Originally published in My Crypto Advisor on August 24, 2022

The march towards mainstream adoption of Web3 accelerates with the introduction of Solana Spaces, a “brick-and-mortar” retail store in NYC Hudson Yards. Attracting 5,000 visitors in the two weeks following grand opening, the storefront represents a shift to real-world interaction for a technology reserved to online spaces since 2009. NYC is the “first of several” storefronts, with a second location opening in the City of Miami. Visitors can learn the basics of blockchain, view an NFT gallery, and receive rewards in USDC and NFTs for completing activities such as setting up a digital wallet.

Launch of the retail space follows on the heels of an announcement by Solana Labs regarding plans to release a mobile phone with Web3 functionality in early 2023.  Dubbed “Saga” the device will include a DApp [decentralized application] store, Solana Pay integration, and a “seed vault” for private key management.  Will Web3 mobile phones and retail spaces usher a new wave of consumer adoption?

The City of Miami continues to strive for the “cryptocurrency capital of the United States” title.  Mayor Suarez announced an NFT initiative for the City of Miami in partnership with Mastercard, Salesforce, and TIME.  The collaboration involves a collection of around 5,000 NFTs designed by 56 local artists. Owners of the NFT will receive access to Mastercard’s Priceless Miami program for exclusive benefits.  Salesforce, the leader in CRM software, will handle the creation and sale of NFTs through a new product called NFT Cloud.

North America is currently home to 95% of the Bitcoin ATMs located in 77 different countries.  As of August 2022, there are 38,685 Bitcoin ATMs worldwide, a 509% increase when compared to the 6,352 installations in January 2020.  Bitcoin ATMs allow users to make a cash deposit to receive BTC to their wallet address whereas some allow you to sell your BTC to withdraw the local currency.

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