Hangin' in Onyx Lounge

Good morning. Today we've got some big traditional players making waves in crypto, a new all-time high for ETH (not the price :/ ), and more!

Bonus Content Coming Soon: I'm close to having my notes out from Messari's Crypto Theses for 2022. I'll include a link to my notes in this newsletter, however, the full report is definitely worth a read. The report is now in podcast form and can be found here.

Market Update (as of 8:03am ET):

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Top 5:

1. ConocoPhillips is selling extra gas to bitcoin miners in North Dakota. We're used to hearing stories about startups getting involved in bitcoin mining and experiencing rapid growth. This, however, is a very different situation. ConocoPhillips is a $100B+ publicly traded company that is now selling flare gas to bitcoin miners. And, it's an incredible smart move by the company. They take what was previously wasted energy, convert it into a revenue stream and as a bonus also reduce their carbon emissions (versus traditional flaring) by 63%. It seems like only a matter of time until other oil and gas companies hop on board as well. So, who's next? Exxon? BP? Shell?

SSS (sat-sized summary): ConocoPhillips is the first major oil and gas company, but certainly not the last, to partner with bitcoin miners to reduce their carbon emissions and create additional revenue streams. The mutually beneficial relationship makes it very easy to imagine a situation in the near future in which all major oil and gas companies are mining bitcoin.

2. JPMorgan is the first bank to enter the metaverse. The hottest club in the metaverse is currently the Onyx Lounge in Decentraland. What's so great about this lounge you may be wondering? Three things:

- There's incredible art (see below)
- A tiger roams around the lounge (also below)
- It's not actually a club, but rather JPMorgan's first foray into the metaverse

JPM is the first Wall Street bank with a digital presence in the metaverse and it's a sign that the company, and banks at large, are taking the crypto industry seriously. In addition to the lounge's opening JPM released a report on business opportunities in the metaverse.

SSS: JPM becomes the first Wall Street bank with a presence in the metaverse. And while their offering, Onyx Lounge, provides little utility for users in the metaverse, it's a sign to those of us in the meat world that the firm thinks there are serious opportunities in the future.

3. NYSE Wants to Be Marketplace for NFTs. Look out OpenSea, the New York Stock Exchange is coming for the crown. The 200-year-old exchange filed plans with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that indicated a launch of a NYSE-branded cryptocurrency and an NFT marketplace. In a later statement, the NYSE clarified there were no immediate plans, but that the exchange is regularly considering new products and impacts to their intellectual property. If a foundational US financial company like the NYSE is getting into the crypto game, it's only a matter of time until all financial institutions are investing or offering crypto products to customers.

SSS: The NYSE filed a patent that indicated plans for a NYSE cryptocurrency and an NFT marketplace. The 200-year-old exchange doesn't want to get left behind in the web3 revolution.

4. Vesta Equity launches real estate-backed NFT platform on Algorand. The company offers a peer-to-peer marketplace for real estate-backed NFTs and allows homeowners that own 100% of their home to tokenize, fractionalize and sell portions of their property. The platform provides homeowners with an avenue to unlock value from their home without taking out a loan and offers investors access to specific real-estate markets of their choosing with much smaller capital requirements. The tokenization and fractionalization of physical assets has a multitude of uses cases and we are just now scratching the surface.

SSS: Vesta Equity is allowing homeowners to tokenize, fractionalize, and sell portions of their property to access their home equity without a loan and provide investors with real estate exposure. It's a really interesting idea and I'm excited to see to see other examples of real-world asset tokenization pop-up.

5. Number of Ethereum Addresses Holding 0.1 ETH Hits All Time High. The number of ETH addresses holding at least .1 ETH has reached 3,978,224, a 10% growth from last year and a 50% growth over the last two years.

Updates and other stories:
- Warren Buffett invests $1B in Bitcoin-friendly neobank...Read More
- YouTube is hiring for director to lead Web3 push...Read More
- Accused Bitfinex Bitcoin launderer Heather Morgan released on bail...Read More

Top Sharers of the Crypto Top 5:
1. Donna Y. - Nashville, TN
2. Jake Y. - Greenville, SC
3. Forrest H. - Evansville, IN

External Resources:
1. Cryptopedia from Gemini - if you see a word, acronym, or phrase in this newsletter that you don't understand, there's a good chance you can find an explanation here
2. Crypto Explainer+ - intro level courses on Bitcoin, Ethereum, decentralized finance, NFTs, and more
3. Crypto Jobs! - looking for a new job? Check out this page from Anthony Pompliano with hundreds, if not thousands of listings

Disclaimer: The information contained in this newsletter shall not be understood or construed as financial advice. I am not an attorney, accountant, or financial advisor, nor am I holding myself out to be, and the information provided is not a substitute for financial advice from a professional who is aware of the facts and circumstances of your individual situation.