#191: Updates from Manifold, adidas
Plus: 📖 a16z's Crypto Report
Manifold’s Multiburn Update
In my last piece, I shared how Manifold upgraded their Burn to Redeem functionality. Creators can now use any NFT as a burnable token for another NFT from any contract. Additionally, creators can specify specific token ID ranges or specific token IDs to be burnt.
As a results, creators have been playing around with these new features.
Yesterday, Manifold came out with another announcement related to this feature: Multiburn:
Previously, collectors could only burn a single token to redeem a new NFT. Parameters could be set to burn multiple tokens from the same collection to redeem a new token (eg: Burn 10 NFTs from an old collection to redeem 1 NFT from a new collection).
Now creators can set parameters to burn multiple tokens from multiple distinct collections to redeem a new token.
More details on the new feature here.
For this update, Manifold partnered with various artists to show what this looks like in practice.
Two popular artists, Victor Mosquera and ThankYouX, partnered for a special collaborative piece.
In order to redeem this new piece, collectors had to burn 2 of each of the artist’s work from a previous collection. Burn 4 —> Redeem 1.
Constructive Destruction
In signature TPan format:
To explain this in a different way, let’s look at the world of sneakers and create some hypothetical situations with Nike.
These examples aren’t perfect, but illustrate how this could exist in parallel physically. In this case, the ‘contract’ is the sneaker brand.
Manifold before Burn to Redeem Updates: Burn token from same contract for a new NFT.
Nike hypothetical comparison: Redeem a pair of Nikes for another pair of Nikes. Maybe they have to be new, a specific model, or something else.
Manifold with the first Burn to Redeem update: Burn a token from any contract for a new NFT.
Nike hypothetical comparison: Redeem a pair of adidas for a pair of Nikes.
Manifold with the latest Burn to Redeem update: Burn multiple tokens from multiple contracts for a new NFT.
Nike hypothetical comparison: Nike is releasing a new collaboration with Off-White. In order to qualify, you have to redeem 2 pairs of Nike Dunks and redeem 2 pairs of Off-White Vulcanized Lows.
Before the fashion industry recoils in horror, this is why artists are the first to embrace these features and why there’s more openness to explore these concepts with NFTs.
That said, this continues to push the boundaries of what can be done, especially in the digital realm:
Creation can require destruction (burning)
Creation can be collaborative (co-creation)
Destruction can be constructive (burn to redeem)
I look forward to the first clothing or sneaker company that incorporates a phygital burn. Any takers?
adidas
On the note of sneakers, Adidas is showing how serious they are with their web3 efforts during NFT NYC week. Earlier this week, I shared the team’s ALT[er] Ego announcement.
Yesterday, the brand with the three stripes shared more details around the 8 ALT[er] Egos, and they’re coming out swinging.
More details will be released by the end of the week, but the ALTS rollout is already intriguing for multiple reasons:
Universal Utility and Trait-Based Utility
For the most part, utility has historically been uniform for NFT holders. ALTS breaks down the utility into a universal layer and an ALT[er] Ego layer.
The second layer provides a large amount of insight into how adidas (or at least the web3 team) views its consumer base. No surprise that most of them are broken into sport or activity:
Strikes (soccer)
Sprints (running)
Hoops (basketball)
Soles (sneakers, skate)
However, we also can see there are emerging segments that are complimentary to web3 or are potential areas for strategic growth:
Thrills (in-game, metaverse)
Amps (music, film)
Decos (co-creation, art)
Drips (fashion)
With these categories as the first of 3 Chapters for the ALTS PFP reveal process, the team can better understand:
User preferences: Which ALT[er] Ego is the most active in Discord? Do most Soles end up selling their ALTs in the secondary market versus Strikes? Do Thrills purchase more Adidas products than Drips?
Connecting the physical with digital: Which Egos purchase product online vs. in-person? Which Egos are more likely to attend physical or digital events?
Assumptions about consumer personas: Do the behaviors of ALTS holders by Ego agree with the broader personas that the Marketing department has defined? What is validated and what is invalidated when stitching together the data? How does this vary by geographic region?
These insights can inform the next stage of the company’s growth and adaptation to evolving consumer preferences.
I believe we’ll see more examples of this come from larger companies that enter web3 as they have more resources and a broader portfolio of products and brands.
Rarity breakdown
The % breakdown of Egos caught my eye. Usually, the rarity for traits are pre-determined, but are not revealed until after the mint. Additionally, trait rarity can be coded to be a certain %, but may end up to be slightly more or less due to randomness.
adidas is being explicit. Why? I have some hypotheses:
Egos have trait-specific perks which involve access to product and events. Some categories may be easier to support than others.
Some categories may still be emerging vs. established (eg: art vs. soccer)
The breakdown is not based on current interests, but broader global interests (eg: adidas has a larger global audience of runners vs. fashion enthusiasts)
Commercial IP rights
We’re starting to see a trend of commercial IP rights thanks to the trend that BAYC started. When RTFKT provided holders with 3D files, they also provided full commercial rights.
Adidas has likely been watching how entrepreneurs and creators have been utilizing their Clones, and made a similar move. I imagine it’s easier to make a case to the legal team when your top competitor is already doing it 😉
We’ll see what additional info the adidas web3 team reveals over the coming days. Competition is good!
a16z’s State of Crypto Report
Earlier this week a16z released their 2023 State of Crypto Report.
Don’t worry, the 60 page PDF is mostly pictures and charts, which makes it a brisk 10-15 minute read.
What stuck out to me?
Rollups are scaling big time: This makes crypto and web3 more accessible and affordable.
Energy consumption: I like how a16z uses comparisons to illustrate energy usage.
Geographic distribution of developers: web3 is going global, as it should. But it may also suggest early signs that the US losing its lead on innovating in this space.
a16z created their own Index score: This composite score is a nice directional metric to tell us how the industry is doing. The index also provides several other charts that are updated monthly.
It’s been a rough several months. But when we zoom out, we’ve been doing fine all along 🙂
See you next week!