NFTs and privacy šµ
Arbitrum Nova arrives, new OpenSea policies, Sudoswapās volume surge, & more!
Metaversal is a Bankless newsletter for weekly level-ups on NFTs, virtual worlds, & collectibles
Dear Bankless Nation,Ā
My nephew recently started researching NFTs.Ā
Heās the very inquisitive type and heās already learned how to use Etherscan, so heās been asking me all sorts of questions about how to use Ethereum and NFTs lately.Ā
Before this week, Iād considered using the Tornado Cash privacy solution to fund a new wallet with a small bit of ETH that I could share with him. The idea? Basic privacy, just to avert some of the awkward but innocent questions he might ask me about my wallet activities.Ā Ā
Then, a few days ago the U.S. Treasury dropped OFAC sanctions, which are normally used on people, on the Tornado Cash protocol itself. Now Americans that use Tornado can face 30 years in prison!
The rationale is that North Korean hackers used Tornado, so now the rest of the free world will be criminals if they do the same. What about the internet, should we ban that too since the bad guys use it?
Tornadoās code is free speech and its infra is a public good, open to anyone. In a free society, we shouldnāt cede everyoneās right to basic financial privacy just to counter North Korea. We should go after the enemies of freedom harder in all the other ways that are possible as free peoples. Thatās what makes us free and have the high ground in the first place!
I say all this because in a certain sense the attack on Tornado Cash represents an attack on crypto and NFTs altogether. So if ever there was a time to protest for the sake of blockchain privacy, itās now. In the meantime, thanks for reading everyone, and have a great weekend āļøĀ
-WMP
š Sponsor:Ā Nexo - Buy BTC, ETH, and 40+ cryptocurrencies and keep your assets safe.āØ
š General NFT News
Arbitrum Nova, an L2 for gaming and social applications, is now open to the public.Ā
OpenSea announced updates to its copymint and verification systems and its stolen items policy.
Vitalik Buterin proposed an NFT privacy system involving stealth addresses for ERC721s.Ā
š Collectibles
CryptoPunks, Rare Apepe YC, and 8liens NFT topped the 7-day trading volume charts this week:

Finiliar (the project I wrote about back in March) begins its mint on August 18th:
Anata launched its NFT breeding mechanic.Ā
Yuga Labs welcomed Danny Greene, formerly MeebitsDAOās general manager, as the companyās Meebits brand lead.Ā
šØ Art
Async Art opened to all creators.Ā
Gallery migrated to its own NFT indexer.Ā
š® NFT Gaming
Axie Infinity kicked off Origin Season 0, which will last for 30 days.Ā
Fractional built a binder tool for Parallel Parasets:


š½ Music
Jonathan Mann of SongADAO just unveiled SongADEX, a discovery and leaderboard dashboard for his song traits:


š Virtual Worlds
Bank of England said growing use of cryptocurrencies in metaversal contexts could pose systemic risks to international financial stability.Ā
Webaverse minted out.Ā
š DeFi x NFTs
ImmutableX kicked off a new trading rewards program.
Sudoswap is now averaging +300 ETH worth of daily volume:



Action steps
šø Watch The CC0 Debate on Overpriced JPEGs
šø Watch interviews with actress Ashley Benson and Improbableās Herman Narula on Overpriced JPEGs
š³ Watch interviews with Orca Protocolās Chase Chapman and BrightIDās Adam Stallard on Green Pill
š§ Catch up on my other write-ups from this week:Ā
Author Bio
William M. Peaster is a professional writer and creator of Metaversalāa Bankless newsletter focused on the emergence of NFTs in the cryptoeconomy. Heās also recently been contributing content to Bankless, JPG, and beyond!
Subscribe toĀ Bankless. $22 per mo. IncludesĀ archive access,Ā Inner CircleĀ &Ā Badge.
šThanks to our sponsor
NEXO
Nexo follows a robust business model that safeguards your crypto in all market conditions. The companyās strict overcollateralization policy makes it the go-to platform to safely borrow against your crypto. You can also buy or exchange 40+ assets and earn daily compounding interest.
š Get Started Now!
Not financial or tax advice.Ā 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.Ā 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 ourĀ investment disclosures here.