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Bitcoin NFT Market Thrives, Franklin Templeton Remains Bullish, Binance Ends Support

Franklin Templeton’s digital assets division has released a note to its investors introducing Bitcoin-based non-fungible tokens (NFTs), highlighting a surge in activity within the Bitcoin ecosystem. 

The asset manager attributes this increased momentum to various factors, including the emergence of Bitcoin (BTC) NFTs called Ordinals, the development of new fungible standards like BRC-20 and Runes, the growth of Bitcoin Layer 2 (L2s) solutions, and the expansion of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications built on the Bitcoin network.

Bitcoin Ordinals Shine

According to the Bitcoin ETF issuer’s report, activity in the Bitcoin NFT space is gaining momentum. In particular, Ordinals have seen a significant increase in trading volume over the past few months. 

This growth is evident in Bitcoin’s dominance in terms of trading volume, which surpassed Ethereum (ETH) in December 2023, as shown in the accompanying chart. 

Bitcoin

In addition, several collections of Bitcoin Ordinals are emerging as dominant players in the NFT market, both in terms of trading volume and market capitalization. 

These collections include NodeMonkes, Runestone, and Bitcoin Puppets, which have an aggregate market cap of $353 million, $339 million, and $168 million, respectively. They are the most notable collections. 

In terms of trading volume over the past 30 days, the report shows that these three collections recorded trading volumes of $81 million, $85 million, and $38 million, respectively, over the past month. 

The asset manager further claimed that what distinguishes BTC Ordinals from NFTs on other blockchains, such as Ethereum or Solana, is that they contain raw data recorded directly on the Bitcoin blockchain. This feature contributes to the attractiveness and growing popularity of Bitcoin Ordinals, as evidenced by market cap and trading volume figures.

Franklin Templeton, known for its involvement in the ETF market, was one of the issuers that launched a spot BTC  ETF in the United States earlier this year. Its ETF, which trades under the ticker name “EZBC,” has seen total inflows of 281.8 million since its January 11 launch, according to BitMEX research data as of April 3. 

Despite its zero-fee structure, Franklin Templeton’s ETF has seen a significant difference in flows compared to the leading players in the newly approved ETF market, such as Blackrock (IBIT) and Fidelity (FBTC), which have seen flows of over 14 billion and 7.7 billion, respectively.

Binance To Discontinue Support For BTC NFTs

In a recent blog post, crypto exchange Binance announced it would discontinue support for Bitcoin-based NFTs on its marketplace. Less than a year after their introduction, Binance will no longer facilitate airdrops, benefits, or utilities associated with BTC NFTs, citing a need to streamline its product offerings in the NFT space.

Binance states that users who own Bitcoin NFTs are advised to withdraw them from the Binance NFT marketplace via the Bitcoin network before May 18, 2024. 

Effective April 18, 2024, users can no longer purchase, deposit, bid, or list NFTs via the BTC network on the Binance NFT Marketplace. Any existing listing orders affected by this change will be automatically canceled simultaneously.

Bitcoin

Currently, BTC is trading at $68,300, up a modest 3% in the last 24 hours. It is approaching the significant milestone of $70,000, a level the cryptocurrency has struggled to maintain several times.

Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com

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Human Generated: VESA

This is Human Generated

 

This is an interpretation of VESA’s appearance on the Human Generated podcast by Omid Honari. The two met during a day of keynote speeches at the Mohammed Bin Rashid library, where as it turns out, both of their topics touched on not only art and its implications, but also spirituality.
It was no wonder that when VESA and Omid sat down to record this podcast, the deeper topics were soon elaborated on.

Watch the conversation on Youtube
Watch it on Spotify

Why read further ( or return)?
Breakdown, links and illustrations:

The conversation took place in late May when Dubai was plunging into the hot temperatures. Vesa told that as a 44-year-old, the elapsing winter was the first where he had enjoyed consistent warm weather, being natively from Finland and having lived in the UK for several years.
‘There’s a lot of cold trauma still to be purged’, he said.
Omid relayed a piece of advice he heard as a boy that coping with cold is much easier than coping with heat, since you always have the option of adding a layer of clothing, but there is only so much you can remove. This advice also speaks to how personal our relationship with the weather and our immediate surroundings is. We rationalize our emotions towards it via stories and these pieces of advice that we tell each other.

VESA and Omid met at the Mohammed bin Rashid Library in early 2023, where they both were speaking.

New Horizons

To delve right into the mouth of the beast, Omid poses an interesting proposition of the constellation of new technologies, NFTs, metaverse and the whole Web3 being at odds with the creative arts as we know it.
‘Most respectfully, I disagree with that, VESA starts.
VESA explains that one of the concepts that governs how he views art, and life itself, is Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory. This theory helps to see yourself, your contribution, philosophies, and beliefs as functional parts of the elaborate whole. This way of approaching art is not taught in colleges and universities, where most art history begins or at least emphasises the post-modern period without studying the roots of why humans began creating art in the first place, namely cave painting and body painting.
With a fractionalized outlook on art, new technologies can feel like a jarring, disjointed note in the melody of human creativity, whereas from the Integral point of view, these are tools that if utilized to their utmost potential, will remove the old gatekeeping systems for more creativity to blossom in society.
‘My LUXOR- inspired art gallery is a great example of this. It uses new technologies, it breaks barriers of entry and in substance, it studies the origins of art, VESA says.
‘It’ll take a little bit of time, and whether the traditional art institutions will adopt this remains to be seen, since their interest is so much in identity politics, but for people, this means total freedom’, he explains.

The Luxor Metaverse temple is live with Superworld

 

Possibilities or threats

Omid agrees that the limitation of the current arts education seems to be that it is taught from the perspective of the current ideological climate, and it must go along the epoch of our time and what that does is hides the vastness of possibility that is currently available.
Intrigued by VESA’s mention of primordial art, Omid asks next how does an artist with a capital A bridge together the gap of something so corporal, so essential as body paint with something as cerebral and intangible as the digital realm.
‘When I saw my first model with full body paint in my studio, I knew that this was it, it was like a superhero had appeared in front of me’, VESA says.
‘But when it comes to embarking on the digital journey, I had no other choice. My method dictated that my originals were digital ever since 2008, and this was a major issue for the art institutions before the advent of NFTs. They would ask for an oil original that I didn’t have’.

“Escapist” was the first bopypainting and photography based collage work VESA made in 2008.

‘The technology that facilitates Bitcoin is the turning point in digital scarcity and digital ownership, because it facilitates digital assets, like artworks, that are as rare as the physical Mona Lisa’.
Omid then points out that isn’t one of the most valuable digital artworks verified on the blockchain a picture of a monkey, homing in on his original point of new technologies diluting actual artistic endeavour.
‘There’s some genius marketing behind that project, and it gains its value also through being an access pass. What it’s not is art’, VESA explains.
‘How is the casual consumer going to gain an education about the difference between these two categories?’, Omid asks.
VESA explains that this is a deeper issue than what meets the eye, how in the words of the cultural critic Camille Paglia we are on the brink of another cultural Renaissance, should we take the steps to get there, but our institutions are not paving the way for our collective consciousness to get there. He also re-iterates the difference between the collectible digital art and the digitized fine art, where the only common factor is the underlying technology. Having said that, VESA expresses how positive it is that the gatekeeping of the old system is coming down due to technological advancements.
His native country Finland is a great example of this, where a lot of government grants are given only to art that perpetuates a certain narrative. This suffocates actual creativity and resembles more a high-school student, who studies what he knows the teacher cares the most about, not what is relevant.

The Camille Paglia lecture “Art belongs to everyone” has been one of the themes that have inspired this direction of thought.

The Origins

As VESA has mentioned Finland, and the general climate of art there, Omid is interested to know how art and VESA came to be.
‘What was the origin story?’, he asks.
‘It’s always been about connection, and the two points in time that come to mind are my connection to music, and especially African drums that lit something up inside me, and my connection to something spiritual that I experienced, when I very nearly drowned as a six-year-old.’, VESA says.
‘At its best, it doesn’t even feel like I am the one who is doing it. And skill comes into play so that it takes a form that others might enjoy as well, but it’s always about that connection that drives everything I do creatively’.

The Knight Rider theme was the first song to get VESA to play to be a rock star as his toy plastic axe as the guitar, sliding on his knees across the room as a 5 year old.

‘So where is the divine for you, then?’ Omid asks.
‘One of the books that talks about this is called Flower of Life, and it explains that this pattern at the very core of everything that comes into being is all coming through the One, but the multitude of expressions that the One takes, is our experience of the world’,

The ancient secret of the flower of life was a significant book to read while travelling shooting a documentary in Egypt and Mexico in 2012.


‘In terms of humans, I see the brain much more a receiver than a generator’, VESA says as he hints towards his understanding of the divine.
‘My traumatic experience of nearly drowning was so pivotal to my creative growth because it brought me violently close to that origin point, the point of ultimate connection to God. Maybe I remembered something, maybe I have been here before – it is a possibility’, VESA expands.
Omid illustrates our longing for our origins beautifully through a famous opening to a poem by Rumi, which describes the haunting sound of the reed pipe, longing to return to the whole it was cut from. Perhaps we are like the reed pipe, the divine breath moving through us, but always hankering to get back into unity with our origin.

The Pink Floyd “Back catalogue” poster on VESA’s wall as a teenager likely had a significant impact on his life choices later on.

Different bodies

Omid draws a parallel between VESA’s method of bodypainting and seeing inanimate objects as bodies, such as the body of a car that Omid had seen at an event recently. Does VESA see his Art Cars and other painted objects as a continuation of his bodypainting methodology?
‘In some sense, it is still human centric, because these different bodies are still painted for humans to admire’, VESA starts.

The Dr Marwan Tesla covered in art in Dubai also has a digital douible made by Zoan.

‘I also want to be incredibly respectful towards Islam, and not to portray a human as an idol, so I have a lot to study on how to bring to the front my goal of showcasing the divine spark in the human form, how He made us so magnificently’, VESA says.
‘In that spirit of further conversation and discussion, we could go on for so much longer, but I want to invite you to the possibility of having a second episode with you,
‘Inshallah’, VESA says.

Watch the conversation on Youtube
Watch it on Spotify

______

Until next time, 

VESA & Lotta
Crypto & NFT Artist
All links to physical, NFTs, and more below
http://linktr.ee/ArtByVesa

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BLUR Is Down 30%, And Whales Are To Blame–Here’s Why

Blur, a decentralized non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, and OpenSea competitor is under pressure, tumbling by over 30% from its November peaks. While BLUR retreats, on-chain data reveals that BLUR whales have been moving their tokens to leading crypto exchanges, possibly to liquidate.

Whales On A Possible Selling Spree

According to Lookonchain data on December 7, several whales have been offloading large amounts of BLUR. To illustrate, 16.85 million BLUR, worth roughly $8.43 million, were deposited to exchanges in the past 24 hours. 

Notably, one whale deposited 2.54 million BLUR, worth $1.26 million, received from the airdrop to Binance. At the same time, Mandala Capital transferred 2.76 million BLUR, worth $1.4 million, to OKX. 

Mandala Capital sends BLUR to OKX | Source: Lookonchain via X

The deluge continued as another whale, only marked by the associated “0x68b5” address, withdrew 3.31 million BLUR worth $1.79 million from Binance between November 25 and 29 before moving them to the same exchange on December 1. The token had fallen, meaning the whale was down by roughly $65,000.

It is unclear whether the same addresses are sold for USDT or other tokens. However, what’s known is that any whale transfers to a centralized exchange is associated with liquidation. Accordingly, sentiment is impacted when whales move coins in large batches to exchanges, and retailers could interpret their transfers as incoming selling pressure.

BLUR Is Up 220% From October Lows

Thus far, looking at price action, buyers have the lead from a top-down preview. The coin is already up 220% from October lows. Most importantly, buyers have the upper hand, looking at the candlestick arrangement in the daily chart. 

Even though the token is down 30% from November peaks, the failure of bears to force the coin below the 20-day moving average (MA) in the daily chart suggests that the uptrend is still valid. Losses below $0.46, or the base of the current bull flag, might trigger a sell-off. Conversely, any upswing above $0.58 and even $0.69–or November highs, could drive more demand, lifting BLUR to $0.84 or higher in the coming sessions.

BLUR prices trending sideways on the daily chart | Source: BLURUSDT on OKX, TradingView

Related Reading: Binance CEO Disputes JPMorgan Chief’s Critique Of Crypto

Whether the uptrend will resume also remains to be seen. What’s clear, though, is that the broader community is closely monitoring the NFT scene and Blur, the marketplace. The recent upswing was due to the activation of Season 2 Airdrop, which ended on November 20.

Ahead of this, the token was already up 150%, only to extend gains briefly before cooling off in the first week of December.

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Crypto Scam Alert: Fraudsters Impersonate Forbes Journalists In Plot To Rob BAYC Holders

In the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) sector, scammers are constantly devising new methods to exploit unsuspecting collectors. The latest incident involves fraudsters posing as journalists from Forbes magazine, specifically targeting Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT holders. 

One BAYC owner, “Crumz,” recently shared his encounter with these scammers, detailing the elaborate scheme designed to steal his digital assets.

BAYC Collector’s Close Encounter With Scammers

According to Crumz, the scam began when he received a direct message on X (formerly Twitter) from someone claiming to be a Forbes editor named Robert Lafranco. 

Intrigued by the prospect of being featured in an article about BAYC, Crumz proceeded cautiously, conducting a cursory online search that seemingly confirmed the person’s identity. Unbeknownst to him, the scammers had meticulously crafted a “facade of credibility.”

The supposed Forbes journalist informed Crumz of their interest in gathering firsthand accounts from BAYC owners regarding their experiences within the club. Despite initial surprise at being approached, Crumz agreed to participate in a scheduled Zoom call. 

Crumz further stated that the scammers failed to show up for the initial call, citing a fabricated family emergency as the reason for their absence. They rescheduled the meeting for a later date.

When the rescheduled call finally took place, Crumz noticed several red flags. The individuals on the call refused to activate their cameras, claiming technical difficulties. 

Another person claiming to be Steven Ehrlich, Forbes’ research director, joined the conversation. Crumz shared his BAYC journey, recounting the early days and highlighting the club’s unique features.

During the call, Crumz alleges that the scammers exhibited further suspicious behavior. They lacked a premium Zoom account and insisted on using multiple call links. 

Additionally, they requested permission to record the screen using a separate recording bot. Although Crumz initially thought nothing of it, alarm bells rang when they asked him to find a banana and say something that resembled his Bored Ape character.

Unable to produce a banana on the spot, Crumz excused himself momentarily, muting his screen. During this momentary lapse, the scammers attempted to take control of his computer, prompting him to intervene when they navigated to the website delegate.cash. 

Ultimately, all of Crumz’s valuable NFTs were securely stored in cold storage, safeguarding them from potential theft. He promptly shut down his computer to ensure his safety, hoping to sever any remote access the scammers may have gained. Crumz concluded:

Hopefully I’m safe now. Don’t think they can still control my computer when I turn it back on. Please be safe out there, it could’ve been a dreadful day today

Decline In Sales And Market Engagement

BAYC has recently witnessed a notable decline in various key metrics. The latest NFT data reveals a decrease in the number of sales, sales volume, and primary sales.

According to the latest figures, the number of sales has seen a significant drop of 33.59%, with 87 sales reported at present compared to 131 sales recorded the previous day. 

BAYC

This decrease in sales has also resulted in a decline in sales in USD, with a decrease of 38.02%. The current sales volume is $2 million, compared to $3 million on Sunday.

In terms of sales volume, primary sales have experienced a 100% decrease, with no current sales reported. In contrast, primary sales generated $12,000 in USD the previous day. Secondary sales volume has also declined 37.76%, with the current figure at $2 million, compared to $3 million from the previous day.

BAYC

Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com 

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Vernissage at kanvas: First Viewing of Immersive NFTs

Dear Crypto fam, today we are looking into an event put on by an amazing couple, coming up in the Dubai NFT scene.

Team VESA and Vernissage have become fast friends, as the two entities share a similar vision for fine art NFTs and maturing of the market. VESA co-Founder Lotta has also helped Vernissage in storifying their message, some of which is showcased here. It has been an absolute delight to see Vernissage grow and this article is our token of appreciation in anticipation of their debut exhibit.

 

Vernissage was born out of the electric crackle between art lineage value, molten paint dripped onto canvases over centuries, and the brooding engine room of new technologies. Lifetime entrepreneurs Richard and Tatiana wanted to see art nurtured and valued in the age of the internet, not trampled by the metallic onslaught of ironic pop culture references and diminished prestige. We forsake value at our own peril, a manic risk like pouring gasoline on a fragile artefact.

NFTs are the anvil, Vernissage wielding the hammer. The underlying technology, the facilitator, the potential, like on that night when two artists knocked on Richard and Tatiana’s door and presented them with a box full of rolled up canvases.

 

 

Richard and Tatiana Zalan  

Even though the platform is preparing for their first exhibition, Vernissage team Richard and Tatiana Zalan are no strangers to new technologies. Their interest piqued already in 2016, when they hosted meetups for people interested in blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. Art, as their passion, they approached via the high effort, fine art type of digital art, rather than art that was focused on utilities and marketing.

They saw blockchain technology as a vehicle to safeguard artists copyright and transition in the third age of the Internet.

True admirers of genuine art, Vernissage origin story started forming when one night, travelling artists knocked on Richard and Tatiana’s door, with a box full of rolled up canvases. It amazed them how these artists were willing to go to such great lengths to connect with their potential buyers, and this set the wheels in motion in utilizing technology to continue our fine art legacy in Web3.

There it was, value laden, curated fine art in a fast-paced, snappy medium that was brought to the market by people decorated with experience, who were not in their twenties anymore. Unusual and quirky? Yes. Desperately needed? Also, yes.

Vernissage had started to take shape.

 

 

V is for Vernissage

Vernissage means an exclusive, first viewing of an artwork before a public showing. The name perfectly fits the platform’s mission to support emerging artists specifically. It reminds of something exciting, quite intimate, but also distinguished and steeped in tradition and value.

Vernissage is striving for something quite extraordinary. The platform has functions of a marketplace and a social network. The emphasis is on the social aspects of the community, and thus Vernissage community members can interact with each other and vote.

Richard and Tatiana want to see their artists become financially successful, therefore nurturing collector relationships within the community is of utmost importance in Vernissage. Their social consciousness runs deep, as Vernissage will allocate resources for young artists’ education and personal development in the future.

This focus, they feel, is represented also in the wider context of our society, where socially we live in crucial times. Art can serve a pivotal role once again, especially if new technologies are utilized boldly and innovatively. This is why Dubai has served Vernissage well since the local government has passed relevant laws to make the city a leader in the sector.

Get to know the Vernissage platform here: https://www.vernissage.network/

 

 

Immersion explosion on November 8th

Soon it will be time. Vernissage is gearing up for its maiden voyage exhibition with a brand-new armada of artists that they successfully held and open call for in September. Vernissage has secured an impressive venue for the event; the kanvas Gallery in an artistically relevant neighbourhood near Alserkal Avenue.

Kanvas Gallery lends itself to some spectacular immersion, opening the entire view for the artists use and pushing the boundaries of sensory overload. Kanvas wants to explore how human relationships, nature and art interact specifically mediated through technology.

Fittingly, the topic of the night is Technology and Humanity Canvas.

 

 

The experience is on 8th Nov, 6pm – 9pm, Opening night by invitation only.

9th Nov – 12th Nov, 10am till 6pm open to public.

kanvas Dubai

Unit 1, Al Khayat Art Avenue,

19 Street, Al Quoz 1, Dubai

 

Don’t miss out on this night of artists, collectors, and community.

 

 

Vernissage had carefully drawn a line in the sand, expertly prescribed the burn around its own kind, a place for artists to time and time again become the spark.

 Successful, financially competent, a worthy opponent.

 

Team VESA wishes Vernissage a successful exhibition and looks forward to catching up in Dubai again!

 

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SOLD OUT Synthopia NFT Drop & Updates

Listen up, degens

Summer’s out, and it is time to gear up for another season of Web3 and NFTs. Team VESA has enjoyed the refreshing (too much so at times) weather of our native Finland and some interesting connections and projects have immediately sprouted. Currently, VESA is in Switzerland for a top Web3 conference with the fastest growing crypto ecosystem in the world, Crypto Oasis, but more on that a little later.

First, it’s time to give a shoutout to a friend who is a fellow pioneer in the scene with a sold out project VESA is an advisor for.

Selling out was just the beginning.

Fusing art, culture, music, gaming, film, and AI, ‘SYNTHTOPIA’ is a creation of DESTABILIZED, an art collective founded by creative industry veteran ‘QVANTVM‘, with contributions from Scott Page, renowned for his work with Pink Floyd, and a network of strong partners who have contributed to award-winning AAA games, music, and films, from Cyberpunk 2077 to Batman, Warner Bros, HBO, Universal, Netflix, and Disney.

Link to the press release

SYNTHTOPIA Rewards
Of course, the project offers a range of rewards to its holders, categorized into different tiers based on the number of NFTs held – from TRAILBLAZER (1-4 NFTs) to PROMETHEUS (200+ NFTs).

Each tier unlocks a unique set of benefits including but not limited to discounts on merchandise, special roles on Discord, exclusive access to events, earning passive income, and having a major influence over the project’s direction. For example, TRAILBLAZER holders can access discounts and participate in airdrops and raffles, whereas PROMETHEUS holders can receive signed designer toys, lifetime free access to all events, and the opportunity to co-create projects or influence the direction of major endeavours.

Other notable privileges for intermediate tiers include:

    • Executive producer credits for music/film
    • Major involvement in project direction
    • Character voice roles for movies and animations
    • Collaborative opportunities with top-tier artists in the ecosystem
    • The potential to become a project advisor
    • Masterclasses from creative talent
    • All-expense-paid trips to live shows
    • Passive income from merchandise, video streaming, IP licensing
    • Unique 1/1 art pieces tailored for the collector
    • Token airdrops from the Synthtopia ecosystem (third party)
    • Music team collaborations
    • More dynamic utilities TBA

More links on the project:

Website:
www.synthtopia.world
Discord:
https://discord.com/invite/cErcnDh2YM
The very cool Live performance from ETH Toronto:
https://www.youtube.com/live/UnIZlFrFWIY?si=js0D6SgRUVw1BRtm&t=23105

VESA and QVANTVM are good friends and have collaborated on many projects. The soundtrack on VESA’s intro video was composed by QVANTVM.

Switzerland ongoing right now

The Br8ve at Swiss Web3 Fest

Back to Switzerland. The ongoing Swiss Web3 Fest has established Switzerland as another Dubai-esque sizzle spot for all things Web3 and it was an honour to see how this maiden voyage to Switzerland facilitated a fantastic next chapter of VESA Digital, which is the Mirrors series

Main player in the Swiss Web3 Fest is Arte Marketplace by Tokengate, an NFT platform associated with Crypto Oasis and the larger Arte community.

Arte Marketplace is a highly curated platform that leverages the ecosystem. VESA’s new collection, Mirrors, is now featured on the platform, ready to be discovered.

Check out Mirrors on the front page of Tokengate here.

“Arbiter” is a motion artwork and now available as a 1/1 for 3.2424ETH

Mind-Lama is an edition of 10 only available for 0.2919ETH

THE MIRRORS SERIES

The Mirrors started its lore at the Museum of the Future where it was the most collected artwork of the exhibition.

A familiar face joining the Swiss Web3 Fest is Thomas Cermac from Cermac-Eisencraft gallery in the Czech Republic.

His gallery that stands for impeccable taste and vision has represented VESA for a while now, and will soon be hosting the brand-new Mirrors- series at its location.

HER EXCELLENCY AND THE FINN TEAM 

One of the most prestigious fine art events in Finland, the Night of the Arts, took place again mid-August. VESA exhibited notably at the event and one of our most treasured friends and patrons, Her Excellency Amna Fikri, the UAE Ambassador of Finland, attended the event called “Art Before AI”

Her Excellency enjoyed the virtual reality version a selection of the Veena Malik project.

The entire Finn Team was also in attendance. Anita ‘Krypto Granny’ Kalergis, Pekka Kelkka aka Papa Blockchain and Elias Ahonen are all Finnish Web3 professionals, who most of the year influence in Dubai, so this was a rare treat.

VESA and the rest of the Finn Team want to thank Her Excellency for visiting the exhibit and sharing the evening with us.

NATIONAL GALLERY 

A visit to the museum future of Finland

A fresh connection that kindled soon after returning to Finland courtesy of another Finnish Web3 enthusiast, Sointu Karjalainen, was meeting Johanna Eiramo, the Director of the Digital National Gallery in Finland.

Johanna said that the iconic National Gallery is interested in energising its massive catalogue of works, digitizing, and possibly turning them into NFTs.

We touched upon how these iconic institutions already have precious physical real estate and presence in the real world but are now turning their attention to their presence in the Metaverse and how to utilize technology going forward.

We enjoyed the exhibit on the day and look forward to seeing what the future holds for this collaboration.

VESA did a presentation at Sointu’s web3 gathering in Tampere in October

Deepest Wish

On a rare occasion, passion and profession collide. A community that has been incredibly important for team VESA is ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and especially our local Helsinki temple.

During the biggest celebration of the year, the Sri Krishna Janmashtami, VESA presented a work called The Deepest Wish, portraying some of the spiritual themes paramount to a path of God consciousness.

The objective was to auction the 1/10 artwork and donate the proceedings to the temple, since they had been struck with a large bill for the temple’s electrical repairs.

To our great delight, after being introduced to the stage by the temple president Tapo Divyam Das, Mr. Veer Ji Wangoo immediately bought the 1/10 artwork and we got to connect with him off stage.

Hopefully this project continues to serve the community and give thanks to God who ultimately gives us the talent and intelligence to pursue these extraordinary life paths.

Let’s spring into this new season with energy,

More on the Swiss Web3 journey soon,

Keep your flag high,

Lotta for
V E S A
Crypto & NFT Artist
All links to physical, NFTs, and more below
http://linktr.ee/ArtByVesa

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SEC Charges Stoner Cats With Alleged Unregistered $8 Million Securities Sale In NFT Crackdown

In a recent move that intensifies the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) crackdown on the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) sector, the SEC has charged Stoner Cats 2 (SC2) with conducting an “unregistered offering of crypto asset securities.” 

The charges specifically target Stoner Cats’ sale of non-fungible tokens, which raised approximately $8 million from investors to finance the production of an animated web series.

SEC’s Legal Earthquake Hits NFT Market Once Again 

The SEC order reveals that on July 27, 2021, SC2 sold over 10,000 NFTs to investors at approximately $800 each, with the entire supply being sold out within a mere 35 minutes. The SEC alleges that SC2’s marketing campaign highlighted the potential benefits of owning the NFTs, including allowing owners to resell them on the secondary market. 

Furthermore, the SEC claims that SC2 emphasized its Hollywood producer expertise, knowledge of crypto projects, and involvement of well-known actors in the web series, which led investors to anticipate profits from the potential rise in resale value.

According to the SEC, SC2 configured the NFTs to provide a 2.5% royalty for each secondary market transaction, incentivizing individuals to buy and sell the NFTs. Subsequently, purchasers allegedly engaged in over 10,000 transactions, amounting to more than $20 million. 

The SEC alleges that SC2 violated the Securities Act of 1933 by offering and selling these SEC-denominated “crypto asset securities” to the public without registering the offering or qualifying for an exemption.

Gurbir S. Grewal, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, emphasizes that the determination of whether an investment contract qualifies as security lies in the economic reality of the offering, rather than the labels attached to it. Grewal stated: 

Here, the SEC’s order finds that Stoner Cats marketed its knowledge of crypto projects, touted that the price of their NFTs could increase, and took other steps that led investors to believe they would profit from selling the NFTs in the secondary market.

Stoner Cats Settles Charges, Agrees To NFTs Destruction

While the SEC’s actions are intended to “protect investors” by ensuring proper disclosures, some critics argue that the SEC’s language and terminology surrounding the NFT market are biased and lack clarity. 

Crypto enthusiast and investor Adam Cochran expressed his concerns, highlighting that there is no such thing as an “unregistered offering of NFTs” since registration requirements typically apply to securities. Cochran believes that the SEC’s communications should accurately reflect the law to avoid a chilling effect through fear-mongering.

In response to the charges, SC2 has agreed to a cease-and-desist order and to pay a civil penalty of $1 million. The order also establishes a Fair Fund to return funds to injured investors who purchased the NFTs. 

Additionally, SC2 has committed to destroying all NFTs under its possession or control and publishing notice of the order on its website and social media channels.

The SEC’s lawsuit against Stoner Cats underscores the ongoing regulatory battle surrounding the NFT sector. As the industry evolves, stakeholders are calling for clearer guidelines and unbiased regulatory practices to strike a balance between investor protection and fostering innovation in the digital asset space.

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Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView.com 

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NFT Market Takes A Hit: Sales Could Drop Below $1 Billion For The First Time In 2023

The Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) industry has been a hub of innovation and growth over the past year, but as it approaches the midway point of 2023, the market is showing signs of maturation and change. According to a recent report by DappRadar, NFT sales could fall below $1 billion for the first time this year.

NFT Market Facing Headwinds

According to the report, the NFT market shows signs of a potential shift in May 2023, with the trading volume reaching $333 million from $2.3 million in sales, a trend that may result in the first month of this year with a trading volume under $1 billion.

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Despite this decline in sales, the NFT industry is still showing strong activity and engagement, with daily unique active wallets (dUAW) linked to NFT activities reaching 173,000, marking a 27% increase from the previous month.

However, the NFT market is facing significant challenges, with many traders selling their large NFT holdings at a loss to participate in the Memecoin frenzy, according to DappRadar. This has led to an uptick in on-chain activity, driving Ethereum’s gas fees above $100 and negatively impacting the volume of low-value NFT trades on the blockchain.

Despite this, the NFT market is still experiencing significant developments and events. Elon Musk’s tweet on May 10, 2023, referencing the Milady Maker collection, fueled a trading volume spike, reaching $13.95 million and doubling the number of trades in the same week. 

Additionally, the Pudgy Penguins project secured $9 million in seed funding, debuting the Pudgy Toys collection, which amassed a total trading volume of $7.89 million the following week.

Furthermore, the top ten NFT sales reveal stalwarts like the Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks dominating the NFT landscape. However, a new entrant has emerged in the sixth position – an ADA handle, a personal crypto domain on the ADA blockchain, sold for $182,089, equivalent to 500,000 ADA. 

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Bitcoin Ordinals vs. NFTs

Bitcoin Ordinals, a new form of digital asset, has become a hot topic in the decentralized app (dapp) community since its launch by software engineer Casey Rodarmor on January 21. This protocol has garnered a significant following, with over 7.4 million Ordinals minted at the time of writing.

Ordinals differ from NFTs as they house all their data directly on-chain, earning the label “digital artifacts”. This feature makes Ordinals a potential technical upgrade to NFTs and a shift in Bitcoin’s cultural landscape.

However, the rise of Ordinals and the BRC-20 token standard, which enables the deployment of meme coins on the Bitcoin blockchain, has provoked concern among Bitcoin maxis. These innovations have strained the Bitcoin network, leading to a backlog of unconfirmed transactions and increased fees. The spike in transaction demand caused fees to soar to $31 on May 8, 2023, according to DappRadar’s report. 

Despite the challenges, the increased activity has boosted miner fees, enhancing the overall security of the Bitcoin blockchain. The surge in fees indicates a growing number of people using Bitcoin for non-financial purposes, such as creating and trading Ordinals and speculation on tokens.

The Ordinals Protocol has given rise to intriguing collections and impressive sales, with Ordinal Punks and TwelveFold as notable examples. These collections have seen trading volumes, in the past 30 days, of 11.85 BTC and 14.9 BTC, respectively, indicating significant interest and engagement in the new digital asset.

The introduction of Bitcoin Ordinals represents an exciting development in the NFT space, opening up new possibilities for digital asset creation and trading. However, it also highlights the need for continued innovation and upgrades to address the challenges posed by increased activity and demand on the Bitcoin network. 

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Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView.com

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Blue Chip NFTs 101: Cool Cats Lands On Its Feet And Does It In Style

Do the Cool Cats still have Blue Chip status? The collection fell on hard times lately, but so has any other NFT project out there. We’re in a bear market, after all. A Hollywood agency manages the Cool Cats project, they had the coolest exhibit in NFT NYC, and collaborated with TIME magazine in a weird NFT drop. Still, the collection’s floor price is down to levels not seen since the project’s conception.

The Cool Cats started spreading good vibes in July 2021. It’s a PFP collection consisting of 9.999 unique cats assembled from various traits that could form 300K possibilities in total. The ecosystem expanded in two major ways a while ago. They launched their secondary collection, the Cool Pets, and their own token, $MILK. The new coin is the blood that powers the gamified experience that the collection’s creators have been releasing.

Speaking about those, the core team are: the smart contract programmer Tom Williamson, web developer Rob Mehew, creative director Evan Luza, and illustrator Colin Egan AKA The Cartoonist. The unofficial fifth member of the band is Mike Tyson. A few days after launch, the eternal heavyweight champion changed his Twitter profile picture to a Cool Cats and that propelled the collection when it needed it the most. 

The Relationship Between Cool Cats And CAA

The Cool Cats went Hollywood on March 2021. In a move unprecedented at the time, the creators signed with leading talent agency CAA. In a press release from the time, the partners explained the deal in detail:

“Leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) has signed Cool Cats, producers of the widely known Cool Cats and Cool Pets NFT collections. In collaboration with the gamified NFT company, the agency will identify and create opportunities for Cool Cats characters across an array of areas, including licensing and merchandising, animated content, brand partnerships, live events, publishing, and more.”

So, there’s serious money and interests behind the cats. Why are they fading away into the background, then? Is it just an effect of the bear market? 

ETH price chart for 09/24/2022 on OkCoin | Source: ETH/USD on TradingView.com
Cool Cats ’ got utility

First of all, Cool Cats holders get their NFT’s property rights. That means, they can produce commercial projects with their NFT’s images. Cool Cat owners also get access to the project’s Discord server, and priority for all of the exclusive Cool Cats events and mints. Holders can stack their  NFTs and get yield in $MILK.

Another benefit is access to Cooltopia, a project they define as “a gamified ecosystem built on interactivity and utility, community rewards and growth, collaboration with brands, and much more.” Another self-definition has Cooltopia as a “place where having a Cool Cats NFT grants you evolving access to games, tokens, community events, collaborations, and more.” 

Plus, there’s the Cool Pets side project. A reward to NFT holders and a way for newcomers to enter the ecosystem at a lower price point. The Cool Pets collection has 19,999 units. Every holder got a pet for free and the general public bought the other half. The Cool Pets first come as an egg image that hatches and reveals the final NFT. The pets are divided into four elements: Fire, Water, Air, and Grass.

The $MILK token

The $MILK is an ERC20 token on the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains. It’s the oil that greases Cooltopia’s gamified economy. According to the documentation:

  • “$MILK is the key to all sorts of functionality and fun in the Cool Cats ecosystem, from buying Battle or Housing chests to going on quests.” 
  • “$MILK is also how you’ll enhance and evolve your Cool Pets.”
  • This one describes the NFTs staking-like mechanism: “Your Cool Cat is earning $MILK just by being cool (the $MILK claiming clock begins as soon as the contract is deployed), and that $MILK will accumulate over time.”

Controversy And Suspicion

There might be something strange going on with this project. In April, the newly-appointed CEO stepped down after just three months. There was never a credible explanation given. The collection just tweeted, “Chris Hassett has stepped down as CEO. We thank him and wish him the best moving forward.” Is there problem brewing in the Cool Cats headquarters? 

And then there’s the price. At its height, in October 2021, the Cool Cats floor price was around 26 ETH. Almost a year later, the floor Cool Cats are trading for 2.9 ETH. That’s not all, the Cool Pets’ floor price is currently at  0.18 ETH. Are those Blue Chip numbers? Even though we’re basically in the middle of a crypto winter, the collection seems to be falling off a cliff… 

Will the Cool Cats land on their feet?

Featured Image: screen shot from the collection’s site | Charts by TradingView

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Miramax & Tarantino Settle Suit Over The Pulp Fiction NFTs, Hint At Future Plans

The Miramax and Quentin Tarantino partnership has been incredibly successful over the years. It wasn’t logical for it to end over NFTs. The two parties are once again on the same page, and the Pulp Fiction NFTs saga might’ve gotten a new chapter. Instead of fighting over scraps, the longtime partners decided to work together on future digital ventures. A production company like Miramax needs a director like Tarantino and vice versa. Do they need The Secret Network, though?

It’s unclear what will happen to the original Pulp Fiction NFTs that Tarantino produced in conjunction with The Secret Network. After selling the first one for over $1M, the company stopped on its tracks and canceled future auctions citing “extreme market volatility.” The move was suspicious, but the reasons for it were not immediately obvious. Did the Miramax lawyers scare them off? Or was it because the entity that bought that first NFT had tight affiliations to The Secret Network? Did the collection fail to attract the necessary attention? Were the buyers scared of future legal action by Miramax?

So far, The Secret Network’s official channels remain silent on the matter. And they recycled what used to be the Pulp Fiction NFTs’ Twitter account and gave it to a whole different project. Plus, the collection’s website seems to be dead as well. So, The Secret Network might be out of the Miramax and Tarantino deal.

What Do We Know About The Miramax And Tarantino Deal?

We don’t know much about who won in the negotiations or what exactly happened between Miramax and Tarantino. The only thing we know for sure is that “Miramax’s lawyers filed a brief statement in court,” and it was a joint statement by both entities. According to Variety, it said:

“The parties have settled this case and expect to file their dismissal papers within two weeks. The parties have agreed to put this matter behind them and look forward to collaborating with each other on future projects, including possible NFTs.”

Short and to the point.

Miramax’s news page didn’t mention the matter either. 

SCRT price chart for 09/11/2022 on Kraken | Source: SCRT/USD on TradingView.com
What’s The Pulp Fiction NFTs’ Story?

In NewsBTC’s initial report on the matter, we explained the rights issue:

“On the one hand, Miramax was “Pulp Fiction’s”  production company and still holds the rights to the 1994 masterpiece. On the other, Tarantino preserved the right to publish the screenplay, and the NFTs are based on that historical artifact.”

And the situation’s caveat was that under The Secret Network’s system, the NFT holder is the only person that can see what’s inside the file. That means, Miramax sued without knowing the NFTs’ content. And Tarantino and The Secret Network were determined to go ahead with the auction, and they heavily changed the NFTs content to be compliant. NewsBTC reported:

“The people involved in the sale fazed out all images related to Pulp Fiction and replaced them with just text or high contrast images of Quentin Tarantino himself. The content of the NFTs also changed, now The Secret Network describes them as: 

“In collaboration with SCRT Labs, Tarantino has turned chapters from this historic document into a one-of-a-kind NFT publication. Each NFT in the collection consists of a single iconic scene, as well as personalized audio commentary by Tarantino himself.”

The initial ending was anticlimactic. The company’s press release said, “In light of extreme market volatility, we’ve decided to postpone the remainder of the auction to put the needs of our community first.” NewsBTC asked: 

“Why did they do that? Nobody knows for sure. But the cover story is terrible, volatility? Really? Miramax didn’t take credit for the kill. And the Secret Network did not admit to low interest in the series or to technical difficulties. They just shut down the whole operation.”

And that was the story… until Tarantino and Miramax inked a deal to keep exploring the digital realm together.

Featured Image: Pulp Fiction in icons from Miramax’s site | Charts by TradingView

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Blue Chip NFTs 101 – Azuki, A New Kind Of Brand For The Future… And A Scandal

The idea behind Azuki is to mix NFT culture with anime-style drawings, with a global community working together behind the scenes. Which is phenomenal. Azuki defines itself as a “decentralized brand for the metaverse.” This brand’s main product is a collection of 10K anime-style avatars in NFT form. The collection is also called Azuki and at inception was one of the NFT space’s biggest success stories… 

… until admissions and revelations by one of the project’s creators cast a shadow on Azuki as a whole. 

Let’s review the project’s history, its characteristics, and the revelations that changed it all.

Azuki’s Origin Story

The project exists since January 12th, 2022. The team behind Azuki is Chiru Labs, their slogan is “Born in Los Angeles. Building for the metaverse.” Most of the members use pseudonyms and keep their identities private. A few use their real name, like Azuki’s co-creator and illustrator Arnold Tsang from Toronto, Canada. He’s well-know for his participation in “Overwatch,” which Wikipedia describes as “a 2016 team-based multiplayer first-person shooter game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment.”

The community behind it is a key part of the project. On Azuki’s website, they use slogans like “A new kind of brand that we build together” and “A brand for the metaverse. By the community.” Ownership of one of the 10K Azuki NFTs gives the user access to The Garden. A virtual place Azuki promises “starts with exclusive streetwear collabs, NFT drops, live events, and much more that will be revealed over time.”

Azuki is a digital brand. A “decentralized brand of the future.”

At first, it seemed like the NFT collection was going to propel them to instant classic status. The initial success made their name recognizable and sent the collection’s floor price to double digits. At one point, it reached a maximum of 22 ETH. Nowadays, the floor price at Opensea is 7.4 ETH, what happened? Whatever the reason, the Azuki collection gets around. It has moved a total volume of 260.2K ETH in transactions so far.

We Need A Little… Controversy

The turning point for Azuki was a Twitter Space, of all things. On May 10th, crypto influencer Andrew Wang interviewed  Zagabond, one of Azuki’s founders, who just like that revealed that he was part of a few NFT projects that didn’t end well. It almost sounded like they were a rug pull, and people freaked out accordingly. The collection’s floor price started falling and it hasn’t recovered yet. 

It was a mystery at first, but according to Cryptoslate, the projects Zagabond was involved with were:

  • CryptoPhunks, the original CryptoPunk copycat collection. The first collection to receive a DMCA takedown from Larva Labs. Because of that, the CryptoPhunks were delisted from OpenSea and Zagabond gave the project to all the holders in July, 2021.
  • Tendies, a project that failed to capture the NFT culture’s imagination and shut down in the middle of the minting process. 
  • CryptoZunks, a collection that defines itself as “the first Punks to be generated on-chain with randomized attributes. Each Zunk is guaranteed to be unique from any Punk.” Apparently, it failed because of Ethereum’s expensive gas fees.

According to Cryptoslate, “Like the first two projects, this failed one was also a lesson. Zagabond said these three projects taught him that “blindly following the NFT meta doesn’t get you far.” He claims that all the lessons from these projects are now being applied to make Azuki a success.” None of that helped and the collection’s floor price went downhill. 

The question here is, were these projects rug pulls or simple failures without bad intentions? 

ETH price chart for 09/08/2022 on Bitfinex | Source: ETH/USD on TradingView.com
Azuki, Built For The Metaverse

The definition of metaverse in Azuki’s site is controversial, to say the least.

“The metaverse today is where we currently spend most of our time: Discord + Twitter. How do we amplify this experience for Azuki members? How do we distribute the brand to places that have the most attention today? More importantly, where will the metaverse be one year+ from now?”

Is simple social media part of the metaverse? How does Azuki not know where the metaverse will be one year from now? Other blue-chip NFT collections are already building their version, laying their chips on the table. Is Azuki too late? Or are Chiru Labs just quietly developing? According to the company, they’re exploring the possibility of developing a game. “Few teams have the experience and background to build a genuinely great game with mass market appeal and scalability. Though the core team has the experience, it’s a huge endeavor nonetheless.”

The Azuki collection is down, but not out. The team seems to have shaken the stink that Zagabond’s revelations brought, but did so in the middle of a bear market in which the whole NFT market is down. Azuki stopped the bleeding. The question is, can they reclaim and even surpass past glories?

Featured Image: Azuki banner from their site | Charts by TradingView

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Blue Chip NFTs 101: Art Blocks Does It Differently And Frequently

Unlike other NFT collections, Art Blocks is a platform. Its focus is generative or algorithmic artworks. The artists create the style of the collection, the colors, and forms, or the “blocks” if you will. Each mint sorts through endless possibilities to create a unique piece. At minting time, the customer interacts with a generative script and the result is a randomly generated, unpredictable work of art. Depending on the collection, the resulting NFT can go from a static image to a multimedia experience.

In most of the other Blue Chip collections, like World Of Women or Doodles, an artist or a group of artists creates the art and its different traits. In contrast, multiple artists constantly create Art Blocks collections. As you might imagine, some of them are more valuable than others. The platform’s creator is Erick Calderon, better known as Snowfro. He’s the artist and coder behind Art Block’s first and flagship collection, Chromie Squiggle. You’ve probably seen them around, and one of the squiggles serves as the logo for the whole platform. 

Other iconic and multi-million dollar collections launched through the platform are Fidenza by Tyler Hobbs and Dmitri Cherniak’s Ringers. Of course, those are the stand-out, incredibly successful ones. New collections and projects launch through Art Blocks every week, as you can see in this very busy calendar. To avoid gas wars at minting time, the platform uses the Dutch Auction method. That is, the sale starts at a high price that lowers as time goes by. The clients wait for their ideal price, if it ever gets there.

How Does Art Blocks Work?

So far, the platform has generated $277M in primary sales and a whopping $1320M in secondary sales. The platform royalties are 10% for primary and 2.5% for secondary market sales. The artist receives a fair 5% for each secondary resale. From primary sales, there’s a mandatory 25% donation to the artist’s favorite charity. Which is interesting, but wow.

According to Art Block’s website, they offer “genuinely programmable on demand generative content that is stored immutably on the Ethereum Blockchain.” That’s not entirely true. The script and the NFTs are there, presumably forever, but the art is too complex to be stored on-chain. The files are in IPFS or other storage solutions.

Art Blocks also claims that “collectors actively participate in realizing an artist’s vision by generating unique algorithmic artworks,” which is debatable. The mind-blowing thing is that an Art Blocks holder with access to the script and Ethereum’s ledger could theoretically reproduce the NFT. So, technically, everything they claim is true. 

Even though Art Blocks is a platform, it’s not open to everyone. A team curates the collections and selects the artists worthy of participating. They offer three tiers of collections, each with different characteristics. Let’s look into them.

ETH price chart for 07/22/2022 on Kraken | Source: ETH/USD on TradingView.com
The Different Collections

  • The Curated Collection: This is the main one, Art Blocks releases it “on a regular schedule.” Only a few selected artists have made it to the seven quarterly series so far. According to their website, “Art Blocks established a curation board to carefully select projects for inclusion in our Curated Collection. The Curated Collection is a group of projects that push the boundaries of Generative Art in their technical innovation and aesthetic beauty.”

The company’s account executive, Druid, expanded on the collections’ characteristics in a Medium post. “Since we launched Art Blocks in November of 2020, our first official set includes all Curated drops in 2020, with full quarterly sets beginning in 2021. Artists have a six-month cooldown between deploying projects in the Curated Collection.”

  • Playground Collection: This one is less formal, “Art Blocks artists who have been previously included in the Curated Collection” can play around and do what they want. Druid expands, “It’s important to note the Playground’s limitations: first, an artist can only launch a Playground project after a Curated project. Second, only one project per artist can be active in the Playground at once, and it must be completed before another can be launched on the Playground.” Also, there’s “a two-month cooldown between deploying projects in the Playground Collection.”
  • Art Blocks Factory: This is more general and it’s for artists that don’t necessarily have participated in The Curated Collection. According to the website, “The Factory Collection includes projects selected directly by Art Blocks and highlights our standards for technical quality and artistic beauty.” And according to Druid, “Factory artists will be required to sell out their entire project before releasing anything else on the platform. They also will have a two-month cool down between projects on the platform.”

Powered by Art Blocks (PBAB)

Last but not least, the company offers this very interesting product. “Powered by Art Blocks (PBAB) is a custom branded solution from Art Blocks. It allows the generative NFT minting technology used by artists at Art Blocks to be integrated with third-party sites”. That means that organizations can use Art Blocks’ “smart contracts and rendering infrastructure” to generate “branded generative projects.” 

PBAB could be huge in the future. Keep your eye on it.

And keep your eye on NewsBTC for other Blue Chip NFTs guides, like this one for CloneX and this one for Goblintown.

Featured Image: Screenshot from Art Blocks website | Charts by TradingView

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Blue Chip NFTs 101 – Down, Down, To Goblintown. An Unlikely Success Story

Goblintown ‘s rise to the top is one for the books. The Moonbirds came into prominence in a bearish market, but the Goblins took over in the middle of a global recession and the NFTs first winter. How did these misfits do it? Using confusion, misdirection, FOMO, and a great marketing plan that took everyone by surprise. People weren’t sure of what was happening, but they didn’t want to stay out of the party. 

The creators of Goblintown made it easy for them. First of all, the project was a free mint. Second, it uses a Creative Commons Zero license, which means no Copyright and the possibility of commercializing the Goblin drawings as needed. Third, even though the hype was there, they didn’t use influencers, cross promotions, or whitelisting. Maybe because of that, the mint didn’t generate a gas war like many other successful projects.

Goblintown ‘s Unusual Launch

Launched on May 22, 2022, the generative collection runs over the Ethereum blockchain. From the beginning, Goblintown promised, “No roadmap. No Discord. No utility. CC0. Contract wasn’t actually written by goblins.” The other sentence that stands out from Goblintown’s website is: “Don’t be f*cking greedy. That’s how we got ourselves here.” This suggests that the collection serves as a commentary on the NFT market and culture. And that’s not the only clue pointing that way. 

On the slightly negative side, the royalties are a whopping 10% and the creators set aside 1000 NFTs for their other projects’ holders. Considering Goblintown was a free mint, those two factors don’t seem that bad. So far, the main collection has generated 43.9K ETH in total sale volume and has a 3.1 ETH floor price at Opensea. For a moment there, Goblintown was so hot that it flipped the almighty Bored Ape Yacht Club and became the highest-selling collection for a day or two. 

The Mystery Of Goblintown’s Creators

At first, they thought it was notorious NFT artist Beeple. Then, that the infamous Yuga Labs was behind the project. For a time there, people even believed that the brain and voice behind “Beavis And Butthead” and “King of the Hill,” Mike Judge was Goblintown’s creator. And, since one of the Goblins kind of looks like Snoop Dogg, that rumor circulated too. It made sense because people still believe that Snoop is famed NFT collector Cozomo de’ Medici, even though that story proved to be false.

The only one that came forward and addressed the rumors was Beeple, who tweeted, “insane I have to say this, but I have not joined any shockingly low effort pump and dump projects that will remain nameless.” Later, as the Goblintown project proved its worth, the creator changed his tune and tweeted the piece “The rise and fall of Goblintown” together with the hashtag “#iamthefounder.”

However, Beeple was not the founder. Seeing Goblintown’s immense success, the mysterious creators had to doxx themselves. Just in time for the NFT NYC conference, they released a message in which they admitted that Truth Labs was behind the project. The company was behind the mildly successful NFT collections Illuminati Collective and The 187, and struck gold with their third outing.  

On Truth’s website they define themselves as:

“We are dedicated to sharing delightful blockchain mischief, exploring creatively, developing rich, fun worlds and experiences (both IRL and in the digital realm), and providing a platform for new voices and visions in this space.”

In a strange turn of events, as the creators doxxed themselves, Goblintown’s floor price fell from almost 5 ETH to a little over 3 ETH. 

ETH price chart for 07/16/2022 on Binance | Source: ETH/USD on TradingView.com
The Collection’s Iconography

The Goblintown name comes from The Hobbit, specifically from a J.R.R. Tolkien poem called “Down, Down, To Goblin Town.” That name also suggests that the collection serves as a commentary on the NFT market in the crypto winter. Are there other clues? Several. For example, one goblin like Dj and producer Steve Aoki, who’s a notorious NFT collector. Another one wears a t-shirt that says “Phunks, Zunks, Tendies, Azuki,” a clear reference to Azuki’s creator and all of his rugged previous projects.

Yet another one of the traits is a reference to the infamous Mike Novogratz’s Luna tattoo, and thus a commentary on Terra’s collapse. 

And, what about this image that references a lot of blue chip NFT projects and is titled “Up, Up, To Goblintown.” 

And well, speaking about Steve Aoki, he was the Dj at Goblintown’s highly coveted NFT NYC party. There, he premiered the horrible NFT song “Piss On the Dance Floor (Goblintown Anthem).“ You can still buy it at a reasonable price here. And, speaking about NFT NYC, for better or worse, Goblintown managed to be the center of attention throughout the whole conference. 

What a story.

Featured Image: Screenshot from their site | Charts by TradingView

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Are A Fake Job Offer And A .Pdf Responsible For The Axie Infinity/ Ronin Hack?

The latest report on the Axie Infinity/ Ronin bridge hack is too good to be true. Especially considering the FBI claims a North Korea-sponsored hacking group is responsible for it. “A senior engineer at Axie Infinity was duped into applying for a job at a company that, in reality, did not exist,” The Block reports. That’s not all, apparently, the hackers’ spyware got into the system through a simple .pdf file. Unbelievable that a $622M hack started that way. 

The Ronin Network is an Ethereum sidechain that exclusively serves Axie Infinity. Both a billion-dollar business and a fun app with a thriving internal economy and an international audience, the play-to-earn game was one of the bull market’s biggest success stories. Sky Mavis is the studio behind Axie Infinity. And one of its programmers apparently fell victim to the simplest social engineering trick in the book.

Is North Korea To Blame?

According to surveillance firm Chainalysis, North Korea-sponsored hackers stole over $400M in 2021 alone. And according to the FBI, they’re responsible for the  Axie Infinity/ Ronin hack. The alphabet agency traced the funds to wallets associated with North Korean hacking group Lazarus. Does The Block’s article complete or negate this version of the story? It’s hard to see North Koreans pulling a stunt quite like this.

In any case, at the time the FBI was extremely clear in a statement quoted here: 

“Through our investigation we were able to confirm Lazarus Group and APT38, cyber actors associated with the DPRK, are responsible for the theft of $620 million in Ethereum reported on March 29th.”

If true, they broke their 2021 record with just one operation.  

How Did The Axie Infinity/ Ronin Hack Happen?

The hack’s supposed story is hilarious, to say the least. According to The Block: 

“Earlier this year, staff at Axie Infinity developer Sky Mavis were approached by people purporting to represent the fake company and encouraged to apply for jobs, according to the people familiar with the matter.”

After several rounds of interviews, one of Sky Mavis’ developers got an extremely generous offer. He opened up Pandora’s box and all hell broke loose.

“The fake “offer” was delivered in the form of a PDF document, which the engineer downloaded — allowing spyware to infiltrate Ronin’s systems. From there, hackers were able to attack and take over four out of nine validators on the Ronin network — leaving them just one validator short of total control.”

To complete the attack, they took control of another entity. Once upon a time, “the Axie DAO allowlisted Sky Mavis to sign various transactions on its behalf.” The permissions were still valid and the hackers took advantage of them. The Ronin bridge’s operators’ post-mortem on the attack describes the fallout.

“The attacker managed to get control over five of the nine validator private keys — 4 Sky Mavis validators and 1 Axie DAO — in order to forge fake withdrawals. This resulted in 173,600 Ethereum and 25.5M USDC drained from the Ronin bridge in two transaction”

Did Lazarus’ operators orchestrate such a Hollywoodesque attack? Or does the comedic modus operandi implicate other perpetrators?

AXS price chart on FTX | Source: AXS/USD on TradingView.com
Previous Coverage Of The Axie Infinity/ Ronin Hack

Let’s turn to archival material to complete the story and add extra detail. After the breach happened, NewsBTC reported on Axie Infinity and Sky Mavis’ first solution to the problem:

“The latest move announced is a $1 million bug bounty program that invites white hat hackers to stress test the blockchain.

Co-Founder and COO of Sky Mavis and Axie announced: “Calling all whitehats in the blockchain space. The Sky Mavis Bug Bounty program is here. Help us keep the Ronin Network secure while earning a bounty up to $1,000,000 in bounty for fatal bugs.”

And then, when operators reopened the new and improved Ronin bridge, our sister site Bitcoinist reviewed its characteristics:

“In addition to the two independent audits on its smart contracts, the Ronin Bridge’s new design has implemented a new “circuit-breaker” feature. This was directly added to prevent a bad actor from replicating the previous attack or exploiting any potential new attack vector.”

So, the Ronin bridge seems to be safe to use at the moment. It also seemed to be safe to use before the hack, though. Do your own research and be safe out there.

Featured Image by Niek Verlaan from Pixabay | Charts by TradingView

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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.

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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:

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“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