Given that we’ve now been here a year (!), it’s likely time for me to quit apologizing for being late or promising I’ll be on time - but hey, I try.
An absolutely huge thank you to everyone who reads, whether this is your first visit to Page One or you’ve been here for the past year. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to do what we do and very much believe the story of Page One is still in its early chapters. Looking forward to the next year and the next 50 articles - as late as they may be.
As usual, let me know what I missed on Twitter, hit the button below to come hang out in The One, and let’s get on with the show.
TLDR:
News and Notes:
Bitcoin re-enters the NFT space with Ordinals
Canto NFTs burst onto the scene with smooth jazz
Chimpers embark on their first adventure
Cool Cats shift their brand positioning with slew of new info
DenDekaDen announces partnership with Toei Animation
RTFKT reveals EXODUS pod-burning event
Recent Launches:
dial-up 56k revives the social mystery mint
DigiDaigaku Villains are minted and unmasked
Doodles 2 Wearables are live on Flow
FAKE MEMES highlight the history of meme cards
Ikehaya Pass had no utility, until it did
Upcoming Launches:
Mad Lads will be Backpack’s xNFT test subjects
Oh Baby Games announces $6M raise ahead of play tests
Rug Radio x Corey Van Lew avatars mint on Monday
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News and Notes:
Bitcoin re-enters the NFT space with Ordinals
While some of the first NFTs were on Bitcoin, most notably RarePepes, digital collectibles have never been the chain’s headline story - until this week. In January, Bitcoin developer Casey Rodarmor launched Ordinals, a protocol that enables individual Satoshis (the fractional unit of Bitcoin) to be “imbued with meaning” through a process called inscription. The new protocol has sparked a fierce debate within the Bitcoin ecosystem as maximalists contemplate whether they should actively censor transactions containing Ordinals.
Proponents of the experimental Ordinals, such as Udi Wertheimer and Eric Wall, see them as not only as an avenue for increased Bitcoin adoption, but also as a potential means of increasing Bitcoin’s security through higher fees. A variety of projects have sprung up, including Bitcoin Rocks, Ordinal Punks and Taproot Wizards.
This is certainly not my area of expertise, but you can learn more about Ordinals and Bitcoin’s newest debate in this piece from Metaversal, this blog post from Dennis Pourteaux, a number of articles from CoinDesk and the Ordinals website. Feel free to join Udi’s Taproot Wizards Discord and bug him with all your questions.
Canto NFTs burst onto the scene with smooth jazz
Launched in August 2022, Canto is an EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain that has built a culture around “Free Public Infrastructure.” Over the past few weeks, the chain has become the talk of the timeline while the Canto token is up from ~$0.08 on January 1st to ~$0.56 today. The increase in visibility, wallet count and total transactions has, predictably, facilitated the rise of Canto NFTs.
Older collections like Longnecks, Shnoises and Dead Ends have performed the best, with Shnoises rising from ~40C at the beginning of last week to ~1,000C today. Their success has attracted dozens of low-quality launches, but a few newer collections have done well - most notably CantoGraphs. While Alto Market has seen rather significant downtime recently due to the massive increase in users, the smooth jazz soundtrack they provide almost makes up for it. Check out this thread from @Missenjil for some more info.
Alto | Twitter | Discord | Canto’s website
Chimpers embark on their first adventure
After months of training in the Dojo, the pixel monkeys have set off on the next phase of their journey. Over the coming months, a series of 6 adventures will take place in which holders have the chance to win artwork and other prizes related to TBAC Series 2. Staked Chimpers are automatically enrolled in the Adventure, which is “like a board game, but for Chimps.” Each Chimp rolls a dice once per day and moves the rolled number of steps across the beautifully illustrated pixel board. While the “base dice” is 1-4, Chimps earn an additional number for each bandana level they earned in the Dojo, enabling green bandanas to move a maximum of 7 steps. Each adventure will take around 3 weeks to complete. Learn more about the process and available rewards in this Medium post breaking things down.
Cool Cats shift their brand positioning with slew of new info
It’s been a week full of news and announcements for the Cool Cats. In their first live-streamed Town Hall on the 1st, the Cats team brought their refreshed vision to the table for the community to see. In addition to shifting their brand positioning from cute and family friendly to cool and multi-generational, they announced that passive $MILK generation will end on the 7th while Cooltopia v1 will remain active, it will no longer be updated and new uses for Pets and $MILK will be introduced.
Their reworked website will become “a one-stop shop” for all the information about their ecosystem and introduces the Cool Score, a gamification system designed to reward loyal and active holders. Fractures were released to holders for free and will evolve over time, and Explorers - those front-facing Cats you’ve seen around - will allow for customization while providing new participants a low-cost entry to the ecosystem. There’s a lot of new stuff here, so check out this great thread from TGK for more details.
DenDekaDen announces partnership with Toei Animation
On Friday the 3rd, Toei Animation released a press statement announcing their involvement with DenDekaDen for the first time. Toei, one of the most well-known anime studios in the world, produced a number of iconic animes including as One Piece, Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon. DenDekaDen, their first foray into the NFT space, follows “seven characters who will gradually evolve from spirits to gods as they interact with fans via their Twitter accounts.” The project, which is admittedly a bit difficult to follow for those who don’t speak Japanese, rose ~500% after the announcement and currently sits at ~4.5Ξ.
RTFKT reveals EXODUS pod-burning event
After rumors of the pod burn circulated for many months, it finally arrived on the 31st. Space Pods and Loot Pods - the virtual home of Clones that double as OnCyber galleries - were automatically updated, while two new pods, the ExoPod and LuxPod, were introduced. Burning two Space Pods and two Loot Pods creates an ExoPod, while the LuxPod requires 20 of each. The burn event was revealed in cinematic fashion as RTFKT begins to tell the story of The Exodus, in which the Pods will play an important role. Learn more on The Exodus page of RTFKT’s site.
Loot Pod: 0.24Ξ floor | 18,391 current supply | airdrop | minted 2-6-22
Other Stuff Happened:
Boots provide access to some of Jeremy Booth’s future creations
Bored & Dangerous announces details for royalty distribution
Sartoshi announces first benefits for End of Sartoshi holders
Recent Launches:
dial-up 56k revives the social mystery mint
Information scavenger hunts aren’t new to the NFT space, but when executed well, they can be one of the most interesting ways to engage with the community both before and after a mint. dial-up 56k revived and refreshed the engagement tactic with a combination of clues given out through Twitter and a simple command-line based website. The collection, which features art reminiscent (or possibly sampled from) WAGDIE, airdropped one of three tokens displaying floppy disks to wallets that completed various tasks (which you can read about in this thread). There isn’t a lot of information to go off of yet, but that’s what makes it fun, isn’t it?
DigiDaigaku Villains are minted and unmasked
The long-awaited Villains mint took place on the 26th and those who were selected are able to claim their Villain until the 9th - if you entered, make sure to check their website to see if you won. On the 2nd, Villains could be unmasked, an optional process that reveals the character’s unique name and and class. The Digi ecosystem continues to grow larger and more complex - Lucky Trader has a great guide that breaks down the role of each collection. The ecosystem will expand again on February 12th when Dragons mint during the Super Bowl - you can enter for a chance to win one here.
Doodles 2 Wearables are live on Flow
Dooplicators were activated on the evening of January 31st, allowing Doodles holders to create Doodles 2 wearables based on their original Doodle. Available on Flow’s Gaia marketplace, common wearables like socks are available for as little as $12, but items that were dooplicated from rare Doodles like Cats and Apes are listed for as much as $200,000. In total, the wearables collection has seen ~$155,000 in volume so far, while beta passes for Doodles 2 currently sit at ~$100 and have seen ~$48,000 in volume. More beta passes and wearables will hit the market later this month after Genesis Boxes are opened.
FAKE MEMES highlight the history of meme cards
A new cohort of meme artists have played off the success of The Memes by 6529 to create a project that pays homage to Rare Pepes and Fake Rares. FAKE MEMES kicked off in mid-December when JpegKillah created the FAKE FACTORY, an adaptation of Grant Yun’s 6529 card MEME FACTORY. Four more cards, all adaptations of The Memes in one way or another, were subsequently released. Holders of all five were rewarded with the MEMEASF Master Pass, while holders on individual cards received a MEMEASF Mint Pass. These passes, illustrated by prolific memer Mike Three, grant holders a guaranteed (Master) and allowlist (Mint) spots for upcoming FAKE MEMES, which will presumably continue to riff off The Memes while highlighting the historic originality first seen in Pepes on Bitcoin.
Ikehaya Pass had no utility, until it did
CryptoNinja co-founder Ikehaya wanted to play around with Manifold and decided to release what he called the Ikehaya Pass. While he immediately disclosed that it had no utility, he decided to create some after the pass peaked at ~0.4Ξ and saw over 300Ξ of volume in less than 24 hours. As a result, holders will soon be able to burn multiple Ikehaya Passes in exchange for art from promising Japanese artists including Rii2 and at least four others. Keep up with Ikehaya on Twitter for more info as it becomes available.
Other Stuff Happened:
//EXECUTE Social Pass is the key to the Japanese studio’s incubated projects
Grails III Artist Reveal sees PROOF put on an impressive art show
Night Run blends art and gaming in an experimental style
Ugly Bitches are digital dolls with a post-internet aesthetic
Upcoming Launches:
Mad Lads will be Backpack’s xNFT test subjects
Backpack, the wallet in development by the team behind xNFTs and the Anchor Framework, has been in limited release for a while. It’s functionalities are ambitious and, given my limited space, better summed up by founder Armani Ferrante’s own tweets. The Mad Lads are Backpack’s avatar collection and the first ever xNFT (a term also better explained by Backpack). While these Lads serve the usual functions of an avatar collection - forming a community and the like - they will also be the lab rats for Backpack's expansive product experiments. While Backpack announced they would be creating an avatar collection some months ago, the Mad Lads were just announced on February 1st. There’s not many details past this, but keep up with them on Twitter and Discord to find out more as it becomes known.
Oh Baby Games announces $6M raise ahead of play tests
Founded by Pas, Oh Baby Games is different than most crypto gaming studios. Their games - the first of which will be What The Kart, a racing kart game - genuinely look like fun, something not many can say. Their character roster is made up of CT icons like smolting, CL and Keyboard Monkey. On January 31st, they announced their first round of funding from investors including eGirl Capital, Merit Circle DAO and Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin. While we don’t know many details about the games or the associated tokens, we may find out more soon, as they’ve opened applications for alpha testers - sign up here for a chance to run over smolting before anyone else.
Rug Radio x Corey Van Lew avatars mint on Monday
While this was covered last week, it’s worth mentioning again as the mint is just around the corner. There isn’t much to say that you don’t likely know, but with a reach as wide as Rug Radio, you’re likely to be see CVL’s colorful style on your TL very soon. Watch the Rug Radio socials for more info as the mint arrives.
Other News
California DMV is working on putting car titles on Tezos
Foobar explains how to stay safe with Liquid Delegate
Gordon Gone, Yuga Labs co-founder, takes health-related leave of absence
Ryan Carson lands in hot water after revealing “investors” for his new project
Saga, the Solana smartphone, starts shipping test units
Sudoswap officially transitions from $XMON to $SUDO
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