NFT Review 17: NFTs that Give Back
NFT Review 17: NFTs that Give Back
Kusama's biggest NFT sale, Axie to the moon, NASCAR drifts into NFTs, and more.
NFT Review is a weekly newsletter covering NFTs in the Web3 ecosystem on Polkadot’s side of the woods. The newsletter is put together by Bruno Škvorc and gbaci.
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Looking for a primer on NFTs? This should be the last introduction you’ll ever need.
Dear NFT enthusiast,
It was another week of high sales figures for dust-gathering JPEGs. But this time, there was at least a human angle to the rational insanity, showing that massive NFT sales can also be a force for good.
Trippy Bunny NFT, a new NFT project built on Solana, announced that it is donating all of its mint sale proceeds (~$220,886) to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. This is impressive to see and isn’t the first time that an NFT project has donated money to charity.
It was said to Peter Parker (Spiderman) that “with great power comes great responsibility”. Well, we’d like to transform this quote to “with great liquidity comes great existential responsibility”. With the deep well of liquidity NFT-focused DAOs are accruing to themselves, it is sensible to ask what all this money is intended for.
It would be a sad state of affairs if there is no sense of social responsibility. In our view, the decentralization paradigm (which houses Blockchains, NFTs, and DeFi) is a view of a world that is fairer to the individual, whoever and wherever they are. But fairness also means sacrifice on behalf of another. If we can spend millions on simple pictures, we should be willing (or at least open) to use some of this money to help those who are less fortunate in society (humans, animals, plants, life). This helps preserve and expand our humanity.
As we build the new future we hope will be better than the present, let’s also be mindful that we are becoming better for ourselves and others.
Thank you for reading and have a great week.
— NFT Review
👨🏼🎨 RMRK Artist Spotlight: Fr.om and His Music NFTs
On this episode of RAS, we switched things up a bit. Given that almost everyone associates NFTs with visual art, we were delighted to find an artist who pushed the boundaries of this mainstream definition. NFTs can be more than visual art, they can also be music, and this is what our spotlight artist for the week is showing with his work. Fr.om is a music artist who minted and sold out an EP of 5 songs as a collection on Singular.
📬 NFT News from Kusama & Polkadot
RMRK founder Bruno Skvorc hosted a webinar on the Kanaria launch. Watch the replay to learn how this advanced NFT ecosystem of birds, items, gems, and trading works, and what lays in the future for DotSama’s most promising NFT project.
The RMRK team has announced a new hackathon for October. They are currently seeking feedback from the Kanaria, Singular, and DotSama communities on possible projects for the hackathon. Enter your idea here. The best ideas may get a Kanaria-compatible NFT.
Sub.id now displays your KSM crowdloan contributions and almost all of your DotSama NFTs! It’s currently missing Kanaria NFTs, but that’s coming soon.
RMRK’s Kanaria platform processed over $500,000 in NFT trade volume in only one week of its existence.
Bird #0320 sold for 70 KSM (~ $29,795), making it the most NFT expensive sale on Kusama to date, excluding the sales of Kanaria eggs. The current floor price Kanaria is 1.23 KSM (~ $523).
🗞 NFT News from Ethereum and Beyond
Artist 0xDEAFBEEF released FIRST, a satirical on-chain generative text NFT series about “NFT firsts.” The initiative raised +56 ETH for GiveDirectly.
NFT game Axie Infinity is now “the most valuable NFT collection ever” with $1.7B+ in total sales according to DappRadar.
Sky Mavis banned around 30,000 Axies from Axie Infinity over the accusation of energy abuse. The Vietnamese game studio noted that Axies sold off prior to the ban taking effect, will soon be unbanned.
Yearn founder Andre Cronje released Rarity, a Loot-inspired on-chain game in which:
“Anyone can create a summoner, there are no limits, it doesn’t cost anything (other than gas). Once per day a summoner can adventure, earning 250XP. Once you have earned the required amount of XP to advance a level, you can level_up.”Very Nifty (the team behind NFT20) unveiled Feather, an experimental NFT-based websites project. -
Sotheby’s “Ape in” event saw a group of 101 Bored Ape Yacht Club collectibles auctioned for +$24M!
BAYC held a celebration event in Decentraland after this week’s big auction concluded.
A recent poll by Piplsay shows that 48% of Americans think NFTs are a good investment.
DeFi dashboard Zapper now supports NFTX tokens.
According to local sources, the Chinese government has released a series of statements denouncing the value of the NFT market even though two of the nation’s major tech firms are pursuing the technology.
Following a colossal surge of $4B sales volume throughout the month of August for the leading NFT marketplace OpenSea, recent figures indicate a metaphoric return to earth after propulsion to the mighty heights of the moon.
Sorare has signed an agreement with the Spanish Football League (La Liga) adding all 20 clubs, including giants FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, to the fantasy football game. Player cards are available on the marketplace with immediate effect.
Aavegotchi revealed that their first land sale will take place in October. They will sell parcels in the Gotchiverse Realm one month later than originally planned because their content schedule already offers lots of events.
Genopets, a relatively new NFT project on Solana, combines physical activity with play-to-earn gaming, creating what’s arguably the world’s first move-to-earn product that incentivizes active lifestyles.
Animoca Brands and the play-to-earn DAO Yield Guild Games have teamed up to organize the REVV Racing YGG Cup, taking place from the 10th until the 16th of September. The play-to-earn tournament has a $150,000 prize pool and the top player taking home $12,000.
The upcoming Miss Universe Thailand 2021 pageant will be the first to feature NFTs as part of the competition.
NFT investment fund Metapurse has announced Dreamverse, a unique festival that focuses exclusively on “NFT-focused music, art, and technology”. It will take place in November, in New York City.
The Sandbox has announced a partnership with the South Korean animation company Iconix, bringing their Pororo cartoon characters into the blockchain-powered virtual world. NFT assets based on the cartoon series will be available with Premium land sales on September 23rd.
NASCAR launches its very own NFT marketplace, along with thousands of free commemorative NFTs.
Powered by the Bitcoin Lightning Network, UK-based company Zebedee has closed an $11.5 million funding round. Zebedee is currently integrated with CS:GO, enabling players to get paid for in-game activity, using what the company calls nanotransactions.
Pop icon Doja Cat jumps into the world of NFTs in the lead-up to her latest album. She calls her series, “Planet Doja”. It contains 26,000 limited-edition digital collectibles, along with VIP concert bundles.
That’s all for this week, see you in the next edition! Got some links to share with us, artists to feature, NFTs to sell, jobs to promote, or events to popularize? Get in touch with Bruno or gbaci!