What’s Coming Up?
Adobe CPO, Scott Belsky, talks about the benefits NFTs bring to the art market.
Geopolitical issues remain at the forefront. Learn more about China, bitcoin, and CBDCs.
Christine Lagarde and Ursula von der Leyen join forces to teach how to fight biases against women and share their personal experiences as female leaders.
Stateful media legos
Just as DeFi's money legos are about to revolutionise finance, media legos will profoundly alter the web's social layers. They will change how creators issue, distribute, and monetise their work, while defining new content discovery, collecting, and community building rules and standards. Alexander Lange, Founder of Inflection, dives into the paradigm shifts underpinning this Internet renaissance and reveals innovators' opportunities.
The Furry Lisa
Scott Belsky, Adobe’s CPO, became the proud owner of The Furry Lisa, a one-of-a-kind creation minted as an NFT, that despite its looks, is only digital. Of the new paradigm in art, he says, ‘This NFT world is likely the greatest unlock of artist opportunity in 100+ years. This isn't a suboptimal or fringe version of the real-world art economy, it is a vastly improved one’. Read the full article for the whole list of benefits and a look at major players.
China, the Convenient Foil
‘Is bitcoin a Chinese plot to destroy America?’ In response to tech entrepreneur, Peter Thiel’s, statements, Ben Schiller of CoinDesk discusses why bitcoin itself is not China’s plot to overthrow the US, but how the technology and possibilities it has unlocked are definitely driving Chinese innovation towards a solution where trade can go around the US banking system. All of this opens up a host of new debates as power is restructured, and in this, China is often the ‘convenient foil’.
Top Headlines 💥
💰 Goldman Sachs looks to offer bitcoin investment vehicles in the second quarter
♻️ NFT Marketplace Nifty Gateway Plans to Go Carbon Neutral
💳 Visa moves to allow payment settlements using cryptocurrency
🚗 ‘You Can Now Buy a Tesla With Bitcoin’
🤝 Coinbase Joins DeFi Alliance Ahead of Public Listing
🤯 Beeple sold an NFT for $69 million
Tweets of the Month 💬
🗞️ European Ecosystem News
Commission launches open access publishing platform for scientific papers
The European Commission launched Open Research Europe, a publishing platform for scientific papers accessible to everyone. The forum will present the research results funded by Horizon Europe, the EU research and innovation programme for 2021-2027, and its predecessor, Horizon 2020.
Latest Article from dGen
Bitcoin became a trend in the last few years, to the point that mainstream investors stepped into the market. Now, according to Asset Dash, Bitcoin is among the top 10 most valuable assets in the world. But how is Bitcoin mined - or created?
🎥 Handling Hype: ICOs to NFTs
The Outlier Ventures CEO, Jamie Burke, and dGen Founder, Jake Stott, discuss how startups handle the hype around a blockchain bullrun and whether to become an NFT poster-child for wild speculative hype, or help advocate for the Web3 space?
🎙️ Fighting biases and empowering women: A conversation on female leadership and gender equality
How can we empower women to aim high? ECB President, Christine Lagarde, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, talk about this and share their personal experiences as female leaders in the latest episode of The ECB Podcast hosted by Michael Steen.
Top Research 📚
A Guide to CBDCs for Central Banks
This paper is taken from Consensys’ response to the Bank of England’s Discussion Paper on CBDCs and acts as a follow-up to their initial CBDC and Stablecoin White Paper. The report aims to show the Ethereum blockchain’s relevance as a leading CBDC platform, share their advances and explorations in CBDC technology, and provide an objective analysis of markets and trends priming a CBDC case.
Non - Fungible Tokens: Transforming the Worlds of Assets, Gaming, and Collectables
This report explains the concept of NFTs and illustrates how they work by looking at the first well-known NFT, CryptoKitties. This phenomenon revealed how companies might create and use digitally unique and scarce assets in their own business models, beyond cryptocurrencies. The paper also looks at the changing online gaming market—both packaged software and downloadable content—and describes how companies might tokenise their digital and physical assets
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dGen is a non-profit Think Tank based in Berlin focused on how emerging technologies might contribute to shaping a decentralised future in Europe. Our research reports aim to educate and foster discussion among decision-makers in the ecosystem.
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