In this issue:

• This Week in Neo Tokyo: Neo Tokyo Will Always Stand Tall (by PhoenixxDown)

• Meet Your Neo Tokyo Community Leads: Photoshopped_AF (by Block Editor)

• Rune June: What To Watch (by PhoenixxDown)

Another week, another new partnership announced. Citizen led mobile game ecosystem, Super Champs, has officially joined forces with The Citadel. Find out what this means for you, the citizen, by listening back to the AMA from earlier this week here. 

Also, a playtest/game night is scheduled to take place soon. Stay updated by keeping an eye on the gaming-announcements channel.

What exactly is Neo Tokyo? It’s a fair question, and not one that can be answered simply. Thankfully, our good friend LeBoomington is on the case, discussing topics such as what $BYTES are, how to maximize your experience in The Citadel, and whether The Citadel is even right for you. This video is perfect for anyone curious about joining. Check it out:

Content wise, this is how things shaped up:

Degen Digest: Wew! ZeHI, Shamsi, and BWY wasted no time in clinching one of the hottest guests of the week: Beau, founder of Market Elites. He reviewed his recent controversial split from Steady Stack, his current market moves, and his future plans. A very spicy episode. Watch the unedited live discussion back here.

NFT Market Monday: Are we near the top already!? The Market Monday show discussed this horrific possibility and much more. In the words of Seize, “Come for the market advice, stay for Photoshopped_AF discussing Iggy Azalea’s bottom,” which sums up this episode quite nicely.

Interlinked Episode #32: Jarred and Nick are joined by Darrel Wijaya, Co-Founder of Creo Engine. Creo Engine is an all-in-one gaming hub and web3 gaming experience with the full support of the Indonesian Government! Darrel discusses CREO tokenomics, AI, and of course, that impressive collaboration with the government of Indonesia.

Gamestarter AMA: Ben sits down with the founder of Gamestarter, Andrew Miron, to discuss the gaming launchpad, which boasts over 50 projects and more than $23 million raised so far! Listen back here.

STR8FIRE AMA: CitCap hosted an discussion with their latest exciting investment opportunity - STR8FIRE. Discover how they aim to redefine the entertainment industry by listening back here.

Also, revisit the conversation with Animoca Brands' CEO of Investments, Robby Yung, on the future of Web3 gaming at Token2049 - hosted in part by Neo Tokyo. The talk centers around numerous factors positively impacting the gaming industry.

And ICYMI, we recently had our 23rd Town Hall, featuring citizen founder updates, the usual division and team updates, current progress, and a Q&A session. Listen to the top secret, classified recording here.

Citizens, be aware that you will now receive some major benefits in the Overworld Arena! The game is live, and you can check out all the details here.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned in these 2 and a half years, it's that Titans may fall, but Neo Tokyo will always stand tall. Here’s a poignant message shared by Citizen Lead, Fauve, on what Neo Tokyo means to him - sentiments that I’m sure we all share:

And on that note, one of the many reasons why The Citadel has weathered so many brutal storms while others have crumbled is due to the ethos it’s foundations were built upon: “Ask not what The Citadel can do for you, but what you can do for The Citadel." This is honored by all, regardless of position in our metacity.

Until next week, citizens.

Only a few days in and already 8M $XBLAZE staked! 

Users are staking $XBLAZE to move up the leaderboard and win allocation to early-stage launches on the Trailblaze launchpad.

Check out Trailblaze and start staking -> https://trailblaze.xyz/

Backed by the Mighty Labs DAO, Trailblaze is revolutionizing Web3 fundraising through its unique fair launch model.

Forget low float/high FDV, Trailblaze is bringing quality projects through community-driven sourcing and due diligence.

And tune into our NFT Market Monday X Space on Monday 10th June at 3pm EST to learn more about this exciting project!

• Discord ID: photoshopped_af

• Background: Comedy, film, business

• Entered Crypto: 2020

• Joined NT: S1 Mint

• Expertise: Graphic Design, Branding

• Most Known For: Memes, BYTES logo

• Reason for Joining Leads: To give back to the community that taught him so much

• One Word: Optimistic

• Outside Interests: Travel

The Citadel’s favorite memologist started out with a varied background that most likely helped hone his comedic skills. Photoshopped_af hails from a family of artists and this helped develop his love for art and graphic design. His entrepreneurial background came early while still in high school.

Photoshopped_af had an idea to put an eraser on the back of a dry erase pen. His mother was a teacher and together they developed the product for the classroom. It started in their garage, then moved into a warehouse and slowly grew to be an extremely large company.

Photoshopped was also naturally athletic and played football in college, but a nasty injury made him rethink his life path. This time he went into film. He moved to Hollywood, where he also met his wife, and went to work for some amazing TV shows culminating with working at LucasFilm.

The days were long though and a single conversation made him change his path again. Photoshopped_af told his assistant director that they were spending more time together then he was spending with his girlfriend! The assistant director shot back with the fact that he hangs out with Photoshopped more than he does his own kids. The lightbulb went off, and Photoshopped decided then and there that wasn’t the life for him.

Photoshopped_af moved with his wife back to his home town to help the then struggling family company. He quickly brought it up to a multi-million dollar business and decided to continue pursuing the entrepreneurial lifestyle.

This gave him the free time to explore his passions and graphic design, particularly Photoshop, was one of them. He started working with comedians and podcasts, because he simply loved to laugh. This led to working with some of LA’s biggest comedians like Adam Ray, Andrew Santino, and even Joe Rogan. Then, just like many other success stories, COVID hit and the comedy scene died. He started receiving his stimulus checks and this unneeded money finally gave him the courage to start investing in crypto which had been on his radar for some time.

Photoshopped started with the typical coins, but it was when he discovered NFTs that things began to get serious. The community behind NFTs was where he felt he belonged. He started his NFT journey with Boss Logic, one of his favorite Photoshop artists. Unfortunately, Boss ended up getting rugged by his partner. But Photoshopped_af already met a community and that group eventually found their way to Neo Tokyo; working together to solve the initial riddles. Photoshopped_af finally minted his forever PFP.

Neo Tokyo was like going to college for web3. He learned so much from the group he started to devote a lot of his time to the community. He now splits his time fairly evenly between web3 and his family company. He’s also started his own project, Mi Vida Project, a retreat and mastermind community. The project was put on temporary hold while Photoshopped’s wife spent time kicking her Stage 4 Lymphoma in the ass (she won!) Once they recuperate they will build up and launch when the time is right.

Photoshopped helps various projects with their graphic design, branding and marketing, and of course, memes. “I think memes are their own language and once you get to know the language, it becomes something you can do more consistently,” Photoshopped_af said. One thing he did note was when a project can’t articulate what they do in a way that makes sense, he simply can’t help them with memes. So, it's a good idea to know your elevator pitch before reaching out.

Within Neo Tokyo and the wider web3 community, Photoshopped_af is best known for his on-point memes. But most don’t know he also created the BYTES logo, the branding for the Neo Tokyo News, and the thumbnails for Interlinked and this series, Meet Your Citizens. He tries to add value wherever he can and always brings laughter and joy with his content.

Outside of Web3 and business, Photoshopped_af loves to travel. He got the bug at a young age alongside his dad when their adventures became the highlight of his life. “I love the idea of the memories that we build life for,” he said. “I'm in a pursuit of the memories that I can create with the people that I love.”

Follow @photoshopped_af on X to stay up to date with one of our Community Leads.

After a rocky start following some post-halving anti-climactic action, Runes has recently begun to see strong sales volume, putting Bitcoin shitcoining back on center stage in the last couple of weeks. However, degenerate activity on the often-described “slow and clunky Motherchain” isn’t to everyone's taste.

That said, I, for one, have found that this slower pace works to my favor. I’m just not built for the quick in-and-out that Solana sometimes demands. Instead, I thrive by finding gems, going in with conviction, and letting it play out for a few weeks to months. This is exactly the environment Ordinals/Runes have facilitated, largely due to that aforementioned slow and clunky pace that forces a moonboy such as I to hold longer than 3 minutes.

I’ve been asked for a few picks of which Runes to look at, so here are some below. Be aware none of this is financial advice—it's merely a leg-up on where to start if you’re not sure where to look first. Use these to investigate further and draw your own conclusions.

S-Tier Blue Chips: DOG, RSIC, PUPS

These three have firmly established themselves as the leaders of Runes, for now at least. DOG ($777m mc), despite my earlier claims that it was a “middle curve meme with no soul” on an episode of Degen Digest, has come within a whisker of a $1 billion market cap in recent days, despite not being listed on any tier-1 exchanges. At this stage, it’s everyone’s favorite to lead the Runes charge and has it’s sights firmly set on establishing itself as a Top 100 market cap coin.

Contrary to the brash, in-your-face marketing approach DOG founder Leonadis has taken with his token, the elusive founders of RSIC ($214m mc) have opted to sit back quietly and let people guess what’s next. This sort of thing doesn’t resonate with crypto people all too well, and despite being the first pre-Rune, it lags DOG’s market cap by quite a margin presently. It’s generally understood that the team behind it, whoever they may be, are well connected (partnering with Memeland) and are technically sound, and when they do break their silence, it’ll be for something worth noticing.

PUPS ($181m mc) is a simple thesis; attached to the blue-chip Ordinal collection Bitcoin Puppets, PUPS is striving to become the number one memecoin on Bitcoin. It hit a high of over $100 back in April but has fallen quite far since the migration to Runes shortly after. One of the safest plays you could theoretically make if you’re looking for a culture play.

Emerging Contenders: Wanko Manko, Mr Yen, Billion Dollar Cat

Wanko Manko ($20m mc) has a horrendous backstory if you’ve cared to look into it, but it’s one of those memes that, if you have a frightful sense of humor (par for the course here much of the time), then it’s going to be right up your alley. The creator of Ordinals and Runes, Casey Rodarmor, has said Wanko is the only good meme he’s seen, so having his bill of approval is a big plus. Additionally, it was the first Rune where a strong community was formed around it, with big-name founders and influencers rallying to market it consistently. The only danger is whether it gets a tier-1 listing—I can’t see Coinbase doing so, but that’s up to Brian Armstrong if he wants to lose to the dog.

Mr Yen is a $7 million mc meme with a $100 million founder behind it. Mr Yen has been putting out 1-2 videos per day tirelessly of original content, and the community has reciprocated this effort by constantly pushing and supporting in kind. Mr Yen is simply a Japanese businessman who loves his son. If Wanko is a bit too spicy for your taste, Mr Yen is the wholesome palate cleanser.

Billion Dollar Cat is one of the newer Runes to come out lately, but it’s taken the scene by storm and grabbed attention. The thesis is simple: send the cat to a billion-dollar market cap. Sometimes referred to as the WIF of Runes due to the patented orange glasses that can be adorned on any photo of anyone (think the ease of putting the hat on), it’s a good contender to go far if it continues to pick up steam past its current position of $13 million market cap.

Total Moonshots: Hooked On Roonies, Shitcoin Millionaire, Mystic

Hooked on Roonies ($910k mc) is another token with a high-value founder who has been putting in the work representing the brand he’s created. Dr. Popper is a guy who wants to heal the world of “poor pains.” Regularly appearing on high-profile X Spaces and producing original artwork with an interesting website, I don’t know where this token goes, but being under $1 million seems off.

Shitcoin Millionaire is an interesting prospect where the founder has been trying hard to move the needle but has so far been hitting a few walls. Word on the street is they’re trying to become the first Rune > SOL bridge. With a low enough market cap at $337K, if something does hit, the move upwards would generate decent multiples.

Mystic is set to be the Rune created from burning LFG BRC-20 tokens. LFG/Mystic has largely gone under the radar due to their preference for working in silence. The LFG token was all but considered dead until they announced a partnership with MUBI last year, bridging the BRC20 to Ethereum. The team behind it are considered Bitcoin OGs and thus very well connected in the space, with big plans for building out infrastructure on Bitcoin to enhance the Runes trading experience.

Needless to say, I own all of these tokens (it would be a bit strange if I didn’t), and this is not investment advice. Remember, I bought BYTES above $100 and billed FreeJoJo as “the next Azuki.” I’m not wrong on that BYTES trade, just a bit ahead of my time.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions—I’m always happy to help get people acquainted with the ecosystem if I can lend a hand.

All content from Neo Tokyo News is for entertainment purposes only, and not financial advice.

That’s it for our 49th edition of the Neo Tokyo Newsletter. Be sure to subscribe and share with your friends so you don’t miss out on future content.

Make sure to also follow Neo Tokyo News on Twitter.

And check out our Neo Tokyo News Website.