What I'm Reading: July 1

Tech

• Web3 applicatoins are solutions looking for a problem to solve

  • The article highlights a few of the loudest voices in web3, who can sometimes barely articulate the value proposition to customers.

  • Why does a podcast need to be on the blockchain? Web3 supporters claim it opens up new models to monetize creators' work and doesn't force the creator into a closed ecosystem where they could be censored by the platform, but I'm not sure this holds much water. Creators already have ways of monetizing their work (affiliate marketing, ad revenue, merchandising, Patreon, selling consulting / value-add services...). Is there really some mystical business model on web3 that doesn't exist today? And would customers really care?

• Crypto lender Celsius freezes withdrawals and attempting to restructure amidst market decline

  • Celsius made undercollateralized loans to customers and made risky bets to pay out ~18% yield

Investing

• A Deloitte & Credit Suisse report on the collectibles market (classic cars, watches, handbags, wines, NFTs, etc)

  • Shows that most collectibles are not very correlated with stocks & bonds (meaning, collectibles can offer diversification)

  • Of all the collectibles presented, Chanel handbags & Rolex watches performed best during inflationary periods

  • Would be interesting to see how collectibles actually perform after fees & costs

    • Collectibles tend to be far less liquid than stocks, and probably have higher carry costs, too. (With a car, you have sales tax, registration, insurance, storage, and typically a fee if you sell with a consigner / auction website.)

• A game to see if you can time the stock market

  • I wasn't able to beat the market... seems like a good lesson to learn :)