gm.
I’m having trouble getting this newsletter out before the *late* afternoon (Pacific time) recently.
does this mean I’ll start burning the midnight oil to get it out earlier in the morning for my East Coast friends? probably not to be honest. I have a full-time job and a real-life baby to take care of too.
but I’ll do my best to get it to you before lunch again…deal?
ALPHA ⚓️
it’s campaigning szn.
Cool Cats recently launched a Community Council composed of some of the most committed and connected Cats in the space. the idea is that they’ll serve as advisors to the founders and team, which will *ideally* help fill in the gaps of what the project is missing.
and look out…because there’s *likely* a version of a “community council” coming to your favorite project now too.
during the bull run, some community members became full-blown zealots for their favorite projects. and that passion and enthusiasm has not wavered in the bear market…it has however taken a turn for the toxic.
as price floors drop across the board (more on that later), communities are banging down the founding team’s doors demanding more transparency and answers.
a “community council” offers an olive branch. by empowering members of their own community, they can get honest and candid feedback from their holders…without doing any of the heavy lifting themselves.
even better, a council can help appease the community at large. if its members are chosen correctly, the council (surely already active on Twitter and Discords) will likely have a good relationship with the community and will have a real pulse on which decisions will go over well…and which won’t.
is it possible that the inmates might start running the asylum? maybe. but we’re in some uncharted territory here and to be honest, could it get much worse from here?
BETA ⚓️
think back to August of 2021 in NFTs (if you can) and compare that to now. what’s different? what’s the same?
❌ the vibes are different, for sure. it’s hostile now.
❌ the prominent projects are definitely different. Mutants were just hatched from their vials then.
✅ the floor prices and Ethereum prices are *kinda* the same.
is this progress?
I see how dire the outlook seems on paper. we’re at an 8-month low for active users on OpenSea. prices went straight up, then straight back down so zooming out doesn’t help much here either.
I get how cycles work (to be fair, no I don’t), but doesn’t it seem like this is more a hemorrhage than bump in the road?
now, we’re all seemingly sitting back and hoping another Top Shot moment comes along and onboards new users to the space. (you hear that Starbucks?)
but what if that never comes? it’s certainly a possibility. NBA Top Shot captured lightning in a bottle and that kind of euphoria is hard to replicate. rooting for it to happen again might be like waiting for lightning to strike twice in the same spot.
after Top Shot, I can’t expect new people to “get it” unless something *really* cool comes along. and the only way that will happen is if the NFT tech gets better.
if you chart the progress, it’s almost all *technological* for NFTs so far. minting is getting better. security is slowly but surely getting better. the teams behind these projects are getting better at stopping bad actors and building stories around the NFTs. people are starting companies that fix *specific* NFT problems.
let’s continue to focus our attention on the tech. we will innovate. we will create. and it will *hopefully* all work out.
DELTA ⚓️
speaking of innovation, people are constantly asking for utility from projects…well, here you go. a “get-out-jury-duty” trait for merch.
community spotlight continues: my friend and fellow writer/Cool Cat TPan also has a daily newsletter that centers around NFTs. if you want a double dose of news in the morning (fine late afternoon for us both), subscribe to his in my Substack recommendations or here:
