Sup, nerds!

Here’s what you’re getting in today’s edition:

• 💅 This is cool: The ‘Pokemon Go’ of Web3

• 🔎 This seems important: The death of Web3 passion projects

• 🤝 Partner: Fuller, thicker hair in 3-6 months​

• 🔪 Let's dissect this: Ripple is creating a stablecoin…but why?

Terms used in this edition (click for an explanation, or ask Web(GPT)3!):
Blockchain, Crypto Wallet, Web3, Stablecoin.

💅 This is cool:

The ‘Pokemon Go’ of Web3

In one sentence: You can now download the Earth Wallet → it will route you to your closest park → where you can catch a collectible ‘Regen’ character on the ‘Social Network’ blockchain.

You know that feeling of conflict you get when you fall in love with something that goes against how you see yourself?

Like that time your dad got addicted to Keeping Up With The Kardashians, but hid it from the family because he “didn’t know what it said about him.”

(No? Just us then? Moving on.)

We had a similar feeling when learning about the Social Network blockchain and its associated crypto wallet, called ‘Earth Wallet.’

Here’s what we love about it:

It’s pretty much taking the ‘Pokemon Go’ model, and using it to onboard new users to the Social Network / Earth Wallet ecosystem.

You download the Earth Wallet → it will route you to your closest park → where you can catch a ‘Regen’ character.

(The idea being that it gets folks out of the house and touching grass).

Which is where we’re conflicted…

Cause the moment we’re done writing this newsletter, we’re downloading the Earth Wallet and going for a walk.

But what does that say about us as people?

That we need faux Pokemon characters dangled in front of us in order to voluntarily go on a walk.

Is this a top signal for humanity? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Here’s how we’re resolving this conflict:

We’re going to do the same thing the owner of the Fine AF 1999 Toyota Corolla did when it started making a strange sound:

Ignore it till it goes away.

🥇 Want the news before anyone else?

🔎 This seems important:

The Death of Web3 Passion Projects (And Why Its Worth Celebrating)

In one sentence: The current crypto bull run has lead to a surge in job listings, and broad smattering of salary increases, signaling good health for the wider crypto space.

It feels weird to say this, but…

There’s been a massive drop in Web3 & crypto passion projects — and we couldn’t be happier about it!

Need some context? Here, have some context:

For the past year and a half, we’ve met with a bunch of people working on crypto projects for the sheer passion of it…

Another angle on that sentence is: there’s been a glaring lack of money in/around the crypto space for a good year and a half.

But today, we’re happy to tell you:

The current crypto bull run has lead to a surge in job listings, and broad smattering of salary increases.

And even if you don’t work in crypto, but just hold some coins n’ tokens as investments — this is still of benefit to you.

Increases in job listings and salaries is a ‘rising tide that floats all ships (and crypto valuations)’ kind of a signal.

Now, who wants a running chest bump?

🤝 Partner:

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🔪 Let's dissect this:

Ripple Is Creating a Stablecoin…but Why?

In one sentence: Ripple is creating its own stablecoin, which they’ve claimed will sit at the top of industry standards in terms of traceability, stability and regulatory compliance.

Ripple, the company that issues $XRP, just said they’re about to drop their own stablecoin. 

But do we really need another stablecoin? 

Currently the stablecoin market is dominated by $USDT and $USDC. 

$USDC has a phenomenal reputation when it comes to transparency and regulatory allegiance (they really do be posting everything online). 

$USDT on the other hand, has copped a lot of heat for how opaque its holding are — but because it’s tradable just about everywhere, folks still opt for it.

So what does adding a new stablecoin do for you? 

If you’re an XRP holder, you’ll now have a stablecoin to swap into natively on Ripple (the benefit of which is: higher speeds and lower costs per transaction).

XRP holdings or not, some healthy competition in the stablecoin market never hurt nobody. 

And Ripple is coming in hot! They said they’re prepped to be at the tippy top in terms of traceability, stability and regulatory compliance.

So big picture:

Do we need another stablecoin? Not really.

Do we want another stablecoin? Sure, why not! It can’t hurt.

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How Stablecoins Work