Lo, the Ascension of NFTs

Sotheby's spotlights CryptoPunk 7523, Axie Infinity's stats are 📈, & more!

May 28, 2021

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

Dear Bankless Nation,

Christie’s and Sotheby’s are now racing each other when it comes to getting footholds around NFTs, and then you have other big brands like GameStop who are starting to wet their feet with NFT projects.

In other words, the mainstream’s taken notice. But even within crypto, NFTs are currently getting great traction.

For example consider Uniswap V3, the first NFT-centric decentralized exchange DeFi, which became Ethereum’s top DEX by the numbers as of this week. If this is what the future looks like, then it’s a future where NFTs are increasingly ubiquitous.

So kick back, catch up on the latest NFT headlines, and enjoy your weekend — you’re in the right place at the right time.

-WMP

🙏 Sponsor: Nifty Gateway—buy, sell, and store NFTs!

🏆 Digital Collectibles

Auction house Sotheby’s announced it will be hosting a “special, standalone live auction” for Alien CryptoPunk #7523 on June 10th as part of the institution’s coming “Natively Digital: A Curated NFT Sale” event.

🎨 Cryptoart

Async Art’s new musical division Async Music hosted its second round of creator releases, featuring programmable hits from Mike Shinoda, rare scrilla, and more 🎶
Artist Josie Bellini is auctioning off an NFT of her first cryptoart-themed work, Genesis, at Christie’s.
Artist Shvembldr released The Blocks of Art, an Art Blocks curated drop, today ...

Art Blocks Mints @artblockmints

The Blocks of Art #1 minted by ringokid1. artblocks.io/token/74000001

🕹️ Blockchain Games

A new report on Axie Infinity by blockchain data firm Nansen found the game has nearly 60k daily active users (DAUs) right now! The game is also currently generating $500k worth of fees every week. Don’t miss Axie infinity’s May Dev Update, either.
Aavegotchi announced the Aavegotchi Ambassador V2 program.
Sorare just launched its first-ever Champion Edition cards ⚽
Omnichannel video game retailer GameStop unveiled plans for an NFT project, slated to drop this summer.
Immutable X is majorly efficient when it comes to minting NFTs. Just check out these Gods Unchained numbers ...

Immutable @Immutable

475,000x less energy was used to mint 8 million @GodsUnchained cards on Immutable X (compared to L1). Without making sacrifices to Ethereum’s consensus mechanism. How? 🤔 @StarkWareLtd can mint 600,000 NFTs with a single STARK proof. Scaling NFTs on Ethereum is here.

🌐 Virtual Worlds

Cryptovoxels has a new update coming out next week that the team says is all about “opening up CV to the next thousand builders, and making it way faster to build.”
The metaverse will increasingly become a place where you can play and work ...

Andrew Steinwold @AndrewSteinwold

Metaverse jobs: - Metaverse architect - Resource collector - Community moderator - Level booster - Digital clothing designer - Defi farmer - Event coordinator - DAO-member - Game designer - Curator and so many more Accessible to all 4.6 billion internet users

🛒 NFT Platforms

NFT media protocol Mirror unveiled editions, so now creators using the project can release multiple NFTs as part of a single series.

Kyle Chayka @chaykak

An announcement: using @viamirror, I’m launching an effort to fund the DIRT newsletter with NFTs and a $DIRT token. We’re selling editions and an auction of the ~Dirty~ GIF here, in *several colorways* air.mirror.xyz/lmV9Dxeos9HvKS…

Meet Juried Protocol Galleries: a registry-based protocol focused on NFT curation.
NFT appraisal platform Upshot is integrating support for Polygon.
NFT social network Showtime launched a dark mode functionality.

💎 DeFi x NFTs

Uniswap V3, whose liquidity provider (LP) positions are represented by NFTs, is now the #1 decentralized exchange when it comes to trade volume.
One-stop NFT media project Universe Protocol is preparing for the launch of its yield farming program next week. Stake, earn $XYZ, and govern the Universe 🌌
BlackPool has arrived, an “actively managed, tokenized NFT Fund.”
Here’s something new, Aave Staking Auctions: Stake AAVE, and the highest stake bid wins the NFT in question.

Action steps

📰 Read “6 Ways to Save on Ethereum Gas Fees” by Bankless
📰 Read “Liquidity Mining Around NFTs” by Metaversal
📰 Read “GameStop 🤝 NFTs” by Metaversal

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🙏Thanks to our sponsor

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Nifty Gateway works with both successful and up-and-coming artists, musicians, and brands to create limited Nifty (NFT) collections that are available on our marketplace.

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👉 NEW DROPS BY GIANT SWAN, CAM HICKS, BD WHITE, 3LAU, X0R, & MORE OUT THIS WEEK!

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. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here.

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