USDC Tap To Pay On iPhones, Solana Expands Into Food Tech & More

Welcome back!

This is J264G and this week I’ve got these titbits for you:

• Mobile Carrier: XNET, a new mobile carrier, goes live on Solana.

• Food Tech: Experience smart fridges accepting USDC via Solana wallets.

• Stablecoin Expansion: SPL PYUSD has surpassed its Ethereum counterpart.

Apple's recent decision to open up the iPhone's NFC chip to third-party payment services marks a significant shift in the company’s ecosystem strategy. This move will enable banks and other financial service providers to compete directly with Apple Pay, potentially revolutionising mobile payments. 

Interestingly, Jeremy Allaire — co-founder and CEO of Circle — has announced that tap-to-pay functionality leveraging USDC on iPhones is on the horizon. 

The combination of Solana's high-speed, low-cost stablecoin transactions with the widespread use of iPhones could create a powerful synergy, potentially accelerating the mainstream adoption of crypto and solidifying Solana's position in the finance landscape.

Soon, we may all have the opportunity to be more like Joyce 😉

Now, let’s jump right into this week’s newsletter!

Click on any underlined heading/hyperlink to learn more.

Spotlight

Collective Intelligence

Time and again, groups have demonstrated superior information aggregation compared to individual experts:

• Presidential prediction markets outperform pollsters 74% of the time [1]

• Internal prediction markets at Google and HP surpassed expert forecasts [2,3]

• Markets identified the cause of the Challenger Space Shuttle explosion within minutes [4]

Despite the power of collective intelligence, traditional management structures persist:

• S&P 500 companies spent $8.35 billion on CEO pay in 2022

• 21.3 million US managers earn a collective $1.3 trillion annually

• $250 billion is spent on management consulting each year

We believe decision markets can allocate these resources more effectively. 

Decision markets are platforms that leverage financial incentives to predict specific outcomes, revolutionising collective decision-making for more cost-efficient, informed, and robust decisions.

Consequently, MetaDAO is developing the world's first decision market platform. Unlike platforms such as Polymarket that focus on individual bets, MetaDAO enables the decentralised creation and trading of entire decision market ecosystems.

Start creating and trading on MetaDAO's platform here.

Uniquely, MetaDAO itself is governed by decision markets. As a DAO, every proposal's fate is determined by the market’s prediction of its impact on the META token's value.

Recently, we’ve completed a strategic funding round led by Paradigm and are now hiring a Founding Engineer, UX/UI Engineer, and 𝕏 Intern. Learn more and apply for open positions here.

Also, make sure to visit us on 𝕏 and be part of the future of decentralised decision-making — regardless whether you're an investor, developer, or governance-minded user.

[1]: Wolfers and Zitzewitz, 2004
[2]: Chen and Plott, 2002
[3]: Cowgill, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, 2009 
[4]: Maloney & Mulherin, 2003

Number Of The Week

When will we have these security competitions on Solana? 🤔

News Bites

Infrastructure Boom: The Solana ecosystem is witnessing unprecedented growth, with a surge of new entrants and technological advancements reshaping the infrastructure landscape. To help you navigate this dynamic environment, the following overview highlights key entities and developments in Solana's infrastructure domain.

Food Tech: Selecta introduced smart fridges accepting USDC payments via Solana wallets in France, bridging crypto and offline commerce. Currently, there are six smart fridges in Paris — along with over 20 additional smart fridge locations across France.

Yield Generation: Maple and Sphere have partnered up to enable seamless on-ramps and off-ramps between USD and USDC, empowering users to frictionlessly generate yield on stablecoins against a network of institutional and verified lenders.

Stablecoin Expansion: PYUSD on Solana has surpassed its Ethereum counterpart. In part, this might be due to Token Extensions — a feature that is not available on Ethereum — which offers enhanced privacy and compliance capabilities for PYUSD transactions.

Mobile Carrier: XNET  — a network that expands mobile coverage by using radios and access points placed in stores and businesses — has emerged as the next groundbreaking Solana DePIN project.

DeFi Diversification: The introduction of Loopscale, a credit order book for the next generation of capital markets, is further diversifying Solana's lending and borrowing market.

Solana Staking: Figment's partnership with Robinhood brings SOL staking to Robinhood Crypto customers in the EU, marking a significant step in Solana’s continuing mass adoption.

Caught In 4K

Weekly Take

Keks & Giggles

And that's a wrap!

If you'd like to reach me, respond to this newsletter or reach out to me on 𝕏.

Talk soon!

J264G

_{DISCLAIMER
None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research. Lastly, please be advised that we discuss products and services from our partners from which our team members may hold tokens/equity.}