Key Reads 08.04.23

 Key Reads

– Building psychological attachment — not Just ownership — into Web3. shorturl.at/txGL5
– NFTs, music, and ownership. Some key perspectives on ownership, which also apply to other verticals. It’s all a bit more complicated. shorturl.at/bno58
– NFT regulatory issues - a 2022 review and 2023 preview. Again, it’s all a bit more complicated. shorturl.at/cmrC1
– Go-to-market in Web3: new mindsets, tactics, metrics. shorturl.at/ipLW3
– Difficulty of user acquisition in Web3. shorturl.at/aiyU5
– The dark matter of finance: trust. shorturl.at/tFKMZ
– ARK's The Bitcoin Monthly shorturl.at/fDSY2

🚨 What caught my eyes

✨ Web3 + NFTs
– OpenSea, now the 2nd biggest NFT marketplace behind Blur (according to volume), launched OpenSea Pro. Boom. After losing ground to Blur in recent months, which lured in users with lower fees and BLUR airdrops, OpenSea now strikes back. Similar to Blur, OpenSea Pro focuses on NFT traders. Meanwhile, fees are in a race to the bottom, and marketplaces compete for market share and volume (which comes from traders), because that’s where they make money.
David Phelps called it the paradox of exchanges: a) go after the 1% of users who represent 99% of transaction volume. b) or go after the 99% of users who represent the 1% of transaction volume. Some argue that the focus on traders and lower (royalty) fees destroys NFTs' artistic and cultural esteem and crowds out creators - the ones who’ve built all this.

– Ticketmaster, the largest ticketing company globally, introduced “token-gated ticket sales”, allowing artists to offer exclusive access to concert and event tickets to eligible NFT owners. This will be a no-brainer for superfans (they receive priority access, seat selection and the best prices, with no bots and no waiting) and artists alike (they can price discriminate). Here we go: The “thousand true fans” theory is at play.

The NFT market .

  The NFT market is constantly evolving, and new record-breaking sales are being set all the time. Here are some of the most successful NFT sales to date: Beeple's "The First 5000 Days": In March 2021, a digital artwork by the artist Beeple sold at Christie's auction house for $69 million, making it the most expensive NFT ever sold. CryptoPunks: A collection of 10,000 unique 8-bit characters called CryptoPunks has been one of the most successful NFT projects. In May 2021, a single CryptoPunk was sold for $69 million. Everydays: The First 5000 Days by Beeple: In February 2021, a digital artwork by Beeple sold for $6.6 million on Nifty Gateway, setting a new record for the most expensive NFT at the time. NBA Top Shot: NBA Top Shot is a blockchain-based platform that allows users to collect and trade digital basketball collectibles. In February 2021, a LeBron James highlight sold for $208,000, setting a new record for the most expensive NBA Top Shot moment. Jack Dorsey's first tweet: In March 2021, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sold his first tweet as an NFT for $2.9 million. These sales demonstrate the potential for NFTs to be valuable digital assets. However, it's worth noting that NFT prices can be volatile and there is no guarantee that the value of an NFT will appreciate over time.