Hey fam, welcome to the issue 85!

▹ Week's Top Signal
▹ Crypto <> DAO Mental Health
▹ Stripe Crypto Global Payouts
▹ Coinbase NFT Marketplace
▹ DAO <> Search Engines by @0llymh
▹ Cobie on ApeCoin & Staking
▹ RTFKT x Nike CryptoKicks NFT Drop
▹ ... much more

PS: We’ll be experimenting with some new formats and content types in the newsletter over the next few weeks. If you have any ideas or feedback on how we can improve the newsletter, let us know!
 
Let’s get into it.
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All good things in moderation, they say. Crypto is no different. This piece from Bloomberg puts a spotlight on the "dark side" of crypto trading, telling the stories of trading addicts and the people and services meant to help them. In some ways even the help is extractive, with some clinics charging $90k a week to support patients coming through their doors.

While we shouldn’t allow mainstream coverage of crypto to strictly highlight cash grabs and addiction, it’s a great reminder just how tough this space can be on your mental health. The same argument that can be made for traders can also be made for DAOs.

Organizations like Twoplus are actively working to highlight and solve this problem, helping DAO contributors understand and improve their own "mental fitness". As we move further into a digital world of work and play, understanding the psychology of the systems we’re working within is of the utmost importance.

TAKE NOTE
Take care of yourself and check in on your friends in the space. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of web3, but your own well-being should always be top priority in all of your work.

Stripe: Expanding global payouts with crypto. Stripe is expanding global payouts with crypto, starting off with a select group of Twitter creators. Some Super Follow and Tickets users will be able to receive their earnings in crypto thanks to Stripes new infrastructure. Twitter will make it possible for creators who opt-in to have their earnings paid out to a wallet. Stripe will handle all crypto-related complexity and operations. No code changes are required, and platforms can avoid taking on the challenges of acquiring, storing, or transferring crypto themselves.

Coinbase Launches NFT marketplace. At long last, Coinbase NFT has arrived. The crypto juggernaut has officially launched its NFT marketplace in beta, a welcome arrival given the nosedive that NFT sales have recently taken. Today, the market is strictly focused on Ethereum, with plans to expand to other blockchains later. The company has stated that the initial cohort of users is small, and will expand over time as folks are let off the waitlist. "At least I can comment ‘gm’ on a Bored Ape" - some say!

DAOs as novelty search engines. This piece from @0llymh frames DAOs as "divergent tools for exploring territory." This is one of the most on-point descriptions we’ve seen in our experience building Forefront, and leaning into these ideas will likely be the great unlock for DAOs. If you want to converge on a specific idea and execution, start a company. If you’re looking to explore wide territory and create a "novelty search engine," start a DAO. Absolute fire!

4 Key Lessons About Decentralization in DAOs. This piece from White Flamingo of DAOMasters runs through some lessons learned about “decentralization” from contributing to DAOs. Much of the advice is tried and true – like DAOs needing strong leadership despite decentralization – while some of it is not obvious to everyone. For example, the piece argues that DAOs should not over-index on being permissionless, a lesson we’ve seen time and time again across communities in our ecosystem. Great insights all around.

ApeCoin & the death of staking. From Cobie: "Somehow, over time, the word ‘staking’ has been repurposed and redefined. Instead of receiving rewards for contributing to chain security with collateral at stake, modern ‘staking’ just seems to mean idk we give you more coins as a reward if you don’t sell your current coins lol." This is also a massive problem within many other tokenized communities, and while "staking" can often help bootstrap an early token economy, its design must be extremely intentional as to not just be a means of lining the pockets of early adopters at the expense of newcomers.

While tokenomics is a hot topic, make sure you check out this piece by Zach from Borderless Capital that covers everything from incentive design to governance to ecosystem growth and more. It's introductory material, yet super insightful!

The 10,000 Faces That Launched an NFT Revolution. Wired published a profile of the founders of CryptoPunks. After the IP sale to Yuga Labs, it’s fascinating to read more about the origin story of Punks and highlights of the cultural impact it has made in catalyzing much of the NFT space. The story is paywalled, but definitely worth the read if it’s available to you. From OGs to

New Dimensions with Verse. Last week, Kiran (@neuroswish) launched Verse, “the hyperexchange protocol.” While both the announcement essay and the initial application were extremely compelling, many asked: “how might I actually use this?” This post explores how the Verse protocol might be used for Membership NFTs, digital collectibles, alongside existing ERC-20s, and more. Really interesting stuff. Forefront is excited to continue to explore the NFT <> ERC-20 relationship in the context of tokenized communities, so we’re following Verse closely.

Market data on the last 7 days. Updated April 25, 2022

Updates from the DAO

Introducing the inaugural Forefront Web3 Creator Residency. We’re looking for creators on the frontier who are shaping the culture, aesthetics and business of this emergent world.

We are creating a home for the incubation of new ideas, new art, new business models. Creators will receive a $4k grant to support them in advancing a new project, or a new phase of an existing project, over a 4-week virtual residency.

If you’re thrilled with the idea of how an "open studio" can bring fresh, divergent thought and surprises - shaping the course of your practice - then click here to learn more & apply!

▹ FF Library - Incentives Into Communities
▹ Read - NFT worldbuilding projects
▹ Deep Dives - Dune: The Data Must Flow
▹ Mainstream - RTFKT x Nike CryptoKicks
▹ Research - Investor Experience Matters
▹ Crypto - Infura <> Ethereum Apps Down
▹ NFT - $34m Smart Contract Mistake
▹ Updates - Twitter <> Elon Musk Deal
▹ Listen - 3LAU on NFTs
▹ Interesting - Opensea acquires Gem
▹ New Season - FWB Season Six
▹ Guides - Tokenomics 104
▹ Techy - How to Build Decentralized Twitter
▹ Tooling - Forefront Token Swap

◎ Access FF Signal for daily Web3 headlines