Welcome to GM, BFF, a newsletter with key insights from web3, crypto, our community and beyond. Subscribe to get it in your inbox each week.
Innovation can be an intimidating word.
When people hear innovation, they often think of something entirely new. But for Jaime Schmidt, Co-Founder of BFF and Schmidt’s Naturals, the best innovation is often more subtle than that.
“Sometimes people are trying to solve problems that don’t even exist,” said Schmidt. “With Web3, in many ways there are the same opportunities that existed in Web1 and Web2.”
Schmidt’s comments came on a panel last week in Miami at Bring Your BFF To Web3, the first in a five-stop roadshow hosted by BFF. She wanted to encourage the audience to think about how — with the current skills and interests they have — they can fit into the next generation of the Internet.
“I tell my friends that they do get Web3. There is always an entry point for everyone,” said Vanyer3 Chief of Staff Katrina Gamueda-Smith. “It doesn’t mean quit your job. It means reading an article, trusting that there is something out there for you and finding the thing that speaks to you.”
For Swan Sit, Founding BFF and Web3 advisor, innovating is as simple as revisiting preconceived notions. At one point, she said she would never buy anything off the Internet. But the best innovators in Web1 fought against that resistance and created the companies that we all use every day today.
“If you combine understanding people with what technology can do… that’s innovation,” said Sit. “It is such a wide band. Don’t let anyone tell you that it’s not your job or it’s not possible.”
While there is much to be learned from innovation in the early days of the Internet, there is a lot that needs to change. Namely, most white men created and benefited financially from the technology that we all use today. And there are signs that the same will be true in the future: Some 85% of crypto holders are male.
How do we change that with Web3? We start now by getting more diverse creators and consumers less intimidated to jump in.
“This is our chance to rebuild the world,” said Sit. “We design for people first and we need to design it for everybody.”
Crypto for good. Coinbase Co-Founder and CEO Brian Armstrong is selling 2% of his stake in the crypto giant “to help solve some of the biggest challenges in the world,” mainly through scientific research.
$350 million. That’s how much revenue Reddit has generated by allowing three million users to set up crypto wallets on their platform to buy and sell NFTs.
Taxing NFTs. New tax guidelines from the IRS will mean that NFTs will be treated under the same tax laws as cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. Anyone who received NFTs as compensation for services will also have to declare this as income.
Trading ETH with Fidelity. Soon institutional clients will be able to trade ether with Fidelity. The move comes after the banking giant started a new Ethereum Index Fund for accredited investors last month.
K-Pop meets NFTs. Popular K-Pop group aespa is partnering with Sotheby's to launch an NFT collection called “æ Girls.” The collection has three parts, including a pass that provides access to both the collection and aespa themselves.
Crypto as an “alternative?” Robo advisory firms like Wealthfront and Betterment may provide ways for users to invest in crypto, but not within their core portfolios. The resistance to add crypto to its main offerings is a signal that many people still believe it is too risky to invest in.
More than a JPEG. A house in South Carolina was sold on OpenSea last week as an NFT for $175,000 USDC. “I never imagined I could buy and finance a house with a simple click,” said the house’s buyer.
Accelerating with a16z. Furthering their investment in Web3, venture capital firm a16z is launching a new 12-week accelerator program for entrepreneurs in Los Angeles. Participants will get $500,000 in seed funding and access to mentors and advisors.
Bullish on crypto. Uniswap COO Mary-Catherine Lader remains confident in the future of Web3, even with current market conditions. “This technology can transform markets at a much greater scale,” she told Fortune.
Better Web3 🧠. On a panel titled "Women In The Metaverse" at AdWeek last week, I joined Founding BFFs Francine Ballard and Shira Lazar for a conversation on bringing more women into the space. One big idea: What if women’s brains were actually hardwired better to succeed in Web3? The hemispheres of women's brains are more interconnected making them better equipped to connect logic with creativity.
Unstoppable Domains SVP Sandy Carter shared with BFF why more people should be investing in their digital identity in Web3. “Claiming a Web3 domain and placing a Web3 footprint today will make diversity more achievable tomorrow. We don’t want this new digital frontier just to be a copy of what Web1 and 2 looked like; this is our chance to do things differently,” she said.
Entrepreneur Moj Mahdara spoke with MSNBC about the latest on protests in Iran and her own experience with the morality police. “It is my duty to connect with my Iranians to come together and help bring justice and the wrong doing on the Islamic republic,” she said.
Clutch Wallet Co-Founder Bec Jones joined our Twitter Spaces alongside Afropolitan Founder Chika Uwazie to talk about web3 entrepreneurship in a bear market. “What we’re focused on has shifted in a big way and this is the challenging part of building in an industry that is still very new,” she said.
BFF Creatives Club Member @NtxooArt is creating custom NFTs called Pets in Pots. One was done for a fellow community member Char of her dog Arlo! Learn more about the project here.
This newsletter and all the information in it does not constitute financial advice. If you don’t want to invest money or time in Web3, you don’t have to. As always: Do your own research.
