# Best of tpan.substack.com on Kiwi News

Page: https://news.kiwistand.com/source/tpan.substack.com

32 stories from tpan.substack.com have been shared on Kiwi News since 12 January 2024, with 58 upvotes and 7 comments in total. The latest was shared on 30 May 2025. They are listed below, most upvoted first.

Summaries are AI summaries of the linked article.

## 1. #307: Solana introduces Actions and Blinks

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/307-Solana-introduces-Actions-and-Blinks?index=0x667bbc9a36cc33fcf6cbf418add79280b178a573770ff9866e0992190b70ec177aa79504
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/307-solana-introduces-actions-and
- Shared 26 June 2024, 10 upvotes, 2 comments

The Solana Foundation introduced Actions and Blinks, a feature that lets users transact onchain from links, QR codes, push notifications and messaging apps. Actions were formerly known as Solana Pay transactions, and Blinks (blockchain links) turn Actions into shareable, metadata-rich links. Phantom and Jupiter shared live examples letting users buy Bonk and the Jupiter token with SOL, and the integration was co-developed by Dialect Labs. At launch, extension partners Phantom, Backpack and Dialect will only unfurl registered action URLs on X, and users must opt in to wallet support.

## 2. #330: The Evolution of Social Engagement Through NFTs

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/330-The-Evolution-of-Social-Engagement-Through-NFTs?index=0x66ea723847da289ae4beff63562e9fa37cf882cc57b804b4b736687bbf3d476bd1e65b7a
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/330-the-evolution-of-social-engagement
- Shared 18 September 2024, 6 upvotes, 0 comments

Rodeo and Zora are emerging social platforms that replace likes with paid mints, arguing that minting creates more meaningful engagement than likes or comments. Rodeo, a ~3-month-old app developed by the Foundation team, lets followers mint posts for 24 hours at a fixed 0.0001 ETH (about 25 cents), with proceeds split 50/50 between Rodeo and the creator. Zora has moved to a flat mint price of 111 sparks (0.000111 ETH) and restricts comments to minters. The author cites Tinder Super Likes and the idea of micro-donations to charities as related examples of valuing engagement more highly.

## 3. #304: The Most Expensive Album Ever is on Sale for $1

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/304-The-Most-Expensive-Album-Ever-is-on-Sale-for-dollar1?index=0x666bdf6130cda1e7e8119f83dd8eb3af7a49b917687cfee1c8fbf37e9db0feb8f1c6836e
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/304-the-most-expensive-album-ever
- Shared 14 June 2024, 3 upvotes, 1 comment

PleasrDAO announced, as part of Base's Onchain Summer campaign, that it is bringing Wu-Tang Clan's album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin onchain. The album, recorded in secret over six years with one physical copy made in 2014, was bought by PleasrDAO from the US DOJ in July 2021 for $4 million after Martin Shkreli had won its 2015 auction at $2 million. The digital version is encrypted and sold as $1 NFTs, and each purchase moves the 2103 decryption date up by 88 seconds. The article estimates about 28 million NFTs would be needed to decrypt the album immediately.

## 4. #294: Opepen v0.2: Decentralizing Curation by LJW

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/294-Opepen-v02-Decentralizing-Curation-by-LJW?index=0x663ab39ca006b9c329f5f0fadb84b2b3d861cff98c0292bd0d17125f183c2ff4e82a7702
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/294-opepen-v02-decentralizing-curation
- Shared 7 May 2024, 3 upvotes, 1 comment

Opepen v0.2, launched by Jack Butcher on March 20, 2024, moves set curation away from a single curator and onto the network, according to LJW. Under v0.2, a set is released once opt-ins reach 100%, after which a countdown timer starts, and anyone can submit a set for opt-in, with multiple sets open at once. The article says that in v0.1, Jack was the sole curator and sets needed a 2,000% threshold, and that about 13,000 submissions had been made at the time of writing.

## 5. #368: Leveraging Playbooks for Growth

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/368-Leveraging-Playbooks-for-Growth?index=0x681d9e47f89b7dc0489250c81a0873d76e229d42903de53a043677988f1decc0f5d9539c
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/368-leveraging-playbooks-for-growth
- Shared 9 May 2025, 3 upvotes, 0 comments

Publicly published playbooks from crypto ecosystems, platforms and apps are becoming more common, and the author argues they are a sign the space is maturing, though they are a lower-priority growth tactic that works best when executed well. Ronin published its Growth Playbook, which covers topics from pre-product launch to post-TGE strategy, with only 2 of its 15 chapters free and the rest available by DMing its BD team. Base launched a playbook for Apps and Tokens builders, Believe published a simpler Builder Playbook, and Manifold uses community-tagged blog posts as case-study-style playbooks.

## 6. How did Dogwifhat go from 0 to $2 billion in 3 months?

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/How-did-Dogwifhat-go-from-0-to-dollar2-billion-in-3-months?index=0x65f02f1ecc24b58eaf9a8b96e2b4ef7007a88021c2d4253341d2e52995cc8e2e20ad4d3b
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/277-dogwifhat-wif
- Shared 12 March 2024, 3 upvotes, 0 comments

Dogwifhat (WIF) became a memecoin that reached a peak market cap of about $2 billion, and the author attributes part of its rise to the composability of its meme. The meme began in 2019 as a viral photo of a Shiba Inu wearing a beanie, and gaming communities created variations by swapping the hat, while the "wif" wording and the hat itself spread across crypto. The author also cites prominent influencers and traders who held significant amounts and promoted the coin early. The article notes that 6 memecoins were in the top 100 by market cap, three of them from the current cycle.

## 7. #299: 12 Features from Pirate Nation's BOOTY Dashboard

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/299-12-Features-from-Pirate-Nations-BOOTY-Dashboard?index=0x66505400bfb3553f36a69e736d72e5319706d289b4aab3c65f40a5db09ed8f69b9133365
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/299-12-features-from-pirate-nations
- Shared 24 May 2024, 2 upvotes, 1 comment

Pirate Nation's BOOTY dashboard is described as a creative questing design that rewards in-game play and partner community engagement, not only social actions. Points rise with Pirate Level and Gauntlet battles won, boosted by holder and daily streak multipliers, while referral points require referred players to reach Command Rank 2. Discord quests reward changing a global profile picture or adding "Pirate" to a Discord name, and the top 10 partner servers receive a BOOTY bonus based on members who join and update their profiles. The partnership model is presented as a win-win for both sides, even though it goes against general best practices.

## 8. #316: Layer3's Layered Staking Model

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/316-Layer3s-Layered-Staking-Model?index=0x66aa7573aad2fa24d42fca1b53778ea78206232d1332fd4a470499b151362b2cb24cc761
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/316-layer3s-layered-staking-model
- Shared 31 July 2024, 2 upvotes, 0 comments

Layer3 released an eligibility checker for its S1 and S2 airdrop distributions, and the author, who was ineligible despite 84 completed quests and 15 minted CUBEs, examines the rules and its "Layered Utility" staking model. The S1 distribution required minting at least 50 CUBE credentials by May 10, with historical activity counted only after that threshold was met. S2 required minting the soulbound Trident NFT by July 22. The author argues that the tokenomics page's Layered Utility model separates passive staking rewards from active earning, which gives different user groups different reasons to stay engaged.

## 9. #297: Observations on Fantasy Top and its Impact

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/297-Observations-on-Fantasy-Top-and-its-Impact?index=0x6646ee6235d115edb5f6e9bae665ce04ec81ed5fe4233bf5f494b34987d3e7bb5f595e91
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/297-observations-on-fantasy-top-and
- Shared 17 May 2024, 2 upvotes, 0 comments

Fantasy Top, a SocialFi fantasy game on Blast, has grown into one of the most successful apps on Blast, according to the author, who argues that its effects on social media behavior are more notable than its headline numbers. The article reports thousands of daily active onchain users, over 17k ETH in transaction volume, and 4,300 ETH (about $12 million) in the treasury from pack sales and card royalties. It describes X as the third side of the marketplace that connects Heroes, the influencer cards, to players, and says Heroes earn 1.5% of their cards' transaction volume and split 10% of pack sales revenue. The article gives Franklin's five-minute posting strategy as an example of creators changing their behavior to earn more.

## 10. #288: Why Memecoins are Having Their Spotlight Moment by Kairon 

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/288-Why-Memecoins-are-Having-Their-Spotlight-Moment-by-Kairon?index=0x661f02775e645b7325cc360d34d3a9604a78de5f59ac1fa0d646236036475e30196375c6
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/288-why-memecoins-are-having-their
- Shared 16 April 2024, 2 upvotes, 0 comments

Kairon argues that memecoins are drawing attention now because of a combination of new infrastructure, not because the concept is new. He points to Degen, which he says became the first real memecoin thanks to cheap, easy access: users can tip people on social media without gas fees, play giveaways, and mint NFTs without leaving the Farcaster feed, aided by frames. He contrasts this with Dogecoin, which he says offered little beyond buying it, and PEPE, which he says is too expensive to use given fees such as a $100 gas fee. He adds that Degen launched on the Optimism stack via Farcaster and Base, and has spawned many similar "scenecoins" and "chaincoins."

## 11. #315: Azuki Brings Bobu to Life

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/315-Azuki-Brings-Bobu-to-Life?index=0x66a36ba7282bffcb0e415008c30619144e1cb31aeb282d0ea336ea609bd2d8ed3df317eb
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/315-azuki-brings-bobu-to-life
- Shared 26 July 2024, 1 upvote, 1 comment

Azuki brought its character Bobu, the fractionalized Azuki #40 NFT, to life in a 50-minute YouTube livestream in which Bobu responded to chat as a streaming influencer would. According to the Azuki team, Azuki partnered with Hallway, an AI startup, and Bobu had no script, instead running on preloaded Azuki and Bobu lore and pulling in context from the live chat. During the stream, the team designed a t-shirt in parallel with viewer merch suggestions, and viewers were directed to BobuFans.com to claim it. The article presents this as one example of NFT projects using lore and characters to engage communities, alongside Yuga's Project Dragon playtest and Doodles' TIFF premiere.

## 12. #285: Crypto: The Game Season 2

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/285-Crypto-The-Game-Season-2?index=0x660fd6ea7d15d92d819d7cc2d93559762c28c9f2c92d94041adf285935438bbdc3e77aac
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/285-crypto-the-game-season-2
- Shared 5 April 2024, 1 upvote, 1 comment

Crypto: The Game (CTG) Season 2 is a tokenized reality show where anyone can join at any point by buying a Player NFT, the author argues that blockchain makes contestant selection permissionless and dynamic. Participants mint Player NFTs for 0.1 ETH (about $330), and the last player standing after the 10-day game takes home 72 ETH (about $237k), with 10% of the 80 ETH pot going to the CTG team. Eliminated players receive Jury NFTs to vote on the winner, and partners including Uniswap, Lens, Wormhole and POAP created custom challenges for the season.

## 13. #371: Getting Loud with Loud

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/371-Getting-Loud-with-Loud?index=0x68396426cb9f82b78a622a1b5663d608391758e416978b8cbe32b4e10f31909fdf275a55
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/371-getting-loud-with-loud
- Shared 30 May 2025, 1 upvote, 0 comments

Loud is a tokenized attention experiment introduced by a small team, in which yappers who post about it earn a share of trading fees and a 45% token sale is planned for a May 31 Initial Attention Offering. Mindshare and rankings are determined by Kaito's algorithms, and the token has no inherent utility and serves as a proxy for attention. The article notes that Loud's 4% trading fee sends 72% to a mindshare pool, so a $1M prize pool would require about $35M in trading volume. It also cites skeptics such as Xeer and Cobie, and says reputational risk is the main reason founders and VCs are not participating.

## 14. #369: Believe and the Proliferation of Token Launchpads

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/369-Believe-and-the-Proliferation-of-Token-Launchpads?index=0x6826d33269d7a2bced7fd6a8be591c6ede2539a121ed76f6c13e32989a2d439daa71fb13
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/369-believe-and-the-proliferation
- Shared 16 May 2025, 1 upvote, 0 comments

Believe, a token launchpad formerly known as Clout, has seen a surge of interest after relaunching on April 28 with a focus on product-based projects rather than individual creators. Since the relaunch, the article reports 15,973 tokens launched, $2.15B in trading volume, and 257k wallets trading Believe tokens, with about $7.7M claimed in fees over the past 24 hours. The author views Believe as part of a wave of new launchpads that may niche down by use case, and argues that the token model carries tradeoffs, with the risk falling mainly on founders, as seen with the Afterhour founder who pulled support for his token the day after launching it.

## 15. jellyjelly and the rise of the Startup Coin

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/jellyjelly-and-the-rise-of-the-Startup-Coin?index=0x67a1ed90f2a5af142d6402fe1709926851b43ddf1cddb77d43b02167594a6e6c9beea21e
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/355-jellyjelly-and-the-rise-of-the
- Shared 4 February 2025, 1 upvote, 0 comments

The article argues that a new "startup coin" trend is emerging, following the launch of the jellyjelly token by founders Sam Lessin and Iqram Magdon-Ismail, co-founder of Venmo. The token reportedly rose to a $250M market cap at its peak and was at $83M when the article was written, after a Spaces with 80k listeners. Jellyjelly reportedly created a community of 50k+ token holders in less than a day, though the author notes that retaining those holders beyond financial incentives is a major challenge. Other startup tokens have followed, and the author says many have been scams, with one founder's token ending in what the author calls a theatrical rug.

## 16. #336: More Memecoin Shenanigans

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/336-More-Memecoin-Shenanigans?index=0x6708d559af016d140d3b3ef5dcb00a11e9b5370fa490bf9f1a29e9dcace4a33ae09732d0
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/336-more-memecoin-shenanigans
- Shared 11 October 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments

The newsletter argues that memecoin-style mechanics are spreading beyond traditional memecoins, and that they could change how new users learn crypto. The author describes being "raided" on X by members of the APU memecoin community after sharing a piece, and says APU has secured sponsorships with BKFC, Matchroom Boxing, Prima Pramac Racing MotoGP and Udinese Calcio. The article also covers Circle on Shape, a memecoin whose market cap is shown by circle size, Security, a physical art performance by SHL0MS in which share prices rise with purchases, and ArtRun, a Zora-based platform that presents creator content as artcoins with tickers.

## 17. #334: The Bobu Magic Show and Trusted Execution Environments

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/334-The-Bobu-Magic-Show-and-Trusted-Execution-Environments?index=0x66ff80d414a366b1cbe3eae45d0975e17fa8f5852adb011a976811700fa2cc253f89b2d4
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/334-the-bobu-magic-show-and-trusted
- Shared 4 October 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments

Azuki announced the Bobu Magic Show, a YouTube livestream on October 10th, in partnership with Flashbots and Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs). Community member DGTL drafted and published a post on Bobu's X account without direct access to it, using an NFT that granted one post and incorporated an LLM agent that set content limits; the NFT was burned after use. Volunteers at the show authorize the Bobu app on X and link their accounts so Bobu can post on their behalf, and the author calls the approach a digital version of a beer pong "celeb shot." The author describes it as a way to avoid credential sharing while setting specific parameters and safeguards.

## 18. #331: NFTs Are Going Mainstream Again?

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/331-NFTs-Are-Going-Mainstream-Again?index=0x66ed086663bac14cefe739ce3ba5d46113559c9a701593809354f1b983aa3450faf90a30
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/331-nfts-are-going-mainstream-again
- Shared 20 September 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments

NFTs are returning to mainstream attention, according to the author, who points to Calladita, a film funded by a 2022 NFT collection that reached #1 on Netflix Spain, and to Claynosaurz's partnership with Gameloft on a mobile game. ZachXBT shared a thread on helping catch the perpetrators of a $243M heist and linked a Zora mint commemorating the investigation, with over 2,000 editions minted and about $250 earned with 15 hours left. The article also argues that prediction markets are proliferating, citing Predict.fun's partnership with Fantasy Top and TMR.NEWS, a daily market on tomorrow's New York Times front page headline.

## 19. #328: Myriad - Combining News, Quests, Loyalty and Prediction Markets

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/328-Myriad-Combining-News-Quests-Loyalty-and-Prediction-Markets?index=0x66e1625a02c7e1fb446f498eae1e557b84e4934ddbc315d6ced2aebde053e92d31669c23
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/328-myriad-combining-news-quests
- Shared 11 September 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments

Myriad is a new platform launched by Decrypt and Rug Radio, parent company DASTAN, that combines news, quests, points, prediction markets and gamification. The author argues it is more than a prediction markets product and offers a view of how content platforms may position themselves for attention and retention. Users earn points by completing quests such as reading Decrypt articles and taking short quizzes, then place those points in prediction markets, which use points rather than real money. A Chrome extension confirms article quest completion, and the author says Decrypt gains reader data and topic insights that can be packaged for advertisers.

## 20. #321: Polymarket's Expansion Via Partnerships, 2024 Web3 Growth Landscape

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/321-Polymarkets-Expansion-Via-Partnerships-2024-Web3-Growth-Landscape?index=0x66bef4faaa80f0da34c633b65fa3518f499b26e0b95265d21dab381c1d54a92c8c225e75
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/321-polymarkets-expansion-via-partnerships
- Shared 16 August 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments

Polymarket is expanding through partnerships and dedicated social accounts, including a deal with Perplexity that adds AI-generated summaries of its prediction markets. The Perplexity partnership follows a Substack deal that lets authors embed Polymarket odds in newsletters, in return for which Polymarket launched its Substack newsletter, The Oracle. The newsletter notes that these partnerships aim to sustain Polymarket beyond election-driven boom-bust cycles, and Polymarket is also launching categorical accounts, starting with sports. Separately, Safary's 2024 web3 growth map features 159 companies across 11 categories.

## 21. #310: Simplifying Complex Topics ft. MegaETH

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/310-Simplifying-Complex-Topics-ft-MegaETH?index=0x668e2a484357b9057fe3c35ef87fb3c4ddf8f6114ba33cf86bbac6ab606ab062ec8eb0c3
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/310-simplifying-complex-topics-ft
- Shared 10 July 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments

The author highlights a MegaETH explainer video on The Straggler Problem, posted on X by co-founder Brother Bing (CBO, also named Shuyao) and starring CTO Lei Yang, as an effective example of educational content from a crypto team. The writer praises its unpolished style, memes and simple visuals, and says it has a practically unanimous positive reception and a high number of bookmarks, though some comments may be seeded. Lei Yang does not repost the video himself, which the writer reads as an indirect way for co-founders to support each other's content. A follow-up video on parallelization drew lower engagement, possibly due to the July 4th holiday.

## 22. #308: 3 Themes to Learn from Blast's TGE (Token Generation Event)

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/308-3-Themes-to-Learn-from-Blasts-TGE-Token-Generation-Event?index=0x667ec8ef9f14782989bebb07e5b2e9600a13960785183744fe63d73326b42464dd422a80
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/308-blasts-tge-token-generation-event
- Shared 28 June 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments

TPan, the author of Web3 with TPan, argues that Blast's token generation event (TGE) was the most interesting so far because it turned a one-time airdrop claim into an extended experience. The claim link was buried in the ninth post of the announcement thread, and users first watched a non-skippable video featuring Pacman, then installed the Blast app, which is a PWA, and waited in a queue to claim. Each wallet that claimed received at least one Golden Ticket, a mobile-only scratch-style prize feature, and the author frames the sequence as reinforcing the themes "Fullstack chain" and "Unbank the banked."

## 23. #305: Fantasy Top Launches Tactics and Scoop Launches on Farcaster

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/305-Fantasy-Top-Launches-Tactics-and-Scoop-Launches-on-Farcaster?index=0x667274cb4ae926259e6edb30e5a76a016a2aaf2f67639a0fdb55ab6c3b43eb71e7523e4c
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/305-fantasy-top-launches-tactics
- Shared 19 June 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments

Fantasy Top launched Tactics, a $19.99 daily-entry game in which players build a 5-Hero lineup scored by Twitter engagement, and Scoop launched a Farcaster-based SocialFi game with bonding-curve card pricing. For Tactics, the first game had 3,432 slots and a $60,085 prize pool, with Heroes receiving 20% of Tactic revenues based on their Twitter performance. The author says the format is budget-friendly, adds daily engagement and leans into skill-based play. Scoop turns each Farcaster profile into a card priced by a bonding curve, charges a 4% transaction fee added to a community pool, and rewards owners of top-ranked cards daily, starting Wednesday, June 26.

## 24. #302: Iggy Azalea's $MOTHER

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/302-Iggy-Azaleas-dollarMOTHER?index=0x6662dbf444a795f6796bfcc658928ad1c59b0fc5e66452d730ecfa9ef3cc8a3e5557088f
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/302-iggy-azaleas-mother
- Shared 7 June 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments

The newsletter argues that Iggy Azalea's memecoin MOTHER has held up better than other celebrity tokens because she has stayed committed to the project, while most celebrities launched tokens and abandoned them, often within the first day. It reports MOTHER at a $191 million market cap at the time of writing, with Azalea's X account focused only on MOTHER since the token launched on May 29. The piece also points to her weekly initiative in which she burns some of her own tokens if a celebrity rugs their memecoin, a pledge Hulk Hogan's rug triggered. The author notes that it is too early to tell whether she can break the celebcoin trend.

## 25. #300: Adjusting for the Long Game

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/300-Adjusting-for-the-Long-Game?index=0x6656dfe84f2894fa4ea95c9646ff75dbd9ac1a59e50fbca3fc5a76b089897a3492367882
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/300-adjusting-for-the-long-game
- Shared 29 May 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments

The author of Web3 with TPan, marking their 300th post, says the newsletter will shift to writing less and writing for clarity, with one topic per piece and a goal of 1,000 words or less, published on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Since the author writes they moved to twice-weekly posts, pieces have grown about 25% longer, and creative freedom had begun to hurt the clarity, enjoyment and sustainability of the publication. Longer in-depth thought pieces will run one-off in addition to the regular schedule, and the author plans to use the time saved for areas like community engagement, premium content and other channels. The stated figures are over 368,000 words written (excluding guest posts), subscriber growth of 11x and view growth of 4.4x.

## 26. #298: Pudgy Toys' Continued Retail Expansion

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/298-Pudgy-Toys-Continued-Retail-Expansion?index=0x664d7911808c75afddd7382c637a88a7ba118a2cb4e6ce4f726dcf0b81974439eab6cb95
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/298-pudgy-toys-continued-retail-expansion
- Shared 22 May 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments

Pudgy Penguins' Pudgy Toys line has expanded through a series of retail partnerships, with Target, GameStop, Lotte and Big W announced in May. The newsletter notes that Pudgy Toys first launched on Amazon a year earlier and later reached Five Below, Walmart (expanded to 3,100 US stores in February 2024), Smyths and Toys R Us Canada. The Target toys feature licensed community Penguins, facilitated by the community's OverpassIP platform, which has also produced deals with Good Stuff Toys, Blind Box Originals and Orange Cap Games.

## 27. #292: Gaming Trends in 2024 (So Far!)

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/292-Gaming-Trends-in-2024-So-Far?index=0x6634825c27c0d030a0a6c413baf8af2e90dcfaefd8bccf0502650ad68d99cf9afe35174e
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/292-gaming-trends-in-2024-so-far
- Shared 3 May 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments

Brevan Howard Digital's Colleen Sullivan, Alex Matthews and Ross Trachtman argue that web3 gaming's long-term growth depends on integrating web3 technology into games, even as both web2 and web3 gaming face declines. They cite Matthew Ball's essay, which reports 2023 layoffs of 10,500, a record, and a 2023 drop in US gaming revenue of 2.1% from 2022. They also note that web3 gaming token prices fell sharply in April 2024, with the altcoin market index dropping from $350 billion on March 24 to $245 billion on April 30, and that Immutable's token fell 50% between March 11 and April 30.

## 28. Taking the Red Pill: Unlocking Decentralized AI’s Potential with Morpheus AI

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Taking-the-Red-Pill-Unlocking-Decentralized-AIs-Potential-with-Morpheus-AI?index=0x662b6fb9c1844d180614b7b6796a1b8704730f0f14d383ce0ba210c898fc3ce24e2cc852
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/291-taking-the-red-pill-unlocking
- Shared 26 April 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments

Chris Sotraidis argues that AI agents will become central to web3's AI evolution, and he uses Morpheus AI as his main example of a decentralized network of personal smart agents. He says the yellow paper, authored anonymously by Morpheus, Trinity, and Neo, details the Morpheus full node, smart contract, and related proofs. Morpheus is marketed as the "first peer-to-peer network of personal AIs," in which users can talk to agents in natural language and have them act on their behalf. Sotraidis compares the concept to Rabbit's LAM-based device, though he states that Morpheus is not a LAM, and he says the project draws on Vitalik Buterin's d/acc and Marc Andreessen's Techno-Capitalist Machine.

## 29. #290: IRL Connectivity Is More Important Than Ever in Web3 by Lena Grundhoefer 

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/290-IRL-Connectivity-Is-More-Important-Than-Ever-in-Web3-by-Lena-Grundhoefer?index=0x6628a03b288d9c9a2f80c212a45a378f96467608fdb140a8bf7c3eed324686bfd25ab5ad
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/290-irl-connectivity-is-more-important
- Shared 24 April 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments

Lena Grundhoefer argues that in-person events matter more than ever in Web3, because the industry's incentives keep users glued to screens. She describes how she and Alice Chen co-founded OFFLINE in August 2023, formerly Solana NYC Alliance, to build a developer and founder community through IRL initiatives such as tennis and pickleball matches, hackathons and investor dinners. She advises leading with objectives, planning local events before large out-of-state ones, and tying Web3 events into existing industry conferences, citing events such as Coachella and NYCC. The article also notes that the average American spends 7 hours a day looking at a screen.

## 30. #289: Web3 Marketing is Leaving a Lot on the Table by Jonathan Goodwin

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/289-Web3-Marketing-is-Leaving-a-Lot-on-the-Table-by-Jonathan-Goodwin?index=0x662208fe4895a43c8d418911044ed230f69dc1740012f9361a2f7bab78eee934960c896a
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/289-web3-marketing-is-leaving-a-lot
- Shared 19 April 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments

Jonathan Goodwin argues that web3 marketing leaves much opportunity unused, particularly in web3 gaming, and that projects should pursue interoperability and creative campaigns instead of copycat airdrops. He proposes "n:m" interoperability, where a project opens its game to a large pool of eligible token holders, such as 10,000 holders of a PFP collection, and offers a small number of options, from 1 to 5, as prizes. He also cites Parallel's prize tournaments with ordinary Twitch streamers as an example of effective game marketing, and he points to Jack Butcher's Checks and Opepen as proof that valuable web3 projects can come from simple ideas.

## 31. Tipping as a growth strategy

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Tipping-as-a-growth-strategy?index=0x660e845a255297ae4e3fa82528c12124be50b9dc2de0efdb3327b7a442268afa2ace812a
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/284-tipping-as-a-growth-strategy
- Shared 4 April 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments

Onchain tipping, as practiced by the $DEGEN and $ENJOY token ecosystems, is presented as a new growth strategy that combines tipping with referrals. The article says $DEGEN grew from a Warpcast channel into a $1 billion+ (fully diluted) ecosystem, with users tipping by replying to Farcaster posts in the format "100 $DEGEN" and recipients earning points that convert to tokens at the end of each airdrop season. It describes $ENJOY, Zora's first memecoin, as using a weekly tipping allowance and a 90% creator, 5% first tipper, 5% tipper split. The author suggests the 5% first-tipper incentive can turn a tip into a referral, and notes that tipping also raises risks of fraud and sybil attacks.

## 32. 🧲 Airdrop Magnets

- Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Airdrop-Magnets?index=0x65a116268403452469ebd046d2c5d6c572d7fd9665c5b1aeb13675cd43f3503ed443f375
- Source: https://tpan.substack.com/p/261-airdrop-magnets?r=26ev6
- Shared 12 January 2024, 1 upvote, 0 comments

TPan's newsletter argues that airdrops are becoming a recurring trend in which certain assets, NFTs, and activities act as "airdrop magnets," and that the most recent example is the Saga phone. Over the past couple of months, Blur concluded season 2 of its airdrop campaign and Frame announced a token, among other projects. The article says Saga phones cost $599 after a December price cut from $1,000, and have since sold for several thousand dollars on eBay. Saga holders have also received airdrops, and Dymension's airdrop allocates part of its supply to Pudgy Penguins holders and several other groups.