1. Enlightenment with Monin Ung:  A true DAOnie  

There used to be one known DAO in the world, which saw many thought leaders - Laozi’s Dao , the source, wisdom and order of the natural universe. Now there is another DAO generating similarly a variety of thought leaders and experimentalists, one where Monin is fervently passionate in: Decentralized Autonomous Organizations. In this interview, Monin shares with us how DAO interweaves her passion, life, and work.

2. How did you get into Web3?

Monin and blockchain were love at first sight. For blockchain Monin had no second thoughts in leaving her international law firm practice to start MUNG from humble beginnings in this unique and nascent practice area some 6 years ago, since the established legal practices thought blockchain equates cryptocurrencies and there was going to be too much of KYC and AML issues. 

However, it hasn’t been an easy path. For the first 11 months, MUNG didn’t have any client, then 2 years of Hong Kong unrest erupted, followed by over 2 years of the pandemic. “The worst times to start a law firm, worst still, in a novel practice area where few could understand!” 

To stay faithful to her passion (“nature”) and vision, with sheer grit (“utmost sincerity”), Monin saw the DAO unfolded道生一 一生二 二生三 三生萬物, DAO sprints one (the “being”), one springs two (ying and yang), two springs three (heaven, earth and man) and three proliferate all things.  Not only did MUNG weathered the storms, it now has a second office in Singapore, another vibrant Asian hub for Web3 activities. 

3. Tell us more about MUNG.

Monin has a deep love of all things DAO. She founded MUNG in 2018, the first dedicated blockchain law firm in Hong Kong, which primarily handles blockchain-related cases. Her passion for DAO stems from its qualities of decentralization, liberation, and empowering individuals to self-actuate. 

MUNG is also the first law firm to deploy a Bored Ape, named Daonie, as the firm’s icon and a DAO newscaster. “Work is exciting and fun each day, and Daonie has passed probation and proven himself to be a valuable team member”, muses Monin, who is also the Founder of Women in DAO. 

4. Would you like to share more about your personal life?

Monin’s parents are art lovers and collectors. They are diligent, lifelong learners, continually expanding their knowledge through new discoveries each day. Monin is immensely proud of her Dad, who is a scholar, obtained multiple degrees over the years and became a lawyer when he retired at the age of 68. Mr. Ung is now 84 years old, has been a Partner at a US law firm specialising in Intellectual Property law and act as Honorary Legal Adviser to over 20 NGOs and business associations. 

Monin’s mother just completed a diploma in Chinese medicine at the age of close to 80 years old. Madam Mok has always been passionate about performing arts and as a young teen had aspirations to be an actress in stage productions. Unfortunately, Monin’s grandfather fiercely opposed her mother’s dream and went to great lengths to prevent it, at times caning her lower legs in order to  ground her at home. Drawing deep outrage from this history, Monin is fiercely protective of women, devotes herself in support of artists through her pro bono legal advisory, particularly young female artists and seeking avenues to help in bringing visibility to such endearing young talents. She is also a mother of two sons and advocates her sons to find a higher calling and seek ways to create a positive impact in other people’s lives. 

5. Winning the first DAO Lawsuit in HK

At the time of this interview, MUNG had just won the first ever DAO-related lawsuit in Hong Kong.  DAO disputes provide an avenue to explore interesting and fundamental aspects of DAO, including what legally and practically is a DAO, the liabilities, risks, ownership rights, governance and accountability issues surrounding a simple, fluid yet complex web of legal relationships in the operations of a DAO.  Daonie will announce details and the judgment of the case in due course. 

6. How's your experience in 8DAO so far?

Monin is immensely delighted to witness 8DAO’s achievements since she helped with its DAO legal structure. Interacting with 8DAO’s diverse members has allowed her to share her unique knowledge of DAOs with many others. She hopes to help create more innovative variety of DAOs and sub-DAOs, e.g., for alternative food sources, artificial intelligence and women centric goals.  Currently Monin is joining forces with a group of ex-big pharma scientists to set up a life sciences DAO for research into precision medicine for oncology, rare diseases and anti-aging.

7. What's next for you?

Monin’s future plans are to open and operate offices in three cities, bringing with her the core values of utmost sincerity in human advancement. So far, she has accomplished two cities in 6 years, with established presence in Hong Kong and Singapore. She is currently evaluating options for the third location. What after ? 

Laozi: “It’s the journey”

Monin: “It’s the wisdom”

Daonie: “It’s how you use me”

Fun fact: There are 3 Lawrence’s in 8DAO!

1. Hi Lawrence, tell us more about your personal beliefs and philosophy?

I seek to lead a purposeful, intuitive, nimble, and adaptable life. It began with an insight during my childhood. As a primary school student, I have always been fascinated by successful companies like Apple and Google and wanted to understand how they operate and generate profits. Born in the digital era, I am intrigued by how new technologies like smartphones and apps have transformed our daily lives. 

During my formative years, I developed some core beliefs. Firstly, I believe in being genuinely interested in others, as advocated by Dale Carnegie. I strive to empathize with people's needs and emotions.

Secondly, I believe in playing the infinite game, as suggested by Simon Sinek. In this game, there are no winners or losers, only moving ahead or behind. Lastly, I resonate with Steve Jobs' philosophy of being fearless and trusting that the dots will connect in the future. These beliefs have guided my path.

2. Tell us more about your educational background.

I studied Business with Accounting and Finance and became a certified public accountant after graduation. But I never imagined developing apps as an accountant. I want to do something that improves people's lives. 

3. More about your work background?

I was fortunate to meet the CFO of AlipayHK and became part of its founding team, contributing with my background in accounting and finance. I gained valuable experience achieving KPIs and user growth on a startup budget. In just two years, the team reached two million users in Hong Kong.

After that, I joined Klook as Manager of Attraction Product Features, further honing my product management skills.

During COVID-19 period, I learnt the importance of resilience and agility in difficult times. The pandemic tested my ability to adapt to change, to emerge stronger.

4. What do you currently do?

Currently, I’m the Head of Product at DOTTED, a Web3 platform dedicated to simplifying digital ownership and making NFTs more accessible to everyone. 

The start of my personal Web3 journey was buying my first bitcoin in 2020. Subsequently, I found myself drawn more and more into Web3 and its potential to revolutionize how we use technology.

P.S. The name DOTTED is inspired by Tenet. 

5. Tell us more about DTTD.

DOTTED is changing the game. It provides NFT-first services and tools to help crypto natives, newcomers, and businesses engage and collaborate through blockchain and NFTs. The goal is driving mass adoption of Web3 through significant events and engaging NFTs. The aim is to empower more companies to synergize more efficiently than ever. The plan is also collaborating with other Web3 companies to provide new and exciting experiences for Web3 believers.

6. How is your experience in 8DAO so far?

I’m loving it so far! As an active member of 8DAO, it helps me connect with like-minded members such as Gino, Lydia, and Bertcch, and also to jointly collaborate. For example, we helped artist Danny Casale create his Coolman arts around Hong Kong, including K11, Fomo Asia, HK Tramway, Central market, Chart Coffee, Curator Coffee, Kobo, Parallel, Spa City, Mong Kok Billboard, and LFT Group.

Coolman Coffeedan himself in action:

Collaborating with fellow 8DAO members has been a fantastic experience, and I look forward to more collaborations to drive Web3 adoption and help companies adopt it.

7. Any final thoughts?

I hope 8DAO becomes the top DAO promoting Web3 and blockchain adoption globally. I also hope that 8DAO will create more Web3 unicorns.

GM everyone, we are delighted to introduce to you 8DAO Chat, a monthly publication for you to get to know fellow 8DAO members more deeply and personally. A monthly "magazine cover" in which we feature our members and their stories.

The inspiration behind 8DAO Chat - comments from our members

“Wow. Great to see many other members are involved in interesting projects.” 

“We have lots of members who are experts in their fields, how do I get to know them better?”

“Would love to hear other members' interesting stories and valuable opinions.”

We hope you enjoy learning more about fellow members! In our first edition, we feature Daniel Lui of Startbahn.

Subscribe now

1. Hi Daniel, what are your personal beliefs and philosophy?

Some believe that one’s personal beliefs and character are responsible for guiding a person to their destination. For me, that entails finding facts in the world and embarking on uncharted explorations that I find more enjoyable than the destination itself.

2. Tell us more about your educational background.

After graduating from secondary school in Hong Kong at 17, I decided to study Economics at University of California San Diego. This grounded me in the truths of mathematics and nature. I believe numbers offer truthful reflection of the world.

During my third year at UCSD, I embarked on a backpacking trip to Europe, where I discovered a second type of truth: culture. I found culture embedded in various aspects of cities such as language, history, art, lifestyle, and people. This experience made me realize that I wanted to immerse myself in a city's culture for several years, rather than just a few weeks or months. My life’s direction was set, becoming a nomadic fact-finder on a nonstop journey.

3. More about your work background?

Post-graduation, I pursued a Master’s in Mathematics and Statistics at Cass Business School London. During which, I produced a research paper for a startup that earned me my first job in pension portfolio management. I learned about alternative investments in this role, which later led me to Merrill Lynch London, where I honed my investment skills over the course of eight years, through continuously exploring the truths behind the intertwined relationships of asset values, geopolitics, technological breakthrough, cultural changes etc.

My quest for new truths—both mathematical and cultural— then spurred me to apply for an MBA scholarship at Hitotsubashi ICS Japan. During my MBA, I worked with startups, combining knowledge with firsthand startup experience. It was a revelatory experience for me, understanding how science and culture together cultivate innovative companies and even countries. 

I decided to search for jobs and opportunities via online boards such as LinkedIn, not referrals, trusting and navigating my own “modern map”. It was through such a search that I came across a job posting for SBI, a top Japanese financial conglomerate whose CEO, Mr. Kitao, was a well-known early advocate of blockchain technologies. While at SBI, I gained fintech expertise and delved into cryptocurrencies and blockchain, which the company sought to adopt. I was dispatched to study the cryptocurrency exchange market in Hong Kong. 

4. What do you currently do?

Personally, I am more drawn to exploring blockchain's potential applications in the realms of art and culture in everyday life, leading to a Renaissance in the digital era. After SBI, I joined Startbahn, a company that provides blockchain solutions for cultural and creative industries. Currently, I’m the CFO, and also lead in strategic sales and partnerships, providing Startrail-based solutions to various organizations including Shueisha Manga Art Heritage, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Toyota Motor Corporation’s Toyota Automobile Museum, Odakyu Electric Railway, Tokyu Corporation, Seibu Lions, Yomiuri Giants, SBI Art Auction and more.

5. Tell us more about Startbahn.

Together with Startbahn CEO Taihei Shii, I work towards our company’s dream of blockchain infrastructure supporting the trust, credibility, and appreciation of culture and art through the use of "Startrail Registry Record" (SRR) tokens (NFTs). SRRs serve as a registry for physical and digital art, collectibles and IP content that are as rich in metadata as they are in culture, with only KYC’d issuers being able to issue these tokens.

At Startbahn, Startrail's applications are diverse, ranging from API integration for NFT marketplace to scan-to-collect NFTs via QR codes for mass community building at events and exhibitions IRL. Through utilizing Startrail, these companies are able to scale their cultural and creative businesses quickly, in both the web3 world and the real-world.

My future goal is to continue to expand adoption of Startrail and to further apply seamless blockchain technology to everyday life and utilities, such as payments, ticketing, and coupons, providing end-to-end solutions to cultural and creative industries, from preserving their valuable assets to building follower communities. 

6. How is your experience in 8DAO so far?

I’m a big fan of the 8DAO community, which provides me with the opportunity to connect with so many fellow experts in blockchain, NFTs, and crypto, and I appreciate the learning through valuable conversations with fellow members.

I hope for the opportunity to engage with more business partners to discuss different models, approaches, and development, as well as with general members and users to explore the practical applications of blockchain in their daily lives. My ultimate goal is to accelerate the adoption of blockchain technology in daily life, and to sustainable art and cultural industries, leading to a renaissance in the digital era.

Looking forward to continuing to grow along with the 8DAO community!

1. January 2022 - Opensea VS LookRare

• OpenSea raises $300 million, bringing its total valuation to $13.3 billion.

• LooksRare launches in a ‘vampire attack’ against OpenSea.

• Vitalik introduces the concept of Soulbound Tokens in a blog post.

• FTX raises $400 million and increases its valuation to $32 billion.

2. February 2022 - Huge Raises Globally and 8DAO launches

• 8DAO’s first 2 Whitelist for members: Metaverse Forest by Xu Bing, a top Chinese artist, shown above. And ZombieClub: https://zombieclub.io/

• 8DAO’s first ever tweet: https://twitter.com/8DAO8DAO/status/1490220184396709888  

• 8DAO’s first 2 Whitelist for members: Metaverse Forest by Xu Bing, a top Chinese artist, shown above. And ZombieClub: https://zombieclub.io/

• Web3 developer platform Alchemy raises $200 million on a $10.2 billion valuation.

• Sequoia Capital launches $500 million crypto fund.

• Luna Foundation Guard raises $1 billion to form UST reserve denominated in Bitcoin.

3. March 2022 - Month of the Apes

• Yuga Labs acquires Larva Labs, the creators behind the NFT projects CryptoPunks & Meebits.

• Yuga Labs launches $APE and distributes 15% of the total amount via airdrop to BAYC holders.

• ConsenSys, the company behind MetaMask, raises $450 million on a $7 billion valuation.

• 8DAO’s first ever Twitter space: https://twitter.com/8DAO8DAO/status/1501048569394081793

4. April 2022 - Big Raises Continue

• 8DAO Members receive Whitelist to mint Elemental by Fang Lijun at 0.2 ETH. 

• NEAR protocol raises $350 million on a valuation of $10 billion.

• Dragonfly Capital launches new $650 million crypto fund.

• Crusoe Energy, pioneers in bitcoin mining with natural gas, raises $350 million.

• Coinbase launches beta of its NFT marketplace.

• OpenSea acquires NFT aggregator Gem.

5. May 2022 - 1st Big Blowup of 2022 - LUNA

• First big blow up of the year - UST Depegs and Luna crashes to $0.

• Yuga Labs' Otherside drop breaks all records, but also causes about $180 million in gas fees.

• a16z launches a $4.5 billion crypto fund.

• 8DAO’s first IRL Happy Hour, in Hong Kong on 27 May

6. June 2022 - 2nd Big Blowup of 2022 - 3AC

• A British Virgin Islands court orders the liquidation of crypto hedge fund 3AC. One of the largest crypto hedge funds, their collapse send ripples through the industry accompanied with large price volatility. 

• BlockFi receives a $250 million revolving credit facility from FTX.

• Voyager Digital receives $500 million in emergency funding from Alameda Research.

• 8DAO NFT pool investment launched on 1st June with 252.1 ETH.

• 8DAO sponsors Blockchain Fest Asia Welcome party drinks in Singapore.

7. July 2022 - Contagion

• Celsius and Voyager Digital file for bankruptcy.

• Reddit launches a marketplace for avatars.

• Tesla sells 75% of its Bitcoin

• 8DAO meets in Hong Kong Central, and a very first meetup in Singapore.

8. August 2022 - Web3 Keeps Building

• 8DAO First Beijing meetup on 2 August. A busy month for members all around, as we also had meetups in Singapore and Hong Kong.  

• Free-to-own gaming studio LimitBreak raises $200 million.

• Arbitrum upgrades to Nitro.

• Ticketmaster cooperates with Flow and offers event organizers the sale of ticket NFTs.

• Users in 100 countries can now post their "digital collectibles" on Facebook and Instagram.

• BlackRock provides Aladdin clients access to crypto trading & custody via Coinbase Prime.

9. September 2022 - A Huge month for Ethereum and 8DAO

• On 15th September, the Ethereum Merge succeeded, in a landmark move for the network. Ethereum switches from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake.

• Crypto market maker Wintermute gets hacked and loses $160 million.

• Starbucks unveils its blockchain-based loyalty program "Starbucks Odyssey."

• 8DAO cohosts NFT DAY with Dapper Labs, Animoca, EVG and Aspen Digital in Central, HK.

• Token2049 gathering and after party for 8DAO members visiting from all around the world 

• Co-hosted a gathering in Singapore with Bored Chili: https://twitter.com/veratheape/status/1577982020390912001

10. October 2022 - SBF the good guy (final month)

• Sam Bankman-Fried publishes his regulatory proposals.

• The BNB Chain gets hacked resulting in a $100 million exploit.

• Solana-based DeFi protocol Mango Markets loses $116 million after attack.

• Launch of Layer1-Blockchain Aptos.

• Apple releases its new App Store guidelines for crypto & NFTs.

• 8DAO’s first Twitter Space with more than a thousand attendees: https://twitter.com/8DAO8DAO/status/1578983191813054464

• Hong Kong Revamps Itself as a Digital Asset Hub: https://8dao.substack.com/p/hong-kong-revamps-itself-as-a-digital

• 8DAO members receive Whitelist for Meta-Morphic by Huang Yuxing, a top-selling Chinese contemporary artist

• On 31st October, 8DAO hosted an event with our largest turnout till date, alongside HK Fintech Week

11. November 2022 - FTX Collapses and 8Ventures Launches

• Timeline cover in our previous newsletter here: https://8dao.substack.com/p/cryptos-lehman-moment-as-ftx-collapses

• BlockFi files for bankruptcy.

• Genesis stops all withdrawals, reportedly owes Gemini Earn Users $900M

• Our second Twitter space to cross a thousand attendees: https://twitter.com/8DAO8DAO/status/1590213259260723200

• 8Ventures launches, and we complete our very first investments into Snag Solutions and Thirdverse

• Membership tiers are launched, with moon members (holders of 5000 or more tokens) receiving the privilege of pool investment allocations into 8 Venture deals, alongside our treasury and other web3 industry leaders.

12. December 2022 - Wrapping up

• 8DAO meets at Taipei Blockchain Week

• Wrapping up the year with meetups in both Singapore and Hong Kong

• Whitelist for members for Departed Apes (https://departedapes.io/) and Cosmic Bloom by Leo Villareal (https://outland.art/cosmic-bloom) 

• 8DAO participates in TinyTap's genesis auction of education publisher NFTs, and becomes owner of course “Children's Stories by Red Chair Press”.

• Sam Bankman-Fried gets arrested by Bahamian authorities.

• Ledger presents their new hardware wallet, Ledger Stax.

• Amber Group raises $300 million on a valuation of $3 billion.

• Binance acquires assets from insolvent Voyager Digital for about $1 billion.

2022 Milestones for 8DAO 

• From launch, we grow to 179 Members

• 8DAO team grows to 10 active contributors

• Member events in 4 cities: Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, Taipei

• Hosted 2 Twitter Spaces with over a thousand attendees

• Whitelists for 6 projects secured for members

2023 - LFG!

1. Crypto’s Lehman Moment as FTX Collapses - A Timeline

Once valued at $32B and the third-largest crypto exchange by trading volume, FTX blew up spectacularly last week, prompting regulators from the Bahamas to Japan to freeze what's left of its operations. It's a moment of irony for the firm led by Sam Bankman-Fried, which itself served as a white knight this past summer to rescue several crypto players including BlockFi, Voyager Digital and Celsius.

November 2 

• CoinDesk reports on Alameda’s balance sheet 

November 6

• FTX CEO SBF dismisses balance sheet concerns 

• Binance CEO CZ announces intent to liquidate FTT holdings of more than USD $500m

• Alameda CEO offers to buy all of Binance's FTT token holdings for $22 apiece

November 7

• FTX CEO SBF reiterates that FTX is fine, then deletes tweet

November 8

• FTX halts on chain withdrawals

• Binance CEO CZ announces LOI to acquire FTX

November 9 

• Binance backs out of deal to acquire FTX 

• SBF informs investors of need of $8b of emergency funding

November 10

• Reuters Report that FTX transferred $4b of user funds to support sister company Alameda Research

• FTX CEO SBF apologizes on Twitter, reiterates priority to save customer funds

November 11

• FTX reportedly used $10 billion of customer funds to prop up Alameda

• FTX Files for Bankruptcy Protection in US and SBF Resigns

November 12

• Multiple reports emerge of FTX hack, Outflows Totaling More than $600M

• FTX new CEO John Ray Confirms Hack

November 13

• FT reports that FTX held less than $1bn in liquid assets against $9bn in liabilities

• Reuters reported that FTX was missing at least $1bn in client funds

What’s clear is that the fallout from the FTX crisis injects significant volatility into the crypto ecosystem and clouds the immediate industry outlook. In the short term, FTX’s Lehman brother style collapse is definitely a setback, but we remain confident that longer term - “What doesn't kill you makes you stronger”, and we look forward to the web3 industry rebounding strongly from this episode.

2. 8DAO Invests into Snag Solutions

We are pleased to announce that 8DAO has become an angel backer in SNAG SOLUTIONS, a leading white-label NFT market place. 

Founded by two ex-DoorDash core members, Zach and Jason in July 2022, SNAG aims to build brand-specific marketplaces for leading NFT projects to reduce the transaction fees and improve security. To date, SNAG has helped a number of leading projects such as Deadfellaz and Goblintown launch their own marketplaces. In addition, SNAG’s recent proposal to build a marketplace for ApeCoin DAO has been given the green light by a big majority in the BAYC community and the marketplace will be operating shortly.

We have high confidence in SNAG to 1) maintain a leading position within the white-label NFT marketplace industry, and 2) continue its rapid growth as the NFT industry expands. Our firm view is that 8DAO as a strong community of Web3 lovers and builders can provide meaningful support to SNAG in its future development.

8DAO’s mission is to support and invest in creators and founders in the Web3 community. 

We view our initial investment in SNAG as a “proof of community ventures', and look forward to building it as one of 8DAO’s key foundation pillars. As we look ahead, 8DAO will continue to work with promising Web3 projects to explore how we might support them. We always welcome Web3 Project builders and investors to join the contribution to 8DAO. Together we can push the Web3 industry further. LFG!

3. TinyTap’s first Publisher NFTs sale raise more than 138 ETH

Animoca Brands and its subsidiary TinyTap, the leading platform for user-generated educational games, today announced that the first batch of six TinyTap Publisher NFTs sold at auction for a total of 138.926 ETH (approximately US$228,000 at time of sale) generating a total 67.7 ETH (approximately US$111,000 at time of sale) for the six teachers who authored the content linked to the Publisher NFTs.

How publisher NFT’s work

Each Publisher NFT represents co-publishing rights to one TinyTap Course, which is a curated bundle of educational games made on TinyTap by one teacher in one specific subject. NFT buyers take on the role of co-publishers alongside TinyTap and the teacher who created the course, and in return for promoting and marketing the associated Courses they share in the benefits generated from co-publishing efforts. 

Each participating teacher receives 50% of the net proceeds from the auction of the NFTs of their Courses as they have in the past on the TinyTap platform, plus a 10% ongoing share of any revenue generated by such Courses as a result of the co-publishing efforts of the NFT owner, plus royalties generated by the secondary sales of the NFTs

Bullish Developments

Previously, Animoca acquired more than 80% of TinyTap, an educational content technology company, for $38.88 million in cash and shares, and we are delighted to see them push forward with their mission to improve the education system with web3 and to empower educators. Keep your eyes peeled for future publisher NFT auctions!

Reference Links for FTX’s Collapses

In Chronological Order,  

• https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/02/divisions-in-sam-bankman-frieds-crypto-empire-blur-on-his-trading-titan-alamedas-balance-sheet/ 

• https://www.reuters.com/technology/ftxs-founder-dismisses-balance-sheet-concerns-false-rumors-2022-11-07/ 

• https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/06/binance-sells-holdings-of-ftx-token-as-alameda-ceo-defends-firms-financial-condition/c 

• https://cointelegraph.com/news/ftx-founder-sam-bankman-fried-removes-assets-are-fine-flood-from-twitter 

• https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/08/ftx-exchange-halts-all-crypto-withdrawals/ 

• https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/how-binances-plan-buy-ftx-unfolded-matter-days-2022-11-08/ 

• https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/09/binance-backs-out-of-ftx-rescue-leaving-the-crypto-exchange-on-the-brink-of-collapse.html 

• https://cointelegraph.com/news/sbf-tells-investors-ftx-needs-8b-in-emergency-funding-wsj 

• https://www.theblock.co/post/185176/ftx-used-4-billion-including-customer-funds-to-keep-alameda-afloat-reuters 

• https://cointelegraph.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-apologizes-over-ftx-liquidity-crisis-i-fucked-up-twice 

• https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/10/23451484/ftx-customer-funds-alameda-research-sam-bankman-fried 

• https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/11/11/ftx-files-for-bankruptcy-protections-in-us/ 

• https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/12/ftx-crypto-wallets-see-mysterious-late-night-outflows-totalling-more-than-380m/ 

• https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/11/12/ftx-ceo-john-ray-confirms-late-night-hack-says-company-is-working-with-law-enforcement/ 

• https://www.ft.com/content/f05fe9f8-ca0a-48d5-8ef2-7a4d813af558 

• https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/12/ftx-collapse-missing-funds

1. Hong Kong Revamps Itself as a Digital Asset Hub
2. Reddit NFTs Bring Millions of New Users to Web3
3. Twitter Will Allow Users to Buy and Sell NFTs Through Tweets

1. Hong Kong Revamps Itself as a Digital Asset Hub

In a landmark move, the Hong Kong Financial Services and Treasury Bureau issued a policy statement on virtual assets at the opening of the city's flagship tech conference, Hong Kong FinTech Week, on Monday 31st October. 

The new policies unveiled are set to transform Hong Kong into a digital asset hub, challenging other jurisdictions like Singapore and Dubai for global hub status.

The relaxed rules outlined in a policy statement, highlighting a move away from mainland China's ban on digital assets, include 

• Plans today to allow retail investors to trade cryptocurrencies

• Greenlighting crypto exchange traded funds (ETFs)

• A push forward with legal tender-backed stablecoins and non-fungible tokens, which certify the authenticity of digital assets

Such moves could realize use cases including trading arts and collectibles, tokenizing vintage goods and tokenizing debt securities, per the statement. NFT maxis rejoice.

Adrian Cheng, a Web3 pioneer and CEO of property conglomerate New World Development (also a top 8DAO token holder -- LFG!), said Hong Kong’s unique role in the Greater Bay Area will enhance its position as a virtual asset hub:

“Hong Kong will dominate regional development of GBA cross-border blockchain infrastructure and blockchain ecosystem”, further adding “Virtual asset financial markets, central bank digital currency payment, and GBA blockchain infrastructure are three pillars of strength that are quickly transforming Hong Kong into a global digital financial center.”

Your 8DAO team is bullish on Hong Kong’s revamp

With our founder Karma Pocket commenting: “These are certainly positive signals from the Hong Kong government. What is lacking most in the development of Web3 is not financial and policy support, but Web3 talents. From the government’s perspective, it is essential to attract, retain and cultivate local Web3 talents in Hong Kong, and these moves signal their intention to do so.”

2. Reddit NFTs Bring Millions of New Users to Web3

Online message board community Reddit has proven to be a significant force for NFT adoption, as an executive revealed last week that users created over 3 million Polygon wallets for them—with nearly three million of the NFT avatars in circulation. Now sales are surging as collectors see Reddit’s NFTs as a major trading opportunity.

The importance of NFT mass adoption  

According to data disclosed by Reddit, their platform generated $350 million in revenue last year and with around 50 million daily active users. Reddit's entry into Web3 and rapid boom has made the crypto community aware of the true potential of NFTs, accompanied by the mandatory viral meme:

Meanwhile, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who left the company in 2018, has been raising money for a crypto-focused fund at Seven Seven Six, his venture capital firm.

3. Twitter to Allow Users to Buy and Sell NFTs Through Tweets

Twitter announced that they will let users display NFT marketplace listings from certain platforms, including a button to let them buy and sell collectibles, just as Elon Musk closes his acquisition of Twitter, announcing that “ the bird is freed”

The integration, called NFT Tweet Tiles, displays the artwork of an NFT in a dedicated panel within a tweet, and includes a button to let users click through to a marketplace listing.

Twitter confirmed to Decrypt that the feature is blockchain-agnostic, so all networks are supported so long as the links are from a partnered marketplace.

Once again, for all of us building in Web3,

The importance of NFT mass adoption  

1. Fine art to NFTs: Meta-morphic by Huang Yuxing

Huang Yuxing, one of the most in-demand contemporary artists in Asia, has recently launched his first NFT collection - Meta-morphic - exclusively with LiveArt. 

The Meta-morphic presale of 800 mystery boxes priced at 1.2 ETH each was sold out in 1 minute on September 23.

Huang Yuxing was born in Beijing in 1975 and graduated from the Mural Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2000. Huang’s works have already passed the $8-million mark at auction, most recently via the sale of his epic riverscape Seven Treasure Pines (2016–19) which sold for HK$64.8 million ($8.3 million), a record sum for a Chinese artist born after 1970.

Huang states, “Meta-morphic is my first generative NFT project. This new medium allows a new kind of exploration of recurring motifs in my work – minerals, bubbles, and rivers – and the themes of nature and time that are hallmarks of my artistic journey.”

The Meta-morphic collection is fully supported by LiveArt. The mission of LiveArt is to connect the art world to Web3, and to help more artists, collectors and collaborators experience the power of artworks through a new artistic medium.

As Marisa Kayyem, LiveArt‘s Chief Curator states, “LiveArt is dedicated to bringing exceptional artists to Web3. Digital art has both thematic and cultural significance. It alters how artists create and collectors collect, and we want to share Huang’s exceptional vision with our audience in a new way. The Meta-morphic collection does precisely that.”

1,200 Meta-morphic will be sold during their public sale at a price of 1.5 ETH each on 24th October at 14:00 UTC.

Disclaimer: LiveArt is an 8DAO partner, and they have specially set aside 10 whitelist spots for 8DAO members to the Meta-morphic collection. 

2. Azuki Introduces the Physical Backed Token

Coming in hot right after we covered phygital NFTs and the merging of Physical and Digital worlds in our last edition of 8Weekly, Azuki introduces the Physical Backed Token (PBT), $PBT on the ethereum blockchain, used to link physical items to digital tokens via a scan-to-own mechanism, enabling on-chain ownership of real-life assets.

Their initial auction of PBT consists of 8 of the 9 golden skateboards, videoed in person by our 8DAO founder Karma below:

Azukis first implementation of PBT uses the BEAN Chip, a physical cryptographic chip that self-generates an asymmetric key pair. PBT enables the linkage of physical items to digital tokens via a scan-to-own mechanism, which Azuki describes as a “Decentralized authentication of physical goods”

The auction featured more than 24 hours of fierce bidding, raising a total of $2,500,000 through the sale of 8 golden skateboards. Clearly, Azuki community whales have deep pockets.

Shoutout and congratulations to fellow 8DAO member @shrimpwen for winning the Cat emblem Golden Skateboard at a price of 202 ETH!

Azuki tweeted that the PBT introduces a new dimension to how brands tell stories. What an exciting innovation in the NFT space! We look forward to more future developments and interesting applications of the PBT.

3. Bored-Ape Creator Yuga Labs Faces SEC Probe

Last week, Bloomberg reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting a private probe into Yuga Labs, the crypto juggernaut behind NFT market leaders Bored Ape Yacht Club, while also noting that Regulator’s inquiry may not lead to allegations of misconduct.

Despite the SEC investigation, floor prices of Bored Apes have remained relatively stable with only a slight decline over the week. 

Specifically, Bloomberg reports, “the SEC is examining whether certain nonfungible tokens from the Miami-based company are more akin to stocks and should follow the same disclosure rules,” while “also examining the distribution of ApeCoin”.

Is it inevitable that the U.S. government would seek to regulate the nascent, multi-billion dollar NFT industry as a securities market?

1. Hypothesis and Outland: Merging Physical and Digital worlds

Wonderfruit music festival in Thailand is coming up December 2022, and this year, Hypothesis and Outland are bringing something new for fans and visitors alike, with the launch of Phygital NFTs that unlock real life experiences in addition to specially created digital art.

NFTs from Hypothesis' new collection, Birth of Being, will unlock real life experiences for holders, serving as access tickets to Wonderfruit 2022 and upgraded experiences at the festival ranging from Michelin-starred chef meals to wellness experiences to onsite swag. We can’t put it better than Hypothesis Co-Founder Shaan Coelho: 

“We've been building this collection to bring to life the cyclical relationship between physical and digital. Our physically made characters were digitally scanned into an NFT collection that unlocks a physical experience at Wonderfruit. And that's just the first cycle. This is a platform for experimentation, and this birth is just the beginning."

Hypothesis is aiming to be the hybrid space between the physical and digital where communities come to connect, and launching their collection with Outland is something we look forward to. Previously, Outland gave 8DAO members whitelists to their collection, Elemental by Fang Lijun, a renowned contemporary Chinese painter and printmaker. Their collection remains very popular among our members. 

2. CryptoPunks 2924 sold for 3,300 ETH

CryptoPunks #2924 was sold for 3300 ETH, or approximately $4.5 million, representing the fourth-highest sales amount in the history of CryptoPunks. 

The seller is well-known NFT collector seedphrase, who originally purchased CryptoPunks #2924 in November 2020 for about 150 ETH (or approximately $71,403 at that time). In dollar terms, a stunning profit of $4.43m.

3. BNB Chain Resumes Operations After 2 Million Token Exploit

Binance’s BNB Chain has resumed operations a hacker reportedly made off with an estimated 2 million BNB tokens by exploiting a vulnerability in the network. At the time of the exploit, this sum came out to roughly $586 million, which would have made it the second-largest in crypto’s history.

However, security firm SlowMist said the hacker only managed to steal an estimated $110 million, with the majority of the stolen tokens ($430 million worth) not transferred off the BNB chain following the chain’s subsequent suspension.

4. PUBG’s creator confirm next game will be blockchain based

PUBG creator Brendan Greene is pivoting to the metaverse and blockchain tech, with a new NFT-clad game that he says will be "made for everyone", not money. This is part of a long-running plan that started in 2019 when he left PUBG's development to start PlayerUnkown Productions in Amsterdam.

It's developing Artemis, a virtual metaverse that will feature an AI population, sort of like a giant Earth-sized Roblox world inhabited by NPCs where you can trade NFTs and earn real money.

Brendan Greene recently participated in an interview with the program Hit Points hosted by Nathan Brown, and confirmed that the new game "Artemis" being developed by his studio is a blockchain game, and mentioned the future direction of the game, saying that players will be able to play in the sandbox. Build everything they like, with decentralized ownership, allowing everyone to participate.

NFT Tool Recommendation

Flips Finance:
https://www.flips.finance/

See the biggest NFT trades from the past 24 hours, find rising or falling collections

For this 8Weekly piece, we will be covering the following:

1. Will Azuki developer Chiru Labs be the latest to Gain VC Funding?
2. 8DAO Members in the News
3. OpenSea now supports Arbitrum
4. ApeCoin DAO's proposal to build an NFT trading market passed the vote
5. Korean internet giant Naver and LINE NEXT partner to launch NFT platform NOW.Drops

1. Will Azuki developer Chiru Labs be the latest to Gain VC Funding?

As the crypto winter rages on, VC investors continue betting big on the top NFT projects. Some notable raises this year include 

March 2022. Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs raised $450 million in March in a round led by a16z, bringing its valuation to $4 billion.

August 2022, Proof Collective, the company behind Moonbirds NFTs, raised $50 million in a Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) at the end of August.

September 2022. Doodles raised $54 million at a $704 million valuation, in a round led by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s venture capital firm 776.

Latest information from The Block suggests that Chiru Labs is closing an upcoming $30 million Series A round, which would value them between $300 million and $400 million once completed. With this news comes speculation, with Azuki NFT’s floor price spiking to 16.2 ETH on 25 September, and has subsequently traded back down to 10 ETH (~$13,227), according to data on OpenSea

Just last month, Hong Kong real estate tycoon Adrian Cheng, an early web3 advocate and pioneer of culture and the arts, was revealed to be the user 'LastKnight', spending millions to purchase 101 Azukis in a huge bullish move. (Fun fact: Adrian is also a top 8DAO token holder)

Billionaire Cheng is also founder of the venture capital firm C Capital, which plans to raise $500 million to invest in Crypto and PE, reported Bloomberg. Could C Capital be involved in Chiru Labs upcoming fundraise?

2. 8DAO Members in the News, 2H 2022

Amazing to see fellow 8DAO members in the news recently:

Adrian, Hong Kong Tycoon-Backed Firm Is Raising $500 Million to Invest in Crypto, PE:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-21/h-k-tycoon-backed-firm-is-raising-500-million-for-crypto-pe

Alan, Animoca Brands appoints Alan Lau as chief business officer:

https://www.animocabrands.com/appoints-alan-lau-chief-business-officer-minh-do-co-chief-operating-officer

Ryan, Xterio raises $40M for high-end mobile Web3 games:

https://venturebeat.com/games/xterio-raises-40m-for-high-end-mobile-web3-games/ 

3. OpenSea now supports Arbitrum

NFT marketplace OpenSea announced that it now supports Arbitrum, an L2 Ethereum solution, saying, "This is the first step in our goal of building the future of Web3, where people can get the NFTs they want on the chains they like."

OpenSea will include additional network and language support in 2023, announcing their focus on "Expansion", aiming to build a global NFT ecosystem so that players can interact with NFTs across various chains and languages.

4. ApeCoin DAO's proposal to build an NFT trading market passed the vote

“Build a Community-First ApeCoin DAO Market” proposal by Snag solutions has passed the community vote. The proposed marketplace would host all Yugaverse projects in a single marketplace UI with significantly lower fees, keeping funds in the BAYC ecosystem, and also improving the marketplace experience for both parties to the transaction.

For transactions using $APE, buyers and sellers do not need to pay additional transaction fees. For users who use ETH to place orders, a certain transaction fee will be charged, and the transaction fee income will be managed by the community multi-signature wallet. Earlier, it was reported that the proposal to build an NFT market for ApeCoin holders by Magic Eden was voted down.

5. Korean internet giant Naver and LINE NEXT partner to launch NFT platform NOW.Drops

South Korean internet giant Naver Corp. has partnered with LINE NEXT, an NFT subsidiary of Japanese communications giant LINE, to launch its NFT platform NOW.Drops on Wednesday. The platform allows K-pop fans to cut clips of music performances from exclusive content from Naver’s live streamer NOW. and mint them into NFTs. BlockBeats previously reported that on July 13, LINE Next, an NFT subsidiary of Japanese communications giant LINE, announced the completion of a $10 million strategic financing, with investors such as Softbank and Naver participating.

NFT Market Data 

Stealthy with Strong backers

This project has been shrouded in mystery and stealthy since its launch. Be it DigiDaigaku or the parent company Limit Break, their official website has not much information except for a couple tweets.

Later on, Limit Break announced that they raised $200 million from well-known institutions like Paradigm, FTX, Coinbase, Yield Guild Games, Sfermion, Standard Crypto, Buckley Ventures and Genblock Capital. The endorsement of so many reputable web3 investment institutions is likely a strong factor towards DigiDaigaku’s rising popularity.

Stellar Team Track Record

Although Limit Break is a new company, its two founders, Gabriel Leydon and Halbert Nakagawa, are well-known figures in the game industry. They are the core members of Machine Zone, one of the largest game developers in the United States (CEO and co-founder respectively).

Founded in 2008, Machine Zone is known around the world for its MMO strategy games Game of War: Fire Age and Mobile Strike. It can be said that it has brought the F2​​P (Free to Play) trend in the market, and both games were among the top ten mobile games which generated the most revenue at that time. Machine Zone is one of the most famous mobile game developers in the world.

Limit Break, led by illustrious founders, can be said to be the pioneers of the F2O model. Leydon tweeted that he will replace the F2​​P (Free to Play) of traditional games through the Web3-driven F2O (Free to Own) model, showing his ambition and optimism for the Web3 game field:

Beware! A new type of scam

Recent if you are a frequent user of Twitter, you may notice tweets like this:

The tweet offers an arbitrage opportunity, claiming a “Chinese retail buyer” is offering a high price for a normal Otherside NFT from Yuga Labs, proposing anyone with enough liquidity should take the chance and make a fortune. There are even comments like “wish I had the ETH” and twitter bot accounts tagging people to raise attention.

Too good to be true? Yes of course it is. The truth is that the user who made the offer had removed authorization on their WETH, so the offer doesn’t exist. These scammers are seeking to sell an NFT with low rarity with a high price.

Don’t fall for that folks!

Other Recommended Reads

How are Web3 Infrastructure Protocols Trying to Capture Value?

https://messari.io/report/how-are-web3-infrastructure-protocols-trying-to-capture-value

Demystifying the Technical Properties of Sharding: Why it is Great

https://hackernoon.com/demystifying-the-technical-properties-of-sharding-can-tell-us-why-it-is-great

Why?

As for the reason for the recent surge, it may be related to Pudgy Penguins' recent announcement that it has obtained community permission to launch "Pudgy Toys", an initiative focused on the creation of Pudgy branded clothing and toys. The project is officially stepping into the physical field from Web3. 

Ups and downs for the collection

When it comes to Pudgy Penguins, the most talked about topic is the story of the collection being reborn from the ashes after it was once near death.

Originally an “OG blue chip" project, due to poor team execution and mismanagement of project funds, trust in the project faded, leading to a collapse in floor prices. 

Prominent community member 9x9x9 exposed that the team siphoned away all the ETH raised, and at one stage, OpenSea temporarily removed their collection.

Community’s trust was shaken by this turn of events, and that was when @LucaNetz, a Los Angeles-based entrepreneur in the DTC (Direct to customer) e-commerce space, bought the project for 750 ETH ($2.5 million at current price) in April this year, and together with his team set out to breathe new life to the Pudgy Penguins. And in just four months, their new team has already started delivering on various initiatives.

Committee of 9 to leading the project:

Alex Svanevik – CEO of Nansen

Sanjay Raghavan – Head of Roofstock We3

RJ Cilley – Chief Operating Officer, SAKS Fifth Ave

Jordan Sterlin – Meta Partnerships Team Member

Chet Kuchinad – Product Manager, Save the Children, worked at Nike and Starbucks

Bee Ngyuyen – General Partner, Limited Ventures

Jess Richardson – Head of Licensing at Hasbro Jess Richardson

Paolo Moreno- SFX Ent & Fashion Consultant

Nova Pentoshi – King of Penguins

Last not not least, a 1/1 sold for 400 ETH:

FYI this NFT is the only one facing left in the collection.

Will you grab a penguin?

Other Recommended Reads

Arthur Hayes' expectations for U.S. monetary policy

https://entrepreneurshandbook.co/teach-me-daddy-33e7a66dfe76

On-Chain Privacy

https://messari.io/report/on-chain-privacy

Total volume

The trading volume trend is volatility. Total volume was at or above 86,460 ETH ($151,305,000). On a weekly basis, volume is up 14.29% with $18,918,900 from last week.

Total Transaction

This week, The total transactions of NFTs are 450,509 transactions with an average daily transaction of 64,358 transactions, up 6.80% from last week. This is a remarkable growth rate with many projects having high floor pricing.

Users Trend

From July 4th to July 10th, there were about 221,818 users, down -6.53% from the previous week. This index tends to decrease further and the number of active wallets decreased by more than 3,88% with 334,541 wallets.

Top Gainers and Losers

How Tornado Cash works?

Tornado.Cash is:

-A fully decentralized, non-custodial protocol that improves transaction privacy by breaking the on-chain link between source and destination addresses.

-To protect privacy, Tornado.Cash uses a smart contract that accepts deposits of ETH and other tokens from one address and allows them to withdraw to a different address, i.e. send ETH and other tokens to any address.

-These smart contracts act as a pool that mixes all deposited assets, and when you put funds into the pool (i.e. deposit), a private credential (random key) is generated, proving that you performed the deposit operation. 

Tornado Cash is a popular tool for hackers to hide theirs tracks after hacking. Back in Feburary, after the OpenSea vulnerability incident, the attackers used Tornado.cash to mix 1,100 ETH after selling some of the NFTs obtained from the attack. According to the floor price of mainstream assets, hackers have obtained at least $4.166 million.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Monday announced sanctions on coin mixer Tornado Cash, barring U.S. citizens from using the service and accusing the platform of laundering more than $7 billion in cryptocurrencies since 2019, including the North Korean hacking group Lazarus Group $455 million stolen from the Lazarus Group.

Currently, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has placed Tornado Cash’s website, as well as multiple Ethereum wallet addresses, on the Sanctions List (SDN), which prohibits all U.S. citizens and entities from trading with Tornado Cash or any ethereum associated with the protocol. Square wallet address to interact.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department ordered an asset freeze on Tornado Cash and said anyone using the service within U.S. jurisdiction would be subject to civil and potential criminal penalties.

Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Semenov wrote that after the U.S. Treasury Department’s sanctions announcement, Tornado Cash’s code is still running, while his personal GitHub account has been deactivated and his personal repository has been closed, but he did not Placed on the Sanctions List (SDN).

Meanwhile, Circle, the issuer of the U.S. dollar stablecoin USDC, on Monday froze funds associated with 44 Tornado Cash addresses estimated to be worth more than 75,000 USDC, according to crypto data aggregator Dune Analytics.

In actual use, users need to deposit cryptocurrencies into the Tornado Cash privacy asset pool and mix them with other users' cryptocurrencies to disguise the source and destination of funds while protecting personal privacy.

While some users do so primarily to protect privacy, the U.S. government says Tornado Cash facilitates illegal activities, including "facilitating robbery, ransomware, fraud, and other cybercriminals," and "a cryptocurrency mixer that assists criminals." a threat to U.S. national security."

Fun fact:

Max chaos — someone is sending TC’d ETH to big doxxed wallets like Shaq, Beeple, Randi Zuckerberg, Ben Horowitz, Brian Armstrong, etc