The NFT Spring 🌼

CryptoPunks and Meebits grab headlines, eBay adds NFT support, an Axie doc drops, & more!

May 14, 2021

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

Dear Bankless Nation,

It’s certainly springtime in the NFT ecosystem, as NFT projects big and small, known and unknown, are currently blooming toward the sun and teeming with possibility.

Here, I’m reminded of a great line from Chaucer’s Cantebury Tales, from The General Prologue. It says spring “stirs them in their hearts / Then folks long to go on pilgrimages.”

In our space, a new spring has brought us renewal, hope, and growth. And we long to trek to even newer horizons, to the incredible possibilities that we know lie directly ahead of us.

Everything in due time, though, right. Patience, and doing good work in the here and now, is how we get to the new horizons. Just some food for thought! Have a great weekend everyone!

-WMP

🙏 Sponsor: Nifty Gateway—buy, sell, and store NFTs!

🏆 Digital Collectibles

Researchers from University Nicosia and the Institute For the Future (IFF) concluded this week that CryptoPunks now have a valuation of ~$1.9B, or +476k ETH.
The first CryptoPunks auction at Christie’s brought in +$16.9M! I say first, because more will surely come.
CryptoPunks-inspired comic PUNKS saw its genesis issues released this week!

PUNKS Comic @punkscomic

Minting of the genesis PUNKS Comic has been deployed and we have successfully minted serial #1 and have added it to the Founder’s Vault. 👉 PunksComic.com

A rare Dissected Meebit just sold for 700 ETH.
Speaking of rare Meebits, someone created a custom contract to exploit the randomness of Meebits generations and thereby claimed one of the project’s most prized avatars 😵

NateAlex @NateAlexNFT

this is where i landed on the meebits exploit. the basic idea is that you run the same on-chain calculation the meebits contract is running (randomIndex()), and if it yields an ID that you like (set in the constructor or with addApproved), you proceed to call mintWithPunkOrGlyph

Want to convert your Meebits into VRM, a popular open standard for VR avatars? jin has you covered!

jin @dankvr

I wrote a guide on how to convert #meebits to VRM, making them usable in @webaverse and beyond 🌠 📃blog.webaverse.com/interoperable-…

🎨 Cryptoart

The artist fabiello just released Remixable Reclining Nude on Async Art. The creator has provided an amazing app that lets you randomize the piece’s Layer NFTs to explore the work’s 1,296 possible Masters!

𝑓𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜 @fabielloart

Now you can 👉randomize @AsyncArt #Nft layers. 🖥️Explore▶️ some of the 1296 possible 🖼️masters in my 'Remixable Reclining Nude': async-explorer.herokuapp.com/test/canvasID=…

Cryptoart platform SuperRare is launching SuperRare Classes, a series of cryptoart-themed lectures and workshops based around “art curation, edition, career management,” and more.
This morning the artists Han and Nicolas Daniel released AlgoRythyms as an Art Blocks Curated drop 🎊

🕹️ Blockchain Games

Axie Infinity creators Sky Mavis just raised $7.5M in Series A funding. That’s a great treasury boost that’ll help the team evolve Axie Infinity that much further from here!
Don’t miss Play-to-Earn, the first community-made Axie Infinity documentary 🎥

Axie Infinity @AxieInfinity

✨Play-To-Earn, the first community-made Axie documentary, is here! It shows how our revolution is creating economic freedom and opportunity for gamers especially in emerging economies. Watch: youtube.com/watch?v=Lg5C2E… #playtoearn

Global fantasy ⚽ game Sorare is implementing a scaling solution that is set to be in place by the end of July 2021.

🌐 Virtual Worlds

There’s a new Cryptovoxels area adjacent to Far Far Away: Vibes.

Cryptovoxels @cryptovoxels

Vibes. Dropping later today, way out west, just adjacent to Far Far Away. POSITIVE VIBES ONLY.

Check out PunKit, a shop in Cryptovoxels for custom-made CryptoPunks avatars and wearables 👚
NFT gallery network Zardoz Club is building a new virtual hub in The Sandbox 🏖️

zardoz.club #cryptoart gallery @zardozclub

Guess which #cryptoart gallery will open right in the middle of the busiest area of @TheSandboxGame? 😜 Construction starting soon..... 🚧

🛒 NFT Platforms

eBay officially rolled out NFT support 🤯
Upshot activated its Open Beta, which allows anyone to try appraising NFTs on the platform.
NFT scaling solution Immutable X is seeing an activity boom …

Immutable @Immutable

In the last 24 hrs, Immutable X has enabled 4x more NFT trades than Ethereum L1. These trades for our @GodsUnchained users were; - free of gas, - instantly confirmed, - non-custodial, - carbon-neutral, and secured by Ethereum.

💎 DeFi x NFTs

NFT trading protocol NFT20 is now live on Ethereum’s Polygon sidechain.
NFTfi just facilitated the largest NFT-backed loan to date for 200,069 DAI ...

NateAlex @NateAlexNFT

largest NFT backed loan ever courtesy of @nftfi

Action steps

📰 Read “How to Appraise NFTs on Upshot” by Metaversal
📰 Read “Bankless 🤝 MetaFactory collaboration” by Bankless DAO

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👉 NEW DROPS BY ZIGOR, HACKATAO x SKYGOLPE, PERRY COOPER, 3LAU & MORE OUT THIS WEEK!

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.