December 14, 2021       /       Unchained Daily       /       Laura Shin

Daily Bits ✍️✍️✍️

  • Vulcan Forged, a crypto gaming platform, lost $140 million in a hack that saw 96 private keys exploited.

  • 90% of Bitcoin’s supply has been mined.

  • Audius is building a radio station in the metaverse through a partnership with DeFi Land.

  • Investment flows to digital asset products slowed to $88 million — the lowest inflow since mid-October.

  • Bored Ape Yacht club and Animoca, a gaming company, plans to launch a play-to-earn game in Q2 of 2022; a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT was accidentally sold for $3,000 instead of $300,000.

  • The Bank of Russia is prohibiting mutual funds from investing in crypto.

  • Robinhood has integrated tools from the blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis in the lead-up to releasing crypto wallets.

  • Francis Suarez, Miami’s mayor, wants to add BTC to his 401K.

  • Justin Kan, the co-founder of Twitch, is launching a gaming NFT platform on Solana.

  • The Bank of England believes the growth of crypto could pose risks for financial stability.

What Do You Meme?

What’s Poppin’?

Metaverse Fashion

RTFKT Studios, an NFT fashion company, has been acquired by Nike, Inc.

While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, the partnership seems to be a match made in heaven. Created in January 2020, RTFKT was built for the metaverse and is known for creating NFTs of virtual sneaker designs and other collectibles, such as its collaboration with Jeff Staples earlier this year.

The company is joining Nike, which has shown interest in tokenized fashion since 2019, when it filed for a patent regarding “Cryptokicks.” This year, Nike has continued actively pursuing virtual fashion, filing for patents on “Nike’” and Just Do It,” along with the Air Jordan, Jumpman, and swoosh logos. In addition to the patents, Nike also posted listings for a virtual material designer of footwear and other virtual design roles back in October.

Regarding Nike’s acquisition, President and CEO of Nike, John Donahoe, remarked, “This acquisition is another step that accelerates Nike’s digital transformation and allows us to serve athletes and creators at the intersection of sport, creativity, gaming and culture.”

Benoit Pagotto, a co-founder of RTFKT, also espoused enthusiasm. “Nike is the only brand in the world that shares the deep passion we all have for innovation, creativity and community, and we’re excited to grow our brand which was fully formed in the metaverse,” said Pagotto.

Recommended Reads

  • Multicoin’s Kyle Samani on why assets like Ethereum and Solana will outperform BTC:

  • @leaonidasNFT on the early history of Ethereum NFTs;

  • CoinShares on BTC and quantum computing:

On The Pod…

How Yield Guild Games Is Revolutionizing the Future of Work and Investment

Gabby Dizon, cofounder of Yield Guild Games, discusses his background in gaming, why he started Yield Guild Games, the performance of Axie Infinity, and more. Show topics:

  • how Gabby fell down the crypto rabbit hole
  • what inspired Gabby to co-found Yield Guild Games
  • what Yield Guild Games does
  • how blockchain games improve upon games in the traditional world
  • a real-life story of Yield Guild Games improving a player’s life
  • why it’s difficult for Yield Guild Games players to cash out earnings and how Yield Guild Games is trying to solve this issue via a partnership with XLD
  • why Gabby thinks the value of $SLP in Axie Infinity is dropping
  • what sort of game and tokenization mechanisms work best for blockchain games
  • why Gabby wants a new Ethereum token standard
  • what Gabby thinks makes an in-game NFT valuable
  • why Axie Infinity is popular in the Philippines and Venezuela
  • where Yield Guild Games is attempting to expand next
  • how Yield Guild Games built out the tokenomics for YGG, the guild’s native token
  • what Gabby thinks about P2E games on chains outside of Ethereum
  • how Yield Guild Games is decentralizing
  • how blockchain games are changing the nature of work
  • what sort of jobs exist in the metaverse
  • why Gabby buys NFTs
  • Gabby’s crypto prediction for 2022

Book Update

My book, The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze, is now available for pre-order now.

The book, which is all about Ethereum and the 2017 ICO mania, comes out Feb. 22. Pre-order it today!

You can purchase it here: http://bit.ly/cryptopians