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

Dear Bankless Nation,

Kevin Rose, a co-founder of Proof Collective and projects like Moonbirds, was tragically hacked this week. 

He was tricked into signing a bad transaction that seemed legit, at which point a hacker was able to swipe out dozens of grail NFTs from one of his wallets. 

Cirrus @CirrusNFT

It looks like @kevinrose wallet was just compromised… Millions and millions in NFTs drained…

6:49 PM ∙ Jan 25, 2023

---

2,165Likes606Retweets

The episode is an unfortunate and stark reminder that in this early crypto frontier, one slip up can be enough to give hackers the in that they need. 

The good news? There is a growing field of resources people can use to prevent these sorts of NFT thefts. 

For my Bankless Tactic Tuesday post next week I’ll be publishing a guide on how to double down with these security tools, so be on the lookout for that. In the meantime stay vigilante out there, thanks for reading everyone, and have a great weekend ✌️

-WMP

🙏 Thanks to our sponsor ACROSS

👉 Across.to is the bridge you deserve!

🧠 The big picture

The cumulative market cap of the NFT space has risen to 8.8 million ETH, or ~$14.2B USD, a week-over-week climb of 6%. At a time when many mainstream critics are writing off NFTs as totally dead, the economy of digital things on Ethereum continues to thrive. 

📊 This week by the numbers:

Unsurprisingly, the Sewer Pass access NFTs dominated weekly volume stats as all eyes remain on Yuga Labs’s Dookey Dash skill-based mint competition. We also saw a really strong volume showing around The Memes Collection by 6529, which has become an iconic series to watch in 2023. 

🔝 7D top collections by volume

🛒 Top 5 NFT markets (7D stats)

This week we saw OpenSea break out with a decisive volume lead over Blur once more. Stats-wise, X2Y2 is firmly in 3rd place right now with LooksRare a distant 4th. 

🛍️ Top 3 big buys of the week

There were more major Yuga Labs transactions this week. One was a BAYC sale and the other was an Otherdeed sale, and both purchases were for over the equivalent of ~$240k USD in ETH. This week we also saw a Fidenza, the crown jewel of the Art Blocks ecosystem, crack the top 3 with a Ξ145 resale. 

📰 General news

• Floor, the NFT price tracker service, acquired NFT analytics platform WGMI.io.

• owl.eth introduced the Guardian Contract, a way to lock NFTs from being stolen.

• Nounlets kicked off auctions for Noun 129, which was tributed by Beets DAO. 

🏆 Digital collectibles

• Doodles announced plans to 1) acquire animation studio Golden Wolf and 2) migrate its upcoming Doodles 2 collection to Flow. 

• Pudgy Penguins launched support for cross-chain bridging Lil Pudgys. 

• RARE SCRILLA and other Pepe artists are launching Fake The Memes of Production, a dank satirical spinoff of Punk 6529’s The Memes. 

🎨 Cryptoart & music

• Folia hosted the mint for Joan Heemskerk’s CABLE, a collection of 545 on-chain SVGs representing the undersea fiber-optic cables that underpin much of the internet. 

• RAC released Sonhar, a limited-edition song. 

• Sound rolled out support for open edition (OE) mints. 

🎮 Decentralized gaming

• Axie Infinity published its January Dev Update and introduced the Budget Axie Challenge. 

• Sorare rolled out a new Capped Mode competitions. 

🌐 Virtual worlds

• Decentraland is hosting a Film Club 2023 contest to field 30-second videos showcasing its virtual world. 

🪙 NFTfi

• Treasure DAO voted to sunset its Atlas Mine $MAGIC staking system. 

🎆 Mint spotlight: Sewer Pass

Released last week by Yuga Labs as a free claim for BAYC, MAYC, and BAKC holders, the Sewer Pass access NFTs have since undergone a trading frenzy as people have been cramming in to try the associated Dookey Dash game + speculating on what the Sewer Pass NFTs will evolve into. The collection has already done over Ξ24,000 in trading, and its highest-tiered NFTs have already reached a floor price of nearly Ξ8. 

Steve 🤙 @NFTbark

The @yugalabs/@BoredApeYC team is on pace to bank $6M-$8M from Sewer Pass secondary sales and $1.5-$3M USD worth of @apecoin in the duration of the Dookey Dash game. And this is just part one of the Trial of Jimmy the Monkey. Moral of the story? Don’t. Fade. Yuga.

5:29 PM ∙ Jan 22, 2023

---

290Likes43Retweets

🔭 Mint watch:

• Balagan — a generative art series by Sapir Cohen, Balagan’s amazing blocky aesthetics and gm.studio backing make this a compelling drop; reserved mints begin on Jan. 28th

• Night Run — developed by the creators of Terraforms, Night Run is a cross between conceptual art, hypnotic music, and a procedurally-generated city driving game; pre-sale minting kicks off today with a public sale potentially slated to start on Jan. 28th if remaining supply allows

• Nyan Balloons — launched by Nyan Cat creator Chris Torres, Nyan Balloons is a burn-to-redeem NFT color changing experiment that doesn’t disappoint in the cuteness department

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

1. underground on how to trade NFTs based on market momentum:

underground @underground

NFT Momentum Trading Guide 🧵 Oftentimes the NFT market presents “momentum trade” opportunities whereby a project has more buyers (demand) than sellers (supply), causing the price to breakout to the upside, giving you an opportunity to profit on the momentum.

6:32 PM ∙ Jan 25, 2023

---

205Likes54Retweets

2. GameFi Guide on how to start playing The Beacon:

GameFi Guide 🧙‍♂️ @GamefiGuide

Feeling Adventurous for a New Web3 Game? 🧙 Test your skills in a randomized dungeon battle in @The_Beacon_GG & win NFT loot. 💎 Then customize your house with your treasures & show off to your friends. ⚔️🐲 🧵 Game Thread 🧵Let’s Dive in.👇 1/22

8:02 PM ∙ Jan 20, 2023

---

24Likes8Retweets

3. Ian Rogers on security tips for Ledger hardware wallet users:

ian c rogers @iancr

1/ We were heartbroken last night over the attack on @kevinrose‘s wallet. Not only because we felt Kevin’s pain, but because of what it tells us about the state of security across the whole NFT ecosystem. We would like to share some thoughts on staying safe in this thread 🧵👇

4:17 PM ∙ Jan 26, 2023

---

494Likes183Retweets

✨ My NFT tool of the week: Terminal

Developed by web3 launchpad Forefront, Terminal is an awesome dashboard for tokenized communities. You can use this site to track live DAO auctions, review governance proposals, sort projects by various metrics, and more. If you’re looking to keep tabs on a range of NFT DAOs, this platform is a great place to start. 

Terminal @viaterminal

🟪 Terminal changelog — #2 + New Listings + New Metrics on Rankings + Marketplace sort feature + Other improvements ↳ terminal.co

8:00 PM ∙ Jan 26, 2023

---

3Likes2Retweets

💥 You might be paying more Ξ in gas than necessary!

Are you a regular MetaMask user who always uses the default gas settings when conducting your wallet transactions? Then you may be paying up to x10 more in ETH than you need to! Here rayzhu.eth suggests a priority fee of ~0.2 gwei as a more than sufficient lower alternative for your transactions:

rayzhu.eth🚯 @rayzhueth

Are you using metamask to send transactions? You’re probably paying too much in gas! Metamask sets the default (market)🦊 priority fee to 1.5 gwei, low🐢 to 1 gwei, aggressive🦍 to 2 gwei. In reality, you need about 0.2 gwei for your priority fee! even that is usually too much.

12:17 AM ∙ Jan 23, 2023

---

91Likes12Retweets

😜 NFTs are so back…

You know how you can tell? There’s seemingly an endless stream of interesting projects to keep track of again, yet only so much time in the day to do so:

Rooshy.eth @ILikeNFTs

5:33 AM ∙ Jan 25, 2023

---

36Likes7Retweets

Weekly action steps

• 🆕 Read Ethereum’s Economic Engine and Arbitrum Is Mooning in Bankless

• 🌱 Watch Common Ground | Erik Voorhees on Green Pill 

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

  • ✧ Leveling Up NFT Games with MagicSwap

  • ✧ Minting on Manifold 101

  • ✧ How to Use Decentralized Stablecoins

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!

Subscribe to Bankless. $22 per mo. Includes archive access, Inner Circle & Badge.

🙏 Together with ⚡️ACROSS⚡️

Across is the bridge you deserve: fast speeds, low fees, great support, no hacks, and we love our users. Try it once and you’ll understand why Across users love us back and have bridged $billions with it.

Yield farmers will also find attractive yields for providing bridge liquidity! 👀

👉 If you have questions, check Twitter or the Discord!

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.