Hi Rollers,
Good tidings we bring, to you and your kin. Here’s to a strong finish to the year.
Another year older, another year wiser. Congratulations for making it. And congratulations for all you managed to accomplish this year. It wasn’t easy. Take some time to relax and reflect.
We at Roll remain optimistic and excited for what’s to come for both the Creator Economy and Web3 in the new year. Here’s to all your resolutions holding true!
Who’s on a Roll 👀
1️⃣ Someone has found himself on Santa’s naughty list! On Monday, December 12th Bahamian officials arrested Sam Bankman-Fried. Bahamian Prime Minster Phillip Davis released a statement. He commented, “the Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law.” Could this signal more arrests to come? Will this move help restore trust in crypto? Will more regulation follow?
2️⃣ Make sure to catch Polygon under the mistletoe this holiday season. They’ve been smooching with everybody!
First, it was a partnership with @warnermusic. The two linked up to form LGND Music, a new hybrid streaming service and collectible platform. LGND will allow the buying and playing of any music NFT from any platform. They hope to launch next year.
Then Polygon was canoodling with Starbucks.
The two have rolled out the digital revamping of the Starbucks Reward program into Starbucks Odyssey. Early reviews of the program have been positive. Make sure you’re saving up for that Peppermint Mocha!
3️⃣ Metamask is looking to make it easer to purchase crypto. Metamask is teaming up with PayPal to make this feature possible. “This integration will allow our US users to not just buy crypto seamlessly through MetaMask, but also to easily explore the Web3 ecosystem,” MetaMask’s Product Manager stated. This is another leap forward for mass adoption.
On the Go: Digital Nomads, Cryptocurrency, & Social Tokens
Remote work in Bali sounds great.
Waking up to the beach, palm trees, coconuts, and no taxes?
In Indonesia remote workers will be allowed to work online for up to 6 months without paying taxes. The country has begun exploring plans for a digital nomad visa as well. The Bahamas and the Cayman Islands already have digital nomad visas. These visas allow remote workers to work tax free for a period of time.
The life of a digital nomad is highly mobile. They travel light and their bags are always packed. These nomads represent some of the earliest adopters of new technology and trends. Web3 offers different projects for these mobile and tech savvy travelers.
Some destinations that draw these remote workers are not developed, secure, or accessible. Crypto helps level the playing field. Crypto provides stability as these workers process payments related to their field. Decentralized systems help workers avoid high international bank fees.
Web3 ensures that workers get paid no matter where they are in the world. The flexibility of Web3 allows for these remote workers to stimulate the economy while on the go. Social tokens are another Web3 product digital nomads should be taking advantage of.
Social tokens allow mobile creators to take their community wherever they go. Tokens serve to strengthen the community and creator relationship. Moving a community from one platform to another is a valuable tool in today’s world. Social tokens allow the movement of community the way these nomads change countries.
Nomads represent a chance to onboard users into new elements of tech. Olumide Gbenro, one of our Roll creators is doing that. He’s using his digital nomad lifestyle to spread the word on social tokens. Olumide creator of $BALI, one of the newest tokens on Roll, stopped by our #NewTokenMonday Twitter Spaces last week.
Olumide is using his digital nomad experience to bring utility to his $BALI token. He will use $BALI to connect digital nomads with locals in the area who have property to rent.
Locals in Bali seem to embrace foreigners, as Olumide tells it. ”I’ve really been loved and welcomed by the Balinese,” he says. “Everyone’s always smiling – there’s a really genuine, heart-centered tone here that you can’t get anywhere else.”
The Social Token Research Lab 🧪
Welcome to the Social Token Research Lab!
We are kickstarting an initiative that will help us build better, more sustainable social token products that put our users first. The Social Token Research Lab initiative will ask interested testers to test the latest version of the products and collect collaborative feedback.
As a thank you to those giving feedback in the Lab, we will give $5 to testers for each feature tested. If you’ve used Roll’s products before and are interested in testing out our latest versions, please register here – bit.ly/roll-lab.
We will reach out to set up interviews. We look forward to working directly with you to upgrade the internet with social tokens!
The New Creator Economy 🌐
Instagram has rolled out new features in time for the holiday season.
First the Note feature.
Notes are 60 characters of text or emojis that appear at the top of the inbox. These are published to followers they follow back or people on their Close Friends list. Users can ask for recommendations or advice and share what they are up to. The idea is for the feature to be casual and spontaneous.
Next, Instagram is rolling out new features for Stories.
First, there is an update to the Add Yours feature. These prompts have been all over Instagram lately. They ask a question, give a statement, and allow users to attach their personal photos to the prompt. This update will allow users to invite their friends by sending the prompt to their inbox. Do you think this will lead to stronger usage of this new Instagram trend?
The second update to Stories comes from Instagram’s answer to popular app, BeReal – Candid Stories. Candid Stories allows users and their friends to capture and share what they’re doing RIGHT NOW. This story is only visible to other users who share their own Candid Story.
Instagram has also added tools to allow more collaboration on the app. Users can now launch Group Profiles.
Group Profiles allow users to share posts and stories in a shared profile with their friends. Content shared in a Group Profile will only be shared with members of that group. The content will be posted on the Group Profile not the users’ own.
Instagram is also testing a new way for people to connect with friends over shared interests. Allowing users to start a collaborative collection in which users can share posts to a vision type board. This works in both 1 on 1 DMs and in Group Chats.
It’ll be interesting to see how creators begin to use the feature in 2023. In theory they represent great ways to further engage and collaborate. The questions is will they be able to integrate into the app without issue? Will creators be able to maximize their use? Will be a story to monitor for the new year.
DAOs all the way down (🤝, 🏠)
A co-op and earn system, Guruz is looking to change the publication industry. Gal from Guruz $STRZ stopped by Roll’s Membership Thursday Twitter Spaces. Gal talked about their ideas involving users created NFT publications around their expertise.
A user can launch an NFT publication using social tokens to reward contributors. Social tokens and memberships allow a publications top followers to amass voting power. Each publication managed by a DAO optimizing the publication at every turn.
These followers and contributors would then submit story ideas. Those with voting tokens would then vote on which stories get funded and advanced. Advancing places the story idea in the hands of the DAO members for that publication. Together members optimize the content for their publication. They then showcase and share the story so they earn more tokens.
Tokenization of the assets creates interest among community members. They can trade or sell their publication tokens for profit. This gives community members a path to profit from their engagement.
Another example of how DAOs will affect the world of social tokens.
🔦 Happenings in the Roll Ecosystem 🔦
Following their appearance in the latest Social Token Times, Hackatao ($MORK) has been on quite the roll. 🎲🎲
NFT. NYC will feature the duo as a Featured Artist for the 2023 event. One of the pioneers of the international crypto art movement, it’s great to have them so close to home.
Osiniachi ($OSINA) is making some serious waves. 🌊🌊
CoinDesk featured the Africa crypto artist in their Most Influential 2022 List.
The piece was featured in CoinDesk’s article on Ukrainian Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov. Fedorov raised $178 million in crypto for the defense of Ukraine.
The ripple effects of Osiniachi’s wave continued as Buffalo AKG Art Musem acquired one of their pieces. “+rave-sing (traversing)”, mark’s Osincahi’s first acquisition by a museum! Congratulations on this amazing milestone.
Independent artist Federico Secondome released his newest vinyl last week. In the first 100 copies of his vinyl, Federico placed a QR earn code for his token $IIME. 💿💿
Federico isn’t afraid to experiment with different sounds. Yet he always remains true to himself.
His latest release, “MALE DAVVERO,” talks about the toxicity of modern-day relationships. We at Roll are excited to see what comes of this earn code innovation!
Roll creator MARTY POORBUCK$, the creator of $PRBS, with some encouraging words for the team at Roll. At Roll we make it easy for creators, like Marty, to strengthen and engage their communities. We love working with creators who are passionate!
Harrison First ($FIRST) had the opportunity to present to all those at the World of Alidia Weekend in Stockholm. Harrison spoke to the large crowd about entrepreneurship, social tokens, music NFTs, ownership, and more.
Featured New Creators on Roll 🔥
Welcome to the Roll fam!
The $CCS token is here. CRYPTO CUT$ is the first spa in the world to accept crypto. The founder is 3 time Grammy Nominee Allan Kingdom. He built the spa with his realty company, Kingdom Realty. After taking the Web3 world by storm Allan decided to roll up all his pursuits into one.
Holders of $CSS will be able to get haircuts, facials, massages, and so much more. Allan hopes to work with all Minnesota sports teams on partnerships for the brand. The partnerships will include free gifts, discounts, concert experiences, and more.
CRYPTO CUT$ is also launching a PBT, a physically backed token. This token, held on a debit card, will enable holders to scan it at partner locations where they can redeem services for tokens.
$CCS is running their first giveaway now!
$HMHW is the social token of ShaniTV. Shani provides tools to empower users to discover their inner happiness. As a certified Happiness coach, Shani will use $HMHW as a means to help people live out their happiness.
$BSB is the social token for Jacob Smith, better known as ByeSadBoy. After a battle with addiction, Smith wants to show it’s okay to feel your feelings. He stresses not letting negative emotions take over. $BSB is for anyone who has lost their way. Holders can look forward to a community based around music, with an emphasis on not feeling alone.
$NUVEM is a token from Patmachadu. An official YouTube Contributor, she is helping creators grow their ventures. She helps folks make a living in the creator economy. After 2 years of helping creators on YouTube she Patmachadu decided to write an e-book. Compling all she knew about YouTube she wrote a successful e-book. She’s looking to share her venture spirit with the holders of her token.
$DALU is a family run operation. Founded by Jose Trassi, the line Vegandalu focuses on respecting nature and animals. Trassi looks to share his knowledge with his community. He is an experienced yoga instructor, pyschologist, and actor. He and his family developed this line of vegan food during the height of the COVID19 pandemic. Holders can look forward to some tasty treats.
$SKYMN is a social token tied to musician Skyman. $SKYMN holders can expect unreleased tracks, concert experiences, and more.
Announcements 📣
Roll is heading to CES!
For the first time ever there is a dedicated Web3 session at the Consumer Electronics Show. Hosted by CoinDesk it will show off the Web3 futurist vision.
Make sure to connect with us if you’re going to be in Las Vegas from January 5th to January 8th!
In addition to hosting Twitter Spaces twice a week, the Roll Team also rolls out engaging content in the form of Twitter Threads. Featured on Tuesdays, these are in depth dives into the world of social tokens or current events.
Using our wealth of industry knowledge Roll makes sure our community stays informed. Make sure you are following Roll on Twitter to get the most out of these informative Threads.
We are hiring! 🙋♀️
Roll is hiring for roles to expand our team and accelerate building out social token infrastructure. We are a globally distributed team, super collaborative and fun environment to make a difference. Come join us!
💻 Senior Backend Engineer
Check out the job descriptions. Drop up a note at [email protected] if you are interested in the position or know someone in your network who might be a good fit 👀
Bye For Now 👋
For those continuing to explore social tokens, you can get in touch and create your social token on Roll below: