#130 - Metaverses for Seoul ...and Lowes

GM and welcome to Decentra Daily.

One, two, three and to the four, we're the web3 newsletter at your door, ready to make an entrance so back on up, 'cause you know we're 'bout to rip s*** up.

Today,

• Seoul (& Lowes) are moving into the metaverse

• NatGeo tried to sell their readers on NFTs & it didn't go well

Top 24 hr NFT collection volume

via CoinMarketCap

1. MAYC - 28 sales earning 467.33 ETH (0.11%)

2. CryptoPunks - 5 sales earning 390.96 ETH (0.12%)

3. BAYC - 4 sales earning 285.6 ETH (0.12%)

4. BAKC - 29 sales earning 249.01 ETH (0.16%)

5. Milady Maker - 107 sales earning 191.84 ETH (1.89%)

Seoul government (and Lowes 🛠) are moving into the metaverse

The City of Seoul has launched a one-stop-metaverse-shop for all your government needs.

Called Metaverse Seoul, citizens can use the independently-built platform (accessed via a smartphone app) to view official documents, file complaints, and talk to officials all without leaving their couches.

Right now, Metaverse Seoul is more "ChoreFighter 5" than a virtual vacation. But a press release shows the City has plans to expand its virtual twin with more entertainment and education-focused activities.

Taking a trip to Metaverse Seoul will let you:

• Read books at Seoul Plaza or meet others in "play spaces"

• Find business opportunities at a Fintech Lab and Corporate Support Center

• Visit Seoul's top 10 tourist attractions

• Access youth mentoring, senior services, and real estate info

Seoul is going all in on web3. Last fall, it began a billion-dollar program aimed at bringing city infrastructure, healthcare, and education into our hyper-connected, remote-first world.

And then there's Lowes

Not to be outdone by one of the world's great tech hubs, hardware store Lowes is also experimenting with transferring its infrastructure into the metaverse.

Home Depot's cool uncle is using the "digital twin" approach in an attempt to cut down on shoplifting.

By tokenizing its stock, then updating sales on the blockchain, Lowes can produce a synchronized, anonymous, shareable database that clearly shows any lost or stolen products.

It also helps buyers and police easily identify stolen power tools and patio heaters entering the dark, dangerous, DIY black market.

What are digital twins?

• A strategy developed in heavy industries, digital twins are tokenized copies of goods, supply chains, and manufacturing processes

• Twins live on the blockchain and track changes & progress in real time

• Companies can use digital twins to predict delays, update stakeholders, and run simulations to make real actions more efficient

Tweet of the day

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On the web3 wire

• BAYC Sewer Pass mint delayed 🚽

• Polygon successfully completes its hard fork

• Dungeons & Dragons is struggling to enter web3 🐉

National Geographic is going web3 – and its readers do not like it

Yesterday, Nat Geo launched its first NFT collection, GM: Daybreak around the World.

As of writing, 241/1888 are currently sold.

It's a series of photographs by 16 different artists who captured daybreak at suitably wild points across the globe. 

The whole project is pretty standard: 

• Sits on the Polygon chain

• It's a blind mint

• Each NFT costs ~$200 USD

• Includes well-regarded photographers like Jimmy Chin

• NatGeo says future NFT collections to follow

But none of that is convincing Nat Geo readers to get on board. In fact, they had the opposite reaction.

Despite the collection's traditional format and content, the magazine's Insta and Twitter posts about the project drew angry mobs of Nat Geo subscribers, who were raging about the publication's decision to go web3.

Some readers complained about how "environmentally unfriendly" NFTs are, seeming to confuse the energy-hungry process of mining Bitcoin with NFTs, which (mostly) live on Ethereum's highly efficient blockchain.

– which just goes to show how negative press can spread and linger, even when the facts aren't relevant.

Other readers complained that an NFT collection is somehow against or beneath the beliefs of a magazine like NatGeo – although they weren't clear on exactly how/why...

And others had the more justifiable opinion that Nat Geo is doing this all wrong by choosing to mint the collection on the platform SnowCrash.

Doing so makes secondary resales more difficult (and the platform seemed to be having technical issues on mint day).

The wider (& maybe more concerning) story here...

is how easy it can be to lose perspective inside the web3 / Crypto Twitter bubble.

For us, questions about the value, utility, and longevity of NFTs have long since been answered.

But when a mainstream publication runs a web3 story or launches an NFT project, the negative, confused, angry, or downright fearful reactions of readers show just how big the knowledge gap still is.

FWIW, the gen pop. often remains skeptical/hostile toward new tech right up until the point of mainstream adoption – then comes a seachange of acceptance.

But, reactions like these should be a wake-up call for any web3 builder with hopes of taking their NFT project mainstream.

Maybe just remember to call them "digital collectibles"?

And a disclaimer: I've got a full shelf of NatGeo's dating back a decade. I ain't fading this NFT project – and I'm sure there are many subscribers like me.

Take care now! 👋

Meme of the day

Because the bull is back, right?..

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