1. Crypto Long & Short: What NFT ‘Markets for Emotion’ Say About Tech Business Models
NFTs may be frothy right now, but they reveal a new type of price discovery for a new type of value, which could change business models.
With NFT talk flying at us from all corners, I was tempted to write about how, yes, there is a lot of hype but the main message is the cultural shift supported by technology. And that is the case — our lives are now digital, so it was inevitable our cultural spending would be, too, and for younger generations the concept of ownership is more about experience than possession.
But while that’s interesting, and ties into what I’ve written before regarding the massive impact the younger lens will have on our concept of investing, there is more going on here. So instead of a cultural/generational take, I’m going to look beneath the froth to what this trend says about how markets are evolving. It matters.
It’s not just the new markets springing up for digital artwork, video clips, music, tweets, etc. It’s not just the new types of financial assets that can benefit from the NFT tailwinds, such as tokenized securities and liquid insurance contracts. Those are all potentially transformative, but what I’m especially intrigued by is the emergence of a market for something that hasn’t been possible to value before: emotion.
This could give rise to much more than a new market as well as a new way of communicating and relating to peers. It could change entire business models, not just of culture but of any service, and could solve some of the inequities and vulnerabilities of the current web stack.
2. DeFi Lending Protocol Alchemix Raises $4.9M in Round Led by CMS, Alameda
Alchemix said it sold the investors the protocol’s native ALCX tokens at $700 per token.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol Alchemix said it completed a $4.9 million funding raise led by CMS, Alameda Research and Immutable Capital.
Alchemix said it sold the investors the protocol’s native ALCX tokens at $700 per token. Proceeds were transferred to the protocol’s founders as compensation for their work. Alchemix noted that as this was the protocol’s first capital raise, all work prior to this had been done without compensation.
In order of investment size, the investors were: CMS, Alameda Research, Immutable Capital, Nascent, Protoscale Capital, LedgerPrime, eGirl Capital, Fisher8 Capital, Orthogonal Capital and one individual, whose name was not provided.
The protocol said the raise allows the founders to commit to full time development and will also be used for audits, contractors, hiring, marketing, and community efforts.
Under terms of the raise, the protocol’s founders can’t sell any more tokens this year while the funding group are prohibited from selling theirs for three months.
3. Social Tokens Crash After a Reported Hack at Roll Wallet
The founder of WHALE, a coin issued through the social token platform, confirmed the hack on Twitter.
A number of social tokens, or cryptocurrencies supporting online communities, tanked early Sunday after a reported security breach at Roll.
Tokens like WHALE, RARE and PICA tanked more than 50% during the early European hours, according to data provider CoinGecko. Meanwhile, the RLY token of competing social money platform Rally spiked to all-time highs.
The founder of WHALE, a social coin underpinned by a basket of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), confirmed the hack on Twitter, stating that 2.17% of the coin’s supply has been compromised and the rest is secure in the cold storage.
Roll facilitates the sending and receiving of social money from Ethereum blockchain and within the Roll network.
According to MyCrypto.com, the malicious entity that executed the Roll hack is now sending 100s of ether (ETH, -0.51%) to Tornado Cash, an Ethereum-based privacy tool used by hackers to cover tracks and withdrawn funds.
4. Tesla’s Elon Musk Wants Coinbase to Become DOGE-Friendly
A listing on Coinbase would unleash dogecoin to a whole new breed of investor.
Tesla CEO and unabashed dogecoin fan Elon Musk wants the Coinbase exchange to end its “No DOGE Allowed” policy and list the meme-based cryptocurrency.
Musk tweeted an exclamatory “Yes” on Saturday after a Twitter user asked the billionaire investor whether Coinbase should enable the Shiba Inu-represented cryptocurrency on its platform.
A listing on Coinbase would expose dogecoin to a whole new breed of investor and thus unleash its potential. That’s because the U.S.-regulated exchange is considered synonymous with institutional investors and high net worth individuals. Tesla bought bitcoin worth $1.5 billion in February via Coinbase.
5. Batman Is Ours Alone to Exploit. DC Comics Warns Against Using Its Characters in NFTs
DC Comics, Inc., a subsidiary of Warner Bros, is unhappy with artists using its intellectual property in non-fungible tokens. The publisher has its own plans.
Publisher DC Comics doesn’t want artists using its intellectual property (IP) in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and said it has its own plans for characters, according to a report in Gizmodo.
In a letter sent to freelancers employed by the firm Thursday, Jay Kogan, DC Comics’ senior VP of legal affairs, stressed it is against company policy to sell digital images featuring DC’s IP with or without NFTs.
Kogan said DC Comics, a subsidiary of Warner Bros, itself a unit of Time Warner, has its own plans to enter the NFT space and is currently exploring opportunities to enter the market.
Former DC Comics artist Jose Delgo, who is known for his sketches of Wonder Woman, has made $1.85 million by selling NFTs featuring the superhero and other licensed characters, Gizmodo said.
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March 15, 2021
