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Blue Chip NFTs 101: The World Of Women Collection, Including And Conquering

The World Of Women NFT collection has great marketing, strong leadership, and first-mover advantage. Plus, a flourishing community. Also, behind the punks and the apes, these ladies seem to have the biggest celebrity support. From World of Women’s partner Reese Witherspoon to Eva Longoria, to Bryce Dallas Howard; from Snoop Dogg to Gary Vee, everyone wants to be a part of the club. 

Launched in July 2021, the WoW digital collectibles are technically ERC-721 tokens. The collection lives in the Ethereum blockchain, and its high-quality images are hosted on IPFS. Like most successful NFT collections, the images aim at becoming profile pictures or PFPs. The World Of Women consists of 10,000 unique algorithmically generated pieces. The collection’s main artist is Yam Karkai.

Among other things, World Of Women holders get immediate intellectual property rights over the piece they own. And they can download a high-resolution version with ease to use it as they please. They become automatic voting members of DAWOW, the DAO that controls the World Of Women community. And they’re part of a club that each month receives “ArtDrops,” free NFTs from interesting artists from around the world directly into their inbox. Plus, they also get members-only discounts, raffles, pre-sales, and mint passes. 

So, utility is strong in this NFT collection. The main reward, though, is being part of an organization that’s a net positive for women and inclusion worldwide. So far, World Of Women has donated over $250K from the collection’s royalties to women-centric charities all over the world. They even have their own nonprofit, Too Young to Wed’s “mission is to empower girls and end child marriage globally.” World Of Women also commits a percentage of their royalties to buy 1/1 NFTs from women-centric artists.

Recent World Of Women Projects

According to World Of Women’s About Us, this is the organization’s vision:

“WoW’s vision is to build an inclusive web3 through its collection and community. According to research published in Nov. 2021, female artists accounted for just 5% of all NFT art sales in the prior 21 months. WoW is on a mission to change this.”

The original World Of Women collection is only available on the secondary market, the floor price at OpenSea is 4 ETH and the collection has a total transaction volume of 70.8 ETH. Recently, the organization sold out its second collection, World Of Women Galaxy. Holders of the originals got a free mint and retail customers could mint them for 0.3 ETH. The idea was to lower the entry price to get new people into the community. Currently, the secondary market values the WoWGalaxy collection at a 0.47 ETH floor price at OpenSea. So, the entry price is still low.

Related Reading | Blue Chip NFTs 101 – How Did Moonbirds Conquer The World In A Bearish Market?

More recently, in March this year, World Of Women announced a partnership with the Sandbox metaverse. Both organizations launched the WoW Foundation with the objective of promoting diversity both in the NFT world and the metaverse.

The organization has also created derivative pieces, like the Mother Earth Muse collection. For these limited-edition NFTs, they gave eight photographers the task of recreating some of the classic original WoW pieces. With actresses, in the real world. All of the profits from this endeavor went to the artists, the WoW community, and charity organizations.

ETH price chart for 07/01/2022 on Poloniex | Source: ETH/USD on TradingView.com
WoW As Art Collectors

The WoWFund curates the collection, places bids, and acquires. The fund announces all of its moves through the organization’s Twitter feed. The funding comes from 15% of the primary sale royalties. The WoWFund’s focus is 1/1 NFTs, as opposed to generative art collections like World of Women. 

The organization recently unveiled the World of Women Museum in the metaverse. The Sandbox described it as “a breathtaking shrine that will highlight the work collected by the WoW Fund, which aims to bring visibility to outstanding artists in the Web3 space.”

World Of Women ’s Real-World Impact

The organization is committed to bringing more women into DeFi and Web3. Reportedly, World of Women will create an academy geared toward educating women and guiding them through this wild-wild world. The academy will focus on minority and underrepresented groups. 

Besides that, the organization recently held a meetup in meatspace, more specifically in Los Angeles. The event was such a success, that WoW’s community manager tweeted: “WoW & WoWG holders, if you’re interested in hosting meet-ups in your city but don’t know where to start – tag me on our discord! let’s do more of these.” And announced a meetup in NY and another in Toronto.

Last but not least, World Of Women recently closed its participation in the NFT NYC conference with a performance by no other than Madonna.

On the left there, Yam Karkai, WoW’s main artist. Oh, and speaking about celebrities…

What Does Reese Witherspoon Have To Do With It?

The actress’ production company, Hello Sunshine, signed “a storytelling partnership” with World of Women. The idea is to create “entertainment properties” based on their IP and produce a “live event” in conjunction with other women-centric NFT projects. Variety quotes Reese Witherspoon detailing the plans:

Related Reading | Blue Chip NFTs 101 – Let’s Travel To Space With The Doodles Collection

“We’re proud to partner with WoW to expand their universe of characters and to develop innovative scripted and unscripted content. We look forward to engaging with the remarkable WoW community at every step of this partnership and creating opportunities for WoW holders to work collaboratively with Hello Sunshine on transforming the WoW art into powerful stories.”

Will something come out of it? Will the public react favorably to it? Hollywood is a harsh mistress, nothing is guaranteed. If Reese and World of Women succeed, though, it could translate into big things for this collection’s holders. The WoW story is just beginning.

Featured Image: Screenshot from WoW’s website| Charts by TradingView

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Snoop & Gary Vee Got “Ownership” Of A Basketball Team With Ice Cube’s BIG3 NFTs

These BIG3 NFTs might become one of this year’s most entertaining stories. The 3-on-3 basketball league created by Ice Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz offers utility beyond belief for its “BIG3 Ownership” NFT collection. The Fire tier NFTs holders will get to effectively affect the game and the league via video calls with the team and coaches. They’ll also get the chance to be Team CEO, which is what Snoop, Gary, and the other projects seem to be looking for.

“A BIG3 NFT holder is effectively a part of the team from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to sleep,” claims the league. These Ethereum-based NFTs come with “ownership-like benefits” in “two-tier options comprising 12,000 editions – 1,000 for each of the league’s twelve teams that include 25 Fire priced at $25,000 each and 975 Gold priced at $5,000 each.” From those 25 Fire ones, a Team CEO is selected. So, each of the prominent buyers got all of the available ones for particular teams.

The BIG3 league’s season five starts on June 18th, and it will receive live coverage on CBS and Paramaunt+. Will the owners and their NFT collections receive some of that coverage? And will they bring their own particular audiences to the BIG3 basketball league?

The BIG3 League Announces Its NFT Series

Recently, “Ice Cube guaranteed on a recent Twitter space that the league will be around for 100 years”. Considering the BIG3 is going into its fifth year, what we have here is a low time preference situation. In the blog post announcing the superpowers that the BIG3 Ownership NFT collection contains, they presented the project comparing Web 2.0 to Web3.

“You can read a blog, comment on a blog, or even start your own blog. You can follow your favorite players on Twitter or Instagram. All of that is fine, but none of it allows you to make an actual impact on your favorite players, team, or league. Web 2.0 provides engagement. Web 3.0, which the BIG3 is diving into with this NFT drop, takes you past engagement and into an empowering experience.”

The NFT excels in utility, among many other things it guarantees: attendance to parties after gamedays and invites to practices. Reserved owner suites, backstage access area, player and coach meet-and-greets. Plus, a championship game experience and “even a championship ring if your team wins the whole thing.” Plus, because it’s the law for NFT projects, “a dedicated Discord page for BIG3 owners.”

However, the killer app is ownership.

How Do The BIG3 NFTs Guarantee Ownership

The new Team CEO is chosen among the 25 Fire tier NFT holders. Besides that, every one of those 25 will have “a direct and tangible impact on the league” by:

  • “Access to weekly calls with your team to talk strategy leading up to each game”

  • “Weekly video calls with referees to discuss rules and how you think their calls impacted the last game”

  • “The unique opportunity to connect with commissioner Clyde Drexler as well as league founders Jeff Kwatinetz and Ice Cube three times a year to discuss fundamental strategy, changes, and ideas for the league”

So yeah, owners will get to speak with Clyde the Glide and Ice Cube. 

ETH price chart on Kraken | Source: ETH/USD on TradingView.com
The New Owners: Snoop Dogg, Gary Vee, And More

This is where it gets interesting. Since we’re talking about an NFT, members of the community came out in full force to support the idea. And to get into the conversation. So far, the celebrity owners that bought the 25 Fire tier NFTs from their respective teams are:

  • Snoop Dogg and co-founder of PayPal Ken Howery got the 25 for team Bivouac.
  • Gary Vaynerchuk and his VeeFriends NFT collection got the Triplets, who won the 2019 Championship.
  • As referenced in our article about them, NFT community DeGods bought Killer 3.
  • Bill Lee from MyDoge wallet brought the Dogecoin community by purchasing the 25 Fire-Tier for Aliens using DOGE. This was “the largest commercial transaction in history for the cryptocurrency.”
  • Krause House, a basketball-focused Decentralized Autonomous Organization, got the Ball Hogs.

Relevant Quotes From BIG3’s Site

Speaking on the phenomenon, BIG3 co-founder Ice Cube said:

“We are absolutely thrilled to have Snoop, Ken, and their communities on board with the BIG3. Having someone with Ken’s knowledge and experience wanting to be a part of our league demonstrates that we are moving in the right direction. Snoop is an undisputed legend who has jumped headfirst into the Web3 space and clearly understands the importance and the value of what we are trying to create. Together, I know they will take Bivouac to new heights and we can’t wait to get started.”

For his part, GaryVee said:

“I’ve been incredibly impressed with the pop culture relevance of the BIG3 league. Over the last several months I’ve been able to get closer with Cube and the rest of the team and I’m extremely excited about the impact of the Blockchain on professional sports. All of those ingredients create a scenario where I am excited to join this incredible league.”

And BIG3 co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz contributed:

 “We are thrilled to partner up with Bill and have the MyDoge and Dogecoin communities be represented by the Aliens. We have made history with this transaction, and we hope it inspires others in the Doge world to support the team whether by purchasing the Gold-Tiers, by attending games, or by tuning in.”

As you can see, everyone is focusing on communities and the merging of the audiences. This is a win-win situation if we ever saw one. There could very well be enough star power in this deal to take both the BIG3 League and the NFT community to new heights.

Featured Image: BIG3 Ownership NFT promotional image from the site | Charts by TradingView

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Blue Chip NFTs 101 – What Is The Proof Collective And Who’s Behind It?

The mysterious organization known as The Proof Collective defines itself as “a private members only collective of 1,000 dedicated NFT collectors and artists.” To join the Proof Collective someone would have to, you guessed it, own their NFT. So, in theory, anybody can be a part of it. In practice, though, the floor price for one of their passes is around 88 ETH at the time of writing. The size of the investment keeps the undesirables away.

The Proof Collective is all about NFTs. Because it’s the law, they run a private Discord in which you can probably receive the biggest alpha available. The organization also provides NFT info via its social media, produces a podcast in which they interview the biggest names in the NFT world, and, reportedly, owns a huge NFT collection.  At least its members do.

According to the website, those members own 153K NFTs, including 148 CryptoPunks and 817 Bored Apes. Who are those members?  We wouldn’t know for sure. Its founders are Kevin Rose, of Diggs fame, and illustrator Justin Mezzell. And it has been widely reported that the Proof Collective gave free memberships to digital artist Bleeple and motivational speaker and NFT millionaire Gary Vee. 

Enter The Influencers

In the following video, one of the Proof Collective founding members, Internet legend and Diggs co-founder Kevin Rose, says. “This is the very beginning of what’s going to be a multi-decade journey to build a new media company.” 

He also promises that Proof will combat FUD that comes with success by constantly shipping product. Moonbirds holders can expect benefits, airdrops, and physical objects related to the nascent brand.

What Is The Proof Collective?

The Proof Collective NFTs’ main benefit is the world’s most valuable currency: information. Besides a social club of sorts, the organization believes in “group bottoms-up-driven research.” Plus, some members are early NFT adopters that own all of the projects you hear about on social media and are actively looking for the next one. If you play your cards right and the gods smile in your direction, that  Proof Collective NFT might pay for itself in a few months.

The organization takes things one step further, though. As “a new media company,” The Proof Collective produces and releases its own NFT masterpieces. Their first product where the Grails, which mint was solely for the members of the organization and had the slogan, “20 artists. 20 unique pieces of art. Artist names revealed after the mint.” So far, they’ve unveiled art by Tyler Hobbs, Claire Silver, Mike Shinoda, Larva Labs, Rachel Ryle, and Gary Vaynerchuk among others.

The Proof Collective’s second product was the incredibly successful Moonbirds, who conquered the world on a bearish market. “There are a total of 10K Moonbirds, they were issued under the ERC-721 standard on the Ethereum blockchain. The mint price for each one was a whopping 2.5 ETH. That means that, at current prices, the Proof Collective made over $70M on that first day,” our report said.

At the moment, the floor price for the Proof Collective NFT is 88 ETH, which at today’s exchange rate is more than $200K. And the prices of the listed for sale ones go up to a whopping 700 ETH. Currently, these NFT tickets sit at #17 in Cryptoslam’s “NFT Collection Rankings by Sales Volume” list. The project has sold more than $800K in the last 24 hours and more than $52M since the Proof Collective’s creation. 

BTC price chart for 05/10/2022 on Gemini | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
We Need A Little Controversy

Look, they don’t have any proof (no pun intended), but NFTethics suggests there’s something shady going on. “Some mentioned that we should check the purchases of proof collective, as many wallets only contains the proof collection and the floor is now 88 ETH. Wash trading is so common (…) these days that it’s not even noteworthy anymore.”

3/ Also nepotism is completely standard in the NFT space, so the fact that GaryVee (Gennady), his brother AJ, Beeple and some old friends received the Proof collective for free is standard. We saw quite a lot of other "old" friends that received the proof collective for free/$3. pic.twitter.com/o20NOgfIM4

— NFT Ethics (@NFTethics) April 15, 2022

Wash Trading is the process of buying and selling an asset in order to increase its perceived price. “In some situations, wash trades are executed by a trader and a broker who are colluding with each other, and other times wash trades are executed by investors acting as both the buyer and the seller of the security,” according to Investopedia.

Could the Proof Collective have done that? Maybe. But there’s no evidence, all of this is mere speculation.

In Conclusion

The Proof Collective entered the NFT space with a bang. The space has never seen an ascension this fast and a track record this clean. So far, they’ve done everything right. Does that guarantee future success? No, it doesn’t. But it certainly is impressive.

Check the previous edition of the Blue Chips NFT 101 series, Solana’s “DeGods.”

Featured Image: Proof Collective NFT, promotional image from their site | Charts by TradingView

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$2M+ In Bids Already Placed For The First Dolce & Gabbana NFT Collection

The auction for the digital items of Dolce & Gabbana ’s Collezione Genesi ends tomorrow. From a total of nine pieces, five have a physical and a digital version, which reportedly are wearables that can be used in the metaverse. This is the first high-fashion meets NFTs moment, but it certainly won’t be the last. Besides the competitors that are surely going to pop out soon, Dolce & Gabbana themselves are planning a whole lot more in the space.

Related Reading | NFT Project To Donate 100% Of Income To Help Afghan Women Access Education

But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The official auction site describes the collection as:

“In a historic moment for the NFT ecosystem, Collezione Genesi is the first luxury NFT collection that involves both digital and physical works, truly bridging the physical and the metaphysical.”

The legendary fashion brand, Dolce & Gabbana, is working alongside UNXD, who describe themselves as “a curated marketplace for the best of digital culture.” They inform us that “All pieces were personally designed by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana exclusively for UNXD.” Here’s a phenomenal video showing the nine available items, but, make sure to notice that since it was published the bids have doubled up. And the number will probably increase tomorrow.

.@dolcegabbana's Genesi collection already has $1M+ in bids, 5 days before the end of the auction! 🔥

The collection is amazing and sets new standards in many ways.

Bidding is live at https://t.co/yy33o56Vxs; powered by @0xPolygon so everything is fast and there are no fees. 💫 pic.twitter.com/hdeJ8qjMJC

— Mihailo Bjelic (@MihailoBjelic) September 25, 2021

Also, notice that the tweet comes from Polygon’s co-founder Mihailo Bjelic. The Dolce & Gabbana ’s NFTs live on the Polygon network.

MATIC price chart on Bittrex | Source: MATIC/USD on TradingView.com
Dolce & Gabbana Hits First And Hits Hard

Even to the casual observer, it’s obvious that Dolce & Gabbana ’s Collezione Genesi is a well-thought-out project. Their advisors knew what they were doing.  As we said, the NFTs come with a digital wearable piece. They also include a handmade sketch of the piece, and, more importantly, access to a community.

As NewsBTC established when analyzing Gary Vee’s Christie’s auction, community and access might be as important as the art when it comes to NFTs. The Dolce & Gabbana team obviously understands that, so they’re offering two crucial items with their genesis collection. 1.- A 3-day pass to Dolce & Gabbana ‘s “Alta Moda couture,“ the brand’s own biggest event for next year. The pass includes access to all the shows and parties. Plus, a private atelier tour. 2.- Membership to the DGFamily NFT community.

For a better explanation of that last item, let’s quote UNXD:

“Dolce & Gabbana will next roll out the #DGFamily NFT community. 4 exclusive levels, including an ultra-exclusive gold level whose inaugural members will be the winners of this Genesis auction. A similar approach to digital + physical + experiential access.”

So, this auction is the first step in a journey of a thousand miles, so to speak. Dolce & Gabbana is all in on the NFT space.

1/8 The bids for the magnificent @dolcegabbana's NFT collection have reached $2M+! 🔥

This game-changing collection offers items, utilities and experiences that have never been seen in the NFT world before! 💫

The auction for the four digital items ends tomorrow.

A quick 🧵 pic.twitter.com/O6lwIudCXd

— Mihailo Bjelic (@MihailoBjelic) September 27, 2021

High Fashion And NFTs Belong Together

When our sister site Bitcoinist announced Dolce & Gabbana ‘s NFT collection, they made a great point:

“What’s more, high fashion and acquiring expensive items is not about necessity. Rather, it caters to being part of the luxury culture and communicating status. In many ways, NFTs also fit this bill, in that, they too have become indicative of status.”

However, for the fusion to succeed, there needs to be a landmark case. A moment that makes everyone involved see the light. Is this Dolce & Gabbana collection it? Well, it mixes the crypto universe with the real world and it’s backed by a legendary brand, but, is that enough? 

1/Bids on the @DolceGabbana x UNXD collection have already crossed 500 ETH (~$1.5M). This collection took an insane 16,000 hours of collective time to create, and the offer is unrivaled (digital, physical, experiential). What makes it so historic? 🧵👇https://t.co/DJnXW8YW5j

— UNXD (@UNXD_NFT) September 26, 2021

According to UNXD, the collection took the creators “an insane 16,000 hours of collective time.” It consists of “9 one-of-a-kind pieces that will never be made again.” So, you know?, it’s rare. Also, “Many of the pieces used creation techniques that are only known by a handful of people alive today. This is museum-grade work.” To top it all off, they promise, “These pieces look and “feel” real and will change how people think of digital assets.” 

Related Reading | How Polygon Will Seek To Strengthen DeFi With $2 Million Bug Bounty

That sounds incredible, but, it also opens a question. In what metaverse will they be wearable, exactly? Which one of your digital avatars will you be able to crown with “The Impossible Tiara” or “The Doge Crown”?

Featured Image by NeONBRAND on Unsplash – Charts by TradingView

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Christie’s Will Auction Original Art From Gary Vee ‘s Veefriends NFT Collection

Notorious entrepreneur and social media personality, Gary Vee, is now a full-blown artist. The legendary auction house Christie’s crowned him as so by announcing the sale of five of the original pieces from his Veefriends NFT collection. Is this new development positive for NFT mania? Is it positive for Veefriends holders? What does it say about the current state of the arts? So many questions.

Related Reading | In The Mood For Auction: Wong Kar-Wai ‘s First NFT Available At Sotheby’s

First of all, these are the five pieces that Christie’s will auction:

Christie’s pic.twitter.com/YGxkeyZ3KE

— Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) September 14, 2021

On the Veefriends official site, the NFT collection is defined as:

“VeeFriends is the name of Gary Vaynerchuk’s NFT collection. He created VeeFriends to bring to life his ambitions of building a community around his creative and business passions using NFT technology and their smart contract capabilities. By owning a VeeFriend NFT, you immediately become part of the VeeFriends community and get access to VeeCon.”

So, maybe Gary Vee ’s credentials as an artist are lacking, but he’s a titan at generating value. Maybe his childlike drawings are not that aesthetically pleasing, but Gary Vee’s ability to generate community around an idea is a proven fact. And his drive to win is unmatched. Which characteristics are more important for an NFT project? What are Veefriend’s holders investing in?

At the moment of writing, Open Sea informs that the floor price for a Veefriend is 18,4 ETH. According to CNN, Veefriends “amasses $70M in sales since launch in May.”

ETH price chart for 09/14/2021 on Bitstamp | Source: ETH/USD on TradingView.com
CNN’s First Move Announces Gary Vee/ Christie’s Auction

The man himself, Gary Vee, went on CNN to announce that Veefriend’s original art is to be auctioned by the legendary Christie’s. How much value for his NFT holders did this move create?

“People underestimated this project in the OG NFT-land, and this is another execution that’s not going to allow them to underestimate it anymore.”@garyvee announces he's bringing five personal artworks from his #NFT collection @veefriends to @ChristiesInc!@IsaCNN | #NFTart pic.twitter.com/dikTsu5iW8

— First Move CNN (@firstmove) September 14, 2021

When host Isa Soares asked Gary Vee about the reasons behind partnering with Christie’s, besides dedicating the win to his parents, he said:

“Why? Because it elevates the brand. I have people who are watching right now that own the gorilla, own the tiger, own the “you’re gonna die” fly. This is my Disney. This is my Pokemon. This is my character IP based reality and I’m going to build this for the next 40 to 50 years.“

Isn’t that exactly what you want to hear if you’re a Veefriends holder? Commitment. Through a huge platform. Gary Vee ’s community appreciated and understood the impact of the moment, as this video shows:

Jeeez! The @veefriends discord is on fire! 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🔥🔥🔥🔥😭 @garyvee! pic.twitter.com/QdxYFSbuTQ

— ℂ𝕒𝕡𝕦𝕥(ℂ𝕣𝕪𝕡𝕥𝕠)𝔻𝕣𝕒𝕘𝕠𝕟𝕚𝕤🦋 (@CryptoDragonis) September 14, 2021

Another quote from the CNN interview:

“People underestimated this project in the OG NFT-land, and this is another execution that’s not going to allow them to underestimate it anymore.”

In light of the announcement, it’s hard to argue with that.

The story behind the slabs and the drawings and the auction at @ChristiesInc pic.twitter.com/7ZNLWD9kAY

— Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) September 14, 2021

The Veefriends Are Doing It In Their Own Way

Not everything in NFT-land is about the art. Not everything in the Veefriends is about childlike drawings. As we learned from Bitcoinist’s “The Andy Milonakis NFT Show,” “The NFT world has got its own characteristics, though, and a sense of belonging is one of the main ones. The Bored Apes are part of a Yacht Club. The Gutter Cats are part of a Gang.”

Related Reading | New To Bitcoin? Learn To Trade Crypto With The NewsBTC Trading Course

Gary Vee understands this better than everyone. From the Veefriends site:

“VeeFriends are all about utility and access, meaning each NFT will have different levels of access and activities through the smart contract attached with each investment thus giving them “utility” through metadata. Over the last 15 years, he has spent time interacting with hundreds of thousands of people — what VeeFriends will allow will be a structure around these interactions.

The token is the key that unlocks you into Gary’s world.”

The drawings somehow connect to the hundreds of meetings with entrepreneurs young and old that Gary Vee has had through the years. And give you access to that world. The NFT collection is an extension of Gary Vee ‘s work.

It will always be “AND” when it comes to art 🖼 .. “OR” always losses historically pic.twitter.com/jQaIYV0mJG

— Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) September 14, 2021

“There’s just so many ways to do it, and I cheer for them all,” says Gary Vee regarding NFTs. In light of the Christie’s announcement, it’s hard to argue with that.

Featured Image: The five Christie’s pieces as per this tweet | Charts by TradingView