Metaversal is a Bankless newsletter for weekly level-ups on NFTs and the onchain frontier

Dear Bankless Nation,

When it comes to market performance, many Ethereum NFT collections have been having a rough go of it lately.

Why the bleedout, especially when the wider cryptoeconomy has been heating up recently?

Well, a large amount of capital remained in Ethereum NFTs since the 2021 bull run. And over the past few months, new metas have surged to the fore. Think AI tokens, the Bitcoin Ordinals boom, the explosion of memecoins on Solana, the return of airdrop hunting, and the rise of Farcaster-driven L2 mints like Onchain Gaias on Base. 

This target-rich environment has nudged more than a few people to sell from their existing holdings, like Ethereum NFTs, to try chasing these newer, hotter metas. 

All that said, though, the Ethereum NFT scene still has a premium status and a bright future. New opportunities around crypto social and NFTfi will help ensure that. The recent Dencun upgrade also paved the way for more readily using L1 NFTs in L2s, a dynamic that will lead to all sorts of new powerful utilities. 

Plus, considering this current crypto bull market seems like it’s only just beginning, it’s no stretch to assume Ethereum NFTs will rally hard pretty soon. Plenty of collections here look like bargains right now, so it may be a great chance to sweep some floors!

In the meantime, get prepared by staying up to date—let’s get to the past week’s biggest NFT news highlights 👇

-WMP

🔮 Thanks to Kraken NFT 🔮

👉  Kraken NFT is built for secure NFT trading ✨

This week in NFTs…

📰 General news

• Achi, the real-life inspiration of the dog wif hat meme, is the star of a new 1/1 NFT auction on Foundation.

• Dune intro’d new ERC-721 and ERC-1155 balance tables.

• Magic Eden launched Diamond claims for Ethereum NFT users.

• Metaplex published its February recap.

• RMRK outlined its modular NFTs roadmap.

• Story Protocol partnered with AI network project Ritual.

• Swamp DAO, a collective aiming to buy Shrek’s music royalty rights, launched on Juicebox.

• The Pudgy Penguins purchased Noun 1029.

• The USPTO published a study on NFTs and IP law.

🎨 Cryptoart & music

• Delivery at Dawn, a short film backed by Nouns and raising funds for Ethereum devs, dropped on Zora.

• Distributed Gallery unveiled Aside, a time-lock protocol for digital art.

• fxhash opened to the public on Base.

• Highlight intro’d Highlight Studio, a tool for gen art testing.

• Jack Butcher announced Status, a new 1/1 in the VV Rare collection.

• Kraken NFT added support for Art Blocks.

• Optimism announced the winners of its We ❤️ The Art contest.

• Sound unveiled a Channels feature.

• Zora Network saw mint costs plummet post-Dencun.

🏆 Digital collectibles

• Base dropped a commemorative EIP-4844 mint.

• Matt Furie released his Peplicator collection.

• Sup unveiled new craftable Logos characters.

• Truth Arts opened $SWIO aidrop claims for Goblintown holders and beyond.

📱 Onchain social

• Drakula, an onchain social media app, launched on Base.

• Family unveiled in-wallet messaging.

• Lens enacted protocol fees and hit +250k profiles.

• Memeland intro’d Stakeland, a social staking protocol.

• Nouns launched its Weekly Retro Rd. 5 on Warpcast.

• The Yellow Collective dropped a Based hoodie via Farcaster Frame mint.

🎮 Decentralized gaming

• Arbitrum DAO proposed a $400M growth initiative for gaming.

• CTG: Anon Island is launching on Base next month.

• Immutable is preparing to kick off The Main Quest.

• MUD joined forces with CCP Games on Project Awakening.

• Parallel published the Parallel Colony and Wayfinder whitepapers.

• Ronin hit 1M daily active addresses.

• Treasure added support for bulk listings.

• WAGMI Games announced its deployment on Base.

🪙 NFTfi

• ArcadeDAO is considering a proposal to enable $ARCD transferability.

• NFTfi.com raised a $6 million Series A1 funding round.

• Tensor intro’d the $TNSR token.

🌐 Virtual worlds

• Decentraland DAO announced a Community Content Creators pilot program.

• Forgotten Runes dropped a new Nifty Island map.

Bankless Citizens who completed the Jito quest in our Airdrop Hunter tool just earned $15k or more 🏹

Don’t miss the next one 👇

Start hunting!

Today’s action steps:

• 🆕 See my other latest write-ups: 

  • 🔥 Bullish on Nouns

  • 🔵 What’s New in Base NFTs?

  • 💫 Exploring Astaria on Base

Author bio

William M. Peaster has been with Bankless since January 2021, now serving as senior writer. Immersed in Ethereum since 2017, he pens the Metaversal newsletter on the onchain frontier, covering everything from AI projects to crypto games, as the team’s lead NFT analyst. With a background in creative writing, he writes fiction and publishes art onchain in his free time.

🙏 Together with 🔮 Kraken NFT 🔮

KRAKEN NFT

Kraken NFT is one of the most secure, easy-to-use and dynamic marketplaces available. Active and new collectors alike benefit from zero gas fees, multi-chain access, payment flexibility with fiat or 200+ cryptocurrencies, and built-in rarity rankings. Learn more at Kraken.com/nft

👉 Visit Kraken.com to learn more and open an account today.

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.