FB Brilliant Metaverse Strategy - The WAGMI Journal #7
Why pursue the difficult path when there's an easier one closer to home
In today’s issue:
The market is relatively flat with dog coins leading the pack. Stalwart mentioned that it’s hard to take crypto people seriously when SHIB is the year’s biggest winner and crypto Twitter came out in droves. Meanwhile, in traditional equity land, GME and AMC are two of the best-performing stocks in 2021. Can we all just agree that it’s glorified gambling but we call it investing? (oops… let’s pretend I never wrote that)
Additionally, Facebook really doubles down on the metaverse, BlockFi & Neuberger Berman wants to create crypto asset management tools, and Korea Teacher’s Credit Union plans to invest in BTC.
We’re finalizing our internal workflow and content.
Starting today, our daily issue will be sent out before 9 am EST.
Based on our readers’ suggestions, we are working to add:
a section tracking top projects (primarily DeFi) governance proposals/activities
a section showing open interest and other trading-related metrics 24-h changes
a section showing newly released projects
Please reach out if you have any other ideas or would like us to recap a segment of the market on a daily basis.
- Curated by Marco Manoppo (@manoppomarco)
📰Market News
⎆Facebook to Separate Results for AR/VR Division Starting in Q4
In an earnings release, the tech giant stated that it will start to break out results for Facebook Reality Labs (FRL) division starting in Q4 2021. This move aligns with the company’s recent announcements of doubling down on the metaverse.
Regardless of whether one likes Zucks or not, he is without a doubt a smart guy. Facebook's current branding and position in society are extremely difficult to bounce back from, and he realizes that sooner or later, Facebook must conquer a new and upcoming market, with a new face (FB wants to rebrand, but we’ll see…).
While getting into DeFi and crypto payments are difficult due to regulatory rules and Facebook’s tarnished reputation, onboarding users via NFT/the metaverse is a lot more subtle and aligns better with Facebook’s core strength. Whoever advises Mark to double down on the metaverse instead of worrying about Novi/Diem is brilliant. With the amount of capital that Facebook has combined with the complexity in innovative new business models that can emerge from the metaverse, I think it is completely unrealistic to expect that regulators can catch up with what FB does in the AR/VR industry. If you disagree, see below.
⎆BlockFi-Neuberger Berman Crypto Asset Management Products
One of the world’s most prominent asset managers with $400B in AUM, Neuberger Berman, has partnered with BlockFi to develop crypto asset management products. Albeit not sharing many details with the public, ETF is stated to be one product that they’re pursuing in the short term. This is an interesting move by BlockFi amidst the increasing regulatory scrutiny towards crypto lenders in the United States.
⎆Korea Teacher’s Credit Union Is Planning to Invest in Bitcoin
Korea is one country where crypto popularity -particularly amongst younger investors- has significantly outpaced its local equity market. Now, the Korea Economic Daily reported that the country’s Teacher’s Credit Union with $40 billion in AUM plans to start investing in BTC in 2022. As higher-quality institutional products get approved, we will see similar moves from institutional funds across the world. Additionally, holding BTC is a quasi-USD exposure for emerging markets, which provides a nice hedge against local fiat currency risks.
👨🏻💻Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
Defi Activity on Solana (SOL) Touched an All-Time High
Justin Sun Teasing $1 Billion TRON Fund
Valour Uniswap Exchange-Traded Product to Increase UNI Exposure
Olympusdao Developer Launches Protocol Enabling One-To-One Stablecoin Swaps
🦮NFT & Metaverse
Facebook Is Spending at Least $10 Billion This Year on Its Metaverse Division
Twitter Is Working on Blockchain-Linked Collectibles Tab
Opulous Inks NFT Partnership With Japanese Giant Line
Top Sales (Last 24-h); Source: https://dappradar.com/nft
📈Deal Flow & Capital Raise
OnChain Studios - $7.5M Seed Round
GreenPark Sports - $31M Series B
⚖️Regulatory Update
US Treasury Report to Give SEC Oversight on Stablecoins
Tether Trials Notabene’s New Travel Rule Technology
Dubai Issues New Rules for Security, Derivatives Tokens
Bank of Spain Opens Registry for Crypto-Service Providers
German Law Enforcement Begins Auction of 215 Seized Bitcoins
Nigeria’s eNaira CBDC Goes Live
China Isn’t Soliciting Public Opinion on Whether to Drop Its BTC Mining Ban
📚Noteworthy Reads
Aswath Damodaran Musing on The Billionaire Tax
A Blog About Abracadabra Money
FTX Digital Markets CEO Thread on Global Banking for Crypto Business
For the first week (and maybe a few after), this newsletter is intended for friends and family as we’re sharpening our value offering and content.
Feel free to reach out to manoppomarco@gmail.com — feedbacks and constructive criticisms are much appreciated.
DISCLAIMER:
All the information presented on The WAGMI Journal publication and its affiliation is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, and any other forms of advice. Writers, authors, and contributors of The WAGMI Journal may hold any assets mentioned in the issue.