your career in the crypto era, updates you can’t miss and beyond

WEB3
Smart moves and big plans

Crypto projects have surpassed $90 billion in all-time funding, as reported by The Block Research, which has been diligently tracking startup data in the industry since 2017. Notably, investors and venture capitalists, including Animoca Brands and Polychain Capital, have recently injected capital into over 50 new projects, propelling the total beyond this significant milestone. The majority of these funds have been allocated to DeFi, infrastructure, NFTs/gaming, and web3 projects. Furthermore, The Block Research data reveals that since 2017, more than 9,500 investments have been announced in the industry.
What’s the point? After the decline in crypto funding that occurred throughout 2022 and 2023, reaching its lowest level, 2024 seems to be off to a good start. The upcoming bull run is already bolstering investor confidence, resulting in heightened market enthusiasm and attracting greater participation from both institutions and individual investors.

Greg Solano returns as CEO of Yuga Labs to lead a new era for the BAYC as former CEO Daniel Alegre steps down after 10 months of service to the company. In a recent post, Solano outlined upcoming initiatives that will pivot towards a more crypto-native approach across all Yuga Labs operations, including revitalizing BAYC through community engagement and collaboration. Additionally, 'BAYC LLC' will be established as a subsidiary to oversee the BAYC ecosystem. Further development of Otherside as the 'living room of web3' and expansion of other offerings are also in the pipeline.
What’s the point? This strategic leadership transition, coupled with the recent acquisition of Proof, demonstrates Yuga Labs' grand vision for merging various NFT brands into a single ecosystem. The success of the Bored Ape Yacht Club has set a new standard for NFT collections and serves as a blueprint for a crypto-native future.

The Lens Protocol is now permissionless, allowing anyone to mint an on-chain profile and join the platform. As a social graph at its core, Lens was created by the team behind Aave and was launched in May 2022 on the Polygon blockchain. It has been running in beta for 2 years. Users can now create their profiles for a fee of 10 Matic tokens or approximately $10 via credit card.
What’s the point? This step heats up the DeSo landscape, as Farcaster went permissionless 5 months ago. The team expects to attract more developers to build upon the Lens decentralized social media graph.

IN THE MEANTIME

• Uniswap introduces .eth domains

• Yuga Labs ends support for royalty-lacking marketplaces

• Pudgy Penguins announces .pudgy domain

• Black Mirror launches Smile Club web3 experience

• Circle joins the metaverse

• Kraken implements institutional wing

INSIGHTS
Where’s the web3 workforce headed?

Web3 adoption is driven by exploring new uses with blockchain technology.

Big brands like Starbucks and Adidas have already started using Web3 in their strategies. Today, it's not about whether Web3 is staying, but how it's changing the global workforce and what businesses should do to handle Web3 talent.

Rise offers a Web3-enabled payroll and compliance solution for global teams. They conducted thorough research to outline the top trends showcasing how Web3 is reshaping work.

Here are our 6 key findings from the report.

#1 The self-sovereign worker is on the rise

In Web3, workers have more control and autonomy over their professional identity due to the removal of centralized entities in professional processes. Moreover, the unexpected surge in flexible payrolls in crypto or stablecoins allows companies with forward-thinking cultures to attract top talent, benefiting both parties with borderless and efficient transactions.

#2 The future of on-chain professional IDs

An on-chain ID enables the storage of crucial personal data, including educational and professional backgrounds, completed projects, partnerships, certificates, credentials, activities, and interests. With on-chain IDs, future employers can swiftly verify potential employees, streamlining the hiring process and saving both time and costs.

#3 DAOs domination

DAOs are companies operating on-chain, adopting decentralized decision-making and collaborative efforts on funds, assets, and projects, while ensuring transparency and security. Contributors in DAOs can work across multiple organizations, leading to an increased number of revenue streams for the workforce.

#4 The gig economy goes web3

Web2 hiring platforms now contend with formidable competitors in web3 talent networks, where workers enjoy ownership and control over their work and interactions. Decentralized governance empowers users to influence platform rules and fees, resulting in better compensation for contractors. The future of work promises equity, transparency, and empowerment for all.

#5 Incentives will be tokenized

Traditional incentives such as bonuses and stocks will be supplanted by tokens, offering employees more valuable options like potential financial and investment benefits, voting rights, access to privileges, and more. Rise anticipates that companies will begin offering a variety of tokens representing different rights or values, known as multi-token packages.

#6 Metaverse is the new workspace

Remote work, particularly in Web3, is already widespread, and the metaverse's spatial and immersive benefits will revolutionize how we work, collaborate, and socialize in the digital era. Employers and employees alike can enjoy enhanced collaboration in customized work environments within the metaverse, as well as efficient onboarding, training sessions, and extracurricular activities.

To sum it up, regardless of your current status—whether you're an employer or an employee, a freelancer, or a solopreneur—the workforce as we know it will continue to undergo significant changes in the coming years. It boils down to two options: evolve or be left behind.

AI
Bold deals and fresh tools

Microsoft invests $16M in Mistral AI, the Paris-based 1-year-old startup working on foundational models. The company recently announced a new large language model positioned to rival GPT-4 called Mistral Large, along with a conversational chatbot called Le Chat and a distribution partnership with Microsoft for Azure. Mistral Large isn’t open source; developers can access it through Mistral’s own API platform and through Azure, thanks to the collaboration. Mistral AI has a $2 billion valuation, with a16z leading the investment round in December 2023. This strategic move, which makes Microsoft both an investor in OpenAI and Mistral AI, has caught the attention of EU and UK regulators, who will further analyze the investment deal.

Google unveils Genie, an AI platform for generating video games from a single image prompt or text description. This interactive model, which creates 2D video games, is trained on a massive dataset of 200,000 hours of unlabeled video footage, primarily from 2D platformer games. Genie learns by observing the actions and interactions in these videos. The product is the result of a collaboration between Google and the University of British Columbia. 'Genie' stands for 'Generative Interactive Environments,' and it is not yet open to the public; currently, it exists solely as a research model.

Google has partnered with Reddit in a deal worth $60 million per year. This partnership grants Google real-time access to Reddit’s data and enables the utilization of Google AI to enhance Reddit’s search functionality. By tapping into Reddit's extensive user base, Google aims to gather invaluable data to train its models, thereby gaining a competitive edge through the unique insights these users offer. In return, Reddit gains access to Vertex AI, Google’s service aimed at refining search results. This strategic collaboration is likely to boost Reddit’s valuation, especially as the company prepares for its debut on the New York Stock Exchange in the coming weeks.

IN THE MEANTIME

• Perplexity debuts AI-generated daily podcast

• Google pauses Gemini’s image generation

• Klarna unveils impressive results from its AI assistant

• Adobe experiments with AI audio tools

• Ex-Twitter engineers beta launch Particle, AI news app

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