Hello 👋
Welcome to the 20th edition of Sfermion’s Collider where we highlight the latest & greatest news in the world of web3 and gaming!
Weekly, we aim to drop a curated list of the most exciting stories & updates that we believe are enabling the emergence of the metaverse.
If you're looking forward to reading this edition of Sfermion’s Collider, please don't forget to subscribe below and follow Sfermion on Twitter to get the latest! Check out our Seam (💰) bio here :)
Web3 Updates
Binance | CFTC Lawsuit : US regulator, CFTC, is going after Binance for alleged money laundering. It claims the company was deliberately skirting local regulations, and Binance's employees and management were fully aware of the illicit flow of money within the exchange.
TicketMaster | NFT Gating Feature Live : Ticketmaster has launched a feature that allows artists to grant NFT owners special access to events, marking another use case for the evolving technology powering digital collectibles. Heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold (A7X) first requested the tool as a way to reward holders of its Deathbats Club NFT collection, launched in late 2021. Ticketmaster had already minted more than 5 million NFTs on the Flow blockchain.
Yuga Labs & Gucci | Brand Partnership : Yuga Labs and Gucci kicked off Metaverse Fashion Week with a partnership announcement. Both tweet about the merging of physical and digital. Yuga has form for working with Gucci. In August, the fashion house started accepting payment in ApeCoin, the token associated with the ApeCoin DAO.
UK Government | Cancels NFT Plans For Now : The UK’s Royal Mint is no longer eyeing the launch of an NFT. The move was original proposed by current prime minister Rishi Sunak in 2022. Treasury minister Andrew Griffith said the Royal Mint is "not proceeding with the launch of a Non-Fungible Token at this time but will keep this proposal under review.”
LVMH | Aura Blockchain Consortium : Aura Blockchain Consortium, first launched by LVMH on April 2021, recently shared some major updates and announcements as it approaches its second anniversary. The group aimed at being “the first global luxury blockchain,” was brought to life through founding members Mercedes Benz, Prada, Cartier, OTB Group, and LVMH. One of the most recent updates from the group is a look at how Prada is applying the technology to provide greater transparency and traceability of its luxury goods. On top of supply chain transparency and sustainability benefits, the Consortium is also focused on leveraging blockchain capabilities to provide a greater consumer connection and the convenience of indisputable authentication.
StabilityAI & Revel (💰) | AI Feature : Stability AI and Revel, the social collectibles platform, partner up to launch a free consumer service that enables animated avatar creation from a single pic! Read more here.
Art Blocks | Royalty-enforced Secondary NFT Marketplace : The marketplace lets art collectors browse listed NFTs across all existing Art Blocks collections, whether they’re listed natively on the marketplace or aggregated from other major platforms like OpenSea and X2Y2. Art Blocks takes no platform fee for secondary trades that occur via its marketplace, and artists’ own specified creator royalty settings are fully honored.
Consensys | Linea zkEVM Public Testnet : In public testnet now, the launch comes days after competitors Polygon and Matter Labs, came out with their respective zkEVMs, and will look to close out the race for bringing Ethereum-compatible ZK rollups to users
Galxe (💰) | Avalanche Expansion : Avalanche joins Polygon, Optimism, Arbitrum, BNB Chain, and others, as Galxe’s trusted ecosystem partner with the launch of the Avalanche OAT. This easy, no-code, gasless solution enables Avalanche dApps to reach millions of highly engaged web3 users with reward-based loyalty programs.
Candy Digital & MLB | Strategic Partnership : Candy Digital just announced the partnership with MLB and MLBPA. Last year, nearly 200,000 collectible tickets were redeemed by fans who attended games on Candy.com, One of 2022 Pittsburgh Pirates Season Ticket Collectibles sold for the highest price of $400 on Candy’s secondary market. More here.
Metaverse Fashion Week 2023 is being held this week to showcase the latest in digital fashion and metaverse technology. This year saw a focus on interoperability between metaverses - Decentraland, Spatial, and OVER - and brought new fashion brands like Adidas, Coach, and DKNY, among returning brands like Tommy Hilfiger and D&G.
Layoffs : Electronic Arts (6%), Disney (7,000, nixes metaverse team)
Gaming Updates
Adobe & Epic Games | Technology Partnership : Adobe revealed during GDC 2023 that the company has formed a new partnership with Epic Games, allowing them access with Substance 3D. This new deal with give them the ability to deliver powerful tools for a new generation of game creators, which will be located in Epic’s FAB digital marketplace later in 2023. It will also include new Painter, Designer, Modeler, and Sampler features, such as 3D curves and enhanced 3D Capture, and a preview of new AI-assisted kitbashing tools.
Misfits Gaming | Roblox Dev Studio : Misfits Gaming Group, Karl Jacobs and Kreekcraft are joining forces to launch a creator-owned Roblox media and game development studio: Pixel Playground. Jacobs and Kreekcraft will be the driving creative forces at the studio while Misfits will provide operational support and promotional opportunities. Expect more influencer/creator-led UGC-focused studios!
Alibaba Cloud | Web3 Game Dev Program : In April of this year, Alibaba Cloud will launch a blockchain laboratory in Shibuya, Japan, with the intention of assisting Japanese game developers in identifying further commercial prospects presented by the Web3 era. In order to keep up with the competition in the Web3 age, this lab will serve as an incubation center where game creators can meet and learn about the newest blockchain technology.
Ronin | $RON Staking Live and New Ecosystem Studios/Games : RON staking is live! Staking rewards will start to flow to stakers on April 12th. In addition, Sky Mavis announces the first game studio partners building on Ronin - five exciting studios/titles covering a range of experiences!
Magic Eden | Web3 Games Collective : Magic Eden has teamed up with Yield Guild Games, Game7 and Fenix Games to bring Web3 games mainstream.
Fenix Games & Horizon | Technology Partnership : Games publisher Fenix Games and Horizon Blockchain Games, a web3 gaming and infrastructure company, announce a partnership to help usher in a new wave of top-tier game developers to build best-in-class blockchain games.
Avalanche | Creator Program : Avalanche is launching Avaissance, an initiative designed to accelerate the careers of artists around the world and foster excitement around the Avalanche NFT ecosystem. There are two pillars to Avaissance: an Artist in Residence program, and the Mona Lisa Initiative for digital art curation.
Sandbox & Ledger | Strategic Partnership : Sandbox has partnered with crypto-asset security firm Ledger Enterprise to provide security for brands entering the metaverse. According to the announcement, the new partnership will include a number of initiatives, including adding Sandbox as a dApp on Ledger Enterprise, integrating a widget for Sandbox into the Ledger Live desktop application, and creating synergies with its landowner ecosystem.
data.ai | Mobile Gamers have been spending $1.6B+ weekly in Q1 2023
Research & Interesting Reads
Nic Carter | Operation Chokepoint 2.0 Part 2
Bankless | How to Fight for Crypto
Konvoy | Milestone-Based Financing
Chapter One | The State of On-Chain Games
Page One | March Monthly Recap
Sealaunch | OpenSea vs Blur Marketplace Update
Deconstructor of Fun | “True Ownership” - The Game Economy Trilemma (in web3)
VentureBeat | How Epic Games views the metaverse and the State of Unreal
NewZoo | PC & Console Gaming Report 2023 | Free market and industry report
NFT Drops & Updates
Yuga Labs | Otherside: Legends of Mara : Yuga introduces Legends of the Mara, a collection-based 2D strategy game that picks up where the events of 2nd Trip leave off. Read more here.
Yuga Labs | Otherside: Trip #2 Victory Helmet Airdrop : Second trip winners will get a victory helmet airdrop shortly. ALL participants with a deed had their metadata also updated for simply attending the visit.
Yuga Labs | Introducing HV-MTL Collection : Yuga team provides more details into their upcoming collection, HV-MTL (”Heavy Metal), which evolves from the Sewer Pass / Dookey Dash experience. Yet another Yuga asset to watch out for!
Doodles | Genesis Box Opening : Long-awaited, Doodles holders can now finally open their Genesis Box, which will give two new wearables, plus a beta pass—for early access key to Doodles 2.
Y00ts | SOL to Polygon Migration : The great migration goes live! In order to incentivize holders to migrate their NFTs over to Polygon, DeLabs is waiving network fees for the first 24 hours. Holders who do not migrate their NFTs by April 3 will be subject to a 33.3% “Paper Hands Bridge Tax,” which will result in a fine payable by increased royalty fees.
Adidas | Into the Metaverse Phase 3 : Adidas goes live with phase 3 of their, “Into The Metaverse project.” Holders can burn their stage two NFT now and await next steps for the upcoming 3 chapters within this phase.
NFT Now | Now Passes Sold Out : The Now Pass has officially minted out, raising 624 ETH ($1.1 million) in under 48 hours. This landmark moment kicks off the vision for the Now Network — the foundation for all of nft now’s initiatives to build the future of tokenized media, pioneer a community-centric media model, and bring about a more creator-friendly future.
DeeKayMotion | DeeKay Tool Light : Top-tier animator/creator DeeKay (NFT OG) launches his own rigging/animation tool in collaboration w Motion Design School. Looks pretty interesting!
Notable Raises
Character AI | $150m raise : Character-driven AI platform has raised $150m in a Series B funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). The platform uses machine learning and natural language processing to create AI-powered characters that can be used in various industries such as gaming, advertising, and film. The funding will be used to expand the team and capabilities.
Ledger | $108m raise : Crypto wallet company Ledger has raised $108m in Series C funding led by DST Global, with participation from existing investors such as Cathay Innovation and Korelya Capital. The funding will be used to support Ledger's expansion and development of new products and services for its secure hardware wallets, which enable users to store and manage their cryptocurrency assets offline. The round brings Ledger's valuation to over $1.5b.
Fetch AI | $40m raise : Fetch.ai, a blockchain-based AI platform, has raised $40 million in a private placement led by DWF Labs. The funds will be used to expand the platform's capabilities in decentralized machine learning and AI applications, as well as support its ecosystem of developers and partners. Fetch.ai's platform enables autonomous economic agents to carry out tasks in a decentralized manner, leveraging blockchain and AI technologies.
Mozilla AI | $30m funding : Mozilla AI, a new organization focused on creating trustworthy AI, has launched with $30 million in funding from various investors, including Reid Hoffman's charitable foundation and the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. The organization plans to develop open-source tools and standards for building trustworthy AI and addressing issues such as privacy, bias, and transparency. Mozilla AI will collaborate with other organizations and communities to advance the responsible development and deployment of AI technologies.
OP3N (💰) | $28m raise : OP3N, a web3 AI-powered platform, raised a $28 million Series A round led by Animoca Brands and included investments from Sfermion, Dragonfly Capital, SuperScrypt, Creative Artists Agency, Republic Crypto, Avalanche’s Blizzard Fund, Galaxy Digital and Warner Music Interactive. OP3N’s chat-based product, Superapp, aims to bridge the gap between Web 2.0 and web3 through implementing blockchain and decentralized technologies into Web 2.0-friendly interfaces. The application will have the ability to add audio, video and mixed media content to on-chain interactions so users can have a “one-stop” experience.
Seed Club (💰) | $25m Fund : Seed Club announces Seed Club Ventures - a $25M venture DAO investing in a world of internet-native organizations. Seed Club Ventures is a community of over 60 leading crypto funds and angels, supporting founders at the earliest possible stages.
Hathora | $7.6m raise : Hathora, a game development platform, has raised $7.6m in seed funding to democratize multiplayer game development. The platform uses cloud infrastructure to enable developers to create and operate multiplayer games without significant technical expertise or upfront investment. Hathora's aim is to create a community-driven platform that empowers developers to create the next generation of multiplayer games.
Particle Network | $7m raise : Particle Network, a blockchain infrastructure provider, has raised $7m in a funding round led by ABCDE and has backing from other investors including Animoca, Longhash Ventures, GSR Ventures, Hashkey and OP Crypto. The startup's core product is a login and wallet middleware solution that helps developers integrate a user-friendly web3 authentication solution into their decentralized applications.
Conduit | $7m raise : Crypto infrastructure startup Conduit raises $7M in Seed funding. The round was led by Paradigm, with funding going towards helping Conduit continue its first product launch and toward its goal of achieving profitability
LandVault | $3m raise : Metaverse construction firm LandVault raises $3m in extended Series B funding. The extended round featured participation from The Sandbox, Gemini Frontier Fund, HodlCo and Kingsway Capital.
So-Col | $1.5m raise : So-Col (Social Collectables), a web3 social platform founded by crypto influencer Irene Zhao, unveiled $4.5m in fresh funding across in two rounds, with the most recent being worth $1.5m and solely backed by DWF Labs.
Podcasts & Media
Metaverse Live Ep. 12 | SURVIVING Bank Failures with Crypto, USD Devaluation :
Zima Red Ep. 139 | Jarrod Dicker - TCG: Investing in companies that define culture
Zima Red Ep. 140 | Doug Shapiro - How AI will impact and change media forever :
Mo & Andrew's Curated
Crypto / Web3 Tweets
Shapella is scheduled on mainnet for epoch 194048, scheduled for 22:27:35 UTC on Apr. 12, 2023
Client releases compatible with the upgrade are listed in the announcement below
blog.ethereum.org/2023/03/28/sha…
2,237
Nasdaq to offer 
1/ The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann by @Ananyo
2/ The Infinite Machine: How an army of crypto-hackers is building the next internet with Ethereum by Camila Russo
3/ Proof of Stake: The making of ethereum and the…
There are quite a few false rumors going around about a MetaMask snapshot/airdrop/etc. on March 31.These rumors are not only false, but they are dangerous. They create opportunities for scammers and phishers.
Please be on the lookout for fake sites in the coming days
The Wave to Mainnet has begun – but what does that mean? 
A quick FAQ in
Macro / Fed Tweets
Oh boy
Case is up and it's bad.
This is the CFTC attempting to strike *fatal* blow to Binance, and at first read through... I think they actually have really strong chances here of succeeding in toppling the Binance empire.
CFTC BINANCE.pdf
View and download CFTC BINANCE.pdf on DocDroid
CZ’s Response to the CFTC Complaint | Binance Blog
Binance's CEO responds to the complaint filed by the CFTC
ETH: commodity
LTC: commodity
USDT: commodity
BUSD: commodity
- the CFTC
China and France complete first LNG gas trade using Chinese Yuan, ending reliance on the US dollar for energy trades.
5 major banks raided by French authorities in €100 billion fraud investigation. • Societe Generale
• BNP Paribas
• Natixis
• HSBC
• Exane
Saudi Arabia enters trade alliance with China, Russia, India, Pakistan, and four Central Asian nations to step further away from reliance on the US dollar.
Pentagon, Mine Bitcoin To Stay Superpower: Space Force Major
The Pentagon should arm itself with hashrate over artillery in a digital Cold War for Bitcoin blocks, says one Space Force major
Gaming Tweets
The company has worked with Nintendo, Marvel and the NBA to ship games.
Here's a thread with everything you need to know.
Soon the world will understand the power of @RTFKT game ready 3D assets
@benitopagotto @clegfx
A (long) thread
:
#gamedevelopment #AIGaming #indiedev #stablediffusion #PixelVibeBeta
NFT Tweets
It’s also the first time I’ve put in fresh fiat into the swamp in almost a year. In the last 24h I scooped close to 100 new
Start earning diamonds today, because diamonds will put you first
Now, everytime your listings are sold & bids are accepted on @MagicEden, you'll earn diamonds.
Coming soon: our 1st rewards drop for top diamond holders.
You snooze you lose.
#RedditCollectibles
We will be hosting a 1:1 Twitter Spaces with Blur founder @PacmanBlur & @frankdegods on Saturday.
Set reminder:
AI Tweets
e.g. No more ChatGPT upgrades & many others.
Signed by Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, Stability AI CEO & 1000s of other tech leaders.
Here's the breakdown:
People are telling stories and sharing photos of historic events - like the “Great Cascadia” earthquake that devastated Oregon in 2001.
The kicker? It never happened. The images are AI-generated.
Someone hacked the ChatGPT API and found over 80 plugins that aren't available yet.
Everything is about to change.
Random Tweets
GitHub - twitter/the-algorithm: Source code for Twitter's Recommendation Algorithm
Source code for Twitter's Recommendation Algorithm - GitHub - twitter/the-algorithm: Source code for Twitter's Recommendation Algorithm
We’re a fucking laughing stock.
than all of the money ever lost in crypto hacks and exploits (6.45b)
(h/t @DefiLlama for the hacks data)
💰 = Sfermion Portfolio Company
Curated by @mopat1214 + @AndrewSteinwold
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