Getting Ahead of the NFT Curve 💎

Major CryptoPunks and Beeple news, Avastars is back, old NFTs are being rediscovered, & more!

William M. Peaster

Mar 12, 2021

Metaversal is a Bankless newsletter for weekly level-ups on NFTs, virtual worlds, & collectibles

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Dear Bankless Nation,

It seems like everyone is doing their homework on NFTs now.

Indeed, whether it’s mainstream people diving in after hearing about Beeple’s triumphant NFT auction at Christie’s this week, or NFT veterans digging into previously forgotten but rediscovered projects like Cryptocats and MoonCats, lots of folks are studying the NFT ecosystem like never before.

Our edge is that we’re here, we’re early, and we’re getting ahead of the curve on the promising projects that are trailblazing the way to the future of culture.

So pay attention, hop into some Discords, track NFT conversations on Crypto Twitter, learn as much as you can — it’s certainly a terrific time to start sponging up as much NFT information as possible. It’s going to come in handy for years to come …

-WMP

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🏆 Digital Collectibles

CryptoPunk 7804, a rare Alien Punk, sold for 4,200 ETH, or ~$7.5M, this week. It’s easily a new standing record for the largest CryptoPunk transaction ever.
CryptoPunks Bot @cryptopunksbot
Punk 7804 bought for 4,200 ETH ($7,566,173.88 USD) by 0xf4b4a5 from 0x03911f. larvalabs.com/cryptopunks/de… #cryptopunks #ethereum
12:49 AM ∙ Mar 11, 2021
3,146Likes752Retweets
Less than a day after the sale of Punk 7804, another rare Alien, Punk 3100, sold for 4,200 ETH too!
CryptoPunks Bot @cryptopunksbot
Punk 3100 bought for 4,200 ETH ($7,584,485.82 USD) by 0x7b8961 from 0x6611fe. larvalabs.com/cryptopunks/de… #cryptopunks #ethereum
8:58 PM ∙ Mar 11, 2021
832Likes162Retweets
Minting for Avastars Gen1 Series 3 has re-commenced.
NFT users just rediscovered two 2017-era NFT projects, Cryptocats and MoonCats.

🎨 Cryptoart

Beeple’s EVERYDAYS — THE FIRST 5,000 DAYS NFT sold for +$69M at auction through legendary art auction-house Christie’s. The buyer? None other than MetaKovan, a founder of B20. The sale is the third-largest ever made for a living artist!
The artist FEWOCiOUS broke SuperRare’s all-time sales record after his piece Overthinking Again sold for 195 ETH on the platform’s secondary marketplace ...

Richard Chen @richardchen39

Most expensive SR sale to date. 💎

SuperRare Bot 💎 @SuperRareBot

💎 Overthinking Again 💎 ✨ Artwork by @fewocious 💰 Sold to 4156 for 195.0 ETH ($347,499.75) https://t.co/P75rIUhjMg #cryptoart #NFT https://t.co/0JAScn5gUo

Autoglyph #499 sold for 140 ETH ...

Larva Labs @larvalabs

Autoglyphs update: #499 has just sold for 140 eth ($252K). opensea.io/assets/0xd4e40…

larvalabs.comAutoglyph #499Autoglyphs are generated entirely on the Ethereum blockchain. This is Autoglyph #499

Collector 888 bought artist LIŔONA’s the#boi for ~149 ETH from FVCKRENDER ...

Orphan @orphan_crypto

Well that just happened. @Crypto888crypto @fvckrender Welcome to the #boiz club 888!!!!

The cryptoartist persona known as Twisted Vacancy became perceived as exactly that, a persona, after a new exposé reported Twisted Vacancy is a team of +20 people who have plagiarized at least one other artist’s work to date.

🕹️ Blockchain Games

Sky Mavis, the team behind Axie Infinity and the Ronin sidechain, are setting their sights on on-boarding “billions of gamers on the blockchain.”
DeFi-centric NFT game Aavegotchi just launched its Bazaar P2P marketplace system ...

coderdan.eth | aavegotchi @coderdannn

.@aavegotchi’s P2P NFT marketplace the "Baazaar" launched a little over a week ago... It’s already done 5.5M $GHST in volume (around 8M USD) Who knew that gas-free trading on @0xPolygon would be such a hit?? 😀 Watch this space folks…the story is just beginning. #NFT #L2

Global fantasy ⚽ game Sorare just launched V1 of the Sorare Hub.

🌐 Virtual Worlds

“The Metaverse underground has more web-like network effects by using public blockchains and open standards,” researcher jin noted this week.

jin @dankvr

What @FEhrsam is saying in regards to owning your data and data portability for big tech companies and social networks will extend to virtual worlds in due time. The Metaverse underground has more web-like network effects by using public blockchains and open standards.

Giuliano Giacaglia 💻 @giacaglia

Crypto is the most disruptive tech since the iPhone. @FEhrsam has been consistently right and so it’s worth to listen what he has to say about the future https://t.co/2vk129T7hv

Soon you’ll be able to airdrop wearables to everyone attending your Cryptovoxels parcel at a given time so you can “give a collectible to everyone who attends your events.”
Decentral Games partnered with gaming giant Atari to build a full-fledged Atari casino in Decentraland.

Decentral Games - Be The House @decentralgames

Decentral Games has officially partnered with @atari to deliver a fully-custom Atari casino in @VegasCityDCL @decentraland! 🤝🎮 The launch party will feature a live performance from @DillonFrancis! 🎉🎶🥳 👉 Read the full announcement here: decentral.games/blog/decentral…

Gaming platform The Sandbox is already showing us how NFTs are going to be a huge part of the evolving Metaverse.

The Sandbox @TheSandboxGame

NFTs will be your gateway to fun, gaming & entertainment in #TheSandbox Metaverse Tag below your favorite artist, DJ, band or musician you'd like to see perform in @TheSandboxGame virtual world #NFTs $SAND #VirtualWorld #VirtualConcerts #Events

🛒 NFT Marketplaces

OpenSea co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer just held an AMA with the Bankless team.
Speaking of OpenSea, the Associated Press (AP) just sold its first NFT through the marketplace for +100 ETH.

💎 DeFi x NFTs

Initial NFT Offerings (INOs) might be coming to NFTX.
Curated NFT index funds are the future of NIFTEX.

Action Steps

📰 Read “How to Invest in an NFT Index” in Metaversal
📰 Read “A beginner’s guide to DAOs” by Linda Xie (The possibilities for DAOs around NFTs are endless!)

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Not financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This newsletter is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. I’ll always disclose when this is the case.

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