And just like that, markets have fallen off the cliff. Whether we are at the bottom of the cliff or still rolling towards the next precarious edge - who knows. I hope you all made it through minimally scathed.
Unless you were gambling on free garbage (getting a little drawn out, innit?), the market was rather boring last week. Given yesterday’s dump along with Celsius and potentially Saylor still fighting for their lives, it looks like it’ll be a bit boring again. So maybe we all relax, play some Zelda, do some window shopping, join The One and try not to go broke. Thanks for reading friends.
TLDR:
Aswang Tribe prepares for reveal on June 16
Chimpers release lore, launch community art foundation
The GODA Mint Pass brings big names to blockchain art
Lonely Pop mint starts tonight with Dutch auction
Metalk aims to create “Chat2Earn” Web3 social media
Mfers are left unsupervised, for better or worse
Murakami Lucky Cat Coin Bank airdropped last night
Pudgy Penguins launch Huddle Marketplace
RENGA puts Dirty Robot’s talent and style on full display
WAGDIE brings more mystery in second week
World of Women welcomes Madonna to NFT NYC next week
News and Notes:
Chimpers release lore, launch community art foundation
Timber’s collection of pixel monkeys is gaining some context. This week, Chimpers is releasing lore for each of the ten chubby monkeys on their website. Given the team’s history of storytelling with The Boring Ape Chronicles, this was to be expected. They’ve also established a community art foundation. Every two weeks, community members will be given a theme to create around. Winning pieces will be purchased for 0.2Ξ and displayed in their gallery.
Mfers are left unsupervised, for better or worse
The announcement that many had been waiting for was anything but average. In a post on Mirror, Mfers founder sartoshi announced he would soon be leaving. Before doing so, he transferred ownership of the Mfers contract to the community multi-sig, which will also receive 50% of the collection royalties. 25% goes to devs and others, while sartoshi kept 25%. He also released a final artwork, end of sartoshi, as an open edition, selling nearly 17,000 copies for .069 each.
The situation stirred up plenty of discussion. While sartoshi held no formal role besides creator and left without outstanding obligations or responsibilities, many have deemed it a rug. The only thing one can say for certain is he was a hell of a mfer.
Pudgy Penguins launch Huddle Marketplace
The Huddle Marketplace is open for pengoos. Powered by Origin Protocol, Pudgys can now be purchased on a site with an equally Arctic vibe. The new marketplace displays listed Penguins across LooksRare, OpenSea, and X2Y2, including the Lil Pudgies and Pudgy Presents. While it doesn’t change much in practicality, the site functions as a safeguard against fake collections and could eventually allow the Penguin team to earn additional revenue through independent listings. Expect to see more projects go down this route.
WAGDIE brings more mystery in second week
After burning a Mutant Ape and encouraging holders to burn their tokens last week, We are All Going to Die maintained a good amount of attention. Those who did sacrifice their tokens to the burn address were rewarded with a Token of Concord, with the rarest tokens going to those who burned first. Their art has come under question, though, with some claiming they stole art from Magic: The Gathering.
World of Women welcomes Madonna to NFT NYC next week
One of the highest-calibre NFT NYC announcements so far comes from World of Women, who are back in the headlines next to celebrity names. Madonna will perform at their event next week, celebrating Pride month. The singer also picked up a few WoWs of her own and is currently sporting one as her Twitter avatar.
Recent Launches:
Aswang Tribe prepares for reveal on June 16
After holding their allowlist mint over the weekend and selling the remaining few to the public on the 13th, Aswang Tribe members await the reveal on Thursday. Staking will go live alongside the reveal. While an Aswang is staked, it will gain Prayer Levels, with the first level coming after 30 days. Each level features a new Halo, which adds a new trait and background to each avatar.
The GODA Mint Pass brings big names to blockchain art
The Gallery of Digital Assets (GODA) released mint passes last week to those who won the Premint raffle. With a team full of talent including Pharrell Williams and KAWS, GODA helps traditional artists navigate the digital ecosystem while ensuring collectors access to incredible creations. The mint pass gives holders priority access to future drops, although what that priority entails will depend on the collection size.
Metalk aims to create “Chat2Earn” Web3 social media
Taking on the likes of Twitter and Discord is a tall task, but one Metalk thinks they’re up to. Metalk is building the first Web3 social media app where users earn for using the platform. While still in the early stages, their messaging platform is currently in beta and certainly makes you think about what could be possible with a fully-integrated social hub for crypto communities. The whitelist mint is still open but will go public sometime soonish. Read the full details in their whitepaper here.
Murakami Lucky Cat Coin Bank airdropped last night
Murakami Flower holders woke up with a surprise - a Lucky Cat Coin Bank. Those who revealed their Flowers received a Coin Bank late last night. No date for the collection had been announced, but they delivered quickly and the cats were revealed instantly. The left paw, which is raised, waves to people while the right paw is used to beckon for money. There is little other info on the cats, but their collection description does say to “stay tuned” to find out “what kind of story” will develop.
Upcoming Launches:
Lonely Pop mint starts today with Dutch auction
The debut generative collection from Thai illustrator Noinah, Lonely Pop channels his introverted nature into a collection that hopes to form a positive community in the space. 0xStudios, an “artist-first Web3-as-a-Service company” and incubator, has played a founding role in the project, providing Noinah with the support needed to launch a project.
3,350 pieces will be available in a fair Dutch auction starting at 1.5Ξ, decreasing by 0.25Ξ every twenty minutes and resting at 0.25Ξ. 6,000 pieces will be reserved for those on the LonelyList, while 500 will go to 0xOG Pass holders. For the full breakdown, read their Medium post.
RENGA puts Dirty Robot’s talent and style on full display
Although his subject matter is diverse - ranging from robots to dinners to scenes of the seasons - Dirty Robot’s flowing, playful style is instantly recognizable. RENGA, his upcoming avatar collection, combines all of these elements, creating a diverse collection held together by his ever-consistent style. While we don’t know much about the collection - price, size and release date are all still to be announced - they have said that holding a piece from his previous collection The Art of Seasons will provide one whitelist spot.
NFT Market Overview:
Surveying the graveyard. It’s gross. While last week’s volume was a little higher than some weeks in November, this is the lowest we’ve seen in months. OpenSea is on pace to finish June with the lowest volume traded since July ‘21.
The top chart is Nansen’s NFT-500 Index, which tracks projects across categories and accounts for more than 85% of daily volume since the start of 2022 (methodology here). It’s down about 50% from the February highs, but because this chart is in ETH, it doesn’t tell the full story. Priced in ETH, the index is down 11% since the beginning of the year. Priced in USD?
-66%.
Other Stuff Happened/ing
NFTs:
Floor announces $8M seed round led by 6th Man Ventures and others
Jim Carrey releases NFT on SuperRare
Martian Premier League bootcamp goes live
Nickelodeon teases upcoming NFT collection
Oncyber releases space creator beta, allowing anyone to create a space
Punks Comic #2 dropped on Monday
RTFKT announces perfume collaboration with French brand Byredo
Shibuya releases The White Rabbit Chapter 2
General News:
American Express introduces Abra Crypto Rewards Card
Gem launches Collection Activity which displays stats in the side panel
Kevin Rose launches new podcast Roundtable Discussion
Mastercard brings its payment network to Web3 and NFTs
Salesforce introduces NFT Cloud, allowing clients to mint and sell NFTs