Rug Radio Recap - March 26, 2023

gm! Outer Edge (formerly NFT LA) started this week, and NFT NYC is right around the corner. Although these events might not be as extravagant as last year, you can feel the excitement of everyone getting the opportunity to come together IRL. Speaking of IRL events, we'll be at Proof of People during NFT NYC on April 12 with more info coming soon!

We also wanted to give our friends at NFT Now a shoutout and say congrats for selling out their Now Pass! We're excited to work alongside y'all to build the future of web3 media.

Here's what we've got in this week's recap...

• Rug Radio Updates

• The SEC is not playing around

• Nifty Portal introduces Phase Two

Stubs Launch

After announcing our partnership with Fair.xyz last month, we successfully launched Stubs on Tuesday with each claim minting out within minutes.

Tune into GM Web3 Monday to Friday from 10:30am and 12pm ET to claim your $RUG and your STUBS, which you will be able to burn every weekend for a new piece of artwork. We'll also have the artist behind each week's Stub on GM Web3 every Monday to learn more about them and their art!

RugDAO approved 3 new proposals

After a week of voting, 3 new DAO proposals have passed that will contribute to the growth of the Rug Radio Ecosystem...

• Core Team Long Range Plan and Budget: The passing of the proposal provides the core team with $1.25 million USD in funding for the next 6 months.

• Probably Nothing x Rug Radio Token Partnership: The passing of this proposal establishes a partnership with Probably Nothing to integrate our $RUG utility token into their ecosystem.

• DAO Operational Council: The passing of this proposal elects the new 7 member DAO council who will oversee and support the DAO for the next 3 months.

Community Spotlight, Berndawgler

Berndawgler’s support for web3 communities that bring value to the space has helped those groups thrive, and with his upcoming Rug Roast show on Rug Radio, we’re about to learn how he and co-host OG vet successful projects with a dose of humor!

WagginWendy sat down with our new Community and Collabs Manager to talk Rug Radio, Rektguy, Roasting, and a pup with a famous name.

This week's recap is brought to you by Petaverse.

Imagine if your NFT could seamlessly integrate not only into video games, but also into cartoons, books, Twitch streams, your smartwatch, and virtually anywhere else, in such a way that it would remain relevant indefinitely and never become obsolete.

That's exactly what the team at Petaverse have built with their genesis collection of immortal digital pets with 'day 1' and 'soon to be released' features including:

• meme-o-tron app built for iOS, Android, and browser where you can create sharable content and interact with your pet in AR

• CatGPT (ChatGPT) integration where you can go on a text based adventure with your cat

• Beta VR experience for holders within the next month

• Twitch integration where you can bring your pet within a Twitch stream and interact with your audience

Their Genesis Collection is now minting for 0.15 ETH. If you buy three items, you'll get one free, and only rare, epic, and legendary cats are available in the public mint with unboxing and the launch of meme-o-tron starting tomorrow.

The SEC is not playing around

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ramped up its enforcement efforts on crypto this week, going as far as issuing an investor alert urging caution when investing in "crypto asset securities." Here's a few of the actions they took...

Issued Coinbase a Wells Notice

A Wells Notice is a letter sent by the SEC to notify an individual or a company that they are under investigation for potential violations of securities laws and that some type of enforcement action may be brought against them. In the letter, the SEC specifically called out the Coinbase spot market, Coinbase Earn - it's staking service, Coinbase Prime - it's institutional investing platform, and Coinbase Wallet.

In response to the notice, Coinbase published a blog post doubling down on it's previous claims that it does not list securities on the platform and said that while they have attempted to work with the SEC dozens of times in the past, they were largely ignored by the agency. Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong, also tweeted a thread providing additional context and stated that the company will fight against any action in court.

Filed Lawsuits against celebrities, Tron Founder

The SEC also filed lawsuits against 8 celebrities including Lindsey Lohan, Jake Paul, and rapper Soulja Boy accusing them of making undisclosed promotions of crypto currencies with most of them opting to pay the $400,000 USD fine.

Justin Sun, the founder of the Tron Foundation and cryptocurrency, was also sued by the SEC for market manipulation, fraud, and airdropping unregistered securities.

Issued a Subpoena to Sushi

Sushi, the organization behind Sushiswap, and "Head Chef" Jared Gray, were served a subpoena by the SEC suggesting a potential investigation. There isn't much additional information about what the agency is looking for, although a proposal was submitted to their DAO to establish a legal defense fund.

It's not just the SEC that came after crypto this week. The Whitehouse released it's 2023 economic report highlighting the negatives and blasting crypto as having "no fundamental value." On a slightly different tone, the IRS is requesting comments on a proposal to treat NFTs as collectibles, which have a cap of 28% on capital gains.

So, what does this mean for crypto? Well, we're just going to have to wait and see, but it's very apparent the SEC is now coming after crypto harder than ever before. The real issues arise from the lack of regulatory clarity around crypto assets, and while crypto companies are willing to work with regulators to develop common sense regulations, regulators don't appear to be as inviting to having those conversations.

It's important to remember that these are merely the challenges of a new industry with massive potential for disruption.

Magic Eden announced support for Bitcoin Ordinals (NFTs on Bitcoin) as they expand to expand on their multi-chain journey.

Telegram has announced that USDT, the largest stablecoin by market cap, can now be exchanged between users via chat.

Polygon partnered with Immutable to launch the Immutable zkEVM and 'make developing Web3 games faster, easier, and more secure for game studios and devs.'

Amazon further teased NFT plans in an email received by CoinDesk's managing editor for global policy and regulation, Nikhilesh De.

Nifty Portal introduced Phase Two starting with a free to claim NFT and new website where existing Nifty Portal holders will be able to unlock exclusive experiences.

Context

• Crypto was relatively volatile throughout past week due to a combination of banking concerns and the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates another 25 bps (.25%).

• Wrapped Punks, the ERC-721 compatible version of CryptoPunks, led the way in volume as trading opened on Blur.

• In the week ahead, expect volatility as the SEC continues it's crackdown on crypto. We'll also get more economic data such as PCE, another measure of inflation, and see the potential for more concerns surrounding banks.