Are you ready for some NFTs news?
We've prepared a new article that covers the latest news and updates in the world of Web3 and NFTs. Read them below!
Contents
📈Macro - Deloitte report: fans, sports & NFTs;
🗞️ Last week's news - PayPal, Pulsr Foundation, Coingecko, Phantom Wallet, Circle, Zora, OpenSea, Coinbase;
💰Investments/Funding - Futureverse, Inworld;
📣 Projects news/Updates - Yuga Labs, Veefriends, Doodles, nWay & Animoca, .SWOOSH;
⚖️ Legal - Metaverse Lawyer writes about the tax treatment of passive income generated from staking under the IRS;
⚙️NFTility, by Mtk - B2B;
📚 Dictionary - Memes, TGIF;
💸 Sale of the week - CryptoPunk #3307;
📈 Macro
Deloitte recently released a report with a bunch of insights about fans, sports and digital experiences. In a nutshell, the report finds that younger fans can get closer to their favorite athletes and teams with the help of personalized and interconnected digital experiences.
The report starts with questions about:
- technological change
- consumer behaviour
- how fans enjoy the sport, at home or IRL
- the difference in behaviour between younger and older generation fans
- streaming services
- fan engagement on all digital channels they have access to
- social media influence and sports betting vs. fan experience and expectations
- virtual reality (VR)
Of course, it begs the question of whether digital assets, (such as NFTs), can become a sustainable market for sport?
To answer these questions and more, Deloitte surveyed 3,000+ US sports fans aged 14+. Six trends emerged:
Insight #1: Gen Z fans want a social sports experience. Community, socialization and connection are important aspects of entertainment experiences for Gen Z consumers as well.
Insight #2: Fans want SVOD (Streaming Video on Demand) features that enhance, but don't overshadow the sport. Things like:
- Real-time statistics and analysis
- Different filming angles
- Cohabitation with friends and family
- Integrated betting or shopping capabilities.
Insight #3: Fans create their own perfect home experience. Most fans say they would pay extra for a streaming video service that had all the sports they want to watch in one place.
Insight #4: Bettors invest more in their idols. They are more likely to have attended a game in person, bought sports merchandise, paid for a streaming video service to watch sports, and participated in fantasy sports in the past 12 months.
Insight #5: VR is still in the background. Only 5% of all sports fans surveyed said they had used VR to consume some type of sports content in the past 12 months.
Insight #6: Fans prefer digital assets with real benefits
They would be interested in digital assets if they were offered the right benefits. Percentage of sports fans who would be very likely or quite likely to buy a fan token if offered benefits such as:
- exclusive free merch
- the opportunity to participate in exclusive events with athletes
- premium seats at live events
- early access to buy subscriptions
- the option to vote on club decisions
- exclusive content
In short, 75% of Generation Z sports fans and 72% of Millennials say they would buy a Fan Token if it came bundled with benefits like the above. It remains to be seen what the future will bring.
🗞️ News from last week
- PayPal launches PayPal USD (PYUSD), a stablecoin issued by Paxos Trust Company, on the Ethereum blockchain.
- Researchers develop a Web3 authenticity verification service for cultural artifacts using blockchain and NFTs.
- Pulsr Foundation launches an AI-powered NFT search engine with access to over 5M NFTs from ETH, Polygon and Tezos.
- Coingecko allows users to set alerts for NFT floor prices.
- Phantom Wallet introduces Instant Sell for users to sell NFTs directly from their wallet at the best possible price.
- Circle is launching a curriculum in collaboration with Junior Achievement to teach high school students about Bitcoin, Blockchain and NFTs.
- Zora introduces Protocol Rewards to improve the revenue sharing model for creators and developers.
- OpenSea hires Kelly DiGregorio, known for Polygon's partnerships with Starbucks, Mastercard and Disney, as VP, Head of Global Partnerships.
- Coinbase is launching Base on August 9, an L2 blockchain and celebrating with the Onchain Summer festival, the place where over 50 companies (Coca-Cola, Atari, OpenSea), artists and creators will gather. Prizes are also announced! Read more at ⚙️NFTility section by MTK
- OpenSea announces support for the Base network.
💰 Investments / Financing
- Futureverse co-founders launch Born Ready, a $50M investment fund to support emerging technology businesses related to Futureverse and The Root Network.
- AI startup Inworld raises $50M to improve video game characters. The company's technology has already been used to develop NPC characters in games like Skyrim and Grand Theft Auto V.
📣 Projects news / Updates
- Yuga Labs acquires Roar Studios, a start-up focused on music and the metaverse. The acquisition will accelerate the development of Yuga's metaverse, Otherside.
- VeeFriends is collaborating with Reebok to launch the limited edition Aspiring Alpaca Classic Nylon physical sneaker. VeeFriends S1 and S2 owners will have access to pre-sale starting August 17, with a public launch on August 24.
- Doodles announces collaboration with the famous Crocs brand in August.
- nWay and Animoca announce the newest Web3 game in collaboration with Yuga Labs, called Wreck League, a AAA PvP Fighting game available on mobile devices and PC. It is also F2P and P2E, with $Ape coin support.
- .SWOOSH introduces Achievements, through which it recognises and rewards active members. These will be distributed automatically, without the need to claim them.
⚖️ Legal
The US IRS requires that rewards from blockchain staking be reported as income.
Supporters of Web3 are fighting back against a recent ruling by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which said that rewards from staking are immediately taxable.
On July 31, the IRS issued Revenue Ruling 2023-14, which requires staking persons to report accrued rewards as income when they gain control of those assets.
Stakers must report the "fair market value" of rewards as gross income in the year they are received. The IRS cited that any form of income, including goods or services, is considered gross income under Section 61 of the Internal Revenue Code.
"If a Cash Basis Taxpayer stakes the native cryptocurrency of a proof-of-stake blockchain and receives additional units of cryptocurrency as a reward when validation occurs, the fair market value of the staking rewards received is included in the taxpayer's gross income in the taxable year in which the taxpayer obtains possession and control of the rewards, " the ruling states.
The ruling formalizes the position taken by the IRS in its 2021 case against Jessica and Joshua Jarrett. The couple argued that staking rewards should be taxed based on the price at which the assets are sold. Although the IRS honored the Jarrett's requested refund, it dismissed their case.
In Romania, the passive income generated as a result of the staking operation is taxable income at the time of the conversion into a FIAT. Although this income is assimilated to interest, given the similar method of rewarding the investor for blocking a number of tokens, it must still be classified as income from other sources, given the still limited legal framework.
⚙️ NFTility
Today's article will have two different features than usual: it will be a bit more speculative and more technical.
Last week, a press release from Coinbase caught my attention, announcing the Onchain Summer Festival, an event that starts tomorrow, August 9 and will run until the end of the month. It marks access for the general public to Base, a Layer 2 built on Ethereum.
Throughout the festival there will be activities run in partnership with artists, brands and web 3 creators including daily NFT launches.
The launch of Base mainnet is marked on-chain by the issuance of the free "Bridge to Base" collection which is open for minting until the end of this month. Now it's time to link to the first paragraph of this article:
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Technical part: to mint the NFT, you need to use the "Bridge and mint for free" button. If you use Metamask, you will automatically be given the option to import Base network settings into your wallet. Alternatively, you can add it manually using the parameters here. The next step is to bridge 0.0006 ETH from Ethereum to Base. Depending on gas fees and ETH price, you can expect a cost of around $6. The next step - the actual minting, which will be free and is not limited to 1 NFT/portfolio.
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The speculative aspect: of course, if you don't want to go through the above process, but still want an NFT BtB, you can buy it from Open Sea. But if you've been in crypto long enough, you know that it's common practice for projects to reward early users. Ens, Optimism, Blur are just a few such examples. It's not out of the question that owning this NFT along with using the chain will come with future rewards.
📚 Dictionary
- MEMES - There's probably no better explanation than the funny (or not) images we show you in every issue of NL. Memes are ideas or concepts that spread organically from person to person. They can be pictures, videos or even words or phrases. We're talking about a culture. That of easily conveying a feeling. You can't really explain a meme. You either understand it or you don't (if it’s not the most successful)! MEMES are probably the most representative element of Web3 culture.
- TGIF - Thank God it's Friday. Although it doesn't need much explanation, here we go: the phrase TGIF became popular in the mid-1960s as a relief at the end of the work week and anticipation of relaxing (or partying) on the weekend. 3 things here:
- Like it or not, those of us who are (left) in Web3 have probably begun to have a basis of financial literacy that we can at least imagine a life where the weekend can be when we choose. In terms of options at least. Until then, we have some work to do;
- It's been 60 years since the phrase was popularised, though, so it's time for a change. Maybe at least move to 4 working days a week if we're down to just 4 hours. But then again, by then we still have some work to do.
- LFG!
💸 Sale of the week
CryptoPunk or Crypto Pump 🤔
Number 3307 was sold for 500 ETH. $916,545 to be exact.
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