The Metaverse Is Blooming

Ethereum's VR worlds prep the metaverse, Aavegotchi goes L2, and 3LAU releases his 1st NFT song.

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

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Dear Bankless Nation,

There’s never a dull week in the NFT ecosystem, that’s for sure!

In recent days we’ve seen scaling melds (Aavegotchi + Matic), new digiphysical experiments (3LAU + Nifty Gateway), a first-of-its-kind festival (Metapalooza), and VR projects laying the foundations for a more mature metaverse.

We’re still early in this space, so we’ve got an amazing opportunity to watch pioneers trailblaze right in front of us and to join the ranks of these pioneers ourselves.

So get inspired, get curious, and start going deeper into NFTs: it’s an absolutely amazing time to do so. Your early contributions and participation really make a difference!

- WMP

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🏆 Digital Collectibles

• We’re back again with your weekly recap of high-profile CryptoPunks activity! We just saw a 60 ETH sale for Punk 3831, a 45 ETH sale for Punk 6649, a 30 ETH sale for Punk 824, a 30 ETH sale for Punk 8562, a 16 ETH sale for Punk 322, and more …

  CryptoPunks Bot @cryptopunksbot

  Punk 3831 bought for 60 ETH ($71,950.20 USD) by 0xf1b658 from 0xe61406. larvalabs.com/cryptopunks/de… #cryptopunks #ethereum

  

• Scaling time: DeFi-staked crypto collectibles project Aavegotchi now has a layer-two (L2) bridge via Matic Network ...

Aavegotchi @aavegotchi

✄🎀🥳 AAVEGOTCHI BRIDGE IS OPEN 4 BUSINESS! 👻 Send $GHST and $USDC to @maticnetwork in style with our frenly UI More tokens coming soon! Try it here 👉 aavegotchi.com/bridge

🎨 Cryptoart

• DJ 3LAU is launching his first full-length song NFT later today on NiftyGateway. Successful collectors of the initial open-edition drop will receive a physical SoundBlock, while the winner of 3LAU’s auction piece will receive a physical version along with a signed Samsung Frame TV ...

Nifty Gateway @niftygateway

The open edition piece from @3LAU comes with the following: - Tokenized Art NFT - Tokenized Audio NFT - Physical SoundBlock (below) It becomes the first time in history a full song has been tokenized on NG.

• Speaking of NiftyGateway, the platform’s first dynamic NFT — Beeple’s CROSSROAD — officially slotted to its “Trump Defeat” state upon the inauguration of President Biden. A “Trump Victory” designation would have triggered an alternate picture permanently. 

• Dmitri Cherniak has a highly-anticipated drop coming on Jan. 31st through generative art project Art Blocks ...

Dmitri Cherniak @dmitricherniak

Save the date: "Ringers" drops on @artblocks_io, Jan 31st at 12PM CST / 1PM EST

🕹️ Blockchain Games

• According to NonFungible, the NFT projects with the most buyers and sellers this week were fantasy ⚽ game Sorare (1,432) and pet battler game Axie Infinity (886) ...

  

• DeFi Alliance, a DeFi accelerator that counts among its alumni Synthetix and dYdX, has welcomed Axie borrowing and lending project AxieTree into its accelerator program. 

• This week we saw two Axie Infinity genesis land plots sell for a combined 60 ETH.

🌐 Virtual Worlds

• To celebrate the public launch of the B.20 project, Metapurse is kicking off Metapalooza — a metaverse cultural festival across Cryptovoxels, Decentraland, and Somnium Space — on Jan. 23rd. 

• The WIP Meetup, which hosts fun weekly NFT- and crypto-centric presentations in the virtual world of Cryptovoxels, just turned one year old. 

• One day surfing the web will be replaced with surfing through virtual worlds, i.e. the metaverse. And Ethereum’s early VR projects are making inroads to that future as we speak ...

Cryptovoxels @cryptovoxels

I think one of the biggest twists and turns this year, is that we're going to try working with @SomniumSpace and @decentraland to be able to portal between worlds. Just click a portal to open it, then walk straight through it. The metaverse won't be one platform, it's all of us.

• Cryptovoxels is exploring collectivist islands, e.g. “20 parcels that is an art collective instead of individually owned as an NFT.”

🛒 NFT Marketplaces

• OpenSea’s new gas-free minting system is starting to take off in popularity ...

Alex Atallah @xanderatallah

Only halfway into the week, and NFT creators are already selling more than double the $ amount of last week on the new gas-free @opensea minter!

💎 DeFi x NFTs

• Metapurse released a B.20 tokenomics update, which explains how the bundle of NFTs (including 20 signature 1/1 Beeple works) is being tokenized and how a portion of the B.20 tokens are being distributed in a Jan. 23rd public sale.

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Action Steps

• Read “Crowdfunding Writing with NFTs” by Mirror

• Read “NFTs and Esports, a Match Made in Heaven” by Tyler Winklevoss

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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. I’ll always disclose when this is the case.