Alibaba Says ‘Open Sesame’ to Web3

Rosie Perper Rosie Perper is the Deputy Managing Editor for the Web3 news section, focusing on the metaverse, NFTs, DAOs and emerging technology like VR/AR. She has previously worked across breaking news, global finance, tech, culture and business. She holds a small amount of BTC and ETH and several NFTs. Follow @ rosieperper on Twitter This week, major Web2 institutions launched new tools to help bring Web3 to the masses. China’s tech behemoth Alibaba announced a metaverse launchpad for brands called Cloudverse built on the Avalanche blockchain, while Sports Illustrated released a non-fungible token ticketing platform on the Polygon network. Meanwhile, Sotheby’s launched a secondary art marketplace, allowing NFT collectors to trade between themselves while also putting creator royalties at the forefront. You’re reading The Airdrop , our weekly newsletter where we discuss the biggest stories across Web3. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Friday. Alibaba’s Cloudverse: Chinese tech giant Alibaba has built a launchpad for brands to release metaverse experiences built on the Avalanche blockchain. Called Cloudverse, the launchpad will use Avalanche’s technology and Alibaba’s Cloud division for computing and storage. SI Tickets: The Sports Illustrated publication is launching an NFT ticketing platform built on the Polygon blockchain. SI Tickets will allow event owners, organizers and promoters to use its “Box Office” function to build further fan engagement opportunities. Sotheby’s enters the secondary market: Art auction house Sotheby’s, which has enthusiastically embraced Web3 technology through its Sotheby’s Metaverse platform, is launching a specially curated, peer-to-peer secondary marketplace for digital art. (Big Inc) Big Inc Who: Truth Labs, the creators of NFT project Goblintown What: Goblintown, an unlikely success story in the form of a 9,999-edition NFT collection, is getting a sequel called Big Inc , which expands the goblin lore even further. The new 15,000-edition collection will prioritize collectors based on their “rekt activity,” or poor trades in the NFT space. How: Interested collectors can apply to mint and Truth Labs will analyze wallet data to determine the quality of a trader’s transactions. This will place traders on the “Down Bad Board,” or leaderboard of the worst traders in the space. The top 1,000 worst traders in the NFT space will have 24 hours to mint their Big Inc acceptance letter for free. Mint participants can pay 0.096 ether or get a 50% discount by paying with the meme coin pepe. The company has not publicly released a date or time for the mint. Token-gated kicks: Web3 experiential company Tokenproof has announced a three-year agreement with Adidas to bring token-gated drops and experiences to the footwear giant’s Confirmed app. Bernard Arnault’s secret NFTs: The world’s richest person and founder of LVMH has been quietly collecting NFTs, according to Ledger’s Ian Rogers . “Shark Tank” + Web3 = “Killer Whales” : CoinMarketCap and Hello Labs are teaming up to produce a reality competition show in the style of “Shark Tank,” but for Web3 companies to pitch their ideas to get funding . A lotta y'all get it: It’s been one year since this tweet graced our timelines: Meme Coins: What You Need to Know Before Aping In The latest meme coin craze has expanded beyond the world of dogs and into frogs with pepecoin (PEPE), a token that takes its name from the internet meme Pepe the Frog. Just a short while after the token’s launch, one whale had over $1 million in PEPE, which was made with just a small initial investment of 0.19 ETH (about $385). These kinds of stories of exponential growth in value often attract new investors to meme coins, but buyer beware: Once you’ve heard about a story like this, you’re probably way too late to the game and are jumping on the bandwagon too late to benefit. In fact, more often than not, investments in meme coins lose value. Investing in Meme Coins? 3 Things Every Crypto Trader Should Know Edited by Toby Leah Bochan. DISCLOSURE Please note that our privacy policy , terms of use , cookies , and do not sell my personal information has been updated . The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets and the future of money, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies . CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group , which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups . As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of stock appreciation rights , which vest over a multi-year period. CoinDesk journalists are not allowed to purchase stock outright in DCG . Rosie Perper Rosie Perper is the Deputy Managing Editor for the Web3 news section, focusing on the metaverse, NFTs, DAOs and emerging technology like VR/AR. She has previously worked across breaking news, global finance, tech, culture and business. She holds a small amount of BTC and ETH and several NFTs. Follow @ rosieperper on Twitter Learn more about Consensus 2024 , CoinDesk’s longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now. Rosie Perper Rosie Perper is the Deputy Managing Editor for the Web3 news section, focusing on the metaverse, NFTs, DAOs and emerging technology like VR/AR. She has previously worked across breaking news, global finance, tech, culture and business. She holds a small amount of BTC and ETH and several NFTs. Follow @ rosieperper on Twitter