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Tech Pundits Miss the Big Picture on Metaverse (and Its 600 Million Users)

Plus: Amazon Anywhere Metaverse Shopping Bet, Improv Artist Fools Crypto Scammers in Marketing Stunt

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 1,325 words, a 5½-minute read.

This week’s TL;DR:

  1. Tech pundits miss the big picture on metaverse

  2. Inflation-torn countries see the highest crypto adoption

  3. Amazon “Anywhere" reveals a broader metaverse bet

PLUS: Barbie, Google, Alibaba, Alo Yoga, Disney, LACMA, FIFA, Panini, and more!

📅 Upcoming events: VeeCon, Indianapolis (May 18-20); GameBeat Summit, LA (May 22-24), Next Block Expo Warsaw Summit (May 24-25)

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The Big One

Media focus on demise of Meta’s “Zuckerverse”, fail to notice record popularity of the actual metaverse

While tech pundits continue to overindex on Mark Zukerberg’s failed pivot to metaverse, Roblox just disclosed a record $774M in sales of in-game currency, a 23% year-on-year increase:

In response to the misleading article, CEO of Epic Games, the creator of Roblox competitor Fortnite, jokingly suggested that the 600 million users of digital platforms should gather virtually to “mourn.”  Read more 

The Takeaway: The actual metaverse and the frontier of internet culture are forming in online multiplayer games such as Roblox, Fortnite, and Minecraft. Meta’s failure is not reflective of the broader adoption trend.

By the Numbers

Countries with high inflation and weak currency see local residents turning to crypto

Ownership of digital currencies in Turkey was the highest in the world at 27% followed by Argentina at 23% - compared to a global average of 12%. Much of the safe-haven buying has been of stablecoins pegged to US dollar, giving investors a digital alternative to scarce bills. Read more 

The Takeaway: Crypto adoption tends to be higher in countries with capital restrictions, financial instability, and political instability. Unfortunately, governments know this and some are beginning to clamp down on crypto.

Bold Strokes, Long Marches

Amazon unveils the broader metaverse bet by launching a shopping experience inside AR games

The “Amazon Anywhere” shopping experience lets users shop for real-world goods inside of games and virtual worlds. Amazon shared some details of the experience and piloted an integration with Niantic’s just-launched Peridot game. Read more 

The Takeaway: Amazon is expanding its metaverse shopping bet beyond the upcoming NFT marketplace by providing an easy path to purchase physical products on top of virtual assets or in-game currency.

On a Lighter Note

Improv artists angers a crypto scammer with a fake $455K transfer error… in a marketing campaign

Kit Boga, a popular “improv artist who calls scammers”, recently partnered Kraken crypto exchange. Kraken went as far as building a “dummy” custom environment which helped the influencer fake a transfer error after a year-long bait process… which really angered the scammer. Watch full 

The Takeaway: Possibly one of the best (and definitely most satisfying) viral marketing campaigns in crypto to date.

Top Headlines

🛍 Consumer & Mainstream

🤖 Metaverse

💍 Fashion & Luxury Goods

🎬️ Entertainment & Media

🏈 Sports

🛠️ MarTech & CreatorTech

💰️ Deals

  • Pudgy Penguins raised $9M in funding to turn the profile picture NFT collection into a consumer IP brand. (It has also just signed with WME as the official talent agency)

  • Aether Games raised $4.5M in token and equity funding to expand its blockchain games to new media formats.

  • Vibe raised $4M in Seed funding to develop tools to help creatives customize and manage their NFTs.

  • Artifact Labs raised $3.25M in outside funding (after spinning out of the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post) to enable tokenizing of historical artifacts.

  • Seed Club launched a $2M Consumer Crypto Accelerator to support startups at the intersection of blockchains, tokens, culture, and community.

  • NFT-TiX announced a multi-year partnership with Unum Festival to provide blockchain-based ticketing.

🤓 Guides and Tutorials

🗃 Additions to the Web3 Tools database (301 total)

  • Despark: helps conduct web3 user testing and research

  • Uptop: NFT loyalty and branded currency platform

  • Vibe: helps creatives customize and manage their NFTs

  • NFT TiX: decentralized ticketing platform

  • Badges: enables businesses to easily airdrop NFTs to customers

📚️ For the Weekend

  • Miami’s Love Affair With Crypto Is Souring as Bitcoin Faithful Flock to the City (WSJ)

  • Mr. Brainwash, 100 Influencers, and Web3 Walk Into a Museum (Decrypt)

  • As Hollywood Writers Strike, Momentum Grows for Creator Labor Movement (The Information)

  • Cultivating a Web3 Community for Go-Getters with Peloton’s Head Instructor Robin Arzón (🎙️Apple; 26 min)

Meme of the Week

That’s all. See you next week!

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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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