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Blockworks Exclusive: New kid on the block Raelic is an NFT minting mobile app that aspires to be Instagram’s new rival
This week, Nas Academy partnered with Invisible College and its NFT project Decentralien to token-gate online courses focused on Web3.
In funding news, Andreesen Horowitz (a16z) invested $6 million into Web3 startup Halliday, while NFT (non-fungible token) distribution platform Pinata raised $21.5 million in funding rounds led by Greylock, Pantera and Offline Ventures.
Blockworks recaps other notable stories that caught the eyes of the Web3 Watch.
“Community” and “Rick and Morty” creator Dan Harmon is behind Krapopolis, a new NFT-powered animated comedy show, produced in partnership with Fox Entertainment’s Web3 media and creative technology arm, Blockchain Creative Labs.
Krapolopolis is set in mythical ancient Greece and tells the story of a dysfunctional family of humans, gods and monsters. Scott Greenberg, CEO of Blockchain Creative Labs, told Blockworks that Krapopolis is the first animated series premiering on broadcast television to use blockchain technology “at the heart of the process.”
The NFT marketplace Rarible is powering Krapopolis’ own custom NFT marketplace for the Krap community to buy, sell and trade Krap Chicken NFTs, launching on Aug. 11 in tandem with the Krap Chickens NFT drop.
“Through the show, we’re inviting animation fans and creators to connect more closely with the series, with Dan and with each other, opening up a new and innovative entry point for viewers into Web3,” Greenberg said.
The Krap Chickens will give collectors access to exclusive content and private screenings, meet-and-greets with cast and producers. Holders are granted show voting rights, enabling fans to give feedback in real time.
With its third and latest NFT collection, Lamborghini promises to take collectors on an epic road trip “to the moon and beyond.”
The Italian sports car manufacturer will drop a series of four NFTs throughout one week each month for the next eight months. The NFTs are available for only 24 hours and sold over four consecutive days. The first three NFTs of each month are unlimited, while the fourth will come with a supply cap.
There’s a puzzle: Holders of the unlimited mints can reveal a silver puzzle piece each month; collectors with all 4 NFTs will reveal the gold puzzle piece.
At the end of the journey, ending March 2023, those who have completed the puzzle will unlock a hidden NFT — a bid to ensure long-term commitment to the project.
Claim what is yours.@nftpro_ @INVNTGROUP #Lamborghini #TheEpicRoadTrip #LamborghiniNFT #NFT #NFTCollection
Hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger recently launched its NFT distribution platform called [LEDGER] Market, or [L] Market for short, and its Genesis Pass NFTs topped OpenSea sales charts in its first 24 hours.
Its second collection, BRICK NFTs, dropped this week in partnership with Brick, a physical Los Angeles-based music venue by night and community-run space by day. It was founded by Lee Spielman and Garrett Stevenson, members of the band Trash Talk and creators of the streetwear brand Babylon LA.
BRICK NFT holders will get voting rights on programming and free access to the space, which plans to host live concerts, comedy shows, music lessons with major artists and even crypto workshops from Ledger. For members not in LA, Brick will buy land in the metaverse and stream concerts and classes. Digital merch and tour posters may also be airdropped.
[ Ledger ] Market is dropping exclusive, NFT heat 🔥 with a custom, secure, @ONEWORDBRICK collab.
The allowlist registration for the BRICK drop is now open.
[ L ] Market Pass holders – you’re guaranteed one mint!
Join the allowlist here: https://t.co/G0ifmejJQa pic.twitter.com/qgY54SpTrH
This type of NFT-based membership, that token-gates artistic and educational platforms, is becoming increasingly popular.
Pictures may be worth a thousand words, but according to Andrea Castiglione, the founder of venture capital and advisory firm Silent Unicorn, they are also temporary.
That’s why Castiglione, alongside co-founder ex-pro footballer Alessandro Del Piero, created Raelic (pronounced relic) — a peer-to-peer NFT-based social networking mobile app. Think Instagram meets Patreon.
Raelic users can mint photos or videos as tradeable NFTs in the app for a gas fee and post them to a scrollable feed reminiscent of Instagram’s user interface. NFTs can be minted on Ethereum, Klaytn, Polygon or Binance Smart Chain.
Blockworks participated in an early access app test and spoke to Castiglione to learn more about Raelic’s ambitions.
Blockworks: Tell me about some of the pain points of Web2 that you are trying to tackle through Raelic.
Castiglione: First of all, it’s always been very difficult to interact with decentralized applications and for people to understand that they need to install a browser plugin. Then they have to put some money on that plugin. And to do that, you have to get an exchange account on Coinbase or Binance or any other exchange, and load it. Then you can use the dapp [decentralized app]. That’s only step one. Everything is very web based and it’s not very mobile friendly.
And the ability for people to produce content from their phone was what enabled the internet to explode, and TikTok and Instagram. So you need a social layer that allows people to easily create from their phone. But in order to be true to Web3, it needs to be noncustodial.
Another big issue was the disconnect between existing social networks like Twitter, Instagram or TikTok where people discover NFTs and particular communities. Then they have to go to OpenSea or LooksRare to buy it. After they go to Discord, full of scammy little bots, to talk with other people within the same collection. So you go to three platforms to do something that you can do on a mobile phone.
Blockworks: So Raelic is like a one-stop shop. Can you give me some examples of unique use cases?
Castiglione: I don’t think we have really tapped into the creator economy yet. For example, photo reporting. Take a picture, mint the moment, block the moment, and then write the story underneath in the description. You could sell that to the local newspaper or outlet later.
Or let’s say you’re a busker in London. You’re always singing and you used to post to your Instagram account, but people that go to your Instagram can only follow you. Now you can go to a social media account [Raelic] where you start building your followers who can also buy a video of that song that you sang beautifully.
Blockworks: Is Raelic considered a decentralized social media (DeSoc) platform?
Castiglione: I would say it’s a hybrid because we are a centralized service, it’s a brand. But every interaction is peer-to-peer. So you buy and sell completely peer-to-peer. We don’t get any info of that transaction and we don’t take any fees. You can create on the blockchain with complete autonomy and things are completely noncustodial.
But the governance right now is in our hands. So it’s a centralized service provider that is creating tools that are noncustodial and true to Web3. Going forward maybe one day we will decentralize the ownership with a governance token or DAO [decentralized autonomous organization].
But we’re taking it one step at a time. So today we ask — How do we bring the next billion people into the world of Web3 in such a way that they can create content that they actually own and can interact with people?
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DATE
Tuesday & Wednesday, September 13 & 14, 2022
LOCATION
The Glasshouse, 660 12th Avenue, NY, NY 10019
Tornado Cash’s native token TORN lost 96.9% of its value since its all-time high in February 2021, and at least one developer is now in legal jeopardy
Controversial Tron founder Justin Sun has so far struggled to garner significant interest in his set of forked ether tokens
“The hacker kept on sending the funds to Binance in different ways, thinking we can’t catch it,” CEO Changpeng Zhao said
Deal to allow “cash-and-carry” trades follows liquidity platform’s integrations with Bybit and Deribit in February
Dutch authorities have arrested a suspected Tornado Cash developer and warned it wouldn’t rule out further arrests
