Hey, it’s Marc. This week is loaded with alpha – don’t miss our top under-the-radar macro signals at the bottom.

“On Zepeto, particularly when it comes to clothing and fashion, there’s a much higher propensity to spend on digital goods.”

— Barney Lynch, Account Director, GEEIQ

This week’s question:

👉 Keep up with all our signals for Web3 execs on our Telegram channel.

Let’s dive in🦈

📚 Our Top Reads This Week

• Report: The Dawn of AI Agents. 51x. Link
• The Solana Thesis: Internet Capital Markets. Multicoin Capital. Link
• State of Web3 Adoption Report 2025. 51 Insights. Link
• The Tech Stack: A New Internet Architecture. Outlier Ventures. Link
• Scaling Ethereum L1 and L2s in 2025 and beyond. Vitalik. Link
• Electric Capital: 2025 Crypto Landscape. SBR. Link
• TRUMP and Its Implications. TPAN. Link

🚨 We’re going to release an exclusive report on Web3 for sports & entertainment soon. Sign up below to be among the first to get it:

Ethereum is Missing Its Moment

The Ethereum community is buzzing with controversy following Vitalik Buterin’s update on the Ethereum Foundation’s leadership shakeup.

TLDR:

He wants to boost technical expertise, improve ecosystem communication, and support app builders to promote decentralization, privacy, and censorship resistance.

But here’s the real problem: 🤯

it’s too little, too slow, and far too disconnected from the realities of today’s market.

Ethereum has become a giant asleep at the wheel.

• They missed the meme coin boom (love it or hate it, it drove massive adoption elsewhere).
• They’re nowhere in AI tokens despite AI’s global takeover
• Their marketing and PR? A ghost town. Where are the bold campaigns? The moves to onboard corporates, institutional investors, or mainstream users?

"Sharding" is in the works since 5+ years, but transaction speed and cost are still nowhere competitive.

Ethereum's market dominance dropped 50% to a mere 10% in 2024.

And while Ethereum tinkers with its internal structure and ideologies, competitors are shipping products, capturing market share, and defining the future.

Punchline: Ethereum struggles to find its place among top L1s for consumer and corporate adoption. One thing is clear: Leadership needs to step-up.

Circle Acquires Hashnote

Circle acquired Hashnote, the issuer of the world’s largest tokenized money market fund (TMMF), US Yield Coin (USYC), valued at over $1.25B. [Announcement]

Goal? To connect cash and yield-bearing assets with USYC-USDC integration.

What does this mean?

• Crypto capital markets: Instant convertibility and faster access to collateral
• TradFi: Unlocks blockchain-enabled efficiency, driving liquidity and transparency at an unprecedented scale.

Why it matters: Traditional financial institutions have relied on fragmented systems to manage collateral and cash. Circle’s approach puts both on the blockchain, enabling real-time transactions, better risk management, and broader institutional participation.

By the data: With the RWA sector already valued at $7.89B, it signals the rise of tokenized RWAs—assets like Treasury bills, tokenized and deployed on blockchain.

What’s next: Circle plans to deploy USDC natively on the Canton Network—a blockchain designed for secure financial applications. With over $3.6T in RWA issued and $1.5T in repo transactions monthly, Canton is positioned to be a critical bridge for institutional finance moving on-chain.

E-Commerce on Metaverse

Walmart launched an e-commerce experience for physical goods on Zepeto.

What you should know:

• Users can order Walmart clothing directly through the Zepeto app through Walmart’s account without re-entering payment info.
• Select in-store purchases, which include free virtual equivalents on Zepeto.

Why it matters: Walmart is bridging digital and physical retail in the metaverse. Success with virtual try-ons on Zepeto (20M monthly users, 70% Gen Z, mostly female) led to real-world e-commerce integration and a perfect testing ground.

Zooming in: Walmart partnered with Zepeto last year, enabling users to try on No Boundaries virtual outfits since October 2024, with a second drop in November.

• 3.5M+ virtual try-ons since October.
• 1.3M virtual garment purchases.
• 1.87M Zepeto content pieces featuring Walmart items.

Stepping back: In 2024, Walmart entered the metaverse by launching an e-commerce experience on Roblox in April, followed by its own virtual world platform, Walmart Realm, in May.

The power of data: Walmart leverages Zepeto to understand:

• Virtual design trends: Graphic designs and phrases outperform plain items.
• Gen Z preferences: Insights into virtual and real-world apparel choices.

This data could shape Walmart’s strategies across Roblox, Fortnite, and Minecraft. By focusing on clothing instead of accessories, Walmart aligns with Zepeto’s core strengths.

Walmart's Approach to Web3, Community and Innovation

Hi, it’s Marc. ✌️

51 Insights – Web3 for Business Marc Baumann

Project Stargate: A $500B AI Push

Donald Trump announced Project Stargate, a $500B joint venture by OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle.

The goal? Building a robust U.S.-based AI data centre network.

What you should know:

• Job Creation: Promises over 100,000 American jobs

• Massive Stakeholders: Major tech players like Microsoft, NVIDIA, Arm, and Oracle are backing the effort, with billions in funding already pledged

  • Microsoft: $80B; SoftBank: $24.3B; MGX: $100B & Oracle: $11B

• Starting Point: The first phase starts in Abilene, Texas, with 10 data centres already in construction. Plans could expand to 20 centres

What they say: The project has sparked debate, with Elon Musk questioning the financial viability, but key investors are doubling down on the venture’s potential.

Punchline: According to FT, Stargate has no fully developed plan, hasn’t yet secured funding, will get no government financing, and will exclusive serve OpenAI once operational.

🚨 Other Highlights You Can’t Miss

• The US strategic Bitcoin reserve is coming. Link
• Hugo Boss launched AI-powered product content globally. Link
• Coach adopted generative AI to create "digital twins" of their handbags. Link
• UCLA athletes and students will use CUDIS smart rings for health tracking. Link
• Crypto.com secures MiCA in-principle approval. Link
• OpenAI launched its AI agent, Operator. Link

👉 Keep up with all our signals for Web3 execs on our Telegram channel.

🚨 Top Under-The-Radar Macro Signals

• Bitcoin:

  • MicroStrategy now holds 461,000 BTC ($29.3B total), adding 11K BTC for $1.1B at $101K each, with a 1.69% YTD yield.

  • El Salvador added 12 BTC, boosting its reserves to 6,044.18 BTC.

  • Rumble’s first Bitcoin purchase was on January 17 with plans to invest $20M in Bitcoin.

• Regulation:

  • The SEC has rescinded SAB 121, clearing the path for U.S. banks to offer digital asset custody. Under new SAB 122, banks will report custody risks as contingent liabilities, enabling more involvement in crypto & tokenization services.

  • Senator Cynthia Lummis to chair senate panel on digital assets. “US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, pretty much confirmed”, tweets CZ, former Binance CEO.

💰 Money Moves

• Phantom: Crypto wallet raised $150M Series C led by Sequoia Capital & Paradigm. Link
• Komainu: Centralized exchange raised $75M led by Blockstream Capital Partners. Link
• Raspberry AI: AI startup raised $24M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz. Link
• SOON: Solana protocol raised $22M through an NFT sale. Link
• Oshi: Anime fandom platform raised $12.5M led by Polychain Capital. Link
• Merit System: Blockchain infra company raised $10M from a16z crypto. Link
• GTE: DEX raised $10M led by Maven 11 and Wintermute. Link

That’s all for now, folks.

Talk soon,

– Marc & Team

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