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

Dear Bankless Nation,

Axie Infinity’s introduction of Axie Experience Points (AXP) has really caught my attention! 

This new system, which enables Axies to level up, signifies a big evolution in the NFT gaming sector, as it’s a way for unique digital game pieces to now “grow” over time. 

I’ll be exploring AXP and its potential impact on the broader NFT landscape in a full write-up next Tuesday, so be on the lookout for that, but for now let’s catch you up on this week. 

Enjoy your weekend, and stay tuned!

-WMP

🙏 Sponsor: Uniswap Labs — Better Prices, More Listings: NFTs on Uniswap✨

📊 The big picture

Over the past week, the floor-based market cap of the NFT space declined from 7.51 million ETH to 7.45 million ETH for a -0.8% drop 📉 

🔝 7D top collections by volume

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📰 General news

• mint.fun added support for Optimism and Zora Network mints. 

• Integral, a crypto + NFT accounting stack, added support for the Zora L2, too. 

• Nic Carter unveiled his Orb, an NFT that grants the holder the right to ask him one question per week. 

• OpenSea introduced Deals, its answer for P2P OTC trades.

• Zapper replaced its blockies with unique Opepens. 

🏆 Digital collectibles

• Avastars rolled out 3D VRM support and unveiled a new bespoke marketplace. 

• Moonbird Mythics began hatching. 

• Pudgy Penguins introduced PudgySwap. 

🎨 Cryptoart & music

• Fingerprints DAO is transitioning to an NFT-membership format and have tapped Larva Labs to create the art for the NFTs. 

• Mitchell F. Chan announced The Boys of Summer, an interactive art game and PFP collection. 

• Prohibition.art officially launched. 

• Sotheby’s Contemporary Discoveries auctions saw a handful of considerable Fidenza sales. 

🎮 Decentralized gaming

• Axie Infinity launched Axie Experience Points (AXP), turning all Axies into dynamic NFTs. 

• Curio introduced Warcraft: Keystone Edition, an onchain Warcraft minigame. 

🌐 Virtual worlds

• Decentraland welcomed the start of Metaverse Art Week 2023. 

🪙 NFTfi

• Uniswap announced UniswapX, a new kind of liquidity aggregator protocol. 

🎆 Mint spotlight: Zora Network Bridge Pass

Did you mint a !fundrop pass yesterday or prior? Then you’ve been allowlisted for the Zora Network Bridge Pass mint on mint.fun! It’s a free mint on the Zora Network that automatically “bridges” 0.00111 ETH to your address on the new L2 for future gas costs, gifted via Zora. Next mints on the house!

🙇 New insightful reads to level up your web3 knowledge!

1. Bobby Ong on intrigue around Reddit Community Coins 🔵

2. Museum of Crypto Art on $MOCA and ROOMs 🌐 

3. Onion on the Opepen metadata contract 💻

4. Gila.Ron on Axie Infinity AXP 🔷

5. int art on scripty.sol V2 📶

✨ My NFT tool of the week: Lens V2

Lens Protocol, a decentralized social layer for the web, just unveiled its next-gen system. The optimized protocol boasts new functionalities like Open Actions, e.g. minting external NFTs on Lens, and a Collective Value Share system, which will let people earn from discovering and sharing great content. Additionally, Profiles V2 adds ERC-6551 support, so now Lens profiles will be able to directly collect NFTs. If you haven’t already, sign up for the Lens waitlist to get ready!

😜 Just bear market things…

Action steps

• 🆕 Read 8 Big Launches from EthCC 2023 and The Ethereum Q2 2023 Report in Bankless

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

  • 🎉 The Best Way to Mint L2 NFTs 

  • 🦾 Code Interpreter x NFTs

  • 🔄 Getting Started with LayerZero

Author Bio

William M. Peaster is the creator of Metaversal — a Bankless newsletter focused on the emergence of NFTs in the cryptoeconomy. He’s also a senior writer for the main Bankless newsletter and a contributor to NFT curation platform JPG!

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

Level up

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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.