Welcome to Web3 Watch

Given the open-source nature of the industry, anyone building a web3 product can leverage existing code in order to deliver use cases within their application, as long as they comply with the licensing terms.

This newsletter aims to cover the most relevant web3 product releases so that entrepreneurs and builders are aware that, in many cases, they don't necessarily need to build every single feature from the scratch, potentially saving valuable development budget.

Additionally, some of the products & tools I'll cover are built by top notch teams, with a proven track record and in most cases are already audited, which means another potential saving opportunity as audits don't come cheap!

Let's get into it.

Splits is is a set of simple, modular smart contracts for safe and efficient onchain payments. Within their suit of products, there is Swapper, a payable smart contract that swaps ETH & ERC20 tokens into a predefined output token before sending those tokens to its beneficiary.

Swapper allows to automatically convert volatile tokens into ETH or stablecoins, which are usually preferred by beneficiaries.

Just like all Splits' contracts, they are non-upgradable, free to use, supports ETH & ERC20s, gas efficient and operates entirely onchain.

Originally deployed in Ethereum mainnet, back in January the Splits team announced the product is now live in Optimism, Polygon and Base, and also live in Arbitrum as of last week.

Given the explosive growth that Layer 2 chains have experienced during 2023, it only made sense to make the contracts available on these chains, not to avoid Ethereum mainnet gas fees, but also to service more users.

There are several use cases that can be enabled via Swapper such as:

• Donations (i.e. accept any token and convert it to USDC)

• Automate tax withholdings

• e-commerce platforms accepting payments in any ERC20

• DAOs can convert a portion of their income, typically in ETH, into their native token

• And more!

Check out Swapper's frontend here, and review their docs here.

Built atop Ethereum and Optimism, Farcaster is a social protocol that anyone with (or without!) an Ethereum wallet can sign up for.  Farcaster emphasizes user control over data, and allows for the portability of social data across different apps within its ecosystem.

Below there's a really cool diagram breaking down what Farcaster's architecture looks like and how it leverages both web3 and web2 to achieve its goals:

Warpcast is Farcaster's biggest client, offering users a X (formerly Twitter) -like interface:

Frames are built as an extension of the Open Graph protocol, a content standard initially developed by Facebook and facilitate interactive elements through buttons, enabling dynamic user reponses.

This represents a new avenue for creating more engaging and crypto-centric experiences, such as:

• Embed Games in-app

• Enable e-Commerce use cases

• Gasless NFT mints

• Subscribe to newsletters, read in-line or click away and read in an external site

• Quizzes and Polls

• And more! This seems to be just the beginning.

Since the Frames feature was released it's been a massive hit, prompting Farcaster to reach a record in terms Daily Active Users:

I would strongly recommend to sign-up to Warpcast and check out the Frames tab to see the amount of innovation happening in real-time and think how Frames can enhance your application use case.

Developed by Fabric, SPT is an extension of the ERC-721 NFT standard, with a temporal dimension and economic incentives.

The protocol is a non-upgradable, EVM-compatible smart contract that can be permissionlessly used to gate access to apps, services, content, and experiences. 

Time-bound subscription NFTs generate recurring revenue for businesses and creators, and are a simple, convenient access method for end-users.

Additionally, and as seen in the above diagram, STP enables onchain features geared to foster organic growth, such as:

• Subscriber Rewards: allowing the contract deployer to allocate a portion of recurring revenue back to subscribers, to incentivize early adoption, long-term subscriptions, and subscriber retention.

• Referral Rewards: for the contract deployer to allocate a % of subscription revenue to those who refer subscribers, in order to incentivize organic growth and distribution.

• Partner Rewards: Any entity that facilitates the deployment of subscription NFT contracts is eligible to receive 50% of the protocol fee. Protocol partner rewards are all onchain and in perpetuity.

Subscriptions have been a key revenue driver for most traditional companies in the last decade: from Netflix to Amazon to Cotsco to your local car wash.

One can only think that Subscriptions-as-a-Service onchain will be an equally sucessful business model, therefore anyone building a SaaS web3 product should be across the Subscription Token Protocol, here's their docs.

I hope you enjoyed the Issue #1 of the Web3 Watch newsletter and I would appreciate feedback both in terms of content and also suggestions regarding new open-source projects that will supercharge apps that haven't even been built yet, as long as they are legit of course!

If you are looking to build or deliver a use case via blockchain-enabled technology check Labrys out, this is what we do day in day out. Alternatively don't hesitate to drop me a DM, always happy to have a good web3 chat.