Meta Digest

Momoguro joins NFT space under Baobab Studios

Stephen Reynolds Stephen Reynolds on March 27, 2023

Momoguro – The NFT boom has created a unique environment that is attracting individuals from all walks of life to share their passion for Web3.

Numerous independent initiatives achieved remarkable success, attracting the attention of significant brands and corporations from a variety of industries.

Baobab Studios, an award-winning company, has dabbled in VR and is now focusing on building a name for itself in the Web3 area.

The news

Baobab Studios is well-known for creating short films that have received nine Emmy Awards.

After its foray into VR, the company is now focusing on Web3 with a family-friendly project named “Momoguro.”

The project will be accompanied with an Ethereum NFT collection.

Martin Allais and Nico Cassavecchia designed the Momoguro NFT line.

Cassavecchia is a writer and director, whereas Allais is a multimedia director and animator.

The project

Momoguro has set an astonishing twofold goal: NFTs and an NFT RPG that allows gamers to explore the universe of Uno Plane.

The project is a vibrant fantasy world populated with Momos, which players may combine to create hybrid characters.

Momoguro is selling genesis NFTs for 0.22 ETH each.

The mint website refers to them as “Holoselves,” which players may use on the Uno Plane.

Furthermore, the Momoguro RPG will be built using ImmutableX, a layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution.

It will make use of NFTs as a fundamental game element.

The RPG is also expected to be released in the second quarter of 2023.

The studio

Baobab Studios was established in 2015, and since then it has created a number of popular indie animated films.

It is led by Eric Darnell, who was involved in the creation of Antz and the four Madagascar flicks.

The company has signed some of Hollywood’s greatest names, including:

  • Oprah
  • Lupita Nyong’o
  • Jennifer Hudson
  • Ethan Hawke
  • Kate Winslet
  • Daisy Ridley

The project’s success has allowed it to go further, with projects being converted into novels, comics, games, movies, TV shows, and more.

Read also: Ledger Stax to revolutionize hardware wallets

Exploration

Baobab Studios has said that it is not a Web3 firm.

But, the company is looking at how NFTs may interact with consumers to create unique storytelling experiences.

According to Maureen Fan, CEO and co-founder of Baobab Studies, in a statement: “We believe stories can transcend mediums.”

“Baobab Studios’ mission is to inspire you to dream and bring out your sense of wonder. Make YOU matter.”

“This begins by creating great characters and stories, like Momoguro, where you can be part of the story,” she added.

“We aspire to bring the Momoguro IP to as many channels, streaming platforms, and widespread media as possible.”

Furthermore, the creators of Momoguro think that the project’s narrative conveys an essential message.

“Community plays a big part in this,” said Cassavecchia.

“Inclusivity is paramount for the franchise, from ethnicities, genders and body-types, Momoguro’s ethos is that everyone is welcomed.”

According to Crunchbase statistics, Pixar cofounder Ed Catmull and Twitch cofounder Kevin Lin serve on the board of Baobab.

The initiative has already received over $31 million in investment from Disney, Samsung, and Comcast.

Hollywood studios and NFTs

Baobab Studios isn’t the only Hollywood studio to experiment with NFTs or Web3.

Warner Bros. produced an NFT collection centered on The Lord of the Rings last year, allowing customers to swoop in for a digital copy of the first film.

Several studios have also tried with NFT projects employing their most valuable assets, such as:

  • Lionsgate
  • Netflix
  • Paramount

Although some initiatives aim to make more income, Baobab Studios is more concerned with fostering a feeling of community.

Momoguro has already generated admirers at a Twitter Space event.

The project quickly developed a large Twitter following, with around 50,000 members coming to its official Discord server.

Image source: Twitter

Trump NFT bounces back from its January low

Hector Andrews Hector Andrews on March 27, 2023

Trump NFT – The NFT market is notoriously volatile, and some projects may get a lot of interest before failing to take off.

Donald Trump NFTs have just resumed their upward trend.

The news

In December, the Donald Trump NFT trading cards made their debut and attracted interest among Web3 users.

However, the frenzy lost steam in January.

The pace of the Trump NFTs didn’t take up again until the disgraced former US president declared his intention to run for politics once again and hinted at the possibility of returning to social media.

The NFTs

The Polygon Ethereum scaling network is where the Trump NFTs are created.

The collection sold for $1,000 on Sunday, setting a new record for the collection’s floor price (which is the least expensive NFT available).

NFTs issued by Trump initially cost $99 apiece.

Sales

Trump’s business associates sold 44,000 of the 45,000 Trump NFTs by the middle of December.

On December 17, the NFT prices reached a high of $990 in ETH on OpenSea after a sharp increase.

The initial excitement, however, was short-lived as prices began to decline in the days and weeks that followed.

NFT Price Floor data for the whole market, however, shows that prices have been continuously increasing since January.

They reached a fresh peak of $1,000 on Sunday, February 12, up from $250 in ETH on January 13 to that point.

The Trump NFTs rose back to the $1,000 mark after a brief decline.

February progress

Trump NFTs have produced over $2.4 million this month, according to CryptoSlam statistics.

The sums almost exactly equal January’s total ($2.6 million in deals).

To $905 per deal, the average sale price nearly doubled.

The initiative has also generated approximately $313,000 in trades over the past 24 hours.

Read also: Cool Cats unveils 2023 plans, and it gets better

Criticism

The Trump NFTs’ release was heavily condemned.

The drop was criticized by the disgraced former president’s followers among others after he hailed the collection as a “big announcement.”

The early sales of Trump NFTs were bolstered by the media attention, though, and 44,000 NFTs were sold for $99 each.

They subsequently produced secondary market sales amounting to millions of dollars.

The project creators received a 10% share of the secondary sales during the sales.

But in January, daily trade volume fell sharply, dropping by 99% from its peak.

It appeared like the hype vanished because of the abrupt downturn.

However, traders appear to be betting that if Donald Trump returns to the public eye, the NFT’s value will increase.

Reemergence

Due to Donald Trump’s involvement in the attacks on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, his social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter were originally blocked.

They were just restored, however.

Trump has not yet used his previous accounts despite the reinstatement.

The Director of Research for Proof pseudonymous user punk9059 said:

“My sense is that people are anticipating a possible rally if he speaks about the NFTs, should he return to Twitter, or otherwise.”

Trump NFT prices were skyrocketing as Meta made plans to give the former president access to his social media accounts again in late January.

It was verified that the accounts had been unlocked last week.

After purchasing the business, Elon Musk conducted a public poll on Twitter asking followers whether or not to continue the ban on Trump.

In the end, the embargo was removed.

Recent sales activity

Recent sales activity on OpenSea suggests that seasoned NFT traders are loading up on Trump NFTs in bulk in anticipation of a potential further increase.

Many of the traders that are currently purchasing Trump NFTs have previously gathered and sold different NFTs.

More than simply Trump supporters trying to enter the NFT market are behind the overwhelming purchase.

Early in February, DonAlt, a pseudonymous crypto YouTuber, stated that he had purchased a number of Trump NFTs in an effort to predict the collection’s future worth.

The YouTuber dubbed the images “hideous pictures,” but he also said it was “oddly iconic.”

Additionally, he claimed that when Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign heats up, he would probably make more TV appearances.

“It’s a 50 IQ play,” said DonAlt. “It’s Trump. He’s gonna be loud again in 2024.

Image source: Market Watch

Yuga Labs’ founders support creators royalties in blog post

Josh Barter Josh Barter on March 27, 2023

Image source: The Cryptonomist

Yuga Labs’ founders, the folks behind Bored Ape Yacht Club, are slamming marketplaces for rejecting creator royalties.

The founders defended the creators of NFT in a case that led to markets rejecting them.

The Yuga Labs’ founders suggested a community-driven “allowlist” model that would allow creators to designate marketplaces that handle secondary sales of their works.

Royalty

NFT market leader OpenSea made the rounds over the weekend, saying it could follow the current trend of dropping license fees for NFT creators.

The trend includes the lack of copyright enforcement on secondary sales.

As a result, many creators oppose their choices.

In turn, the Yuga Labs’ founders also joined their cause.

Founders Wylie “Gordon Goner” Aronow, Greg “Garga” Solano, Kerem “Tomato” Atalay, and 10KTF CTO Randy “Melonpan” Chang recently posted an article.

The post states that the founders of Yuga Labs speak out against the industry’s departure from respecting creator royalties.

Instead, they offered a technical solution to enforce creator royalties.

Read also: Coinbase safe from FTX exposure, says CEO

The proposal

The Yuga Labs’ founders offer an “allow list” model for developers to allow secondary exchanges through marketplaces that recognize royalties.

If a marketplace’s smart contract is listed, the transaction will be completed; otherwise, it will not.

However, standard wallet-to-wallet transfers will not be affected.

“The NFT ecosystem would be a tiny fraction of what it is today if it weren’t for creator royalties,” the Yuga Labs’ founders wrote.

“The leading marketplaces of the past couple years would be nowhere if they hadn’t supported them.”

They noted that when Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs launched for $220 worth of Ethereum last year, they set a 2.5% royalty on secondary sales.

The founders explained that this was the amount charged by OpenSea for its market fees.

The license fee is lower than the fee chosen by other NFT creators, often between 5% and 10% of the retail price.

“The end result has been that OpenSea has made around $35 million dollars from Bored Ape sales on its platform, not including any of our other collections,” they wrote.

“We’ve never met the founders, but perhaps they have a beach house somewhere with a plaque for us.”

Yuga Labs

According to Galaxy Digital, BAYC founders earned over $147 million royalties from creators on secondary sales last month.

Today, however, NFT royalties are less durable.

Although the creators can put them in smart contracts, they are not fully enforceable on the chain.

Markets should honor them as most did until recently.

Read also: Yuga Labs reveal plans to turn Otherside into an adult Web3 Roblox

The marketplaces

In the Solana NFT space, nearly all secondary sales are on platforms that reject creators’ royalties or make them optional.

The move came after Magic Eden made them optional after losing market share to rivals.

Meanwhile, markets like LooksRare, Blur, X2Y2, and Sudoswap in Ethereum have also taken a similar approach.

OpenSea always has honored creators’ copyrights, but the company recognized the spatial change.

They said it could make creator royalties optional for merchants and explore new application models or charge royalties only on certain projects.

The creators in the Web3 space did not handle the OpenSea news well.

The founders of Yuga Labs joined the case, claiming that the denial of copyrights for the creator is a “race to the bottom” in which they believe OpenSea will participate.

Reference:

Bored Ape Founders propose NFT royalties model, decry OpenSea’s stance as ‘not great’

Chainspace creates NFT portals connecting Bitcoin and Ethereum

Stephen Reynolds Stephen Reynolds on March 27, 2023

Chainspace – Bitcoin NFTs have become the hottest topic in the Web3 space as the Ordinals project sparks a new wave of creativity.

Among the most popular projects today is Chainspace, an experimental project connecting Bitcoin and Ethereum via lo-fi video rendering from an app linked to the two chains.

The project

Chainspace comes courtesy of pseudonymous co-creators Timshel and el-ranye, who have touted it as a digital object that “emits infinite art.”

The project spans 800 total on-chain apps.

Each web app functions similar to a Snapchat filter, manipulating the image from the computer or mobile device’s camera.

The app also lives on the Bitcoin blockchain through an Ordinals inscription.

Chainspace takes detailed selfie camera footage to render the image into ASCII art.

The result uses letters and symbols to create a real-time video view of the user in an abstract style.

Chainspace portals are unique and create different effects, with some being inspired by Web3 projects like Loot and Terraforms.

A sense of community

Co-creator Timshel is a key figure in the developing Lootverse gaming community, often participating in on-chain publishing efforts.

He said Chainspace creates a way for Web3 users to share a part of their humanity with communities without entirely putting themselves out there.

Timshel illustrated his point with a Chainspace-derived screen users shared in its Discord.

“This is beautiful because this ‘GM’ [good morning] is much more essential and resonant and human than [a] random Pepe emoji,” said the co-creator.

“There’s something really cool and special to see how people are using this, sharing their feelings, their selves, and their faces.”

Portals

The NFT/inscription isn’t an “access pass” to experiences hosted in other blockchains.

Due to Ordinals’ capability of holding more on-chain data than Ethereum NFTs, the complete web app is inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Each Chainspace portal acts as its own Ordinals inscription that are transferable among owners.

“The Ordinals innovation and the idea of inscribing up to now 4MB of content onto a single Satoshi on Bitcoin – it just immediately clicked to me,” said Timshel.

“It opened up a whole blossom of ideas in my head about things you can do that are higher fidelity that what’s possible on ETH, but still create a token on ETH that’s tradable and ownable.”

Read also: Trump NFT bounces back from its January low

Cross-chain

Timshel’s comments hint at Chainspace equation’s Ethereum component.

However, the implication appears to be riddled with layers.

The Thursday NFT mint is set to occur on Ethereum.

Each portal is represented by an Ethereum NFT that’s mintable through Zora and can be traded via major marketplaces.

The Ethereum NFT is linked to the Bitcoin-based Ordinal on-chain via smart contract.

The smart contract holds the code powering decentralized apps and NFT projects, developed by Iain Nash, a software engineer from Zora.

The Ethereum artworks seen on marketplaces like OpenSea are really screenshots generated from the Ordinal inscription.

However, the NFT/Inscriptions are paired so NFT buyers can choose to trade in Ethereum and take custody of the Bitcoin Ordinal.

Swapping

There is currently a manual process that Timshel and el-ranye can handle.

However, they are looking to make an easier automated process when more Ordinals infrastructures go live.

Furthermore, Timshel said Chainspace is “200% on-chains,” which means the experience is intertwined on Bitcoin and Ethereum.

However, the swap of the Ethereum NFT for the custody of the Bitcoin Ordinal is one-way.

It doesn’t allow users to swap back and forth or hold the two versions simultaneously.

Timshel also warned that the ability to swap partly depends on the state of Ordinals, which has proven to be contentious for some Bitcoin aficionados.

Accessibility

Chainspace portals are accessible to the public to clarify that NFT collectors aren’t buying an exclusive pass.

Anyone can use any of the portals to capture a still image from the video feed and do whatever they want with the images.

Timshel and el-ranye will put 620 NFTs on sale on Thursday, giving active Discord users priority on the allowlist.

They will then be able to mint an Ethereum NFT for 0.33 ETH ($550) while another 100 NFT will be airdropped to Web3 builders who participated or influenced Chainspace.

Meanwhile, 60 NFTs are reserved exclusively for the team.

Image source: Capital

Coinbase takes steps to evolve with Web3

Clara Emily Clara Emily on March 27, 2023

Coinbase – The beauty of Web3 is that, like technology, it is always growing, and those working in the sector recognize that they have yet to realize its full potential.

To take advantage of Web3, developers may use a variety of tools and services.

Coinbase is seeking to attract new customers and acquaint existing ones with its new Base roll-out in order to generate more income.

The business believes it can accomplish so by developing a variety of innovative on-chain products and services.

The news

Coinbase was launched in 2012 as a basic market for buying and selling Bitcoin.

Much has changed since then, and the decade-old business is eager to remain relevant and up to date.

Coinbase announced the release of Base, its native layer-2 scaling solution, in February.

Base is designed with the OP Stack, which incorporates a significant amount of Optimism technology.

The platform’s choice to construct Base is especially intriguing for a highly centralized, highly regulated, publicly listed firm headquartered in the United States.

OP Stack

The OP Stack is an open-source collection of tools that enables anybody to build their own rollup chain, from fully-centralized crypto ventures to Nasdaq-listed enterprises.

Rollups are components of scaling solutions that group transactions over many networks before condensing them into a single transaction and executing it on the Ethereum mainnet.

It allows the mainnet to stay low-cost while yet working quickly for other initiatives.

Furthermore, the OP Stack is configurable and modular, recalling users of the phrase “appchain,” where everything – from the data later to the consensus method – can be totally altered according to the project’s demands.

Read also: GQ3 NFTs fizzled upon mint, floor price is dropping

The arrangement

Coinbase will be the sole “sequencer” for layer-2, according to their agreement.

A sequence node is a node or group of nodes on the mainnet that conducts batched transactions.

The Optimism sequencer is a substantial money producer for the Optimism foundation.

Optimism earns a portion of the profit for each transaction executed and executed on the mainnet.

It is strongly advised to include activities on the roll-up due to its nature.

Coinbase is likewise considering the same kind of action.

On-chain native

Jesse Pollak, Coinbase Protocols Lead, stated at ETH Denver last week that the choice to become ‘on-chain native.’ is part of a larger goal.

He discussed the company’s innovation approach as well as ambitions to rapidly iterate on projects such as Coinbase NFT and the layer-2 blockchain Base.

“Coinbase, recently, with things likeUSDC, Coinbase Wallet, cbETh, and our dApp Wallet, has started to build what we call ‘on-chain native’ products,” said Pollak.

“It’s still a very small percentage of our overall portfolio.”

Base is part of a modest but steadily expanding toolset.

However, Coinbase’s cbETH asset is another evidence of the company’s transition to an on-chain strategy.

The asset is also known as a liquid staking derivative (LSD), and it is a staked form of Ethereum.

Those that stake their Ethereum with Coinbase receive cbETH in exchange.

These, like other LSDs, can be reused in the DeFi space.

More than $29.5 million in cbETH is presently generating interest using the open source protocol Aave.

White-label solution

Coinbase launched a white-label wallet service for companies looking to establish a crypto wallet on Wednesday.

The objective, according to the business, is to make wallet creation as simple as creating a username and password in order to avoid the technical nature of conventional digital wallets.

“It’s basically eliminating this huge source of friction for getting Web3 adopted,” said Patrick McGregor of Coinbase.

“Effectively, we’ve created a system to give wallets to literally every human on the planet.”

McGregor intimated that other “well-known people” will shortly enter the fray.

However, the Coinbase-native layer-2 solution and on-chain goods provide clarification on a number of aspects.

By creating additional on-chain products for Coinbase consumers, the business is prepping a large audience to migrate their activities away from the exchange.

But, the fees do not inevitably drain the company’s coffers.

Image source: Yahoo News

Cool Cats unveils 2023 plans, and it gets better

Stephen Reynolds Stephen Reynolds on March 27, 2023

Cool Cats: The NFT industry had a tremendous rise in late 2021, and a number of projects witnessed a surge in popularity.

Many of the NFTs were subsequently utilized as social media profile pictures.

Cool Cats ranked high among the most well-liked NFTs, reaching record levels.

The prices did, however, drop drastically last year, and collectors’ complaints began to increase.

The owners of Cool Cats recently revealed a new strategy for moving the project along with fresh branding.

They also implied fully customizable avatars as a possible future extension outside of Ethereum.

“With our new strategic direction and rebrand, we want to convey to the community and the broader Web3 space that Cool Cats is here to stay,” said CEO Stephen Teglas.

“We’re not just building for the next year, or the next five years – we’re planning for the long term.”

What’s coming?

In the near future, holders of Cool Cats and Cool Pets NFTs will receive a complimentary Fracture NFT through airdrop.

The free NFT, according to project co-founder and head of content Robert Mehew, are dynamic tokens that enable a brand-new storytelling experience through digital artifacts.

The Fracture NFTs will develop when holders complete objectives (or Journeys) in the “World of Cooltopia” story.

They eventually make possible rewards public.

But later in 2023, the Explorers NFTs will represent a larger extension of the Cool Cats initiative.

Users may post fully editable avatars of their entire bodies on various blockchain networks.

The NFTs may also be utilized with a variety of platforms and apps that are supported.

Functionality

The project is similar to the Ethereum NFT project Doodles, which released Doodles 2 before revealing the entire scope of the Explorers capability.

Old profile pictures are transformed into completely customizable avatars that can update the NFT’s virtual attire as part of the project’s bridge to a new blockchain (Flow).

A spokesperson for Cool Cats added that the Explorers NFTs would function on a variety of layer-1 blockchains and layer-2 scaling networks.

Some of the blockchains are incompatible with the EVM, or Ethereum Virtual Machine.

Read also: DeGods NFT make progress towards Ethereum switch

The platforms will be made available all year round.

The Ethereum sidechain network Polygon was previously utilized by Cool Cats to drop limited-edition NFTs and introduce a mobile game.

“Our goal is to remove as much fraction as possible,” a representative said, addressing the movement of avatars across various blockchains.

The Cool Cats also intend to collaborate with community members and create resources that may be applied to the Explorers project.

Rebranding

The most recent statement was aligned to the Cool Cats project’s redesign in marketing materials and social media.

The rebranding is connected to new narrative material that centers on Blue Cat, the project’s main character.

“Our new logo features a forward-facing cat, a nod to our focus on building for the future,” said Colin “Clon” Egan, the co-founder and Creative Director of Cool Cats.

Progress

The floor price for Cool Cats rose to about 14 ETH (around $48,000) in October 2021 as a result of the NFT market’s overall spike in late 2021.

A prominent Hollywood agency, Creative Artists Agency, signed the project last year in an effort to seek licensing and media arrangements.

However, a lot of factors, like the following, caused the Cool Cats price to drop:

  • Leadership departures
  • Mixed reception to Cooltopia
  • Complaints of the founders not doing enough to support the project

According to NFT Price Floor statistics, the NFTs floor price was just 2 ETH prior to the announcement.

Due to the low price of Ethereum, the price was worth less than $3,200.

Cool Cats produced more than $377 million in secondary market trade volume, according to CryptoSlam.

Over $105 million was contributed by the Cool Pets offshoot.

The project worked with Time Magazine to create limited-edition NFTs in 2021.

They just disclosed a marketing agreement with hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger.

“We ultimately believe that scaling Cool Cats’ brand awareness and onboarding more members into the brand is one of the most effective ways for us to deliver on the expectations of our community,” said Stephen Teglas.

Image source: NFT Now

Ribbon Finance takes a dip in the crypto exchange space with Aevo

Josh Barter Josh Barter on February 27, 2023

Image source: Token Metrics

Ribbon Finance has significantly updated its range of structured finance products with new ventures into the crypto space.

One of their most notable additions is an exchange that allows users to trade Ethereum options on-chain.

Aevo

Today, Ribbon Finance introduced Aevo, the company’s “high performance” options exchange.

Aevo is the first iteration of the company to offer only Ethereum-based ETH options.

However, the company is working to make other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin available in the coming months.

The Ribbon team built the platform on a custom Ethereum rollup.

Julian Koh, co-founder and CEO of Ribbon Finance, describes it as “a fork of Optimism with changes for Ribbon’s use case.”

Aevo also has partnerships with market makers focused on the five options so that the launch can enjoy “deep liquidity.”

Exchange options

Ribbon Finance’s move to launch an options exchange is in line with the company’s latest products.

Theta Vault is Aevo’s best-known offering.

It uses an automated options strategy to generate revenue for its users.

An example of this is how users can deposit USDC stablecoins into the T-USDC-P-ETH deposit. There, the vault uses an Ethereum put strategy.

Aevo will also integrate the vaults.

“The vaults will be built on top of the exchange, giving users much more flexibility in choosing their positions or hedging them,” said Koh.

More product ranges scheduled for launch

In addition to Aevo, Ribbon Finance has also launched Ribbon Earn and Ribbon Lend, two platforms that allow users to earn and borrow cryptocurrencies.

Ribbon Lend loans are unsecured and offered to market makers who have followed the KYC and AML procedures.

Once the products are launched, Koh expects them to generate up to $ 100 million in volume per day.

However, he based his estimates on the platform’s volumes in early May, just before the cryptocurrency market crashed.

At the time, vaults were processing $ 50 million a day.

“We can generate significantly more volume by enabling traders to do much more than just sell options once a week,” said Koh.

Reference:

DeFi derivatives protocol Ribbon Finance launches options exchange on Ethereum

BAYC #1626 burned as it makes its new home on Bitcoin

Josh Barter Josh Barter on February 15, 2023

BAYC – The Bored Ape Yacht Club has been the highest-profile NFT since the 2021 boom.

Even after the crypto market crash last year, the BAYC NFTs continued to be one of the best-selling tokens on the market.

This year, one of the most valuable Bored Ape NFTs underwent a significant change.

Over the weekend, BAYC #1626 was permanently removed from circulation.

The news

The removal of the Bored Ape surprised many, but its owner had an explanation.

According to the Ape’s owner, they wanted to symbolically shift its underlying blockchain to Bitcoin, having originally come from Ethereum.

The NFT last went on sale on OpenSea in November 2022, selling for 108 ETH, around $432,000 at the time or $169,000 in today’s prices.

Burning NFTs

Like most NFTs, BAYC #1626’s ownership was recorded on the Ethereum network before it was burned.

NFTs can be permanently removed from circulation through burning, which typically involves sending the NFT somewhere it can’t be retrieved.

Jason Williams, the owner of BAYC #1626 said he burned it in the weekend, which means it can never be sold again on the Ethereum network.

“Essentially throwing a Lamborghini into a trash compactor – it’s kind of fun,” said Williams.

“Whether putting bloated JPEGs on Bitcoin’s base chain is smart or not is a whole ‘nother [SIC] discussion, but I think it’s going to be a lot of fun seeing how it plays out.”

Ordinals

Despite burning the NFT, Jason Williams isn’t totally sure where his Ape is now, but he speculates BAYC #1626 is now on Bitcoin.

His guess can be traced to a link to an Inscription through Ordinals.

Ordinals was created by Casey Rodarmor.

It is a project that assigns content (images and videos) to individual satoshis, the smallest unit a Bitcoin can be split to, where they will permanently reside as Inscriptions on the Bitcoin network.

While the amount of Inscriptions on Bitcoin is around the 100,000 mark, there are still marketplaces for people to trade them.

A number of buyers and sellers are currently linked through Ordinal’s Discord server.

The burn happened with a new feature for Ordinals called Teleburn, which creates a unique destination with each new Inscription so digital assets can be burned.

Teleburn

Teleburn lets users assign an asset from another network to a Bitcoin Inscription, removing it from circulation.

It transfers the token between chains, which can be seen by the creators of Teleburn.

Rob Hamilton collaborated with Rodarmor to create Teleburn, and he said:

“The idea is that you are one-way, permanently burning an asset on another chain and pointing it to the ordinal that lives on the Bitcoin chain.”

Read also: Trump NFT bounces back from its January low

Hamilton approached Rodarmor about developing the Teleburn feature last weekend at Bitcoin Park.

Bitcoin Park is a coworking space in Nashville, Tennessee, that was made for the Bitcoin community.

They collaborated after Hamilton showed Rodarmor that Williams wanted to burn BAYC #1626.

“Let’s go write some code right now,” said Rodarmor, who was excited at the prospect of burning a BAYC NFT.

Potential

BAYC #1626 wasn’t the first time they used Ordinal’s Teleburn feature.

Casey Rodarmor first tried it out on his ENS domain.

He and Hamilton later oversaw Jason Williams.

Rodarmor first came up with the term Teleburn when he combined the words teleport and burn, referencing its hasty development.

Rob Hamilton believes Teleburn will gain traction, acting as a way for people to bridge their digital collectibles.

Rodarmor is also looking to extend the feature to support assets on other chains like Tezos and Solana.

“This has now set the standard of representing an asset across the chain,” said Hamilton.

“It’s going to be the way to actually have skin in the game.”

He also alluded to how assets burned are permanently gone from the market.

Reaction

When news of the BAYC burn erupted online, Greg Solano, one of Yuga Labs’ co-founders, weighed in on the matter.

He said the Inscription linked to BAYC #1626 is an unlicensed reproduction of the original because Williams no longer owns it on the Ethereum network.

“If you transfer your Ape to an address you no longer control (even if it’s the ‘burn’ address), you have effectively given up your license,” said Solano.

He also waved off the idea that BAYC #1626 is permanently gone as it still exists on-chain.

However, people can no longer access the Ape.

Image source: Crypto Slate

Mastercard NFT product lead resigns

Vina Grady Vina Grady on February 3, 2023

Mastercard: Over the past ten years, the cryptocurrency and NFT industries have expanded, luring several established businesses from numerous sectors.

Many have thus entered the field and created their own initiatives and tokens.

One of the numerous companies to enter the NFT market is Mastercard.

However, the product lead for NFTs at the large payment company recently resigned.

Unexpectedly, he is also offering his resignation letter for sale as an Ethereum NFT.

Resignation

On Thursday, Satvik Sethi, the global payments and credit card company’s product lead for NFTs, rendered his resignation from the organization.

He announced his resignation on Twitter, citing abuse and emotional damage as the factors.

“For the past year, I served as the ‘NFT Product Lead,'” he wrote on a thread.

“I evangelized Web3 for Mastercard leadership & regional teams, as well as all our Fortune 500 clients & partners.”

“While I have a lot to be grateful for, when I moved from NYC to London because of visa issues, my salary was cut by 40% with my workload increasing 200%.”

“I had to work side jobs this past year to make ends meet, alongside all the things I was building and contributing in Web3.”

“At Mastercard, I was a victim of harassment & emotional distress caused by a series of mismanaged processes, communication, internal efficiency,” Sethi continued.

“There were months at a time when I wouldn’t receive my salary until I begged across the hierarchy for it, among many other issues.”

“Not just that, I was informed by HR despite my contract that I would have to serve a 3 month notice period so I wouldn’t resign.”

“Yet, when I resigned I was told I’ll only receive 1 month pay and no benefits, & pressured into accepting it quickly or threatened to lose my bonus.”

“When I tried to fight back and informed them that I had records of my conversations, they locked and disabled all my accounts, and with that preventing me from accessing ideas I spent months designing and not even giving me a chance to say goodbye to my team, clients, & peers.”

“They might try to discredit me or downplay my contributions. But the fact is – globally our partners, clients, and regional teams associate Mastercard x NFTs with me,” Sethi added.

“When anyone across our portfolio has a question on Web3 it would be directed to me, from the CMO to an analyst.”

Read also: Metaverse team in Meta produces negative numbers

Blockchain ventures

Mastercard has made an effort to enter the blockchain market over the past year.

The international payments and credit card firm recently stated that it has hired Polygon in an effort to introduce the Artist Accelerator at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It seeks to give artists and producers the resources they need to enter the Web3 market.

They may then start minting NFTs and establishing their digital presence.

An NFT is born

Satvik Sethi continued to use his expertise in Web3 after he resigned.

He made an Ethereum NFT out of the resignation.

The letter began making the rounds online under the name “New Beginnings.”

It has been minted 69 times as of the time of this writing.

“If you want to support me, you can mint my resignation for 0.023 ETH. A piece of my personal history from the year I leaped,” Sethi tweeted.

“Art airdrop for holders in the future as thanks.”

Sethi’s journey

In 2020, Sethi first started working at Mastercard.

He joined the team developing the worldwide bill pay product as an analyst.

Later, Sethi relocated to London where he worked as the product lead for NFTs.

If he left Mastercard, he would forfeit his VISA and be forced to work from India until he could arrange for immigration.

He intends to start his own business from scratch rather than work for another company, according to a LinkedIn post.

Image source: Crypto News

NFT trade are looking good for early 2023

Hector Andrews Hector Andrews on January 25, 2023

Image source: Forbes India

NFT trade: The price of cryptocurrencies has been rising over the last several weeks, showing a favorable development.

There are indications that the NFT market is recovering at the same time as rising cryptocurrency prices.

The top NFT marketplace, OpenSea, had monthly Ethereum NFT sale increases back-to-back for the first time in a very long time.

There is still one week until February, but the January sales total is already exceeding the December total.

The road so far

According to blockchain data made available to the public by the analytics platform Dune, this month, OpenSea completed Ethereum NFT trades totaling nearly $320 million.

In contrast, the total for December brought in almost $283.5 million.

Additionally, OpenSea reported higher revenues last month for the first time since April 2022, up from $235 million in value in November.

The increase is due to Ethereum’s increasing value, which has increased by 33% over the last 30 days and reached a price of $1,620 on Monday.

However, when represented in ETH, January’s OpenSea sales only slightly surpass December’s 227,000 ETH.

In contrast, only about 191,000 ETH worth of Ethereum NFT were sold by OpenSea in November.

OpenSea

Despite months of dropping sales, the increase in OpenSea is good for the NFT trade.

However, the numbers also show how badly the market worsened in 2022.

OpenSea experienced its best-ever month in January 2022, with Ethereum NFT sales totaling over $4.86 billion.

In the first five months of 2022, the NFT market saw NFT trading volume totaling more than $2 billion.

However, it also went through erratic fluctuations throughout that time.

Previously, between December 2021 and January 2022, OpenSea had two consecutive months of sales volume increase.

Other signs

There are other signals of development in the NFT sector in addition to those from OpenSea.

For instance, the cost of highly regarded collections has increased.

In the last 30 days, the cheapest Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT increased from $84,500 in ETH to $108,000.

Additionally, CryptoPunks increased from $76,500 in ETH to $108,000.

According to CryptoSlam, sales of Bored Ape have increased from 45% during the last 30 days.

Sales of Art Blocks increased by 62%, while Azuki NFTs saw an 89% increase.

Beyond OpenSea, the amount of NFT trade has risen.

In that time, the amount of Ethereum NFT sales increased broadly by 33%, whereas Solana NFT sales increased dramatically by 95%, according to CryptoSlam.

Read also: Cryptocurrency rally is good, but people are wary

Additional notes

DappRadar reports that as compared to November, the amount of organic market sales generally slightly increased in December.

From $662 million, it increased to $684 million.

The secondary market trade was boosted last week by the introduction of Sewer Pass NFT for BAYC members.

There have been secondary deals totaling more than $35 million thus far.

Due to Yuga Labs’ restriction of Blur and LooksRare, secondary NFT trades have primarily been conducted on marketplaces like OpenSea and X2Y2.

The issue with creator royalties is what caused the block.

Creator royalties issues

Marketplaces made an attempt to stop creator royalties on NFT sales in late 2022.

But when they expressed their disapproval, Yuga Labs made it plain where they stood.

Yuga Labs acted fast to stop secondary NFT trade on particular platforms when Sewer Pass NFT launched.

A positive year

NFT trading volumes have lately been driven by the Bored Ape Yacht Club and associated collections.

Yuga’s initiatives were mentioned as accounting for half of the whole Ethereum NFT trading volume in the previous week by Pseudonymous Proof Director of Research Punk9059.

In addition, early-year activity in 2022 was mostly driven by the BAYC NFTs.

No significant changes have occurred thus far.

It is still to be seen if the most recent signs would materialize into a full-fledged NFT market recovery.

There has never been any question that the market will lose impetus in 2022, but after several months of dwindling activity, any upward movement is welcomed by traders.