Happy Thursday! This is Coffee & Crypto, the only newsletter that you can put in the fridge and pour over ice in the afternoon. 

Espresso Shots

Big news from the day!

☕️ Crypto.com - of Matt Damon fame - is expanding into France. Along with this expansion, Crypto.com has committed a $145 Million investment and the establishment of a European Union headquarters in Paris. This investment comes after Crypto.com won approval from French regulators to operate as a Digital Asset Service Provider. Anyway, congrats to Crypto.com on your French vacation, we’ll stay tuned for your new Croissant and Crypto newsletter.

☕️ Avengers assemble! Kind of. Microsoft and Meta CEOs Satya Nadella and Mark Zuckerberg came together at Connect 2022 to announce that Microsoft Office products are coming to the world of Virtual Reality! Which means that Virtual Reality finally has everything you’ve ever wanted: Games, Movies, and uh… Excel? Yay! Hopefully Clippy makes an appearance or something.

☕️ NFTs aren’t just for degenerates living in the basement! They’re also for 10 year olds! That’s right, Barbie is dropping an NFT. The Mattel toy brand announced via Twitter that they’re teaming up with the Boss Beauties collection on a 15,000 collectible drop aimed at encouraging girls to pursue leadership opportunities. Going a step further, Barbie & Boss Beauties have committed to jointly donating $250,000 to helping girls around the world develop leadership skills. 

Spilling the Beans

Hello…? Anyone out there?? 

It turns out the Metaverse is… uh empty. 

Of the many things people love about Crypto and the Blockchain, perhaps the most beloved is transparency. That means that it’s really hard to keep a secret in Web3. Two Metaverse companies discovered exactly that this week.

According to DappRadar, a data aggregator that tracks the unique users on Decentralized Apps, two of the biggest Metaverses out there are apparently… empty. 

Sandbox & Decentraland are both Metaverse products worth over $1 Billion. And with a valuation like that, you might think those products would be popular. Think again! 

According to user tracking data, neither of these billion dollar Metaverses are seeing more than a few hundred users per day! 

These mass disparities in active users and market caps are eye-popping. So how should this make us feel? On one hand, looking at the market cap to active user ratio, there’s very clearly still inflated value in corners of the Crypto space. On the other hand, it’s hard not to understand the role a Metaverse might play in the future. I mean, just look at how much money Facebook is dumping into it!

It’s also worth noting here that Decentraland did dispute the metrics used by DappRadar, claiming that Decentraland saw at least a few thousand users a day. Even if those numbers are more accurate, they’re still not exactly impressive numbers.

So is the Metaverse a dud? It’s honestly probably too early to know. Metaverses today look a bit like the MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) of the mid 2000s. Games like Runesacape and World of Warcraft and NeoPets where you have an avatar and a bank account and some tasks you do to level up. 

We’re likely a long ways away from a true Metaverse where you can socialize, create, and work. 

But, If you’re reading this newsletter, you’re probably aware that believing in Crypto requires a bit of a belief in the future. So, let’s practice a bit of patience! Remember, nothing helps patience like chugging that third cup of coffee and vibrating in your desk chair while reading an email.

Meme of the Day

Doesn't mean we're gonna stop trying. 

The Last Sip

We here at Coffee & Crypto do our best to sum up the days events for you, both the important stories and the ones that make us chuckle! This falls somewhere in between:

Yes, Elon did actually launch a perfume.  And for some reason, he didn't call it Elon's Musk which seems like a pretty massive missed opportunity. So what is it called? Burnt Hair. Seriously.

No, we're not totally sure if it actually smells like Burnt Hair but we did buy a bottle and we'll let you know. As always, you can trust us to tackle the hard-hitting stories. Ok, that's it from us today!

Stay caffeinated,

The Coffee & Crypto Team

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.