Category: News

Earlier this year, NFT fans rejoiced when rappers Eminem and Snoop Dogg delivered a metaverse-inspired performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, complete with appearances from Bored Apes. That performance was more than just a cameo from animated apes but represented NFTs being put on one of the biggest stages in the world.

Now, it seems NFTs will be getting an even bigger place in popular award shows as the Latin Recording Academy, which is behind the Latin Grammy Awards, has signed a 3-year deal with OneOf, a top web3 company. This new partnership will see the creation of NFTs related to the award show. 

NFTs Comes to the Latin Grammys

The Latin Grammys are one of the most prestigious music awards in the world and as such, this partnership is a big deal. As per reports, the two organizations will work to release NFT collections in the lead-up to each year’s award show. For example, a collection will drop throughout the month of October this year ahead of the award show which holds in November. 

The content of each drop will, naturally, relate to Latin music and the Latin Grammys, with organizers saying that it is a way to connect with fans and have them own a piece of the awards show for themselves. 

“The Latin Recording Academy is committed to exploring innovative, new ways to celebrate excellence in Latin music and to connect music to other art forms in our culture, including visual and digital arts,” says Manuel Abud, CEO of the Latin Recording Academy.

This is the latest in a growing line of award show-based NFTs. Previously, OneOf had released similar collections for the Grammys earlier this year and these had been well received. Besides the obvious financial benefit for show organizers, these sorts of initiatives also offer benefits in the form of fan engagement and goodwill. 

Award shows like the VMAs and Grammys are considered cultural touchstones, bringing in viewers from all over the world and having immense brand recognition. As such, attaching NFTs to them gives the industry a certain level of visibility and exposure. During this year’s VMAs, the ‘Best Metaverse Performance’ category was officially added, showing how culturally relevant they had become. Releasing NFTs for these award shows has the same effect. 

For the fans, it can also be a great experience to feel closer to their favourite award show. As Abud explains, they are owning a piece of the award show by buying one of these NFTs, which can be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. 

NFTs; A Part of the Modern Award Show

Dedicated lovers of award shows have had certain rituals surrounding them for decades; watch parties, ballots among friends, and taping live moments to watch later. As award shows are constantly evolving to meet the needs of modern audiences, NFTs are fast becoming part of this mix. 

Soon, buying a collectable for your favourite award show might become a part of the process, as essential as a watch party or anything else.

Moonbirds has had quite a year so far. Not only did it bring in a record $200 million in its NFT debut but it has also made the move to transfer all its assets to creative commons. Needless to say, it has risen to become one of the most visible and successful NFT collections on the planet. 

Now, the next move within the Moonbirds ecosystem appears to be geared towards creating more equity among its members and empowering them. This comes as Moonbirds has announced that it will be switching to become a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). 

Moonbirds Becomes a DAO

The launch of this new DAO is due to take place in early 2023, according to the official announcement from its parent company Proof. What this means, in essence, is that many of the major moves to be made regarding the Ethereum-based project will be voted on and decided by its community. 

“We’ve created a DAO to empower creatives to further the Moonbirds ecosystem, reputation, and lore. We believe this will lead to new products, NFT collections, companies, cultural moments and content — with the intention of elevating the Moonbirds brand and eventually making it a  household name,” the announcement said.

What this will look like is that those who hold assets from the Moonbirds ecosystem will be able to make proposals regarding future projects and will able be able to vote on whether certain proposals should go through or not. Then there is the voting on incoming projects that wish to use the Moonbirds name and trademark. This is besides the copyright for the assets which has already been moved to creative commons. 

It is also quite relevant given that so many commercial projects, from restaurants to phone cases, are using the name and likeness of so many NFT projects. With this, those in the Moonbirds community can decide which projects should be able to. 

To sign up with the DAO, a website will be launched next year that will allow users to authenticate their Moonbirds assets. The announcement noted that the voting power will not be the same across holders of all the asset types in the Moonbirds ecosystem, with some carrying more weight than others. When they do, they will not only get voting power but will also be able to manage the DAO Treasury which, as per the announcement, will include both NFTs and several crypto asset classes. 

As the DAO is in its planning stage, Proof will be supporting it with $2.6 million in the form of different assets. These assets will include $2 million worth of ETH, $500,000 in Moonbirds NFTs to be bought on the open market, and several Moonbirds to be gifted by the startup. Proof will also be donating 35% of the creator royalties from both the Moonbirds and the Oddities collections to the DAO. 

Hopefully, when this DAO finally launches, it will lead to a more engaged ecosystem for the project and more opportunities for promising creatives.

It is an unfortunate but true reality that NFT-related organizations and personalities are constantly under attack from hackers and other malicious parties. Everything from social media accounts to wallets has been targeted over the years and this shows no signs of stopping, with the losses from NFT theft estimated at $100 million over the last year alone. 

One of the most recent attacks was targeted at Mike Winkelmann, the artist popularly known as “Beeple” who is famous for having one of the highest-selling NFTs of all time. Recently, Beeple revealed that his Discord server had been under attack.

Beeple Under Attack

The artist revealed on October 3, 2022, that his Discord server had been compromised through his official Twitter account. The Discord page, from all indications, requires proof of ownership of one of his pieces and this can only be done by connecting a digital wallet to it. Naturally, this would make his community members targets for attack. This is only further exacerbated by the fact that Beeple’s pieces often command a high price tag.

“it appears our discord URLs were hacked to point to a fraudulent discord.  DO NOT go into that discord and do not verify, it will drain your wallet!!  

once again massive thanks again to discord for being garbage,” he said. 

As Beeple explained, hackers had been trying to redirect his community members to a fake server that would steal their digital assets from their wallets. Sadly, this is not the first time that Beeple has been targeted by malicious hackers. Back in June 2022, his Twitter was also hacked, though it was eventually restored. 

In his announcement of the Discord issue, it is curious that he specifically called out Discord for being ‘garbage’. The platform is commonly used for community organization and engagement within blockchain and web3 spaces but has been called out for not being as supportive as it could be.

Bored Ape founder Gordon Goner has also criticised Discord and has suggested that a better platform is needed for such communities. Given how commonly Discord is used by NFT communities and the losses that have been incurred due to the attacks, one would hope that more resources would be put in place to protect users. 

And if these sorts of incidents continue, users might eventually migrate to another platform, though only time will tell whether it will be an existing platform or if a new one will spring up.

Keeping NFTs Safe

So far, there have not been any reports of NFTs being stolen from this latest Discord attack, though it is distressing nonetheless. It also shows the lengths that hackers will go to in order to steal assets from unsuspecting users. 

After all, if an official Discord URL can be used to redirect users to a malicious site, what can be trusted? Seeing as these attacks show no signs of stopping anytime soon, we can only hope that better security will be put in place by both Discord and others.

Back in September, news broke about Martin Mobarak, a millionaire art collector based in Miami, who had burned a rare Frida Khalo piece in order to turn it into an NFT. Mobarak, who is a founder of  Frida.NFT, an art organization that seeks to immortalize various pieces, came under scrutiny from those who felt that he was destroying rare artwork for no reason.

Well, the public outcry has now led to Mobarak being investigated by the Mexican government. More specifically, the Mexican National Cultural Authority is looking into his actions and what their legal ramifications might be.

Mobarak Under Investigation 

One of the rather interesting details of this case is that Mobarak went out of his way to publicize what he was doing. The burning of the piece, which was from Khalo’s private diaries, took place back in July 2022 in what seems to have been an elaborate event, complete with a mariachi band and partying. 

The footage of the burning was then posted online where it, naturally caused a lot of controversies. Even in light of this, Mobarak defended his actions, saying that the $10 million piece he was destroying was going to be sold as an NFT, with proceeds going to charity. 

“I hope those who are here can understand, it’s to help sick children and victims of domestic abuse,” he said at the time. 

However, The National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature has a different opinion. This is mainly stemming from the fact that all of Khalo’s works have been declared national monuments by Mexico. Additionally, the rights to reproduce her work is held with the Bank of Mexico, which Mobarak might not have gotten permission from before embarking on this project. As such, his destruction of the piece, called Fantasmones Siniestros, might constitute a federal law violation.

Then there is the issue of the artwork’s recreation. As he promised during the burning, Mobarak has created NFT versions of the work and has offered them for sale on a dedicated website. The NFTs go for 3 ETH each and those who buy them receive not only high-resolution versions of the work but also animated GIFs and a short video. 

But the Institute is not completely convinced of the authenticity of the work, even though Mobarak linked a certificate of authenticity on his website. Even with the certificate, some art experts question whether the piece that was destroyed was even the real thing. 

Speaking to Vice News, James Oles, a Latin American art expert from Wellesley said, “He destroyed the evidence that would determine whether it was real or not. Isn’t that convenient?”

Mobarak claims to have bought the piece from a private collector years ago but without inspection, we might never know whether or not this is true. This controversy, however, speaks to the complicated nature of NFT creation, especially when local and international laws are brought in, as well as the value placed on some of the pieces turned into digital assets.

It is near-impossible to be in the NFT sector and not have heard of OpenSea. The site is arguably the biggest NFT marketplace in the industry and is home to some of its most prized collections like Azuki and the Bored Ape Yacht Club. 

Unfortunately, a bug in the OpenSea platform briefly threatened its status as the home of the Azuki NFT collection. Commonly called the ‘delisting’ bug, this feature often sees specific NFT assets or entire collections delisted from OpenSea, which is exactly what happened to Azuki on September 30th, 2022, before it was finally restored. 

Azuki Gets Delisted 

This issue was first discovered when holders of the Azuki collections’ assets found that some of their NFTs were missing from their wallets. Then, users reported getting emails informing them that Azuki assets had been delisted from OpenSea. In response, users reached out to both the Azuki team and OpenSea itself. 

“We have reached out to OpenSea about the delisting emails sent to Azuki holders, awaiting a response. Our working theory is that we are facing a similar error/issue as this one (referring to a previous BAYC delisting). Check Discord for live updates, @DemnaAzuki will also be tweeting as we work to resolve this issue,” the official Azuki Twitter page said that the time. 

The issue regarding the Bored Ape Yacht Club that was referenced in the tweet was a June 2022 incident in which assets from the collection were also delisted. Naturally, that also caused panic among buyers at the time but was eventually resolved. 

Eventually, OpenSea resolved the Azuki issue and explained that it had happened due to a flaw in its trust and safety flagging system and all the NFTs were restored to their original listings. 

“Hey all, rough morning. There was an error in our Trust & Safety flagging system and a number of Azuki NFTs were briefly delisted. We DID work fast to resolve the issue + all impacted items have been relisted. Also, we’re in direct contact with the @AzukiOfficial team,” the OpenSea team said.

This sort of incident seems to be rare on OpenSea but can nevertheless be a source of concern. This is partly because the collections that have been affected thus far are blue-chip ones, meaning that millions of dollars are at stake should something go wrong.

It is also worth noting that OpenSea is also home to thousands of non-blue chip collections and a bug that spontaneously delists NFTs could affect them as well. 

The Security of NFTs

This incident is one in a long line of examples that show how important NFT marketplace security is for all involved. Thankfully, these NFTs have been restored by OpenSea but should they have been delisted for a significant amount of time, buyers could have lost out on sales opportunities. 

It is also curious that the delisting incidents that have taken place so far have mainly targeted top NFT collections. Hopefully, OpenSea is able to address this issue once and for all and stop it from repeating itself.

Two things in this world that have very dedicated fanbases are Korean Pop (K-Pop) and NFTs. The K-Pop industry has become a global force, spreading far beyond its country of origin and capturing a fanbase across every part of the globe. NFTs have also risen beyond their niche beginnings, becoming recognised around the world and a billion-dollar sector. 

Now, these two worlds are about to collide as popular K-Pop group Aespa has announced a new incoming NFT collection in collaboration with the Web3 artist Blake Kathryn. This collection will offer exclusive perks to their fans, including physical meet-and-greets.

While this is the group’s first NFT project, Kathryn has previously worked with the rapper Lil Nas X and Paris Hilton on such projects. 

K-Pop Comes to NFTs

These days, we’re seeing a lot more musical acts get involved with NFTs, from those releasing albums in that medium to other side projects. With K-Pop becoming very popular around the globe, it is only natural that we would see NFT projects from them as well.

This new collection will be called æ girls and will be auctioned at Sotheby’s from October 13th to October 21st, 2022. The images will also be displayed in Sotheby’s locations in both New York and Hong Kong. The collection will be a three-parter, with each part released separately and available for between 48 hours to a week, giving fans ample time to get their hands on them. 

As per the official announcement, the first part to be released will be open access, meaning that the NFTs can be minted an unlimited amount of times and will come with accompanying artwork. The second drop will be called Altars and unlike the first, will be a limited edition.

Only 32 assets in total will be available and each will be based on one of the four members. Those who buy it will receive not only the digital asset but also a signed print from each of the members and the artists, as well as a recording from the member the piece is based on.

The final drop will be Dreamspace and is the rarest of all, a single-edition piece. Whoever wins the bid for this piece will receive a video recording from both the members of Aespa and Kathryn. They will enjoy a meet-and-greet with Kathryn virtually and will also receive an all-expenses paid trip to Seoul to meet the K-pop group and attend a concert of theirs.  

According to Aespa, this project offers them a way to connect with their fans even more. 

“We love connecting with our fans in new ways that embrace technology, and this new NFT collection is really cool, cute and cutting edge. Blake Kathryn is an amazing artist, and we enjoyed the process of collaborating with her to create this collection,” the group said in an official statement. 

Given how passionate fans of K-pop are and the perks that can be gotten from holding one of these pieces, it will likely be a success.

One of the most anticipated developments for the NFT space this year was Meta’s onboarding of NFT-related features. These features had gone into testing earlier this year and the Meta team kept us up-to-date with its development, including when it was rolled out to 100 countries and when cross-posting to Instagram and Facebook was enabled.

Now, users of both Facebook and Instagram in the US and 100 other countries can finally rejoice as Meta has rolled out NFT posting for both. With this, a whole new demographic of people can share their NFTs on two of the biggest social media platforms in the world. 

NFTs on Meta

This new feature is very significant in that it allows for the direct posting of NFTs that have been purchased by any user. 

“Today we’re announcing everyone on Facebook and Instagram in the US can now connect their wallets and share their digital collectibles. This includes the ability for people to cross-post digital collectibles that they own across both Facebook and Instagram,” the official announcement says. 

To share these NFTs, users first need to connect their digital asset wallets to Instagram or Facebook. To do this, the wallet provider app must be downloaded on the device used and signed into. Then, users will need to log into the Facebook or Instagram app and then select ‘digital assets’ under the settings tab. After this, they will be prompted to enter their wallet details to connect the two apps.

The wallets supported by the two include Coinbase, Rainbow, MetaMask, Trust Wallet, and Dapper Wallet. It should also be noted that not all types of NFTs are supported as of now. 

But NFTs that are based on the Ethereum, Polygon and Flow blockchains can be displayed. When the wallet is fully connected to the Facebook or Instagram app, the assets within it can be viewed within the apps and also posted. There is the option to post regularly and select from the new ‘digital assets’ option or to post from the wallet itself through the ‘share to feed’ option. 

Whichever option a user chooses to share their assets with, they will not be charged for it and NFT posts will have a glitter effect to them to differentiate them from other posts on a user’s feed.

This is Meta’s most ambitious NFT-related endeavour to date and could usher in a new wave of visibility and adoption.

The Importance of this Development 

Why is Meta’s onboarding of NFT features so important to the industry? First, between Facebook and Instagram, Meta boasts of over 2 billion users, which is no small number of people that can now share NFTs directly with others. 

This, in turn, means that NFTs will be much more visible to the public, appearing on feeds in over 100 countries. Then there is the financial benefit for the industry as these platforms can be used to advertise collections and drive sales which benefits everyone in the end.

Both the Ukrainian government and private entities have gotten themselves involved with NFTs in the last year, mostly to raise funds to support the troops or for relief efforts. All of these have been a result of the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict. But it seems that they are not the only ones as Vogue Ukraine has announced a new NFT project. 

As per official details released to the press, the Ukrainian edition of the iconic magazine is teaming up with  NFT marketplace The Dematerialised (DMTA). This partnership will be in support of the local fashion industry in the country which has been negatively affected by the war but is still trying to preserve. 

Fashion, NFTs, and Ukraine

This support for the fashion scene will see the magazine support the works of Bevza, Gudu and Ienki Ienki, who are all Ukrainian fashion designers. They are also to debut their designs on September 28, 2022, at Paris Fashion Week. After the designs are shown, they will then be turned into NFTs which will be listed on The Dematerialised for purchase by fans. 

This not only drums up more publicity for the designers but also makes sure that they have multiple streams of revenue, given the current situation. There are also plans for the works of other Ukrainian designers to be added eventually. 

​​“This drop in collaboration with DMAT is our first endeavour in the metaverse, where we intend to establish a strong presence. Helping the Ukrainian fashion industry survive and endure during these troubled times is a part of Vogue UA’s revised mission,” says Vogue Ukraine editor-in-chief Philipp Vlasov. 

This is not the first time that The Dematerialised has launched fashion-related NFT projects. Previously, it had launched a collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld which was very successful and overall, has worked to bring the fashion world into web3. 

According to  Marjorie Hernandez, DMAT’s co-founder, this sort of project not only empowers the designers themselves but also gives fashion fans an intimate look at the process behind top pieces. Whenever anyone buys the pieces from this collaboration, they can tag the Vogue Ukraine team on social media and potentially be added to a gallery of people wearing the designs. 

It is not unusual for fashion and consumer brands to post user-generated content on their social media pages. But considering the NFT medium being used and the deliberate support for the designers, this takes things to a whole new level. 

It also reiterates the Vogue Ukraine team’s commitment to supporting its industry even in a time of war. As Vogue Singapore explains, the team was physically separated when the war broke out but nevertheless, continues to create. 

“We’re focused on our digital presence, producing helpful and inspiring content to give strength to Ukrainians while offering some insight to the world on the country someone dared to say had no right to exist. We won’t lose hope. Justice must prevail,” said Vlasov, who remains in exile while leading the team, earlier this year.

The ongoing crypto market winter has cast doubt on many aspects of the blockchain industry, including NFTs. Naysayers have been quick to doubt whether or not the NFT sector can still thrive or if it is done for. Luckily, many collections, especially the top ones, continue to show that the industry has life left in it.

Case in point, an NFT from the acclaimed CryptoPunks collection has sold for the ETH equivalent of $4.5 million. This makes it the fourth-highest CryptoPunks sale in history and shows that there is still demand for the collection and for others like it. The highest-ever sale of a CryptoPunks asset, however, was when Deepak Thapliyal, the CEO of a blockchain startup, paid around $24 million in ETH for CryptoPunks #5822 earlier this year.

CryptoPunks Makes a Splash 

The NFT in question was CryptoPunks NFT #2924 and the sale was recorded on September 28, 2022. It was sold by a well-known NFT collector who goes by the name Seedphrase to an unnamed buyer. The last time this NFT changed hands was in 2020 for under $100,000 in ETH.

Clearly, its value has grown significantly since that time. First, there is the fact that it is one of only 24 ‘ape’ NFTs that exist within the 10,000-piece collection, which makes it quite rare. Then there is the fact that CryptoPunks as a project has gotten a lot more public visibility over the last two years. 

Since the NFT was last sold, CryptoPunks has solidified itself as one of the top NFT projects in the world and has also branched out into more mainstream ventures. The most prominent of these has perhaps been the partnership inked with Tiffany & Co. that saw CryptoPunks owners get jewel-encrusted pendants of their assets. 

This comes after Yuga Labs, which bought the rights to CryptoPunks earlier this year, released their IP rights to their owners. This officially allowed those who owned the assets to launch commercial ventures with them. Needless to say, these commercial ventures have increased the public visibility of an already popular collection. 

With all these in mind, you can see why one of the rarest  NFTs in the collection would command such a high price. We do not, however, know what the buyer intends to do with the NFT and whether their plans will involve any commercial ventures. What we do know, for now, is that are NFTs still raking in the big bucks, even on the secondary market. 

The Worth of a CryptoPunk 

Given the CryptoPunks’ status as a legacy collection (it was one of the first big NFT collections), its popularity within the market, and its newfound visibility, it is no surprise that its assets do well in the market. But what does that say about the rest of the NFT space?

It mostly indicates that the market is still alive and well and despite the challenges being faced by the blockchain sector, sales records can still be set and broken.

And thus, the love affair between NFTs and gaming continues. In the last few years, we’ve seen many mainstream gaming projects dabble in NFTs in some way, from Ubisoft to GameStop. Thanks to the benefits they can offer players and the overall rise of GameFi, NFTs are securing a firm place in the gaming industry.

Now, Brendan Greene, the creator of the popular Player Unknown Battle Ground game, has announced that his newest incoming release will feature NFTs. This was revealed during an interview to discuss his latest project since exiting PUBG a few years ago.

Artemis in the Making

In an interview with Hit Points, Greene revealed that his next project will be called Artemis. Furthermore, it will have many elements of web3, including blockchain and NFTs. When describing Artemis, Greene painted the picture of an ‘earth-sized’ digital world where players can do anything that they want, including living. 

“We want to make our engine easy to mod, and to make it open source so everyone can participate,” he said.

On the surface, this sounds very much like a metaverse and Greene acknowledged that during the interview. He also said that the comparisons to the metaverse do not bother him and that he doesn’t care what anyone calls it. 

It should be noted that within the world of gaming, NFTs and metaverses are fairly touchy subjects. Some gamers love them and others do not, and some gaming companies have gone out of their way to explicitly name (or not name) their projects as metaverses or NFTs.

But Greene seems to be embracing it, explaining in the interview that not only will blockchain play a role in Artemis but that an economy will exist within the game. But this economy won’t be a breeding ground for cash grabs. Instead, he says, it will comprise everyday users offering value to one another. 

“It’s some kid called AwesomePickle selling cool skins because he understands what people want,” Greene says, adding that Artemis is intended to be a 10 to 15-year project. As such, the perceptions and applications of blockchain will be much different in the end than it is now.

Details about Artemis, such as its storyline or launch date, have not yet been made public. When the game eventually launches, it will be interesting to see what the public reception of it is.

Metaverses and the Gaming Industry 

While blockchain in general has had very prominent integration with the gaming industry, the metaverse, in particular, has a lot of potential within it. This is because the metaverse, at its core, is a virtual universe with limitless possibilities, which is very compatible with gaming, which often leverages fantastical universes. 

Green himself admits that his description of the Artemis landscape is very close to our understanding of a metaverse. This is a good sign for the industry in that wherever the tide turns when it comes to NFTs, the metaverse can be used within gaming for decades to come.