✋ a16z: 3 web3 trends and 1 loser

Gm, this is the doodhwala, the crypto newsletter that takes you less time to read than ACTUALLY spelling the word “cryptocurrency”.

Go ahead! Give it a try. 😉

Here’s the gist for today:

• ✋ a16z: 3 web3 trends and 1 loser

• ✌️ 2 BIG NFT Updates

• 📈 Whales Keepin' the Faith

• 🛠 Crypto Avengers, Assemble!

• 🍼 Buffett's Bitcoin Bash

Spelling “cryptocurrency” be like:

✋ a16z: 3 web3 trends and 1 loser

The biggest web3 VC just dropped a HUGE report on web3 trends for 2023.

And your boi, the doodhwala, has got all the milky alpha for you. 🥛

The report has:

• 0 jokes

• 0 memes

• 0 comments about how raw milk is waaay better than soy milk or oat milk

• much alpha

Let’s get into it!

The web3 VC = Andreessen Horowitz or a16z.

Here are some stats about a16z:

• Founded by OG software gurus – Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz

• Raised the biggest web3 fund at $4.5 billion in May 2022 (after the Luna crash)

• Investor in companies like – Yuga Labs, OpenSea, Optimism, Solana, MakerDAO, Lido, etc.

a16z has been in crypto since 2013, and over the past few years, they drop 🔥 reports on yearly trends.

Here are – top 3 trends + 1 loser in 2023:

1️⃣ Scaling Blockchains

Right now, blockchains are like roads with a highway being built on the side. Much construction, few movement. 😭

It’s narrow now, but when the highways open up, cars are gonna fly 🏎️ 💨 like the 87th sequel to The Fast And The Furious.

What will make these cars fly tho?

👉 Rollups

Right now less than 8% of fees on Ethereum are paid by L2s using rollups. The biggest ones are:

• Arbitrum

• Optimism

• Starknet

• dYdX

👉 zk-knowledge

More and more use-cases of zk-proofs are coming around to solve for – scalability and privacy.

That's because of:

📉 declining hardware costs

📈 increasing educational materials

📈 simpler programming languages (Noir, and Leo)

📈 more and more ZK-EVM projects like Polygon zkEVM, Scroll, and ZK Sync.

👉 Ethereum is cheap AF

Since Ethereum’s move from PoW → PoS, its energy costs have gone down faster than every Chelsea fan’s expectations this season. 😢

🙏 Please Lamps, just finish in the top 10 🙏

Ethereum is now cheaper than companies/industries like:

• US Gaming

• Bitcoin

• PayPal

2️⃣ NFTs for brand building

$1.9 billion.

That’s ☝️ how much NFT creators earned just in royalties.

Brands are noticing this ☝️ and they WANT IN.

Brands like:

• Starbucks: The coffee shop I go to “pretend to work.”

• Louis Vuitton: The luxury fashion that who's name I can never pronounce correctly

• Nickelodeon: The cartoon TV channel that had shows better than Cartoon Network (that's right! Fight me on this!)

And more (Nike, Porsche, Gucci, Reddit, TIME, etc.)

👍 When these companies drop their NFTs, they’ll bring in masses to web3 like 🫰.

👎 The catch is – these people will come for the brand rewards, and not the web3 use cases.

3️⃣ Creating communities in crypto

The biggest community within crypto will be – The Gaming Community.

Why?

💰 Spend heavy: Gamers are highly involved and incentivized, they spent $68 billion on in-game purchases in 2022

🚀 Big Launches: They’ve been a 💩 ton of Web3 games launched in 2022 – 717.

📈 High activity: On-chain web3 gaming transactions are 23 times more than on-chain DeFi transactions.

But gaming won’t stick directly.

So, it needs a glue. And that glue is – strong community governance.

How does web3 make communities stronger? Through DAOs.

And DAOs are growing like cray-cray! 🤪

Governance proposals across DAOs peaked in August 2022, and then dipped as prices went down the 🚽 in December.

But now they back:

🗓️ Jan 2022 → 130k

🗓️ Aug 2022 → 330k

🗓️ Dec 2022 → 200k

🗓️ Mar 2023 → 270k

👎 BIG LOSER – USA

The biggest loser of the web3 race, according to a16z, will be – The Great US of A. 🇺🇸

The signs are already there:

• Between 2018 to 2022, US dev count have gone down by 20%

• Between 2018 to 2022, US traffic to crypto websites is down 30%

😰

And regulators are not making things easy for US companies like – Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini, Paxos, etc. 🥶

✌️ 2 BIG NFT Collections. 2 BIG News.

Crypto Twitter has been buzzing about the ETH upgrade lately. 🐝

Staking this, staking that…

How about you go out and stake some witches. 😒

While the doodhwala bois are keeping you updated on all the ETH upgrade alpha…we haven’t taken our eyes off the rest of the crypto stuff.

Especially NFTs. 📸

And there have been some BIG movements across the top projects recently.

So here’s the rundown 👇

• 2 NFT Collections

• 2 BIG News

• 20 seconds

Start your timer! ⏱

1️⃣ Reddit NFTs

Reddit.

The one social media platform that’s doing NFTs right, launched yet another POPULAR NFT collection this week.

So popular that it brought the whole Reddit marketplace down for a while, during the launch. 🥲

Name of the collection → Reddit Collective Avatars: Gen 3

Over hundreds of artists contributed to making the artwork for this collection which also includes making this 👇cute Reddit character EVEN cuter.🥺

Here's how the sales look:

• 300k avatars bought in 3 SECONDS! (thanks to the bots 🥲 )

• $585k in total sales volume

• 7.4 million overall Reddit NFT holders 🤯

One thing is clear from this—

Every time Reddit drops a new collection, they’re a BANGER. 🚀

Just like the doodhwala, they never miss. 😉

2️⃣ Crypto Punks

The NFT collection we absolutely LOVE but cannot afford. 😭

CryptoPunks is taking the world by storm with trading volume surging to over $211 million in the last 30 days. 💰

It has surpassed:

• BAYC

• MAYC

• Azuki

Seriously, Bored Apes, who?

Why is this happening? 🤨

Until recently, you could trade Punks only on their own dedicated marketplace.

But there was a modified version of the collection created a few years back.

The Punks are "wrapped," which means they're tied to Ethereum tokens and can be sold on big marketplaces like OpenSea and Blur.

And given the recent airdrop farming on Blur…

…most Crypto Punk holders have been dancing to Blur’s tune. 🎺

Blur has become the top marketplace by volume by incentivizing traders with:

💰 CRAZY rewards

⛔️ NO fees whatsoever

It's like getting a free ice cream with every purchase. 😅

16 CryptoPunks were sold for → $100,000+ each on Blur within just an hour on Tuesday! 🤯

Blur 🤝 Crypto Punks…match made in heaven?

Overall, these are some pretty BIG movements from the top collections:

• One has a CRAZY amount of unique holders 👛

• The other has a CRAZY amount of volume 💰

And we’re supposed to be in a bear market. 😬

📈 Chaach and Charts: Whales Keepin' the Faith

Ever wondered what's up with $ETH staking lately?

Here's a fishy fact for ya’ll:

Over 55% of stakers are swimmin' in the deep end, at a loss! 😱

You know what's more fishy? 🐟

The whales ain't movin' a muscle.

But y tho?

If you're a whale, would YOU wanna unstake at a loss? Nah, didn't think so! 🙅‍♂️

So, they’re are holdin' on tight, hopin' for sunnier days ahead. 🌞

Here's the dealio:

Whales are staying put, and not unstaking. They’re keeping the faith and swimming deep.

So, what's the takeaway from this $ETH staking adventure?

Whales are stickin' to their guns, proving they ain't scared of a lil' dip. 🌊

Maybe they know somethin' we don't? 🤫

What's YOUR take on these loss-bearing whales?

Hit REPLY and share your thoughts!

🛠 Resourcewala: Assemble Your Crypto Avengers 🦸‍♂️

Feeling like you're going solo in the crypto world?

You need a Mastermind group!

With the right team by your side, crypto becomes a multiplayer game…and you'll be UNSTOPPABLE! 💪

In today's resource, we're helping you create your very own Crypto Mastermind group, so you can level up your game and dominate the market! 🚀

Get ready to explore:

• What is a Mastermind? 🧐

• Assembling your Avengers: Picking the right team members 🦸‍♀️

• Step-by-step guide to creating your own Mastermind group 📝

Ready to turn the tables and gain a competitive edge in crypto? 🌟

LFG! 🔥🔥🔥

🍼 Doodhshots: Buffett's Bitcoin Bash

• 💸 Bank-o-calypse: JPMorgan suggests the recent U.S. banking crisis might be a validating moment for the crypto ecosystem. Say whaaat, Jamie Dimon?

• 🇦🇷 Bitcoin Tango: Argentina's securities regulator gives the green light for a Bitcoin futures index, bringing BTC to the land of tango and steaks. Ole, Bitcoin!

• 🍁 Maple Syrup Money: Maple Finance is set to launch a U.S. Treasury liquidity pool, bringing some sweet, stable action to DeFi. Yum, finance pancakes!

• 🚫 Bye-Bye, Tron: Binance US plans to delist Justin Sun's Tron token next week. TRX holders, you better hurry up!

• 🎰 Gambling Guru: Warren Buffett labels Bitcoin a 'gambling token' – but hey, who doesn't love a bit of risk?

🤣 Milky Meme Of The Day

💰 Don’t be dumb, be crypto smart

Look we dunno how to invest in crypto. 🤷‍♂️

So what we do is buy everything in one shot, through something called Coin Sets.

Tf are Coin Sets?

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That’s all for today folks! See ya tomorrow!

Yo! Our legal and financial advisors (aka our good ol’ conscience) have asked us to add this boring disclaimer.None of what you read here is financial advice. We aren’t here to get you to buy or sell a crypto. We’re only here to tell you what’s up in crypto today and make you laugh. So, if you screwed up on a trade, that’s on you G. Stay safe in the markets.