Microsoft axes their Metaverse team ☠️

GM Degens,

Another exciting week ahead in web3 world. And another exciting week ahead for the team here at The Dumpling. We are working hard to bring you bigger and better news every day.

Today we cover:

• Microsoft's Metaverse team shutdown after 4 months

• Shopify kits up merchants with some blockchain goodies

• Hugo Boss x Imaginary Ones merch drop

Microsoft's Metaverse team shutdown after 4 months

Before it could even lay down roots, Microsoft's Industrial Metaverse team has been shut down after a mere 4 months. The project was stood up to grow the use of metaverse products catering to their industrial customers.

Despite having some major players on the hook already like Mercedes and Coke, roughly 100 people which formed the project team were sent packing. The team was primarily made up of individuals who were acquired under Project Bonsai an AI development platform.

This cut forms part of the broader 10,000 job cuts which will hit Microsoft across all ranks and products. And across big tech, jobs are being pruned left, right and centre as economic conditions continue to appear a bit rocky and companies brace for the worst.

As one door closes we hope another door in web3 opens for some of these talented individuals. 💪🏾

Shopify kits up merchants with some blockchain goodies

Over the weekend Shopify took a huge leap to meld blockchain with commerce. Their announcement launched a whole host of products for their merchants enabling them to enhance their engagement with customers with the flavours of web3.

"From documentation and code snippets to developer communities and forums, explore essential resources to kickstart your build"

Shopify are making it as easy as possible for merchants both big and small to level up their web2 ecommerce store.

More details of their release can be found here.

Hugo Boss x Imaginary Ones merch drop

The NFT merch game continues to outdo itself with Imaginary Ones collaborating with German mega brand Hugo Boss. The merch drop features a HUGO hoodie and an NFC chip integrated hat.

The merch derives from the original NFT collaboration between the two brands "Embrace your emotions" focusing on fashion expressions which launched on World Mental Health Day in November 2022.

The first drop featured 1,001 animations and mint funds were allocated to the benefit of Youth Aware of Mental Health program. This is not the first time that luxury fashion brands have collaborated with NFT projects, but what do the Hugo NFC chips have in store?

We'll have to wait to see what this "digital surprise" reveals as...👀

Bao-Sized News

• Coinbase Product Head jumps ship to a16z crypto fund

• Polygon ZK Technology for Main Chain... What's ZK technology? Keep reading below

• NFTs to take the centre stage at Paris Art Museum exhibit

Made us Kek

All the applicants through Crypto Jobs must look like this...

Thread of the week

Understanding the big brain technicalities of blockchain technology and latest developments are hard enough as is.

Learning how to EXPLAIN them is a sixth sense. This week's thread of the week unpacks it quite simply and hopefully helps you join the dots more.

Tackle them bit by bit and let your curiosity and unanswered questions fuel you to learn more. This week I came across "ZK Proofs" a few times and my mind drew a blank...

If you're in the same camp as me, then dive in 👇🏻

During this week of love, why don't you share your love for The Dumpling and tell a friend to subscribe now!

Have a good week :)

–Bernie