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NFTs and digital objects

Crypto identity and privacy Metaverse / xR NFTs and digital objects

·May. 7, 2021

Decentralized Identity and the Metaverse, with Michael Sena of The Ceramic Network

In this conversation, we talk with Michael Sena of uPort, 3Box Labs, and The Ceramic Network about web3.0, decentralized identity, and the various standards that he has been implicit in creating. Additionally, we explore the nuances around data ownership and identity, the journey from founding uPort to now 3Box and the Ceramic network and how the practical implementation of these ideas has changed as the decentralized web has changed from Web2.0 to Web3.0, and conclude on how the metaverse will be composed of decentralized identity and the protocols on which it travels.

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big tech central bank / CBDC decentralized finance Metaverse / xR NFTs and digital objects

·Nov. 3, 2021

Why Facebook is domain squatting on the Metaverse

We discuss the Facebook pivot into the metaverse and its rebrand into Meta. Our analysis touches on the competitive pressures faced by the company from big tech players, other ecosystem builders, and limits to growth for a $1 trillion business that likely motivated this refocus. We further dive into network effects around platforms, and why super apps and financial features are attractive, and how owning the hardware is a required defensive strategy. Lastly, we discuss these development through the crypto and Web3 lens, deeply disappointed with Facebook trying to domain park a generational opportunity with a centralized solution.

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music industry NFTs and digital objects supply chain / trade visual art

·Mar. 5, 2021

How a moment on the NYC 6 train turned into using NFTs in the $74T supply chain industry before NFTs were cool, with Tyler Mulvihill of EulerBeats

In this conversation, we talk with Tyler Mulvihill of Treum and EulerBeats, about how he became involved in the very first non-financial production grade blockchain use case, tracking & tracing tuna from Fiji to New York using Treum. Additionally, we explore the nuances of NFTs and how EulerBeats is using bonding curve economics to price the future of NFT use rather than mere collection.

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artificial intelligence DAOs NFTs and digital objects philosophy visual art

·Jul. 22, 2019

What Finance can learn from the Evolution of Beautiful Artificial Intelligence Art

However, mastery is not immune to automation. As a profession, portraiture melted away with the invention of the Camera, which in turn became commoditized and eventually digitized. The value-add from painting had to shift to things the camera did *not* do. As a result, many artists shifted from chasing realism to capturing emotion (e.g., Impressionism), or to the fantastical (e.g., Surrealism), or to non-representative abstraction (e.g., Expressionism) of the 20th century. The use of the replacement technology, the camera, also became artistic -- take for example the emotional range of Fashion or Celebrity photography (e.g., Madonna as the Mona Lisa). The skill of manipulating the camera into making art, rather than mere illustration, became a rare craft as well -- see the great work of Annie Leibovitz.

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decentralized finance NFTs and digital objects visual art

·Sep. 10, 2021

Art Blocks CEO Erick Calderon on Generative Art, Blockchains, and the NFT movement

In this conversation, we chat with Erick Calderon is the founder and CEO at Art Blocks, a platform for creating on-demand, generative art pieces. Since its launch a year ago, Art Blocks has garnered the attention of many, including auction house Sotheby’s, which recently sold 19 of the platform’s pieces in a deal totaling $81,000. Calderon, a native Houstonian, uses the online handle Snowfro, which stems from a snow cone stand he used to own.

More specifically, we touch on projection mapping, generative vs. algorithmic art, machine learning, smart contracts, the constructivist art movement, Artblocks’ unique approach to NFT algorithms and minting, NFT flipping vs. scalping, gas price wars, flashbots, dutch auctions, and the massive demand for anything Artblocks in the world today and the justifcations behind such demand.

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augmented reality Metaverse / xR NFTs and digital objects visual art

·Jan. 8, 2021

Lessons for banking and finance from video game interface design

We’ve had this write-up in some various mental states floating around for a while, and better done than perfect. So treat this as a core idea to be fleshed out later.

Payments and banking companies should be looking at how people purchase and store digital goods and digital currency in video games. That experience has been polished over 40 years, and is what will be the default expectation for future generations.

For those interested, here is a website that collects user experiences of shopping across hundreds of designs.

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Crypto DAOs decentralized finance Metaverse / xR NFTs and digital objects

·Sep. 24, 2021

What’s next in Web3? Tachyon Accelerator’s MD Gabriel Anderson on early stage in NFTs, DeFi, & Crypto

In this conversation, we chat with Gabriel Anderson – Managing Director at Tachyon, Head of Market Strategy & Business Intelligence at ConsenSys Labs. Former Head of VaynerMedia. Alumnus of Merrill Lynch.

More specifically, we touch on what Tachyon is, how it works, and who it’s for, the growth of crypto, and what needs to come next to allow the widespread adoption of crypto by mainstream society. Gabriel talks about the best projects he has seen so far that combine NFTs with other elements of DeFi and crypto, and what he’d like to see more of in the future.

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DAOs gaming & sports generational change Metaverse / xR NFTs and digital objects Social / Community

·Sep. 3, 2021

Metaverse 101 with Lex Sokolin and Cris Sheridan, Sr. Editor of Financial Sense

In this conversation, Cris Sheridan, who is the Senior Editor of Financial Sense and Host of FS Insider, leads the conversation around the basics to understand the exciting new digital universe, more commonly known as The Metaverse.

More specifically, we discuss all things VR & AR including social media’s proliferation into the sector, Millenial vs GenZ behavioural approaches to the metaverse, the creator economy, NFTs, Axie Infinity, Mr Beast, Computational Blockchains, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), ConsenSys, MetaMask, and Ethereum vs Institutional Finance (Schwab).

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DAOs decentralized finance NFTs and digital objects

·Oct. 29, 2021

Chainlink Co-Founder Sergey Nazarov on building the global decentralized oracle network powering DeFi and Web3

In this conversation, we chat with Sergey Nazarov. Sergey is Co-founder of Chainlink, the leading decentralized oracle network used by global enterprises & projects at the forefront of the blockchain space.

Chainlink is the industry standard oracle network for powering hybrid smart contracts. Chainlink Decentralized Oracle Networks provide developers with the largest collection of high-quality data sources and secure off-chain computations to expand the capabilities of smart contracts on any blockchain. Managed by a global, decentralized community, Chainlink currently secures billions of dollars in value for smart contracts across decentralized finance (DeFi), insurance, gaming, and other major industries.

More specifically, we touch on what it means to build in DeFi, what Oracles are like, what smart contracts are and what they enable, how all of this works and where the protocol is going, and so much more!

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DAOs eCommerce marketing microeconomics NFTs and digital objects Social / Community visual art

·Jul. 4, 2021

Luxury and Fashion market structure applied to finance, NFTs, and DAO

Luxury and fashion markets are structurally different from finance or commodity markets in that they seek to limit supply in order to generate value. This increases price and social status. We can analogize these brand dynamics to what is happening in NFT digital object markets and better understand their function as a result.

We’re not cool. That’s why we’re in finance.

But people want to be cool. As highly social and intelligent animals, we want and need to belong, differentiate against each other, and negotiate for status. We create signals and hierarchies to create pockets of relational capital, which we then cash in for real world benefits.

Such mammalian realities are contrary to the economic rendering of the homo economicus, the abstracted rational agent making choices in financial models. In 2021, our financial models are waking up and instantiating themselves, becoming Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), spun up by DeFi and NFT industry insiders, and implemented into commercial actions onchain.

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