CoinMarketCap and Nansen look at some of the most exciting events in the NFT space — from Okcoin launching a marketplace, Solana NFTs debuting on Rarible to the explosive growth of Moonbirds.
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More than a passing fad, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are helping creators reach a wider audience. Speaking of audiences, the NBA is expanding its NFT ecosystem beyond the Flow blockchain. The major league has teased Ethereum-based digital collectibles for this season’s playoffs. Meanwhile, Solana NFTs are gearing up for a debut on the Rarible NFT marketplace, days after OpenSea’s long-awaited integration.
Here’s some of the hottest NFT news over the past week.
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NFT Market Update: Market Still in a Range
First, a look at the overall market for NFTs. Nansen’s NFT-500 index suggests that the broader NFT market is still range bound after coming off a strong month in March. Social NFTs, however, seem to be going against the trend and have been having their own mini-bull run after bottoming out in March.
The rise of social NFTs have been largely fuelled by Yuga Labs and a handful of large collections such as Azuki, CloneX and Doodles.
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Okcoin Launches NFT Marketplace
With the NFT craze showing no signs of slowing down and the likes of Binance and FTX already in on the frenzy, and Coinbase teasing a beta of its highly anticipated NFT marketplace, Okcoin is the latest to jump on the train. The crypto trading platform announced the launch of its own NFT marketplace on Tuesday.
With plans to fully launch later this year, Okcoin has begun collecting details for its waitlist. The company is also adopting a different marketing strategy in a bid to stand out from competitors like Crypto.com and FTX. Okcoin claims its marketplace will be fee-free — “Just gas, no fees.”
Apart from this, the crypto exchange has assured creators that it won’t place a cap on the NFT royalty rates that they can set for their secondary market sales. Hong Fang, CEO of Okcoin, said in a press release:
“We’re launching a free market for NFTs where prices and profits will be determined by supply and demand, more so than anywhere else […] Web3 is about restoring economic power to the people, and at Okcoin, we’re doing our part by granting as much sovereignty to individuals as possible when it comes to their money, and now, their art.”
The upcoming marketplace will support NFTs from different blockchains, including Ethereum, Binance and Polygon. Users will also have the option to purchase collectibles directly with fiat.
Kevin Rose’s NFT Project Goes Ballistic on Secondary Market
While a few celebrities and influencers have tried and failed to launch successful NFT projects, tech entrepreneur and VC Kevin Rose’s PROOF Collective is making heavy waves in the space. Launched on Saturday, the highly-anticipated Moonbirds Ethereum NFT collection has already generated more than $280 million in total sales.
Moonbirds is a collection of 10,000 owl-looking profile picture collectibles. 7,875 NFTs were released to collectors via an allowlist. The NFTs in this category were sold for 2.5 ETH or around $7,600 on Saturday. Another 2,000 digital collectibles were given as free mints to holders of the PROOF Collective NFT membership pass, which has a floor price of 97 ETH (or about $283,000) on secondary markets. Each membership pass holder could mint two Moonbirds, meaning that the minting process for the second stage was already oversubscribed. Celebrities like talk-show host Jimmy Fallon, who also owns a Bored Ape, has hopped on the trend.
Amid Moonbirds’ meteoric rise over the weekend, OpenSea recorded its largest day of trading volume in over two months. As per Nansen data, the leading NFT marketplace scored over $177 million worth of Ethereum in sales volume.
As of press time, the floor price (cheapest available) of a Moonbirds NFT was 20.1 ETH, or around $62,000. The collection has also seen several high-profile sales, including a 150 ETH (over $450,000) sale on Sunday. Average sale price of a Moonbird has been up only, increasing almost 4x from 11 ETH during the day of launch to 42 ETH currently.
Moonbirds has dominated the NFT market since its launch, having about eight times the trading volume of any other collection within the week. At its peak, the collection had over 34K ETH in volume in a single day, while popular collections BAYC and MAYC had slightly over 1.1K ETH in trading volume combined on the same day.
As for its utility, holders have access to channels in the PROOF Discord server, a so-called “nesting” feature that rewards owners with extra benefits for staking the NFTs long-term, as well as an upcoming metaverse initiative.
Meanwhile, all mint funds and secondary sale royalties are being channeled into the PROOF Collective treasury. This will be used to fund future initiatives like an NFT conference scheduled for 2023, create content, and other exclusive experiences.
NFTs Are Pioneering a New Wave of “Creator-First” Companies
Footer Scriptsmic has propelled the creator economy to new levels, making it increasingly easier for creators to monetize their work. Collective Intelligence Labs, in its “Creator economy report: Navigating a post pandemic world,” explores how the creator economy boomed in 2021 following renewed interest in blockchain, cryptocurrency and NFTs.
According to the company, the decentralized landscape has changed the game for both creators and their fans. While fans are rewarded for their engagement, typically via digital collectibles that hold unique perks, creators can “own the relationship with their audience like never before.” Alex Shkor, DEIP CEO/Co-Founder, CIL Protocol Architect, said:
“Тhe whole purpose of Web 3.0 is to enable a decentralized creator economy аnd all the tech for this already exists. We just need to foster adoption of these technologies in real industries, in creative industries, for the assets produced by creators. It will not only increase liquidity of the creator economy assets, it will also open a flow of capital to creators.”
Data suggests that the total value of NFT-based art grew to about $1 billion between July 2018 and mid-2020. However, CIL notes that the hype around NFTs will likely die down.
“The hype around NFTs is most likely temporary, and the system itself won’t change until the decentralized platforms are fully operational and used.”
NBA Goes All-in on NFTs, Teases Ethereum-Based Playoffs NFTs
Following the success of NBA Top Shot, the NBA might be looking to double down on its NFT and Web3 efforts.
Over a week ago, the NBA created a new Twitter account called NBAxNFT, with the aim of “showcasing all things intersecting basketball and Web3, including NFTs, gaming, and the metaverse.” A few days later, the league launched a Discord server and has teased new Ethereum-based collectibles tied to this season’s playoffs. As of press time, the new Discord server already had more than 45,000 members.
Dapper Labs’ NBA Top Shot is undoubtedly one of the biggest NFT projects to date. The collection, which produces and sells video clips of basketball highlights in the form of NFTs, has on one hand pushed NFTs into the mainstream, and on the other helped teams worldwide realize the importance and opportunities available in the Web3 space. Now it appears the NBA is looking to expand into other NFTs and Web3 initiatives, including Ethereum NFTs.
“To tip things off, we’re working on an NFT project to celebrate the NBA Playoffs […] We’re not quite ready to announce the specifics just yet—that’ll come soon.”
The NBA, in its Discord server, explained that the new initiative is not focused on a single NFT release, but on a variety of projects in the Web3 space. The announcement read:
“This Discord server (like @NBAxNFT on Twitter) is the NBA’s official home for basketball and Web3 fans to engage, interact, and learn more about current and future NBA projects and partnerships.This is not limited to any single NFT project. It’s a space for this community to connect on the things they are passionate about.”
The first 10,000 members to join the server will be able to join an allowlist, which is a “guaranteed access to mint an NFT from this project.” Excluding transaction costs on the Ethereum network, the NFTs will be free to mint.
Meanwhile, considering the fact that the new project is tapping on Ethereum, theirs is a likelihood that Dapper Labs and its NBA Top Shot will not be directly involved. For clarity, Dapper Labs created its own blockchain platform called “Flow” to handle high-volume transactions after Ethereum buckled during the CryptoKitties craze in late 2017. NBA Top Shot is built on Flow.
Nouns DAO Rallies Around NFT Fundraiser for the Indie Film “Calladita”
Nouns DAO, the decentralized autonomous organization behind the Nouns NFT project, has backed the crowdfunding effort for indie film Calladita in a move that will see its NFT showcased on-screen.
The DAO supported the feature film to the tune of 6.9 ETH ($21,000) in a deal that has been described as the organization’s first on-chain proposal to fund a film. As part of the deal, a Noun NFT will be showcased in the film and one of the characters in Calladita will put on the pixelated Nouns Glasses associated with Nouns DAO's NFTs. Furthermore, the DAO will be featured in the credits as an Associate Producer, being the second-largest backer of the film. Miguel Faus, the award-winning screenwriter, director and producer behind the film, announced the funding on Twitter.
As for the movie, Calladita is gearing up to become one of the first feature films to be entirely backed by NFTs. The project is based on Faus' short film of the same name, "Calladita," which follows the story of a young, Colombian domestic worker called Ana.
Calladita stars the likes of two-time Goya award winner Antonio de la Torre, "The Newsroom" actress Emily Mortimer, and Paula Grimaldo, replays her role as Ana from the short film. And as expected, the movie also incorporates other elements of the digital collectibles market. For instance, Mortimer is a major NFT merchant.
As reported by CoinMarketCap in its “Weekly NFT Roundup” last month, Faus had earlier turned to NFTs for capital. Back then the director argued that issuing NFTs was a more economical way to raise capital than traditional crowdfunding models.
As earlier reported, Faus will reward backers with NFTs, including stills and videos from the original short film, as well as a one-off unique four-minute film centered on the Ana character.
Solana NFTs Head to Rarible Following OpenSea Debut
Earlier this month, the long-rumored debut of Solana NFTs on OpenSea finally became a reality. But Solana NFTs are not stopping at just the world’s most popular NFT marketplace. OpenSea rival Rarible has announced that its planned integration of Solana NFTs is now live.
According to a release last week, Solana NFTs will begin to appear on the Rarible trading platform “in the coming weeks.”
It is worth mentioning that Rarible is more of a multi-chain protocol than a default NFT marketplace, supporting blockchains like Ethereum, Flow, Tezos and Polygon.
In addition to the support for Solana NFTs, Rarible has partnered with one of the most popular collections on Solana, the Degenerate Ape Academy (DAA). The protocol will help DAA to create a custom marketplace to support its degen ecosystem, including Degenerate Trash Pandas and Degenerate Ape Kindergarten. Notably, a percentage of every sale from the marketplace will go directly to the Degen DAOO (the Degeniverse’s decentralized autonomous organization).
In general, the latest integration and foray into the Solana space does not come as a surprise. Back in November, Rarible’s CEO and co-founder Alexei Falin told reporters that Solana was on its roadmap.
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