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

Dear Bankless Nation,

Azuki released its 3rd NFT collection this week. 

When the art revealed, many folks were shocked as it’s essentially identical to the original Azuki collection. 

Many went into the drop expecting Pokemon-like companions set in the Azuki universe. Instead, the Azuki supply seemingly just ballooned from 10k NFTs to 30k NFTs with no warning. 

Some better framing and communication would’ve gone a long way here, so the episode’s a stark reminder that transparency and clear expectations are the best ways to maintain trust in the world of NFTs. 

We’ll see how Azuki recovers from here. In the meantime thanks for reading everyone, let’s get to this week’s roundup. Have a great weekend ✌️

-WMP

🎮 Thanks to Immutable 🎮

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📊 The big picture

Over the past week, the floor-based market cap of the NFT space grew from 7.62 million ETH to 7.91 million ETH for a 3.8% gain. 

🔝 7D top collections by volume

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📰 General news

• CyberKongz introduced ERC721x, a proposed token standard designed to make NFTs safer. 

• Gnars DAO transitioned into a Nounish DAO.

• Magic Eden added support for BRC-20 tokens.

• PartyDAO rolled out Membership Mints.

• Pudgy Toys won Toy Insider’s Top Summer Toy award for 2023. 

🏆 Digital collectibles

• Azuki apologized for the Azuki Elementals sale snafu and airdropped a mysterious green bean NFT to OG Azuki holders. 

• Cool Cats is undergoing a makeover, including the revamping of Cool Pets and the winding down of $MILK. 

🎨 Cryptoart & music

• fxhash, the leading generative art platform on Tezos, is adding Ethereum support. 

• Opepen Set 007 dropped.

• Polygon Labs is teaming up with Warner Music to create an accelerator for blockchain-based music projects.

• Sotheby’s unveiled its Generative Art Program, powered by Art Blocks Engine. 

• Sound announced artist community pages. 

🎮 Decentralized gaming

• Yuga Labs is launching the first season of its HV-MTL Forge crafting game. 

🌐 Virtual worlds

• Decentraland now offers pre-build templates in its builder system. 

🪙 NFTfi

• Hook announced a $3 million USD funding round.

• sudoswap introduced NFT-wrapped sudo pools. 

🎆 Mint spotlight: Rainbow Zorb Energy

Another Zorb Network free mint opportunity, this week via the Rainbow wallet team. If you’re looking to do some pioneering on the new NFT L2, grabbing onchain memorabilia like this is easy and something you can always point back to, i.e. “I was there.” Plus holding this special edition Zorb (a.k.a. Zora’s mascot) will unlock a special edition Rainbow app icon 🌈

🙇 New insightful threads to level up your web3 knowledge!

1. Hunter Solaire on the Ether mint 🔥

2. MetaStreet on how to airdrop farm in NFTfi 🪙  

3. tycoon.eth on how to prove you own an NFT onchain ✅ 

✨ My NFT tool of the week: Mirror’s Writing NFTs 2.0

Mirror is a web3 publishing platform. Think Medium, but on a combo of Ethereum + Optimism + Arweave. Take note, because this week Mirror just unveiled a series of new updates that doubled down on its Writing NFT experience, like a new custom covers functionality, open editions, and secondary markets. If you’re interested in publishing more of your writings as NFTs for posterity, then be sure to check these new additions out. 

😜 The Azuki Elementals reveal just caused quite a stir…

Weekly action steps

• 🆕 Read Zuzalu and Ethereum’s Frontier and 8 Early Tokens That We’re Aping in Bankless

• 🙇 Catch up on my other NFT write-ups from this week: 

  • ✧ Explore Crypto with ChatGPT

  • ✧ Navigating Big NFT Drops

  • ✧ Multiplayer Ethereum Party

Author bio

William M. Peaster is the creator of Metaversal — a Bankless newsletter focused on the emergence of NFTs in the cryptoeconomy. He also serves as a senior writer for the main Bankless newsletter.

A Bankless Citizen ⚑ turned $264 into $6,077 last year. A 22x ROI 🚀 in a bear market!

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

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here.