Cryptocurrency
Singer Vérité’s fan-first approach to Web3, music NFTs and community building
Carving out a sustainable career as an independent musician is no easy feat. The competition is fierce, support can be hard to find, and earning a living without the financial help of a major record label is an uphill battle. Yet, for those who are able to build a loyal fanbase, the freedom of complete creative control can be liberating.
Technology has long proven to be a potential friend to those musicians willing to embrace it, and nonfungible tokens are the latest innovation that many tech-savvy artists have begun incorporating into their careers. But NFTs remain both controversial and experimental, especially among the mainstream, and music NFTs are still relatively niche.
One artist who has cracked the code to maintaining a successful career as an independent musician is American singer Vérité, who has racked up hundreds of millions of streams without the support of a record label since releasing her first single, “Strange Enough,” in 2014.
After finding success and touring internationally, Vérité became one of the earliest musicians to experiment with NFTs in February 2021. Since then, she has built a strong Web3 community and had several successful high-profile drops, including releasing 1/1 NFTs, selling the master rights to her music, fractionalizing song royalties on the blockchain and giving NFTs to concert attendees. She has done all this while still retaining her dedicated non-Web3 fans, many of whom have little to no interest in crypto.
How does one walk this fine line and successfully integrate Web3 into their career without alienating their existing, perhaps skeptical, fans? Magazine sits down with Vérité to find out.
Don’t over-rely on Web3
For many musicians, Web3 is an exciting frontier filled with new possibilities for fan engagement and revenue generation. However, Vérité believes it is important that artists have diversified revenue streams and marketing strategies and don’t fall into the trap of assuming that the hype surrounding anything, especially NFTs, will last forever.
Building a music career in Web3 is “a bit of a double-edged sword,” Vérité tells Magazine. While it can help bring people together, “it becomes a negative when maybe artists limit themselves to only utilizing those tools and only existing within those communities, not really having the foresight that there was a hype cycle that then broke and these paths to monetization closed.”
“My focus is ‘How do I build a career that can withstand trend cycles, that can refocus on the foundation of my career while trying to push forward to build better?’ because we recognize that a lot of these systems are extremely broken.”
Protect and respect fans
Not every fan wants to join their favorite artist on their Web3 journey, and that’s fine, according to Vérité. When she first started releasing NFTs, she heavily emphasized that she was simply experimenting with the technology. “I was very, very clear that I don’t care if you come with me on this experiment — this is an experiment for me,” she states.
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Vérité actually took it one step further, actively encouraging fans not to join her. “A lot of my communication with them was, ‘Don’t buy this. Don’t participate unless you are fully educated and willing to fully educate yourself and take on the risks.’” Even now, she still tells her fans that they should never feel pressured to participate in anything Web3-related.
“More than monetizing, it’s really protecting the people who have supported my career for the last eight years,” Vérité emphasizes.
It’s clear that not everyone is sold on the power and potential of blockchain. The bear market certainly hasn’t helped the space’s reputation either, with the collapse of crypto exchange FTX making mainstream media headlines and the prices of even blue-chip NFTs crashing 95% from their bull market peaks.
“If you go on my Discord — and I do tag everyone and say, ‘What do you think about crypto and NFTs?’ — people are not jazzed. Most of them, honestly. It’s just general disinterest,” Vérité explains. But it’s not necessarily that her fans actively hate crypto. “I’m finding that people don’t have a desire to do something new because they don’t see a problem, right?”
According to the singer, “NFTs, Web3, how it’s been marketed out to the masses is also wholly unpalatable really to non-tech-native fans.” Instead, she offers the following advice:
“I would more so recommend people to frame it as utilizing tools because it’s a weird market, and it’s hard to justify some of the scams and the negative aspects that can cause real harm to someone who isn’t knowledgeable or educated on those things.”
Offer an option, not a requirement
Instead of forcing fans to join her on-chain, Vérité instead focuses on building experiences with a Web3 element that is present but optional. She describes her approach as offering a “door” for fans to enter, one where blockchain functionalities can be unlocked to further enhance the fan experience — but where fans will still enjoy the experience regardless of whether they open the door:
“Do you need to jump the technological hurdle in order to have the experience, right? Or is it just a door? If it’s a door, you can talk about it because it’s not a burden.”
“For me, it’s really trying to consider, ‘What is the experience that we’re offering, what are the actual viable use cases of blockchain technology that we can tack on that aren’t burdensome?’” she says.
One example is “The Vérité Crewneck,” a tech-enabled sweatshirt the singer dropped in late 2022 in collaboration with IYK, a company working with brands, artists and creators to develop phygital experiences. The sweatshirt has a near-field communication, or NFC, chip embedded in the sleeve, which can be scanned to access exclusive content and unlock an NFT representing a certificate of authenticity.
Vérité explains that fans who bought the sweatshirt received “premier access to the next era of my records.” Buyers could scan the chip with their phones and get early access to music and perks such as behind-the-scenes content. “That was the main value proposition — not a Web3 activation, right?”
But the landing page also features an option to verify the garment, through which curious fans can receive their NFT.
Fans are at the center of it all
Between straight-up telling fans not to purchase her NFTs to offering them experiences where the Web3 option is an added bonus, Vérité’s fan-centric approach has undoubtedly played a significant role in her ability to push boundaries — and see success — in Web3 while still maintaining a loyal non-Web3 fanbase. Or, in her words, “My fans come first, and I don’t have fans just so that I can sell them shit all the time.”
Regarding her long-term hope for the future of blockchain and music, Vérité says her vision is that “we can demystify the black box of data that exists between artists and their fans, that is held by social platforms, ticketing companies, etc., and that blockchain actually does have the ability to make that information transparent so that artists can communicate directly to the people who support them and reward them in long-term scenarios.”
If the hype is to be believed, this dream may one day come true. But based on Vérité’s experience at the forefront of it all, it seems the only way the music-Web3 revolution will be truly successful is if fans are placed at the center of it.
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Cryptocurrency
BNB Chain Unveils Its Q1 Report: 55.8% Decrease in Value Loss; opBNB Crosses 20 Million Users; BSC TVL Jumps 70.8%
[PRESS RELEASE – Dubai, UAE, May 2nd, 2024]
NB Chain, the community-driven blockchain ecosystem that includes the world’s largest smart contract blockchain, today shared its report on the performance of BNB Chain in Q1 2024. It highlights the key growth metrics and updates for BNB Chain’s Layer 1 (L1) BNB Smart Chain (BSC), its L2 opBNB, the decentralized storage solution BNB Greenfield, and security measures.
In Q1 2024, the average Daily Active Users (DAU) on BSC increased by 27.3% Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) to 1.4 million. In the same period, the Total Value Locked (TVL) on BSC increased by 70.8% from $3.49 billion in January to $5.96 billion at the end of Q1. During Q1 2024, the price of the BNB token increased by 93.5% — doubling the increment in Q4 2023 (42.9%). In the same period, market capitalization also grew by 93.5% to $43.7 billion. Between January and March 2024, the total unique addresses on BSC increased by 5.3% to 435 million addresses, leading among EVM-compatible blockchains in daily new unique addresses.
During Q1 2024 and as part of the “One BNB” strategy, opBNB continues to exhibit growth and is now the leading blockchain in the industry by Daily Active Users (DAU). The milestone was achieved concurrently with the total distinct addresses on opBNB crossing 20 million in this quarter.
This quarter also witnessed the introduction of critical technology updates, focusing on scalability and optimization. The opBNB team launched its 2024 roadmap, targeted to achieve 10,000 TPS and be 10 times more cost-effective. The integration of the Path-Based Storage System (PBSS) solution, designed to optimize blockchain storage for opBNB, is also underway and is forecasted to roll out in Q2 2024. Further, new opBNB projects such as Bitget Wallet and Binance Web3 Wallet began utilizing opBNB Bridge, and a customized gas token for opBNB is currently in development.
BNB GreenField, the decentralized storage platform, made strides with network storage data size surpassing 415 GB. The peak daily stored data size hit a new high at 33.84 GB on February 22, 2024.
Notably, BNB GreenField saw the implementation of three major forks named Hulunbeier, Ural, and Pawnee. Each fork aimed to bring unique enhancements, significantly improving user experience and backend operations.
Overall, a reduction of 55.8% in value loss from the same period last year emphasizes the network’s constant improvements and reiterates BNB Chain’s dedicated efforts towards security and safeguarding users’ interests through AvengerDAO.
Read the BNB Chain Q1 report in full here.
About BNB Chain
BNB Chain is a community-driven blockchain ecosystem that is removing barriers to Web3 adoption. It is composed of:
- BNB Smart Chain (BSC): A secure DeFi hub with the lowest gas fees of any EVM-compatible L1; serves as the ecosystem’s governance chain.
- opBNB: A scalability L2 that delivers the lowest gas fees of any L2 and rapid processing speeds.
- BNB Greenfield: Meets decentralized storage needs for the ecosystem and lets users establish their own data marketplaces.
Setting a high bar for security, the AvengerDAO community protects BNB Chain users while Red Alarm provides a real-time risk-scanner for Dapps. The ecosystem also offers a range of monetary and ecosystem rewards as part of its Builder Support Program.
For more, users can follow BNB Chain on X or start exploring via BNB’s Dapp library.
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The spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States have recently observed a noteworthy trend, marked by a consecutive six-day period of outflows. Notably, BlackRock’s IBIT ETF encountered its first instance of outflows just yesterday.
This development coincides with bitcoin navigating through its most challenging month since the aftermath of the 2022 FTX collapse, registering a notable decline of 11% over this week.
Record Breaking Outflows and Market Downturn
According to data from Farside Investors, BlackRock’s Bitcoin fund saw its first $36.9 million outflow on May 1st, with the nine other ETFs collectively recording a $526.8 million outflow on the same day.
The largest outflow for the day was observed in the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), which saw $191.1 million in net outflows. Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) followed closely with an outflow of $167.4 million.
ARK 21Shares and Franklin Bitcoin ETFs saw respective outflows of $98.1 million and $13.4 million, contributing to the largest single outflow day for U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs.
In the broader market context, bitcoin’s price is down by more than 10% this week, as CoinGecko data indicates. Following Tuesday’s decline, BTC and the broader cryptocurrency market are set to break their seven-month streak of gains, marking their most significant monthly decline since November 2022, when the crypto exchange FTX collapsed.
Bitcoin had plummeted by over 16% by the end of April, while Ethereum saw an 18% decrease in value. Smaller cryptocurrencies faced even higher declines, with popular altcoins like SOL, Dogecoin (DOGE), and Avalanche (AVAX) experiencing drops ranging from 35% to 40% throughout April.
Overall, the total market capitalization of the cryptocurrency market has shrunk by nearly 18%, marking its biggest decline since June 2022. At the time of writing, bitcoin is trading at $57,600 while most alts have performed better.
Analysts Weigh In
Despite these challenges, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart maintains that spot Bitcoin ETFs are “operating smoothly across the board,” emphasizing that inflows and outflows are part of the ETF lifecycle.
Should add — these ETFs are operating smoothly across the board. Inflows and outflows are part of the norm in the life of an ETF.
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) May 2, 2024
Echoing this sentiment, ETF Store president Nate Geraci emphasized that such fluctuations are normal for ETFs.
He compared it with the outflows experienced by traditional assets like gold ETFs, pointing out that the metal’s prices have surged by 16% year-to-date despite significant outflows. This year, the iShares Gold ETF and SPDR Gold ETFs have seen outflows of $1 billion and $3 billion, respectively.
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Binance founder and former CEO – Changpeng Zhao a.k.a CZ – received a four-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to violating US anti-money laundering laws at the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
In the first tweet following the sentencing, CZ revealed his intention to remain a passive investor and holder in the crypto industry while simultaneously highlighting the importance of compliance in the industry.
CZ Reacts
In his final tweet before beginning his four-month prison sentence, CZ expressed gratitude to his supporters, acknowledging the letters, messages, and various forms of encouragement he received.
He even went on to emphasize the importance of their support in keeping him resilient during this period.
“I will do my time, conclude this phase, and focus on the next chapter of my life (education). I will remain a passive investor (and holder) in crypto. Our industry has entered a new phase. Compliance is super important. A silver lining of this whole process is that Binance has been under the microscope. And funds are SAFU. Protect users!”
CZ resigned as Binance’s chief executive officer last November after admitting that he and the exchange he founded in 2017 had failed to comply with anti-money laundering regulations outlined in the Bank Secrecy Act.
The Sentencing
Once regarded as one of the most influential figures in the industry, CZ became the second prominent crypto leader after FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) to face imprisonment.
The sentence was significantly lower than the three years sought by prosecutors and marked the first instance of a CEO being imprisoned for violating the Bank Secrecy Act, a charge frequently used in recent crypto prosecutions.
Prior to his sentencing, CZ expressed his remorse to US District Judge Richard Jones, acknowledging his failure to implement an effective anti-money laundering program. He stated,
“I believe the first step of taking responsibility is to fully recognize the mistakes. Here I failed to implement an adequate anti-money laundering program. I realize now the seriousness of that mistake.”
CZ chose to surrender voluntarily to serve his sentence, which will likely be at a detention center near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Additionally, Binance agreed to a $4.32 billion penalty, while CZ paid a $50 million criminal fine and an additional $50 million to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
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