SO WHAT?

Decentralized identification could fix the broken mess of secure data storage, but it’s a long road with many hurdles

GM, It’s been an eventful few weeks for the concept of decentralized, blockchain-based identification.  Worldcoin, the project co-founded by Sam Altman, last month announced plans to introduce its own chain. That was quickly followed by MicroStrategy—yes, the firm synonymous with buying loads of Bitcoin—revealing it is working

SO WHAT?

Here’s what we learned from the first Bitcoin Asia event

GM, Bitcoin continues to be the story of Web3 this year, so you know we had to attend the inaugural Bitcoin Asia event which took place on SO WHAT’s home turf in Hong Kong. We spent the week at side events, dinners, drink meetups, breakfasts and, of course, the

SO WHAT?

DePIN is Web3’s buzziest topic—and it could be key to the AI revolution

Decentralized physical infrastructure network are offering new ways for cloud computing, mobile networks, EV charging and much more Decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) is one of the buzziest topics in Web3 right now. The concept is to build physical networks that can run without middlemen. File-storage, WiFi, mapping and artificial

SO WHAT?

Bitcoin’s halving is complete—what happens next is pivotal for all of Web3

GM, It finally happened. Last week saw the latest Bitcoin halving, an event that decreases the rewards received by Bitcoin miners—who are integral to the process of transactions and new coin minting. If you heard about the halving but don’t really get it, this is the issue for

SO WHAT?

The past, present and future of Bitcoin’s new and exciting developer landscape

GM, Bitcoin, Bitcoin, Bitcoin. The upcoming halving is all that Web3 is talking about—although the crazy weather in Dubai, where the latest Token 2049 event is happening, is not far behind. Halvings tend to be a tense affair. Past events have been preceded by a sizeable drop in Bitcoin

SO WHAT?

Memecoin season is here—and there’s a lot more to memecoins in 2024

GM, Dogecoin. Pepe Coin. Dogwifhat. Degen. Shib Inu. Bonk. Based Fink. Jeo Boden. These are some of the thousands of ‘memecoins’ that traders have bought this year. Memecoins are a unique part of the cryptocurrency landscape. Based around tapping online memes, they offer little in the way of utility, trade

SO WHAT?

Starbucks’ voyage into Web3 loyalty is over—but not because of NFTs

GM, Starbucks became the biggest global brand to dive into NFTs when it announced a Web3 loyalty program called Odyssey in September 2022. But that voyage of discovery comes to an end this week after the coffee giant abruptly announced its closure after less than 18 months. Odyssey was widely-heralded

SO WHAT?

DAOs could be Web3’s most disruptive feature—but they haven’t taken off yet

GM, We wrote about Nouns DAO, one of the most prominent DAOs in Web3 back in September, but this week we are looking at DAOs in more detail after the US state of Wyoming introduced a new law that permits them to operate as non-profit organizations. The legislation, the latest

SO WHAT?

Mobile, AI and the search for killer apps: the future of Solana

GM, It may seem obvious now, but when Solana launched in 2020, there was no real alternative to Ethereum. The expensive gas fees required to make any transaction on the Ethereum blockchain were exactly why Solana was created, as we explained last week. Today, though, there’s any number of

SO WHAT?

The rise, fall and recovery of Solana—the original alternative to Ethereum

This week we begin a new series looking at Solana, a blockchain firm that might just be the most interesting company in Web3. That’s a bold statement to make but there’s so much about Solana that captures the rollercoaster-like nature of Web3 over the last few years. From

SO WHAT?

Airdrops: How free crypto tokens could change the future of marketing

GM, Can you imagine earning $7,000 for owning a JPEG? Ok, we’re exaggerating a little but that’s roughly what happened when a new Web3 platform called Dymension launched earlier this month. The project gave $7,000-worth of its newly-minted token to holders of some NFT collections, including

SO WHAT?

Stablecoins: The essential but controversial bridge between crypto and stability

GM, This week’s issue is the final in our series into how the Web3 space is maturing in 2024. We previously looked in detail at the arrival of US ETFs and the trillion-dollar opportunity of RWA (Real World Assets). Up next is stablecoins. These are hugely influential assets that