Mad News #67 🔌 Lads Are Evangelists
Mad Lads hold 3x IRL meetups at same time across the globe, Mad Speakeasy offers new hangout for community, revisiting Solana Actions and Blinks, Backpack's latest teaser, Breakpoint alpha. Fock it.
Welcome to the Mad News! 🗞️
Mad Lads hold 3x IRL meetups at same time across the globe, Mad Speakeasy offers new hangout for community, revisiting Solana Actions and Blinks, Backpack's latest teaser, Breakpoint alpha, evolving crypto regulation and more. Fock it.
Catch up on everything Mad Lads x dVIN 🪂
Mad Monkey hosted the dVIN Labs team for a Q&A about what they are building, how they aligned with the Mad Lads community and what to expect in the upcoming $VIN airdrop.
Lads don't let Lads store their Lads in hot wallets 🔒
Keystone released the long teased mobile integration with Backpack Wallet
Lads don't let lads use paper wallets. Get a hardware wallet (pretty please)! Armani Ferrante
In addition to built in secure functions such as Collection Locking and Hide Balance, Backpack is the only Solana wallet to provide true 2-of-3 and 3-of-3 multisig protection.
Backpack users can visit Squads Protocol to set up multisig transaction approvals using a combination of Keystone, Trezor and Ledger hardware devices.
Multisig protection is known as one of the most important steps you can take to secure your digital assets.
It was a Mad weekend for the Lads 🎉
Lads came together online and offline across the globe for a weekend filled with celebration, reflection and WAO.
Vietnam 🇻🇳
Checking in with over 200 holders, Vietnam boasts the single largest Mad Lads community in the world.
They gathered in HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City) for a night time mixer during Superteam Vietnam's Startup Village.
'Bash and Brews' was hopping with holders and just one of many side events that took place over the three day experience.
Spain 🇪🇸
Lads were shoulder to shoulder at the first ever meetup in Madrid, Spain.
The event was held in collaboration with La Familia, a Spanish speaking hype machine that is boosting the crypto ecosystem in Spain.
In addition to music, food and drink there were several discussion panels including a short panel with Mad Lads founder, Tristan Yver.
🚀 La comunidad de Solana en España sigue creciendo! 🇪🇸
Una nueva comunidad regional llega a Solana, desde uno de los países más visitados de Europa.
España 🇪🇸 está lista para ser protagonista en el mundo blockchain. 🔥
Nigeria 🇳🇬
As we have explored in previous issues of Mad News, Nigeria is one of the fastest growing regions on Earth for crypto.
Mad Lads and Backpack Africa hosted a get together for the best and brightest in Lagos, the largest city in the country and one of the most populated in all of Africa.
Panel discussions, interviews with local builders and a tremendous amount of swag made for an exciting evening of Mad culture.
A night for the chronically online Lads at Mad Speakeasy 🍸
50+ Lads met up at the Mad Speakeasy for a virtual pre-Breakpoint event in the Portals metaverse.
Leela designed the Mad Speakeasy and orchestrated the event which included a scavenger hunt, trivia quest, poker room and unmatched vibes from the Lads.
Mad Speakeasy is a 24/7 operation whose doors are always open for Lads seeking a place to gather.
kev4evaa hosts a weekly AI-focused discussion in the Speakeasy each Saturday at 4PM UTC.
Visit the Mad Speakeasy today and enter a whole new world (hint, just open the door when you arrive).
LOTW: Uncanny 🎒
Uncanny🎒 is our LOTW!
Uncanny is one of the most prolific Lads community supporters and familiar face in the The Lads Avenue channels.
They are always quick to support fellow holders and is heavy handed with WAOs.
All good vibes, all the time.
Follow Uncanny right now!
MOM! WE MADE THE SOLANA BLINKS ECOSYSTEM MAP 📍
Backpack Wallet rapidly implemented support for Actions and Blinks once Dialect
released the new technology in June, 2024.
Actions and Blinks (blockchain links) transform crypto transactions by turning their access point into a simple link which can be shared on Twitter (and eventually Discord, Reddit etc.)
There are nearly 400 registered Blinks in the official database and just as many (if not more) in use.
To use Actions and Blinks, simply enable Solana Actions in the Backpack Wallet settings menu and you will be able to interact with Solana applications.
Bust out your playbook Lads, Backpack tips hand 🔌
We all know something is cooking when Backpack drops the patented 'single emoji without context' post.
Add another Wallet booster to the list 📈
Backpack was the first major wallet to support the newly launched Sonic Testnet.
Now users of Wallet will earn boosted rewards in the Sonic Adventures challenge.
Sonic Adventures are an opportunity to access testnet tokens and earn 'Rings' that are important for a future airdrop.
Backpack users gain exclusive access to 'Mystery Boxes' which contain Rings, tokens and more.
Get started earning in the Odyssey Task Center today.
Do you remember last month's Monad x Backpack event? 🍱
Never fear if you don't, the supercut recap is in and features some of the most interesting people in crypto.
Breakpoint looks to be the biggest Solana conference of all time 🎟️
Record setting ticket sales place 5k+ confirmed attendees at the two-day Solana Breakpoint conference in Singapore.
The agenda is packed with keynotes, workshops, fireside chats and debates.
Even more packed is the extremely long list of side events being hosted by hundreds of Solana builders and creators.
Still looking for side events?
Tokyo is for the builders 🛠️
Japan continues to align with blockchain builders while thousands of teams working on the future of decentralization call Tokyo home.
The island nation recently announced plans to completely overhaul their tax code next year, it will specifically focus on clarifying the current confusing language about blockchain (as well as lowering crypto tax rates).
Headlines are constantly abuzz with bullish statements about the future of crypto in Japan.
Ripple CEO Sees Strong Potential for Yen Stablecoin in Japan’s Crypto Market
Billionaire Mark Cuban Urges SEC to Emulate Japan's Crypto Strategy Amid Regulatory Challenges
Japan’s Fast And Early Approach To Crypto Regulation Is Paying Off
UK to adopt more legal protections for digital assets 📝
New legislation would reclassify digital assets like crypto and NFTs as personal property.
Previously, digital belongings were not definitively included in the scope of English and Welsh property law – leaving owners in a legal grey area if their assets were interfered with.
This will open the door to strong legal protections against theft and fraud.
mtndao: the movie 🎥
mtndao has come to an end but the work done there will reverberate far into the future.
IslandDAO is next up on the Solana coworking menu 🏝️
As soon as breakpoint is over, builders are flocking to the island of Ko Samui, Thailand for a month long grind in the Pacific.
These community collaborations make Solana special and the next billion dollar brand will probably be formed during one of these long form hacker houses.
PODCAST CORNER 🎙️
Validated
Blinks and Actions w/ Jon Wong (Solana Foundation) and Chris Osborn (Dialect)
In this episode, Austin chats with Jon Wong (Solana Foundation) and Chris Osborn (Dialect) about the development of and use cases for Blinks and Solana Actions. Blinks, short for "blockchain links," allow users to take direct "Actions" on the Solana blockchain such as swapping tokens, donating, or voting on governance directly from a link on platforms like X. This technology integrates with Chrome extension wallets like Phantom and Backpack, rendering these interactions seamlessly in the browser.
Lightspeed
Unpacking Solana’s Total Economic Value | Dan Smith
Dan Smith from Blockworks Research joined us to discuss L2 MEV extraction, Blockworks Research’s Solana Dashboard, and Total Economic Value on Solana! Additionally, we discussed how validators earn revenue from MEV, and supporting small validators. Finally, we unpacked Sanctum's recent LST partnerships, and speculated on whether or not NFTs will ever make a comeback. Enjoy!
The Lack of Bold Bets in Crypto | Weekly Roundup
Jack and Mert discuss the state of SocialFi, the lack of bold bets in crypto, and what it means for crypto to succeed. They also dove into how Proof of Stake systems should work, and how sandwich attacks can be reduced onchain. Finally, they covered new DePIN projects coming to market. Enjoy!
Logan Jastremski
On the quest to becoming the best investor in the world with Santiago R Santos | EP
Santiago R Santos is one of the top angel investors within Crypto and one of the industries best thinkers.
The Index Podcast
Future of Crypto: On Chain Analytics and Staking with Alex Svanevik, CEO of
What if you could completely transform your investment strategy with real-time, curated on-chain data? This week on The Index, host Alex Kehaya joins Alex Svanovic, co-founder and CEO of Nansen, to uncover how his innovative platform is reshaping the financial world by making blockchain data more transparent, efficient, and actionable.
Bankless
Will AI Kill Democracy? | Yuval Noah Harari
Today on a special in-person recording of Bankless we welcome special guest and best selling author, Yuval Noah Harari. Yuval is best known for his book Sapiens, and today, he is introducing ideas from his next book Nexus. We go deep down the history rabbit hole and explore the question, if human beings are so wise, why are we so self destructive?
Written by Benzel Blogs
WAO. LFG