Here’s a rundown of the most noteworthy web3 industry events and project developments to look out for in the coming week
The Korean Blockchain Week (KBW) kicked off in Seoul.
Connext is set to launch the NEXT token.
Ethereum Singapore 2023 will be held in Singapore on September 10th.
IMX tokens worth nearly $10 million will unlock all at once this week.
The Europe-based OKX NFT market, in collaboration with the Trip.com Group-incubated Trekki NFT, is launching a whitelist event.
Key Events:
The most anticipated event of the week is the cryptocurrency summit KBW2023. South Korea, one of the most active countries in the Web3 ecosystem in Asia, is hosting this event, which will bring together Web3 developers and professionals. It aims to garner attention from various sectors towards the development of Web3 in South Korea and marks the beginning of a series of global cryptocurrency summits in September.
The Korean Blockchain Week (KBW2023) is taking place from September 4th to September 10th. The event is organized by FACTBLOCK and co-hosted by Hashed, marking its sixth year. It is one of the major Web3 summits in Asia this month. Among the activities, the IMPACT summit, scheduled for September 5th to 6th at the Seoul Shilla Hotel, is an important agenda within KBW2023.
Project Updates:
Notable project updates for this week include Connext’s upcoming launch of the governance token NEXT and the conclusion of the incentive campaign Bullshark Quests 2 by Mysten Labs.
Connext is a Layer2 interoperability protocol that will release the NEXT token on September 5th. In June 2023, Connext raised $7.5 million in funding at a valuation of $250 million in a strategic financing round. Connext will also airdrop NEXT tokens to early users of Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, and Gnosis Chain.
On August 25th, Connext announced an increase in the total airdrop size due to some transactions not being included in the previous airdrop plan as expected. They are also offering rewards to the community for reporting witch addresses involved in the Sybil attack. Reporters who successfully identify Sybil attackers/addresses will receive 25% of the recovered NEXT tokens as a reward. Connext is collaborating with Tokensoft to enable users to claim their tokens on the AnySwap chain on September 5th without the need for bridging or incurring additional gas fees.
Additionally, Mysten Labs has extended the end date of Bullshark Quests 2 to September 5th. Bullshark Quests 2 is an ecosystem incentive campaign launched in collaboration with the Sui Foundation by Mysten Labs, starting on July 28th. It offers rewards of 5 million SUI tokens to players, distributed across two 2.5 million SUI pools, after the conclusion of Quest 2.
Upcoming Events:
Among the numerous peripheral events of the Korean Blockchain Week, one worth noting is “KBW Builder House: Soul in Seoul” scheduled for September 4th. This event is organized by HashKey, Undefined Labs, and Embrace Asia, with co-sponsorship from Kontos, Relation, Shardeum, GoPlus, Kana Labs, and KEKKAI. It will feature four thematic discussions, including topics such as mass adoption, Web3 investments, gaming, and infrastructure. The event will host blockchain and crypto experts from China, Japan, and South Korea as speakers.
On the other side of Asia, Ethereum Singapore 2023 will take place at the Singapore National Gallery on September 10th. This event will cover various topics, including DeFi, infrastructure, security, and builders, and is expected to attract over 2,000 developers from around the world.
Token Unlocking:
According to Token Unlocks data, from September 4th to September 10th, several tokens, including TORN, LQTY, GAL, LOOKS, HFT, GLMR, and IMX, will experience one-time unlocking. Notably, LooksRare’s LOOKS token and ImmutableX’s IMX token will have significant unlocking events:
- LOOKS is set to unlock 12.5 million tokens on September 6th at 03:54 (approximately $670,000), accounting for 2.29% of the circulating supply.
- IMX will unlock 18.08 million tokens on September 9th at 18:00 (approximately $9.81 million), representing 1.61% of the circulating supply.
Proposal Voting:
This week, the Cosmos community is conducting a vote on Proposal 821, which is planning to carry out the v12 upgrade to enhance network liquidity. This voting is set to continue until September 8th. The upgrade includes the activation of the Liquid Staking Module (LSM), aimed at replacing the existing staking, distribution, and slashing modules to improve network liquidity. It aims to unlock millions of dollars worth of ATOM tokens to support DeFi activities across various chains within the Cosmos ecosystem.
NFT Updates:
In the latest NFT developments this week, traditional industry giants are making their presence felt in the NFT space, with notable contributions from Trip.com, Mercedes-Benz, and Adidas.
- Trip.com, a one-stop travel booking service company, is venturing into the Web3 arena with the launch of Trekki NFT. They have collaborated with the OKX NFT marketplace to introduce the Trekki NFT whitelist event. Users participating in the event and winning the lottery will receive the Trekki NFT whitelist spot, limited to 100 participants. The event subscription deadline is September 4, 2023.
- Mercedes-Benz is set to release a new generative art NFT series called “Mercedes-Benz NXT Icons.” This series spans seven eras, tracing back to the beginning of automotive history. Each era will contain approximately 2,700 NFTs, totaling 18,860 NFTs across all seven eras. The first era, “The Era of Luxury,” will be launched in a Dutch auction format on September 6th at 00:00 Beijing time. The NFT series will have a total issuance of 2,694 tokens, with a starting price of 1 ETH per token, a reserve price of 0.1 ETH, and a 90-minute auction duration. If there are remaining tokens after the Dutch auction, they will be sold at a fixed price of 0.1 ETH. These NFTs will be revealed 24 hours after the conclusion of the Dutch auction.
- Adidas will kick off the first auction of “Residency by Adidas” during the Korean Blockchain Week conference in Seoul on September 6th. “Residency by Adidas” is Adidas’ Web3 digital artist residency program designed to nurture Web3 digital artists and release digital products and NFTs. The auction will feature four NFT artworks created by Tokyo artist MonkeeMoto (an anonymous identity) and Lebanese artist Adra Kandi. There will be 200 pieces available for sale (100 from each artist) at a price of 0.15 ETH (approximately $250) to conference attendees, each accompanied by a physical hooded sweatshirt featuring the Adidas logo.