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

Dear Bankless Nation, 

In my first years in the cryptoeconomy I remember feeling that because my professional work was so technical, it would always be totally separate from my personal creative work. 

Then NFTs kicked off Web3’s current cultural bull run, the beginning of which I personally trace back to circa Jan. 2020.

Since then, we’ve seen a surge of creative projects demonstrate how to use smart contract innovations toward a range of cultural ends, and it’s made this space tremendously funner!

So I say let’s keep embracing the fun factor. That’s how NFTs really take over the world.  

-WMP

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🛒 NFT News & Platforms

• Etherscan launched an NFT display UI:

richerd.eth ᵍᵐ (マ,マ) @richerd

Etherscan just quietly launched a built in NFT display viewer into its UI. Feels like the "Chat with Owner" button is going to be a popular feature. etherscan.io/nft/0xe136cee2…

February 16th 2022

237 Retweets988 Likes

• Gem, an NFT marketplace aggregator, added a Sweep Mode functionality.

• OpenSea launched OpenSea Ventures, the company’s new investment arm.

• Urbit, behind Urbit IDs, is launching its own layer-two (L2) rollup.  

• x2y2, a new NFT marketplace, began a vampire attack on OpenSea.

🏆 Digital Collectibles

• Blitmaps updated its marketplace aggregator to support Blitmaps and Blitnauts.

• CryptoPunk 5822 sold for a record 8k ETH this past weekend:

🏝nathanhead.eth🏝 @NathanHeadPhoto

CRYPTOPUNK 5822 WAS JUST BOUGHT FOR 8000 ETH ($23 MILLION DOLLARS) 🤯 THIS IS THE HIGHEST CRYPTOPUNK SALE BY NEARLY DOUBLE

February 12th 2022

279 Retweets1,969 Likes

• Dope Wars just accounted for the highest NFT sale on the Optimism L2 to date as one of its Cobra characters just sold on Quixotic for 2.35 ETH.

• sartoshi, the founder of mfers, published an explainer covering the project’s rise.

sartoshi @sartoshi_nft

what are mfers - here's my answer what are mferslots of mfers been asking ‘what are mfers’ so here’s the backstorymirror.xyz

February 13th 2022

714 Retweets2,510 Likes

• ZENFT, the bonsai-themed VR NFT collection, introduced its Forest Spirits expansion.

🎨 Cryptoart

• Drift is auctioning a never before seen Where My Vans Go piece through Sotheby’s:

Drift @DrifterShoots

This black history month I will become the youngest African American photographer to be a part of Sothebys. A never before seen “Where My Vans Go” is officially going to be auctioned at the famous auction house February 26th-March 2nd.

February 16th 2022

655 Retweets2,913 Likes

• Sotheby’s is also auctioning off one of the fabled editional claim cards to artist Robbie Barrat’s AI Generated Nude Portrait #7, the work at the center of the “Lost Robbies” story.

• SHL0Ms, a conceptual artist and crypto-dadaist, introduced the $CAR project:

𒐪𒐪𒐪𒐪 𒐪𒐪𒐪𒐪 𒐪𒐪𒐪𒐪 𒐪𒐪𒐪𒐪 𒐪𒐪𒐪𒐪 @SHL0MS

𒄭/𒐤 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚐 $CAR: 𝟿𝟿𝟿 𝚎𝚡𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚏𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚍𝚎𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝙻𝚊𝚖𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚒 𝙷𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚘𝚝𝚊𝚐𝚎 + 𝚊𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚍𝚛𝚘𝚙 𝟶𝟸.𝟸𝟻.𝟸𝟸 ➞ car.shl0ms.com ͏

February 17th 2022

153 Retweets786 Likes

🎮 NFT Games

• The Axie DAO is growing:

Axie Infinity🦇🔊 @AxieInfinity

We own Axiedao.org! Right now it redirects to Axieinfinity.com. The Axie DAO is growing quickly with over 15 team members so far across community, support, and engineering.

February 17th 2022

224 Retweets1,263 Likes

• Cool Cats is working on bringing its new game elements back online.

💽 Music

• oshi is releasing ample time through Sound today.

• Snoop Dogg is turning historic hip-hop record label Death Row Records into “an NFT label.”

🌐 Virtual Worlds

• Cryptovoxels started listing parcels for its new Comet suburb.

• Metakey unveiled its HQ in Decentraland.

• The Sandbox is hosting a Retrograming Game Jam at the end of February. 

💎 DeFi x NFTs

• Sushi is considering launching Sushimi, a 10k PFP NFT project. 

• Muse DAO:I missed this earlier this month, but I wanted to note that the project’s Open NFT API beta is now live.

Action steps

• 📺 Watch Are music NFTs the future? by Overpriced JPEGs

• 🧹 Read How to sweep NFT floors by Bankless

• 🗜️ Read Cool NFT tools | Q1 2021 by Metaversal 

• 🌐 Read The metaverse land tax by Metaversal

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, DeFi Pulse, 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.

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.