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

Dear Bankless Nation,

NFT marketplace Blur has gained considerable ground on OpenSea in recent days. 

Now, OpenSea has responded back with its own tactics accordingly. The reigning NFT marketplace juggernaut just announced its testing 0% fees, optional royalties, and removing Blur from its blocklist. 

OpenSea @opensea

We’re making some big changes today: 1) OpenSea fee → 0% for a limited time 2) Moving to optional creator earnings (0.5% min) for all collections without on-chain enforcement (old & new) 3) Marketplaces with the same policies will not be blocked by the operator filter

8:36 PM ∙ Feb 17, 2023

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Sheesh! The entire NFT space is caught in the crossfire between Blur and OpenSea now, that much is clear, and today’s events show the dust here is far from settled. 

What happens next remains to be seen, but definitely expect more fireworks and intrigue as the top NFT marketplaces continue to try and improve their positions in the ecosystem. In the meantime, let’s get you caught up on the past week in NFTs — thanks for reading everyone ✌️

-WMP

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🧠 The big picture

For the fifth time in as many weeks the cumulative market cap of the NFT space has risen, this time climbing to 9.36 million ETH for a gain of 2.75% since the last Friday recap. While the number of addresses interacting with NFTs have stayed steady lately, the activity levels around NFTs have been uptrending for over a month now. 

📊 This week by the numbers:

Otherdeeds plots were the most traded NFT collection this week by far, both with regards to volume (Ξ22,604) and number of sales (10,555). In a distant second place came Moonbirds, which saw its own trading frenzy in recent days, followed by the MAYC, BAYC, and Azuki collections. 

🔝 7D top collections by volume

🛒 7D NFT marketplace stats

The long-awaited $BLUR airdrop arrived this week, along with the announcement of Season 2 $BLUR rewards. The buzz around these developments put Blur decisively in the lead over OpenSea in this week’s de facto trading volume contest, so the big question for now is can Blur keep up this big lead for the foreseeable future. 

🛍️ 3 biggest buys this week

After seeing multiple giant collectibles sales over Ξ800 last week, the top blue-chip NFT sales this week were much more down to earth in comparison. However, and per usual, ‘Punks and Bored Apes have remained the collections with the largest recent transactions. 

📰 General news

• Collab.Land is launching a $COLLAB airdrop to NFT users and communities. 

• Nouns DAO has added two new payment functionalities to its treasury system.

• Quix, the first NFT marketplace on Optimism, open-sourced its marketplace stack. 

• Rarible launched a Tezos-based NFT marketplace aggregator. 

🏆 Digital collectibles

• Toad DAO, a collective focused on fostering a lively CrypToadz ecosystem, launched its Nounish DAO. 

🎨 Cryptoart & music

• Centre Pompidou, a major French public museum, acquired 18 NFTs by acclaimed cryptoartists.

• Cozomo de Medici donated 22 cryptoart works to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). 

• Napster acquired Polygon-based music NFT platform, Mint Songs.  

• XCOPY is publishing his final pieces on the SuperRare Shared Contract.

🎮 Decentralized gaming

• Axie Infinity community members are voting on the creation of the first Lunacian Flag. 

🌐 Virtual worlds

• Decentraland DAO published its January 2023 community update. 

🪙 NFTfi

• Caviar, an NFT AMM, is now open to the public.

• DeFiLlama added support for Cyan and ParaSpace to its NFT loan aggregator service. 

🎆 Mint spotlight: Zora

This isn’t a specific mint per se, but rather a new discovery system for mints. Zora just rolled out its new homepage UI that’s centered around aggregating NFT edition releases and drops from around the ecosystem. If you like to surf through new projects as they arrive, this new homepage experience is certainly something to put on your radar. 

ZORA @ourZORA

Enjoy. ↳ zora.co

3:04 PM ∙ Feb 16, 2023

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🔭 Mint watch:

• TreasureTags — Treasure, the decentralized gaming ecosystem on Arbitrum, just launched TreasureTag “gamertag” domain mints this week; if you’re trying to hit the Arbitrum NFT scene hard this is an interesting option

• CryptoCoaster — A 100% onchain, randomly generated rollercoaster series? Super cool! This upcoming experimental mint comes via xtremetom, a Cool Cats founder

• Gachamon — An upcoming NFT game where you collect and battle mons in a passive arena format, the mint for this project is coming in hot on Feb. 22nd, 2023

Racer @0xRacerAlt

Gachamon is going to mint next Wednesday 2/22 👾 Join our whitelist to get exclusive mint access for the first hour by pre-registering on our website: gachamon.xyz To learn more, check out seekr.gitbook.io/gachamon/ and our Discord discord.gg/xftWr4cXSS

6:22 PM ∙ Feb 14, 2023

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🙇 3 insightful threads weekly to level up your NFT knowledge!

1. MoonCat2878 on the basics of AI art platform BrainDrops:

MoonCat2878 @mooncat2878

1/40 Let’s talk about @braindrops_art THE platform for generative AI art. In this thread we will talk about: * What is BrainDrops? * How are you able to mint? * Collectors perks * The artists and collections * Numbers * AI art 🧵🧠💧

4:11 PM ∙ Feb 14, 2023

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2. Rafa on Web3 media and publishing:

rafa0x @rafathebuilder

About month ago I led a workshop for @0xFoster on Web3 Publishing and Web3 Media. Let’s dive in: 1️⃣ What is web3 media 2️⃣ Why digital authorship matters 3️⃣ Community activation with web3 media 4️⃣ Creating writing NFTs with @viamirror

10:48 AM ∙ Feb 15, 2023

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3. Luke Cannon on how to optimize your $BLUR Season 2 rewards strategy:

Luke Cannon | Lukecannon.eth @lukecannon727

I earned 77,000 $BLUR (currently worth $85,000) in @blur_io‘s 1st airdrop by bidding with just 1-2 ETH Here’s how, plus how I’m playing season 2 (might surprise some people):

5:25 PM ∙ Feb 16, 2023

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✨ My NFT tool of the week: Manifold’s Burn Redeem App

With Manifold’s Burn Redeem App, you can mint NFTs for your fans and then let them “burn” those NFTs in order to redeem new, scarcer NFTs. This approach offers novel gamification avenues for collections, and fortunately Manifold’s just released an optimized version of the app!

manifold.xyz (マ,マ) @manifoldxyz

Introducing the new and improved Burn Redeem App 🔥🔥🔥 – ERC-721 burn functionality – Contract upgrades for gas efficiency and additional features coming soon™️ 👀 – Mint fees 1/ This upgrade also paves the way for a new form of creativity from our NFT burn tooling 🧵

12:00 AM ∙ Feb 17, 2023

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💥 RabbitHole V2 is now live!

RabbitHole, which lets people earn tokens for participating in crypto projects, just rolled out its V2 system. Notably, the protocol has been rebuilt from the ground up for improved learning, quest, and gig experiences. As crypto projects look for more ways to engage their communities onchain, RabbitHole is poised to shine. 

brian flynn @Flynnjamm

7/ We believe Quests will be the de-facto way protocols will distribute their token, and move away from one-time airdrops. Protocols will want to use Quests to progressively decentralize and test different token incentives

rabbithole.mirror.xyzThe past, present, and future of airdrop designA summary of the past and latest airdrop designs, and why the future of airdrops may look different than what exists today with high-ve…

6:50 PM ∙ Feb 16, 2023

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😜 All your NFT are belong to us…

With all the unidentified objects in the skies lately, is an alien invasion happening? Who knows, but just in case let’s hope the Galactic Federation has a favorable NFT policy:

MinisterOfNFTs 🔮 @MinisterOfNFTs

9:02 PM ∙ Feb 13, 2023

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Action steps

• 🆕 Read Getting to Know Your Options and How Blur Can Win in Bankless

• 🌱 Watch Regen Web3 Employment with John Paller on Green Pill 

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

  • ✧ $BLUR Day

  • ✧ How to Start an NFT Community

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.

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.