Token2049, Draper Startup House, On-Chain Memberships for Festivals, and more - Social Token Times #33

Hear all about Token 2049, Draper Startup House, On-Chain Memberships for Festivals, and more with the Roll team in Social Token Times #33

👋 Rollers,

There is uncertainty around European lenders defaulting and fear that we might see a 'Lehman-Style Explosion' which could ripple across the global financial sector. The fear was mainly driven by speculation on Credit Suisse’s CDS premiums and their projected $3 billion loss in 2022.

Even though the crypto market showed minor signs of recovery, A $560m Binance bridge hack, with around $100m funds that left the chain, was hard to swallow.

The current market conditions is forcing everyone in web3 to look in the mirror. It is more important than ever to make sustainable decisions and build real utilities around projects and communities. With that said, we continue to be amazed by the cool projects in web3 despite the jittery markets.

Lots to unfold, this is Social Token Times #33!

Who’s on a Roll 👀

1️⃣ Web3 Gaming Making Significant Strides. Heavy hitters have entered web3 gaming. Creators from popular titles like PUBG, Call of Duty and Sonic (Sega) all announced that they are launching their own blockchain-based games.

In addition, Mythical Games is launching a gaming DAO with game publishers like Ubisoft, Krafton, Netmarble, Kakao Games, Com2uS, CM Games. The DAO also comes with an ERC-20 token $MYTH. $MYTH holders will be able to vote on ecosystem decisions and submit proposals.

Similar to how free-to-play games caused a paradigm shift, in-game economics through NFTs as gaming assets and tokens as rewards can unlock new business models for web3 gaming.

2️⃣ California Moves Forward to Allow Vital Records to be Issued on Blockchain. California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill on September 29 to allow individuals’ records, such as birth and marriage certificates to be delivered via the blockchain as an option. It is an important step towards an interoperable, government-approved digital identity network that would work on both the federal and state levels.

3️⃣ Roll participated in TOKEN 2049 - flagship event of Asia Crypto Week in Singapore, alongside with Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix. The event drew 6000+ attendees from around the world in late September. Our Founder & CEO, Bradley gave a talk, “Web2.5: The Inevitable Rails for Crypto's Next 100MM Users” and was one of the panelists on The Emerging Social Economy: Digitizing Communities and Individuals panel at Token 2049, sharing insights on how to build and engage communities in web3.

Bradley commented on the experience, “Amazing time hanging out with some of our investors, friends and creators like OFR, Will Wang of C2 Ventures, LongHash, Animoca Brands, Galaxy Interactive, Draper Startup House, Whaleshark, DAOL, IOSG and all the new folks we met along the way at all the after parties. In Asia the term "Web2.5" is pretty commonplace and specifically refers to infrastructure that can lead crypto mass adoption. I did a talk on on category and spotlighted Roll's position as Web2.5 infrastructure for social tokens.”

4️⃣ It’s official. Apple is letting developers sell NFTs as in-app purchases which was previously banned on App Store. Good news is that millions of people would have access and be onboarded into web3. Bad news is…Apple is still taking 30% and that 30% can’t be in crypto, which will cause a lot of on-off ramp headaches. NFT platforms like Magic Eden are clearly not fans of this policy. Magic Eden has declined in-app trading support after learning about the new policy.

5️⃣ Christie's, the famous auction house, is going web3. It has launched a new on-chain auction platform called Christie’s 3.0, for “exceptional NFT art” 👀

Tokenization as a powerful economic tool for real-world use cases ⛓

Tascha from Tascha Labs published a piece discussing tokenization as a powerful, novel economic model for real-world use cases or businesses. Projects with real world products that manage to integrate utility tokens into existing business models will create additional revenue streams and strong communities while driving web3 adoption. Tascha explored the loyalty programs with liquidity as one potential model, which echoes with the design of our Roll Memberships and Staking products - web3 tools to build treasury and liquidity on-chain.

We are no stranger to point based loyalty programs, think frequent flyers miles, Starbucks rewards, credit card points. However, when the point reward becomes utility tokens with liquidity, people can enjoy the benefits of unique perks while holding onto the tokens. If they no longer enjoy the perks, they have the option to resell in the secondary market, which makes it “more attractive than loyalty points confined in walled gardens”, as Tascha pointed out.

In economic terms, the extra incentive and knowing there is a way out create an upward shift in the demand curve which manifests into user growth and higher engagement. The shift of demand curve moves up the equilibrium price and quantity. Not to mention, the novelty of an on-chain membership will attract a different crowd - web3 natives that might not be previously overlapping with the existing user base, which further shifts the demand curve out.

Another advantage is that an on-chain membership program doesn't impact a project’s current cash position if it is already generating steady revenue. It opens up additional cash flow upfront so the project can use the additional treasury to fuel growth and extend liquidity. We all learned the time value of money in our college Finance 101 class.

Last but not least, given the transparent on-chain activities in web3, people joining the same membership program would form a unique community. It’s no longer just redeeming rewards. The token gated community can engage with each other and becomes a two sided + peer to peer experience that’s unique to the community. The unique value of such on-chain communities would subsequently be captured in the token value.

With that said, you will find out exciting IRL event and space use cases launching on-chain memberships in the next section, read along👇

The New Creator Economy 🌐

Web3 launches 🚀

While we release Memberships and Staking, we will start a new section to feature creators launching with Roll Staking and Roll Memberships.

Fringe Brisbane Festival started its on-chain membership. Running from October 14 to November 6 in Brisbane, Australia, Fringe Brisbane is pioneering into web3 this year - creating an exclusive VIP experience at Fringe Brisbane just for $FRINGE holders. $FRINGE members can get access to exclusive insider recommendations, behind the scene content, discounted show tickets and curated nights out. The program director, Zed Hopkins said, “We’re launching a world first social token membership to give you unparalleled access to the inaugural Fringe Brisbane, a totally unique integration of technology and art, and incredible discounts across the entire festival program.”

Draper Startup House piloting on-chain memberships in Singapore. Draper Startup House is one of the largest startup communities in the world on a mission to help build one million new business worldwide. It has presence in over 20+ countries consisting of physical houses, education, investments and business services. As a pilot, $DEN gives entrepreneurs membership access to Draper Startup House Singapore community consisting of physical work space and exclusive startup events.

$BUILD launched its memberships. Future Modern is a future-forward art collective, and building infrastructure to back undervalued ideas towards co-creating the world we want to see. Members will get exclusive access to Future Modern’s metaverse underground music museum, commercial use of their creative asset library, exclusive events (IRL + Metaverse), behind the scenes content and NFT airdrops.

$RCDY’s public phase started! RareCandy3D brings the best of NFTs, DeFi, & Gaming together. Collect rare digital and physical art, fashion wearables, music, and XR experiences to unlock unique perks, earn passive interest on your holdings, and get rewarded along the way. Super cool NFT + entertainment experience you don’t want to miss out!

$PCC started a liquidity pool on Uniswap with staking rewards on Roll. After successfully launching $PCC Memberships, $PCC started a liquidity pool on Uniswap and used Roll Staking to incentivize the community to provide liquidity. You can stake PCC-ETH LP tokens after adding liquidity to the pool and get additional $PCC as rewards.

DAOs all the way down (🤝, 🏠)

StemsDAO raised $4m to develop a web3 music collaboration platform. It’s building a community of musicians who are creating tracks together, from stems, which are made available as NFTs. The DAO is hoping established artists would offer their stems on the platform so that other musicians can make music with them – but with the promise of “full control and visibility into their IP and how it is used over time”. Definitely, a cool use case to watch!

Karate Combat now competes as a DAO. Karate Combat will be the first sports league to form a DAO and gives the power back to the community. $KARATE token is free to claim via http://karate.com/airdrop.

Fans will also be rewarded with $KARATE tokens for their correct predictions on fights through Karate Combat’s native app. A web3 community around $KATATE will form a more connected and engaging relationship between the fans, the league, and the fighters. Super cool use case!

🔦 Happenings in the Roll Ecosystem 🔦

An immersive, first-of-its-kind OP3N WHALE NFT Exhibition were presented to the public for the very first time during TOKEN 2049. The exhibition presented NFT assets with a market value exceeding $100 million — the first time such a collection owned by a single entity has ever been on display to the public. The exhibition was developed by OP3N, a launchpad for IP and communities in Web3, and WHALE, the omni-versal membership club with a treasury that includes the world’s largest collection of rare, high-value NFTs spanning gaming, art, and virtual real estate.

LADZ City ($LADZ) joined force with Web3 media startup W3BTHR33 to create a crypto-native content network with plans to scale production and establish a next generation, community-driven platform. This expansion will allow W3BTHR33 to become a home source for broader audiences looking to get acquainted with the industry and learn about a range of related topics under this umbrella. Congrats LADZ City!

Groovypedia’s artist, Aneeka dropped a new maxi single "After Midnight & Heaven! You can purchase the maxi single as a music NFT! This NFT will have 100 editions, and 20 of these editions have been reserved for $Groovy token holders. 🤝

$TALK byTBA will be at Dumbo House in Brooklyn, NY on 10/17, 11/7, 11/28, and 12/12 to talk about their $TALK token, and to watch some Monday Night Football. If you are one of the compassionate, authentic, and ambitious builders in Web3 and want to find like-minded folks to discuss decentralization, social tokens, DAOs, and NFTs, you might have found your crowd! DM @tbadao on Twitter to RSVP!

New Tokens on Roll 🔥

Welcome to the Roll fam!

$KID is a new way to interact with @TheRealKidSound & his catalog. From unlocking unreleased music & artwork, to collaborations & masterclasses on how to create Music NFTs, $KID allows you to connect with each other in a whole new way whether you're a fan or an artist 🎤

$SAX is a token around saxophonist, rapper, musician, producer and songwriter @MunirGriffin and his community. $SAX is a token that fuels Munir's entire ecosystem - you can earn tokens and POAPs by attending events, twitter spaces and listening to his music 🎷

$FF is a platform token for Fringe.market. Fringe is a platform for fans and artists to partner and grow together. It enables fans to invest in artists through revenue shares from artists' streaming revenues 🎶🏠

$WAFFL is a token by web3 music label Waffl Records. Use $WAFFL to attend events and engage with artists 👩🏻‍🎤🎸🥁

Announcements 📣

Watch this 🎥

Watch Bradley’s talk, Web2.5: The Inevitable Rails for Crypto's Next 100MM Users at TOKEN 2049

Required Tweeting 📝

Roll was featured by Uniswap as one of the top developers that integrated with the Uniswap widget. Uniswap has been a mega-supporter of social tokens since the category formed. We are excited to partner with @Uniswap to grow liquidity for social tokens and make social tokens more accessible via the Uniswap widget 🙌