Newsletter: Brands in Web3 & Web3 in Brands

Welcome to Edition #12 of “Brands in Web3 & Web3 in brands“, your regular dose of the latest news from the blockchain, crypto, and Web3 space, curated to provide unique marketing and brand strategy insights with a pinch of spice.

This week: The internet has fun with SBF sketch as FTX prepares for asset sell off; fake app in the Microsoft store enables scammers to come away with over half a million dollars in BTC; and Ripple’s $20m SEC settlement viewed as a win by some analysts.

Sam Bankman-Fried: world’s sexiest inmate

The verdict is in. Wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, commodities fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy: Guilty on all counts.

As the news broke that Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted on seven charges and faces a potential 100-year sentence, all the internet could talk about was how great he looked in an artist court sketch circulating online. Alas, like many aspects of SBK’s life and business plan, the drawing turned out to be a hastily thrown together fake, generated using AI.

Not known to be overly concerned with such details, Donald Trump Jr. approached the artist covering his civil fraud trial and demanded that she draw him like one of her crypto whales, saying “Make me look sexy”.

The resulting sketch by court artist Jane Rosenberg suggests that she was not in the mood to oblige the former President’s son.

Grayscale and Bitwise asset sell off

While all the talk of sketches is entertaining, the news that FTX is reportedly seeking to sell over $744 million of assets, held by crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments and custody service provider Bitwise, is likely to have a greater impact on markets. This is not the first time FTX has sought to liquidate assets, with the last request to sell $3.4 billion of crypto, including Solana, Bitcoin, Ether, and other altcoins, being approved in September. To prevent excessive downward market pressure, that sale was staggered into weekly $50-million batches. So despite estimates that Grayscale is one of the largest Bitcoin holders globally, it’s in everyone’s interests not to flood the market, so there’s probably no need to panic.

Ledger Lied: Fake crypto app in Microsoft store leaves users $500K out of pocket

The news that a hacker stole more than $500,000 in Bitcoin by setting up a fake Ledger Live application on the Microsoft app store shows that crypto and mainstream platforms need to work more closely together to tackle scams. While the offending app has now been removed, the victims could feel quite rightly aggrieved by the company’s failure to detect the threat over a 12-day period. Imagine the uproar if a hacker set up a fake banking app and it was approved by an official platform? Crypto customers should be afforded the same degree of consideration and protection.

The Ripple effect?

Industry watchers reacted generally positively to the news that Ripple could settle with the SEC for a sum in the region of $20 million. The case centred around the accusation that Ripple was conducting an unregistered securities offering by selling its native cryptocurrency XRP. Now analysts are turning their attention to the wider market, interpreting the relatively low settlement and other SEC setbacks as a sign of a more friendly regulatory environment than had been priced in to asset prices in recent months.

Less breaking stuff, more trust

One thing that will take longer to rebuild in SBK’s wake is consumer trust. A recent Pew Research poll shows that 75% of respondents who have heard of crypto don’t trust its safety and reliability. Given the news cycle this year, that’s perhaps unsurprising. But it also shows the need for a branding reset when it comes to crypto and Web3. While as a movement and industry, we are supposed to oppose the centralization of Silicon Valley, too often we have mimicked the same “move fast and break things” mindset. Not thinking of anyone in particular…

If we truly care about values like transparency and security, it is time to build brands that reflect that ambition. We can be “to the moon” or we can be “trusted and secure”, but we cannot be both. For more thoughts and insights on this, I encourage you to take a look at this report that I developed with my team at THE RELEVANCE HOUSE.

Swiss InsurTech Hub Awards

Finally, outside my work in Web3, I also have the pleasure to host other industry events from time to time. I am very happy to be moderating the Swiss InsurTech Hub Awards and Summit on November 16th in Zurich. The event celebrates and showcases innovative insurtech solutions in Switzerland and beyond, featuring a keynote by Andrew D. Vieyra of Google, a panel discussion on generative AI, and a pitching competition — all followed by a networking apéro. It kicks off at 15.30 and you can secure your tickets here.

Building a B2B brand that lasts: the relationship approach

Building a successful B2B brand is a bit like building a relationship: trust and communication are crucial to create a strong connection. By focusing on your customers’ needs and desires, your brand can create a sense of intimacy that will keep people coming back. For practical tips and insights on how to achieve this in reality, check out the latest Relevance House blog here.

That’s all from me for this week! If you’re enjoying this newsletter, please remember that sharing is caring ;)