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 Today’s newsletter is written by John and Austin.

Estimated read time: 6 minutes

The Fastest Team in the World Releases an NFT Collection

Mercedes-AMG Petronas, the reigning Formula One world champions, have asserted themselves as one of the premier teams in the sport, and now they are making themselves known in the world of NFTs. The team is partnering with FTX, one of the world's largest crypto and NFT exchanges, and Mad Dog Jones, a prominent digital artist. 

The project→ 

“Each of these incredible auction items presents the first-ever chance to own a piece of both digital and physical motorsport history” - the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Team

The team created a three-part collection of 13,500 free NFTs and eleven NFTs that will be auctioned on the FTX marketplace. The first and second parts of the collection are NFT F1 Grand Prix ticket stubs with varying degrees of rarity. The tickets are collectibles that allow the holders to unlock future utility, gain gated access to future F1 releases, and be entered to win physical items. Both installments will be given out at random to people that sign up for FTX and register their interest in the event. The third part of this collection is an auction of eleven NFTs that come bundled with real-life components of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas car. The winner of the first auction will take home one of the racer’s rear wings from the Miami Grand Prix and a super-cool, ultra-rare NFT that's shown above.

What does this mean for you?→ 

Traditional companies like Mercedes-AMG are beginning to dip their toes into Web3 by first partnering with artists, musicians, and other entertainers to create digital collectibles. If this isn’t an indication that businesses and Web3 are on a collision course, we don’t know what is. Another takeaway from this collaboration is that tickets are quickly taking the form of NFTs. Whether you’re seeing the latest Marvel movie, seeing your favorite band perform, or attending a conference, your ticket will most likely be an NFT that you store in a digital wallet—it will exist as a functioning ticket and a collectible that you can trade all at once. As time goes on, we will see more and more businesses mixing physical with digital. Companies will have to start asking themselves a very simple question—do we want to be a first-mover or not?

Physical Meets Digital

A product that lets businesses receive royalties from the reselling of their products? Say less. 

Americana Technologies, a startup founded early last year by designer Jack Frey, is making headlines with its unique technology that allows physical things, such as purses, cars, pieces of art, and trading cards, to be sold as NFTs. You might be asking yourself, how and why would someone do that? 

How?→ 

Americana’s flagship technology is called the NFTA Universal Chip. This chip is attached to physical objects such as the ones listed above. Once attached, the transactions involving the physical item are recorded on the blockchain. The transactions are then kept in a digital ledger just like any other NFT.

Why?→ 

This technology allows anyone to turn their physical assets into digital ones. This helps with two things that are of utmost importance to owners of high-end assets—authentication and provenance. Having a chip that allows for digital authentication means that you no longer have to worry about whether the product you’re buying is real. The chip would also guarantee the provenance of your product, i.e., where it came from. The digital ledger would allow you to see where the product originated and who has owned and used the product since its creation. 

What does this mean for business?→ 

If the creator of the product chooses to do so, the Americana chip would allow them a method to gain royalties every time their product exchanges hands. This would be an incredible thing for anyone that creates or manufactures products. For example, a car manufacturer could begin to put these chips on their vehicles. If the initial buyer of the car decides to sell the car after using it for 2 years, the car manufacturer would see additional profits from whatever royalty it engrained in the chip. 

The possibilities of this technology are endless, and we’re excited to see how it continues to evolve. Follow AmericanaNFT on Twitter for more information and news on their technology.

The NBA Ponders the Possibilities of Crypto

“At the end of the day, as people [the NBA] that create special, distinctive, unique intellectual property… there’s enormous opportunity” - Adam Silver

NBA commissioner Adam Silver is known for his forward-thinking. Since his appointment in 2014, he has endorsed legalized gambling, spearheaded changes to the All-Star Game, and expanded the NBA’s digital presence tenfold. His success is mainly credited to his focus on the game itself as well as his willingness to experiment with new basketball initiatives that satisfy the hundreds of players on NBA rosters and millions of fans worldwide. 

In a recent interview with Kevin Garnett, a legendary former NBA player, Silver showed off his forward-thinking by commenting on the possibilities of an NBA coin. Silver was optimistic about the potential that a coin would bring to their already strong digital presence. In the interview, Silver mentions the importance of connecting with fans and giving them something that allows them to experience the league in a different way. He also mentions how this could transform their business and give them new revenue opportunities. 

What we think an “NBA coin” could be used for→ 

• Purchasing NBA memorabilia

• Buying tickets to NBA related events

• Purchasing membership to special fan clubs

• Used as exclusive currency to purchase NBA TopShot NFT collections

(Silver begins to talk about NFTs and an NBA token at 56:00) 

ABCs of NFTs

One of our goals with The Mint is to demystify the world of NFTs. Everything from the words to the why of this whole new world. Web3 has its own language (both casual and formal definitions) which can be a bit intimidating at first. So today we present the first definition in our series of the ABCs of NFTs - A is for Alpha. 

What is alpha?→ 

Alpha is information that gains you an advantage. In the NFT world, it could be about an upcoming drop (new project), a hint about the company’s roadmap, or a pending announcement about a merger, acquisition, or key member joining the team. People search far and wide to find the best alpha, and many people pay lots of money to buy an NFT for access to an alpha. John is also doing this series as reels on his Instagram.

What is alpha?→ 

Now do B is for Blockchain→ 

Reply to this email with the terms or words you want to be defined by us here at The Mint.

That concludes this week's version of The Mint! Thanks for reading, and make sure to share your freshly-minted knowledge with your friends and coworkers.