Newsletter

Will Solana be the Web3 version of Apple?

In this week's issue, check out Solana's plans with their upcoming Web3 smartphone, Uniswap's major acquisition of Genie, and a recap of the entire week!

M1 Cyborg

Jun 28, 2022 • 5 min read

If you like learning about Web3, Crypto, NFTs, and Tech, subscribe to our free weekly newsletter! And if you haven't yet, follow me on Twitter!

gm friends, a lot has happened this week in Web3. Here are some things that just minted👇

📱 Solana bets big on mobile
🏠 What is Uniswap building?
🚚 dYdX leaving Ethereum
🧠 Mark Zuckerbergs plans for NFTs
... and some NFT market analysis and updates

📱 Solana is building a crypto phone, it's very "Apple-esque"

Solana is coming out with a Web3-focused Android smartphone, Saga. And everything about this release reminds us of Apple. Anatoly Yakovenko, the co-founder and CEO of Solana, even presented Saga in his own Steve Jobs moment.

Okay, so why is a blockchain interested in creating a smartphone? Well, Web3 has basically always been browser-based while the majority of the world prefers mobile. Solana is now trying to put all the power of the blockchain into your hands and quite literally.

Saga will feature the Solana Mobile Stack, SMS, which will enable developers to build seamless mobile applications on top of it. Here are some of the key features:

Seed Vault: a secure protocol to sign transactions while protecting the private key
Solana dApp Store: a place to shop for new decentralized applications
Solana Pay: A decentralized payment for immediate transactions at low fees

Additionally, they've shelled out $10 million for developers to build on top of the SMS and incentivize developers.

An ambitious project as smartphones is already dominated by Apple, Google, Samsung, etc (all of who have many years of experience building phones). It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. Personally, I think it'll depend on the developers and applications on the blockchain.

🧠 What's Uniswap's plan?

Last week Uniswap, the largest decentralized exchange, acquired the NFT marketplace Genie. Genie is an NFT market aggregator where you can buy a batch of NFTs across all major marketplaces in a single transaction. This saves a ton from gas fees, especially on Ethereum.

So why did Uniswap do this? They want to "unlock universal ownership and exchange" in Web3 and impact every major product.

And so far it's working. Uniswap earned more in fees than the entire Ethereum network between 6/14 and 6/21.

With Uniswap officially entering other sectors of Web3, we shouldn't be surprised if we see them extend their products even further such as a wallet. Metamask, for example, has its own token swapping feature. We shouldn't be surprised to see Uniswap come after this next.

📰 The Best Minted News of the Week

dYdX leaves Ethereum for Cosmos

The #1 place to trade perpetual contracts (letting you trade futures or options without dealing with time expirations) is planning to build its own native chain on Cosmos.

Why? Simply because L1 and L2s couldn't handle the throughput necessary. dYdX handles 10 trades per second and 1,000 orders/cancellations, but creating its own chain moves away from decentralization while giving dYdX more control.

Yuga Labs file lawsuit against Nazi claims

Some of the biggest news this weekend were claims from Ryder Ripps and Youtuber Philion over racist imagery by the Bored Ape Yacht Club. The video has over a million views and was even watched live by streamers xQc and Asmongold.

The worst part? They made a rip off collection called RR BAYC and minted for 0.15 ETH each. The collection sold out and even peaked at a floor over 1 ETH. (This has been delisted from OpenSea)

This isn't the first time people complained about racist imagery from Yuga Labs. Ryder Ripps has been making these claims for months now. With the RR BAYC collection, you can only think he's trying to make a quick cash grab.

Yuga Lab's co-founder Gordon Goner and co. responded in this Medium post and then officially filed a lawsuit against the slanderous claims.

Mark Zuckerberg unveils NFT Roadmaps for Facebook & Instagram

Creators will soon be able to monetize their work and make money. Instagram will be expanding towards more creators in the US and eventually be shared in IG Stories.

An additional Creator Marketplace is in the works to help creators get discovered, paid, and share brand partnerships.

NFT Projects and Updates

Doodles announce Pharrell as Chief Brand Officer along with Doodles 2, which might be on a separate blockchain with little to no gas fees. Doodles have plans for music, gaming, animation, and more!
Doodles Genisis Box Bucket Auction starts from June 29 7 PM EST to June 30 7 PM EST. This will give your Doodles 2 rare apparel and accessories and will never happen again!
Otherside Meta is planning to launch a demo on July 16th! Answer the survey instructions here to provide headcount.
Jenkins the Valet debut novel Bored & Dangerous will be available to mint July 11th! There will be a total of 20,826 Book NFTs and only 2367 will be available to mint for the public via Dutch Auction
Adidas Football officially partners with WAGMI United to become the kit supplier for Crawley Town. WAGMI United purchased Crawley Town FC and plans to take it to the Premier League. They have plans to incorporate digital governance and communities too!
Nickelodeon's NFT collection will launch July 19th
The second to last Mega Mutant was minted during NFT NYC

Thread of the Week 🧵

Hitchhiker's Guide to DeFi 👇

An illustrated tour of the world of decentralized finance...

[1/x] 🧵 pic.twitter.com/SlaWe5ueRP
— shivsak (@shivsakhuja) June 23, 2022

Some other things in Web3

Solana Marketplace Magic Eden Raises $130M to expand to other chains
Ebay acquires KnownOrigin to expand into blockchains and NFTs
Shopify adds NFT-gated option for retailers
Three Arrows Capital defaults on $700M loan
Solend partners with Mango Markets to handle whale's debt
Time Magazine and Sandbox rebuilding NYC in the Metaverse
Tether, the issuer of USDT, is going to launch a new stablecoin pegged to the British Pound