Weekly Web3 Tracker: Ralph Lauren Parnters With Fornite, Mexican Metaverse Mall, and More 🔭

Through October, 4,997 US trademark apps have been filed for Metaverse and 6,855 - for NFTs.

That’s a great forward-looking indicator of demand, market conditions notwithstanding.

🧥Burberry partners with Minecraft

As we mentioned before, Burberry partnered with Minecraft to push deeper into the world of gaming. Last week the immersive experience Freedom to Go Beyond as well as a physical collection went live.

The game consists of four rounds that take place in London. This year the brand also partnered with virtual Lola bags on Roblox. Burberry joins Lacoste and Uniqlo in partnership with Minecraft. Read more here.

🏇 Ralph Lauren launches partnership with Fortnite

Ralph Lauren announced a partnership with Epic Games, the parent company of the multiplayer video game Fortnite. Although Fortnite is not crypto-native, Epic Games is still looking to stake its claim in metaverse experiences for brands.

The partnership looks to extend its brand’s visibility to its 400m user accounts by releasing both virtual and physical clothing and accessories, called the “Polo Stadium” collection. Read more here.

🏨 Mayfair Hotels & Resorts to launch NFT souvenirs

The luxury hotel chain is partnering with Beyond Imagination Technologies (BIT) to pioneer souvenirs for its customers.

The NFTs are loyalty badges to reward the 5-star boutique brand’s long-time patrons. Hotels and resorts are looking to innovate to expand their customer base and boost revenues. Read more here.

🕹️ Gamestop marketplace goes live on Immutable X

Gamestop launched its NFT marketplace on Loopring in July. The marketplace now supports Ethereum Layer 2, Immutable X.

The integration brings some of the biggest web3 games including Gods Unchained, Guild of Guardians, and Illuvium to GameStop. It also enables gas-free minting and trading on the GameStop NFT Marketplace. Read more here.

🤳 Instagram to enable users to create and sell NFTs on and off the platform

Instagram will provide an end-to-end toolkit for creating NFTs based on Polygon. The feature will initially be rolled out to a small group of US users.

Meta is using a decentralized storage protocol, Arweave, to permanently store the Instagram NFTs, providing an immutable, censorship-resilient ledger of history. Creators will also be able to set their own royalties from 5%-25%.

Instagram won’t take a cut of these sales until 2024. However, Apple’s new policy means that there will be a 30% fee for those that use Instagram on their smartphones. Read more here.

👟 ASICS x Solana Collaboration

ASICS committed to getting the Web3 community moving forward with the launch of its new ASICS x Solana UI collection.

The Japanese brand hopes to appeal to a new audience with a sleek running shoe that comes with a loyalty ASICS Badge NFT with every purchase. ASICS will also airdrop 1,001 ASICS x STEPN “OG” Solana Realm NFTs to holders.

The sneakers come in “Light Mode” and “Dark Mode,” and feature the Solana gradient on the heel and tongue. Read more here.

🏏 Ratio collaborates with Afghanistan Cricket Board to build their first sports NFT and web3 metaverse

Rario, the world’s first officially licensed digital cricket collectibles platform, is set to launch Afghanistan cricket NFTs including digital collectibles across player cards, video moments, and cricket artifacts.

Fans can own a piece of their favorite sport, collect special moments and player cards, and enjoy cricket-themed NFT games in the Rario universe. Read more here.

🏎️ Haas F1 Team Partners with OpenSea

The American-owned F1 team announces a collaboration with OpenSea for future NFT collaborations. They have a shared vision for enhancing engagement and delivering unique, best-in-class Web3 experiences.

The focus will be on developing a utility that brings fans closer to the team and executing exciting and differentiated collections for the NFT community. OpenSea’s logo will also feature on the Haas F1 Team car. Read more here.

🔵 Instagram and Facebook have integrated support for Solana NFTs

Meta has enabled NFTs to be made and sold on Instagram with Solana using a Phantom wallet.

The integration will be rolled out to all users this week and allows users to showcase and share their favorite digital collectibles on Solana. Read more here.

🎬 Nifty’s and Warner Bros. collaborate with a Game of Thrones digital collectible experience

Nifty’s and Warner Bros announced a digital collectible experience that will launch soon. HBO’s Game of Thrones created one of the most fantastical, immersive worlds, and the collaboration will bring fans of the show digital collectibles and experiences.

Fans can build their collection through avatars, thematic activities, on-site engagement, and additional digital collectibles, which will be available as assorted packs and come in a variety of types. Read more here.

🔴 Opera releases deep NFT analytics tool DegenKnows and adds support for NEAR, Elrond, and Fantom blockchains

Opera, the first dedicated Web3 browser, announced the launch of DegenKnows.io, its new NFT analytics, tracking, and exploration tool. This will help users discover, track, and verify digital collectibles, providing deep on-chain and off-chain analytics.

Alongside the launch, Opera Crypto Browser has integrated NEAR Protocol, Elrond, as well as Fantom. Read more here.

🥃 Dewars Scotch Whiskey launches NFT with BlockBar

Dewars Scotch Whisky teamed up with BlockBar to release Double Double 21-Year-Old Rye Cask Finish. There are only 50 bottles available for public purchase in this one-off in the Double Double series, with the liquid finished in an active rye cask. Read more here.

🦸‍♀️ Cartamundi and Warner Bros. launch DC Hybrid NFT trading cards by Hro

Cartamundi, a leader in playing cards, and Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products announced the newest chapter of DC Hybrid NFT Trading Cards by Hro.

Fans can collect brand new designs showcasing iconic art from DC’s comic book history, including Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and many more. Read more here

Elsewhere in the metaverse…

🟢 India’s central bank trials CBDC. The pilot for a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) began on November 1st. A retail CBDC pilot is expected to begin shortly. CBDCs are being trialed to assess the benefits in terms of efficiency and cost reduction. Read more.

🟢 Japanese city introduces metaverse schooling. Students in the city of Toda can opt to study in a virtual classroom so long as they get permission from their school principals. The move is an attempt to combat a lack of student attendance. Read more.

🟢 Metaverse activity jumped in the run-up to Halloween. The number of weekly active Sandbox users increased by 30% as a result of multiple Halloween metaverse experiences. Read more.

🟢 Metaverse shopping mall launched in Mexico. Island Shopping Mall currently features 80 brands with plans to onboard 800 more. Read more.

🟢 University of Mongolia students receive Honors on Polygon. UoM Students have received diplomas in the form of Soulbound Tokens. This is an excellent use case for SBTs in a world where fake certificates are an ongoing issue. Read more.

🟢 37% of US voters consider a candidate’s stance on crypto when making a decision. The survey polled 2000 likely voters. Read more.

🟢 Yuga Labs working on NFT interoperability infrastructure. The Bored Ape Yacht Club creator is developing an open standard that will allow designers to create 3D models for BAYC’s Otherside metaverse and easily transport them to another metaverse, and vice versa. Read more.

🟢 Art Gobblers NFT collection has an impressive launch. The collection created in partnership with an investment firm, Paradigm, and Rick & Morty co-creator, Justin Roiland, has seen significant secondary sales volumes of over $53M at the time of writing.

The collection’s floor currently sits at 6.5 ETH. The launch has not been without controversy. The creators gave free NFTs to “influencers,” some of whom promoted the project only to immediately sell their NFTs.

Trading on a royalty-free marketplace, Blur, saw it surpass OpenSea in terms of volume for the first time ever. Royalty-free minting also deprived the project’s creators of over $3M in royalties. Read more.

🟢 OpenSea developing an on-chain royalty enforcement tool for NFTs. The tool launched last week and can be used for new collections only. OpenSea might extend the technology so that it can be used for old collections in December.

The tool comes in the form of code that creators can add to NFT contracts. The code restricts sales to marketplaces that enforce creators' fees. Read more.

🟢 Dapper Labs cuts 22% of its staff. The NFT heavyweight cites macroeconomic concerns. Reduced demand for its products are also a factor with volumes for NFL All Day and NBA Top Shots both falling. Read more.

Photo by Matthew Ansley on Unsplash