The biggest projects of 2023
Fearsam Weekly Newsletter 4th January 2023
Welcome to Web3 Wednesday all! The first one of 2023. Happy New Year to you all.
We had a break last week to take some time to relax over the festive season. The time between Christmas and New Year is often seen as a black hole when time means nothing, and I’d have to agree.
This year, we’re going for an edition every week. Call it a resolution if you want.
So! For the first edition of the year we’re going to have a little look back at some fun stuff from over the last 12 months. We’re also going to go over some projects that I think are set for a big 2023. Also, since the timing is rife, we’ll discuss a little bit about the habits to build in 2023.
We will also go over some news from this week, have a little look as we always do at an actionable thought around personal development, and of course round-up some memes.
Let’s get into it.
CONTENTS
THIS WEEK’S PIECE
Ah, January. The month of resolutions. The month of paying for gym memberships you’ll later regret, and swiping past Instagrams of people promising this is their year. Resolutions are hard to keep. What makes it easier, and what I think you should be doing, is building a few small habits instead. Let’s look at a quick 3 that are easy to implement and will directly result in a quality of life upgrade.
The morning. Try having no caffeine or screens for 30 minutes after waking up. Much research has been done into what caffeine does to our biology, and the widely accepted outcome is that we shouldn’t have coffee straight away. Without going into the science, delaying caffeine will help with focus, natural body rhythms, and keeping your energy high throughout the day. Regarding screens, they lock your brain into thinking about external factors and set you up to seek quick dopamine hits. Let your body wake up and focus before you look at that screen (apart from turning off your alarm of course!)
Sunlight. Get sunshine first thing in the morning, and get outside for sunset. Both of these let your body apply what should be its natural rhythm, allowing it to wake up and slow down with the sun. The fresh air won’t do you any harm, either! This is the easiest of the 3 changes to implement, and one that I guarantee will make a difference.
Reflection and planning. At the end of each working day, reflect on your day and plan for the next. Think about what went well, what you got done and what you need to do the next day. This allows you to keep your goals in mind, have a mini celebration of your achievements and stay on track with whatever you’re trying to accomplish.
NEWS
A quick note before we start. This isn’t the place to look for alpha from 5 minutes ago, or a deep dive into a crazy project no-one has heard of. Here we focus on real world linked stories, things that may have got lost amongst the mayhem or just pure fun bits of news.
This week:
1 China enters the space.
Well, we predicted this after they started banning different NFT-related projects and platforms within the country. China is set to launch its own state-backed NFT platform this week.
The Chinese technology exchange, state-owned Art Exhibitions China and a private company have partnered on the launch, which will act much like an Opensea or a Blur - a market for secondary purchases of NFTs.
The platform will also deal with the trading of copyrights related to digital asset ownership.
A bullish sign? I think so. Regulation is important. An exciting announcement to start the year, that’s for sure.
2 Logan Rug-Paul
The man just can’t stay out of the news, can he? In fairness, my personal opinion of Logan Paul was on an upward trajectory. It started incredibly low, but I enjoyed some episodes of Impaulsive and what’s been done with Prime is incredibly impressive.
However, due to some in-depth detective work by the internet’s own cross between a bulldog and Sherlock Holmes, CoffeeZilla, we may have another scam on our hands.
Here’s the TLDR: Logan and a few other co-founders started a game-based project called CryptoZoo. The project created $ZOO tokens, but the team disagreed on the rollout. With promotion from Logan, many fans and speculators bought in.
The project made millions, despite having these internal issues that weren’t too known about until now. Despite the money made, the developers were never paid. This resulted in the devs stopping work, meaning the game itself was never built, let alone launched. The NFTs behind it, in turn, went straight to 0.
Logan left the project, and is set for a showdown with CoffeeZilla in the coming months to get to the bottom of it all.
3 Who was No.1 in 2022
The end of the year saw many ‘year in review’ style posts. Decrypt released a list of the projects which ranked based on secondary sales added to funds generated by the initial mint. Predictably, Yuga Llabs hit the top 3 spots. Also predictably, Azuki, Moonbirds & Doodles all featured.
My interest was piqued with spots 9 and 10; Sorare and Axie Infinity, albeit for different reasons. With Axie, I was surprised to see it on the list. The facts point to this surprise being justified, with their numbers sharply decreasing throughout the year, from $126 million in January to just $1.5 million in November.
For Sorare, it strengthens the opinion that as we move forwards, the projects that bring in the masses will be the real winners. We spoke about Reddit and Starbucks in the last issue, now we speak about a project linked to the most popular sport in the world. For those of you who don’t know, Sorare is a Web3-based fantasy football game, with premium players going for premium prices. With NBA, MLB and football platforms all in use, whatever they do this year, it’s one to keep an eye on.
PROJECT UPDATES
Before you ask where it is, there will be no mention of Memeland here. They’re big enough, and there are many people doing extensive research and projections. I’ll leave it to them! This week, we’ll go over some longer-term looks, some projects that have impressed me recently, and that, in my opinion, are worth watching in the medium to long term. Let’s go quickly over each one and the reasons why.
Sappy Seals. Survived and thrived no matter the market conditions. Always focused on community, has good holders and an eye for what works on social.
The Plague. They’re everywhere, no matter if you want to see them or not! Insane community and what seems like a strong founder.
Karafuru. Survived a lot of fud and kept moving forwards. Have done amazing activations and experiences in the real world and have so much more real-world stuff to come.
Pudgy Penguins. The current Web3 darling! Seem to only be moving in one direction, with a dedicated founder and a tight-knit community. They understand the importance of social and marketing, and will continue to thrive from that and much more.
Kubz. A real on-boarding for the Keungz ecosystem. Close links to Meme… sorry, I said I wouldn’t mention it.
Honorable mentions:
Degen Toons, Renga, Killabears, DeGods & Otherside.
THREAD OF THE WEEK
The whole year 2022 in the NFT space in one thread by @waleswoosh
MEME REVIEW
THE UPGRADE
Go back and read this week’s piece. It serves a dual purpose this week, as it applies here too. If you have any of your own habits that you love, I’d love to hear them!
SO…
Thank you for spending time on this this week. If you enjoyed it or learned anything, or the opposite - if you think something major needs to change, I would love to know.
Until next time!