What do Domain Names have to do with crypto?

Come on in and we will tell you.

April 28, 2022

MUSHROOM ALPHA

We dropping this newsletter hot off the press. Crypto prices are a mess. Don’t worry we got you covered with the news at least. Let’s launch like a hyped token on this newsletter open. - That was our best attempt at rapping. Don't make us do it again.

Today's Topics:

  • Ethereum Name Service blows up

  • Music artists are looking to get paid through NFTs

  • Quick Links

Ethereum Name Service sales go parabolic

Hoarding domain names was something people did in the 90s during the birth of the internet. Here we are again.

Ethereum Name Service (ENS) blew up this last week as people bum rushed the service like BTS tickets were on sale. Smooth like butter, like a criminal undercover.

Why do people want this? 

  1. ENS users can convert their long ass wallet addresses into easy domain names.

  2. Link public wallets, transactions, web URLs, and smart contracts - Think LinkTree

  3. You can make subdomains to link various types of data

Ok so you get “yourname.eth” or a three or four letter ENS name. Simple and easy to remember, we can stand behind that. However many of the massively hyped address sales were numeric such as 3333.eth, 123.eth, and so forth.

If you own a CryptoPunk or BoredApe you can associate the profile pic number with your ENS name.

MA’s View: Big Whoop. We are bearish on numerical ENS names. Name a top 100 internet company with numbers in their name? Oh taking you awhile huh? We thought so.

Connect your wallet to grab an ENS name here

Artists flock to Web3 since streaming pays nothing

Back in the 90s CDs (compact discs) were $10-$15 dollars for 10 songs and music labels were making money hand over fist. Fast forward a few decades later and CDs are dead and streaming has won. Or has it?

Web3 is looking to flip the script once more by putting the power back into the hands of artists. NFTs are often associated with JPEGs but now they are being tied to music. Artists are beginning to experiment with NFTs as a more viable way to make a living.

Happy 420. It’s my fuccin holiday and you joining me? What a treat.

Snoop Dogg

Snoop Dogg who became super famous in the 90s hip hop scene is leading the charge. Who says you can’t reinvent yourself? Known for buying “blue-chip” NFTs he dropped an album on 4/20 of course as an NFT. The 1,000 copies went fast for sales totalling 100 ETH. Not bad for a day’s work.

His secret for turbo charging sales was adding four artists influential in Web3.

Old Model: Beg a major label or streaming service to sign you. Depend on them to help you create music, market, and distribute. Labels will also set pricing and severely limit your income unless you reach Taylor Swift levels of fame.

New Model: Launch music NFTs to your loyal fans. Have more control on royalties, pricing, and secondary sales. Artists can launch music as they wish, when they wish, and dictate value. Fans can be “rewarded” for buying NFTs of undiscovered artists and profit when they get famous.

The future: Justin Bieber was discovered on YouTube but the next major star will come from a Web3 music platform. Our prediction is that they are a rapper. Yours?

Quick Headlines

Goldman Sachs is now creating loans backed by Bitcoin - Kudos to them for taking a page out of the DeFi playbook.

Edward Snowden helped create Zcash. Whaaat? - Who says you can’t be productive while in exile?

Funding News:

Crypto “Super App” Argent raises $40 million - The goal is to make crypto wallets easy.

Ondo Finance grabs $20 million - The company is building a decentralized investment bank. Naturally there will be an ONDO token launching “soon.”

Hacks:

Deus Finance a DiFI app was hacked a second time and lost $13.4 million - Another reminder to secure crypto with hardware wallets.

See you tomorrow!

Mushroom fact of the day:

Did you know fungi are the largest life forms on earth?

Hit Reply to let us know how we are doing! We would love to hear from you.

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