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Web3 Recap for October 2022

MMM DD YYYYWORDS BY MARCUS LEE

From institutional adoption to achievements from emergent brands, there's a lot happening in the Web3 space. To make sure you're up-to-date, here are some of the top Web3 stories you need to know from the month of October.

Image created via Midjourney.

1. Twitter adds more Web3 features with a potential crypto wallet

Twitter is reportedly developing a crypto wallet that includes support for deposits and withdrawals. The platform has been losing active users and has been recently acquired by Elon Musk — a vocal cryptocurrency proponent.

Twitter is working on a “wallet prototype” that supports “crypto deposit and withdrawal”
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) October 24, 2022

Twitter has yet to announce any such product, but it would be in line with the various cryptocurrency-related features like cryptocurrency tipping and NFT profile pictures that have been added in the past year.

Courtesy of Meta.

2. Meta adds legs to Horizon Worlds avatars

After being criticized for the lackluster reveal of Meta's virtual reality metaverse, Horizon Worlds, Mark Zuckerberg showcased the most requested feature in the product roadmap — legs! The Facebook parent company has also suffered from declining revenues for a second consecutive quarter, while racking up costs of over $36 billion spent on metaverse development.

Courtesy of Reddit.

3. Reddit’s Collectible Avatars onboard millions of new wallets

At a panel at TechCrunch Disrupt, Reddit’s chief product officer, Pali Bhat, revealed that over three million crypto wallets have been created by Redditors to purchase and customize their recently released Collectible Avatars. By comparison, the amount of unique wallets that have interacted with OpenSea is only about 2.3 million. This would make Reddit's NFT user base larger than the market's biggest NFT marketplace — if the stats are to be trusted.

Magic Eden-themed art by Solana-powered gaming platform Aurory. Courtesy of Aurory.

4. Magic Eden’s optional royalty model sparks widespread debate

Solana's premier NFT marketplace controversially announced that moving forward: re-sale royalties would become optional, provoking polarizing responses from artists and overall NFT space. The Magic Eden team cites shifting market dynamics as the reason behind the change, following a precedent set by other NFT platforms like Solanart and DeGods — who have also done away with their royalty payment model. While this helps Magic Eden maintain market share with traders, artists are not happy. While royalties can be coded into smart contracts, not all marketplaces or collectors will actually honor them.

Courtesy of Adobe.

5. Adobe wants to help you make digital art with tools and AI

Adobe is broadening its scope of empowering digital creation. On October 18, Adobe announced a revamped Substance 3D, a new set of tools equivalent to the Creative Cloud suite, that would help artists create metaverse ready immersive experiences. The company is working with Meta to bring this functionality to all virtual reality Quest headsets.

Courtesy of Apple.

6. Apple reveals new App Store rules for crypto and NFTs

Under its new App Store Review Guidelines, the tech giant will allow cryptocurrency exchanges and the trading of digital tokens and currencies, provided that platforms have the necessary licenses to operate where the app is distributed. However, said tokens should not unlock features and may not include purchasing mechanisms that direct away from in-app purchases. Biggest of all, Apple will upheld its 30% Apple Tax on in-app crypto purchases and peer-to-peer NFT trading.

Courtesy of DraftKings.

7. Deadfellaz partners with DraftKings in NFL collab

In the spirit of Halloween, Deadfellaz launched a tie-in with DraftKings Fantasy Football to create thirteen zombified NFTs of star players including Matthew Stafford, Nick Chubb, Jalen Hurts, Kyler Murray, Alvin Kamara, Deebo Samuel, and more. Each of the NFTs is a playable asset in Reignmakers — DraftKings’ fantasy football game that awards more than $1 million in prizes each week.

Photography by Artazine.

8. Azuki raises $2.5 million with golden skateboard auction

After unveiling the Physical-Backed Token (PBT), Zagabond and the Azuki team debuted this technology by auctioning off eight 24K gold-plated skateboards in conjunction to an IRL exhibition hosted at K11 MUSEA in Hong Kong. Winners would unlock pending digital experiences and the end of the auction generated $2.5 million in revenues with the highest winning bid going for $413,000.

Zagabond, Azuki's Red Bean Prince

Metaverse