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

Dear Bankless Nation,

Over the past year I wrote over 150 articles about NFTs for Bankless!

Looking back on all that’s happened, 2022 was certainly a defining period for the young NFT ecosystem, which recently enjoyed advances in many areas but also recently faced the growing sting of its first major crypto winter. 

As we get ready to face 2023 and its open possibilities, what do you say we look back on the big NFT happenings from the last year to catch up on all that’s happened?

For today’s post, then, it’s time to take a selected tour through some of 2022’s most notable NFT headlines. Let’s dive in!

-WMP

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2022 NFT highlights and headlines

January 2022

✍️ Metaversal highlights: 

• 📖 State of the NFTs: 2021 in Review

• 📖 Zora V3 Is Epic

📣 Big news: 

• LooksRare announced the arrival of its NFT marketplace 

• GameStop revealed to be working on its own NFT marketplace 

• Nate Alex launched on-chain battle royale ChainFaces Arena

• Nouns DAO traded a beer-themed Noun with Bud Light

4156.⌐◨-◨ @punk4156

Proposal 33: Feature Noun glasses in a Super Bowl commercial and on real beverage cans nouns.wtf/vote/33 🚀

5:26 PM ∙ Jan 11, 2022

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441Likes53Retweets

• OpenSea acquired Dharma

• Gem launched its NFT marketplace aggregator platform

• Axie Infinity released the RON token

• Reservoir introduced its NFT orderbook protocol

• Dmitri Cherniak published Dead Ringers: Edition

February 2022

✍️ Metaversal highlights: 

• 📖 The Metaverse Land Tax

• 📖 The Nouns Are Going to the Super Bowl

📣 Big news: 

• Lens Protocol announced its web3 social platform

• x2y2 launched a vampire attack on OpenSea

• CryptoPunk #5822 was resold for 8,000Ξ

🏝nathanhead.eth🏝 @NathanHeadPhoto

CRYPTOPUNK 5822 WAS JUST BOUGHT FOR 8000 ETH ($23 MILLION DOLLARS) 🤯 THIS IS THE HIGHEST CRYPTOPUNK SALE BY NEARLY DOUBLE

8:34 PM ∙ Feb 12, 2022

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1,872Likes267Retweets

• SHL0MS introduced their $CAR conceptual art project

• Urbit unveiled plans for its own L2

March 2022

✍️ Metaversal highlights: 

• 📖 Discover New NFTs: Finiliar

• 📖 Bored Ape Creators Acquire CryptoPunks

📣 Big news: 

• Pixelmon totally botched its NFT collection launch

• CyberBrokers stored their metadata completely on-chain

• Nouns DAO launched its innovative Prop House community funding system

• Axie Infinity saw its Ronin bridge hacked for $600M

April 2022

✍️ Metaversal highlights: 

• 📖 NFT Worldbuilding Projects

• 📖 Optimism and NFTs

• 📖 How to Make an Open Metaverse

📣 Big news: 

• WAGMI United completed a takeover of Crawley Town FC

• Luca Netz acquired the Pudgy Penguins IP for 750Ξ

• Drift made photography history with +10k mints of First Day Out

• Coinbase NFT launched in beta

• PROOF Collective released the Moonbirds collection

• Sotheby’s held its Natively Digital 1.3: Generative Art auction

• OpenSea acquired NFT marketplace aggregator Gem

• Yuga Labs held its Otherside land sale

May 2022

✍️ Metaversal highlights: 

• 📖 The ENS Boom

• 📖 Decentralized Society (DeSoc) Explained

📣 Big news: 

• Azuki creators were revealed to have been the creators of multiple abandoned NFT projects

• Goblin Town arrived on the scene in wild fashion

• Lil Nouns launched its protocol and community

• Foundation opened to all creators

• Dr. Disrespect and his Midnight Society game studio partnered with Polygon on NFTs

June 2022

✍️ Metaversal highlights: 

• 📖 Free-to-Mint NFTs

• 📖 Study These NFT Smart Contract Approaches

📣 Big news: 

• Nate Chastain was charged with insider trading at OpenSea

• PoolTogether raised 100% of its legal crowdfunding goal with Pooly NFTs

• sartoshi faded into the ether, a.k.a. left the space

• Async Art launched its generative music platform Music Blueprints

• OpenSea migrated to its new SeaPort Protocol

• ClubNFT launched its metadata storage backup tool

• Uniswap acquired NFT marketplace aggregator Genie

July 2022

✍️ Metaversal highlights: 

• 📖 NFT Drop Styles

• 📖 Create Your Own PFP Collection

• 📖 Defending NFTs with Gnosis Safe

📣 Big news: 

• GameStop launched its NFT marketplace beta

• Sudoswap released its NFT AMM marketplace

• Nick Tomaino bought CryptoPunk #4156 for 2,691Ξ

1492.eth @NTmoney

Recently bought Cryptopunk #4156 for $3.31M Here’s why:

4:01 PM ∙ Jul 26, 2022

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3,010Likes509Retweets

August 2022

✍️ Metaversal highlights: 

• 📖 Webaverse Explained

• 📖 A New Way to Sell Metaverse Land

📣 Big news: 

• Async Art opened to all creators

• PROOF Collective entered Moonbirds into the public domain

• XCOPY designated all his art hitherto as CC0

• Vitalik Buterin proposed stealth addresses for NFTs

• Jonthan Mann released his music collector tool Song-A-DEX

• CrypToadz migrated to onchain storage

• BLVKHVND became the first esports DAO to win a world title by winning the 1st Pokémon UNITE Championship

September 2022

✍️ Metaversal highlights: 

• 📖 Writing NFTs

• 📖 Nouns on a Budget

• 📖 How to Create Editioned NFTs

📣 Big news: 

• Meta introduced support for posting NFTs across Instagram and Facebook

• Sorare entered into a partnership with the NBA for a fantasy basketball game

• Starbucks tapped Polygon for its NFT-based membership rewards program

• Axie Infinity started Origins: Season 1 gameplay

• Tyler Hobbs launched the collaborative generative art project QQL

• sound.xyz released the Sound Protocol

sound.xyz (🎧,🎧) @soundxyz_

We’re excited to announce the Sound Protocol. ✅Permissionless base layer ✅Artist-owned & non-upgradeable song contracts ✅Permanent & decentralized metadata ✅Custom mint formats ✅Payments & end-to-end royalties This is a monumental step forward for Sound. Here’s why👇

5:07 PM ∙ Sep 21, 2022

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802Likes238Retweets

• Linagee Name Registrar was rediscovered as the oldest NFT project on Ethereum

October 2022

✍️ Metaversal highlights: 

• 📖 The Reddit NFT Surge

• 📖 NFT Game Design is Hard

📣 Big news: 

• Art Blocks released its 2.0 version

• Rarible unveiled its 2.0 version

• The U.S. SEC launched an investigation into BAYC creators Yuga Labs for potential securities law violations

• Blur launched its NFT marketplace aggregator

• Twitter started testing NFT tweet tiles

• sound.xyz released its Sound Market

• OpenSea unveiled a copymint detection system

• Art Gobblers by Justin Roiland and Paradigm launched

November 2022

✍️ Metaversal highlights: 

• 📖 The NFT Skill Tree

• 📖 The Future of NFT Royalties

📣 Big news: 

• Bankless introduced Bankless Collectibles and Bankless Market

• Zora launched its Drops and Nouns Builder tools

• Instagram added an NFT toolkit

• PartyDAO released NFT coordination-centric Party Protocol

• OpenSea launched an onchain enforcement tool for NFT royalties

• UpShot opened its NFT appraisal platform

• Uniswap launched its NFT marketplace aggregator

December 2022

✍️ Metaversal highlights: 

• 📖 NFT TCRs

• 📖 Trading NFTs on Uniswap

📣 Big news: 

• Tessera introduced the Tessera Market and Tessera Protocol

• PartyDAO released an optimized version of the PartyBid app

• Finiliar launched oracle connectivity 

• Decentraland added support for LAND rentals

A tough year, but plenty to be excited for

The NFT ecosystem faced its share of ups and downs in 2022. In some ways, the past year felt like a wilder ride than the raging bull market of 2021! 

Yet beyond all the chaos and drama we faced in 2022, we also undoubtedly made promising advances in all directions. From new experiments to new platforms and new protocols, there’s never been more to do and never been more to be excited about around digital things. 

That said, the fundamental reasons that many of us were excited about NFTs going into 2022 are the same reasons we’re still excited about them as we head into the new year. 

In other words, the tech around NFTs continues to improve, bringing better efficiency and security. Mainstream adoption continues to pick up steam. And the ability for NFTs to disrupt and revolutionize traditional industries, like collectibles and gaming, will maintain them as big drivers of innovation for the foreseeable future. 2023 is poised to be another interesting year, then, to say the least! 

Action steps

• 🤔 What were the biggest NFT highlights of 2022 in your opinion? Let me know in the comments below what happenings you’d include in your picks!

• 🎉 Check out my previous write-up PartyBid evolved if you missed it!

Author Bio

William M. Peaster is a professional writer and creator of Metaversal—a Bankless newsletter focused on the emergence of NFTs in the cryptoeconomy. He’s also recently been contributing content to Bankless, JPG, and beyond!

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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.

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