📔 Weekly Journal: Absolut.land Returns to Coachealla 🍸🎶
[6 min read] Your guide to getting ahead on the digital frontier (& the weekend!). Today, the usual market news as well as all the Absolut Vodka brand activation for Coachella this year
Welcome to this week’s Weekly Journal 📔, your guide to the latest news & innovation in emerging technology, digital assets, and our exciting path to the Metaverse. This is week 69 of the 520 weeks of newsletters I have committed to, a decade of documenting our physical and digital lives converge.
New subscribers are encouraged to check out the history & purpose of this newsletter as well as the archive.
Enjoy your weekend! 😎
- Ryan
Digital Assets Market Update
🔥🗺️ 7-day heatmap below, which shows the current share of market for the top cryptocurrencies, alongside total marketcap (USD) and the change in price over the last week.
🎭 Crypto Fear and Greed Index is based on volatility, social media sentiments, surveys, market momentum, and a few other bits and pieces.
Interesting news from this week🗞️
🍸Absolut Vodka, owned by Pernod Ricard, announces its return to Coachella with a blend of virtual and live experiences, featuring podcaster Matt Rogers. The initiative includes a new content series and the relocation of its Absolut.Land metaverse space to Spatial from Decentraland, allowing access via smartphones and VR headsets. Dubbed "Journey to the Cosmos," the activation integrates digital and physical realms, reflecting Absolut's commitment to innovation and global engagement. The move highlights a strategic focus on blending online and offline interactions, aiming to enhance consumer connections.
👻 Fantom readies Sonic launch, promising 2,000 transactions per second (TPS) with sub-second finality, aiming to tackle Opera network's scalability issues. The platform's governance proposals target security, staking, and innovation support. With a slated release in late summer or early autumn, Sonic signifies a significant stride in Fantom's evolution, addressing user experience challenges and aiming for broader adoption. CEO Michael Kong outlines plans for trust-minimised bridges with Ethereum and enhanced staking protocols, alongside initiatives to foster innovation through Sonic Labs grant programme. There were also hints at some juicy airdrops for early adopters.
The global “Metaverse in Education” market is experiencing rapid growth, projected to reach $11.34 billion by 2024 (from $8.11 billion in 2023), with a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 39.8%. Factors driving this surge include increasing demand for immersive learning, support from governments and institutions, and rising e-learning needs. Future growth is expected, reaching $43.35 billion by 2028, fueled by startups, globalisation of education, and corporate training demand. However, privacy and safety concerns pose challenges. Major players include Microsoft, Meta Platforms, and Epic Games. North America leads, with Asia-Pacific set for significant growth.
👓Read of the Week
a16z crypto (part of Andreessen Horowitz) is a venture capital fund that invests in crypto and web3 startups. Their tagline is “Crypto isn’t just a new financial system, it’s a new computing platform.” They have over $7.6 billion assets under management across four funds, and have been investing in web3 – across all stages – since 2013
This weeks read is their State of Crypto Index is an interactive tool that tracks the development of this “new computing platform”. The index reflects the forces of innovation and adoption that drive crypto’s market cycles (refreshed monthly). It just reached all-time highs!
Here is a quote:
“The first era of the modern internet [~1990-2005] was about open protocols that were decentralized and community-governed. Most of the value accrued to the edges of the network: users and builders. The second era of the internet [~2005-2020] favored siloed, centralized services. Most of the value accrued to a handful of large tech companies. We are now beginning the third era of the internet – what many call web3 – which combines the decentralized, community-governed ethos of the first era with the advanced, modern functionality of the second era. This unlocks a new wave of creativity and entrepreneurship.”
🎥 Watch of the week
Coldfusion (by Dagogo Altraide) is one of my favourite YouTube channels. In his latest episode he takes a look at Figure AI, Nvidia and other robotics companies that are looking to replace warehouse workers.
Here is the summary:
Humanoid robots like Figure 01, developed by Figure AI, represent a significant leap in AI-driven robotics, supported by major investments from companies like Microsoft and Nvidia.
Through a partnership with OpenAI, Figure's robots can engage in human-like conversations and respond to stimuli, revolutionizing labor dynamics.
Other advancements include Agility Robotics' Digit for warehouse tasks and Tesla's exploration into humanoid robotics.
This convergence of AI, robotics, and natural language processing prompts discussions about automation's societal impact.
While hailed for its ingenuity, skepticism remains regarding the future implications of widespread automation in various industries.
AI 🎨🤖🎵✍🏼
More info from one of the subjects of the video above.
Meet Jarvis, the humanoid robot created through a collaboration between OpenAI and Figure AI, powered by ChatGPT. This innovative fusion showcases unprecedented sophistication and capabilities, enabling real-time interaction, autonomous behaviour, multimodal understanding, common sense reasoning, fine motor skills, and integration with ChatGPT for natural language dialogue. Jarvis perceives its surroundings like a human, communicates naturally, learns and adapts to new situations, and embodies a paradigm shift in robotics.
The partnership between OpenAI and Figure AI heralds a new era of seamless human-robot interaction, highlighting the transformative potential of AI-driven robotics.
That’s all for the free version this week! If you have any organisations in mind that could benefit from learning about emerging technology, be sure to reach out. Educational workshops are one of many consulting services I offer.
DCA With Me 🤑
Dollar Cost Averaging is an investment strategy in which an investor regularly invests a fixed amount of money into a particular asset/asset class at regular intervals, regardless of its current market cycle. By doing so, the investor can reduce the impact of market volatility and potentially earn a better return over time. Motto = time IN the market beats trying to time the market
To experiment with this, I invest $50 NZD into a Digital Asset every week. Each week I will choose an asset that seems underpriced in the short term and has positive long-term potential. My timeframe is 3-5 years. I don’t give financial advice but if you want to follow along with me you can use my easycrypto.co.nz referral link to support this newsletter. Let’s dive into this week’s pick:
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