Are you a fan of NFTs, or you've just started your NFT journey? Then you need to stay up-to-date with the latest news from the industry. From new projects, events, ideas, and legal news, this article covers everything that happened last week.
Let's start below.
Contents
📈 Macro - From NFT NYC to NFT Cluj;
🗞️ Last week's news - Pussy Riot, Renga, MetaMask, OpenSea, European Commission, Easter Bunny;
💰 Investments/Financing - ENS Vision, Yuliverse, Metropoly, TOPGOAL;
📣 Projects news/Updates - Amazon, Beeple, ZenAcademy, YugaLabs, Magic Eden, Claynosaurz, Reddit, The Smurfs;
⚖️ Legal - MetBa;
⚒️Tools - Gabi writes about Pocket Universe;
🐈 Veefriends - Veecon, Community Scene;
📚 Dictionary - ordinals, inscriptions;
💸 Sale of the week - $400k Azuki;
📈 Macro
NFT NYC starts today.
100 partners, 200 reporters, 500 brands, 1500 speakers, 2000 artists and 6000 attendees. What can we tell you? Obviously, NFT Bucharest is inspired by these big events, like NFT NYC or NFT Paris. But although they look big, they are not that big. At least not big enough to scare us. First of all, because we're talking about New York or Paris. Of course, we can't compare. But if we take them one at a time, we do: NFT NYC has been running since 2019. Paris from 2022. New York speaker/attendee parity is 1 to 4. 1 speaker for 4 attendees (of which there are artists, brands, partners & so on).
At the warm-up in Bucharest, we had 40 speakers and 400+ attendees. Parity of 1 to 10. And side events, like the one at NFT Cluj, are meant to help raise awareness of the main event. What can we tell you about the numbers? 100+ of you applied for an invitation to NFT Cluj on 12 May. One month before the event. Without even announcing a speaker. Without announcing partnerships. Without speaking through local or national communities. Without announcing the surprises we are preparing. Without wanting to promise more than we will deliver, we tell you this: NFT Cluj is shaping up to be at least as exciting as the warm-up in Bucharest.
Apply for an invitation. Still free for a week for those who have at least 1 active referral! Under promise, over deliver!
🗞️ News from last week
An NFT with a protest artwork signed by Pussy Riot has triggered criminal charges in Russia. Activist artist Nadya Tolokonnikova was prosecuted after an NFT released in 2021 depicting the Virgin Mary.
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Renga has filed a US trademark application for a set of software and services that facilitate the viewing, trading and management of NFTs and cryptocurrencies.
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MetaMask is releasing version v10.28 and with it, you will be able to see your NFTs directly from the browser extension (including POAPs, wink). All ERC-721 and 1155 tokens should show up if automatic NFT detection is enabled. With this update, you can also transfer ERC-721 NFTs. Transfers of ERC-1155 NFTs will be added soon.
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OpenSea, the largest NFT trading platform, has launched OpenSea Pro, a feature-rich marketplace aimed at attracting professional NFT traders. The new fees will be 2.5% for standard users and zero fees for Pro users.
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Artificial intelligence will play an important role in detecting fake NFTs. There are over 90 million counterfeit copies of NFTs, and a permissionless system makes it more convenient for anyone to issue pirated NFTs. AI could be the solution to combat this problem and protect users and brand reputations.
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- The UK Intellectual Property Office has recently published guidance entitled "Classification of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), virtual goods and services provided in the Metaverse". This move is part of the UK government's effort to understand and regulate the growing NFT sector and the universe of NFT tokens.
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The European Commission has raised the issue of privacy, cybersecurity and equality risks in the Metaverse. The big players could dominate the Metaverse, blocking local companies, warns the European Commission in a consultation on its new Metaverse policy. The commission's proposals will be issued in the coming months but without a draft law. Andi Cristea, are you around?
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In case your bunny's out of ideas, we've come to your rescue with this list.
💰 Investments / Financing
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VC fund 1confirmation led a $2 million funding round in ENS Vision. They had backers such as Mark Cuban and Balaji and are funding companies such as SuperRare, dYdX and OpenSea.
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Yuliverse, a Metaverse mobile app that combines gaming and social networking, announced the completion of its seed funding round led by LIF with participation from Archerman Capital, Animoca Ventures, Lionrock, TKX, Hummingbird Capital and K24 Ventures.
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Metropoly platform has raised $1.1 million an NFT marketplace backed by real estate assets. METRO's official launch is scheduled for May 1, 2023. According to industry experts, METRO could reach a market cap of $1 billion within the first few months of launch. We see better than we hear/read!
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TOPGOAL, a football platform in the Metaverse, has received a multi-million dollar investment from DWF Labs to build a football Metaverse driven by AI and blockchain technology. The platform aims to bring Web2 football users into Web3 and create new digital and virtual experiences. TOPGOAL has over 3000 football players in its portfolio and over 10 years of experience in football game development.
📣 Projects news / Updates
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Amazon is preparing to launch its own NFT marketplace, which will include digital collections from famous crypto industry creators such as Beeple and Pudgy Penguins. The marketplace will be built on a private blockchain controlled by Amazon, but multi-chain compatibility is not excluded. The service is expected to launch soon.
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Beeple, one of the most popular NFT artists, will launch "Chapter 2 of Nakamigo" if the pixel art collection reaches a minimum value of 1 ETH. Beeple created the latest work "Pray" in honor of the Nakamigos collection.
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ZenAcademy has announced a new collaboration, with @littleatlas_xyz, that will bring online community experiences into the real world through IRL meetups. The platform developed by @littleatlas_xyz allows the creation of a token-protected space where communities can connect and interact on an interactive map. We should bring them to NFT Bucharest!
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According to a new article on the Yuga Labs blog, Otherside's Koda Decoupling and Vessel Claim event will offer new gameplay experiences and activations for those who attend. To access these new game experiences, users must burn the original Otherside NFTs.
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Claynosaurz and Octo Gaming have launched a mobile game called Clayscape, available now in the Apple and Google Play stores. The game takes you on an adventure through the unexplored world of Claynotopia.
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Magic Eden has launched a Creator Launchpad for Ordinals, helping creators to sign up for their Bitcoin-based NFT collections. The Launchpad facilitates the creation of NFTs on the Bitcoin network, removing barriers to entry given the complexity of inscriptions. Magic Eden also launched a marketplace for Bitcoin NFTs in March.
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And while we're on the subject of Bitcoin Ordinals, the 1 millionth entry was passed. The name PIGGY was the lucky winner!
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Magic Eden has also launched the beta version of the Ethereum marketplace, partnering with 17 creators. So far, the platform has dominated the Solana marketplace, but is expanding into Bitcoin and Polygon, and the Ethereum launch brings more options for traders and the opportunity to discover new projects. ETH partners will receive 2% of trading fees for 6 months, and collection launches will take place in April.
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Reddit has released the third generation of its blockchain-based avatars (oh, sorry - digital collectibles), called "Reddit Avatars", on Polygon.
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One of the world's most popular entertainment franchises, The Smurfs, enters the world of NFTs! "The Smurfs' Society, a collective of entrepreneurs, artists and Web3 experts, is developing Smurfs' Society Legendary Collection, a series of 12,500 unique NFTs featuring Smurf characters in detailed 3D graphics and a new cast of characters.
⚖️ Legal
Remember when we told you that GPT4 passed the bar exam? Well, it turns out that GPT4 also passed the US Resident Medical Examination with flying colors. We won't beat around the bush on the subject, as we don't do Medical MetaVersets, but we'll just tell you that GPT4 managed to diagnose a rare disease, 1 in 100,000, in a matter of seconds! Read more here.
Today we want to tell you about the Metaverse Bar Association (we would have said the Metaverse Bar Association, but they're not all as metaverse as yours truly 😎) or Metaverse Bar Association (MetBA), started by Madaline Zannes of Zannes Law Firm.
What does MetBA aim to achieve? Connecting lawyers globally through the metaverse. Basically, it is a pioneering virtual community of legal professionals dedicated to fostering connections, promoting innovation, and providing resources for the evolving digital legal ecosystem.
MetBA unites lawyers virtually and facilitates the creation of a global community of legal professionals who are experts in blockchain, Web3 and metaverse while educating and providing resources to those who want to adapt their skills in a changing world. Let's get our lawyers on board, we're still in Web1 😭
MetBA provides the public with a trusted register of verified professionals who are licensed to practice in their jurisdiction and can advise on blockchain, Web3 and metaverse.
All professional lawyers are welcome to join the Metaverse Bar Association, provided they are entitled to practice in their jurisdiction. I'm in because I'm naturally curious! Coming back later with impressions.
⚒️ Tools: Pocket Universe
Meet Pocket Universe, a free browser extension that helps you protect your assets when signing web transactions3. From our experience in the NFT environment, it is very important to be cautious and make sure your assets are safe and Pocket Universe can help you with this.
Once the browser extension is installed, it will simulate, on a copy of the blockchain, the transaction you are about to sign. It will then check that you are signing a secure transaction and report to you exactly what changes will take place in your wallet, leaving it up to you to approve or decline the transaction.
If you are likely to be scammed, Pocket Universe shows you exactly which assets are affected so you can take appropriate action to protect yourself.
A plus of the Pocket Universe extension is that it can check if you can sell an asset before you buy it. This can save you from buying an NFT or "honeypot" token that you won't be able to sell on the market. In addition, Pocket Universe checks whether you get NFTs from verified collections and official tokens in every transaction, so you won't get nasty surprises with fake assets.
Pocket Universe will add a little time to the process of approving a transaction; simulations usually take less than a second but will give you a great deal of added security. In terms of supported wallets, Pocket Universe works with Metamask, Coinbase and other wallets that use similar methods such as XDEFI or Frame. However, the team is working on adding Wallet Connect soon.
The browser extension is available for Chrome, Brave, Chromium and Firefox.
🐈⬛ Veefriends
Surprise gifts for VeeCon 2022 international participants who didn't attend the Rally partner activation have started to arrive!
This year we have personalized hotel passes for VeeCon! With all the incredible accommodation options for VeeCon 2023, VeeFriends is excited to announce VeeCon 2023 custom hotel access cards. All guests who book a room at any of the seven affiliated VeeCon 2023 locations will receive a unique card at check-in! What floor price will these cards have after VeeCon? And what surprise is Gary preparing in 2033 for those who collect all 7 cards?
Community is at the heart of VeeFriends. So Gary has a surprise in store for us - the VeeCon Community Stage, a dedicated stage built and integrated into the VeeCon festivities to give community members who are leaders in their fields a front-row seat on the first day of VeeCon 2023. You can apply by April 14 by filling out this form.
⚙️ NFTility
Navigating through crypto and NFT is never easy. The amount of daily information is huge and the attention we can allocate is limited. If that's not enough, we become drawn to success stories of how a (not small) number of people have earned impressive sums just by being in the right place at the right time. We all know we're capable of it and we want to be there when the opportunity arises...to be on the end that hits the jackpot. But that makes us susceptible to falling victim to FOMO or FUD.
How can we minimize that? By creating an environment in which we can each participate to create and extract more value.
Tokens from today's project have reached many who paid attention to Octav's shout-out on Telegram. Those who moved quickly were able to be selected and become owners of an EZ.KEY NFT.
Each token of the 1,111 provides access to the Easy app, developed by The Easy Company.
Easy aims to become the first social wallet focused on the Web3 space. Users can customize their profile with their favorite NFTs, select the people they want to follow, and receive instant notifications about their on-chain activity. They can group themselves into sub-communities with high degrees of trust, where they can quickly share information validated directly by their activity on the blockchain.
The team behind it understands the ethos of the Web3 space and is working hard to make the project visible. From partnerships with other startups to art purchase campaigns to promote NFT creators, to reward activities for the most active community members who test the product with the goal of improving it.
The need for tools that are easy to use, and environments that offer safe
exploration of this space and people we can trust are the basis of the joy of being here.
The key is taking care of each other.
Until next time, I look forward to seeing you on Discord to create such an environment together!
📚 Dictionary
- ordinals - Ordinals are the way NFTs are created on the Bitcoin blockchain by attaching data. This can be images, videos and more. Basically, ordinals provide a numbering system for each Satoshi (Each Bitcoin is divided into 100,000,000 units called Satoshi or sats). The result of Ordinals? A unique ID for each sat on the Bitcoin blockchain. Let's say an Ordinal is a mailbox that we identify by its number.
- inscriptions - Inscriptions represent arbitrary blocks of data and associated metadata, the latter telling a Bitcoin node how to render that data. It tells us whether it is an image, text or something else. If ordinals indicate the mailbox number (a particular Satoshi), inscriptions indicate what that mailbox "contains".
💸 Sale of the week
Azuki of 218 ETH. Over $400k. It was minted for 1 ETH 15 months ago. Good ROI!
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