Friday's Fast Five: Week of 10.28

The Era of the Paywalled Restaurant Is Upon Us (The New York Times): From private “clubstaurants” to NFT reservation tokens to concierge services, getting a table is a lot easier if you’ve got the money.

"Bitcoin as safe haven" theory crumbles in face of persisting inflation (Axios): In the face of persistently high consumer price index prints, the world's largest and oldest digital asset has crumpled, eroding investor confidence that it can act as a safe haven during times of market turmoil.

Case-Shiller: National House Price Index "Continued to Decelerate" to 13.0% year-over-year increase in August (Calculated Risk): The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a 13.0% annual gain in August, down from 15.6% in the previous month.  “The forceful deceleration in U.S. housing prices that we noted a month ago continued in our report for August 2022,” says Craig J. Lazzara, Managing Director at S&P DJI.

How to Build a Metaverse (Wall Street Journal - Podcasts): In a new four-part series from The Journal, producer Annie Minoff heads back into that largely forgotten metaverse – Second Life – to tell the story of the metaverse we already have and what it can reveal about the one that’s coming.

The Fantasy of Instant Delivery Is Imploding (Bloomberg): Gopuff was supposed to crack Silicon Valley’s longtime obsession with one-hour delivery. Instead, the startup valued at $15 billion risks becoming the next Kozmo.com-size flameout.