Decentralization Is The Solution

The Phantom Network (PxN) is a web3 tech company and community, working together to build decentralized solutions that will advance web3 commerce and change consumer habits.

The Grey Market (GM) will be THE shopping site of the future. A platform where users can transact using digital currency, wallet to wallet, and have the best of both worlds: privacy/safety (of identity) and transparency/convenience (of the transaction). 

The recent catastrophes involving centralized crypto exchanges exposed the risks users undertake when these entities have full custody over funds. They over-leverage, eventually find themselves insolvent and end up bankrupt. This leaves users empty, at a great loss, and without a solution.

Imagine a significant portion of your savings on an exchange, a pay app, or a bank suddenly vanishing in a day due to circumstances entirely outside of your control and through no fault of your own. These are huge losses from which some will never recover from.

The future is in decentralized platforms that offer systems giving users custody of their funds while providing access to all of the benefits centralized platforms provide. 

You no longer have to fear that a platform could lock up your funds, misuse them, invest them, lose them, become insolvent, or file for bankruptcy because no matter what happens, you are in control of your funds.

The difficulties and inconveniences associated with traditional banking will also be a thing of the past. Just sign your crypto wallet, or don’t, and we’re set: nice and simple.

Tech Terminal

• Testing for API integration has been completed on our backend.
• All smart contracts are undergoing optimization, after testing of Buyer and Seller flows.
• Ticket integration is completed.
• One more thing...

[ HOLO ] Initialising...

>>>0xf06a193b28ec170a63a160c9465746aa96af8b0dcddd6e4c5693bc285a1380d5

>>>Status: Success

Market Matters

Welcome back to Market Matters. We had quite a brain blast from last week’s edition so we’ll keep this edition brief.

Due to the shortened holiday week, we only received important data regarding the economy this week. On Monday, there was a sell-off across the board, speeches from FED Chair, Jerome Powell, the Consumer Confidence Index, GDP data, many jobs reports, along with PCE and PMI data.

The big drop on Monday was primarily due to protests in China related to the Government’s harsh stance on Covid-19, although they did provide some positive news stating their recent progress in vaccinations of the elderly citizens. Monday also saw the St. Louis FED President James Bullard’s speech, which was poorly received by the market as he stated policymakers may need to be more aggressive with interest rate hikes in 2023 to help curb the high inflation rates.

Moving into Tuesday, we saw consumer confidence decline once again with November’s reading of The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index. Both food and gas prices are back on the rise, causing inflation fears as consumers fear worsening labor conditions and overall economic situations moving forward.

On Wednesday, we saw some data from the GDP reading, some early jobs data, and the highly anticipated speech from Powell. Starting with the GDP, the markets showed a 2.9% reading, just 0.1% higher than analysts predicted. This came after two previous decreasing readings from this year, somewhat alleviating fears of a recession, as consumer, business, and government spending continue to be resilient.

The ADP Non-Farm Employment Change decreased 69,000 below the forecasted amount, showing employment in the private sector is slowing. This is a positive sign that the tight labor market could loosen. The other jobs market data from Wednesday was the JOLTS Job Openings showing an actual reading slightly higher than the forecasted amount, but still a decrease from the previous reading. This should be a positive signal to the FED that their policy is working while they hike interest rates and attempt to curb the jobs demand in the economy.

Moving ahead to the most anticipated point of Wednesday, the FED Chair, Jerome Powell gave a speech that was positively received by the markets. In his speech, Powell stated that it made sense for less aggressive rate hikes moving forward, but they would remain restrictive with their policy for some time, keeping the overall rates high. On the bright side, he believed the rates could slow in December, but they still have grounds to cover with inflation still being too high. Even with the positive news of slowing rate hikes, the markets are still fearful of how high the overall terminal inflation rate could be.

A couple of other notable remarks from the speech included a positive comment that they see the policy working, as the labor markets cool down, but a negative mention that they believe the housing market could take a hit in 2023. If you have been following the news weekly, you would remember that the housing market has been susceptible to take a hit from the constant increases in borrowing rates, with fewer home buyers seeking new purchases.

Pushing into Thursday, the Month over Month Core PCE Price Index and the ISM Manufacturing PMI was released. Both came in lower than expected. The Core PCE, which is arguably the FED’s favorite indicator to use in adjusting for future policy changes, showed a smaller increase than the forecasted amount, which gave hope that inflation pressures are continuing to ease.

Later in the morning, the PMI data released showed a contraction, revealing a decrease in economic activity in the manufacturing sector, yet another positive sign for the fight against inflation as the weakening of manufacturer growth continues.

At the time of writing, the Friday Jobs market data has yet to be released, but if you’re interested in digging deeper into the jobs data, the key things to search for are the Average Hourly Earnings report, Non-Farm Employment Change data, and the current Unemployment Rate, which I suspect will show a positive reflection on the weakening jobs market. This signals more positive news for the FED ahead of their next rate hike.

Wild Web3

Party On In Web3

Klubcoin and its Party-to-Earn Model is revolutionizing the decentralization of the music and festival scene.

It sees itself as the “First cryptocurrency for all clubbers, festival goers and electronic music fans.” The goal is to create a currency that is accepted by everyone in the electronic music scene.

By using the Klubcoin currency, clubbers and festival-goers are able to earn rewards and gain access to exclusive events and fans will be able to get into sold-out events. They can also get cashback on all their purchases and have access to parties and meetups exclusive to the Klubcoin community.

With the power of crypto, the partygoers now have an avenue to get in on the action.

Drinking The Blues Away In A Decentralized World

Ashburner’s Premium Gin, Johnnie Walker Blue and Soignér Fine Wines have all stepped into web3 with various interesting use cases of blockchain technology.

Ashburner - Each gin bottle comes with a digital NFT that enables the verification of the product, gives buyers the chance to interactively participate in company decisions, and grow in an exclusive community.

Johnnie Walker Blue - NFT holders will have the opportunity to influence the final design, culminating in an experience during Art Basel where NFT holders will also gain access to an immersive whisky experience.

Soignér Fine Wines - Soignér will be a members-only wine marketplace to trade, collect, and purchase fine wine. Every bottle in the ecosystem will be authenticated by a court of master sommeliers before issuing a tokenized proof of authenticity through an NFT, coupled with the receipt of the physical bottle of wine in real life.

With more real-life use cases coming to the forefront, we believe that the blockchain will truly be the pivot to a digital world beyond our imagination.

It’s All On The Blockchain

Good morning fellow Ghosts of the Resistance. What a ride it has been the past few weeks. We hope our earlier articles have served you well in expanding your knowledge and awareness of the web3 space.

Today, we’ll be talking about proof of ownership and decentralization on the blockchain. 

Decentralization on the blockchain is not governed by any external entity like an individual, a group, a company, or even the government. Everything on the blockchain is transparent and for public viewing. 

As for proof of ownership, digital assets like your NFTs or cryptocurrency are recorded on the blockchain. The most reliable way to prove ownership would be through signing a specific message with your private keys.

Decentralization and proof of ownership are at the core of web3. This leaves no room for forgery or even tampering once a transaction has been approved on the blockchain.

So why do people believe in these two core values of web3? Have you heard of the term, ‘not your keys, not your crypto?’ With the recent implosion of FTX, users lost custody of their cryptocurrency stored on the platform with a simple announcement that they would be halting withdrawals.

Users couldn’t do anything with the money stuck in their accounts, some ranging upwards of 6 figures. Centralized exchanges have the authority to make life-changing decisions with the touch of a button, which is why using decentralized platforms would benefit all of us.

By losing ownership of your assets, you can no longer prove that it belongs to you. Data is stored on a centralized internal server, which the public has no control or access to. You do not own the private keys to your cryptocurrency, as the exchange has control of them. Circling back to the quote, ‘not your keys, not your crypto,’ users must be wary of placing large amounts of assets in any centralized platforms. 

Some of you may have read that the first real-estate NFT was sold in South Carolina. The NFT’s traits describe the house, and the owner is the one who holds the NFT. Based on your state’s federal laws, and if they eventually decide that digital assets carry the same weight as your physical assets, buying a house would be much simpler.

By having the NFT in your personal crypto wallet, with access to the private keys, and the transparent transactions that will occur in a trustless way on the blockchain through smart contracts, you can easily prove that you have full ownership of the house.

At PxN, we believe in the future of fully decentralized platforms where users can transact easily and retain the right to have full ownership and custody of their assets.

Phantom Files: 29

Phantom 29's whereabouts were unknown, but his last message implied that he had settled down somewhere and started a family. He had sent no further messages since then so as not to disturb the peace, but finding him was imperative to rebuilding the Resistance. Pineapple and Plortis set off on a quest to locate him and managed to catch up with him.

1. What’s the story behind BankaiSauce?

Well, the name comes from a reference in Bleach, an OG anime I grew up watching, alongside One Piece and Naruto. I was trying to think of a creative name for myself while eating pizza. I had run out of hot sauce to put on my pizza, so I used sriracha instead, and HOLY! game changer for me. So I’m like this is some next-evolved form!! all I could think of is BANKAI!!! and then.. sauce, and here we are.

2. What is your favorite weird food combination? 

My “weird” food combination is mayo in bread or ketchup in 2 slices of bread, and that’s it. Easy to make, convenient, tastes amazing, and gets me filled. It’s a type of food combo that actually has more significance to me now that I’m older and not living in those financial circumstances. It’s a trip down memory lane sometimes. I know it’s corny, but you got to remind yourself sometimes from where you started to where you are now in life to feel grateful.

3. What’s your favorite game to play?

Currently, I’m trying to play Pokemon Violet and Triangle strategy.

4. What is your favorite TV Show?

‘How I Met Your Mother’ is my all-time fave.

5. What is a skill you want to get better at?

Programming from frontend to backend. 

6. What is a hot take that you have?

Mushroom, olives, red onions, green bell peppers, extra cheese, and finish it off with that grilled pineapple on it (chefs kiss).

7. Who do you look up to in this space?

I don’t have anyone I look up to I do, however respect all the real ones in the space. 

8. What is a favorite PxN moment of yours?

There are a few, but one that to this day cracks me up is when I convinced a whole community that Blivy was a girl.

9. When was the last time you were a menace to society? 

Depends. In real life,  it’s an everyday thing. On Twitter, I feel like the past couple of months it’s been a popcorn fest so didn’t really have to.

10. What is one thing you still have from your childhood?

Nothing much in particular other than old gaming consoles from Sega to Gameboy advances.

11. What is your favorite movie?

I honestly don’t have one. Always been more into anime.

12. What is something you’ve always wanted to try, but you’ve been too scared to do? 

Surfboarding, but ya knowwww, babyy shark doo doo doo dooo! 

13. What is one goal you are determined to achieve in your lifetime? 

That would be financial freedom.

14. What do you do to relax?

I put on noise canceling head phones, close my eyes, and focus on my breathing.. I usually fall asleep doing that, though.

15. What are 3 things you cannot live without?

Coffee, books, and boxing, basically.

16. What time do you typically sleep?

Usually before midnight, I will fall asleep. My schedule is much different in the bear compared to the bull.

17. What is a wacky business idea that you have but never followed through with?

I actually haven’t had any to be honest.

18. What did you do before web3?

I made Airplanes for a living. I was also more into crypto, altcoins, and mining before I joined NFTs. 

19. Why did you start terrorizing other Phantoms on Twitter?

I was actually bored and wanted chaos. Ended up creating some beautiful threads that lasted weeks.. ahhh good time!!

20. What is a song that you currently like at the moment?

Rudolph the red nose reindeer.

21. Can you tell us a short story about one of your favorite moments in web3?

I’m sure you know… the moment we made Lord Farquad into an Icon *cough* Kiwi

22. If you could shout out anyone in this space, who would it be? 

Urghh! There aren't just one. So to all the friends I’ve made in this space, I would do them wrong by only shouting one out.

23. Who's the best girl in Bleach?

YORUICHIIIII!!!!