In this issue:

• This Week in Neo Tokyo: $BYTES Undervalued? What If.... (by PhoenixxDown)

• Meet Your Neo Tokyo Citizens: Meridiosyncrasy (by Block Editor)

• Monday Market Crash Explained (by Flower83)

There have been a few hot topics discussed in the main channels recently on the future of NT’s direction, with Firestorm providing us an update in response earlier this week. For those not on board with the NFT collection platform exclusivity, good news may be on the horizon.

Firestorm also touched on the importance of simplifying our messaging when it comes to NT’s mission, offerings, and ecosystem. Plans are underway on how to execute that. Lastly, there’s news about something in the works that all citizens can tune into, which will hopefully ease the concerns of those who believe “community-led doesn’t work.”

In adherence to Rule #3 of The Citadel, full details can’t be disclosed here, but you can get the complete rundown by reading the full announcement here.

This is how things shaped up with the NT content:

Interlinked Episode #41 - Ben and Jarred are joined by the Head of Partnerships for Wilder World; a hyper-realistic metaverse where players can race, battle, and explore! The discussion includes details on their upcoming airdrop, pixel streaming, and NVIDIA partnerships.

NeuralAI AMA - Neuro and DEXLaboratory of the NeuralAI team join Ben and Nick to dive deep into the AI 3D game asset generator. Listen back here in Part 1, and here in Part 2, to learn more about what’s on offer, like using text prompts and images to effortlessly generate game-ready 3D models.

Meet Your Citizens - In this episode, Block Editor speaks with Zulu, one of Neo Tokyo's Writing Division leads and one of those responsible for crafting the Citadel's lore.Join them as they discuss Zulu's journey to the Citadel from his unique upbringing and his emergence from the path of shadows!

Market Monday - Just hours after the absolute horror of the entire market pooing in its hands and clapping, the News team jumped into their weekly Space to discuss the aftermath. We welcomed back our friend LadyTradeRa to share her expert insights on what to expect next. Additionally, Chris from Storage Chain was our featured speaker, answering questions on the decentralized cloud storage solution. Listen back here.

With just a week left until the citizens of Neo Tokyo hit the bright lights of Las Vegas on August 16th, there’s still time to secure your spot for the private event hosted at the JRNY NFT Art Gallery. Visit this announcement here to find the RSVP form. Time is of the essence, so don’t delay!

The fortnightly Ktrap NT update is out, providing all the data and metrics you need to keep tabs on our collections and staking. This update reminds us that BYTES is sitting at a market cap of just around $10.9m. And if you’ve checked the bytes-price-talk channel lately, you’ll see a prominent citizen with a vision for our native token. BYTES undervalued? What if…

Until next week, citizens.

• Discord ID: Meridiosyncrasy

• Background: Fashion

• Entered Crypto: 2020

• Joined NT: S1 Mint

• Expertise: Fashion merchandising

• Most Known For: Merch Store

• Outside Interests: Movies and travel

Meridiosyncrasy is a Neo Tokyo gem worth knowing. If you’ve worn NT merch you may be familiar with Crasher, but Meridiosyncrasy adds a certain je ne sais quoi that is unparalleled in typical web3 merch offerings.

She describes her background as a study in curiosity, with interest in start-ups, crypto, NFTs, and of course, fashion. She graduated from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in LA which all arose out of an interest in DIY alternative fashion.

While growing up and dipping her toes into fashion she chose to pursue the industry in college. The interesting thing was, they didn’t teach her how to do anything in the business of fashion. She had learned a skillset in traditional education, but never learned what to do with it.

This led her on the path of learning marketing. Her boyfriend, a citizen that goes by Manifest Wyverns, had been following Becker, and catapulted them both onto the NFT scene by minting an S1. They minted a second S2 shortly after their S1 to make sure they both had access to the alpha inside.

Once inside, Meridiosyncrasy and Manifest Wyverns quickly got involved in the merch team. She is now part of the core team handling all of the exclusive limited edition design drops that the Shibuya Mall releases.

After the 2021 bull came and went, they hung around and got to see what Neo Tokyo was really made of.

Meridiosyncrasy is a designer at heart and that defines her title inside and outside of Neo Tokyo. Whether it's a website, clothing, or a kitchen and bath, she does it all! Outside of Neo Tokyo she helps run her family's remodeling business assisting with growth and design. She builds 3D models for home remodels and assists with online marketing. The business is doing well and takes a lot of her time right now outside of The Citadel. She is also currently working on her own fashion brand

If any citizens are looking for advice on their merch or fashion, Meridosyncrasy is your girl and she is happy to offer advice where she can.

As you might expect, Neo Tokyo merch has a rich history—something you really appreciate once you get to know Meridosyncrasy. I found myself wondering—what are Meridosyncrasy's favorite pieces at Shibuya Mall? It is no surprise she favors the limited edition pieces, mostly because of how much work and thought goes into them. Extensive time is put into picking the fabrics, threads, zippers, even the cuff fabric and lining all have an extensive plan behind it.

Her current favorite piece is the Sukajan Bomber Jacket. The team wanted a piece that would symbolize Neo Tokyo culturally. With a goal of embodying the Japanese and cyberpunk aesthetic, while also including the American influence that built this community, the Sukajan Bomber was born. The process of picking all the fabrics, and garments, and graphics was “really something amazing,” She said.

Outside of work, Meridiosyncrasy loves to travel. Her and her boyfriend visit Japan often amongst other locales. The duo also enjoy spending time with family, watching movies, and gaming.

While Meridiosyncrasy did attend the 2 year anniversary event decked out in original Neo Tokyo fashions, she will not be able to make it to the 3 year event and hopes everyone will share pictures of themselves looking stylish in NT merch!

Follow Meridosyncrasy on Instagram to learn more.

Monday was brutal. It was so bad that crypto people thought another FTX collapsed. 

But as it turns out, the crash was not just in crypto, no. It was actually hard to find an asset that was up across all financial markets. Many traders lost a lot of money. But not only traders, even the ones that are just holding and are not overleveraging themselves. I guess “comfy in spot” is a lie. And now that all is said and done, and the markets bounced back quite nicely, now let’s try and make sense of it.

What was the cause of Monday’s crash?

When it was all going down (a pun, you see), various people tried to blame Trump, Israel or Palestine, and also the stars. While the upcoming elections, tensions in the middle east and astrology might have had some minor impact and compounded this, it turns out the main catalyst seems to be originating from Japan. Yes, it all seems to be Japan's fault.

You see, there's something called Carry Trade - a strategy where investors borrow money in a currency with low interest rates (in our specific case the Japanese Yen) and invest it in a currency with higher interest rates (USD). The overall goal is to profit from the difference in interest rates, known as the "carry." So, for years now people were borrowing loans in Yen, swapping it into USD (or Euro or British Pound) and earning higher interest rates on their loans in foreign currencies.

This actually works. Of course, until it doesn't.

What happened on Monday was that the Bank of Japan raised their interest rates. And just like that the whole game has changed over night. It suddenly makes Yen more attractive to hold, and pressures people (who invested in risk assets) to pay it back.

So this sudden change actually caused a cascading effect, not seen since 1987 in Japan, and further resulted in massive panic selling of all risk assets across the world to repay then Yen loans. All markets were brutally hit by this; mainly stocks and crypto, and $1.41 trillion worth of value evaporating in a single day.

Overall it does seem to be just a temporary “oopsie,” as markets are healing quite nicely after absorbing this blow. And the dust has settled.

So, did you buy the dip? 🚀

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

That’s it for our 58th edition of the Neo Tokyo Newsletter. Be sure to subscribe and share with your friends so you don’t miss out on future content.

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