Hello!

Is it just me or are the days in 2022 flying by already?

Catherine and I are signing a new lease soon for an apartment in San Francisco. We’ll still be based in Sunnyvale, but just commute less now that we have a crash pad in both places. I’m super excited.

Also a quick shoutout to Valerie for appreciating last week’s issue. She’s a great Product Designer, everyone should go follow her on twitter.

Let’s get into the goodies.

Web3 Links of the Week

Lots of exciting Blockchain conferences and events coming up this year!
albert @thatguyintech
rate my web3 conference talk proposals 🙃
3:01 AM ∙ Jan 16, 2022
If you’re into hustle culture porn… followed by DRAMA… followed by a celebrity apology, boy do I have the tweets for you.
Coopahtroopa.eth 🔥,🔥 @Cooopahtroopa
12:29 AM ∙ Jan 12, 2022
1,640Likes40Retweets
The Crypto Coven floor price is going crazy!!
Bo Lau @bolau_
owning a crypto coven is like having a web3 bbl
9:32 PM ∙ Jan 17, 2022
105Likes8Retweets
Square is building a bitcoin mining system to make it easier for everyone to mine bitcoin
Thomas Templeton @TempletonThomas
In October we announced that we’re considering building a bitcoin mining system, out in the open & alongside the community, and we’ve decided…we’re doing it! We thought we’d share some more details on how our initial discussions are going and where we’re headed next.
jack⚡️ @jack
Square is considering building a Bitcoin mining system based on custom silicon and open source for individuals and businesses worldwide. If we do this, we’d follow our hardware wallet model: build in the open in collaboration with the community. First some thoughts and questions.
8:41 PM ∙ Jan 13, 2022
2,789Likes435Retweets
Azuki Zen NFT project developers publish ERC721A, an implementation of the ERC721 NFT standard that is supposed to allow minting ~5 NFTs for the cost of 1 based on gas fees
albert @thatguyintech
should i live stream an exploration of this ERC721A implementation?
Azuki @AzukiZen
Introducing ERC721A: An Improved ERC721 Implementation ⛩️ https://t.co/GbKSmmJxoW Azuki has developed a new algorithm, which for the first time *ever* in the NFT space, enables minting multiple NFTs for essentially the same cost of minting a single NFT. https://t.co/3AU9tmin2y
12:49 AM ∙ Jan 13, 2022
49Likes5Retweets

Something Interesting..

Moxie, founder and former CEO of the Signal messaging app, published this reflection on his first impressions of “Web3” after trying things out for a bit. It went viral and has ignited a lot of debate between the supporters and the critics of blockchain tech.

Basically, he asks some great questions, like “sure, everyone’s super excited about decentralization and the future of money and owning the internet, yada yada.. but how decentralized is the industry, really? And do we even really want decentralization? Are you sure?!”

I do think technology always goes through cycles of decentralization and centralization.

In web1 everyone made their own websites and you’d just go to their url’s to read what they had to say. Super decentralized, but no interactivity.

In web2 platforms like Facebook and Google and Amazon started evolving, which let people talk to each other and leave likes and comments, and the tech platform companies would store all of those interactions to sell you ads. Interactive, but super centralized and value-extractive.

Now the vision for web3 is that everyone can own their own data in the form of their wallets, their transactions, smart contracts that are public and shared. The dream is to let everyone own their own piece as they participate online, but the reality is that the way to get there requires services and companies that are reliable and trusted. So even within this current evolution we see decentralized and centralized pieces.

I think that’s just the way that tech evolves.

This Week's Web3 Challenge

For these challenges, tweet at me: @thatguyintech and I’ll feature the best responses in next week’s newsletter!

Developer challenge

If you want to try building something cool related to NFTs, check out Alchemy’s new NFT APIs: https://docs.alchemy.com/alchemy/enhanced-apis/nft-api

It’s in closed beta still, but we’re opening it up to the public very soon. If you’d like early access, respond to this email and I’ll reach out!

If you build something with it, tag me on Twitter with your github or website, I’d love to see!

Crypto challenge

What is your best definition of crypto “staking”? What is an example of someone staking their cryptocurrencies in order to make money? If you had $100,000 in USDC in a wallet, what would be the best staking strategy to make returns?

Cool Stuff Around the Web

That’s it for now! Let me know how you’ve been! I love seeing comments :)

thatguyintech

thatguyintech

Coopahtroopa drama, ERC721A, Moxie