#221 - Apple VR Is Coming 👀

Plus, ChatGPT parties and Doodles in AR 🕶️

GM and welcome to Decentra Daily.

We're the cargo pants of web3 newsletters. We’ve got a pocket for every collection, token, and dApp out there.

Today,

  1. Magic Eden Chapter 2 🛒

  2. Apple’s VR headset reveal is close 🥽

  3. A VR ChatGPT app for small talk 🗣️

  4. Apple allows in-app NFT trading 📱

  5. Doodles in AR 🕶️

D-Daily takeaway 🥡
Art Blocks collections continue to see strong activity.

What's this? 🤔
Our floor price index tracks the biggest, most influential pfp projects, art collections, and gaming assets.

1. Magic Eden rolls out new marketplace features and rewards

First up, Magic Eden hopes to win back traders who migrated to new(ish) rival Tensor – an increasingly competitive marketplace for assets on the Solana blockchain.

Just like Blur did to Opensea over on Ethereum, Tensor hopes to unseat Magic Eden as the biggest NFT marketplace on the chain through an incentive program that rewards activity with a native token.

In response, Magic Eden has announced 3 major changes to its ecosystem:

Aggregation. The Magic Eden dashboard now shows listings across marketplaces, so (ME hopes) traders won’t need to leave the platform to check prices and manage trends.

Embracing composability. In a significant U-turn, Magic Eden is embracing “composability,” a Lego-brick approach to system design that makes it easier to integrate features with 3rd-party products.

Magic Eden will open-source its marketplace contract, make its API documentation available, and remove a “co-sign” feature that previously stopped ME listings from being aggregated by other marketplaces.

Rewards. Magic Eden is cutting its fees for buying and selling NFTs. In fact, they’re reducing marketplace fees into negative numbers – so the platform is effectively paying its users to spend time on the site.

For a limited time, all users can enjoy a -0.25% “maker fee” whenever they make a sale or have an offer accepted.

(e.g. if you list an NFT on Magic Eden for 100 SOL, you’ll get 100.25 SOL when it sells)

Although Magic Eden already supports trading on multiple blockchains, the company believes that Solana remains its primary market, so doesn’t want to lose its dominance.

2. Apple pencils in June 5 for its VR headset reveal

Next in this VR-heavy edition of Decentra Daily: the news that Apple is inviting VR industry experts and journalists to WWDC – the Worldwide Developers Conference held annually by the company.

That suggests Apple is likely to use the conference to officially reveal its VR headset – a project that’s currently the focus for most of Apple’s top execs.

The Apple headset is rumored to be named “Reality” and will run on a new iOS.

It will include forward-facing cameras to let the wearer interact with their environment and is likely to retail for several thousand dollars.

WWDC kicks off with the keynote speech on June 5 at 10 am Pacific time.

3. A ChatGPT VR experience for conversation practice

In the recent trend for people designing use cases for ChatGPT, one VR developer has used the AI bot to create an immersive social coaching experience.

Unity Virtual Reality freelancer Tore Knabe built a party simulator, where all the virtual guests are powered by ChatGPT.

Users are plunged into the middle of the party via a VR headset and are encouraged to walk around the room practicing their small talk – with the aid of an AI wingman to keep the convo flowing.

Knabe’s simulator demonstrates the potential for other GPT-powered social training tools, from practicing presentations and preparing for customer service roles, to giving people the chance to experience difficult conversations in a safe environment.

On the web3 wire

Blend now supports Otherdeed and Bored Ape Kennel Club 🐕
Blur users can borrow up to 0.9 ETH against an Otherdeed or finance a BAKC NFT for 0.6 ETH. Blur will announce support for a new collection every day this week.

AI copilot for Windows 11 is coming this summer 🤖
Microsoft will begin rolling out its ChatGPT “Copilot” to select Windows users in June. The co-pilot will work alongside Windows apps and can access settings and documents.

BRC-20 tokens caused a huge surge in Bitcoin activity in May ⛏️
Memecoin trading helped Bitcoin become the second most popular blockchain for NFTs last month, overtaking Solana.

4. STEPN scores Apple Pay first in web3 functionality boost

STEPN is a “web3 lifestyle app” that rewards users for hitting their workout goals.

To play, you equip a pair of NFT footwear and earn “GST” tokens by walking or running, which can then be spent on upgrades for your NFT, or traded for a stablecoin.

This week, Apple granted STEPN a rare privilege: its users will be able to buy and sell NFT sneakers inside the app – and even pay for assets using Apple Pay.

The move could signal a change of approach by Apple toward web3 financial transactions. The company has traditionally been restrictive when it comes to supporting in-app blockchain functionality.

Until now, most app developers (including those behind the recent Axie Infinity iOS app) were required to send users to an external marketplace to trade assets.

Notable Tweets

5. Doodles co-founder teases AR functionality

Doodles co-founder Burnt Toast teased an AR experiment on Twitter this week.

An 8-second video posted to Burnt Toast’s feed shows the Doodles Creator Platform rendered in virtual 3D on a real-life desktop.

The video doesn’t show any user interaction, and there’s currently no info about what a Doodles AR app will contain.

But holders appear excited by the teaser, judging by replies to the Tweet from the Doodle community.

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