In this issue:

• This Week in Neo Tokyo: BOOM! Headshot! (by PhoenixxDown)

• Is #SocialFi Dead?? (by Flower83)

• Meet Your NT Community Leads: DamonNeedsToCreate (by Block_Editor)

• Avalanche’s Rise and Institutional Adoption (by MHL.eth)

“Lord Commander, please slow down on the winning.” pleaded Citizen Gosey, as Becker unveiled yet another heavyweight in the Crypto Gaming arena joining Neo Tokyo. Becker, in response, spammed the “BOOM! Headshot!” GIF, suggesting this is all far from over!

Among the fresh faces are Nakamoto Games, Shrapnel, and Sidus Heroes, to name just a few. Only yesterday, one of the most anticipated games in web3, Illuvium, joined us, following the colossal announcement that Avax Gaming had also become part of The Citadel just hours earlier.

Here at NT News, we'd like to extend a warm welcome to all newcomers to The Citadel, and we eagerly anticipate collaborating with you!

Some of our collaborations from this past week include our sponsor for this month, PLAYA3ULL Games. who attended not one, but two, guest slots in our featured Spaces this week. There was also discussion on the future of web3 games with Good Game Hunters and Merit Circle.

If you missed these sessions, you can now catch up on past episodes on Spotify! Give both accounts a follow via the links below:

This past Friday revealed the long-awaited updates to Citizen Capital. As we know, CitCap has been one of the driving forces behind Neo Tokyo's success and a major reason for the recent surge in new citizens.

Many changes have taken place to accommodate the evolution of Neo Tokyo, including adjustments to access, round structure, and allocations (yes, S2s, allocation DOES mean something.) There is A LOT to digest, so get fully up to speed by reading the full announcement here.

Shortly after that concluded, the most stacked NT Founders Roundtable took place with WAGMI Games, Merit Circle, Galileo Protocol, Nexus Labs, and Vulcan Forged all represented as Becker and Firestorm hosted. As always, you can listen back to both recordings on the vc-archive channel.

Our IRL Item Cache store is back online and better than ever. Seriously, have you seen the new website? The mall's refurbishments are looking very slick, as is the merch designed by our favorite Citizen artists, Jeff Treves, Meridiosyncrasy, JonnyGeorgeson, and CitizenSeven.eth.

Congratulations to the hardworking Crasher and his team for making this happen.

Some Citizen Founder updates, first from Jeff Treves who is once again breaking boundaries with his reveal of Tiki Calendar, the first customizable recursive collection on Ordinals! Check out all the details here and learn how you can get whitelisted for a spot.

We also have updates from chris.moonport on his Moonportapp project, a crypto scenario builder. Also from Jonan of Pantheon Technologies, who is working on a project “at the intersection of AI and personal augmentation.” He's looking for people to assist him, and if chosen, you'll receive exclusive perks within his ecosystem.

New founders, take note that our Citizen Lead, Fauve, is the creator of the Neo Tokyo Citizen Wiki; your guidebook and cheatsheet to NT, a portal to knowledge of all things born, bred, and thriving from The Citadel. If you want to be recognized as a vital contributor to a web3 project, transmit your project details here, where they will be picked up by the ever-helpful Angie who will swiftly inform Fauve of your desire to be included.

Before we conclude, much love from all citizens to Mr. and Mrs. Firestorm on the minting of their new arrival! As if this man didn’t have enough on his plate already! You can join Firestorm and others in the Parents-of-Neo-Tokyo thread here.

Lastly, a reminder for us to stay gracious and to be magnanimous in our recent triumphs. Yes anon, I remember too how they shunned us, how we knew one day they would be eating their words, and how they would be begging for refuge in our Citadel eventually when the fires and riots came for their own cities.

Becker correctly reminded us that the way success went to the head of some holders of these collections did nothing but harm the reputation of their community. Neo Tokyo was carried through the bear on the broad shoulders of her citizens, and the way we hold ourselves during the bull will be one of the determining factors in how high we soar.

We lay this subject to rest with Photoshopped AF’s classy commentary on the matter:

Until next week! Be sure to show our sponsor, PLAYA3ULL Games, some love and check out what they're building. Expect a full length feature article soon:

X Account: https://twitter.com/PLAYA3ULL_GAMES

Discord: discord.gg/playa3ull

Website: playa3ull.games

A little while back in an October issue, I wrote an article for the newsletter discussing how this whole #SocialFI trend might be a thing in the future.

The narrative was innovative and new, NFTs seemed to be at their weakest, the airdrop farming meta was hot, and Stars Arena had just hit the space like a ton of bricks.

Perhaps the idea of dumping on your “fam” and using your “friends” as exit liquidity was very promising, especially for influencers with a large following.

Yes, the SocialFi landscape was seriously hyped; to a point where every influencer and their grandma were shoving referral links down your throat.

However, a series of exploits and hacks lead to a few million dollars of damage in stolen funds, which subsequently made everyone question the future of this new fad.

New, half-assed platforms were popping up left and right, trying to compete for the market share and diluting the niche in the process. As you can imagine, now there are dozens of these “social” platforms which inevitably lead to thinly spread value, and everyone is going back to X. 

These days, I only see mentions of FriendTech and similar websites when I see people shilling me $RATIO, or those brilliant engagement farming posts on twitter saying “what happened?”

So. Is it dead? 

Well, yes, kinda. Or at least, dying. 

If we look at dune statistics we can actually see this decline happening with cold, hard numbers. Basically, all relevant parameters are going down; the volume, number of transactions, average user or “key” floors, and overall TVL.

I never got involved on any of these sites, but I think the idea itself has potential. It’s too soon to tell if this was just a brief, short-lived trend. I mean, Ordinals bounced back nicely, didn't they?

Every new tech, every new idea, goes through a period of slumber before it gets reinvigorated at some point.

It could be that when someone properly implements this technology, makes a platform that isn't buggy, nails the marketing, and attracts an active audience, the SocialFI trend just might rise from the grave sometime in the future. Or not.

But for now, things are not looking too bright.

• Discord ID: DamonNeedsToCreate

• Background: Film

• Entered Crypto: 2021

• Joined NT: S1 Mint

• Expertise: General Expert

• Dislikes Working on: Scheduling

• Most Known For: Almost Everything But Now PRP

• Reason for Joining Leads: Effective Communication

• One Word: Connection

• Outside Interests: Photography

This series of interviews is designed to introduce citizens to their community leads and council members. Our second interview is DamonNeedsToCreate. One of the most well-known citizens, he needs little introduction.

Pre-Crypto Background

Damon, a former Marine turned filmmaker, explored various roles in the film industry, navigating challenges of a paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle. When the film industry halted during COVID-19, he delved into crypto, dedicating significant time to daily research.

Finding Neo Tokyo

Damon discovered Neo Tokyo through Becker and Ellio and was around for the first riddles. He appreciated the community-building aspect, contrasting Becker's WWE-style with Eliotrades' emphasis on fostering a community. The project's challenging and non-spoon-feeding approach intrigued Damon, leading him to explore various Discord communities.

Initially hesitant, he found value in voice chat, fostering a global community of smart individuals collaborating on solving challenges. Neo Tokyo stood out as the largest, active supportive group.

Current Focus

Damon shifted his focus from film to dedicating full-time efforts to Neo Tokyo after recognizing the importance of building the community. For the past two years, his main activities include overseeing the Project Resource Program, participating in community discussions, proposing and voting on initiatives, and contributing to Neo Tokyo News.

His primary role involves connecting with individuals, understanding their goals, and facilitating connections within the community guiding them to the necessary resources. Damon spends a significant portion of his time fostering relationships and supporting newcomers in Neo Tokyo.

Check out the full article on DamonNeedsToCreate on the NT News website.

Avalanche's rise in value has captured the attention of crypto enthusiasts and investors alike, as it recently outpaced Solana with an astounding growth rate of 131% over the past 30 days. This surge can be attributed to multiple factors:

Institutional adoption has played a significant role in bolstering Avalanche's popularity and market presence. Industry giants such as Citi and JPMorgan Chase have shown interest by integrating or exploring solutions built on top of Avalanche’s blockchain platform.

The involvement of these renowned institutions not only lends credibility but also attracts more participants into the Avalanche ecosystem.

We can't overlook how product maturity and developer tools provided by Avalanche have propelled its ascent even further. As developers find greater ease-of-use within the network infrastructure offered by Avalanche, they are incentivized to build innovative dApps on top of it.

On another front, Solana has seen remarkable progress in terms of daily active addresses surpassing those witnessed within Ethereum - long regarded as one of the leading blockchain ecosystems globally.

Moreover, there is clear evidence indicating a doubling effect on DEX volumes across major chains like Solana itself—signifying heightened activity levels accompanied by price surges occurring throughout this flourishing landscape.

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

That’s it for our 23rd 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.

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