Summer is here and it’s just getting started at Base 😎

Whoops! Wrong Base, IYKYK 😅

Base is a Layer 2 blockchain built by Coinbase, focusing on security, low transaction costs, and developer-friendly tools. Base Testnet (think Beta product launch) went live in February and Mainnet (public launch) went live last week.

To celebrate and promote the launch of Base Mainnet, the team announced Onchain Summer, a campaign partnered with many notable companies and creators in the web3 ecosystem.

Starting from August 9th, Onchain Summer features a new daily partner and their digital collectible, along with a community section featuring smaller creators in the space.

What has been featured so far? Let’s start with some of the larger featured launches:

FWB x Cozomo de’ Medici x Deekay Motion

FWB (a web3 creative community) partnered with Cozomo de’ Medici (anonymous and influential digital art collector) and Deekay Motion (popular digital artist) to create the New Era collection. There were two versions of the piece, one featuring Ethereum and the other featuring Bitcoin.

Deekay is known for releasing his work through sub-100 edition mints in his signature animated style.

New Era took a different approach and was a 24-hour Open Edition mint, available for the relatively low price of .01 ETH (~$19) on Base.

The piece was accessible for fans like myself who’ve always wanted a Deekay piece, and celebrated the launch of Base. More importantly, it was a statement about the shifting tides of the future of art (going digital) and currency (going crypto).

By the end of the minting window, over 45k New Era ETH and 26k New Era BTC editions were minted, highlighting the excitement from art collectors, art speculators, and the broader community.

The work created such buzz across different social channels that the Instagram Story actually got reported and taken down for violating Community Guidelines (spoiler alert: nothing was violated, likely reported by some folks who are not fans of crypto).

Later that day, Cozomo sent a newsletter update about the ban, and the email was flagged as dangerous. The subject line and email warning combo really highlight the irony of the situation.

The flag seemed to trigger spam systems on the backend because there were more reports the following day. Fortunately, the situation seemed to be resolved soon after.

It’s situations like these that really highlight why blockchain technology is so important.

Coca-Cola’s Masterpiece Collection

Coca-Cola is by far the largest brand partner in the Onchain Summer campaign, launching the Masterpiece collection with 8 pieces of artwork overlaid on top of the iconic Coke bottle.

Some of the pieces were in partnership with iconic painting from history, while others were created in collaboration with emerging modern artists.

(L) Divine Idyll by Aket, (R) Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer

The NFTs are interactive and you can click on the ice cubes and bottles, or drag the image for a 360 view or a close-up.

Although this isn’t Coca-Cola’s first entry into this space, it’s certainly the most accessible. And the ‘Coke bottle as a canvas’ concept got me thinking.

Have you seen a Coke bottle before? If so, share or subscribe!

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What if The Masterpiece Collection is the launch of the new Coca-Cola Insiders Club?

Did you know that once upon a time Coca-Cola had a D2C subscription box, Insiders Club? The initiative was originally launched in early 2020, but was canceled due to COVID and relaunched in early 2021.

The 3-month subscription cost $45 and shipped monthly boxes of Coca-Cola drinks and merch to fans.

I subscribed because I was bored and stuck at home. My dumb ass thought these collectibles could eventually sell for a small fortune. This is why I don’t flip NFTs 😂

Coca Cola Insiders Club merch minus the drinks

I’m not sure if Insiders Club will ever come back (probably not, it’s been 2+ years), but web3 could change how Coca-Cola could go DTC in a different way: Digital to Consumer. (I’m here all day folks)

Similar to customizing Nikes or M&Ms, you can do the same with Coke bottles. The Masterpiece Collection is a nice souvenir and interactive art piece, but what else could they do, if they wanted to?

Create a burn and mint mechanic with each of the 8 sub-collections. Each sub-collection has ~3k - 20k mints.

If you burn one NFT, you get a physical bottle wrapped in the corresponding art.

Burn 10 and you get a Coca-Cola Insiders Club token which can be redeemed for a year-long subscription to the newly revived subscription box program!

Coca-Cola not only would have a grasp of understanding its emerging web3 audience, but would be able to connect the physical and digital data points together. There’s a lot more that could be possible, but this is a decent start.

Coca-Cola could also take inspiration from Starbucks Odyssey and have digital Coke bottles be their version of Journey Stamps. Anyone from Coke reading this?

friend.tech

friend.tech is a social finance web app that allows you to buy and sell ‘shares’ of Twitter users (you have to connect your Twitter account to the app). The app launched last Friday and went viral over the weekend.

It’s an interesting and wild ride seeing shares of yourself being bought and sold like a shitcoin.

For anyone that’s been around for a while, friend.tech might remind you of Bitclout, a SoFi platform that allowed people to buy and sell creator coins based on the person’s reputation.

In the case of friend.tech, there will be a weekly airdrop of ‘points’ starting this Friday based on app usage. These points will have future utility in the app.

If anyone wants to try friend.tech out, here are some referral codes (you need one in order to sign up):

• ft-96mkkmtk

• ft-fl44f2z

• ft-30kg4ua

• ft-g9mifos

• ft-tguhqbo

• ft-de4hb605

Tokenizing social reputation sounds odd, but if we’re already going to do that with communities and member contributions, social tokens may not sound that far-fetched down the road.

What’s next for Base?

There are over two weeks left in the Onchain Summer campaign, so we’re just getting started. I’ll probably share some more thoughts on the campaign itself before it concludes.

Coinbase has done a great job partnering with the broader ecosystem, and more (well executed) onramps are always a win in my book!

Forbes is entering web3

The creator of the 30 Under 30 list is entering web3.

The account was created in February this year, and it’s been active…sorta. How do I know?

Although there are no posts, the account did briefly change its profile picture to a custom Opepen using Opepen Studio, which was launched in mid-July.

Maybe I’m being overly optimistic, but it seems like something is happening there. Curious to see what the ‘ForbesNFT benefits’ are.

McDonald’s Singapore is entering web3

It didn’t take long for my Web3 McDonald’s piece to turn into a reality, fun times! Unlike Nike and Starbucks, the efforts are starting outside the US first.

What’s McDonald’s Singapore up to? Yesterday I got a tip from someone at Bandwagon Labs that McDonald’s Singapore is launching a Grimace digital collectible.

Some details on the launch:

• Minted directly in the McDonald’s app

• Digital collectibles will be minted

• Free, supply of 2k, non-transferable

• Holders will be given access to future perks from McDonald’s Singapore

The most notable point is that it this collection will be minted directly in the McDonald’s app.

This is smart because users will already have their digital collectibles connected to their McDonald’s app account. No additional connecting or integrating is required from the user. Offer logic can be bolted on more seamlessly in-app:

• Onchain activity + McDonald’s account = Offer A

• Offchain activity + McDonald’s account = Offer B

• Onchain activity + Offchain activity + McDonald’s account = Offer A, B, and C

Assuming Singapore’s McDonald’s app is the same as my US McDonald’s app (outside of the geo of course):

The switch is available and can be turned on globally.

We know how these trends go. If brands see McDonald’s enabling minting in the app natively and these digital collectibles are ‘selling out’ in seconds, we’re going to see this elsewhere. Like I mentioned last week, everyone has a loyalty app these days.

Time to book a flight to Singpore so I can grab this digital Grimace lol.

See you Thursday!