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This Week in Web3 | 4.24.23

Author

Sarah from Layer3
April 24, 2023

GM to the 26,340 curious creatures (We broke 25,000. LFG 🚀) currently subscribed to This Week in Web3!

Here's what we'll cover today:

  • The Ryder Ripps vs. Yuga Labs saga comes to a close

  • Coinbase potentially moving offshore if no regulatory clarity

  • Product updates from our CEO & Co-Founder, Dariya

  • Discover StarkNet in our latest Quest!

WEB3 DIGEST

Ryder Ripps gets "absolutely bodied" by BAYC creator Yuga Labs

This might actually be putting it lightly.

In a court decision filed on April 21st in the Central District of California, the Court found that Yuga is entitled to monetary damages and injunctive relief, with damages to be determined at trial. There's a lot of legalese to work through here, but the basic outcome is clear:

Ryder Ripps owes Yuga Labs a lot of money, probably.

And here's where some of my law background comes in handy! The thread above does an excellent breakdown of the court decision, but you can basically tell by the words "Summary Judgement" that Ryder is somewhat f*cked. Cause it means the following:

  • There's no need for a trial to determine the facts of the case

  • These facts work in Yuga Labs' favor

  • Ryder doesn't have enough evidence to dispute any additional facts

Some highlights of the case also include:

  • The Court did not accept Ryder's claim that his RR/BAYCs were an expressive artistic work protected by the First Amendment

  • It also determined that Ryder acted with bad faith intent to profit for financial gain

  • While Yuga grants copyright licenses for both personal and commercial use with respect to their respective BAYC ape image, it did not grant a trademark license to use the BAYC trademarks (as Ryder did, by creating his RR/BAYC collection!)

This whole case was a mess and a half that dragged on for months, with more than just a few dramatics thrown in by Ryder, including this accusation that BAYC is actually affiliated with Neo-Nazis:

In other words:

QUICK HITS

Coinbase potentially going offshore?

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is considering moving Coinbase offshore if regulatory clarity isn't a priority for the U.S. government.

Why it matters: Coinbase has tried really hard to do things by the book since they started out in crypto. They're also one of the U.S.'s leading centralized exchanges, with one of the best onramp options for U.S. citizens. And they're exposing Americans to on-chain products like staking and decentralized apps — a necessary step for true custody. With Coinbase gone, America's consumer-facing crypto presence will be barely a whisper.

What's preventing it: Putting it briefly, there's a turf war between the SEC and CFTC to regulate crypto. No one is getting the correct answers.

You don't have this unfortunate thing happening where the CFTC and the SEC are having a turf battle. We actually have contradictory statements from the heads of the CFTC and the SEC coming out almost every few weeks. How's a business going to operate in that environment? We just want a clear rulebook.

— Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase

  • Democrats Blast Draft Stablecoin Bill in First 2023 Hearing on Issue - link

  • Call of Duty, Apex Legends Veterans Reveal Kaidro Web3 Game on Immutable - link

  • The 1inch Network expands to zkSync Era - link

  • Police seize $2.2m Belgrade apartment where Do Kwon hid during six-month manhunt - link

Product Updates from Dariya

We’ve added new ecosystems, a new blog, and a long awaited redo ability. Quick hits below.

  • New Blog: Keep up with Layer3 on our blog

  • zkSync: Added a zkSync category to keep up with the latest in the ecosystem

  • Starknet: Added our first Starknet quest

  • Redo quests: You can now redo quests after you’ve finished them (simply click the steps on any completed quest)

Coming up:

  • New categories: More gaming quests & new crypto products

  • Quest UX improvements: We’re testing out new content, formats, and features to improve your exploration experience.

We love meeting our users. Shoot me a DM @dariyaxyz with any suggestions, feedback, or just to say hi.

— Dariya, Co-Founder and CEO

COMMUNITY FEATURE

By far our most requested Quest category: StarkNet!

Our first StarkNet Quest is now live on Layer3!

This was a popular request in our community, and we've created a Quest for you to learn how to bridge to StarkNet using Braavos/ArgentX Wallet. Try it here now:

Introduction to Starknet - Layer3

Explore Starknet, a Validity Rollup Layer 2 that provides high throughput, low gas costs, and retains Ethereum Layer 1 levels of security.

https://layer3.xyz/quests/starknet

As always, thank you for reading!

Join our Telegram, Discord, and Twitter to stay up-to-date on the latest Quests, communities, and more. Until next week, frens.

Cheers,

Sarah from Layer3

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