Happy Monday!

I’m sure many of us are nursing our collective hangovers from Halloweekend. Remember, as Nietzsche said, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Nietzche, right!?

I know, I was surprised too. That phrase wasn’t invented by Kelly Clarkson or some midwestern gym teacher in the late 90’s.

Anyway, let's brace ourselves for this week and make Kelly proud as we boldly dive into the news.

Espresso Shots

☕️ Visa gets in on crypto wallets 💳 📈

Financial titan, Visa, has filed two trademark applications pertaining to NFTs and digital wallets. The first trademark will establish Visa’s own wallet for digital currency and the second will allow for trading, transmitting, and storing NFTs and crypto.

The company plans to also create a virtual environment where users can interact, trade, and stream entertainment. Not content to control only 50% of the world’s total card payments, it was only a matter of time before Visa made forays into web3.

Rumor has it that Visa has a team of programmers working around the clock on their virtual banks, which will feature high resolution bulletproof glass and a long line of college student NPCs waiting for laundry quarters.

☕️ Breaking News: Bitcoin looks… stable? 💰🚨

After a long, rocky road, it would seem that Bitcoin is solidly green, undergoing a 6.8% hike last week. What makes this even more notable is that this past week has been an absolute nightmare for large tech stocks. 

Google dropped 6.2%, Apple dropped 13.3%, and Meta crashed a whopping 23.5%. One feature that may have been playing to Bitcoin’s advantage is that Bitcoin doesn’t have earnings announcements!

So, even after an incredibly tumultuous year, Bitcoin, like my parents’ marriage, is surprisingly stable.

☕️ Hungary & Thailand get in on crypto! 🇭🇺🤝🇹🇭

5,000 miles away, two different, national, financial institutions were having two very similar conversations. Both Hungary and Thailand have signed the Memorandum of Understanding, supporting the introduction of blockchain into their countries’ financial sectors.

These two countries plan to work together to successfully integrate the tech. They intend to, “share experiences, best practices, and explore areas potentially beneficial for direct cooperation,” said the Hungarian Embassy in Bangkok. It's a fun, odd couple! Goulash meets Pad Thai! 

Also the, “Memorandum of Understanding” is a really cool name. Rumor is the naming committee also floated, “the Scroll of Acknowledgement,” and “the Tome of ‘We Get It.’”

Spilling the Beans

Let’s talk about Nouns!

No, not the main part of like, every sentence!

We’re talking about the multi-million dollar pixel art NFTs that have been making serious waves in the space. A new Noun drops every day, and since the first Noun was unveiled last year, a pixelated fox character, Nouns DAO has amassed 29,000 ETH worth about $45 million.

Now, pixelated art is nothing new in the NFT space, what is new, is how these Nouns are being implemented. The 32-pixel by 32-pixel characters are randomly generated every day and once purchased, there are various customizations and accessories available.

But what makes Nouns truly unique is the community. Web3 proponents will talk about how they plan to take the internet back and establish true, digital equality. Well, Nouns DAO is taking real, actionable steps to do just that.

That $45 million we mentioned earlier? That’s currently sitting in Nouns DAO’s treasury where it’s being used for an insane array of proposals.

DAOs or Decentralized Autonomous Organizations are collectives where groups make decisions by proposal. In the case of Nouns DAO, proposals are as varied as donating crypto to various causes to going all in on the rights to name a new species of frog. 

The proposals are submitted and voted upon by the growing community of Nouns owners. Each member receives one vote for every Noun they own. There is currently no maximum on the number of Noun NFTs that a user can purchase, but a minimum of two Nouns are required for a user to submit a proposal.

There’s a lot to be excited about in the Noun space and they’re definitely an NFT and a community to keep your eye on. 

With the success of Nouns, it’s only a matter of time before “Verb” is released and be on the lookout for the ever-confusing “Gerund” sometime this summer.

Meme of the Day

Spinoff, anyone?

The Last Sip

Honestly, I had to hold myself back from writing a longer list of the proposals that Noun DAO is enacting, cause they’re really fun and wacky. Here are some of the best ones:

• They’re creating a documentary about Nouns with the creators of Robot Chicken. 🤖🐓

• They want to secure ad space in the 2022 Super Bowl for Nouns. 🏈

• Particularly pertinent to this newsletter, Nouns launched their own brand of coffee, Nouns Coffee, which is available in stores and of course, online. ☕️

If anybody has tried Nouns Coffee, please let us know how it is!

Stay Caffeinated,

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.