which has no extradition treaty with the U.S.

Good Podcasts Outside DeCential

Brian Armstrong & Vitalik Buterin Discuss Decentralization, Privacy, & More

And last but not least

A Peek Inside the Vaults of Tether

Now, Bloomberg is reporting on the latest “attestation” about the reserves backing the most-used stablecoin, leaving it up to readers to make up their own minds. — Matthew Leising, Editor in Chief, DeCential Media

Out of the Ether: Special NFT Edition

Have you read the definitive history of Ethereum? No? Well then get your special edition of Out of the Ether while you can. There are only 1,000 that were printed and each copy is an NFT that can be registered on the Lukso blockchain’s Universal Profile protocol.