🐻 Crypto use cases (that aren't dead) 🚀

This is Web3 Seems Legit, a weekly newsletter that keeps you up-to-date on all things happening on crypto Twitter in 5 minutes or less.

We know what you might be thinking - crypto is dead and gone. It's proven to be a failure and an absolute scam. Well, you might be surprised to know that while the most popular use case for crypto has been for financial services and speculation, it's not the only thing it's good for. 

For all the bears and skeptics, this one is for you. In this issue, we're exploring some real-world use cases of crypto and blockchain:

• Stablecoins - despite the bear market, stablecoin volumes have been reaching all time high volumes.

• Fractionalized ownership - crowd-based fundraising isn't new, but with crypto you can own a fraction of what you are donating to.

• Intellectual property - NFTs align incentives for creators and buyers by rightfully compensating the value of IP to all parties.

Stablecoins

While crypto teeters up and down, stablecoin has been one of the rare use cases that have actually remained bullish, even in a bear market. If we look at the on-chain data, we see that stablecoins are at an all-time high (ATH) of daily transaction volume and nearly ATH active users. 

Unlike other crypto tokens, stablecoins are pegged to assets, most popularly gold or fiat dollars. For instance, 1 stablecoin pegged to the US dollar should always remain $1 USD. 

So why use stablecoins if it's just like fiat dollars?

1/ Easy on/off-boarding - For crypto native users, it's a tool they can use to easily enter and exit their positions. BTC down and you need to quickly change your position? No problem, exit to stablecoins.2/ Financial inclusion - Opening up a bank account to access financial services can be a hassle. In some countries, it's considered a luxury that most people don't have access to. As long as you have internet connection, accessing stablecoins is open to all.3/ Fees and settlement - Payment networks are known for their high fees and long settlement times. Stablecoin tackles this by enabling instant, cross-border transactions with low fees. In fact, the biggest US card networks are already taking steps toward this use case. 

Fractionalized ownership

One of the most novel features of crypto is ownership. Similar to how stocks are traded, projects can tokenize an asset and distribute "shares" of it so multiple people can own a piece of it. 

Last year, ConstitutionDAO launched an initiative to do just this. The goal was to fundraise money to purchase an actual, original copy of the Constitution that was up for bid at Sotheby's. 

By purchasing their DAO token ($PEOPLE), you would be contributing to the bid, but also be a partial owner of the Constitution. The project ended up going viral and raised over $40 million. 

They ultimately lost the bid to a whale, but the project is now back to fundraise for another copy of the Constitution that will be up for auction. 

Will they be able to raise as much funds as last time or will the bear market get the best of them? Either way, fractionalized ownership and fundraising seems like a legit use case. 

Intellectual property

Rightfully compensating original creators has been a challenge across several creative industries, including film, music, art and publishing. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) tackle this by aligning incentives for both the creator and buyer.

This week, bestselling author and top podcaster, Tim Ferris launched "The Legend of Cockpunch", an NFT collection of rooster characters. Despite the bear market:

• Primary sales generated over $2M (with all proceeds going to Tim's charity)

• Reached nearly 3k ETH ($4.1M) trading volume in 12 hours

For Tim the creator, he will continue to receive royalties from secondary sales, and for the holders, they are granted commercial rights to create derivatives of the jpeg. For instance, BAYC and CryptoPunks are popular NFT collections that holders have spinned into apparel, super communities, restaurants and other products. 

Without a doubt, NFTs as intellectual property for royalties is a legit real-world use case. However, as of late, this feature of NFTs is being challenged by several NFT marketplaces and collections experimenting with 0% royalties. 

It's a nuanced debate - 0% royalties force creators to provide more value to holders and attempt to remove scams and ponzi, but it also takes away the core essence of NFTs. We'll have to wait and see how this plays out, but there is definitely a use case here!

In other news

Ledger heats up the cold wallet industry with the launch of its new Apple-esque hardware wallet to store your crypto. Since the FTX collapse, Ledger sales have shot up as investors look to self-custody their assets.

You can pre-order Ledger Stax today - available here!

Check out our new short series on Youtube on how to speak crypto for newbies! 

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