It has been a lot of fun putting together these newsletters and the feedback and sharing that has been returned has been enormously appreciated and beneficial to help us all get smarter about Web3.  I am very excited about learning together in 2022, having the pandemic wind down and the chance to interact and share as much in person as we've done virtually.  Wishing you all the best for 2022!

Last week, I shared a couple of pieces about gas fees.  Gas fees are a major structural element affecting the efficiency of applications built on Ethereum.  Since each Ethereum transaction requires computational resources to execute, each transaction requires a fee as there is competition for those resources and high bid wins. Gas fees refer to the cost required to conduct a transaction on Ethereum successfully. I had a real example of gas fees take place this week when I attempted to mint a NFT on Mirror, a platform that makes it possible to turn various forms of writing into NFTs, whether it is a blog, poem, an essay, novel, or short story.  I have published the first editions of the newsletter on Mirror and attempted to mint the first edition as a NFT.  I connected my MetaMask wallet and received the following message on Gas Fees.  This is a major impediment to scaling and there is a ton of development being done now to alleviate this issue.

The MetaMask Wallet returns a message of how much it will cost to mint the NFT.  The amount changes every few seconds as programming capacity becomes more/less congested.  You can choose low/medium/high in terms of how much time you are willing to wait...pay more, execute faster, though there didn't seem to be a big difference in price between them.  I am not knowledgeable enough to say how simple/complex this transaction should be, but it seems very expensive to pay this much just to mint a NFT for a blog post.

Essential Web3 Concepts

Virtual Worlds and Gaming The Sandbox: Redefining crypto gaming - A primer on a game called Sandbox, which is a virtual world where users can earn SAND tokens, buy/trade NFTs and construct their own game elements.  No explanation is complete without detail on the appreciation of the SAND token. You can sign up for the upcoming season 2 of Sandbox now.  

Other Things We Are Reading...

Analysis Web3/Crypto: Why Bother? - Albert Wenger from Union Square Ventures weighs in on the early building block phase of Web3.

Cryptocurrency How a cryptocurrency fortune crippled a deceased billionaire’s estate - Things to think about for your beneficiaries.

Companies Digital Currency Exchange Kraken Acquires Crypto Staking Firm Staked - This article was recommended to us from one of our subscribers. It's interesting to see the consolidation happening. The article goes on to mention it's Kraken's 5th acquisition this year, also references acquisitions made by Coinbase.  

DeFi (Educational) What is DeFi? (Decentralized Finance Animated) - This YouTuber creates educational videos about all things crypto. This one on DeFi is the clearest explanation we've seen on exactly what's happening in the space.

Investing Dreaming of the Perfect Metaverse ETF (Part 2) - An analysis of what companies should be included.  Part 1 explored what shouldn't be included.

NFT's A Bored Ape Yacht Club spinoff is now the hottest NFT collection after 500% trading jump - It's fascinating to see this surge in price on the NFT side, while the crypto market has been bearish during the same time period.

As a reminder the value of this community will be greatly increased if we are all sharing, so our request is to PLEASE SHARE WITH US.  Send anything that you think this group will find interesting to web3newsletter@gmail.com.  We will compile them and give you credit for the share (or post them anonymously if you chose).  Feel free to forward the newsletter to people who you think can contribute to this community.

Thanks (Content Submissions) -  Michael Alvarez, Sharmilan Rayer, Scott Schiller

Feedback - We'd love to hear what you think, especially since we have never put together a newsletter.  Constructive criticism is welcome.

Discord - Join the Web3 Newsletter community on Discord.

Archive - All of the previously published newsletters can now be found here and on Mirror.

Subscribe - If this newsletter has been forwarded to you, you can subscribe here.

We all managed to get Covid in my household, so we are staying at home, watching movies, eating and recovering from relatively mild cold symptoms...and some of us are reading about Web3.

Some feedback we received this week is to curate 2-3 pieces per newsletter that are a must read because they are so topical, help form a foundational knowledge or dive deep on a component of Web3 that is essential to understand.  We will continue to post other things we are reading and that have been shared for those that want to dive deeper.

Lastly, I have set up a Discord for this group.  You can sign up here.  Discord seems to be the preferred tool for sharing information related to NFTs, Gaming, Crypto and more Web3 topics.  It is good to try and learn your way around and I set this up help familiarize yourself with the platform and also as another place to share.

Essentials - Web3 Concepts To Be Familiar With

Gas Fees - You won't get too far in exploring investing in NFTs without running into gas fees.  We should probably come back to how a blockchain is formed, but gas fees are an example of how a transaction is validated and what is required to make it happen (a block forming on the chain). What Are Gas Fees? - A very simple explainer video What the Heck is Ethereum’s Gas Fee and Why is it Necessary

Composability - This is a term that keeps coming up in readings.  It refers to the ability to plug in existing program elements into new compositions, leading to new development faster. Composability is Innovation

Other Things We Are Reading...

Analysis Why it’s too early to get excited about Web3 - Tim O'Reilly, who defined Web 2.0 weighs in on Web 3 The New Get-Rich Faster Job in Silicon Valley:Crypto Start-Ups - Tech executives and engineers are quitting Google, Meta, Amazon and other large companies for what they say is once-in-generation opportunity with crypto.

Advertising Will advertising exist in the Metaverse? - What does the advertising business look like in the Metaverse

Brands Nike just bought a virtual shoe company that makes NFTs and sneakers ‘for the metaverse’  The Morning After: Adidas' first NFT drop made $23 million

Cryptocurrency Inside China’s underground crypto mining operation, where people are risking it all to make bitcoin Jack Dorsey Goes on Unfollowing Frenzy After Web 3 Beef  - Not sure if this means anything, but divisions surfacing about direction of Web3 and crypto

Companies Rec Room raises $145M at a $3.5B valuation for its user-generated, immersive gaming platform - Roblox market cap is $58B. Arcade Raises $15M to Offer NFT-Backed Loans - Seems like someone should make a version of Monopoly

NFTs Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs flip CryptoPunks in terms of floor price - the power of marketing on driving perception of value  Index Funds Are Bringing Liquidity to NFTs

As a reminder the value of this community will be greatly increased if we are all sharing, so our request is to PLEASE SHARE WITH US.  Send anything that you think this group will find interesting to web3newsletter@gmail.com.  We will compile them and give you credit for the share (or post them anonymously if you chose).  Feel free to forward the newsletter to people who you think can contribute to this community.

Thanks (Content Submissions) -  Michael Bassik, Kelly Moulton.

Feedback - We'd love to hear what you think, especially since we have never put together a newsletter.  Constructive criticism is welcome.

Archive - All of the previously published newsletters can now be found here.

Subscribe - If this newsletter has been forwarded to you, you can subscribe here.

There are a number of good links this week that you can really immerse yourself in.  Ben Evans annual tech presentation has plenty of Web3 references, Lucky Trader is a feed of NFT news and DAO Masters has a ton of content on DAOs.  We also have multiple pieces about Helium, a way to share your wifi as a hotspot and earn tokens while helping to power the internet of things.

As a reminder the value of this community will be greatly increased if we are all sharing, so our request is to PLEASE SHARE WITH US.  Send anything that you think this group will find interesting to web3newsletter@gmail.com.  We will compile them and give you credit for the share (or post them anonymously if you chose).  Feel free to forward the newsletter to people who you think can contribute to this community   Analysis Ben Evans Annual Tech Presentation - Every year, he produces a big presentation exploring macro and strategic trends in the tech industry. This year, ‘Three Steps to the Future’. Decrypting Crypto - This resonated for me about the moment when the blockchain lightbulb goes on. Three Web3 principles that will permeate online culture in the next 10 years 

Cryptocurrency Goodbye Gas Fees: Hello Layer 2 Living  - A good analysis of the emerging options to avoid the gas fees of Ethereum without loss of security.

NFTs Lucky Trader - A source for lots of NFT news, including a drop calendar for new NFTs. ArtReview Power 100 - ERC-721 The specification for the ‘non-fungible token’ is the most influential "person" of 2021 in the art world. Can NFT Art Survive Its Own Addiction to Elitism? - The fine art world has long since learned the value of inviting the world in. NFT entrepreneurs still haven’t taken the hint. Neil Strauss Pens the Bored Ape Yacht Club ‘Tell-All’ - Some interesting notions about the future of books on the blockchain. U.S. group eyes English soccer club, saying crypto and NFTs can change the game - Backed by cryptocurrency and with familiar elements of both “Moneyball” and “Ted Lasso,” a group of American investors say they plan to purchase an English soccer team.

DAO DAO Masters - This is a repository of newsletters/articles, blogs, and twitter threads which were super useful for learning more about DAOs. 

Virtual Real Estate Virtual land rush: Million-dollar real estate up for grabs in metaverse - A review of some of the biggest transactions hint that the development of the land for marketing purposes is in the offing.

Newsletters CoinDesk - The Node

Companies Helium Explaining San Jose’s partnership with Helium What is Helium and How Does It Work? - A user tells the story of setting up a Helium network in his home Startup Raises $1.5M to Make DAO Creation as Easy as Starting a Group Chat

NFT Drops The Other Avatars - Dropping in early 2022, The Other Avatars is the first of its kind and a project that only Saatchi Art could make a reality: a series of handmade, originally-designed, and stylistically-varied avatars created by an international collective of hundreds of artists selected by our curators. 

Thanks (Content Submissions) -  Adrian Rose, Kelly Moulton, Paul Greenberg, Seif Hamid.

Feedback - We'd love to hear what you think, especially since we have never put together a newsletter.  Constructive criticism is welcome.

Archive - All of the previously published newsletters can now be found here.

Subscribe - If this newsletter has been forwarded to you, you can subscribe here.

In the newsletter, we intend to share articles, interesting companies, investment ideas, etc. You can always find previous editions of the newsletter here.

The value of this will be greatly increased if we are all sharing, so our request is to PLEASE SHARE WITH US. Send anything that you think this group will find interesting to web3newsletter@gmail.com. We will compile them and give you credit for the share (or post them anonymously if you chose). Feel free to forward the newsletter to people who you think can contribute to this community.

Feedback — We’d love to hear what you think, especially since we have never put together a newsletter. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Thanks,  Aaron

Cryptocurrency Half a Billion in Bitcoin, Lost in the Dump A Bitcoin Boom Fueled by Cheap Power, Empty Plants and Few Rules Beyond the Bitcoin Bubble — From January 2018, so interesting to look back almost four years

NFTs The Beginner’s Guide to NFTs NFT Art Collectors Are Playing a Risky Game — And Winning From trading cards to digital video: Sports NFTs kick sports memorabilia into the digital age NFTs and a Thousand True Fans Why innovative brands are looking to NFTs to engage with customers HOW NFTS ARE USED BY MARKETERS — A CONTINUALLY UPDATED LIST NFT+Entertainment — An exploration of how the content business is looking to cash in on the latest crypto craze NFT 101: Everything You Need to Know Snoop drops ‘Decentralized Dogg’ NFT like it’s hot Ubisoft adds in-game NFTs

Blockchain The Future Of Real Estate Transactions On The Blockchain Blockchain in advertising — Is it the answer to digital advertising’s trust and transparency gap?

DAO In Praise of Ponzis ‘Buy the Constitution’ Aftermath: Everyone Very Mad, Confused, Losing Lots of Money, Fighting, Crying, Etc.

Virtual Real Estate Metaverse Real Estate Piles Up Record Sales in Sandbox and Other Virtual Realms

Companies A colleague of mine from Meta just started a company called Mysten Labs with some other folks from Meta. They raised $36m from a16z and published a note on what they will be doing. I understand ~10% of what they say they are working on so a lot of climbing to go in my learning curve.

Crypto Chart of the Month (Yes, there is an Omicron coin)

This week’s thanks for content sharing go to Rahul Chopra and Lucas Araujo.

If this newsletter has been forwarded to you, you can subscribe here.