We’re moving The Alpha to Beehiiv! That’s why this week’s edition of the newsletter looks a bit different. Still the latest in news and trending topics around AI and Web3, curated just for you.

Remember to move towards what feels good and expansive vs what leaves you drained and energetically restricted.

📈TradFi enters the chat. Between EDX markets and Blackrock’s Bitcoin ETF, institutional attention on crypto is at an ATH this week.

🕹 Fortnite x Nike's .SWOOSH. Nike and Epic Games partnership kicks off with Airphoria, an Air-Max themed Fortnite experience. Players who play “Airphoria” for 10 minutes or more can receive the Air Max 1 '86 Back Bling within Fortnite, and players who link their Epic Games account with their Nike account during the time, introducing Fortnite’s massive user base to Nike’s web3 entity, .SWOOSH.

👀 Truth Labs’ Goblintown Easter Egg. "Only Up" is blowing up on @Twitch with 100,000s of viewers watching popular streamers play the addictive 3D “Jack and the Beanstalk” style game that challenges players to escape from Goblintown. The reference to the project is subtle, but the floor on the NFTs doubled anyway.

🙈 Yuga FUD = ATH. With BAYC below 40ETH and MAYC below 8 ETH, there’s no shortage of influencers and thread writers with hot takes about Yuga Labs. Yuga announced a June 29 start for its eagerly anticipated HV-MTL, but many are questioning if Yuga’s reign as NFT leader is over and/or if they’ve diluted their ecosystem too far, too fast.

👜 Luxury fashion brands crossover into web3, as NFC tag strategies for exclusive content, authenticity, and customer insights gain popularity. Stapleverse, 9dcc, and Kiki are all featured in this Glossy article on the topic.

🧵 Popular Twitter thread writer Elena.eth is delaying her Atomic Originals project after allegations revealed the art was plagiarized from another Bitcoin project. The initial project plan involved 250 pieces at 0.05BTC for a total of $300k. Azuki has since decided not to renew her contract for the Researcher-in-Residence role, furthering the impact of her costly mistake.

🐰 Azuki held their much-awaited “Follow The Rabbit” event in Vegas this weekend. At the event, Azuki announced Elementals, a mutant-ape-like expansion (20k set with 4 tiers, The team dropped soulbound tokens to attendees of the event to serve as airdrops for some of the Elementals.

🔥 The Grammys adds AI protocols. Only human creators can win the music industry's highest honor in a decision aimed at the use of artificial intelligence in popular music, although music that includes AI elements remains eligible.

An exchange traded fund, or ETF, is a basket of investments such as stocks or bonds. In the case of a Bitcoin ETF, this ETF would speculate on the future price of Bitcoin.

ETFs are considered low-risk investments because they are low-cost and hold a basket of stocks or other securities, increasing diversification. Having Bitcoin in an ETF continues to prove the legitimacy of the cryptocurrency, and opens up new investing options for mass adoption, especially with a large asset manager like Blackrock at the helm.

Lori Grace is a photographer and storm chaser, known for her photography of tornados and other significant weather. She is also the host of a weekly Rug Radio Twitter Space, Elevate, which promotes female, non-binary, and other underrepresented artists in web3.

Lori Grace is currently offering a 25 piece edition of her photography on Manifold.

Hope you enjoyed this week's edition of the Alpha newsletter!

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Remember, I'm Bullish on you!

With gratitude,

Shiraeekly