Page One #44
One change today: I’ve included Blur links instead of Gem for each project. The high-speed trading platform went live to the public today - more on that below. While their UI requires a bit of getting used to at the start, I’ve really enjoyed using it over the past few weeks and was itching to get Blur links in here. Let me know what you think. And send me any feedback on the picture-summaries I’ve been posting on Twitter, good or bad.
As always, thanks for reading, hmu on Twitter and come hang out in The One.
TLDR:
The Art Pass provides access to Iconic Moments pieces
Azuki introduces the BEAN Chip and PBT standard
Blur announces public launch and airdrop details
Castaways release Islands and in-game updates
The Eternals makes Anthony Hopkins into a pfp collection
Garbage Friends make trash into digital collectibles
Genuine Undead gains attention on run to all-time highs
Non-Fungible Films makes offer to acquire 0N1 Force
Nyolings create cute characters with claymation style
SoRare NBA starts alongside new season of basketball
Splat by Devotion puts tomato soup on your NFT
Tengoku is building an ambitious world in Unreal Engine 5
News and Notes:
Azuki introduces the BEAN Chip and PBT standard
On Monday, Azuki announced the BEAN chip and a new Ethereum standard, the Physical Backed Token, which together tie a physical object to a digital token, introducing what they call “scan-to-own” mechanics. PBTs enable creators to link digital and physical objects in a decentralized, trustless fashion. Azuki will release their first PBTs, a collection of eight 24K Golden Skateboards, on Friday the 23rd in an auction - read the full details here. Azuki also launched Collector Profiles last Friday, where holders can display their NFTs, earn badges and participate in new drops.
Blur announces public launch and airdrop details
After announcing their $11M seed round led by Paradigm in March, Blur has slowly rolled out beta access to traders and communities across the space. Today they announced their public launch, welcoming everyone to use what they call “the NFT marketplace for pro traders.” They are living up to the slogan so far. Their site aggregates OpenSea, LooksRare and X2Y2 listings and now allows traders to list items directly on Blur.
To incentivize users to give their site a try, Blur is offering care packages to anyone who has traded NFTs in the past six months. These care packages contain $BLUR, their upcoming native token, and “other supplies.” $BLUR will launch in January and users who list tokens on the site will receive more care packages based on their activity. The size of Airdrop 2 will also be determined by how much a user pays in royalties - pay more royalties, receive a larger airdrop. Read their announcement here and the full details on Airdrop 2 here.
Castaways release Islands and in-game updates
The P2O island survival game with backing from LimitBreak’s Gabriel Leydon minted their second collection earlier this week. Each Raft holder received an Island, while 350 went to the public and 50 were kept for their treasury. The Islands update, which released alongside the mint, allows holders to begin constructing their homes with Minecraft-esque blocks and materials. Those without a raft or island can still play the game here.
Islands: 2.87Ξ floor | 500 supply | free mint | minted 10-17-22
Rafts: 20Ξ floor | 100 supply | free mint | minted 8-15-22
Genuine Undead gains attention on run to all-time highs
The collection of 24x24 pixel zombies saw continued volume over the past two weeks, finding new all-time highs frequently and peaking at a floor of nearly 1Ξ. GU has a strong community on social media and is often praised for its detailed pixel art. The run seemingly came without much of a catalyst, though it did earn GU a spot on the cover of the latest Redlion Magazine (and inspired a few derivative projects).
Non-Fungible Films makes offer to acquire 0N1 Force
NFF Founder Cameron Moulène tweeted that the entertainment studio has been in talks with 0N1 Force regarding an acquisition for “a few months.” The cyber-anime collection generated loads of hype when it minted last fall but has failed to regain the spotlight in a competitive category. Moulène emphasized his affinity for 0N1, saying it would become their premier IP. While the deal has not closed, NFF have made a formal offer to acquire the collection and await a decision from the 0N1 Force team.
Recent Launches:
The Art Pass provides access to Iconic Moments pieces
Iconic Moments works with top museums and brands around the world to create digital assets with meaning and purpose. They helped Linda Dounia in creating Grail #5 from PROOF’s Grails II drop and debuted their first collection, The Art Pass, earlier this week. The pass grants holders priority access to future drops from Iconic. The company offers assistance to museums, brands and other organizations looking to get involved in NFTs and have already started teasing their first art drop.
The Eternals makes Anthony Hopkins into a pfp collection
They’ve run out of things to make avatar collections from and now here we are. The Eternals consists of 1,000 faces of actor and entertainer Sir Anthony Hopkins, each themed around one of ten archetypes. The collection was developed by Orange Comet, an entertainment company who also developed The Walking Dead NFT collection. Each Anthony Hopkins will reveal on Thursday, October 20.
Nyolings create cute characters with claymation style
Combining the personability of human avatars with an attractive aesthetic, Nyolings feel unique yet relatable. The team doesn’t have a roadmap full of flashy promises - like many, they only seek to create a community that can work together to build their brand. The collection found itself in the top 10 for daily volume throughout the week, generating over 1,250Ξ in secondary volume so far.
SoRare NBA starts alongside new season of basketball
Non-fungible fantasy sports have come to the NBA. SoRare NBA takes digital sports cards to the next level by encouraging players to compete in weekly fantasy tournaments using the cards they own. Players are rewarded with new cards based on how they fair in each competition. Cards have five different rarity tiers (and a supply cap), allowing players to enter higher-tier tournament as they collect better cards. New players can be purchased in auctions or from other managers - sorry, no packs. Anyone can claim a free starter lineup right now and the first competition starts on the 21st. Read their full guide here.
SoRare launched their fantasy football/soccer game in 2019 and added MLB games in early 2022. They have since built a healthy and competitive ecosystem that saw over $20M of volume in the past 30 days. Fans of the NBA should certainly give it a try.
Splat by Devotion puts tomato soup on your NFT
Inspired by the protestors who threw tomato soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers last week, Andrew Wang, Sighduck and their team at Devotion brought the soup on-chain. Splat pulls the corresponding image from any token and covers it in tomato soup. There isn’t too much to it, but holders had fun with it on Twitter and praised Devotion for helping people learn how to use Etherscan to call contract functions. The collection reached a high of ~0.7Ξ after minting later Monday night.
Upcoming Launches:
Garbage Friends make trash into digital collectibles
Markus Magnusson, the artist behind Invisible Friends, is poised to return with more tangible characters. Garbage Friends, the second collection from the animator, employs the same walking animation style as IF, bringing gross piles of trash to life with vibrant colors and meticulous detail. We have few details about the project so far - the mint date, price and supply are yet to be announced and it’s unclear whether or not it will fall under the umbrella of the Random Character Collective. One to keep on the radar.
Supply, price and mint date TBA
Tengoku is building an ambitious world in Unreal Engine 5
While the Tengoku ID minters receive this week will look like a standard anime avatar, the project has plans to bring each one to life in an expansive universe built with Unreal Engine 5. The collection, which follows a sci-fi story in the year 2140, is made up of six different professions, each with their own specialized skills. Each ID entitles holders to a free Tengoku 3D, a life-like virtual human NFT for use in-game. Holders will also receive $TENG, their governance token, although details around it are scarce.
NFT Market Overview:
Royalties dominated weekend conversations again as Magic Eden announced it would be moving to an optional royalty model. They’ve also launched a $1M Hackathon to develop pro-royalty and alternative monetization solutions. As their new system currently stands, buyers decide whether or not to pay the project’s royalty, as opposed to X2Y2’s model where sellers decide.
Blur’s public launch adds intrigue to both the royalty conversation and the landscape of Ethereum marketplaces overall. They’ve launched their own marketplace, allowing users to list directly on Blur, where the seller can decide whether or not to pay royalties. Traders who pay more royalties will receive more $BLUR in their upcoming airdrop, creating a third-party incentive for traders to pay creators. Listing NFTs on Blur also impacts the airdrop amount, creating further incentives for the marketplace.
How will their public launch impact the charts below? After a year, X2Y2 now demands about 50% of NFT volume, although their transaction share still lags OpenSea’s substantially. Blur pairs the fastest indexing publicly available with the ability to choose royalties and access to liquidity on other marketplaces. Slap some airdrop incentives on top and you’ve got a recipe to make these charts look a lot different by the end of the year.
Other Stuff Happened/ing
NFTs:
10KTF introduces physical goods with Kagami
Bored Ape staking mechanics are laid out in new document
DigiDaigaku Heroes revealed last week
Mike Tyson’s Iron Pigeons join card game Final Form
Pixelmon opens Affinity Training, laying the road to Trainers
Toys R Us is launching an NFT on Solana
General News:
Dapper Labs co-founder Mack Flavelle signs with WME Agency
IRS expands US tax language to include NFTs (CoinDesk)
Magic Eden moves to optional royalties, sparking debate in Solana ecosystem