#75 | YouTube Turning Into A Web3 Platform???

Estimated Read Time: 10 minutes

Hey friends,

Amazing to have you with us today! In today's Morning NFTea, we have some bullish news from YouTube, a landmark NFT donation and an innovative use case from Fox Entertainment. Lets's jump into it!

Steaming Headlines ♨️

YouTube’s New CEO All For Web3 & NFTs

When contemplating the most influential Web2 platforms out there, the likes of TikTok or Twitter come to mind with their 1 billion and 550 million monthly active users respectively, or maybe Meta with their 2.9 billion users across Facebook and Instagram. But, arguably the throne goes to “video platform” YouTube with its 2.5 billion monthly watchers that make it the second-most visited website in the world (behind Google) and the primary source of video for 78% of internet users. Now, they may be going Web3.

Neal Mohan has been named Youtube’s new CEO after Susan Wojcicki recently stepped down. The reason this is relevant here is that Mohan has long been an active proponent and spokesperson for Web3, stating that NFTs could be an essential tool for content creators amongst other unique opportunities offered by the metaverse and blockchain. It all started in Feb 2022 when Neal unveiled preliminary plans for incorporating Web3 into YouTube.

Mohan has claimed that they are “thinking big” about how to make viewing content more interactive for fans and viewers, especially gaming which will likely be impacted first where they want to make the content “feel more alive”.

From Mohan's past history, it's clear he believes in the initial days of the metaverse and understands the opportunity that NFTs and Web3 have, saying “There’s a lot to consider in making sure we approach these new technologies responsibly, but we think there’s incredible potential as well”. Now that he's the head honcho at one of the world's largest content consumption platforms, who knows the pioneering steps that could be made to onboard potentially billions of users and bring us closer to Web3 mainstream adoption.

Spotify Adding Token-Gated Functionality

YouTube isn't the only streaming platform to make headlines in Web3 this week though, with Spotify starting tests of token-gated songs, albums and playlist functionalities.

That means artists can enable music to be exclusive only for token holders, whether it's editions of songs only for their superfans, or even marking the purchase (and digital re-sale) of entire albums.

The token-gated playlist function has been rolled out to certain communities to pilot and will launch specific holder-curated playlists.

With the world's largest music streamer on board, how could you not be encouraged about the development direction of music NFTs?

Largest Ever Collector NFT Donation To Museum

It was only two editions ago we covered the donation of a 62 ETH floor CryptoPunk and a 249 ETH floor Autoglyph to France’s major modern art museum Centre Pompidou from the NFT's respective parent companies, but this week marks the largest donation from an individual creator. Pseudonymous digital art collector @CozomoMedici known as Cozomo de’ Medici and rumoured to be the NFT advocating superstar rapper Snoop Dogg has recently donated 22 NFTs from his personal collection.

Donated to the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), NFT art pieces from top projects like CryptoPunks, World Of Women and Ringers will now, to quote “sit in one of the greatest art collections in human history, alongside physical works defining the last 6,000 years of artistic expression”, including the likes of Picasso, Andy Warhol, and Monet.

Cozomo has been a longtime Web3 and NFT aficionado, and on this donation, he says “With this gift, my goal was to help bridge the worlds of on-chain art and contemporary art, which until now have separately existed. I’m thrilled to have these historically significant on-chain works contextualized beside many iconic works of art in LACMA’s collection”. This is no doubt a very selfless act that marks the largest NFT donation from a single collector, and Cozomo expressed hope that “this donation helps forever cement the on-chain art movement in the canon of art history… Paves the way for museums everywhere to hold the greatest digital works alongside the greatest physical… And inspires us all to keep making history together”.

The push towards digital art seems inevitable in our continually enveloping digital world, and Cozomo highlights this new revolution, saying “The beauty of this digital world is everything is on-chain and online… You can see other works from the artists you are interested in, who owns them, where they’ve been, and the prices—versus the contemporary art world, where it’s really tough to get access to that data as an outsider”. On the donation, Michael Govan the CEO of LACMA stated, “We’re grateful to Cozomo de’ Medici for his forward-thinking generosity that will expand the diversity of our art collection and propel us to develop new standards and techniques for preserving works created on the blockchain.”

As we climb over the hurdle of mainstream NFT art acceptance, support from prestigious museums like this is a crucial step to having digital art better accepted and appreciated for its impact and modern relevance.

Fox Entertainment Utilizes NFTs for ‘The Masked Singer’

At Morning NFTea we love covering unique NFT use cases that push the boundaries of how these “digital JPEGs” can be used, and it doesn't get much better when it involves a traditional brand stepping out of its comfort zone. There's probably no need to introduce the media goliath Fox Entertainment, but let's briefly cover “The Masked Singer” — a top-secret singing competition where the contestants are famous celebrities that conceal their identities with full-face masks and costumes. Fans of this show will now have access to the “MaskVerse” through a limited collection of 1,050 NFT costumes, and new “Loyalty Pass” NFTs.

The innovative Web3 use case here is how Fox is utilizing NFTs to allow fans to securely vote on live shows, but also gain access to other token-gated material and digital fan experiences, the cherry on top is these fans can sign up for a FREE “Loyalty Pass” by just connecting their crypto wallet to the Web3Auth interactive platform called The MaskVerse. Using QR codes during the live show, people can use their verified NFT to vote on which character will make it to the next round, in doing so they will “level up” their Loyalty Passes which can be used to redeem digital goods on the upcoming official online merchandise store in The MaskVerse.

A traditional media powerhouse like Fox utilizing free NFTs as a way to create more interactive fan experiences while also pioneering the idea of secure live show voting is yet just another fantastic way that Web3 is switching up our world, we can't wait to see how brands will utilise this new technology next.

Huge thanks for taking the time to join us today, we hope you have a great couple of days while we curate this next edition, take care!

What's the NFTea? 🍵

Love it or hate it, the BLUR Marketplace is making a huge impact on the current NFT market. While volume is up, floor prices have been fluctuating largely due to whale movement which seems to have been met with very divisive opinions.

While the general public has been complaining about mercenary whales, notable whales like Franklin have responded in a satirical manner.

One thing that BLUR bidding has enabled though, is the large-scale selling of NFT assets without impacting the floor price, embodied by a $9+ million bulk sale of 72 Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs by notable collectors OSF and Mando.

The buyer? No other than Taiwanese-American musician and tech entrepreneur Jeffrey Huang, also known as MachiBigBrother. Funnily enough, after spending all that ETH on 72 Bored Apes, he's been adding even more NFTs to his collection.

Seems like someone really likes JPEGs.

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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.