NFT bull run '22

LooksRare launches minting, XCOPY releases open editions, Decentraland Fashion Week, & more!

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

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Dear Bankless Nation, 

The ongoing NFT bull market began in late 2020 if not earlier. 

However, by Feb. 2021 the bull run was all but obvious, as I noted at the time, and by Oct. 2021 the possibility of a decisive multi-year run was coming into focus. 

evets.eth @stevefink

XCOPY and Fidenza sales bringing us back to them good ol’ days, summer of ‘21

Fast forward six months to today, and the NFT ecosystem remains teeming with activity and interest continues to spread out in all directions, so yes, the bull lives on.

To that I say: strap in, keep your wits about you, and as always stay creative. Also, let me know in the comments below if there are any NFT topics you’d like to see me cover in the coming weeks, I’m always on the hunt.

-WMP

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🛒 NFT News & Platforms

• Frosties NFT “rugpull” project in legal trouble as the U.S. Department of Justice hit the creators with fraud charges. 

• Gem introduced Safety Mode to prevent losing money from failed transactions:

gem.xyz @gemxyz

✨ New at Gem: Safety Mode 🛡️ Protect yourself from losing money due to failed transactions. Safety Mode uses Flashbots to prevent you from paying unnecessary fees and from other people front-running your purchases. Safe Sweeping, Anons🕵️

• LooksRare lets you mint your own NFTs now via Manifold Studio.

• Mirror launched the second version of its NFT Editions feature. 

• Objkt, a Tezos NFT marketplace, added floor offers. 

• Rarible created a custom marketplace for the Meta Angels NFT community.

• Upshot, an NFT appraisal protocol, raised $22M. 

🏆 Digital Collectibles

• Blitmap Rivals are coming along, as are the Baby Blitnauts expansion:

Blitmap @blitmap

Scribblit ideas! Some more allowed than others. 🤐

• CrypToadz + Nouns DAO? Only time will tell, but chatter’s growing:

Nando @NandoNFTs

Looks like @nounsdao is discussing potentially buying/merging with @cryptoadzNFT

• V1 CryptoPunk #7458 resold for 160 ETH.

• Madonna joined the Bored Ape Yacht Club courtesy of MoonPay.

• Yuga Labs, the creators of BAYC, raised $450M in new funding. 

🎨 Cryptoart

• XCOPY saw his MAX PAIN release on Nifty Gateway do some major numbers:

Claire Silver 🌸 @ClaireSilver12

If you had any doubt there's still a market for NFTs, @XCOPYART's 1ETH open edition minted 7394 times in <10 minutes. Don't let that discourage you. XCOPY's work is historic. Important. Irreplaceable. There are emerging artists creating here that will be described the same way.

• OKPC, an “expanding art gallery” project, began its early bird mints. 

• Fidenza #692 sold for 320 ETH:

NFT Whale Alert @nftwhalealert

Art Blocks Fidenza 692 bought for Ξ320 ($993,472.00) opensea.io/assets/0xa7d8d…

🎮 NFT Gaming

• GameStop launched its NFT marketplace beta in collaboration with Loopring. 

• Axie Infinity published an update on how it’s approaching decentralization and the community treasury. 

💽 Music

• Sound is kicking off Season 2 next week after onboarding 68 artists during Season 1.

• RAC had some high praise for Sound, too:

rac.eth @RAC

i've personally made 12.5 ETH (~39k) which is equivalent to 9.75 million plays on spotify so yes, 100 people generated more income than 9.75 million users. just gonna let that sink in.

• Coopahtroopa.eth published This Week in Music NFTs - March 21st. 

🌐 Virtual Worlds

• M3taloot is rising:

jin @dankvr

1/ What happens when we bring open source gamedev, on-chain + 3D artists / programmers, and a virtual production team together into a collaborative media movement? Sharing a vision of what we been building towards in the last 4 months @m3org 🧵

• Cryptovoxels is lowering its max parcel building distance to 25m outside of the parcel.

• Decentraland Fashion Week arrived:

Martin Shibuya @martinshibuya

Amazing first show of @dolcegabbana ! 🔥👗 @decentraland

💎 DeFi x NFTs

• APE: check out the excellent ApeCoin rundown in this week’s Market Monday column by Bankless.

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Action steps

• ✍️ Check out my other Metaversal write-ups from this week: Hacker group stalks NFTs and Giving props to Prop House

• 🌌 Read A beginner’s guide to Cosmos and Hottest tokens in the Cosmos ecosystem in Bankless

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Author Bio

William M. Peaster is a professional writer and creator of Metaversal—a Bankless newsletter focused on the emergence of NFTs in the cryptoeconomy. He’s also recently been contributing content to Bankless, JPG, and beyond!

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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.