AI Art Heating Up!
Plus a CryptoPunks mooning, Beeple buyers disclosed, and interest in Axie booms.
Metaversal is a Bankless newsletter for weekly level-ups on NFTs, virtual worlds, & collectibles
Dear Bankless Nation,
This was a special week for the NFT ecosystem.
That’s because Robbie Barrat, a young masterful AI artist, just saw three of his signature works sell for 280 ETH collectively on SuperRare’s secondary marketplace.
Barrat’s a trailblazer who will go down in history as one of the all-time greats. His success is a beacon to all other AI artists that tokenizing their works as NFTs is not only viable, it’s the future.
So expect to be hearing a lot more about AI art and other related fields like generative art around the NFT space. We’ve got a lot more trailblazers coming.
In the meantime, let’s catch our breaths and catch up on the week’s news!
- WMP
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🏆 Digital Collectibles
Collector gmoney purchased rare ape CryptoPunk 8219 for 140 ETH, setting a new all-time CryptoPunks USD sales record of $150k in the process. The collector noted afterwards: “If you're looking for a high beta play on BTC/ETH, you want to be buying AAA caliber NFT projects. And as of right now, CryptoPunks is at the top of that list.”
CryptoPunk’s smart contract is currently securing over 1,000 ETH in bids and withdrawals.
🎨 Cryptoart
1confirmation collected artist Robbie Barrat’s AI Generated Nude Portrait #1 for 100 ETH on Ethereum’s leading cryptoart platform, SuperRare. Days later AI Generated Nude Portrait #5 separately sold for 100 ETH and AI Generated Nude Portrait #3 sold for 80 ETH, too. Barrat received an automated 10% royalty in ETH from each of the purchases.
Metapurse.eth, a duo composed of Metakovan and Twobadour, confirmed they were the purchasers of the Beeple Everydays: The 2020 Collection on Nifty Gateway last year, a feat that cost +$2.2 million. Speaking of Beeple, he’s got Ethereum on the brain ...
Check out Neolastics, a new generative on-chain art project created by Simon de la Rouviere.
Artblocks, another new on-chain generative art project, saw Tsukamoto Hideki’s Singularity drop sell out within an hour this week. Next on the slate? Acclaimed generative artist Dmitri Cherniak.
Trading volume around cryptoart hit a monthly all-time of $8.2 million in Dec. 2020, up from $2.6 million in Nov. 2020.
🕹️ Blockchain Games
Popular Ethereum game Axie Infinity is now within the top 20,000 most visited websites in the world.
Liverpool FC is the latest acclaimed football club to partner up with Ethereum fantasy ⚽ game Sorare.
The brothers of Synthetix’s Kain Warwick have launched Illuvium, a new NFT-based auto battling RPG.
🌐 Virtual Worlds
Hearing more about Ethereum’s virtual world projects but don’t know where to start? You might consider visiting the Museum of Crypto Art (MoCA) campus in Cryptovoxels, which is built across four connected VR parcels.
This week’s WIP Meetup in Cryptovoxels enjoyed presentations from Artblocks, Alethea, and Ephimera.
Is $MEME Protocol setting up shop in Somnium Space? Maybe!
🛒 NFT Marketplaces
OpenSea saw the ENS domain adidas.eth sell for +25 ETH this week.
💎 DeFi x NFTs
NFT marketplace Cargo launched its Cargo NFT Reward System, which blends elements of yield farming with earnable NFTs.
Action Steps
Consider NFT purchases on platforms like OpenSea, SuperRare, and NiftyGateway to potentially qualify for future token airdrops.
Read “The Five Worlds” by Mason Nystrom and “A beginner’s guide to NFTs” by Linda Xie
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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. I’ll always disclose when this is the case.
