Nike’s .Swoosh is a platform for customers to learn about web3, collect virtual products like sneakers or jerseys and, eventually, help to co-create them, even potentially earning royalties on their sales. 

Nike has become a leader in fashion NFTs, largely through its purchase of digital design studio Rtfkt last year. Now, the sports giant is developing a standalone Web3 strategy designed to appeal to traditional brand fans rather than the crypto-literate early adopters.

The platform will be a place for people to buy, show off and trade phygital and virtual products; unlock access to events and products; and co-create products. 

For example, a virtual shoe might enable holders to preorder a physical counterpart, enable token-gated chats with shoe designers or unlock wearability in a favourite game. 

Thanks to NFT sales from Rtfkt, and with it the Web3-native company’s pre-acquisition NFT collections, Nike has already made at least $185.3 million in revenue on Web3 products.

Now, with Dot Swoosh, Nike wants to broaden the net of who its Web3 strategy is for, going beyond Rtfkt’s endemic customer base and tapping into its own, who may be less experienced in the world of Web3. The goal is to educate and onboard the Nike community, rather than the Web3 natives, to level the playing field.

A key component will be co-creation, including the ability for people to weigh in on design elements and sell their own co-created products, including earning royalties on virtual goods. Those who win community challenges will be given the chance to co-create and earn a royalty for every virtual product they helped co-create. 

Governments, banks, and technology companies should come together now to consider how payments and currency will work in the metaverse.

The big questions are: Will a single currency emerge for all transactions? And what might that currency be? Dollars? Crypto? Right now, payment methods in metaverse-like environments are heterogeneous.

The good news is that if we use blockchain technology, we might not need a single currency. Because it is interoperable by design, different blockchain protocols can talk to each other and share data, meaning the blockchain could perform continuous transaction exchanges.

This kind of quick and easy payment system will go a long way toward helping the metaverse thrive. But whichever system or systems are created, forecasters predict there will be trillions in value exchanged within the next decade, and the sky’s the limit for innovation.

• Metaverse gift guide: The best video games and virtual reality headsets to get started in the metaverse. (Polygon)
• How retailers are connecting the metaverse to the real world and revenue. (Retail Dive)
• Web3 is in FTX's blast radius. (Axios)