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This week was so crazy and so rich in surprising news that sometimes we couldn’t even wrap our heads around them. If we were to pick the heroes of the latest events, we would say Elon Musk with his Twitter saga, SBF with his avoidance of prison, and Donald Trump with his new NF.. digital card collection.
But there’s a lot more to expect from today’s read:
What’s buzzin’ in marketing?
Can blockchain rescue war-affected Ukrainians?
Binance - is all the FUD reasonable?
MetaMask teams up with PayPal
Trump Digital Trading Cards
Hope you will enjoy it! 🧡💚
🛒 What’s buzzin’ in marketing?
There’s buzzin’ so much with & inside of Twitter that we are considering launching a separate Twitter-dedicated newsletter. Jokes aside, let’s cover the four major news:
Twitter Blue subscription is back for $8/month on web and $11/month on iOS. It gives subscribers access to exclusive features such as Edit Tweet, 1080p video uploads, and reader mode. The “official” label on business accounts will be replaced with gold checkmarks. Gray checkmarks for government and multilateral accounts are soon to come! 🌈
Platformer says that Musk plans to force users to opt-in for personalized ads on Twitter by making the opt-out option available only for paid subscribers. If you think it’s brutal, so does the EU - under GDPR, you just can’t force users to consent 🇪🇺☝🏼
Twitter shuts down the newsletter platform Revue, which it acquired in January 2021. It’s funny (or concerning) that the information was announced 17 hours after the Twitter founder, Jack Dorsey, started to use it to share his thoughts on Twitter’s future 😅
Musk plans to roll out a long-form text feature of up to 4000 characters on Twitter. As Twitter's top “influencer” shows, the first 280 characters will be visible by default. With that, Elon aims to “end the absurdity of notepad screenshots” 📜
Amazon is introducing a pilot version of Inspire, a short-form video and photo feed that is supposed to boost sales with shoppable social media experiences. TikTok proved that short video content explains and showcases the product way better than a plain photo. This is why Instagram launched Reels and Amazon experiments with Inspire.
Apple plans to allow the installation of iOS apps from external sources due to increasing pressure from the EU. Currently, Apple charges up to 30% of each app download or in-app purchase. Lately, Apple has restricted using NFTs to unlock content and forced users to pay for NFTs only through its in-app payment system. The reported plans are being made in response to the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which requires tech companies to fully comply with restrictions by 2024.
Remember E-A-T from the last newsletter? Google now added another “E” which stands for “experience”. Algorithms will rank your website higher if your content demonstrates some degree of first-hand experience. Make sure to include your experiences with the product or service, emphasize if you have visited a place or been through the same situation, and share your tips. The “experience” factor will be valued more in the new “E-E-A-T” evaluation system.
Here’s the gift waiting for you - if you want to receive extra marketing news, please leave us a comment saying which news you find the most interesting and why 🎁Leave a comment
UNHCR has launched a first-of-its-kind integrated blockchain payment solution powered by the Stellar network to help Ukrainians affected by the Russian invasion.
The program is being tested initially in Kyiv, Lviv, and Vinnytsia, the three Ukrainian cities many fled to after their homes were destroyed by Russian missile attacks or seeking shelter for their families.
Users must download the Vibrant app to receive and transport funds in USDC. Recipients can then choose to convert it to US dollars, euros, or local currency and withdraw their funds at hundreds of thousands of MoneyGram locations around the globe.
Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, saw massive withdrawals on Monday amid concerns about the latest proof-of-reserve report.
Net outflows exceeded $3 billion, as reported by Nansen. A few factors have impacted the phenomenon:
An auditing company Mazars released a report claiming that Binance’s BTC reserves are overcollateralized.
US prosecutors investigated potential money laundering by Binance executives, including its CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ).
Huge withdrawals from Wintermute and Jump Trading.
Binance CEO encouraged his customers to ignore the FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) and keep building. The auditing company Mazars announced they would “temporarily pause their work with all of their crypto clients globally”.
MetaMask has launched a PayPal integration to its digital wallet, allowing American users to buy Ethereum directly from its mobile app.
MetaMask, owned by ConsenSys, is one of the most popular EVM (Ethereum-based) non-custodial crypto wallets. It lets users store crypto assets and interact with web3 products, like Logium.
The PayPal feature will roll out in the USA in the coming weeks, with the browser extension version followed in the next quarter.
Donald Trump launched a collection of NFT trading cards on Polygon. They claim to come with real-life benefits for buyers, such as an invite to a gala dinner with Trump or a meet-and-greet with the former U.S. president.
The announcement was teased and published through Trump’s proprietary social media platform Truth Social. The Trump-themed NFT collection is being mocked by both his detractors and supporters globally. However, all 45,000 digital cards sold out in 12 hours at $99 each.
🔥 OTHER RELEVANT NEWS
Kevin O’Leary testified that Binance has intentionally put FTX out of business
Italy’s NFT market is thriving and is projected to reach $3.33 million by 2028 ✅
FTX collapse hit the crypto market less than previous crises
Bahamanian judge denied Bankman-Fried's petition to be released on $250,000 bail 🕵🏽♂️
TikTok may soon get banned in the USA 🇺🇸
158 million consumers are expected to shop this coming Super Saturday 💰
Thank you for reading Smart Marketing on Blockchain. This post is public, so feel free to share it.
🏖 FUN FACTS & MEME SECTION
💡 The most controversial and radical US president has launched an NFT collection with his image. In 2021 he claimed that NFTs and cryptos are dangerous, and now he is launching his own collection. This is a fun fact, indeed 🤯😂
🥇 Meme of The Week
pov: you hold 45 trump nfts & he invites you to this mcdonald’s dinner https://t.co/nAcrEUJN5x
— kmoney (@kmoney_69)
Dec 16, 2022