#203 - Web3 threads 🧶 of the week

GM daily-ers!

Author

joe hitchcock
April 29, 2023

GM and welcome to Decentra Daily.

We're the newsletter that ends each week with a Twitter thread appreciation club.

Today,

First up, @NathanLands on the new AI trend: songs in the style of big artists

Good morning! First thread of the day – Nathan writes about how AI-generated music is about to change the music industry.

AI-generated songs by Drake, Kanye, and The Weeknd are getting millions of social media views, and some fans even say they prefer them over real artist songs.

But Universal Music Group, the label behind some of the artists in question, is doing everything it can to rid the internet of these AI creations.

On the other end of the spectrum, Grimes has offered 50% revenue splits for anyone using her voice in AI-generated music – and has thrown out the idea of tracking creations on the blockchain.

Nathan believes AI-generated music could offer artists new opportunities to monetize their likeness and reshape the legal landscape.

e.g. How about an AI music app that you can talk to, which creates songs from your fav artists on-the-fly?

Second, @SekureD's sneaker advice for RTFKT holders

In this thread, Sekure talks about the latest RTFKT Forge event, and which fancy-schmancy sneakers holders should choose.

Sekure breaks the burn/forge decision down into three options, depending upon what you want from your asset – forging to rock, stash, or sell.

Forging to rock is all about the flex. Forging to stash is like buying stocks – you want to invest in a pair that's gonna appreciate in value over time. And forging to sell is about knowing which designs will get you a quick profit.

Sekure suggests rocking several of the designs on offer, stashing the Murakami Drip (thanks to a small supply and Murakami's huge fanbase), and selling the "alien" fit.

Third, @NFTethics on a study comparing NFT rug pulls

Third thread today: NFT Ethics writes about this academic paper that analyzed over 700 NFT rug pulls that happened between June '21 and December.

Basically, the paper found that a small group of people were responsible for most of these scams and that many of them were linked to each other.

It's a rug-pulling club ...which, if I didn't know what "rug pull" meant, sounds kinda fun. ...Or like some kind of weird sex thing.

The founders of these projects often used the same influencers, artists, and developers to pump their scams – and some of those promoters were even friends or family members.

On the web3 wire

Argentina is experiencing a fiat crisis, so are people using crypto instead? 💳While crypto use in the country is on the rise, people don't seem to be taking advantage of crypto's benefits during the current inflation emergency.

Investor Tiger Global cuts OpenSea valuation from $13 to $3 billion 📉The 76% valuation drop comes as OpenSea struggles to deal with competitor marketplaces and low bear market transaction volumes, losing its reputation as the go-to secondary NFT marketplace.

A new protocol for easy USDC transfers between Ethereum and Avalanche ↔️Circle's burn & mint Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) offers a cheaper, faster, and more secure way to move the stablecoin between blockchains than via bridges.

@punk6529 tells his collector story

A huge thread from 6529 about his journey into art collecting – from decorating his first NYC apartment with an Andy Warhol Campbells Soup poster, to eventually buying the real artwork for over $100K.

Check out the thread for some worthwhile collecting advice wrapped into one Punk's neat success story.

@AlexIsBuilding on why NFT brands should always look for big brand partners

Alex is Building says that many NFT projects are about to die because they need revenue – and we all know there's not enough buying power in Web3 right now.

The solution? Collaborate with an existing brand.

By teaming up with web2 brands, NFT projects can generate low-risk revenue, get mainstream attention, and have any physical or eCommerce logistics handled by the trad company.

Alex's thread covers recent examples of NFT x brand collaborations and looks at what makes for a good fit. 🤝

@george__mack on life razors to help you make quick judgments

George's thread of collected razors are worth trying out if you want to make some fast decisions and save yourself the trouble of nuance.

(Because sometimes, you just want to make a decision and move on.)

For example, the Bragging Razor: If someone brags about their success or happiness, assume it’s half of what they claim.

Or how about the Everyday Razor: If you go from doing a task weekly to daily, you achieve 7 years of output in 1 year.

@luke_franks on cool AR apps for fun and utility

With Apple's AR headset announcement expected soon, Luke shares this list of recently developed augmented reality apps.

There are apps for turning your living room into a Mario Kart level or sculpting with digital materials.

Cooking is about to be leveled up with instructions and timers overlayed onto your countertop.

And augmented environments let you browse stores or watch a dynamic weather forecast from any location.

@franklingraves on the Fed's new statement on AI regulations

Franklin shares this joint statement on AI generations, written by 4 different government agencies.

The FTC, Civil Rights Division, Consumer Finance Bureau, and EEOC say they want to promote responsible innovation in the space, by ensuring AI is "developed and used in a manner consistent with federal laws."

The agencies aren't just interested in the latest AI app or artwork craze. They're thinking about how companies will use AI to manage access to jobs, housing, credit, and other social services.

Here's the full statement.

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And finally, @rowancheung on the week's big AI announcements

Since we're talking about AI, why not end with this thread of news updates from Rowan.

This week in AI:

  • Hugging Face launched a new chatbot called HuggingChat to rival OpenAI's ChatGPT

  • Runway introduced an iOS app that lets you create videos using their AI model

  • OpenAI also added an incognito mode for ChatGPT

  • NVIDIA announced a safety tool for chatbots

  • and Yelp is now using AI to enhance its search feature

It's a brave new world...

I'll see you in the next Decentra Daily 👋

Meme of the day

What we're reading this week

business x blockchainweb3 topics & the companies evolving them
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