Sup, nerds!

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

• 💅 This is cool: The most exciting boring news you’ll hear all week

• 🔎 This seems important: Ethereum is kinda killing it...

• 🤝 Partner: A Gold IRA can diversify your portfolio and safeguard your retirement​

• 🔪 Let's dissect this: How nice are aligned incentives?

Terms used in this edition (click for an explanation, or ask Web(GPT)3!):
Web3, Fiat, Blockchain, NFTs, DAO, Degen, Meme Coins, Decentralized Exchange, Staked, Layer 2.

💅 This is cool:

The Most Exciting ‘Boring News’ You’ll Hear All Week

In one sentence: Revolut (a banking app) is working with MetaMask, allowing users to quickly move their cash into crypto (smooth crypto-to-fiat on-ramps are boring, but needed!).

Let’s. Get. Slippery!

Wait — no! Don’t leave. We’ll make it normal with context — promise…

Web3 is creeping its way into traditional financial (TradFi) tech products, in the most boring way possible: via payment apps — and that’s exciting!

Why?

Cause it takes the flat & grippy surface we know as ‘traditional financial services’ (aka banking/investing) → turns it on a steep angle → lathers it up with extra soapy water → and points it towards Web3.

What the hell does that mean?

Talk to any marketer or product manager for more than 2 minutes and there’s a good chance they’ll lecture you on ‘slipperiness.’

Aka: how easy is it for new users to start using your product?

The more slippery a product, the cheaper the marketing/user acquisition cost.

Problem with moving users from TradFi to Web3 is: it’s grippy as hell.

Banks will limit how much can be moved into crypto, centralized crypto exchanges pose risk of collapse, understanding best practices for storing crypto/exploring different apps is an endless rabbit hole…

So whenever we hear about new tech that makes the whole transition more slippery, our ears prick up.

Revolut (a TradFi banking app) is teaming up with MetaMask to allow its users to quickly move their fiat cash into crypto.

(And store in a self custody wallet).

Boring? On the surface — absolutely.

But if you’ve ever tried to quickly move a significant amount money from fiat to crypto, this sort of thing will bring you body-tremor-levels-of-excitement.

(We’ll definitely be sending this one to our mate Greg).

🥇 Want the news before anyone else?

🔎 This seems important:

You Guys, Ethereum Is Kinda Killing It...

In one sentence: ETH recently hit $3.8k (highest since Dec ‘21), 25% of ETH’s total supply is now being staked (and out of circulation), while Dencun is about to make L2‘s ~75% cheaper.

There’s this family in the town we grew up in, called the Grunsons…

The eldest son, Steve, is a doctor; while the youngest, Danny, runs his own landscaping company.

Dave and Janine (the parents) heap a stupid amount of praise on Steve, and often forget to do the same for Danny.

Crazy thing is: Danny is KILLING it.

His landscaping company is a monster of a business (one of the biggest in the state).

…it’s kinda weird that his parental-praise gets so heavily discounted.

That’s often how we feel about Bitcoin and Ethereum — sure, Bitcoin has the prestige — but — if in the past few years, you’ve interacted with a blockchain network to:

• Buy NFTs

• Join a DAO

• Play Web3 games

• Degen into some meme coins

• Trade crypto on a decentralized exchange

…you’ve most likely been using an Ethereum based token/platform to do so.

So we decided it’s about time we heap some love and admiration on ETH.

Here’re some of the network’s latest milestones:

1. The ETH token recently hit $3.8k — the highest it’s been since Dec ‘21
    

2. There’s currently $116B worth of ETH being staked — meaning just over 25% of ETH’s total supply is now out of circulation.
   
   (Making the ETH we all hold, scarcer/more valuable).
    

3. On March 13th, the Dencun upgrade is due to take place and make transactions ~75% cheaper on ETH layer 2 chains.

Hey, @ethereum — proud of you xx

🤝 Partner:

A Gold IRA Can Diversify Your Portfolio and Safeguard Your Retirement

Safeguarding your retirement with a Gold IRA can help you shield your wealth from market shifts, economic uncertainty, and inflation.

And with gold’s value projected to increase in 2024, now is a good time to invest.

Planning for retirement involves more than saving, so fortify your portfolio with gold today and plan for a better tomorrow.

See Money’s list of Best Gold IRA Companies to start planning a better retirement.

🔪 Let's dissect this:

How Nice Are Aligned Incentives?

In one sentence: Magic Square just announced that they would be committing $66 million worth of their native SQR token for grants to projects listed on their platform.

To get their first million or so users, PayPal used a very simple, yet very effective tactic:

They paid them!

PayPal used to literally pay new customers $10 to use their product.

(Which led to millions of people using it for eBay purchases, and then an acquisition from eBay themselves for $1.5 Billion).

While this tactic has been used a ton since then (think: credit card companies or banks paying you a ‘sign up’ bonus), Web3 is uniquely positioned to take advantage of it.

For example, Magic Square - who call themselves ‘the first Web3 app store’ - just announced that they would be committing $66 million worth of their native SQR token for grants to projects listed on their platform.

Here’s why this is cool:

For one, providing grants to projects who plan to be listed on the Magic Square platform is a huge incentive for developers to start building.

At the same time, it helps Magic Square become less of a ghost town, and more of ‘the place to go’ for anyone looking to explore Web3 apps.

But the most important piece to this is the aligned incentives.

If a developer creates a killer app, and the only place to find it is through Magic Square, you’d expect millions of people to visit Magic Square.

The more hype around the platform → the higher the SQR token is likely to grow → the higher the value of SQR, the greater benefit to those companies who received grants.

That’s all a long way of saying:

Anything attracts more builders, where the builders themselves can be rewarded — we’re all for it.

(If only we could code).

How Does Ethereum Work?