That's So Meta - The WAGMI Journal #10
While the video was cringe, Facebook's move to the Metaverse is very significant
In today’s issue:
The crypto market is relatively flat with NFT-related tokens such as MANA and AXS leading the market in the past 24-h. Trader seems to be on a wait-and-see mode as we go into the weekend. Additionally, Facebook made a really big push into the Metaverse (that’s so Meta…), the Coinbase app hits the number 1 spot on US App Store, and a CryptoPunk was sold for $532M.
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 Renames Itself Meta
After rumors regarding Facebook name change circulated for a few days, the company has officially announced its new name, Meta, to align better with its push into the Metaverse. Facebook has long been a dominant player in AR/VR technology — an extremely exciting one that hasn’t seen many direct involvements from entrepreneurs and investors due to the technological barrier and relative uncertainty compared to perhaps… b2b SaaS, FinTech, and many more.
With its insane amount of capital, Facebook is one of the few companies that decided to really focus on the AR/VR space, arguably much more than its tech giant competitors. This is without a doubt because social media and online “interaction” are much more directly connected to the Metaverse that we imagine compared to our Christmas shopping data or search data.
⎆Coinbase Hits Number 1 Spot on Apple’s Us App Store
Even though this is not the first time that Coinbase hit the top spot, the previous one was more or less four years ago in 2017 (during the last crypto bull market). Despite crypto resurgence amongst mainstream retail investors in the past 24 months, institutional activities were arguably a lot more dominant. In fact, the Bitcoin google trend stayed quite flat during the run-up to break the previous ATH number of $20,000 — but now, Apple app store data seems to really indicate that retail investors are truly here.
⎆Here’s a $532 Million NFT Trade That Wasn’t What It Appeared
CryptoPunk #9998 was bought for an insane amount of money. Except that, the buyer and seller are the same entity according to blockchain records. While suspicion regarding wash trading is not new in the NFT market (as well as the traditional art market), we have yet to see one at this scale before. The buyer used a flash loan to fund the $532M purchase. These are loans that are conducted in the same transaction, in the same block. If the loans aren’t returned in the same block, the transaction fails and the money was never actually borrowed. Punk #9998 buyer used this technique; hence, never actually used any funds to purchase the NFT.
👨🏻💻Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
Tokemak Decentralized AMM Hits $1B TVL
XDEFI Wallet Integrates Terra and Launches Liquidity Program
Project Serum Allocates $100M to Liquidity Mining
THORChain Concludes 2 Security Audits Following Summer Exploits
Sushi’s Q3 Update
Ankr Protocol $10M Grant
OHM Forks Proposal
🦮NFT & Metaverse
NFT Artist Beeple to Auction a Real-Life Sculpture for About $15 Million at Christie’s
Nifty Gateway Expands Beyond Curated Drops as Ethereum NFT Aggregator
Facebook Goes All-In on Metaverse With New Company Name Meta, NFT Push
RLY Venture Studio Launches With Fresh Backing From Paris Hilton and Marc Andreessen
BSN Architect Red Date to Launch NFT Infrastructure in China
Top Sales (Last 24-h); Source: https://dappradar.com/nft
Click here for an explanation on the $500M+ CryptoPunk Sale
📈Deal Flow & Capital Raise
Biconomy - $11.5M Unknown Round
Moralis - $13.4M Unknown Round
Voyager Digital - $75M Unknown Round
Squads - $1.5M Seed Round
Artnome - $3M Seed Round
Nameless - $15M Seed Round
Elementus - $12M Series A
Alchemy - $250M Series C
⚖️Regulatory Update
DOJ to Hire Director for Its Crypto Enforcement Unit
Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ Act Would Close Crypto Tax Loophole
Australia’s Securities Regulator Issues Criteria for Crypto-Asset ETPs
India Likely to Regulate Crypto, Not Ban It
New Jersey Hits Five Crypto Scams With Cease and Desist Orders
📚Noteworthy Reads
The Ultimate Guide to Airdrops
@wilxlee Thread on Creating a Successful NFT Series
Delphi’s Jose Maria Thread on Astroport
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.