#92 | Adidas Evolving Profile Pictures With NFT Avatars???

Estimated Read Time: 8 minutes

Hey friends,

Absolutely awesome to have you with us! On today’s Morning NFTea we have some big stories from Europe’s new crypto regulations, Mattel’s digital collectibles marketplace, and Adidas’ new NFT avatars. Let’s jump into it!

Crypto hasn’t had the most fortunate week with its struggle to keep up the previous momentum. This has led to some red this week with Bitcoin and Ethereum down 10% and 11% respectively. Although it may seem like the bears have taken back charge with Bitcoin failing to sustain the $30K line, it may not be all that it seems because the recent drop has been attributed to one trader who sold off $400 million of Bitcoin in one go which definitely didn’t help. Considering the past four weeks of sustained crypto recovery, a dip like this shouldn’t get the alarms ringing, so let’s just continue to see how this plays out.

In other news, we have a major blockchain story out of Europe with the MiCAR crypto regulations gaining final approval. This week the European Parliament resoundingly voted 517-38 to introduce the Markets for Crypto Assets Regulations (MiCAR) as well as anti-money laundering rules for crypto-assets. Commissioner Mairead McGuinness celebrated the parliament’s vote saying "We’re protecting consumers and safeguarding financial stability and market integrity… The rules will start applying from next year".

The Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations are very promising because with its 18 abstentions, it makes Europe the first major jurisdiction in the world to introduce a comprehensive crypto law. The European Parliament released a statement saying the EU is “at the forefront of the token economy… The European crypto-asset industry has regulatory clarity that does not exist in countries like the U.S… The sector that was damaged by the FTX collapse can regain trust."

This comment highlights the need for regulations, the limited safeguards have broken the trust of everyday people in crypto after events like FTX. However, the Markets In Crypto Assets regulation that was first proposed all the way back in 2020 is helping Europe create a safer and more accessible Web3 future for everyone.

There is so much more to this topic that we couldn’t fit so if you would like to know specifics about the regulations involved, check out this MiCAR report from Bird & Bird.

American multinational toy company Mattel has grown since 1945 to become a staple household name with brands under its umbrella like Barbie and Hot Wheels. As younger generations continue to adopt more and more technology the toy/collectible market has been scrambling to adapt and evolve to this ever-increasing digital world, and Mattels latest plan has them launching a new NFT marketplace on April 27.

Mattel, Inc. unveiled plans for the anticipated April 27th launch of the peer-to-peer marketplace enabling collectors to showcase, trade, and monetize their prized Mattel virtual assets.

To help assist Mattel’s Web3-ification, they have collaborated with names such as the top virtual collectibles company Rarible marketplace and wallet-as-a-service provider Magic to help Mattel create a user-friendly wallet experience for seamless onboarding. Mattel also partnered with the Flow blockchain for its fast, decentralized, and eco-friendly infrastructure tailored to meet consumer needs for the next generation of digital collectors.

Ron Friedman also says “In launching our own marketplace, we’re able to translate iconic Mattel IP into digital art. This is the latest evolution of our digital endeavors, and we look forward to sharing more drops soon inspired by some of the world’s favorite Mattel brands.”

The important note here was the mention of Mattel IP. NFT projects like BAYC have proven the success of a brand’s intellectual property in Web3, so it figures that Mattel wants to hop aboard and leverage their iconic brands for new digital collectibles and experiences. Mattel is first-hand showing the evolution of physical collectibles expanding into digital collectibles through NFTs, what an exciting time to see it happen right in front of our eyes.

Adidas is yet another company that needs no introduction, and although it's not their first time in our NFT headlines with the recent launch of Adidas Virtual Wearables, they are continuing to innovate in Web3 with the latest example being the ALTS loyalty program. Aimed at creating a hyper-personalized experience for its customers and community, ALTS by Adidas will offer a token-gated membership program for virtual avatars that are essentially a personalized version of you, known as your ALTer ego.

These customizable digital NFT avatars will go to holders of the 30,000 tokens minted from the genesis of Adidas Into The Metaverse NFT program last year. Each avatar has different traits for various sports and lifestyle-based genres from basketball and gaming to film and skating. One of the neat things about ALTS is its ability to create specialized utility tailored to the interests of the holder including personalization options through virtual clothes, real-life and virtual holder-only gatherings, point-based rewards, and co-creation opportunities; The Adidas Vice President Erika Wykes-Sneyd says: "The avatars will evolve over time based on the holder's decisions & engagement. The program aims to allow people to express their fandom across the spectrum of how they identify - as avatars, profile pictures & real people".

Adidas is taking a brave step deeper into this digital realm, and even if you think it’s a bit early for your profile picture to turn into an Adidas dressable 3D avatar, the launch of ALTS by Adidas represents the continued embracing of Web3. Adidas’s conviction in this space early on is a sure sign of the growing importance of these NFT technologies in the fashion and retail industries.

There’s trouble in y00topia. Also known as Polygon.

It all started with this tweet:

Volume is important for NFT sales, because stasis means a lack of attention and that’s how projects die. This did not go unnoticed…

This caught the attention of some analytics providers:

As well as brought up some pent-up feeling towards the Polygon team/founders that were bragging about getting y00ts over to Polygon previously.

In traditional DeGods/y00ts fashion, the project and founder had a response to address the non-fungible elephant in the room.

It’s an interesting one-two-punch of sarcasm from the project account which is bound to rile up holders, and a more in-depth and genuine explanation (which still essentially becomes a “trust me, bro” message) from Frank himself. Only time will tell if this works out.

Meanwhile back on Solana…

One of the most anticipated projects in a while, MadLads decided to ‘honeypot’ botters — which was a controversial move met with mixed reactions… especially since certain humans minting manually also got ‘honeypotted’ and had to be refunded.

That being said, drama brings exposure.

If you’re not in NFTs, you’re missing out on some primetime drama that is better than most Netflix series! Best of all — none of this is made up, just real humans doing real things. Of course, if you don’t have time to trawl through Twitter… that’s what we’re here for 😉 

Another one done and dusted, we hope you enjoyed that edition and we hope you have a great couple of days while we curate the next edition. Take care!

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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.