tl;dr
• Sir Anthony Hopkins asked Snoop Dogg (should have asked his son, Cordell Broadus (aka Champs Medici), Jimmy Fallon and Reese Witherspoon about NFTs• Jay-Z and Jack Dorsey open The Bitcoin Academy in Brooklyn• Enterprise darling VeChain landed a huge marketing deal with the UFC• US court compels Do...
• Sir Anthony Hopkins asked Snoop Dogg (should have asked his son, Cordell Broadus (aka Champs Medici), Jimmy Fallon and Reese Witherspoon about NFTs
• Jay-Z and Jack Dorsey open The Bitcoin Academy in Brooklyn
• Enterprise darling VeChain landed a huge marketing deal with the UFC
• US court compels Do Kwon and TerraForm Labs to respond to SEC subpoena
• Felix Capital raised its largest fund to date, $600M, to back Web3 and crypto projects
• 9 crypto companies land on Forbes Fintech 50 list for 2022
• Deloitte report says 90% of companies accepting crypto payments see increase in sales
• Mastercard fuels fiat onramp for NFTs
The future is actually bright for crypto, but some news muddies the waters and can confuse people. Here is what's on my mind today.
1. It felt good to hear Sir Anthony Hopkins asked Snoop Dogg (should have asked his son, Cordell Broadus (aka Champs Medici), Jimmy Fallon and Reese Witherspoon about how to purchase NFTs. The acclaimed actor started by announcing his entry into the world of NFTs by changing his official Twitter account to AHopkins.eth. The man is pure bad ass! Hat to you, kind sir!
2. This is pretty kewl. Jay-Z and Jack Dorsey open The Bitcoin Academy in Brooklyn. The academy will be led by Najah J. Roberts of Crypto Blockchain Plug, and “Black Bitcoin Billionaire” Lamar Wilson. Focused on sharing the wealth of knowledge, the academy is focused on breaking down the information barrier. The more you educate people, the more you will drive adoption, and adoption brings change.
3. Not to be outdone, enterprise darling VeChain, landed a huge marketing deal with the UFC. They will be prominently noted on all rankings and even inside the octagon. The deal goes deeper when you consider that UFC athletes will be incentivized to be brand ambassadors. This is a no joke deal.
4. Do Kwon has lost another battle and TerraForm Labs is compelled to respond to the subpoena from the SEC. I had been wondering how long it would take for the SEC to slam them with a subpoena as soon as South Korea started their investigations. Things are darkest before the storm. The question is whether or not people will go to jail or will fines be paid. My bet is on the latter.
5. I am not sure why people are listening to the FUD that out there. Felix Capital has raised its largest fund to date, $600M, to back crypto and Web3 projects. They are not the only ones raising investment capital at those kinds of levels. Money is still pouring into the space. My thought for those that are doing rug pulls on new hires is rethink your damn business model and get your shit together. The money is there.
6. As you may know, Forbes maintains many top X lists. Well 9 crypto companies have made the Forbes Fintech 50 list this year. More importantly, their funding range is nuts. It ranges from as low as $6M all the way up to $1.8B. Alchemy, Ava Labs, Chainalysis, Circle, Fireblocks, FTX, OpenSea, Paxos and TRM Labs all got the nod.
7. As you all know, my company, Rebel Reach, is about to launch a new crypto payment service. In research published by Deloitte, June 8th titled "Merchants Getting Ready for Crypto", they noted 90% of businesses that accept crypto recorded increases in sales. We believe our native implementation will help even the smallest businesses gain new customers, provide more convenience to customers, and increase revenues just by cutting out the costs of credit card and debit card fees. More to come!
8. Mastercard creates fiat onramp for NFT collectors. Companies like MoonPay, The Sandbox, Immutable X, Candy Digital, Mintable, Spring and Nifty Gateway have partnered with Mastercard to allow cardholders to purchase NFTs even without crypto. This is a major move in support of the burgeoning Web3 space.