The Lord of the Rings: Now a Web3 Movie Experience | Ember Nuggets #46

Nugget #1: Yields on ETH staking rise above 5% while leveraged investors see 11% or more

It has been more than a month since the ETH Merge launched – ETH is now on a Proof of Stake model that generates yield for users when they deposit ETH via nodes or pools to support the network. Yields have been around ~4% APR as of late, even in this current bear market.

We see data trending upwards as yield improves and is expected to improve even further, especially as the network grows/scales. The recent increase in yield is directly related to on-chain activity, we have seen increased trading on Uniswap and activity around a few tokens. ETH supply has remained flat/decreased, as the activity on-chain has burned more ETH via fees than the new issuance rate.

Nugget #2: Warner Bros enters Web3… launching the first NFT movie experience with Lord of the Rings

Warner Bros has been dipping their toes in Web3 for a while now with Nifty’s dropping collectible NFTs. We see them getting more active and involved with today’s announcement, launching their official Web3 Twitter (here) and dropping an experience NFT with Lord of the Rings made by Peter Jackson.

The studio has partnered with Eluvio on the Web3 tech side to create a minting experience to launch 10,999 LOTR NFTs which come with unique virtual experiences for users to enjoy.

You can see and learn more via their Twitter. For us, it’s reassuring to see large studios experiment with NFTs in a novel way and continue to build and invest in Web3, even in the recent downturn. The media play for Web3 has just begun – especially for traditional media companies and IP.

Nugget #3: Price action remains muted as crypto bear continues with volatile equity markets

BTC has been hovering between $18K - $20K while ETH has been between $1.2K - $1.4K, all the while the macro equity markets have rallied and fallen hundreds of points. Crypto volatility is at a 2-year low as investors remain in a holding pattern – trying to see what happens next. Many expect price action from the top coins with volumes and volatility at lows.

The main things to watch:

Equity price movements

Fed comments as inflation inched up in September, next rate hike

ETH metrics and potential deflationary supply in recent weeks

Continued adoption by large institutions (WB above, and Plaid announcing a solution for the space)

We remain cautious and expect trading to remain flat, with continued pressure near term.