🥛 A new DAO, the value of metaverse land, and crypto companies that raised money

GM. This is the Milk Road. The only newsletter that gives you the same feeling as when you put your hand out the window and do that little wavey-dolphin motion.

Its Friday, so lets boogie:

• 🤑 Funding Friday

• 👀 DAO of the Week

• 🏠 Why is metaverse land valuable?

• 📈 Stats of the day

Estimated read time: 2 minutes & 48 seconds

FUNDING FRIDAY

This week in Funding Friday - we saw ~$550M invested into web3 companies.

Dework got $5M to match crypto projects and builders together. Projects can post tasks they need done, while builders can apply to help and get paid in crypto for doing 'em.

TRIPP got $11M to build a mindful metaverse using AR/VR tech. They’re trying to be the Calm of Web3 (shoutout to the Calm founders who read the Milk Road!)

Utopia Labs got $23M to develop a payroll and expense management tool for DAOs.

Winechain got $1M to use blockchain technology to authenticate wine collections. Bottom’s up!

Jupiter Exchange got $5M to fractionalize NFTs of real-world assets.

Walken got $4.7M to build a walk-to-earn game.

Playdex got $2M to let people rent NFTs for popular play-to-earn games. Don’t want to own the NFT? Now you can rent it.

Check out the full database of companies that have raised money this year, right here.

DAO OF THE WEEK

Check this out. There is a new DAO called Chaos that you should check out.

If you’re new here, a DAO is basically a group chat with a bank account. DAOs are good for groups of people who are doing things that involve money.

So back to this music DAO...

It’s a group of ~80 music creators (musicians, visual artists, engineers, etc) that have come together to create music and release it through their brand, CHAOS.

There will be a total of 45 songs created over 8 weeks, with all 80 people pitching in to make 'em.

These songs will then be made into a collection of 20,000 music NFTs, each with unique cover art, that will be sold later this month.

The cool part: the money will be split automatically using smart contracts.

This is one of many music experiments going on using web3.

Over the last few weeks we’ve seen:

• Kanye West file trademarks for NFTs and digital currencies

• The Chainsmokers dropped an entire album as an NFT where holders get a share of royalties

• LimeWire make a comeback and sign a deal with UMG (a label that has artists like Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, BTS, Drake, Ariana Grande, and more)

And yesterday we got news that Binance will officially be sponsoring The Weeknds next world tour. This will be the first crypto-powered world tour ever.

There will be various NFTs made for the tour, including every single ticket will be an NFT.

I will now photoshop a picture of CZ (CEO of Binance) onto a photo of the Weeknd. See below.

WHY IS LAND IN THE METAVERSE VALUABLE?

Real estate is all about location, location, location.

We’ve all heard that.

You want to own property at the most in-demand locations.

That’s why Ben’s tiny apartment in NYC was worth $2M, and you could get this insane mansion in Bumf*ck, Idaho for the same price.

But what about land in the metaverse? Why are people buying virtual land?

Does proximity to stuff really matter when you could just teleport to places, rather than taking a car or plane to get there?

And how about the value of metaverse land? How is it valued when, in theory, there’s an infinite supply?

These are the questions on our minds. And in searching for some answers, we found this interesting piece from Scott Kominers over at the A16Z crypto team.

As always, we read stuff so that you don’t have to.

Here are the 4 takeaways:

1/ The concept of “digital real estate” has been around for decades

Historically this has been referred to as ad spaces. Billions of dollars are spent buying out “space” in the Facebook feed, Google results feed, etc..

2/ Blockchain tech and NFTs are a gamechanger for digital real estate ownership

Digital real estate has always had value. What Web3 makes different is who owns it.

It’s no longer the Facebooks and Googles of the world. It’s the people. And we’re now the ones that can own and rent it out.

3/ The valuable land online will be worth WAY MORE than valuable land in New York

In the physical world, a business in NY can only serve people in NY. But the audience for the metaverse is global.

For example, I own an e-commerce brand. We do $10M+ in sales a year. That couldn’t happen if we opened up a physical store in my town. It’s only possible because we have a digital store that customers anywhere on earth can buy from.

So land in the metaverse could theoretically get more “foot traffic” than Times Square every day. If you don’t believe me, think about how many people visit “Retail Row” inside of the video game Fortnite each day. Millions!

4/ There will be multiple winners in the metaverse race

The metaverse market is highly unlikely going to be a winner-take-all scenario. There will be different metaverses for different use cases.

Just like how we use Zoom for meetings at work, and Snapchat to socialize, we’ll see the same thing in Web3.

TODAY'S NEWSLETTER IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY CONSENSUS 2022 - WHERE ALL SIDES OF CRYPTO MEET IRL

Interested in crypto?

Wanna connect with other cool, like-minded people that are also interested in crypto?

Well, we’ve just the event for you - Consensus 2022 by CoinDesk. It’s where all sides of crypto meet IRL.

Where? Austin, Texas

When? June 9-12

Explore all that crypto and Web3 have to offer with dedicated venues for developers, the metaverse, sports, non-fungible tokens (NFT), and more.

Join the fun IRL or virtually. Use code MILKROAD for 20% off.

Or are you looking to start a career in Web3? Connect with top crypto companies at the Consensus Talent Hub, open to the public on June 10-11 from 9 am-12 pm.

Register here.

STATS OF THE DAY

There are now 848,000 wallets that own 1 or more Bitcoin. An all-time high.

Firm handshakes all around.

But wait, there's more!

So not only is there an all-time for wallets holding Bitcoin, but 65% of Bitcoin hasn't moved in over a year?? Hmm... bullish signs if you ask us.

WEEKLY RECAP

Crypto moves so fast it can be hard to keep up. But don’t worry, we got you covered with a quick recap of the week:

• Monday: Memorial Day (we took this day off!)

• Tuesday: Introducing Milk Road Gone Wild

• Wednesday: Is Web3 actually like the birth of the Internet?

• Thursday: 3 reasons why a billionaire thinks prices have bottomed

See ya next week!

Shaan aka “Elon’s chocolate milk” & Ben "2% Milk" Levy

A Review from the Road...

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DISCLAIMER:

None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.