Meta ... versal 🌌

Facebook comes knockin’, a CryptoPunk flash loan wows, new Noun of the Month, & more!

Metaversal is a Bankless newsletter for weekly level-ups on NFTs, virtual worlds, & collectibles

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Dear Bankless Nation, 

Facebook is becoming Meta, a metaverse-first company. 

Myself and many others see Ethereum, NFTs, Web3, etc. as the credibly neutral socio-economic infrastructure that over time will actually connect virtual worlds and metagalaxies into an open metaverse for all.

That’s why those of us here are rolling our eyes right now. We’re seriously skeptical Facebook will work toward an open metaverse. Marketing is one thing, standing by deep-rooted principles is another. 

Brendan from Dharma @brendan_dharma

So basically it's Ethereum vs. Facebook in a race to create a compelling Metaverse. Open vs. Closed. Transparent vs. Opaque. Permissionless vs. Permissioned. Community Owned vs. Zuck Owned. My bets are placed. Let's build a better future together.

Indeed, at the end of the day all Zuckerberg’s Meta has is its business ontology: the company exists only to further its own enterprise goals, everything else is ancillary.

On the flip side, us NFTers passionately believe in the virtues of openness and decentralization, and we’re looking to build alliances and stand for what’s right: creating a metaverse, a new kind of place for all. 

You in?

-WMP

P.S. Follow jin, who I consider a Jedi Master of the open metaverse, for your level-up of the day!

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🏆 Digital Collectibles

• Someone made a flash loan purchase of CryptoPunk #9998 from themself for 124.46K ETH. How’s that for an on-chain NFT stunt?

CryptoPunks Bot @cryptopunksbot

Punk 9998 bought for 124,457.07 ETH ($532,414,877.01 USD) by 0x9b5a5c from 0x8e3983. larvalabs.com/cryptopunks/de… #cryptopunks #ethereum

• NFT collectibles tab + NFT details coming to Twitter soon? Check.

• Welcome the first Noun of the Month, Noun 22!

nounders @thenounders

The Nounders are trying an experiment. Noun of the month! This is something that we might keep doing, or the DAO itself can take over if it likes the idea. Without further ado, the inaugural Noun of the Month is @Noun22_

🎨 Cryptoart

• Cryptoartist Stellabelle is launching CryptoStellas, a hand-painted satirical PFP collection, on Halloween 🎃

• XCOPY dropped 25 editions of Pump King on new L2 NFT platform Kolectiv 🎃

XCOPY 🏴 @XCOPYART

ARE YOU READY? @KolectivGG 🔥🎃🔥

🎮 NFT Games

• Gods Unchained nears 1M trades on Immutable X. (Speaking of Immutable X Disney is turning to the NFT L2, too, as is ESL!)

• Keep an eye on Yield Guild Games’s Managers Cup on Halloween!

Yield Guild Games @YieldGuild

3 DAYS TO GO UNTIL WE LAUNCH OUR TOURNAMENT FOR A CAUSE! 🏆 The top 3 guilds will be choosing from select charities in the Philippines ⚔️ Premieres OCT 31, 10PM SGT 📺 Donate to the CHARITY PRIZE POOL wallet below 👇 ronin:bed299862ec8e7c30df3466b130b15c60ad20bb7 #WeAreYGG

🌐 Virtual Worlds

• Regarding Facebook’s Meta pivot, my favorite take so far comes via Plátōn:

Plátōn🏴 @FilmBrief

The sad thing with FB is that it could have been a positive development if they picked not a marketing ploy name and emphasized that their sector of the ‘metaverse’ will be open and build on a truly decentralized network. But no, they do what everyone expects them to…

• In light of Meta’s arrival, Web3 and WebXR need each other like never before I think …

  Tony Parisi Il Padrino Metaversale @auradeluxe

  My #Metaverse thought for the day: the Web3 and WebXR folks need to talk more

🛒 NFT News & Platforms

• Meet Briqs: composable building blocks stored as NFTs on StarkNet.

• On-chain royalties, all the time: check out the new Royalty Registry project. 

• Check out Hyype, a new NFT social lore platform. 

𝚂𝚌𝚘𝚝𝚝 𝙻Ξ𝚠𝚒𝚜 🌾 @scott_lew_is

so you could tweet out your experience, people read it, then after 36 hours its buried. great, but ephemeral, when you make lore on @hyypeHQ it sticks to the NFT. so in 50 years, the canon of this NFT will still include this collector’s statement. and i think that’s pretty cool.

• Confused about NFT taxes? Don’t miss this helpful NFT Tax Guide! 

• Shoyu, Sushiswap’s NFT platform, is going live next week. 

💎 DeFi x NFTs

• Fractional has pivoted to ERC-1155 tokens for its NFT fractions. 

• +$1.4M: NFT lending platform NFTfi notches a new all-time high loan backed by Autoglyph #488. 

• NFT liquidity protocol NFTX is launching swaps today.

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Action steps

• 🔶 Read Ultra Scalable Ethereum by Bankless

• 👀 Read 5 NFT Projects to watch | Q4 2021 by Metaversal

• 🖌️ Read NFT Innovation Digest #6, which includes links to recent Metaversal posts Tips for safely minting NFTs and Meet Manifold. Thanks for sharing!

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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.

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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.