👑 God Bless the Queen
Welcome to Smart Marketing on Blockchain - a newsletter about marketing & blockchain!
It’s a sad Friday indeed. After over 70 years of ruling, Queen Elizabeth II's death has plunged the UK and the entire world into mourning. Stay strong, Great Brittain 🇬🇧 & God bless the Queen 🖤
This week was rich in relevant news around blockchain and marketing, so we are thrilled to share them with you and make your Friday special. Enjoy the read & don’t forget to check the fun fact of this week 😊
What’s new in marketing?
LG bringing NFTs to the television screen
Nigeria to create a virtual free zone with Binance
How crypto-friendly is UK’s new Prime Minister?
Is The Merge going to be a game-changer?
What’s new in marketing?
Netflix shared new details about an upcoming launch of an ad-based subscription tier. It will be launched in November 2022, but most importantly, it will not allow cryptocurrency-related advertisements. Well, we hope that Netflix will change its mind soon 🤞🏻
Instagram violated GDPR regulations by allowing users aged 13-17 to operate business accounts. This, in turn, facilitated the publication of the user's phone number or email address. Meta-owned social media platform was fined €405 million by Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner (DPC). It is the second-highest fine under GDPR (after Amazon) and the third one for a Meta-owned company 💰💰💰
Reddit acquires Spiketrap, a company specializing in AI-powered contextual analysis, to improve ad quality scoring and boost prediction models. This purchase follows Spell’s (machine learning) and MiningCloud’s (natural language processing) acquisitions indicating that Reddit wants to bring contextual advertising to a brand new level! 🚀
Pepsi is launching new sweepstakes through Instacart. The winners will be given a chance to stay in a branded tiny home for the 18 weeks of the NFL season. The display campaign, which is “trying to remind consumers how food tastes better with Pepsi”, is live on Instacart, Youtube, Instagram, CTV and Twitter.
Microsoft introduces a new multi-platform advertising solution powered by AI called Smart Campaigns. Its simplicity deriving from AI support can help small businesses advertise easily across any mix of Microsoft Advertising, Google, Facebook, and Instagram.
The so-called LG Art Lab will be the company’s marketplace for NFT built on the less-known Hedera blockchain.
Although it is not the first time one TV manufacturer has created or possessed an NFT feature, given the enormous pool of brand consumers, this market entry may change the game for good.
With almost 20% of the market share, LG is welcoming “real-word adoption” with very dynamic growth in the future, experts predict.
Another week, another country announced and manifested its absolute trust in web3 and desire for further digitization. Not only cryptocurrency advertising budgets are growing rapidly, but also new governments are introducing more crypto-friendly regulations.
This time, Nigeria dreams of creating a virtual free zone similar to the one in Dubai. You may say that Dubai is sleeping on beds of gold while Nigeria struggles to bind the poverty from the past with the wealth of the future, so there is no wonder that the latter would make a great effort to catch up. However, the African country has already made significant progress in recent years, especially when it comes to blockchain adoption - the P2P Bitcoin trading volume exceeded $1 billion in the first six months of 2022.
With a partnership with Binance, Nigeria would build a playground for the central bank digital currency (eNaira) which had been used to carry out transactions worth 4 billion Nairas ($9.2 million) by August. Next year we might hear about the NGX (Nigeria Stock Exchange) introducing a blockchain-enabled exchange platform in the hope of boosting regional investments. Stay tuned 🇳🇬
You might have heard of two candidates in the race for leadership upon Boris Johnson’s resignation - Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss.
Undoubtedly, the first one, a former finance minister, is hurray-hiper-mega-optimistic about crypto. What do we know about Liz Truss, who was handed the keys to number 10 Downing Street?
The former Foreign Secretary has never talked too much about crypto, and many predict that she may take a hands-off approach towards regulating this industry in the future too. There was one exception to a rule in 2018 when she declared her crypto-friendly beliefs in a Tweet:
While serving as the President of the Board of Trade, she launched a digital trade network and announced her ambitions to “create great opportunities in areas such as blockchain”. If you look at her voting history, you may realize that the new Prime Minister of the UK looks very conservative (supporting military actions overseas; against the EU) with a relatively liberal approach to the economy (supporting a lower rate of corporation tax and tax incentives to companies investing in assets).
One thing to note is that the UK has bigger issues to tackle first, such as rising energy prices and a cost of living crisis. We hope that pro-crypto regulations will follow once the economic situation improves.
You are not into crypto if you haven’t heard of The Merge. It is the top researched and discussed topic lately in the world of web3 because the transition from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS) will happen for the 1️⃣ time ever.
The Merge has been announced by Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum founder) to start between the 13th and 15th of September. If you look at the keyword “ethereum merge” in Google Trends, it seems obvious that something’s cooking:
The main benefit of The Merge is a significant improvement in energy consumption - Proof of Stake will use 99.95% less energy than the currently used Proof of Work. Quite relevant given that the environmental footprint is still considered one of the most adverse disadvantages of blockchain.
Kyle McDonald, a self-described “artist working with code” and blockchain expert, in an interview with Coindesk, discussed the potential consequences of the upcoming Ethereum merge. The researcher stated that Bitcoin would never hit $69,000 again and would be stuck with PoW indefinitely, urging investors to sell BTC. He also referred to NFTs, saying that The Merge could result in duplicates, which would dilute their value.
The interview was not welcomed warmly on social media, with Bitcoin owners DM’ing Kyle in an unpleasant way. However, the artist seemed to remain confident in his words and shared a sarcastic Tweet this week:
i would like to personally apologize for wiping $17B off the #bitcoin market cap 😔 i was completely unprepared for my interview. but i own my mistakes, and promise to do better. please give me another chance i will eradicate the remaining $357B 🙏
— Kyle McDonald (@kcimc)
Sep 7, 2022
OTHER RELEVANT NEWS
Bitcoin prices fell below $19k on Tuesday. With Crypto Fear and Greed Index flashing “Extreme Fear”, bearish sentiments reverberating on social media, and KPMG warning about more companies going bust until the end of the year, it takes a lot to stay calm in these times! 🥶
The newly launched P2P crypto-betting platform announced that the value of made bets in virtual mode surpassed $30k.
The Merge can make Ether a more attractive asset for institutional investors, similar to an instrument “like a bond or commodity with a carry premium”.
Binance announced on Monday that it will automatically convert USDC, USDP, and TUSD to its stablecoin (BUSD) on September 29.
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani surpassed Jeff Bezos to become the world's third richest person on Wednesday. After only one day, his net worth fell under $150 billion eliminating him from the top 3. But still, not bad Mr. Adani!
In the August edition of “Climate and energy implications of crypto assets in the United States” White House urges to reduce greenhouse emissions and to collect more data on crypto mining.
The company behind the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) has filed suit against domain registrar GoDaddy over selling a web domain eth.link it previously owned.
Podcasts are great, but video podcasts are even better - Spotify extends this feature to new customers and countries. If you are interested in the future of podcasts, take 5 minutes to read this article by Michael Mignano!
FUN FACTS & MEME SECTION
💡 Although Serena said goodbye to the tennis world after her loss in the third round of the US Open, it is worth mentioning that exactly on this day, 20 years ago, her sister Venus Williams won her first US Open title. Congrats to the Williams sisters✌🏾
🥇 Meme Of The Week:
That’s it for this week. Make sure to follow us on Twitter @SMTToken.
Not financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell assets or to make financial decisions. This newsletter is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.