📔 Weekly Journal: Sony's blockchain project Gains Momentum
[6 min read] Your weekend guide to getting ahead on the digital frontier. Today, the usual market news & Sony's blockchain partnership, which now supports fiat transactions in 160 countries.
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 91 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:
🔥🗺️ 7-day heatmap below, showing the current share of the market for the top cryptocurrencies, and their 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
Sony's blockchain project, Soneium, has partnered with Transak, a Web3 payments infrastructure provider, to offer global fiat on-ramps for mainstream users. This collaboration allows gamers to buy, transfer, and trade in-game assets and NFTs using traditional payment methods. Soneium, an Ethereum Layer 2 solution developed by Sony Block Solutions Labs, aims to facilitate blockchain adoption in the gaming industry and enable new monetisation opportunities. Transak, operating in 160 countries with over 5.7 million users, views this partnership as a step towards bridging Web2 and Web3. The Soneium blockchain is backed by notable entities like Circle, Optimism, and Chainlink.
This post on X caught my eye, with remittance payments being such a major contributor to the movement of money globally. Remittance payments refer to money transfers made by individuals, typically migrants or expatriates, to family members or others in their home countries. These payments are often sent through banks, money transfer services, or digital platforms and play a crucial role in supporting households in the recipient countries, covering expenses like education, healthcare, and basic living costs. Remittances are a significant source of income for many developing economies, contributing to their financial stability and economic growth.
The metaverse market is projected to surge to $1.2 trillion by 2033, up from $62.22 billion in 2023, according to a report released this week. The sector has gained momentum following the COVID-19 pandemic, which boosted remote work and interactive learning. Major players like Meta and Microsoft are heavily invested, with predictions of widespread adoption and significant digital commerce. Despite recent focus on AI, the metaverse continues to grow, with gaming leading the market, followed by media and entertainment. North America is expected to maintain dominance due to its robust infrastructure and favourable regulations. While high development costs and potential cyber threats pose challenges, the metaverse’s expansion into fields such as education and healthcare suggests substantial future growth.
👓 Read of the Week
This weeks read is “Current Approaches to Moderation and Safety in the Metaverse “. Ilker Bahar, a PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam, investigates safety and moderation in social VR platforms like VRChat and RecRoom. His research delves into how these immersive environments impact identity, intimacy, and social interactions. Despite their potential to enhance empathy and inclusivity, these platforms face challenges such as trolling and hate speech. Bahar examines current moderation practices, including community-based and automated systems, and highlights issues with age verification and privacy. His work underscores the need for innovative strategies and ongoing collaboration to ensure these virtual spaces are safe and inclusive for all users.
🎥 Watch of the week
Another indulgance in self promotion, here is a recent interview I did “Co-Founder & CEO of DSG on the Mainstream Migration of Investments On-Chain”
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:
Playground has just launched its latest tool, Playground v3 (beta), designed to make graphic design accessible and fun for everyone. Whether you want to create T-shirts, logos, social media posts, or invent new types of memes, this new platform lets you design like a pro without any prior experience. Powered by a cutting-edge image foundation model, Playground offers an intuitive way to get creative with graphical text generation and easy-to-use tools.
The platform allows you to edit images by simply telling it what changes you want—almost like chatting with a graphic designer. You can start with a range of ready-made templates or even upload an image that inspires you and make it your own. No need to learn complicated prompts; just bring your imagination!
Playground also makes it easy to collaborate. Share a public link to any of your designs, and friends can remix them, adding their own twists. This feature has already led to a burst of creativity within our community, with AI-generated memes quickly becoming a favourite.
More details on the model's capabilities are coming soon, including its impressive photorealism. Ready to start designing? There's no waitlist, visit playground.com or you can download it now on iOS.
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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