TL;DR

• Follow the Hustle and the Nexus Twitter accounts for the latest news.

• Web3 gaming and tech: OKX gaming launchpad, Farway partnership with Shatterline, Igloo Inc. acquired Frame, Cambria raised $2.5M, Animoca x Futureverse MoU, CARV announced total raise of $50M, Metalcore launched $MCG token, WELL3 screws up, and more news.

• Macro news: Bittsensor hack, Circle receives e-money license, Sony launching a crypto exchange, dismissal of partial CZ lawsuit, IRS finalized its broker rule, and more news.

🎮 Web3 Gaming and Tech

• OKX announced the launch of its gaming launchpad: Gamesphere

  • The platform will provide devs access to different Web3 tools and resources

  • Games will have dedicated pages and be able to launch personalized promotions on Gamesphere

  • So far the platform features 6 games, including Lumiterra, Metacene, and Space Nation

• Faraway (the owners of HV-MTL) announced a partnership with Shatterline

  • Shatterline is a Web2 FPS, that launched in September 2022

  • This post outlines the plans when it comes to bringing the game to Web3, which comes down to a prize pool, revenue share competition, spectator Fantasy Sports feature, new rewards and prizes, etc.

• Igloo Inc. announced the acquisition of Frame, which is going to contribute to the Abstract Chain

  • Abstract Chain will be an L2 powering the Pudgy ecosystem

    • “The blockchain leading the consumer crypto revolution”

• Cambria, the on-chain Runescape announced they raised $2.5M in a Seed Round led by BITKRAFT

  • Its first minigame Cambria: Duel Arena, gained popularity as one of the leading Blast games, with over $88M staked in ~3 months

• The Beacon successfully sold out its 10K NFT sale at 0.115 ETH each, raising ~$4M

  • Will this set off a new meta, where gaming NFTs are in demand again?

• MapleStory Universe opened up its first Pioneer Test

  • The game is scheduled to be released later this year

• Animoca signed an MoU with Futureverse for a strategic partnership

  • The partnership includes enhancing the interoperability of the MOCA network, a $5M equity swap, and more

• Fableborne P2A campaign shows promise - 40K players tried to play across iOS and Android, which crashed their servers

• Revolving Games announces they will be showcasing “why they will lead the Web3 gaming revolution” in the upcoming weeks

  • 2 of their new games will be showcased in Q3 and Q4, with trailers, live gameplay, dev blogs, and sneak peeks

• CARV announced they raised a total of $50M

  • The funds were raised through the rounds they held prior, and its Node Sale

• LORE teased something is in the works with AI Arena

  • The GWEI, the co-founder of Arena Labs, said it will be a game changer for AI Arena and its economy

• SpinTycoon is a new social casino game launching on Solana

  • The studio behind this game is Tyrranno Studios, and they have 2 other live Web3 games (Brawlers and Music Mogul)

• Metalcore launched its $MCG token

  • $MCG’s TGE was last week on Friday, and the token is now trading at a ~$1.9M market cap and ~$16.1M FDV

• WELL3 screws up its token launch: 6M $WELL was sold whilst the community hasn’t been able to claim their tokens

  • At the same time, there was a severe lack of communication from the team, leading to lots of FUD

• BORPA has a rocky launch and ends its relationship with Entangle

  • Because of this, the team had to migrate to new smart contracts

  • Naturally, this obstacle led to many holders being unhappy

• The monster-catching MMORPG Spellborne is now live, and accessible to everyone

  • Spellborne is now available on browser and will support mobile and the Epic Games Store later this year

🕹️ Gaming Narrative Play

• Is the bull cycle over? Lots of FUD on the timeline recently, both in the gaming and broader crypto market. Of course, Bitcoin dropping to $55K and bringing down the whole market is the primary reason for this. Will the potential end of this meme supercycle shake out the shortcomings of this industry (low float high FDVs, hyperinflated fugazi projects, etc.)?

• Shakeouts are generally EV- for our portfolios, but EV+ for the future of this industry. Over the medium/long term, good games will always win. So position accordingly.

🚀 Nexus V1 Alpha Launch

Welcome to #36 of the Nexus Power Up Newsletter. For the NFT holders, have you been enjoying the new features we have been shipping recently? Before our (soon-to-be-released) public launch, this is how you can get access to Nexus in the meantime:

• Get a Nexus Pass NFT now for exclusive and immediate lifetime access

When we launch publicly, you can:

• Subscribe for $49/month to unlock the full potential (live at a next-stage launch), or

• Use the free version (limited in features) of the platform

Don't miss out—follow our journey on Hustle's Twitter, YouTube channels, and Nexus Twitter.

📈 Macro Cryptocurrency News

• Bittensor has temporarily halted its blockchain network due to concerns about a security vulnerability that might be affecting user wallets.

  • The hack led to the theft of around $8 million worth of TAO tokens (roughly 32,000), according to independent researcher ZachXBT. 

• FED Chair Jerome Powell expressed satisfaction on Tuesday with the progress made on inflation over the past year but indicated that he would prefer to observe further improvements before being sufficiently confident to initiate interest rate reductions.

• Silvergate, the California lender done in by the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, agreed to pay $63 million to settle state and federal probes.

• Crypto firm Circle has been awarded an e-money license by France, positioning the company in compliance with stablecoin regulations under European Union crypto laws.

• Sony is preparing to launch its cryptocurrency exchange. This initiative involves reviving another crypto trading platform that Sony acquired in August 2023.

• In the latest round of review before their approval, the SEC returned the S-1 forms to potential Ethereum ETF issuers. According to a source from one issuer, the forms were returned with minimal feedback. The issuers have been instructed to address these comments and resubmit the forms by July 8. 

• A federal judge has dismissed a portion of the SEC lawsuit against CZ. However, the judge has allowed other allegations to move forward, including charges against the holding company of Binance.US.

• The IRS recently finalized its "broker rule" for cryptocurrency, sparking debate. This rule outlines tax reporting requirements for companies that deal in crypto.

🌟 Token Spotlight by Hustle

• Coin of the Week: $ZIG

• Market Cap: ~$133M

• What is Zignaly?

  • Zignaly is a platform that makes the process of copy-trading easy: “Let the Best Traders Make You Money”. Last week they introduced new developments when it comes to tokenomics of the token, the ZIGchain, and more.

• Delve into Hustle's market wisdom with his “Daily Watchlist” and deep-dive analysis available on the TTOO Discord server and through his “In the Game" show. 

✍️ NFT of The Week

• Pick of the Week: ChronosWorlds Travelers

• Why Chronosworlds?

  • Fun game

  • Strong partners

  • Chronos Worlds encountered a technical issue during the release of their Genesis collection, leading to a lower floor price than expected.

• Utility

  • Access to the SPHR airdrop

  • Playable characters in the game

  • Access to content with additional rewards

  • Points multiplier when questing

  • Two more passive utilities in development

• Catalysts

  • The game has the potential to capture more mindshare in this market

  • More incentives to play via the Elixir platform

Nexus Market Talk Tweets

See you next week!