SO WHAT?

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Real World Assets are a buzzword but also Web3’s trillion-dollar opportunity

GM, Welcome back to SO WHAT and the latest in our series of deep dives into how the Web3 space is maturing in 2024. This week we are focusing on Real World Assets (RWA), a buzzy phrase that essentially describes the concept of tokenizing… real world things. That ranges from

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ETFs will change the game for Bitcoin—we just don’t know how yet

GM, Last week, we started a series exploring three ways in which digital assets will mature in 2023, and today’s installment dives into way #1: US Bitcoin ETFs. This isn’t to pump bags or polish cryptocurrency tokens but to explain that, after years on the fringe, crypto and

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Web3 grew up in 2023—here's how we expect it to mature in 2024

GM! Welcome to 2024. We aren’t even two weeks into the new year, and it has already been historic: the first Bitcoin ETFs have been approved in the US and are already trading! Which brings us to our first SO WHAT series for 2024 … Web3 is Growing Up.  The

SO WHAT?

Our 3 biggest takeaways from Web3 in 2023

GM, Today, we have a special review of the year that was 2023 through the eyes of Web3. It’s been an eventful year, perhaps mostly for the wrong reasons, but the past few months have seen more positive narratives emerge and hope for brighter markets and skies in 2024.

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Ordinals have made Bitcoin fun again—but also divided once more

GM, This week we are diving into a controversial topic: Bitcoin Ordinals aka NFTs on the Bitcoin network. Bitcoin purists wish NFTs would stick to places like Ethereum or Solana. Yet the birth of JPEG collections this year on Bitcoin have contributed to Bitcoin’s incredible price surge in recent

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Two of Web3’s top media outlets sell to crypto exchanges—will they lose their integrity?

GM, This week’s issue is the second of a two-part series on media. We looked at the power that outlets have and now we are looking at the scene after two major outlets—Coindesk and The Block—found new owners in November. The market may be quiet, but there’