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- LeBron James (Literally) Sets Foot into NFTs with Nike Sneakers
LeBron James (Literally) Sets Foot into NFTs with Nike Sneakers
Plus: NFT Markets Out of Balance, Venmo P2P Crypto Transfers
Happy Friday! Welcome to The Web3 Marketer, where I help brands and marketers stay ahead of the web3 curve. Every week, I bring you top stories on web3 & digital collectibles across consumer & loyalty.
Today's write-up is 988 words, a 4-minute read.
This week’s TL;DR:
LeBron James onboards into web3 with Nike sneakers
NFT markets are out of balance
Venmo enables P2P crypto transfers
PLUS: Mastercard, Sotheby's, Adidas, LimeWire, Sports Illustrated, and more!
📅 Upcoming events: NFT Rome (until May 7); NFT Tallinn (May 9-10); AdAge Web3 Marketing Summit, virtual (May 9-10); Shoptalk Europe, Barcelona (May 9-11); Vogue Business Technology Forum, virtual (May 11)
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The Big One
LeBron James onboarded to NFTs with RTFKT x Nike sneakers and an honorary avatar
The NBA legend was photographed wearing special-edition Nike sneakers that can only be purchased by minting an NFT created by Nike subsidiary, RTFKT. Its co-founders also presented LeBron with an honorary avatar. Read more →
The Takeaway: While we don’t know if the engagement was a part of LeBron’s existing deal with Nike, the photo was a credibility boost for the ecosystem and a pleasant distraction from the deteriorating NFT market and the progressing extreme financialization.
Sneakers for a KING 👑
— RTFKT (@RTFKT)
1:07 AM • May 3, 2023
By the Numbers
NFT markets are out of balance: trading in decline, sellers dominate buyers
NFT sellers outnumbered buyers every single day since April, NFT data reveals. In addition, the daily NFT traders have dropped from a 20-60k range to 7k, suggesting the market is “not functioning” at the moment. Read more →
The Takeaway: The data reflects the overall decline in demand and speculation on collectibles, potentially driven by the US banking sector uncertainty and flight of specualtive capital to meme coins.
Bold Strokes, Long Marches
PayPal extended crypto transfers to Venmo’s 77 million American customers
Venmo customers will now also be able to send and receive crypto to and from other Venmo & Paypal accounts, as well as external crypto wallets and exchanges. Read more →
The Takeaway: The parent company is doubling down on P2P crypto transfers after the initial rollout to only PayPal users last June. Venmo, which processed nearly $250 billion in transactions last year, can help push mainstream adoption.
Top Headlines
🛍 Consumer & Mainstream
A jury convicted former OpenSea product head of wire fraud and money laundering (he made ~$50K from insider trading NFTs, and is now facing up to 40 years in prison).
Mastercard partnered with multiple blockchain developers for a new set of credential standards to address security and compliance vulnerabilities.
Renowned digital artist Trevor Jones is offering a free NFT collection celebrating the upcoming coronation of King Charles III.
The world’s richest man, Bernard Arnault of LVMH, owns NFTs.
Wow Bao, a fast-casual Asian chain, is evolving its Bao Bucks Rewards to an NFT-based membership program.
🤖 Metaverse
Ex-Fortnite, League of Legends exec will join Yuga Labs, the creator of Bored Apes Yacht Club, as the new CTO.
NBCUniversal’s Peacock partnered with Meta to stream shows on the Quest virtual reality headset.
UBS launched “Metaverse” investment theme outlining its impact on economic activity in the “Long Term Investments” report.
PwC: 70% of businesses plan to integrate the metaverse into their organizational activities.
💍 Fashion & Luxury Goods
Sotheby's launched a peer-to-peer NFT marketplace with a curated rotation of artists and enforced artist royalties.
Adidas and Pharrell Williams are releasing digital wearables for the holders of NFT project Doodles.
Balenciaga launched a new AR farming experience to raise awareness of regenerative agriculture.
Prada is celebrating a one-year anniversary of its “phygital” NFT collection, Timecapsule
🎬️ Entertainment & Media
LimeWire (resurrected) pivoted from a music NFT marketplace to a web3 creator subscription platform and is pre-selling its native token via S.E.C.-compliant Reg D offering.
Visual artist Jeremy Cowart shot 10,000 unique photo NFTs in front of a live audience in Nashville.
'Napoleon Dynamite' star and a 'Workaholics' co-creator are working on the NFT-enhanced animated series "Space Junk.”
Star Trek actor William Shatner released an NFT collection with a science twist.
🏈 Sports
Sports Illustrated expanded its secondary ticket marketplace to support smaller events with NFT tickets.
Angel City FC teamed up with Crypto.com to launch its second series of NFTs, “We are L.A.” which will offer exclusive merch and on-field experiences to holders.
Internazionali BNL d’Italia tennis tournament trophy will include an embedded NFC chip and an assigned “digital twin” NFT.
The biggest trends in sports sponsorship agreements in the digital age.
🛠️ MarTech & CreatorTech
The mass marketing maturity model: predictions about the future of web3 marketing.
Crypto artists share how web3 tools enable diverse art market experiments.
The biggest fail this year in NFTs was a $5M Super Bowl ad spend in February (recap).
Adidas will offer preferred access to select physical drops by integrating token-gating technology into its Confirmed App
💰️ Deals
Everdome raised $50M in additional funding to enhance the infrastructure of its UAE-based metaverse project
Mark Cuban’s Fireside raised $25M in Series A funding to accelerate its interactive streaming app for creators and brands (no longer dabbling in NFTs)
Goals raised $20M in Series A funding to continue development of NFT soccer video game
Neowiz, a South Korean game publisher, launched a $10M gaming accelerator
Samsung inked a partnership with Crypto.com to enhance its smartphone experience with the crypto app
🎓 Guides and Tutorials
The rise of token-gated streaming: a guide to the benefits and risks
The future of event ticketing: 6 benefits of virtual commemorative tickets
🧰 Additions to the Web3 Tools database (296 total)
Nansen Connect: wallet-to-wallet messaging tool for token-gated communities
Gallery: Platform to view, curate, share, and discover favorite NFTs
📚️ For the Weekend
Is the Federal Government Trying to Kill Off Crypto? (New York Magazine)
Genies CEO on Identities, Passion Economy, and Leading with Avatars (Forbes)
Seismic Waves of Gen Z Behavior: Three Generational Shifts Shaping Technology & Culture (Substack)
Adidas Web3 Product Head Reflects on the Past Months’ Work (Twitter)
Evaluating the Web3 Music Ecosystem with Warner Music Group (🎙️Apple / Spotify; 28 min)
Building Your Web3 Digital Identity (🎙️Apple; 27 min)
Meme of the Week
“Crypto is a bad investment!”
Also banks:
— MinisterOfNFTs 🔮 (@MinisterOfNFTs)
9:53 PM • Apr 25, 2023
That’s all. See you next week!
Question, feedback or collab? Send me a note.
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Author Bio
Kuba Szewczyk is an NFT Product Strategy Lead at ConsenSys, helping build NFT tools for brands and creators. He previously worked at Bain & Co. Digital Assets and earned Harvard MBA.
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