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šŸ“#109: Multi Trillion Dollar Opportunity

Nvidia's Project DIGITS. Blackrock's new stablecoin. State of Web3 adoption 2025. AI agent updates. Thailand accepts Bitcoin payment. Ubisoft's new Web3 game.

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Marc Baumann, Sangam Bharti
January 11, 2025 5 min read
šŸ“#109: Multi Trillion Dollar Opportunity

Hey, it’s Marc. We just launched another newsletter ā€œ51xā€ focusing exclusively on AI x crypto. Subscribe below to get the alpha as long as it’s free

ā€œAI agents are a multi-trillion dollar opportunity.ā€

— Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA at CES 2025

Last week, we explored the intersection of crypto and AI, asking: What will define this cycle’s key driver? The answer was decisive.

This week’s question:

šŸ‘‰ Keep up with all our signals for Web3 execs on our Telegram channel.

Let’s dive in🦈

šŸ“š Our Top Reads This Week

  • State of Web3 Adoption Report 2025. Link
  • Agents will eat the world. Marc Baumann. Link
  • What 2025 will bring for financial AI agents. Link
  • 2024 Year End Crypto M&A and Financing Report. Architect Partners. Link
  • Nike should have never killed its NFTs. Fast Company. Link
  • NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang Keynote at CES 2025. Link
  • The Future of Enterprise AI. Aaron Levie. Link
  • Layer 1s. Our Network. Link

The State of Web3 Adoption 2025

2024 may have seemed quiet, but beneath the surface, decentralization was taking hold. From stablecoins and memecoins to crypto x AI, these aren’t isolated trends—they’re signals of a deeper shift reshaping the way businesses and communities interact.

In 2025, we’ll see tokenized AI agents, user-driven ecosystems, and corporate strategies realigning with community-powered progress.

The report breaks it all down:

  • Key trends in stablecoins, AI, and memecoins
  • Data on adoption across Fortune 500 companies
  • Case studies on brands like Hugo Boss and Alo Yoga
  • Insights from 30+ industry leaders

TL;DR:

  • Memecoins & AI break out and global DAUs in crypto crossed 18M in December
  • Over 50% of Interbrand’s Top 100 Global Brands have launched NFT collections with mixed results
  • Avalanche with major wins in sports & commerce thanks to Cleveland Cavaliers Sports Illustrated Tickets
  • Brands aren't just sticking to Roblox – they are expanding into gaming on Fortnite, Telegram mini-games, and more
  • In 2024, Roblox evolved beyond gaming into a sales channel for brands, driving major IRL sales ahead of its 2025 Shopify integration
  • Gaming in Web3 is booming, with over 3.1K blockchain-based games and a market cap of $23.5B
  • Karate Combat , a full-contact sports league, pioneers a new fan engagement and loyalty model with Web3
    ... and much more.

What’s next: PART 2 of The State of Web3 Adoption 2025—trends, insights, and case studies on Stablecoins, Crypto AI, and Memes & Community.

BlackRock Backed Another Stablecoin

Frax Finance is rebranding its core stablecoin FRAX USD to, frxUSD. [Proposal]

It is backed by BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), and tokenized by Securitize.

What you should know:

  • Direct Fiat Redemption: Users can redeem frxUSD for fiat currency directly, bridging the gap between TradFi and DeFi
  • Secure and Transparent: Backed by cash, U.S. Treasury bills, and repurchase agreements (held within the BUIDL fund), ensuring full on-chain audibility
  • Regulatory Compliance: Designed to align with U.S. financial systems for institutional-grade trust and reliability

Why it matters: BUIDL manages $530M in assets, primarily U.S. Treasury bills. By backing frxUSD with institutional-grade assets and enabling direct fiat redemption, it sets a new standard for stablecoins—aligning with U.S. regulations and paving the way for broader institutional adoption.

Stepping back: Backed by BUIDL fund and launched by Securitize, Ethena Labs launched UStb, a stablecoin that invests in US Treasury securities.

What’s next: frxUSD will enable direct fiat conversions through Paxos and Frax plans to launch Staked Frax USD (sfrxUSD) for yield generation alongside frxUSD.

šŸ‘‰ We’ll publish a series of Web3 enterprise & consumer reports. Be the first to get them by signing up for the first report here:

NVIDIA’s new AI supercomputer

NVIDIA announced the Digits personal AI supercomputer for $3000 that 1000x more powerful than the average laptop and runs an LLM with 200B parameters.

Just 2 years ago, running 's GPT-3 required a massive data center. Now you can do it on something the size of a Mac Mini.

Why it matters:

  1. Complete AI Independence: Run and fine-tune 200B models without relying on cloud services. This eliminates recurring costs, latency issues, and privacy concerns.
  2. Accessible Power: At $3k, this is gaming PC territory. It’s not just for research labs anymore—startups, students, and independent developers can all access this tech.
  3. Democratizing AI: The barrier to entry for AI innovation just collapsed. Expect a new wave of AI startups experimenting and building from their desks.

This is the democratization of AI at hyperspeed.

Nvidia's shares climbed 3.4% after Jensen Huang's (CEO) bullish speech at CES 2025 on Tuesday. In November, NVIDIA became the world's most valuable company.

šŸš€ Work With 51: Scale Your Web3 x AI Corporate Adoption

Our industry OGs, vast network, research team & 70k+ B2B audience help you:

  • Co-publish enterprise-grade reports with us, driving traffic and boosting B2B outbound conversion rates.
  • Execute a multi-channel growth campaign that delivers better results than anything else in Web3's consumer space.

🚨 Other Highlights You Can’t Miss

  • Takeaways for Consumer AI from NVIDIA’s CEO keynote at CES 2025. Link
  • RTFKT is building a community of creators and builders. Link
  • Ubisoft launched a new Web3 game, Captain Laserhawk: The G.A.M.E. Link
  • Thailand is launching a Bitcoin payment pilot program in Phuket. Link

šŸ‘‰ Keep up with all our signals for Web3 execs on our Telegram channel.

šŸ’° Money Moves

  • SoSoValue: Crypto market data platform raised $15M led by HongShan, SmallSpark, Mirana Ventures, and SafePal. Link
  • AlloyX: Payment infrastructure company raised $10M led by Solowin. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

Talk soon,

– Marc & Team

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