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๐Ÿฅ Is SocialFi the Next Big Thing in Crypto?

$41m hacked from a crypto casino, Gala Games founders suing each other, and more!

Author

The BEN Team
September 05, 2023

Read time: 4 minutes

GM fam! Never a quiet day in crypto ๐Ÿฅ Hereโ€™s the playlist for today:

  • Is SocialFi the Next Big Thing in Crypto? ๐Ÿฅ

  • Trending News ๐Ÿ—ž๏ธ

  • Upcoming Events & Promo Codes ๐Ÿ’ซ

  • Tweet of the Week ๐Ÿฆ

  • New Remote Jobs ๐Ÿ’ผ

  • Resources to Get Crypto Smart ๐Ÿง 

๐Ÿฅ Is SocialFi the Next Big Thing in Crypto?

SocialFi are social media platforms that use Web3 and DeFi. They are about giving users ownership over their content, reducing censorship, and decentralizing platform infrastructure. ๐ŸŒ๐Ÿ”“

Giving users control of their own data alone is something that many have wanted in social media for a long time, but SocialFi also gives creators new ways to monetize, from paying out tokens for every like and comment to having built-in features for launching NFT and distributing collections. ๐Ÿ’ฐ๐Ÿ’ฌ๐ŸŽจ

Usually, your profile on a SocialFi platform is a crypto wallet, so it can also receive and send tokens and NFTs, as well as use NFTs as your username and profile pictures. ๐Ÿ“ฑ๐Ÿ’ผ๐ŸŽ‰

Enough overview, letโ€™s go over some examples!

1. Friend.tech ๐Ÿค

Friend.tech is the most famous recent one, which lets users tokenize themselves and โ€œsellโ€ those tokens to fans. Why? Buying these tokens gives you special benefits, such as exclusive content, depending on the creator. ๐Ÿ“ˆ๐Ÿ“‰

The platform launched less than a month ago, and brought in big name crypto influencers, NBA players, and even OnlyFans creators. It reached a peak of 39,000 daily transactions on August 21st. However, activity fell 95% to 1,400 by August 28th.

2. Farcaster ๐ŸŸฃ

Farcaster is protocol for decentralized social apps, so there are multiple apps that access the same social graph. Basically, you can launch your own social media app and import Farcasterโ€™s userbase and post history, and any future posts would be synced across all the other apps that use Farcaster.

This lets you take your data, follower history, and more with you across different social media platforms. No more having to start over with each new platform. ๐Ÿ”„๐Ÿ“š

Farcaster has 15,000+ users with over 1 million public posts and a waitlist of 10,000 more who want to join the invite-only beta.

3. Lens Protocol ๐ŸŒฟ

Lens has existed the longest of the three, being spun out of the popular Aave DeFi lending protocol. Similar to Farcaster, Lens actually has a collection of different apps that all connect to the same social dataset.

Each userโ€™s profile is an NFT, with a username that ends in .lens and can plug into other blockchain projects. Ex: you can buy and sell Lens profiles on OpenSea, send Lens DMs inside of metaverses like The Sandbox, and more! ๐Ÿ’Ž๐ŸŒ

Now the ultimate question- will these projects have tokens? ๐Ÿค”

Well, itโ€™s not clear. Lens hasnโ€™t made an announcement on an official token, nor has Friendtech or Farcaster. Itโ€™s unclear if they will launch their own tokens given the scrutiny that crypto tokens have come under as of late. ๐Ÿช‚๐Ÿ’ธ

BUT there are airdrops! For example, Jam is a dApp that launched in 2022 and aims to airdrop Jam token to Farcaster, Lens, and Friendtech users in order to incentivize users to use their dApp. ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ‘‘

And, since these platforms are all about giving creators new ways to monetize, there may be opportunities there to participate early and be rewarded! ๐ŸŒŸ๐Ÿš€

Meme Break ๐Ÿคก


Trending News ๐Ÿ—ž๏ธ

Gala Games' co-founders, Eric Schiermeyer and Wright Thurston, are locked in a legal battle over alleged misappropriations and mismanagement. As accusations fly, the Gala token's value has plummeted 25%. Who will emerge in control of Gala Games?

Stake, a leading crypto casino, suffered a $41 million hack. While co-founder Edward Craven insists private keys weren't breached, the "sophisticated attack" targeted Ethereum, Polygon, and BNB Chain transaction authorization. Are hot wallets and private keys truly secure?

3- Genesis Global Trading to Shutter Crypto Spot Trading Desk

Genesis Global Trading is closing its spot crypto trading business this month. Despite avoiding the bankruptcy its parent company faced from crypto lending, it's ending for business reasons. What's next for Genesis Global?

4- Visa Promises Faster Credit Card Payments With USDC on Solana

Visa is harnessing the power of the Solana blockchain and USD Coin (USDC) to revolutionize credit card payments. With ventures like crypto debit cards and Ethereum-based solutions already under their belt, what's next for Visa in the crypto space?

Alex Gluchowski of Matter Labs proposes an "Ethereum Supreme Court" for blockchain disputes. This would guide decisions on chain "forks" during crises. While aiming to strengthen DeFi platforms, it's met with mixed views. Can this court ensure Ethereum's resilience and dominance?

Arthur Hayes of BitMEX observes an unexpected trend: Bitcoin's resilience against rising interest rates. Hayes predicts a major asset bubble from the merging forces of AI, crypto, and money printing. What's the future of finance?

Visa is harnessing the power of the Solana blockchain and USD Coin (USDC) to revolutionize credit card payments. With ventures like crypto debit cards and Ethereum-based solutions already under their belt, what's next for Visa in the crypto space?

Upcoming Events & Promo Codes ๐Ÿ’ซ

Tweet of the Week ๐Ÿฆ

New Remote Jobs ๐Ÿ’ผ

Resources to Get Crypto Smart ๐Ÿง 

  • Web3 Daily - The latest Web3 news, but translated into plain English, so anyone can understand it.

  • Ponder Crypto - A weekly email that will entertain and educate readers on all things crypto in just 5 minutes!

  • Alts.co - a newsletter about investing in alternative assets like art, LEGOs, NFTs, farmland, and more!

  • Early Bird - Join over 1000 investors to learn about stocks, cryptocurrency, and crowdfunding in 3 minutes or less

  • Morning Brew - The daily email that delivers the latest news from Wall Street to Silicon Valley

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