NFTs & DeFi 🗓

2023-10-01 21:34:31 NFT Sales Slide 9.91% Continuing a 6-Week Downtrend Despite Rising Crypto Prices

Sales of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have slid once more this week, dipping to 9.91% below the preceding week’s figures. Data reveals that in the span from September 24 to October 1, 2023, around $72,767,450 worth of NFT sales have been logged, marking the latest seven-day stretch. While the crypto economy has risen over the past seven days, NFT sales have dropped once again for the sixth week in a row. With $72.76 million in NFT sales, the week’s aggregate is 9.91% lower than the week prior. The number of NFT buyers, however, has risen 17.77% to 569,407 buyers. In the realm of NFT sales across blockchains, Ethereum emerged as the frontrunner among 22 networks, boasting $37.27 million in sales. This signifies that a substantial 51.22% of the week’s NFT commerce originated from the Ethereum blockchain. Albeit leading, ETH-centered NFT sales experienced a slight descent, registering a modest 1.16% dip compared to the previous week. Following in stride, Mythos NFT sales secured the second spot by garnering $7.83 million in sales, an uplifting surge of 13.12% since last week. Polygon clinched the third position in NFT sales this week, amassing $7.12 million, while Solana secured the fourth spot with a solid $5.86 million. From September 24 to October 1, Immutable X nestled into the fifth position, accruing $5.47 million in sales.

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2023-10-01 16:24:56 Datarock Shares Funky New Single “Metaverse”

The thrilling dance punk band Datarock shared a new single “Metaverse.” “Metaverse” is taken from the new album Media Consumption Pyramid which is out today with YAP Records. The tempo is baseline beat-heavy and combines sounds of hip-hop amongst the unlikely blend of retro-futuristic electrorock. The intentionally stimulating sound and visual demands us to dance, regardless of residence, in an effort to engage with ourselves in a freeing and illusive meditative movement. Datarock announce that ‘this track sums up and brings forth the best parts of the collaborative, and collective nature of the entire body of work assembled on our new album. Secondly, it reflects the lyrical content of Media Consumption Pyramid as a whole, encapsulating a center core of our signature endeavors, going back all the way to our early days while simultaneously shining a light on that primal need to dance.’ Aldea enlighten us on their creative process by suggesting they ‘utilized cutting-edge technology to produce a series of music videos, each distinctively crafted for four tracks from their new album. In the world where A.I. meets creativity, these advanced models translate the core emotions and narratives of the music into compelling visual experiences.’

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2023-10-01 10:24:56 Meta Quest 3 Shows Us the Metaverse Dream isn’t Dead Yet

Watching the Meta Quest 3 being announced by Meta made me realize something – the hardware available for virtual, augmented and mixed reality is finally catching up with the big idea pitches everyone had about this concept called the “metaverse” a couple of years ago. Seeing this $500 headset, part of a product line formerly known as Oculus from a company formerly known as Facebook, shows just how far we’ve come in achieving the sci-fi-like dream. Besides being a bit smaller, with better controllers and higher-resolution screens inside, the big thing the Quest 3 adds is high-quality color passthrough cameras. That’s what enables you to view the real world and overlay interactive digital objects on top of that. The Quest 2 offers only a grainy black-and-white view of the outer world that’s useless for anything other than making sure you don’t bump into the coffee table. Having tested nearly every consumer VR headset going back to a very early Oculus prototype built into a pair of ski goggles I tried back in 2012, the ability to not feel cut off from the outside world is the thing almost all of them were missing.

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2023-10-01 04:24:56 Pokémon NFT Card Packs on the Blockchain

Polygon’s MATIC token recently ignited a Pokémon NFT craze, causing a seismic ripple across the blockchain community. This week’s highlight showcased Polygon’s MATIC token as it orchestrated an exhilarating Pokémon NFT card auction, captivating enthusiasts who eagerly showcased their Pokémon NFT card collections on the blockchain. In a unique twist, instead of purchasing specific cards outright, buyers opted for enigmatic parcels – virtual bundles with the potential to contain coveted Pokémon-themed cards. This auction event unfolded in two distinct phases, with all 175 Pokémon Cards being swiftly claimed. The process of hand-picking PSA-Graded cards available on the blockchain was made seamless with the assistance of Courtyard.io. Endorsed by a consortium of esteemed consumer brands, including BRINKS Security, MoonPay, and VaynerFund, Courtyard.io stands out as an innovative digital asset marketplace that also offers secure physical storage solutions in collaboration with Brink’s. In the event known as the “Stress Test: Break Courtyard.io,” participants were given the unique opportunity to acquire virtual Pokémon card packs for a mere $5.00 USD. These packs contained a selection of cards, including the highly coveted PSA9 graded cards from the year 2000, each valued at around $500.

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2023-09-30 21:24:40 Pudgy Penguins’ approach may be the answer to fixing NFTs’ revenue problems

Pudgy Penguins was once solely known for its 8,888 NFT collection. But ever since 24-year-old Luca Netz bought the project for $2.5 million and took over as CEO in April 2022, it has evolved into an “IP and brand development company.” For the organization, that has meant a growing universe of digital properties and even a jaunt into the physical realm. Pudgy Penguins’ digital collectibles have generated over $400 million in transaction volume since they were released. Earlier this week, Pudgy Toys became available in over 2,000 Walmart stores across the U.S., opening the door to growth avenues outside the blockchain. The company is also launching its toys in Smyths, one of the biggest toy store chains in the United Kingdom, in a bid to augment its toy sales from Five Below, Amazon, Hot Topic and other retailers. The toy-focused expansion is Netz’s bet that NFTs should have a broader presence, one that’s not limited to the digital world. The effort ultimately stems from solving a couple problems that the industry is facing, he says. “If you’ve seen what has taken NFT projects to zero, [it] has been this Achilles Heel of wanting to drive revenue and having no other [option] than to make more NFTs, which [comes at] the expense of the greater community and project,” he explains.

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2023-09-30 16:24:57 Peter Molyneux reveals NFT business sim Legacy

The next game from the creator of Fable will involve blockchain technology and cryptocurrency, because of course it will. His legacy began to crumble though, when he left the Microsoft-owned Lionhead Studios and got into controversy over the ‘life-changing’ prize promised for mobile app Curiosity: What’s Inside The Cube? and its connection to famous flop Godus – which despite earning hundreds of thousands in Kickstarter money is still in early access, a decade after it was first released. As a result of that, his subsequent games have been met with considerably less excitement amongst gamers, and yet somehow blockchain game Legacy allegedly managed to make £40 million before it was even properly released. Now the game, which is described as ‘an extraordinary journey where creativity, strategy, and business innovation meet’, is getting a full release on October 26 for PC and Mac. The game was conceived several years ago, when there seemed a real danger that NFT nonsense would take over the games industry, but thankfully gamers’ justified contempt for the concept saw major publishers, including Ubisoft, quickly abandoning the idea. Others, on the outskirts of the industry, haven’t given up though and Legacy will be published by Gala Games, who specialises in Web3 and NFT titles.

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2023-09-30 10:24:57 IYK secures US $ 16.3 million to pioneer NFT-driven fashion tech

New York-based Web3 and digital startup, IYK (if you know), secured US $ 16.8 million in seed funding on 28th September, to revolutionise fashion with NFTs. As both traditional and crypto-savvy brands delve into tech-infused apparel, IYK leads the way, directing this funding to fortify its NFT infrastructure and roll out the IYK Platform. This platform, a user-friendly hub for brands and artists, facilitates digi-physical experiences without necessitating technical expertise. IYK provides NFC chips for embedding into apparel and products, alongside the infrastructure to link them to blockchain tokens or NFTs. This permits people to scan connected apparel or accessories with any smartphone, even without an app, to retrieve a tokenized certificate of authenticity. This certificate doubles as an access pass to digital content and communities. The startup has collaborated with major traditional brands like Adidas, Atlantic Records, Billionaire Boys Club, Johnnie Walker, and crypto brands like Coinbase and MNTGE. Ouyang emphasised in an exclusive interview that their tech empowers creators to shape these experiences, rooted in physical actions.

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2023-09-30 04:24:58 NFT artist raises $140K for cancer support charity

A nonfungible token (NFT) artist raised nearly $140,000 (114,000 British pounds) from an art event in Edinburgh, Scotland to support cancer treatment. According to Maggie’s Edinburgh Fundraising, the funds collected by Jones amounted to the highest single donation from an art event recorded in the Edinburgh Center’s 27-year history. A spokesperson representing Maggie’s Edinburgh attributed the success to “the support and enthusiasm of the NFT art community.” The total money raised from the fundraiser will go toward helping 4,000 people impacted by cancer and locals who need vital support. The exhibition held at Château de Vallery near Paris saw participation from 30 artists. Ever since NFTs got mainstream attention in 2021, the sub-ecosystem has helped the community contribute to several philanthropic initiatives. Moreover, the United States Federal Election Commission approved using NFTs as a campaign fundraising incentive last year. Major brands, such as Coca-Cola and the Singapore Red Cross, and government bodies have previously opted for NFT and crypto donations to fuel various philanthropic initiatives.

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2023-09-29 20:40:57 PayPal applies for NFT marketplace patent for on- or off-chain asset trading

PayPal made major progress toward creating its own blockchain ecosystem by filing a patent application for a nonfungible token (NFT) purchase and transfer system. The application, filed in March and published Sept. 21, describes a means of carrying out transactions with NFTs, both on- and off-chain. The patent application, which is still pending, describes a system where users can buy and sell NFTs through a third-party service provider. That provider is not specified, though Ethereum is mentioned in the text. The system could be customized in a variety of ways. For example, it could accommodate fractionalized purchases through the distribution of governance tokens, which then could be traded themselves. In addition, a decentralized autonomous organization “associated with the service provider may be used to promote NFT liquidity through a dedicated platform.” NFTs could also earn income from royalties. Processing by the service provider could include compliance and risk management. Users could have their own digital wallets but would not be required to. A third-party broker could provide a variety of storage and checkout services as an alternative. Off-chain transactions could be handled within an “omnibus wallet” associated with the service provider and containing both the buyer and seller’s wallets.

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2023-09-29 16:05:58 Osura, a Premier Marketplace for the Bitcoin NFT Gold Rush, Launches with Asprey Bugatti Egg Collection

Ordinals saw a meteoric rise, with over 33 million inscriptions as of earlier this month. Ordinals are quite different and offer many benefits compared to NFTs stored on Ethereum. NFTs on Ethereum are designed around digital certificates, or pointers to data and images stored off-chain on services like AWS (Amazon Web Services) or IPFS (InterPlanetary File System). In contrast, Bitcoin NFTs are designed as digital artifacts that are immutable, uncensorable, self-sovereign, permissionless, and stored fully on-chain (all data lives on Bitcoin). OCM Dimensions 300 is arguably the most innovative art collection on Bitcoin. Inscribed in February 2023, OCM Dimensions stands out among Bitcoin collections. It is a high-resolution, 3D art collection that pioneered recursion, one of the most significant aspects of Bitcoin Ordinals. The animated art scales with display size, presenting pixel-perfect clarity even on 8K screens. Remarkably, this quality is achieved with a file size of less than 1 kilobyte per inscription. These are some of the many things Dimensions achieved that were thought impossible on Bitcoin. The Asprey Bugatti Egg is a cutting-edge 3D digital artifact. Working with Asprey Studio, Metagood crafted the generative code to encapsulate the essence of nature’s perfection.

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