This Week in DAOs - Mar 16, 2023
A roundup of the most exciting developments in DAOs and web3.
Highlights
🖼️ Metaverse Masterpieces - Sotheby’s is hosting its first NFT auction in nearly two years, from March 17 to March 24 in Paris and the metaverse. Natively Digital: Oddly Satisfying showcases a collection of digital artwork inspired by “oddly satisfying” videos, a trend that originated from a subreddit community in 2013.
🎼 Beats on the Blockchain - Beatport and Polkadot aim to disrupt the music industry with Beatport.io, a platform where artists, producers, and record labels can leverage the benefits of web3, while enabling music enthusiasts to explore the value of digital collectibles and strengthen their bond with their favorite artists and DJs.
🍿 NFTs on the Big Screen - The NounsDAO franchise is poised to expand further. The community has approved Nouns: A Movie, to be created in collaboration with Atrium, a network of independent web3 artists and creators. In true DAO fashion, Nouns members will be allowed to submit story arcs and ideas.
🤙 WaaS Up? - In efforts to improve web3 onboarding and user experience, crypto exchange Coinbase is launching a “wallet as a service” business that enables companies to create personalized blockchain wallets for their clients. Potential use cases include gaming apps where tokens or NFTs are integrated into the game.
Going Global
🇨🇳 Digital Leap Forward - Chinese social media platform WeChat has integrated the state-backed digital yuan into its payment system, following in the footsteps of Alipay. Over a billion users can now pay with the digital currency issued by the People’s Bank of China.
💶 Digital Dominance - Merchants in the Eurozone could be forced to accept the digital euro if it’s deemed legal tender. If given the same status as banknotes and coins, the central bank digital currency (CBDC) would be a legitimate way to discharge outstanding obligations. Follow this story at the European Central Bank.
🇳🇬 Nigeria’s New Era - The President of Nigeria has released a manifesto outlining plans to amend the existing Nigerian Security Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations on digital assets to make them more business-friendly. The proposed regulations would establish a framework for regulating digital assets in Nigeria.
🇰🇷 Government Intervention - The South Korean government is betting on the potential of the metaverse to grow its economy by being the largest backer of a $30M fund supporting metaverse initiatives.
⚠️ Kill Switch - The EU Parliament passed the Data Act, a bill intended to “boost innovation by removing barriers obstructing access to industrial data.” However, among its provisions is a requirement that smart contracts be alterable and resettable.
🚘 Driving into the Metaverse - Japanese automotive brand Nissan is taking steps to further embrace the future of technology and commerce by filing four new web3 trademarks in the United States, while its Japan unit is experimenting with auto sales in the metaverse.
Show Me the Money
🏘️ Private Public Squares - Congratulations to Here Not There Labs on your $25M funding round, led by a16z, to develop Towns, a decentralized group chat protocol and app. Towns’ programmable, self-governed “town squares” are uniquely achievable through the promise of decentralization and web3.
🌌 D+ - Congratulations to Hexa on your $20.5M series A round, led by Point72 Ventures, to develop 3D assets and models from 2D images.
🔐 Cross-Chain Safety - Polychain Capital led a $7M funding round for Cubist, a security-focused, web3 development tools provider that makes it easier and safer to build cross-chain dApps.
Watch + Learn
🌥️ A Silver Lining - In Decrypt - ETH Denver Live Events, host Jason Nelson speaks with Anjali Young, co-founder of Abridged and Collab.Land, about how Covid drove the growth of Collab.Land by generating new interest in the blockchain and the need for better tools for DAO member collaboration.
👓 An Inside Look - In Nouns DAO Governance at ETH Denver 2023 | The Noun Square, speakers Elad and David, Nouns DAO engineers, share what they have been working on, including stablecoin funding and streaming, rage quit mechanisms, proposal objection periods, private voting research, and more.
Deadlines and Events
🇵🇹 March 16-18: ETHPorto
🥐 March 20-24: Paris Blockchain Week
♀ March 22-24: Women of Blockchain Conference
💻 April 2023: DAO Global Hackathon
🇯🇵 April 1-9: DAO-A-THON, Tokyo
🎓 April 2-4: DAO Harvard
🗻 April 13: DAO Tokyo
🖲️ April 14-16: ETHGlobal Tokyo (Apply by April 3)
🇺🇸 April 21–23: Duke University Web3 Conference
🤠 April 26-28: Consensus 2023
🇲🇪 May 19-23: EDCON
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