Market UpdateNFT Market Update - Week 9, 2023
The Shocking Truth Behind the OpenSea and Blur Marketplace War
NFT Market Update - Week 9, 2023
**This Market Report is Not Financial Advice, This is my Personal Opinion of the current conditions and you should Always Do Your Own Research**
Crypto Update
| ETH: $1,568 (-2.51%) | BTC: $22,444 (-3.54%) | SOL: $21.09 (-7.88%) |
The past week has been quite eventful in the world of Crypto and NFTs, as we continue to follow the trends of late Unfortunately, it seems that things are currently looking bleak as the prices of cryptocurrencies have continued to dip. The most recent decline was caused by Bitcoin plunging to its lowest level in two weeks, which has thrown a wrench in the works for those who were bullish about its prospects of rebounding and hitting the 28K mark. This, in turn, has also dragged down the value of most other cryptocurrencies in the market.
The recent sell-off was triggered by the collapse of the cryptocurrency-friendly bank, Silvergate. The shares of the embattled bank took a massive 50% hit, reaching an all-time low. This came after the company delayed its annual report and announced that it would have to review its books with its auditors. As a result, several major cryptocurrency clients, including Coinbase, Bitstamp, Circle, and Paxos, have all made announcements about severing ties.
Meanwhile, NFTs had a relatively slow week as well, trading volume was down across the board. The Blur marketplace which recently has taken over the number one spot in top marketplaces and has held onto this position for several weeks now. This shift in sentiment from OpenSea to Blur can largely be attributed to the Airdrop mechanics of Blur. These are aimed at rewarding traders by making the transition to their platform and performing their trading on the marketplace. The second Airdrop will reward those with the most loyalty, meaning those that exclusively trade on Blur and no other marketplaces.
The Shocking Truth Behind the OpenSea and Blur Marketplace War
The ongoing OpenSea Vs Blur marketplace war has shown the two platforms focusing on different aspects of the NFT ecosystem. While Blur's platform is built to target traders of Web3, OpenSea has been more focused on artists and collectives with less emphasis on traders. Nevertheless, both companies have continued to achieve success in their respective niches.
To stay competitive, OpenSea recently announced a zero percent trading fee, followed by an upgrade to their platform, Seaport v1.4, which has reduced gas fees and other needed improvements, making OpenSea the cheapest place to purchase NFTs. However, some believe that OpenSea needs to do more to regain their lost market share from Blur, despite the challenging competition with airdrops extending out to 2028.
The alleged accusations of Blur ending artist royalties have been debunked, as the truth is that over the past three months, artist royalties have increased significantly across the marketplaces, giving them the financial support they need to thrive in web3. In addition, marketplace fees have begun to decrease, allowing artists to keep more of their hard-earned cash. This has been verified with undeniable analytic proof which was created by @hildobby over on Dune analytics. This is why it pays to do your homework.
With that said, it's time to put an end to misinformation and give credit where it's due. Congratulations to both Blur and OpenSea on their continued success and innovative marketplaces. We look forward to witnessing the evolution of both platforms as they adapt to the ever-changing NFT ecosystem.
Mints & News Of The Week
The Momoguro Holoself collection, which released earlier this week, has already earned over $10.17 million in volume and more than 9,000 sales on secondary markets within just a few days. This collection is part of the Momoguro franchise, created by Baobab Studios, an interactive animation studio that aims to inspire people to dream and bring out their sense of wonder. The franchise includes digital and physical collectibles, games, and even struck a firstlook feature film deal with Fox/Disney for all future IP to be adapted into featured films.
The Momoguro universe is a fantastical world where creatures of different abilities and strengths fuse together using the magical power of Momoguro to form endless combinations of giant Momobeasts. The Momoguro universe includes hundreds of characters, and the team has only shown less than 1% of the content they have created. Momoguro's founders include a stacked list who have worked on influential games such as Magic the Gathering, Minecraft, Pokemon, The Sims, League of Legends, Dungeons and Dragons, and Star Wars.
The team has a long-term vision and has already built and is currently beta-testing a story-driven strategy RPG which is token gated and accessible by owning a Holoself, as well as an open-world universe game called MomoMetaverse, which will be revealed soon. They have spent months running focus groups with web2 and web3 communities and have onboarded Conduct03, a native Web3 firm, as consultants and strategists to bring Momoguro fully to market.
OWLS has been making waves since its release on Friday. Despite being a free mint, it has already generated over $6.15 million in volume and more than 24,500 sales on secondary markets within the first 48 hours. The collection features 10,000 owls that were randomly generated on-chain from over 90,000,000 possible combinations. The creator of this art is a software engineer, husband, and dad who is very passionate about Web3 and all the possibilities it offers. Owls is a 100% on-chain initiative, meaning each owl was randomly generated on-chain at the time of mint using a pseudo-random seed similar to what @nounsdao is doing. The art itself is also stored on-chain and dynamically constructed as an SVG every time the token URL is called. As for future plans, there's nothing concrete yet. The creator's intention is for Owls to remain "under his wing," where he'll continue to nurture them into something cool. Whether that includes future utility or not is still unknown. Lastly, he minted around 100 owls himself after the contract was deployed, which he might use for giveaways, to fund future project development, or for personal use. The community has also expressed interest in a burn mechanic, and it appears that the creator will entertain this and release more information soon.
Earlier this week, the Golden Key winner, known as Mongraal, accepted an offer of 1,000 Weth or $1.62 million for the highly sought-after NFT. This news has sparked conversations within the NFT Twitter community in recent days. UPDAO from Pixel Vault and Ray Chan, CEO of 9GAG and Memeland, also made bids, but failed to meet the final sale price.
The Golden Key's new owner is Adam Weitsman, CEO of Upstate Shredding - Weitsman Recycling and a current holder of multiple BAYC assets. Mongraal sold the NFT directly on OpenSea, and paid full royalties to Yuga Labs, which received 50 Weth or $80,000 in recouped costs.
This sale serves as evidence that Yuga Labs is still the top dog in NFTs, as they are the creator of a 5 Billion dollar NFT empire, which consists of multiple Blue Chip collections
The future of the Golden Key remains uncertain. The Trial of Jimmy the Monkey will continue with the Summoning on March 8th, where Sewer Pass NFT holders will uncover an unknown power source. Dookey Dash, a simple "endless runner" game similar to Temple Run, had more than 25,000 players, who accumulated 706,000 hours of gameplay, according to Yuga Labs. Although the game is straightforward, Yuga Labs created a backstory that will unfold through upcoming games and events in the coming weeks.
Moonbirds and Proof Collective are two initiatives that are changing the way we think about digital art. With the rise of digital technology and the emergence of blockchain, Moonbirds and Proof Collective are providing opportunities for artists, collectors, and enthusiasts to explore the potential of digital art. Despite the challenges that both initiatives have faced, they continue to operate and have sparked renewed interest through their recent merger. However, the community still feels unheard and is begging for better communication.
Proof Collective is an art collective that provides a platform for artists to showcase their work and for collectors to acquire them. Moonbirds, on the other hand, is an art collector's pfp that democratizes access to digital art for everyone. Diamond Nest Rewards and Mythics are two of the initiatives that Moonbirds is offering its members. The Diamond exhibition is set to take place on April 18th, and the first Mythic Eggs will go out on April 17th to diamond status members.
While there is optimism for the future of Moonbirds and Proof Collective, some users have expressed concerns about the value of Mythics and the lack of communication from the initiatives. The merger of Proof Collective and Moonbirds has also raised questions about whether all Moonbirds will be considered part of Proof Collective and if the next Grails will be for everyone, including birds. To address these concerns, Moonbirds and Proof Collective are forming a ten-person Moonbirds Community Council comprising five PROOF Collective members and five Moonbirds, providing a platform for community members to express their ideas, concerns, and suggestions for the future of digital art.
Tweet of The Week
Yugas Bitcoin Ordinals: TwelveFold 300 Piece Generative Art Collection
https://twitter.com/yugalabs/status/1630342396629139456?s=20
Yuga Labs has announced an experimental 300-piece generative art collection called TwelveFold, which will be inscribed onto satoshis and will live on the Bitcoin blockchain. Satoshis are the smallest units of Bitcoin, and the inscribed satoshis can be tracked through the Ordinal Theory protocol, exploring the relationship between time, mathematics, and variability. This collection is a departure from what's expected from Yuga and includes highly-rendered 3D elements as well as hand-drawn features, serving as an homage to ordinal inscriptions currently done by hand. The auction details will be announced in the coming week.
Web3 Uncovered YouTube Release
Weekly Top 5 NFT Markets by Volume
Weekly Top OpenSea Projects
Weekly Top 5 NFT Sales
This Weeks Notable Projects
Top Mint of The Week OpenSea Link
Top Weekly Volume Growth OpenSea Link
Top Weekly Floor Growth OpenSea Link
Top Volume This Week OpenSea Link
Conclusion
The world of Crypto and NFTs has seen a series of events in the past week, with the crypto market experiencing a dip in prices. The recent sell-off was triggered by the collapse of Silvergate bank, which affected major cryptocurrency clients like Coinbase and Bitstamp. Meanwhile, the OpenSea Vs. Blur marketplace war continues to gather pace with both platforms focusing on different aspects of the NFT ecosystem. OpenSea has recently upgraded its platform and announced a zero percent trading fee to stay competitive with Blur. However, accusations that Blur ended artist royalties have been debunked, and artist royalties have increased across all marketplaces.
On the other hand, the Momoguro Holoself and OWLS NFT collections have continued to gain momentum. The Momoguro universe is a fantastical world of creatures that aims to inspire people to dream and bring out their sense of wonder. On the other hand, OWLS is a free mint collection that has generated over $2 million in volume and more than 14,615 sales within the first 24 hours. Both collections offer a glimpse into the potential of the NFT ecosystem.
Overall, the world of Crypto and NFTs continues to evolve, with new developments and trends emerging every week. It is essential to do your homework and stay informed to navigate the market effectively. Congratulations to both Blur and OpenSea on their continued success, and we look forward to witnessing the evolution of both platforms as they adapt to the ever-changing NFT ecosystem.
Disclaimer Investing in anything, whether it's stocks, crypto, or NFTs, always carries some level of risk. In fact, it's been estimated that about 99% of all NFT projects will go to zero at some point. Yikes, right? That's why it's so important to always do your own research and invest wisely.
And here are a couple of key points to keep in mind:
Not your keys, not your crypto or NFTs: This is a reminder to keep your holdings in a secure wallet if you're not actively trading. You don't want to lose access to your assets because you didn't hold the keys!
If you buy stocks, you're an investor. If you buy crypto or NFTs, you're a customer: It's important to understand the difference between these two roles, as they come with different levels of risk and potential rewards.
Finally, just a friendly reminder that my reports are for informational purposes only. They're not financial advice, and you should always do your own research and make investment decisions based on your own goals and risk tolerance.
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