#110 | WhatsApp Bringing 2 Billion People to Web3??

Estimated Read Time: 6 minutes

Hey friends,

After what feels like an eternity of stagnating crypto prices, on the back of some big institutional investor news both Bitcoin and Ethereum are reaching new macro highs over $30k and $1.8k respectively. Pushing on 10% gains over the last week is a major step up that shows how the tides could be turning for the blockchain. So what’s finally making people more confident in crypto? Well good question, let's get into it.

Last Brew-up we covered the world's largest asset manager Blackrock and their significant investment into Bitcoin that marked a promising moment in crypto with institutional investors exposing themself to this emerging technology. Well, it seems something might have been set in motion because over the last week, we have seen a slew of asset managers including BlackRock, WisdomTree and Valkyre all submit Bitcoin ETF applications to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

After years of regulatory uncertainty and cryptos volatility creating unease within the public, the approval of Bitcoin ETFs would be a major milestone for the crypto industry that shows how the tides of Web3 are turning. Exchange-Trade Funds (ETF) are a type of investment fund that tracks an underlying asset that can then be traded on exchanges just like stocks. It is this easily accessible trading of Bitcoin for traditional retail investors which could see a huge influx of people exposing themself to the blockchain and inching everyone forward to mainstream Web3 adoption.

Of course, there are still plenty of hurdles and it’s not all golden yet. The SEC has yet to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF, and there's no guarantee they will do so, but these recent filings from some of the world’s most influential asset managers suggest the SEC is becoming more open to the idea of the blockchain, and that in itself is some of the best news we can ask for.

Here at Morning NFTea we love covering NFT stories that go against the grain of what people expect from these "screenshottable jpegs". This brings us to the new developments out of art auction house Christies and their new Web3.0 platform Christies3.0. If you are unfamiliar with Christie’s, you may recognize them from the $69.3 million sale of Beeples “Everyday's” NFT in 2021, but they go much deeper than that because founded in 1766 Christies has grown a world-renowned reputation for sales of the most exclusive and expensive art pieces the world has to offer, with over $4 billion in sales for just the first half of 2022. The latest news out of this powerhouse is an upcoming prestigious NFT auction called Cartography of the Soul that will see over 300ETH in digital art up for grabs, the flip side of this auction is how it aims to support the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), a non-profit organization dedicated to researching and promoting psychedelic therapies.

Coinciding with the Psychedelic Science 2023 conference, Cartography of the Soul will be on display in Denver, Colorado, from June 21 to 23. Special highlights from the auction in question will also be on display at Christie’s New York from June 23 to 27, allowing both traditional and NFT art enthusiasts and collectors alike to appreciate the digital artworks in person. Hosted on Christie’s on-chain auction platform, over 30 new digital pieces will be showcased from a range of leading Web3 artists with the cherry on top being how proceeds from "Cartography of the Soul" will be donated to further MAPS’ research and public education initiatives.

The world’s top traditional art auction house hosting an exclusive auction just for NFTs in the name of Psychedelic Studies is a pretty wild combination of concepts that would have been hard to fathom at the birth of Web3. But, it’s this fusion of art, technology, and philanthropy that exemplifies the ever-evolving landscape of the art market in the new digital age.

Although this upcoming story isn't exactly NFT-focused, when it comes to the Metaverse part of Web3 you can quite get bigger than WhatsApp bringing its 2 billion monthly active user messaging platform to Web3 through a new update that lets users officially connect their accounts to Meta Quest VR headsets.

The new update allows users to link their WhatsApp accounts to their Meta Quest headsets. This means that they can use WhatsApp to chat, make calls, and send messages in VR. The update also includes a new feature called "Avatars," which allows users to create personalized avatars that they can use to represent themselves in VR. By integrating with VR headsets, WhatsApp is putting itself in a prime position to be a major player in the future of communication in the Metaverse.

The update is already available to beta testers, and it is expected to be released to the public in the near future, but no matter how long it takes when considering companies like Apple are also pushing for virtual headsets through their new Vision Pro, it seems like we are truly looking down the barrel of a Web3 future.

Azuki and BLUR have been dominating the headlines over the past week due to the capitulation waterfall which brought the NFT market to unprecedented lows.

A few tweets to show how bad it’s been…

Some statistics from Cirrus to back it up:

Meanwhile, BLUR Season 2 is dragging on without an end date in sight.

While many are blaming Azuki and BLUR for the ‘downfall’ of NFTs, I leave you with a final thought:

We hope you enjoyed this Morning NFTea, while we curate the next edition have a great couple of days. 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.110