Tuesday, July 25, 2023

“A moral monopoly is the antithesis of a marketplace of ideas.” – Thomas Sowell  ||

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WHAT I’M WATCHING

Market split. US equities and commodities seem to be celebrating China’s promised stimulus. Crypto, not so much. More on this below.

Japan and web3. Earlier today, the prime minister of Japan addressed a web3 conference to reiterate official support for growth of the crypto ecosystem and delivered some eyebrow-raising quotes. This is one of the most exciting web3 moves I’ve seen in a while. More on this below.  

Worldcoin. A global financial rail driven by biometric identity. What could go wrong? More on the launch below.

Motorcycle collectibles. Ducati will be minting a series of tank logo NFTs later this week, on the XRP Ledger. The Ripple ecosystem is an unusual choice for an NFT launch – according to Ripple, 1.2 million NFTs were minted on its blockchain between November 2022 and March 2023, but sales are vanishingly low. It does suggest potential expansion for Ripple, but it could also limit prospects for Ducati’s initiative. The brand has not yet hinted at future utility for the NFTs – maybe they will actually “just” be digital collectibles? I’m obviously not the target demographic but I can imagine motorcycle enthusiasts could be excited by this? More interesting for me is what the swarms of collectibles in cyberspace will become. To paraphrase William Gibson, the supposed originator of the term “cyberspace”: the market will find uses for things.  

GOING DEEPER

Mixed interpretation