Crypto Might Find 1 Billion Users On TikTok 📈

gm friends,

At Shift, our goal is simple: onboard 1 million users to Web3. Last week we took the first step towards achieving this goal: Lauren Huttner & myself (i.e. "crypto-pilling" Noah) onboarded over 20 college and MBA students to Web3 by teaching them about "the new internet" and how to create a MetaMask wallet.

20 is relatively small, but it's an indication that we understand our priorities and abilities. Jeff Bezos started with 20 books. Steve Jobs began with 20 computers. Elon Musk launched with 20 electric cars. Literally all the same difficulty level.

Crypto Advertisers Might Earn Access To 1 Billion Users

Last week, GenX entered the chat. It's only fitting, then, that as GenZ spends less time "chatting" and more time "scrolling" that we shift our attention to the greatest debilitating addiction in the world (behind banana pudding, that is): TikTok.

Why does TikTok matter for Web3, you might ask, besides that fact that both are exploding cultural phenomenons? Well, the crypto industry just received some friendly news surrounding advertisements on the world's most popular website: TikTok is launching a beta program that could finally allow crypto advertisers to dodge advertising restrictions on the network. 

February 2022: Web3 Reaches 100 Million Super Bowl Viewers

March 2022: Web3 Reaches 1 Billion TikTok Viewers?

The program will allow crypto companies to run paid advertisements, a feature currently prohibited on the platform. This feature is perhaps more significant than many might assume at first glance. If the beta test is rolled out more widely, the crypto industry will acquire entry into the single largest advertising market for younger consumers.

This is huge for Web3, an emerging industry that will be spearheaded by GenZ and Millennials alike whose financial habits exhibit a far more rebellious, speculative, and sophisticated nature than that of their bonds-obsessed parents. 

Expect less 180 seconds ads of Larry David yelling at prehistoric inventors and more 5-10 second advertisements of crypto & NFT exchanges onboarding users to their platforms through monetary incentives.

You can read more about TikTok's beta program from our lovely friends at Morning Brew:

In Other News ...

→ Bored Ape Yacht Club 🤝 CryptoPunks: Yuga Labs, the parent company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) has acquired the second and third largest NFT collections in the world from developer Larva Labs. This is like if the Louvre acquired the rights to all of de Vinci's, Van Gogh's, and Picasso's paintings...

→ Google Launches A Blockchain Group: Google, following in the footsteps of its younger siblings Facebook and Twitter, is launching a unit dedicated to experimentation with blockchain technologies.

→ Block's Private Key is A Fingerprint: Payment giant Block (better known as Square) is designing a fingerprint sensor for its upcoming crypto hardware wallet. The sensor would replace private keys and seed phrases. Think of it as FaceID for iPhones.

→ Woz: BTC Is Going To The Moon: Apple co-founder says that Bitcoin is going to $100,000 🚀

web3 content we’re munching on 🍿

1. Growth Frameworks from Web2 to Web3 by Mati Honorato 

2. Musings on Governance by Larry Sukernik

3. What is a non-fungible-token? by Coinbase Learn

4. Tokenomics — The Beginner's Guide by Diego Geroni

5. Bankless Episode #109: SBF and the Future of FTX

Jobs 🤓

1. Institutional Account Executive @ FTX-US

2. Solidity Blockchain Developer @ YugaLabs

3. Crypto Brand Lead @ Block

Bounties 💸

1. Conduct a thorough UI/UX review for SonarWatch ($2,000)

2. Become an expert on Squads and summarize your findings ($1,000)

3. Refer a Senior Rust Dev to UXD ($1,000)

Have a great rest of the week!

Sincerely, 

Noah "I don't use TikTok" Edelman