The top news of the day is a news release issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announcing $28 million in rewards for whistleblowers who help the commission reign in scammers in the capital markets—including crypto. The commission has even set up a new section of its website just for whistleblowers, promising from 10 percent to 30 percent of money collected from scammers. Like many people in the crypto space, I’m totally against regulation by enforcement. The SEC has embarked upon some questionable actions regarding crypto companies, and in the highest profile case to date—SEC v. Ripple—I’m rooting for Ripple. While the prejudice against proof-of-stake chains is an obvious overreach, let’s not deny that the SEC has also reigned in some real scammers. The best path forward for the entire crypto space is to rid itself of scammers, fraudsters, and grifters. There’s no U.S. commission better qualified or equipped to handle that task than the SEC. For a good laugh, and a dose of common sense, check out this segment of Long Story Short with Hasan Minhaj.

Now, for the Web3 Stuff

Amazon to launch NFT marketplace on April 24.

MakerDAO is considering a proposal to invest $750 million in U.S. Treasuries. This would go a long way to legitimizing DAOs at the national level.

Utah becomes the latest state to recognize DAOs as legal entities. It won’t be long before every state recognizes DAOs. Recognizing the legitimacy of a new business entity is the first step to regulating it. Thus far, Wyoming, Tennessee, and Vermont have done so.

Why Yuga Labs’ interest in bitcoin NFTs is a big deal. Bottom line: It emboldens bitcoin maximalists.

NFT trades hit record highs.

Tensor raises $3 million for NFT platform on Solana. The test for survival will be if it does anything to improve upon what Magic Eden has done.

Near Protocol to launch a Web3-based blockchain operating system.

SocialFi Station compares Lens Protocol with Cyberconnect.

Kresus raises $25 million in Series A funding.

The blockchain has become fashionable in Paris.

14 Web3 marketing strategies. Funny, these look a lot like Web3 marketing strategies. At the heart of Web3 marketing is building community.

The rise of multi-chain NFTs could change Web3 forever.

Leo Threads on the Hive blockchain goes from 500 monthly active users to over 1,000 in the first month of launch. As should have been predicted, this growth has caused an issue in how threads are filtered for users to see the content they want to see. Threads developers have a solution.

Crypto.Buzzer believes Somee is poised to create more millionaires than any other social media platform. This is why some people consider crypto a joke. Idiots like this actually post these kinds of things, which makes you wonder where they get their ideas from. Somee quietly moved from the Ethereum blockchain to the Hive blockchain last year. In practical terms, if Somee manages to make one person wealthy, it will be due to the underlying blockchain, so it will be Hive making the millionaires. At least they have a rich list. No. 1 on the list is the Somee Official account. Surprised?

U.S. District Court says some NFTs could be securities.

How NFTs can drive institutional adoption.

An NFT artist using artificial intelligence gets her big day at the Louvre.

7 blockchain project ideas for women.

The metaverse has become the quiet corner of Web3. Can the metaverse consolidate the various sectors of financial technology? Don’t expect the metaverse to have a Pokémon GO moment. Brands are being cautious about collecting personal data in the metaverse. One of the great tenets of Web3 is increased security. There’s virtually no reason to collect personal data on individuals using Web3 tools.

I was going to wait until the end of March to list my book Web3 Social: How Creators Are Changing the World Wide Web (And You Can Too!) at Readl. But they announced an InktoMint contest for the month of March, so I listed the book. For 30 days, you can mint Web3 Social for only 1 MATIC.

DAO4Art combines the power of DAOs and NFTs.

The European union is monitoring antitrust in the metaverse.

Snark and commentary are in italics. Inclusion of an item doesn’t mean I agree or endorse the ideas presented. Of course, it also doesn’t mean I don’t.

Cryptocracy is a decentralized newsletter published several times a week. I curate the latest news and crypto analysis from some of the brightest minds in crypto, and sometimes offer a little insightful and snarky commentary. Always fresh, always interesting, and always crypto. Original articles on Fridays.

First published at Cryptocracy. Not to be construed as financial advice. Do your own research.

Image credits: Lens Protocol and Cyberconnect, SocialFi Station on Twitter; blockchain ideas for women, CoinTelegraph

Hat tip to @wickedthewolf for pointing me to the SEC news