Category: News

The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) has seen the sort of success most NFT collections would dream of. So far, it has raked in billions in revenue and lists top celebrities like Madonna and Post Malone as some of its buyers. It is also one of the most recognizable collections in the world, with its signature cartoon monkeys acting as the template for NFTs even outside of the industry. 

Now, it seems the Ape Club is about to get even more recognizable as it has been announced that Coinbase will be developing a film trilogy based on the NFTs. 

In Theaters Soon

This new trilogy of films, called ‘The Degen Trilogy’, will be developed by Coinbase, a top crypto exchange. The first of these films is slated to be released during NFT.NYC in June of this year. Unlike your traditional film, however, the audience will have a lot of say in the characters and the plot. 

More specifically, owners of BAYC NFTs have been encouraged to ‘audition’ their apes for a role in the film. They can also send in descriptions of non-existent characters that will be reviewed by the film team and might make it into the final project.

This project is being developed by Coinbase, or, more specifically, Coinbase’s burgeoning media arm. When the film is premiered, users will need to have an existing Coinbase wallet to be able to view it. 

William Swann, the head of Coinbase’s media arm, has explained that the BAYC was a natural choice for their first outing because of its influence in the NFT space. 

“You can think of this as a love letter to the NFT tech that has provided so much creative liberation for artists. We really look to [Bored Apes] as sort of our North Star in the NFT space. They’ve created such a massive and engaging community,” he said.

This trilogy is intended to be the first of many produced by Coinbase and there have been hints that other top collections like Mutant Apes might be getting their own movies. The incoming movies will also tie into Coinbase’s upcoming NFT marketplace that will see the exchange jumping head-first into the world of NFTs. 

NFTs at the Movies 

While NFTs have been used in many different ways over the years, movies are a new frontier for them. However, they have proven to be an innovative way to include the audience. Kevin Smith, for example, recently announced that he would be releasing a horror movie via NFTs. 

Those who watch the movie will be able to influence the plot of the sequel. While fans’ preferences have always, to an extent, influenced movies, the new crop of NFT-centered movies take their participation to a whole new level. 

As they become more widely used in the film industry, they could very well set a new standard for both the filmmakers and the fans alike. Soon, we could all see our ideas on the big screen.

Besides the Grammy awards, April 2022 has been host to yet another important event in the music industry calendar; Coachella. The annual music festival held in the Coachella Valley in California has been a pop culture staple for years thanks to performances by top musicians as well as being an embodiment of modern music festivals. 

While this year will be featuring trending artists like Harry Styles and Doja Cat, another popular factor will be coming into play; NFTs. Yes, NFTs have successfully infiltrated the world’s most popular music festival as well. This time, it is in the form of free NFTs being given to attendees as well as others that can be bought.

NFTs in the Valley

The first NFT collection is called Coachella Collectibles NFTs and has been listed for sale in an official marketplace which was made in collaboration with FTX. In this marketplace, users can buy from two sets of NFTs- those with fixed prices and those that must be bid for.

Each of these NFTs entitles its owners to exclusive perks, including lifetime passes to Coachella, as well as exclusive pictures and other content from the festival. These don’t seem to come cheap, however, as the NFT for the former is listed at a million dollars.

For those who can’t or won’t shell out a million dollars for an NFT, there is another collection. Coachella released a free NFT collection titled ‘In Bloom’. Those who claimed the NFTs could enjoy free merchandise, upgrades in food, and much more. 

A raffle is also to be held for the In Bloom NFTs and the owners of the winning assets will receive even more benefits. These include VIP upgrades, free passes to next year’s Coachella festival, and so on. 

How the NFTs are to be redeemed is by downloading the FTX app and setting up an account. Once the users’ Coachella wristband details are entered, the NFT ‘seed’ is deposited into their account. 

The users don’t get access to the perks immediately though. Coachella famously runs for two consecutive weekends and users only get their ‘bloomed’ seed on the Friday morning of their weekend. Either way, Coachella is popular partially because of the experiences that come with it, as much as the music itself. 

This includes the famous Ferris wheel that is set up during the festival (some NFTs offer the owner the chance to ride on the wheel) and the businesses that operate on the festival grounds. 

Do Music Festivals Need NFTs?

We’ve seen NFTs be applied in many different ways and music festivals might just be next. But do music festivals need NFTs? It would seem so. 

This Coachella project shows how NFTs can be used to deliver exclusive experiences, which is a big part of the appeal of music festivals. Outside of the million-dollar art auctions and gaming integrations, this shows that NFTs can be leveraged to enhance the consumer experience and be a functional part of something as beloved as a music festival.

Out of the many luxury brands in the world, Louis Vuitton is one of the oldest and richest in terms of history. Having been in existence for over 200 years, Louis Vuitton has cultivated a devoted clientele and fanbase who are endlessly fascinated by its brand story. 

Last August, the company decided to take this brand story to the digital world by releasing Louis: The Game, a game that taught users about Louis Vuitton’s history. Along with the educational aspect, the game also gave away free NFTs to users. Clearly, the effort has been well received as Louis Vuitton has announced even more NFTs to be added to the game. 

Luxury (NFT) Pieces

While new NFTs are being infused into Louis: The Game, its setup will mostly remain the same. Users have to interact with it and reach certain player thresholds to be entered into a raffle. If they win, they will be given one of the limited edition NFTs for free. 

This new raffle will run until August 4, 2022, and will see 10 NFTs being given out to players. The NFTs in question will be of Vivienne, a representation of the iconic Louis Vuitton monogram, which is featured in different outfits. 

Not only can Vivienne be used within the app itself but can also be used on other social media platforms, mostly as a profile picture. This is rather significant as being able to display an NFT from an exclusive collection as a profile picture online has become somewhat of a digital status symbol. 

With Louis Vuitton being an icon of luxury, this move is rather on brand. The game, which has more challenges for users as well as more NFTs, is available on Andriod and iOS devices and marks a new frontier for Louis Vuitton.

Many legacy brands such as LV have been working to connect to a new generation of buyers and NFTs are a good way to do so. They are most popular among millennials and Gen Zs and can be a way to connect the past and the present. 

In Louis: The Game, for example, users have to complete digital challenges that involve learning about the history of Louis Vuitton and its eponymous founder. If they complete the challenges, they have a chance to win free NFTs tied to the brand. In many ways, this is connecting the past, present, and future and helping to secure Louis Vuitton’s legacy. 

Free NFTs

One of the interesting things about Louis: The Game and the NFTs attached to it is that they are being given away for free. Players need only interact with the game to receive them which is not always the norm, especially with corporate-launched NFTs. 
But this shows another angle to the NFT sector; they are not only potential money-making avenues but also a way to document history and interact with communities with no financial bottom line. Along with this, it shows the growing influence of NFTs in the fashion space.

There are many reasons why people buy NFTs. Sometimes, it’s to get their hands on a piece from their favourite artist. Sometimes. It’s to enjoy an exclusive product or service that comes with the NFTs. However, one of the most common reasons why people buy NFTs is to resell them. 

Similar to limited edition items like sneakers or concert tickets, there is a large market of people who buy prize NFTs with the sole purpose of reselling them for a profit. Unfortunately, one of these people has run into some trouble trying to resell the NFT of Jack Dorsey’s first tweet. 

The Curious Case of the NFT Tweet

The NFT in question was of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s first-ever tweet. The tweet, which simply read “just setting up my twttr,”, was minted as an NFT and sold last year. At the time, it was sold for $2.9 million to Malaysia-based Sina Estavi, with all proceeds going to charity. 

Now, Estavi is trying to resell the NFT but has not had much luck thus far. He listed the NFT on OpenSea on April 6, 2022, and claimed that half of the proceeds would be donated to charity. 

“I decided to sell this NFT ( the world’s first ever tweet ) and donate 50% of the proceeds ( $25 million or more ) to the charity @GiveDirectly,” his tweet said.

Despite the ambitious profit that Estavi was hoping to make from the sale, the highest bid the NFT has gotten so far has been about $6,000, a very small fraction of the millions he paid for it. 

Despite this, Estavi seems to be undeterred by the disappointment and has said that he will only sell the NFT to a ‘worthy’ buyer and listed Tesla CEO Elon Musk as an example. 

“Last year, when I paid for this NFT, very few people even heard the name NFT. Now I say this NFT is the Mona Lisa of the digital world. There is only one of that and it will never be the same. Years later, people will realise the value of this NFT,” he said. 

The Cost of Resale

While this whole tweet debacle has been rather cringey, it has sparked a discussion about NFTs and the resale culture around them. NFTs like Dorsey’s are created to be digital records of history (in this case, the inception of Twitter) and was sold with charitable purposes in mind. 

Some now feel that it is being used as a quick money scheme, similar to ticket scalpers who have a poor reputation among consumers. Among NFT critics online, this was used as an example of the industry being a get rich quick scheme and having no integrity. 

For NFT lovers, this serves as an opportunity to critique the industry and examine how NFTs are being pushed. They have massive potential to be cultural and educational tools and shouldn’t be reduced to quick money schemes and a market full of endless buys and resales.

As most of us know, when you buy an NFT, you sometimes get a physical item or experience attached to it. Some NFTs launched by musicians, for example, come with albums or meet and greets with the artist. Kevin Smith, who recently launched NFTs for his new film, offered behind-the-scenes content as a park of buying one of the digital assets. 

But all these pale in comparison to a yacht. Yes, a yacht. Recently, a Texas businessman bought an NFT on OpenSea for the whopping price of $12 million and with it came a custom yacht.

Beyond the OpenSea 

Along with the Ethereum-based NFT, the unnamed businessman will also have a custom yacht delivered to them in the next 36 months. The yacht in question will be created by  Tactical Custom Boats and Cloud Yachts.io and there are plans for this to be one of many yacht-related NFTs put up for sale.

The businessman also explained that the yacht isn’t just an add-on besides the NFT itself but could also connect to it in terms of data. 

“We like the idea of pioneering a new process. The NFT could prove useful in ways I had never imagined – like having all the data from my vessel at my fingertips. It will be a real adventure,” he said.

The plan is that after the yacht is completed, another NFT will be minted for the businessman and will supply him with important data about the sea vessel that would be needed for taking it out to sea.

A Golden Age of Luxury NFTs?

NFTs have established themselves as a bit of a status symbol, with pieces from collections like the Bored Ape Yacht Club being highly sought after. But tying NFTs to already established status symbols like yachts only serves to increase the sense of exclusivity around them. 

Naval architect Gregory C Marshall, who will oversee the creation of the actual yacht, has explained that while this route might be pursued more in the future, there are still a few kinks to work out. 

“Everyone is still trying to figure out how the process will work. In fact, the initial crypto payment went to the wrong payee. We had it sorted out in an hour and had a good laugh about it. But we all recognize that mistakes will be made during the process,” he explains. 

With this being a first in the industry and other luxury sectors like fashion launching their own NFTs, could we see many more status symbols attached to NFTs like luxury handbags, cars, and so on? 

There is good reason to think so. After all, if a yacht could be sold as part of a $12 million NFT, why not a $10,000 handbag or a $200,000 car? Either way, this NFT sets a record not only for being one of the most expensive NFTs ever sold but also for potentially ushing in a new era of luxury items with NFTs.

As the NFT industry continues to rise in financial value and notoriety on the world stage, its legal and regulatory status is slowly but surely taking shape. This is particularly true in China, where a strict stance on blockchain-related products exists, with WeChat banning several accounts that were dealing in NFTs earlier this month. 

Now, three prominent Chinese banking associations have put out statements regarding NFTs. In these statements, the associations called for some restrictions on NFTs, especially when it comes to them being used as securitization or being bought and sold with cryptocurrencies.

Details About the Statements 

The statement, which was released by China’s Internet Financial Association, the China Banking Association and the China Securities Association, states that the tendencies of NFTs need to be curbed to an extent. This is particularly directed toward NFTs being turned into securities or other financial products.

The concern that the associations have expressed is that should nothing be done, NFTs could be used as a means of committing and financing illegal activities. This is a common concern about the use of digital assets as a whole and for years, cryptocurrencies faced the same accusations. 

This is not the first time that some of these bodies specifically have taken a hard stance on blockchain. Last year, the China Internet Finance Association and the China Banking Association issued a statement forbidding their members from conducting any business with cryptocurrency companies. 

This was right around the time that the Chinese government was cracking down on crypto mining across the country. This year, these associations have acknowledged that while NFTs have the potential to promote digital industrialization, they carry with them the risk of supporting financial crimes. 

In the document released, the associations listed six behavioural principles that should be observed to prevent this. The first states that the underlying assets of NFTs should not be financial assets like bonds or securities. 

The second states that the nonfungibility must be kept strong so that they are not used to facilitate initial coin offerings. The third principle states that centralized exchanges for NFT trading should not be allowed. According to the fourth, NFTs should not be traded with digital currency. 

For the platforms that do deal in NFTs, the fifth states that background checks, identity checks, and transaction records should be done to prevent money laundering. The final principle states that no direct or indirect financing for NFT investments should be provided by entities. 

What Do These Mean?

While the directives offered by the statement are quite in-depth, they are not a condemnation of NFTs as a whole. From all indications, they seem to be advocating for NFT use within China but with great caution on the part of governmental and private institutions. 

While some of these directives might be strange to the average NFT lover (most NFTs are priced in tokens like ETH as an industry practice), it does show that NFTs could have a recognized place in China, which is more than we can say for crypto.

Besides the innovative art pieces and pop culture memorabilia often attached to them, NFTs have also captured the public’s imagination because of how financially successful they have been. Top pieces can be sold for millions of dollars and artist Beeple holds the record for the most expensive NFT ever sold at $69 million. 

From artists like Beeple to smaller ones all over the world, NFTs are giving artists a way to make a living over the internet. One of the biggest (and youngest) success stories from the NFT space has been Nyla Hayes, a 13-year old American artist who has become a millionaire after just one year of selling her NFTs.

NFT Fortunes 

Like many of those who sell NFTs, Hayes’ work is her own original art. Specifically, it is art that features notable women throughout history drawn with uniquely long necks. She has listed over 3,000 pieces in her collections and past subjects have included late United States Supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 

Since starting her journey with NFTs a year ago, Hayes’ pieces sell for thousands of dollars per unit and have earned her worldwide acclaim. Amongst other achievements, she was named as an ‘artist in residence’ by Time Magazine in 2021. 

On her part, Hayes says that her NFTs are inspired by women and the different cultures of the world.

​​”I love drawing women from all around the world because I really like different cultures and different backgrounds. I didn’t know what to call them so I just thought of them as long neckies,” she says in a recent interview. 

As for the art style itself, Hayes says that it was inspired by her love for Brontosaurus dinosaurs. The prehistoric creatures have notoriously long necks and the artist has incorporated this into her world, giving her illustrated characters what she calls ‘long neckies’. 

“At first I just wanted to put two things that I love together, and that was a Brontosaurus and women,” she says, “I wanted to show how beautiful and strong women were, and I thought of the brontosaurus as that as well.”

When Hayes first began creating her drawings, she did so on a smartphone and only showed close family and friends. But with encouragement from them, she began listing her work online as NFTs and found quick success, making over a million dollars so far from her efforts. 

NFTs: Champions of Indie Artists 

While obviously, not every artist who gets into NFTs is selling their work for millions of dollars, there is something to be said about Hayes’ success story. Many artists struggle to make a living from their work but NFTs act as an avenue for easier income generation. 

In the case of digital art like Hayes’, the artist doesn’t need a big gallery or agent to get their foot in the door or even a physical product. Love it or hate it, NFTs are clearly beneficial for a lot of artists and will likely retain a place in the art world for years to come.

When it comes to NFTs, OpenSea is on top of the world. It is arguably the biggest NFT marketplace in the world and is home to prized collections like the Bored Ape Yacht Club. But with all this success naturally comes some challenges. 

One of the biggest of these is that OpenSea and those who buy from it are targeted by scammers and thieves. In the last month alone, the Bored Ape Yacht Club saw its discord server attacked and one of its NFTs stolen. 

Now, just after OpenSea confirmed its Solana integration, it is the target of at least three lawsuits. All these suits are being brought forward by owners of Bored Ape Club NFTs bought from OpenSea. 

The Case of the Stolen Ape

The three lawsuits that OpenSea is facing have one accusation in common-that OpenSea does not do enough to protect its customers. The latest suit, brought forward by a man named  Michael Vasile, claims that OpenSea has several vulnerabilities that allow hackers to steal users’ assets. 

Vasile is suing OpenSea for $1 million and his claim is similar to that of a Texas man who sued the company earlier this year. Both claim that code issues, which OpenSea are aware of, have led to their NFT apes being stolen. The damages from these thefts have run into hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to them.

A third plaintiff, who filed in Nevada, said that OpenSea puts the full responsibility of protecting their NFTs on the owners, with little to no internal support. An example cited in court documents was one incident where a hacker was able to buy an NFT that wasn’t listed for sale for the very low price of 0.1 ETH. The same NFT was then listed for 99 ETH. 

“Essentially, OpenSea’s vulnerabilities allowed others to enter through its code and force the sale of an NFT. This is through no fault of the owner,” one of the suits says.

As the plaintiff explains, OpenSea offered limited support even after the fact. He claims that he sent messages to the OpenSea team and reached out via the Discord server and did not receive any response. 

What Will This Mean Going Forward?

Those who operate in the blockchain field are familiar with the lack of centralized support that often comes with this. If your crypto is stolen from your wallet or your NFTs are compromised, there’s little anyone, even the platform you use, can do for you. 

But if these lawsuits are successful, they could set a new precedent. More specifically, they could create a new landscape where NFT marketplaces or blockchain service providers, in general, are legally responsible for protecting their users’ assets. 

This is particularly true in the event of false sales going up on the platform without the consent of the asset owners. Regardless of the outcome of these lawsuits, it is clear that the legal intricacies of NFTs will be further developed over the next few years. 

For large fashion houses, archives are very important. They serve as living documentation of the house’s history, inspire future collections and designers, and can be worth a lot of money to collectors. 

As such, fashion houses spend a lot of time, effort, and money on creating and preserving their archives. But for Spanish fashion house Paco Rabanne, maintaining its archives has proven to be an expensive and complicated affair. In response to this, the brand is turning to the metaverse and launching an NFT collection in collaboration with Selfridges. 

A (Digital) Piece of Fashion History 

This new collection is slated to drop on April 12, 2022, and will feature 56 dress NFTs in total. The pieces, which start at $780, will be based on 12 vintage pieces from the designer’s 1966 collection. 

The  “12 unwearable dresses in contemporary materials” will include a  bustier gown, a chainmail dress, and so on. Many of the real-life pieces that the NFTs are based on are difficult and expensive to find and are also mostly impractical to wear. In the metaverse, however, there is a more realistic use for them. 

The sale will hold in a digital experience specifically designed for the Selfridges site. The profits from this sale will be used to maintain and curate the official Paco Rabanne archives. This will include the house buying back some of the original clothing pieces, sketches, video content, and so on. 

The clothes will also enjoy improved storage and preservation as a result. 

Fashion of the Future 

While a lot of the applications of NFTs seem to be in gaming and art, the fashion world is also embracing this new technology. For fashion lovers, it can be a way to digitally get their hands on a piece from their favourite house from wherever they are in the world. 

For Paco Rabanne specifically, this is as much a move towards modernisation as it is the preservation of its archives. The house has been working for years towards appealing to a new generation and thriving in the new fashion era. 

As Nadia Dhouib, Paco Rabanne’s general manager, explains, “With this activation, Paco Rabanne wanted to share its know-how, its history and its values with a new audience. These 12 NFTs are a way to… celebrate the creativity from our archives in a modern way.”

Conveniently, there is a noted interest in vintage pieces among millennial and Gen Z buyers and NFTs can easily fit into this. Considering that they are also the biggest buyers of crypto and NFTs, collections that allow them to buy vintage in a digital form are the best of both worlds. 

Dhouib has expressed similar sentiments ahead of the launch, saying, “It’s our role to cherish and to inspire the new generation. Selling archive pieces as NFTs to cherish the past feels very natural, almost like a virtuous circle.”

Should this collection be as much of a success as the brand is banking on, we could see even more in the future.

At this point, it is no secret that NFTs can do a lot. They can be digital art from your favorite artists, unlock exclusive experiences with your favorite musician, and can act as a fundraising medium. 

But perhaps one of the more interesting applications of NFTs has been in gaming. In recent times, gaming companies like Ubisoft have incorporated NFTs into their digital ecosystems, albeit to often mixed responses. 

On the surface, a merger of NFTs and gaming seems natural. After all, games have used digital assets in some form for decades. Well, according to gaming giant SEGA, NFTs in gaming are not only natural but are the future of the industry itself.

SEGA Speaks on NFTs

This news comes as an older interview of SEGA executives has resurfaced online. In the interview, the executives speak on the company’s plans for a ‘SuperGame’ project and also about the future of gaming as a whole. 

As per the interview, SuperGame is part of a five-year plan the company has to feature titles that “cross over SEGA’s comprehensive range of technologies”. Innovation is clearly going to be a theme with these games as they are reportedly going to lean outside the traditional framework of gaming. 

In the interview, Twitch was referenced as an example of how the gaming sector has evolved over time. SEGA is now looking to create new projects that leverage these technological and social changes in the industry for its audience. 

And according to one executive, SEGA producer Masayoshi Kikuchi, NFTs will find their way into this mix. 

“It is a natural extension for the future of gaming that it will expand to involve new areas such as cloud gaming and NFTs. We are also developing SuperGame from the perspective of how far different games can be connected to each other,” he said, adding that games have always had a connection to current technological and cultural shifts.

A Gaming Revolution?

From this, we can see that tech executives are well aware of the coming changes that could affect their industries and that NFTs will be involved in these changes. Currently, the gaming industry seems to be experimenting with NFTs and seeing how audiences respond to them. 

For a lot of these projects thus far, it has been hit or miss. If companies could find the balance between creating new gaming offerings that tap into the current trends and satisfying their customers with products that they consider worthwhile, NFTs would have an easier time.

This is a tricky and ambitious thing to pursue but if any company has the resources to do it, it’s probably SEGA. If they are successful, NFTs could forever change the way that gaming fans operate in the same way that streaming sites like Twitch did.

SEGA has not released any official statement since the interview resurfaced. However, we can expect to see some more developments from the company as its ‘SuperGame’ projects officially launch. Hopefully, some of them will have NFTs as part of their setup.