TL;DR

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

• Web3 gaming news: Zynga Divests from Sugartown to D20 Labs, Faraway announced two new games, Alphabot launches a new campaign, the handheld SuiPlay console, Puffpaw announced they raised $6M, and more news.

• Macro news: Carano's Chang hard fork, Volmex Finance launches SOL volatility index, Codeium reaches unicorn status, Transak partners with Soneium, and more news.

🎮 Web3 Gaming and Tech

• Zynga divests from Sugartown to D20 Labs

  • The same team has now transitioned to the new D20 Labs studio

  • Since Sugartown isn’t attached to the corporates anymore, this could mean the studio has more room to move in terms of Web3

• Faraway announced that two new games are coming to its ecosystem: Rebel Skies and Robot Battle Royale

  • Rebel Skies is a TCG x action RPG and Robot Battle Royale is a top-down BR

• Mythical Games announced their game NFLRivals surpassed 5M downloads, and more than 115M games played

  • Furthermore, they recently partnered with the Chiefs

• Alphabot launched its “in the trenches” campaign and is launching an initiative called “Boost” on the 9th

  • The trailer signals there will be a loyalty point system. This could mean a token is coming

• Today the Game announced the Mythic Seed collection will be 5,555 pieces

  • This will be the 2nd collection of Today is launching this year

• Age of Dino officially launched its game on IOS, Android, and PC

• The handheld gaming console, the SuiPlay, can now be pre-ordered for $600

  • The console runs PC games, and players can earn exclusive rewards whilst playing

• Elixir Games announced the updates coming to its platform and a new game, called The Tinies

• OKX introduced multiple pre-market future listings yesterday, including CATI, DOGS, AKRM, PIXELS, HMSTR, and DOGS

• Puffpaw announced they secured $6M in seed funding, in a round led by Lemniscap

  • Their “vape to quit smoking & earn” model is built on Berachcain

• Apecoin introduced “The Blueprint”, a document that outlines their approach to building the APECHAIN

🕹️ Gaming Narrative Play

• Expectation Debt: a large raise in 2021, a grand vision, and all the promises in the world, this is the recipe for creating expectation debt right now. As the consumer becomes more critical in Web3 gaming, these projects will face scrutiny (FUD) sooner or later. Just take a look at Illuvium recently…

🚀 Nexus V1 Alpha Launch

Welcome to edition #44 of the Nexus Power Up Newsletter.

You can now try out the basic features of the platform for free or purchase a standard subscription to get access:

You can also get access through:

• Getting a Nexus Pass NFT now for exclusive lifetime access

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

📈Macro Cryptocurrency News

• Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stated last week that "the time has come" to cut interest rates after a prolonged battle with decades-high inflation, which led the U.S. central bank to raise rates aggressively in 2022 and 2023.

• Cardano, co-founded by Ethereum's Charles Hoskinson, has successfully implemented the first stage of its Chang hard fork. This marks a significant milestone as Cardano becomes the first major blockchain to transition from centralized to token-based decentralized governance.

• Volmex Finance has launched a new implied volatility index for Solana's SOL token, allowing traders to gauge expected price swings, in either direction, over the following two weeks.

• Codeium, an AI-powered coding assistant that competes with GitHub Copilot, has achieved unicorn status. The company raised $150 million in a Series C round led by General Catalyst, valuing it at $1.25 billion.

• Web3 payments provider Transak has teamed up with Soneium, an Ethereum Layer 2 developed by Sony, to make it easier for mainstream users to join the Soneium blockchain.

• The SEC has fined Galois Capital Management $225,000 for failing to properly safeguard client crypto assets and misleading investors about redemption terms. The fine will be distributed to harmed investors.

🌟Token Spotlight by Hustle

• Coin of the Week: RLB

• Market Cap: ~$205M

• What is Rollbit? Rollbit is a crypto platform that began as an online casino and has since expanded into crypto futures trading, an NFT marketplace, and lottery games. It combines gambling, high-leverage crypto trading, and NFT trading.

• 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: Sugartown Oras

• Why Sugartown?

  • Sugartown’s narrative was largely built on being Zynga’s Web3 arm, and as we know now, that fell through. So when the news hit we saw a slight sell-off, which is understandable

  • So, the speculation is that Sugartown has much more Web3 freedom under D20 Labs. I.e., the likelihood of a token launch increased by a lot

    • Holding the Genesis NFT collection would likely mean getting exposure to that token

  • It is believed, in the upcoming months Sugartown will ramp up events and announcements, that bring more (bullish) attention to them

• Counterpoints

  • The community had lots of trust in Sugartown and Camol as the CM (who now became a co-founder). If that trust with the core community has been broken, I don’t see them recouping

  • Overall, it’s a buy-the-FUD pick, which is risky, but could turn out well, depending on the studio’s next steps

Nexus Tweets

See you next week!