GM - this is the BCheque Papers, edition #63.
Welcome to the 33 new subscribers this week - we are at 1,750 subscribers now!
I write about NFTs/crypto, and trying to make it independently in web3.
This is what weโve got this week:
This Week In NFT/Crypto World
Notable sales
AI: The Gift And The Curse
For sponsorship enquires, please DM me on Twitter.
Have a great day,
B
This Week in NFT/Crypto World
The macro
There are two big โmacroโ / political trends I am paying attention to right now.
First, a ramping up of US aggression towards crypto.
Not only are senators running on anti-crypto agendas, but regulatory bodies are actively pursuing more cryptoexchanges. Last week I touched on Coinbase being served a Wells Notice - usually a precursor to regulatory action - and this week Binance has been sued by the CFTC.
A few of the main points alleged are that:
(i) Binance is soliciting further US business without properly complying with US law
(ii) Binance has internal trading desks which are trading in its own markets (and likely against its users)
(iii) Binance has knowingly facilitated potential illegal/terrorist activity
The full response from Binance dismissed all of these complaints (obviously).
With the history of crypto - and the year that everyone has just been through with FTX - people are right to be incredibly sceptical with regards to their exchanges.
After the markets went down on the news they have recovered strongly since, becauseโฆultimatelyโฆ
Second, the US dollar seems to be under pressure from other countries:
(i) China and Saudi Arabia have taken steps to reduce their reliance on the US dollar by entering into a trade alliance;
(ii) Brazil has followed by agreeing with China to use their own currencies for trade.
This trend of countries deciding to settle trade in currencies other than USD should be watched.
NFT Strategy
Yuga Labs, the creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club, announced that The Legends of the Mara will be a 2D experience strategy game.
This was received really well by the community because it feels like a gear change from the high octane previous game, Dookey Dash, and as part of that it provides the first biggest $ape โsinkโ.
What does that mean?
It will give people a reason for people to buy, hold, and actually USE the $ APE coin - which is the utility that all tokens are deeply searching for.
Disney kills metaverse unit
As certain Web3 IP continues to thrive, traditional media companies are stumbling in the metaverse.
In its latest round of job cuts, Disney has brought to an end its metaverse unit, which was in charge for strategising on web3.
Now that the hype has faded away - and the economic climate has become more challenging - it feels like an easy cut to make for these companies.
However, I wonder to what extent this is like walking away from the advent of the internet because your first foray into it didnโt work out.
This blockchain stuff will be hard at first - but it will only get easier for those who stick around and persevere.
Huge creator competition with ETH prizes
The Nouns DAO are always putting out bounties for people to contribute to the DAO in some way - and this week there are lots of rounds with lots of money on the table for people whose propositions are chosen.
If you want to be entrepreneurial in this space, I highly recommend checking out the Nouns ecosystem.
(I have been funded two times by them. DM if you want to ask anything.)
Frank goes on $200,000 NFT collecting spree
Frank, the founder of the NFT Collections y00ts and DeGods, went on a $200,000 NFT spending spree where he bought many of the prominent collections which exist on the Ethereum blockchain.
Why?
Frank had launched his collections on the Solana blockchain.
After feeling that his collections were capped because the majority of liquidity and attention existed on Ethereum, he decided to move his collections over. That has been happening the last two days.
What better way to get the attention of those on Ethereum by buying into their communities and causing a splash.
I have thought this for some time that many NFT purchases could likely be expensed as marketing costs, as they are just like buying into a club and getting access to particular people.
Another reason why the NFT will be an increasingly diverse asset - and why the tech will develop more interesting use cases the more we understand how we want to use it.
Notable sales
Azuki Spirit sold to @pimpcapital for 189.69 ETH ($340,726)
Politics is Bullshit by Beeple - 71.5 ETH ($129,322)
Rabble by XCOPY - 29 ETH ($52,450)
Otherside Deeds
And after Trumpโs indictmentโฆ
The Gift And The Curse of AI
Today I give some quick hits of cool AI use cases with which I am experimenting and exploring.
a. Midjourney
The person who made these AI generated photos of Donald Trump getting arrested was banned from using the photo generator further.
Apparently the word โarrestedโ has been blocked on the platform now.
Clearly โwith great AI, comes great responsibility.โ
b. AI companions
In this clip an AI rabbit is able to fill in the missing lyrics to a song, as well as make a little carrot quip. Not bad at all!
Siri is dead.
c. AI Kanye
This clip is insane. An AI model of Kanye West was able to deliver a verse - which a recording artist wrote and recorded - in the exact style of Kanye West and as if Kanye West had recorded the verse himself. Must listen!
d) Text to video
If you can say something, you can see something.
Runway allows you to create videos from words.
No need for that expensive recording equipment anymore?
Maybe not.
e) Oncyber - digital space
Chat GPT has been incorporated into these digital spaces such that users can request the AI to assist with world building. Pretty amazing! I am actually helping to test this product.
All of this is amazing - and yet there is real concern from prominent technologists that we are moving too fast too quickly - and that AI has the potential to become dangerously powerful.
As such, Elon Musk and others have called for a temporary pause on training AI systems beyond GPT-4.
I doubt people slow down. That is rarely how technology works, once Pandoraโs box is open.
Start learning how to leverage AI now. And when you speak with your AI, always say โpleaseโ and โthank youโ.
Have a great day,
B
Disclaimer: The content covered in this newsletter isย notย to be considered as investment advice. It is for informational and educational purposes only.
I hold some of the NFTs mentioned in these newsletters