Weekly Wrap Up - Snoop Dogg is Shilling, Polygon Rolls Out ZK ID, Revolut is Profitable, Unity Adds MetaMask & More!

Join Tedd Huff of Fintech Confidential, and Bruce Burke of #PAY as they discuss the latest developments in the world of fintech and web3 technology on this week's wrap-up of Bullet Point Bulletins stories.

$33 billion fintech giant Revolut reports first-ever annual profit

Gaming engine Unity adds MetaMask functionality among new Web3 tools

Polygon launches decentralized ID product powered by ZK proofs

Snoop Dogg to Launch 'Shiller': The Live Streaming App Where Everything is Shoppable

$33 billion fintech giant Revolut reports first-ever annual profit

• Revolut, a fintech giant, reported its first-ever annual profit in 2021, with revenues of £636.2 million ($767.1 million) and a pre-tax profit of £59.1 million.
• The company's success was due to the growth in subscriptions to its paid packages and overall app usage, along with diligent cost control and a diversified business.
• Revolut expects revenue growth of more than 30% to £850 million in 2022.
• The company competes with other digital banks such as Wise, Monzo, and Starling.
• Revolut has expanded into overseas markets such as the U.S., Brazil, Mexico, and India and has over 25 million users worldwide.
• The company has been pursuing a banking license in the U.K. for the past two years to source more income from lending activity.
• Revolut faced concerns from U.K. regulators over the robustness of its internal financial controls and an aggressive working culture, which led to departures of key regulatory and compliance executives.
• Revolut's crypto business deteriorated sharply, accounting for only 5% to 10% of sales in 2022, down from roughly a third in 2021.
• As a privately held firm, Revolut is not required to share frequent quarterly reports.
• Revolut hopes to obtain its U.K. banking license "very soon" and secure external funding.

Blockchain Founders Fund raises $75M to encourage Web3 mass adoption

• Blockchain Founders Fund has raised $75 million in a fundraising round to support the adoption of Web3 and blockchain technology.
• The fund will focus on supporting high-potential early-stage pre-seed and seed projects that encourage the mass adoption of Web3 and blockchain technology.
• The fund has already invested in over 100 startups, including Altered State Machine, Splinterlands, GRID, Krayon, and Magna.
• The fund plans to potentially spread its investments across more than 200 companies within the next 12 months.
• The fund will focus on early-stage Web3 companies with strong teams, a demonstrated ability to execute their vision, and a clear, viable business plan that demonstrates a solid understanding of the target market and competitive landscape.
• The Blockchain Founders Fund takes a team-centric approach when evaluating investments to ensure that only well-rounded teams are chosen for funding.
• The fund navigates regulatory uncertainty by staying abreast of emerging trends in blockchain governance as they continue to evolve over time.
• Venture capital investments are shifting toward "non-volatile innovations," including cross-chain bridges, payments and remittances, lending, decentralized autonomous organizations, asset management, and digital identity management.
• Despite a pullback in venture capital spending by investors in Q4 2022, investors are still looking to bankroll blockchain-based technologies, applications, and startups.
• The Blockchain Founders Fund leverages its industry connections, including leading institutions and investors in the space, to help its portfolio companies succeed.

Gaming engine Unity adds MetaMask functionality among new Web3 tools

• Unity has added a "Decentralization" category page in its asset store, featuring 13 "vetted" crypto platforms, including MetaMask, Solana, and Tezos, to assist developers interested in merging decentralization into their projects.
• MetaMask's software development kit (SDK) was added to help developers enable users to connect their MetaMask wallet to "any game developed on Unity."
• The integrations will allow developers to modify the "models of ownership" in games and enable players to create, earn or acquire in-game resources, which can be subsequently traded or sold.
• A recent DappRadar report revealed that gamers made up nearly half (48%) of all blockchain activity in January 2023.
• Increasing mainstream coverage of announcements and news related to Web3 gaming contributes to a rise in activity.
• Blockchain gaming is already "a vertical" in the traditional industry, and it will bring "more adoption" to Web3 games, which will "become mainstream."
• The "major challenge" with blockchain gaming is getting "casual gamers" into the market because of the perception that blockchain games are of "inferior quality."

Polygon launches decentralized ID product powered by ZK proofs

• Polygon has launched a zero-knowledge decentralized identity solution, Polygon ID, to the public.
• Polygon ID was first launched in a closed-environment to select builders nearly a year ago.
• The service uses zero-knowledge proofs (ZK proofs) to allow users to verify their identity online without revealing sensitive information.
• Polygon claims to be the first ZK-based digital ID tool that allows users to hold credentials locally on handheld devices such as smartphones.
• The public release introduces four new tools to the Polygon ID toolset for developers to integrate identity solutions into their applications.
• Users can produce zero-knowledge proofs using off-chain credentials to interact with smart contracts and verify information on-chain.
• Multiple Web3 projects, including Kaleido, Fractal, and Collab.Land, have committed to integrating Polygon ID upon launch.
• The co-founder of Polygon ID, David Schwartz, said the product was built on the latest decentralized identity standards.
• Other Web3 projects, such as The Sandbox and Guild.xyz, are also in the process of integrating Polygon ID.
• Polygon is a suite of blockchain protocols for developers built to scale Ethereum, including Layer-2s (zero-knowledge), sidechains, hybrids, and app-specific.

Snoop Dogg to Launch 'Shiller': The Live Streaming App Where Everything is Shoppable

• Snoop Dogg and UK tech entrepreneur Sam Jones are launching a live broadcast platform for content creators called Shiller.
• The app combines web3 technology with live, interactive video and audio streaming to monetize following and connect with audiences.
• Shiller will launch in April 2023 and already has an army of approved creators ready for launch.
• The app allows creators to token-gate their video and audio, share products from commerce sites, and promote popular NFTs.
• Creators can receive tips and virtual gifts from their audience, engage with their audience through emojis, chat, split screens, voting, and games.
• The app also allows creators to create their own tokens and digital passes, which can be featured on the Shiller marketplace.
• Shiller is built on the OOOOO (five Aut) commerce platform, which has been 3 years in the making.
• The app aims to revolutionize the content creation industry and provides a one-stop-shop for creators.
• Social commerce gross merchandise volume surpassed $400 billion in 2022, according to McKinsey.
• Shiller is open to applications for creators.

Also, watch the entire episode on youtube.

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Tedd Huff: President & Founder of Diamond D3, a professional services consulting firm focused on global payments and marketing. He is also a video podcast host and producer of Fintech Confidential and Head of Corporate Strategy at Corvia. 

Over the past 24 years, he has contributed to FinTech startups as an Advisory Board Member, Co-Founder, and Chief Experience Officer, providing strategic and tactical direction for Global Payments OpenEdge, Heartland Payments, Nuvei, and TSYS, among others, focusing on growth while delivering innovation, process improvements and user experience-driven value to simplify the complexity of payments.

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