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The Next Big Thing - You don't want to miss this 🤯

The Next Big Thing - You don't want to miss this 🤯

🎣 w3.catch-of-the-week cw06

Vicktoria Klich & Quinn Wilhelm
February 09, 2024

GMGM and welcome to the 🎣 w3.catch-of-the-week, where the future unfolds in real-time, and we're here to navigate the waves of innovation together. The last few days have been nothing short of a sci-fi reality check:

Apple Vision Pro has landed (in the US, at least). The future of mixed reality is now one step closer.
Elon Musk's Neuralink venture takes a bold leap, embedding the first chip into a human brain. The chip's first feature is telepathy 🤯. Is this the dawn of human-computer symbiosis?

Solana's Mainnet hit a snag (yes, again). There was a five-hour outage.

Today, we're exploring how blockchain is reshaping sectors you wouldn't expect - from social media to travel. Showcasing its potential to transform traditional business models and consumer experiences. Ready for a deep dive? Let's do this!

📲 The New Super Social-Media App
💳 Mastercard strengthens Web3 Initiative
🥾 Travel Industry meets Web3-Technologies

Shoutout to Jägermeister, Metabrew & Tokenize.it <3

🗣 Talk of Town: Frames by Farcaster

There's no topic — and I mean this — ✨no other topic that people talk about✨ more than Farcaster.

In every newsletter, on every podcast, and across everyone on X...

Even at the Solana Ecosystem Call I joined yesterday at w3.hub, Co-Founder Dan Romero was there.

All of a sudden, decentralized social media has emerged as this new killer use case that everyone wants to be a part of.

Farcaster, despite having been around for over two years, has recently gained attention through its Frames feature.

Today, I'd like to clarify a few things and take you by the hand to show you what it's all about: Farcaster, Warpcast, Frames, and so on.

Let’s start with Farcaster - What is it?

Farcaster is a decentralized social media protocol, focusing on social interactions and decentralization rather than financial aspects (unlike Friend.tech).
It's designed for true decentralization, ensuring that users can always connect and communicate, bypassing potential network restrictions.
The platform allows developers to build various apps (clients), offering users freedom to choose or even create their own social media experience.

And people got craaaazy over it

Okay, and what are Frames?

Frames are essentially small, interactive apps embedded within Farcaster posts (casts), expanding the platform's functionality and user engagement.
They enable a wide range of activities, from gaming to polls, directly within the social feed, making content not just viewable but interactable.

🤓 Here’s a tutorial on how to build your own Frame

Why is this cool?

Frames transform the user experience by enabling direct interactions within the feed. Significantly, all of these interactions, including e-commerce transactions, NFT-Minting and more, can be completed with just one click within the app.

A key feature is the use of a singular profile across different applications, ensuring seamless data portability and a unified experience. Whether you're using Warpcast (Twitter-like), Farcord (Discord-like), or Flink (Reddit-like), your account and content remain consistent across these platforms.

What makes Farcaster Different:

Open-Source Model: Eliminates centralized control, allowing for an ecosystem where no single entity dictates rules or content prioritization.
User Empowerment: Users own their data and can switch apps without losing their network or content, challenging traditional platform constraints.
Innovation-Friendly: Encourages diverse app development on its protocol, promoting a rich ecosystem of user-driven solutions.

Some Use Cases:

Interactive Polls and Games: Engage your audience with live polls or immersive games directly in their feed.
E-Commerce: Execute sales, showcase products, and process transactions within a single click without leaving the app.
NFT Minting and Trading: Create, display, and trade NFTs effortlessly, opening up new avenues for artists and creators.
Educational Tools: Embed educational content and tools, making learning interactive and accessible.

👉 Explore & Develop Use Cases on Farcaster

💅 TL;DR: By integrating Web3 principles, Farcaster aligns with a future where social networks are transparent, secure, and user-centric.

⚽️ Mastercard Kicks Off Web3 Trivia for Football Fans

Mastercard steps into Web3 (again) with a UEFA Champions League trivia competition, combining football passion with blockchain technology.

🤓 Here's a quick breakdown:

What is Mastercard doing?

Launching a Web3-powered trivia for football enthusiasts, offering a chance to win tickets to the Champions League final. This initiative highlights Mastercard's venture into blockchain, enhancing the fan experience with digital innovation.

How to Participate:

Fans need to grab a free ✨Mastercard x UEFA Champions League Pass✨ NFT on the Priceless platform, powered by Polygon’s blockchain tech. Sign up is streamlined, requiring only an email, facilitated by Mastercard and MoonPay.

What's on the Table: Victory in this trivia unlocks rewards, including two tickets to the UEFA Champions League final. Additional rewards include UEFA Champions League match tickets for various rounds and digital tokens.

By engaging in this Web3 trivia, fans not only test their knowledge but also partake in a pioneering digital experience, a new way for fan engagement.

💅 It's quite simple, but that's what I like about it. Mastercard creates a new connection between the real and the digital, I think it's a useful add-on for football fans.

Chain4Travel: Disrupting the Travel Industry with Web3 Innovation

This week in our Investment Corner we present one of our latest investments as w3.fund - Chain4Travel.

The company is led by Ralf Usbeck — one of the travel industry's leading minds, with over 20 years of travel tech experience and multiple successful projects launched.

Chain4Travel works closely with the Camino Network Foundation to enhance the global travel industry with web3 technologies, enabling new business opportunities in the era of connected consumer behavior. It bridges innovative travel-related businesses from all the verticals to the web3 travel ecosystem.

🛑 Challenges:

The travel industry today operates with a centralized and fragmented supply chain. Governed by numerous contracts and proprietary APIs, this structure creates significant technical and legal bottlenecks that slow operations and compromise security. These barriers separate service providers from travelers and block the development of new business models and the adaptation of new digital technologies. As a result, such a global industry struggles to innovate and adapt to changing customer demands. Main pain points:

Centralized and fragmented supply chain
Slow time-to-market
High transaction costs
Siloed, legacy systems
Fraud and counterfeiting
Staff shortages
Sustainability

💡 The Solution:

The travel industry can beat its challenges by working together in a new way: with clear rules, shared tech, and open rewards for everyone involved. Blockchain is like a Swiss Army knife for the industry, thanks to its comprehensive layers technological, open-source, and social. Chain4Travel is the facilitator and one of the biggest contributor to Camino Network — the first Layer 1 blockchain designed for the needs of the travel industry. The blockchain is live with publicly available utility CAM Token.

🛎️ First major Use Case with Sleap.io

The hotel booking platform offers personalised offers to travelers based on their digital footprints (NFTs and other tokens). Leveraings blockchain and AI technologies Sleap aims to provide tailored deals at scale changing the way travelers experience booking process.

🔮 Envision a future where your wallet isn’t just for transactions but a passport to the world, encapsulating every adventure and memory.

🥜 Travel is a new big thing for the Web3 mass adoption

We're excited to announce Decode Travel — the "Hackathon For Travel Tech Innovation” happening at w3.hub Berlin, Germany, from April 23-26, 2024. This 3-day event brings together travel tech and web3 developers, business and operational experts to build together on Camino Network.

And yes, you can get a personalised offer for your stay in Berlin with Sleap.io!

💅 I have experienced the vibe of the Web3 travel ecosystem firsthand at last year's Travel Unchained conference, you can find my insights and takeaways here.