NFT Review 33 - NFTs are not Art
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NFT Review 33 - NFTs are not Art
Wikipedia takes a position, RMRK announce community curation, OpenSea remains the king, 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,
Last week, the Wikipedia editors declined to categorize NFTs as art. The crypto community, as expected, cried holy murder!
Well, we agree with Wikipedia to an extent. NFTs are not art, not if we’re being accurate about the term.
An NFT, at its most basic definition, is a digital proof of ownership. That is all it is. Thus, you can use NFTs to represent any arbitrary item or data. To equate the term ‘NFTs’ to art is to limit your mind’s appreciation of their immense potential. NFTs can be art, real estate, metaverse land, self-executing code, and more.
That said, the Wikipedia editors declined to categorize NFT Art as Art, and of this they are wrong. Art doesn’t become non-art just because it has been minted as an NFT. Such a position is incredibly ridiculous. The paper/wooden canvas was a medium to carry art, before that were stone walls in caves. Fast-forward many centuries and we got digital screens—TVs, phones, in short, pixels. NFTs are a new medium for holding art as well as other things. We are near-certain that over time Wikipedia will reverse its position, until then, we keep creating, collecting, and building. Those who don’t understand will get it eventually.
Thank you for reading and have a great week.
— NFT Review
📬 NFT News from Kusama & Polkadot
The RMRK token has now been registered on the Karura UI. There is a proposal to list $RMRK on Karura Network as a DEX pair with a bootstraping LP period.
RMRK announced a new community-led curation and plagiarism-reporting mechanism.
RMRK published a detailed Singular guide for beginners, detailing how to mint, sell, gift NFT, and perform batch transactions.
Darwinia Network announced RMRK as an official sponsor of its Crab Hackathon.
Alpha, origin stories, and inspirational messages by RMRK co-founder Yuri Petusko on the RiRi Gone Wild YouTube show.
Unique Network raised $11 million during its token sale.
🗞 NFT News from Ethereum and Beyond
China-backed Blockchain Services Network will introduce infrastructure this month to support NFTs that have no link to cryptocurrencies.
The Gap is the latest clothing brand to jump on the NFT bandwagon by teaming up with InterPop to launch its first collection on Tezos.
The Fan Controlled Football League is gearing up for its second season after closing a $40 million Series A led by Animoca Brands and Delphi Digital, the league announced Wednesday.
One day after launch, OpenSea competitor LooksRare sells over $100m in NFTs.
GameFi NFT marketplace Lootex closes $9m funding round.
Unstoppable Domains launches NFT-based sign-on for Ethereum and Polygon.
Associated Press launching NFT marketplace for its photographs.
Pudgy Penguins NFT project ousts founders as mood turns icy. NFT influencers clash over the fate of the collection, raising governance questions surrounding NFT communities.
Wikipedia editors vote against classifying NFTs as art.
OpenSea remains king: over 1M users have now made an NFT transaction using the platform.
Ghozali Ghozalu entered NFT stardom after selling out +900 charming selfies on OpenSea.
Ethereum creators are estimated to have earned over $3.5B collectively in 2021, and that’s without counting the gaming NFTs sector!
Etherscan unveiled an NFT Tracker tool.
Nouns DAO is preparing to trade one Noun NFT in exchange for a “prominent beverage company [including] Noun glasses in a 2022 Super Bowl commercial” and more.
MoonCats are now totally on-chain.
SuperRare collectors and minters from pre-2020 are eligible for a new POAP by renowned cryptoartist XCOPY.
Axie Infinity’s Ronin sidechain has quickly become a force to be reckoned with:
Coinbase becomes the latest Sponsor-A-Scholar partner of Yield Guild Games.
Cryptovoxels activated the Flora district.
Atlantis World is building a metaversal clubhouse for the Forgotten Runes Wizard’s Cult.
The Sandbox is airdropping $SAND to LAND holders.
TreasureDAO: check out this TheTie research write-up, which is the best primer I’ve seen yet on $MAGIC and the Treasure NFT marketplace on Arbitrum.
ParagonsDAO, a project centered around sci-fi card game Parallel, unveiled the details of its PDT token launch.
NFTfi has now facilitated over 3,000 loans.
Glass Protocol unveils an automated market for NFTs.
Flip, an NFT marketplace co-founded by LedgerStatus, just raised $6.5M.
Walmart filed seven trademarks at the end of December that signal its plan to make and sell virtual goods in the metaverse.
Hulu is looking for help breaking into crypto, NFTs, and the metaverse to target “the streamers of tomorrow,” according to a new job posting.
Leisure footwear company Crocs, Inc. filed a trademark application on Jan. 11 that would expand its brand into the realm of NFTs.
Parler, a free-speech social media platform popular with U.S. conservatives, is launching an NFT collection highlighting former President Donald Trump “in a myriad of settings that capture the essence of the Trump Presidency using symbolic imagery with serious undertones.”
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!