#106 | Apple's Vision Pro Opens World of Web3

Estimated Read Time: 6 minutes

Hey friends,

Great to have you with us! In today’s specially curated edition we have some big-hitting news from the SEC’s lawsuit on Coinbase and Binance to Apple’s new Vision Pro headset and Louis Vuitton NFT Trunks. Let’s jump into it!

After a few uneventful weeks of crypto, this brew-up saw some action with both Bitcoin and Ethereum falling below their previous resistance lines to $25-26K and $1.7-1.8k respectively. The reason for this new volatility comes from the SEC suing both Coinbase and Binance which is adding some unease to the industry, but as we are about to go into further detail, this recent lawsuit may not be all bad for the long-term, but we will have to see how the macro of crypto changes over time.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sued two of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Coinbase and Binance, for operating unregistered securities exchanges. The SEC alleges that Coinbase and Binance have violated federal securities laws by offering and selling digital assets to U.S. investors without registering with the SEC.

Coinbase and Binance have denied the SEC's allegations and have vowed to fight the lawsuit. The case is as big as it gets for Web3 and will likely have a significant impact on the cryptocurrency industry, but one positive thing from the very new ordeal has been the crypto spaces solidarity with the exchanges through a “Stand With Crypto” movement, in an effort to combat the SEC’s aggressive handling of the new emerging technology. Coinbase released the free-to-mint Stand with Crypto commemorative NFTs “representing our collective stand to protect and promote the potential of crypto in the United States” which as of now has been minted over 140K times.

It is still early days for this court case, and we only scratched the surface of what Web2 laws the SEC will try to impose on these exchanges, but one thing we can be sure of is the progressive impact that essential discussions around this area will have like the ones Coinbase and Binance will bring to the tables, we just can’t wait to see how this all unfolds.

Louis Vuitton is a household name unanimous with designer goods, but the influence of this brand goes even further because in 2023 Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton became the most valuable company in Europe, and now they are migrating to Web3 starting with a new NFT collection of phygitals called “Treasure Trunks”.

According to Vogue Business, the fashion tycoon has prepared a collection of “several hundred” iconic-trunk-turned-digital-collectible NFTs that pair up with a physical counterpart which together unlock access passes to future products, experiences, and the community of holders. If you're wondering what's so special about this “Trunk”; it's a nearly 170-year-old design known as the French luxury brand's first and most historical product, and now you can own a digital version for a chill $39,000 Euros which will also come with the aforementioned physical counterpart. But, even if you find $39k it won't just be that easy to buy a VIA Treasure Trunk because eligible participants for the waitlist must have a crypto wallet valued at more than $1 million, or hold $200K worth of digital collectibles, making it a truly luxurious physical & digital Trunk.

So… What's in the box?

Well, that's literally the key to the program, because, throughout the next three years, owners of the NFTs will be able to purchase drops of digital keys that when paired with the Trunk will unlock undisclosed Louis Vuitton collectibles and “privileged experiences”. To some, this probably sounds like a fancy reward program or speculative investment, and the answer is probably both, but its worth mentioning the NFTs are “soul-bound” where according to Louis Vuitton they are “connected to your identity and cannot be sold or transferred to another person”. This is a concept that almost purifies the enthusiast collecting part of this collection, only enabled by NFTs and Web3, who knows what ultra-exclusive products these brands will make, but if Europe’s most valuable company is embracing NFTs then it’s great signs all around.

NFTs and Web3 no doubt got on the wrong side of people when it first became popular because when paired with stories like Facebook changing their name to Meta, it seemed like the technology was forcing everyone into a Ready-Player-One esc Metaverse against their will. NFTs are so tightly coupled to the Metaverse conversation because these Non-Fungible-Tokens are going to be one of the most important building blocks, with the concept of real provable authentication of what you digitally own. NFTs are the infrastructure for sustaining any type of commerce with any type of item in the digital realm. And now, this Web3 future is one giant step closer because as you have probably all heard, Apple has released their Vision Pro mixed reality headset.

The fact this new headset of the future comes from Apple is the single most important aspect of this new product, it was Apple who created the touchscreen smartphone, the tablet form factor, the smartwatch wearables, and the acceptance of wireless headphones like remember how silly Airpods used to look? The point is that Apple has pioneered every new technology and the way we interact with it into mainstream adoption, and not only is the Vision Pro a leap into the digital world, but it's also a confirmation for the NFT and Web3 technology that will soon act as the infrastructure for this new age.

We have already seen the likes of Warner Brothers NFT clothes, Nike’s Virtual Apparel Store, Adidas NFT full body avatars, and heck even the virtual Trunk in this same newsletter. The idea of our presence in the digital world is only going to become completely blown out of proportion with technology like Apple’s Vision Pro. So whether you welcome the Metaverse or prefer to stay glasses-free, one thing for sure is there will need to be a way of authenticating digital things in our upcoming future, so aren’t we glad we have NFTs and Web3 ready to go.

Louis Vuitton’s marketing efforts did not go unnoticed by most of the NFT space, thanks to threads from a host of influencers (who reportedly, each received free airdrops of NFTs as a token of gratitude).

This got satirized by Twitter users…

And also generated some unsavory tweets from influencers who were a bit unhappy that they weren’t invited as part of the party.

In other news, the SEC suing Binance and various exchanges for the unlicensed sale of securities led to red charts all across the board… and also a ton of gallows humor.

That combined with beef between crypto Twitter influencers Bitboy and CryptoFinally all added up to an extremely entertaining weekend.

Thanks for popping by today! We hope you enjoyed this edition and can’t wait to be back in a few more days with the next Morning NFTea. Take care!

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DISCLAIMER:

None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.