Written by: John "JAYEL" Lasak

Now is a good moment to zoom out for some perspective. What do you think I am referring to with this statement? I made that statement with one topic in mind, but since I've started typing, I'm realizing it’s applicable to many things right now.

Zoom out to see all the blessings you have in life. Whether it be your family, pet, computer, working internet, or the ability to walk. Zoom out to see how far you have come in this life, and that you are on your own path to your own destination. Zoom out to see that time you were struggling in the past, and overcame the moment, while becoming stronger and better than before.

The current moment in time is just that, a moment in time. What is time? It is everything and it is nothing. What am I talking about? I’m not sure. I've been watching too much Archive 81.

What I meant to start the letter with, is that we should zoom out for some perspective on the current market conditions. In crypto and stocks, we are plummeting. However, if you zoom out we are still way up—even in the one year charts. Moments like this remind us all that long-term investing is the only kind of investing, and if you try to time markets for short-term gains, you are fooling yourself. We may time some things right and think we are able to put the good in our favor forever, but we are mistaken. It is better to have a long-term mindset be your habit and best practice, because it will help you more often than its counter.

I don’t care to talk much about market conditions, because all of the opinions are hypothetical, biased and made out of thin air. But I also love to talk about my opinions of market conditions lol.

My crypto opinion starts with a question for you. What has changed in the advancement, adoption, and understanding of crypto and related blockchain and web3 technology? In the past year—or for those of us who have lost the ability to reference time, since the COVID pandemic started, what has changed with these innovations? The answer, is that this technology has exploded across the world and everyone and everything has their eyes on it. Tons of venture capital money is pouring into web3 developments, companies and projects. Crypto is discussed daily by smart and big money; Countries are publicly buying Bitcoin reserves.

The main reason you probably invested in cryptocurrency in the first place, is still very true and becoming reality in front of our very own eyes. Crypto's future use and related innovations like web3 and blockchain are being aggressively developed. Some of the best young minds in programming are starting their careers and educations in this world for the chance to be a true pioneer and force of change in the world.

As a technology investor, which you are if you touch crypto like Ethereum and Bitcoin, one of the biggest things you need to know is the employee talent. Crypto and web3 has extraordinary technical talent filling its ranks right now. The ecosystem is healthy and the future is bright. Hold on and enjoy the ride, this is not something you want to get off of and it is a long-term investment. The last sentence is not financial advice and it is not applicable to you if you have over leveraged yourself and need to withdraw money for your safety and well-being. But, if you invested because you wanted to be a part of this journey and believe in our future being more technical and evolved in its financial sector, just think about a time horizon of five to twenty years. Also, if you wish you took out some money this last time, try to pick a number you would be happy to profit at for next time. This way, when it reaches that number, no matter what hype or news is going on, you will know the number to at least take something out 😊

With all that being said, I am right there with you, a drop in the market is something that makes us all frown a bit. It just helps to have the mentioned strategies and fundamentals for coping.

💾 Twitter implements NFT verification

Twitter is officially the first big tech company to make a real move in the web3 space. The platform is allowing users to connect their wallets to verify the NFTs they own. Once this verification transaction is complete, users can have their Twitter pfps (profile pictures) change from its original circle to a new hexagon.

I have not done this yet, because I've heard there is a decent gas fee involved (I haven't personally tried), and I'm really just not that interested in doing it right now. However, if nothing else, it is nice to see Twitter give back to its NFT community in a way like this. I don't think I can remember seeing or being a part of a platform that has genuinely acknowledged a part of its users and made such an enhancement for them. There is definitely very big incentive for Twitter to implement a feature like this, especially with all the hype swirling around web3 and their stock price plummeting (down 49% in last 6 months, down 27% in last year), but it is nice that the users get some feeling of inclusion.

There is a catch, though. You can only pay your transaction fee to show an official NFT on your profile if you also pay for the new Twitter Blue subscription ($2.99 per month). As a Twitter investor, these things make me happy to see. They don't push the boundaries too much, but they are trying new things to make money while also providing some pretty unique values. You can read more about Twitter Blue here and you can see a Twitter profile with their pfp NFT verified in the picture below ⬇️

💾 Microsoft buys Activision Blizzard for $69b

This headline completely caught me off-guard when I saw it. Activision Blizzard is the creator and manager of games like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Halo. The deal really adds to the depth that Microsoft holds as a behemoth of a company.

With Facebook (Meta), Google and Microsoft clamoring for the metaverse, this deal makes the war very interesting. Facebook holds the keys to AR/VR with their Oculus, Google holds the internet, and now Microsoft holds the most powerful suite of video game creators. It's an exciting time to be following this area of business.

Many people have been excited about the possibilities for Call of Duty with this deal. For me, I'm most excited about the Warcraft series. Considering Microsoft is looking to expand into the metaverse and the gaming industry is still surprisingly untapped by this evolution, I believe Microsoft will look to leverage their new gaming arm with NFTs and other inputs. Warcraft has always stood out to me when thinking about NFTs and other integrations to web3. The World of Warcraft universe is so grand and detailed; Digital trade and commerce has been conducted on its servers for over a decade now. I think the game will see some very interesting developments in the future.

🎶 Weekly music selection

Back-to-back weeks with the Brazilian house DJ, KVSH. I like this set better than last weeks, and the whole thing is a good time. We loved listening to it while closing out work on Friday 😎

KVSH sunset set at Sollares Salvador 🌅🇧🇷

☮️ I hope you have a great week!

Lets all close January out on a strong note, this is the last full week of the first month of the year 😱 Good vibes and good focus 💪

If you want some more headlines to check out, here are some other updates 😊

🌊 OpenSea acquires Dharma Labs and appoints new CTO

💳 Coinbase partners with Mastercard for NFT purchases

🏈 Tom Brady out of the playoffs

Thank you for reading and stay blessed 🙏
Tú amigo,
John

‍