📔 Weekly Journal: Is Web3 Gaming Back?
[6 min read] Your weekend guide to getting ahead on the digital frontier. Also learn about the new expansion of contentious blockchain-based game, Axie Infinity
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 119 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.
- Ryan
🌐 Digital Assets Market Update
To me, the Metaverse is the convergence of physical & virtual lives. As we work, play and socialise in virtual worlds, we need virtual currencies & assets. These have now reached mainstream finance as a defined asset class:
🔥🗺️Heat map shows the 7 day change in price (red down, green up) and block size is market cap.
🎭 Crypto Fear and Greed Index is based on volatility, social media sentiments, surveys, market momentum, and a few other bits and pieces.
🗞️ Metaverse news from this week
Hadean and Google Cloud Partnership: Hadean, a UK-based spatial computing startup, has announced a collaboration with Google Cloud. This partnership aims to integrate Google's advanced AI models into Hadean's spatial computing platform, enhancing the creation of realistic and responsive simulations. These simulations could serve various sectors including urban planning and disaster preparedness, enabling more effective training and operational planning (computerweekly.com)
Axie Infinity's New Launch in Web3 Gaming: The popular but contentious blockchain-based game, Axie Infinity, has introduced a new expansion called Atia’s Legacy. This launch is part of the ongoing developments in the GameFi sector, which merges gaming with blockchain finance mechanisms (nftandgamefi.com). Axie has come under fire for being a scam, but the reality is nuanced. Watch this video and decide yourself:
US Digital Asset Legal Trends: The US is experiencing evolving legal and regulatory scenarios concerning digital assets. Recent legal developments include various disputes and regulatory updates that are shaping the landscape for blockchain and cryptocurrency applications. These changes are crucial for stakeholders to monitor as they can significantly impact the digital asset market (nortonrosefulbright.com)
👓 Read of the Week
For this week’s “Read of the Week,” consider an intriguing article from CryptoSlate that explores the potential of Layer 3 networks in cryptocurrency through the lens of fostering mass adoption of digital currencies within the emerging metaverse. Titled “Layer 3s are a necessary innovation in crypto,” the piece provides a comprehensive look at how these advanced network layers could revolutionise blockchain technology by enhancing scalability and interactivity. This development is particularly crucial for the metaverse, where seamless and efficient transaction mechanisms are essential to support complex user interactions and digital economies. The article argues that Layer 3 innovations could be the key to making digital currencies more accessible and practical for everyday use in virtual environments.
You can explore the article in full detail here.
🎥 Watch of the week
AI is changing the way we fight wars. Not just in a hypothetical future, but right now. So let’s take a look at what a battlefield looks like when one side is using AI and the other side isn’t.
AI 🎨🤖🎵✍🏼
In the Metaverse, AI will be critical for creating intelligent virtual environments and avatars that can understand and respond to users with human-like cognition and natural interactions.
For this week’s AI Showcase, we’re focusing on Anthropic and their ambitious trajectory in the AI field. Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, recently shared insights indicating that AI will soon be capable of surpassing human abilities in virtually all tasks, referring to this future state as akin to having a “country of geniuses in a data center.” This metaphor highlights the potential of AI systems to transform how we think about intelligence and capability on a large scale.
Amodei’s vision underscores a shift from the often hyped term “Artificial General Intelligence” (AGI) to what he describes as “powerful AI,” which suggests a broader and more impactful use of AI technologies. Interestingly, Amodei is optimistic about overcoming the current limitations in AI, suggesting that the field has consistently found ways to bypass obstacles and continue evolving, much like a river finds its way around stones.
These insights not only highlight the rapid advancements in AI technology but also suggest a near future where AI could be integral to solving complex problems across various domains, potentially outperforming human expertise in many areas.
That’s all for this week! If you have any organisations in mind that could benefit from keynotes about emerging technology, be sure to reach out. Public speaking is one of many services I offer.