It’s a strange time in NFT land. Established collections are continuing to roll out new announcements, projects that have been building for months are launching and legacy establishments continue to show their interest in the space. Despite all the positives, the wider crypto market seems to be holding its breath in anticipation of the next piece of bad news. In a better environment, I would have expected some of the projects released this week to perform much better, but right now the name of the game is capital preservation. Stay alive and stay interested.
As always, thanks for reading, hmu on Twitter and come hang out in The One.
TLDR:
News and Notes
10KTF is now part of the Yugaverse
adidas Virtual Gear debuts an “eclectic mix” of merch
Azuki speeds into Abu Dhabi with Oracle Red Bull Racing
Bored Apes flirt with liquidation levels before recovering
Castaways airdrop Treasure Chests to active players
Pudgy Penguins are on cereal boxes and in auction houses
Recent Launches
1984 brings a nostalgic gang of misfits to life
DegenScore rewards the biggest degens with The Beacon
Homa Games brings mobile game expertise to the web3
Humankind is the next project from Roboto’s Pablo Stanley
Prometheans is an on-chain game that can last forever
RarePass offers collectors access to historic cryptoart
Upcoming Launches:
Kujira No Konton is by manga lovers, for manga lovers
RTFKT gets ready for the World Cup with free jerseys
Valhalla announces details about next week’s launch
News and Notes:
10KTF is now part of the Yugaverse
Yuga Labs announced they have acquired WENEW, the company behind 10KTF, on Monday. Since launching in June 2021, WENEW has worked a number of collaborative projects with brands including Gucci, Louis Vutton and Puma while simultaneously building 10KTF into one of the most intriguing narrative universes in the NFT space. Former WENEW CEO Michael Figge will join Yuga as Chief Content Officer and co-founder Beeple will take on an advisory role. The acquisition further cements Yuga as a titan in the space while opening a new world of collaborative possibilities. Read Yuga’s full press release here.
adidas Virtual Gear debuts an “eclectic mix” of merch
It’s not easy to design the ugliest NFT merch ever seen, but adidas may have done just that. Their newly revealed collection of eight “impossible silhouettes” contain 16 variations that pay homage to gmoney, Punks Comics and BAYC while simultaneously looking like Muppets from the chopping room floor. Still, the collection is their first foray into the world of wearables, an area that Nike and RTFKT have been playing in for months.
Azuki speeds into Abu Dhabi with Oracle Red Bull Racing
Lei the Lightning Azuki will be featured on Oracle Red Bull’s F1 cars for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend. The collaboration makes Lei, Azuki #8494, the first NFT character featured on an F1 car. Azuki and Bean holders can equip his racing jacket in the Collector’s Profile on their site and even read his driver bio on Red Bull Racing’s site. It seems like we’ve got news regarding Azuki every week as they continue to power their way towards becoming an established and recognizable brand outside of our NFT sphere.
Bored Apes flirt with liquidation levels before recovering
As panic spread throughout the crypto ecosystem last week, blue-chip NFTs took a hit across the board. As the BAYC floor dipped, chatter about liquidation levels on loaned Apes in BendDAO began to pick up again. Dozens of Apes were sent to auction by the lending protocol early this week, resulting in sales on the open market as low as 46Ξ. NFTstatistics.eth provided great coverage of the situation (as usual), noting that November 15th saw the most Ape sales (77) in a single day since the Otherdeed drop in April.
Castaways airdrop Treasure Chests to active players
The island survival game rewarded their holders and most active Beta participants with Treasure Chests, burnable tokens that contain in-game items and other prizes, including a limited number of Rafts and Islands. Their November 14th Town Hall provided more info on the Chests as well as info about the upcoming Homestead update and their next airdrop - Castaway Characters. Characters will be airdropped on the 28th to Raft and Island holders as well as top active players and will serve as “factory NFTs,” similar to genesis DigiDaigakus. Read more details from their town hall here.
Pudgy Penguins are on cereal boxes and in auction houses
On the 16th, the Pudgies announced a collaboration with The Breakfast Club, a new avatar project from Kellogg that features characters from their cereal brands (and is currently suspended on Twitter for some reason). The Penguins have also made their way into Sotheby’s with a digital auction taking place from the 18th to the 30th. Auction winners will receive a soulbound token for participating - more details on the auction can be found here. Scott Gray, the founder of Genie and current head of NFT product at Uniswap, also teased an upcoming announcement between Uniswap and the Pudgies on Twitter. The Huddle seems quite unbothered despite the state of the wider crypto ecosystem.
Recent Launches:
1984 brings a nostalgic gang of misfits to life
1984 hopes to use blockchain solutions to bring their story to life in a way traditional media is incapable of. Innovative features such as dynamic traits unlocked via on-chain achievements, a loot box reward system and soulbound tokens used for storytelling compliment their roadmap that includes plans for an animated series and IRL events. Despite a rather tumultuous path to release that included a public spat between founder Conde and Alex Lin, the Valhalla founder who was previously associated with 1984, the project has found some success in pre-reveal trading.
DegenScore rewards the biggest degens with The Beacon
Without knowing your name, DegenScore can tell others a lot about you. The web3 credential protocol looks through your transactions and summarizes your on-chain reputation in a DegenScore. Those with a score of 700 or more were granted first access to their newest tool, The Beacon, a soulbound token that gives holders access to a variety of opportunities from partner protocols. Launch partners include RageTrade, NFTperp, Gearbox and many more. DegenScore will be rolling out public access to The Beacon over the coming months.
Homa Games brings mobile game expertise to the web3
With over 1 billion game downloads, its safe to say Homa Games have some experience in the mobile game industry. After announcing a $100M Series B funding round in October, the French startup is diving into blockchain gaming. Their first collection features Valentine, the playable character that holders will carry across their universe. After the reveal, Homa will be publishing a clearer roadmap and detailing the utility Valentine holders receive in and out of their games. In the meantime, this thread from Ahri provides more details on Homa overall.
Humankind is the next project from Roboto’s Pablo Stanley
Artist Pablo Stanley is one of the kindest creators in the NFT space and puts that kindness on full display in his new collection, humankind. His previous works include the Robotos collection and Bueno.art, a no-code NFT design platform. The beautifully stylized collection tells the story of Chiquito Village through the lens of Maya, an adventurous child, and her monster friend Dallas. Humankind holders will receive exclusive benefits, including first dibs on future projects like Creaturekind, Spiritkind and Monsterkind, and will have access to a staking mechanism.
Prometheans is an on-chain game that can last forever
Giancarlo Chaux and the team at zero.fun have spun up a new game that is a social experiment of sorts. Prometheans exist to tend to the fire on the outskirts of their society. If the fire is not tended to (by minting a new Monk) every 15 minutes, it will be extinguished. Mints during each minute in the countdown are associated with a different monk character, creating an interesting game theory around when to mint. The project is using a pay-what-you-want model, but supporting them with at least 0.04Ξ will get you access to future perks from zero.fun. Read more info in this thread.
RarePass offers collectors access to historic cryptoart
SuperRare has been one of the greatest ambassadors of cryptoartists for years and hope to continue elevating artists with the RarePass. Holders are guaranteed an airdrop from one of the 24 participating artists - including OSF, Other World and XCOPY - each month for the next 12 months. Three randomly-selected holders will receive a 1/1 piece from the separate roster of special release artists each month. Additional benefits will also be announced. The passes were sold in a Dutch auction that finished at 17.25Ξ. Read the full details on their site here.
Upcoming Launches:
Kujira No Konton is by manga lovers, for manga lovers
Led by CT trader, memer and manga lover Mārūsha, Kujira No Konton is an upcoming NFT-based manga and anime series. The series follows the fight between humans and the whales that have taken over the world (lmeow). While the project has been in development for months, they recently completed an open round of public fundraising that raised over 60Ξ from 70 contributors. While they’re difficult to find between all the memes, Mārūsha has been revealing some details on his Twitter, such as the inclusion of a limited number of animated legendaries. Follow their socials for more information on the collection as it becomes available.
RTFKT gets ready for the World Cup with free jerseys
3,333 Footballverse Jerseys are up for grabs in RTFKT’s latest physical-digital merch drop. Anyone can enter the raffle for a spot to mint one for free, although Clones receive a double-weighted entry. The raffle closes on the 21st and the jerseys will mint on the 23rd.
RTFKT’s first free merch drop comes only a few days after Nike announced “.swoosh,” their new Web3 platform. Read more details about .swoosh here. The Clones should have more in store before the months end, as RTFKT has previously mentioned that news about Project Animus will come in November.
Valhalla announces details about next week’s launch
The gaming-focused collection has finalized their allowlists and announced mint details ahead of their launch on Tuesday the 22nd. Those who bid in the Presale event will also have the opportunity to mint one token, with any remaining supply going to a public sale. 1,000 tokens will be sold in daily auctions starting in Q1 2023. The project plans to launch an independent marketplace in early 2023 and hope to debut a beta of their video game streaming platform by the end of Q1 ‘23. Look out for more info as the mint approaches.
NFT Market Overview:
As the crypto ecosystem continues to fight through a period of mass uncertainty that seems far from over, there are a number of metrics to keep an eye on in the NFT space - overall volume, volume share by marketplace and Blue Chip performance.
If we disregard the massive volume spike powered by Art Gobblers in late October/early November, daily volume has remained rather consistent. Still, a disproportionate amount of volume since the start of the FTX saga a few weeks ago has come from accepted offers instead of sales while also concentrating within more established blue chips - BAYC, for example, saw over 12,000Ξ out of ~60,000Ξ total volume in the past week.
The ongoing battle for market share is another story to keep an eye on. Sealaunch’s volume share chart below shows that Blur has made a much larger dent in OpenSea’s dominance than any marketplace before it. The debate around royalties has become a key factor in this competition and X2Y2’s move to reinstate royalties on all collections could push even more volume to Blur. Despite their success, we can’t be sure of Blur’s true market share until after their airdrop is complete in January ‘23. Once that happens, we may have a more accurate picture.
Given their dominance in volume and attention, it makes sense to watch Blue Chip floors for signs of what’s to come in the broader market. After the collapse of Luna in June, they were the first to fall and the first to recover - we may see something similar soon, as many seem to already be past their local lows.
Other Stuff Happened/ing
NFTs:
BattleFly makes preparations for their token launch
Binance releases Cristiano Ronaldo NFT collection
Cockpunch is the new collection from author Tim Ferris
Cool Cats FC launches new collection for World Cup competition
CyberBrokers announce Core, a dynamic social website experience
Machina completes mint on November 18th
General News:
Sappy Seals also on Kelloggs cereal boxes but no mention.