CoinMarketCap and Nansen look at some of the most exciting events in the NFT space — from Cool Cats signing a deal with a Hollywood agency, to Madonna entering the metaverse with a Bored Ape.
Ukraine’s NFT museum showcasing events from its ongoing war with Russia has gone live. And of course, the Queen of Pop, Madonna has finally grabbed her own Bored Ape for over $500k.
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NFTs Largely Trading Sideways Over the Past 7 Days
However, there’s always a bull market somewhere and certain collections have made strong moves the past week. Azuki’s floor is up 26% the last 7 days, and an impressive 58% the past month. Nansen’s NFT index and various NFT dashboards are available for free if you sign up for a Nansen Lite account.
Hackers Siphon $625M From Ronin, the Blockchain Behind Popular NFT Game Axie Infinity
Investigations reveal that the hackers were able to hijack five out of nine validator nodes on the network. This allowed them to withdraw large amounts of funds unnoticed. Ronin explained:
“Sky Mavis’ Ronin chain currently consists of 9 validator nodes. In order to recognize a Deposit event or a Withdrawal event, five out of the nine validator signatures are needed. The attacker managed to get control over Sky Mavis’s four Ronin Validators and a third-party validator run by Axie DAO […] The validator key scheme is set up to be decentralized so that it limits an attack vector, similar to this one, but the attacker found a backdoor through our gas-free RPC node, which they abused to get the signature for the Axie DAO validator.
NFT LA, the Largest Gathering of NFT Builders and Enthusiasts, Goes Live This Week
The event, which is scheduled to run from March 28 – 31, features some of the most notable players in the scenes, including top artists and entertainers. Among the star-studded list of more than 200 speakers are shark tank billionaire Mark Cuban, celebrity DJ Steve Aoki, co-founder and chairman of Animoca Brands Yat Siu, and Avery Akkineni, the president of Gary Vaynerchuk’s Vayner NFT.
Eathan Janney, one of the speakers and co-host of Edge of NFT, said:
“It’s more than just exciting that so many bright personalities and thinkers in both entertainment and Web3 innovation are coming together for this event – it’s also critical that we use this unique venue provided by the people behind NFT LA to exchange idea so we can build a world that can benefit from advances in digital-asset technology like NFTs.”
The four-day event will feature music, entertainment, parties, and of course NFT-related discussion. There will be performances by musical sensations like Sir Mix-a-Lot, the rap star of Baby Got Back.
More than 3,000 people are expected to attend the event, which is expected to be the largest of its kind ever held in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Jeff Kelley, Edge Co-Founder, said the goal was to bring NFTs to a much wider audience.
“A key theme here is to bring the energy of NFTs to a broader audience – doing so in a way that reflects the utility of this groundbreaking technology by getting industry leaders and prominent influencers together to elevate ideas that can help transform entertainment in a way that is more beneficial to both users and consumers.”
Ukraine Makes Real its NFT Museum of War
“We're building Meta History: Museum of War. Never Forget This. 100% of raised funds are sent to @mintsyfra wallets for the support of Ukrainian army and civilians. We can't let these events be forgotten.”
The museum, which features only NFTs, chronicles the events in the war between both nations, including personal reflections from digital artists from across the globe. Tweets from politicians, news sources and government departments are accompanied by pieces of artwork. The collection has been dubbed "the first-ever government-backed NFT," and a statement added:
"Looking back at the developments and horror that took the world by surprise last month, the importance of transparency and information has become obvious. Censorship, misinformation and miscommunication lie at the heart of every media-driven campaign, with real impact on the life of civilians suffering the consequences of the day-to-day under armed conflict."
For a start, NFTs documenting the first three days of the invasion (from Feb. 24-26) will be sold on March 30. More NFTs from the “Warline” collection, priced at 0.15 ETH (around $500), will be up for sale shortly after.
Interestingly, the NFTs will remain unrevealed until after purchase. This means that buyers will have no clue of what they are paying for until they’ve purchased it. The museum clearly states that "you unveil the truth buying MetaHistory."
Cool Cats NFT Signs With CAA in Latest Licensing Push
“The world that we’re building is full of imagination and full of just things to explore […] It’s going to be more of an experience, rather than just a JPEG.”
Some notable Cool Cats holders include Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, actress Reese Witherspoon and celebrity DJ Steve Aoki.
74% of the NFTs have been held for at least 90 days and unique addresses are at all time highs of 5,379 addresses.
Although holders have the right to use their NFT images for various commercial purposes, including merchandise, the creators of Cool Cats hold the overall intellectual property.
XCOPY’s Open-Edition NFTs Sell Out in 10 Minutes, Rake in $23M
Digital artwork from pseudonymous crypto artist XCOPY has grown to become grail pieces in the NFT world, with some single-edition pieces selling for several million dollars. Last week, the artist released a more affordable open edition, which sold out in a few minutes.
XCOPY is undoubtedly one of the most successful artists in the NFT space, having recorded about $25 billion worth of total trading volume in 2021. The artist is known for his single-edition, 1-of-1 pieces.
Celebrity Chefs Debut NFT Collection Targeting Web3 Culinary Community
“Our industry was looking at how to reach consumers at their homes, because people couldn’t come to the restaurants anymore. I felt very left behind in the Web2 world, where we were forced to rely on third-party delivery systems like UberEats and GrubHub.”
CHFTY Pizzas is a collection of 2,777 profile pictures depicting an anthropomorphized pizza slice. The tokens were sold for 0.07 ETH or $210.
Holders will have access to a Discord community of notable chefs like Cat Cora, Rocco DiSpirito, Jeff Mauro, Top Chef winner Kristen Kish and Andrew Zimmern. The NFTs will also unlock other future perks such as live events and streaming classes from the chefs.
Interestingly, a portion of the mint and secondary sales will go to Big Green DAO, a food-focused decentralized autonomous organization recently launched by Elon Musk’s brother, Kimbal Musk.
While the collection generated a level of interest in the first 2-3 days after launching, volume has dropped significantly. At its peak, the collection had 728 transactions and 609 unique buyers but only had 18 transactions and 14 unique buyers on 30 March.
US Officials Nab NFT Creators Over ‘Rug Pull’
The case against Nguyen and Llacuna has set a precedent in the NFT space as this is the first known case of the Department of Justice relating to an NFT crime. U.S. attorney Damian Williams, in a release, said:
“NFTs have been around for several years, but recently mainstream interest has skyrocketed. Where there is money to be made, fraudsters will look for ways to steal it […] As we allege, Mr. Nguyen and Mr. Llacuna promised investors the benefits of the Frosties NFTs, but when it sold out, they pulled the rug out from under the victims, almost immediately shutting down the website and transferring the money […] Our job as prosecutors and law enforcement is to protect investors from swindlers looking for a payday.”
Embers is an ETH-based NFT collection featuring 5,555 profile pictures. The collectibles were scheduled to launch around March 26 and would have generated more than $1.5 million worth of ETH for the scammers if they had sold out.
Nguyen and Llacuna have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in addition to conspiracy to commit money laundering. They could spend up to 20 years in prison for each offense.
Queen of Pop Madonna Buys Bored Ape for $564K
With many celebrities thronging to own a Bored Ape, the ‘Queen of Pop,’ Madonna, has joined the bandwagon. The popular singer and songwriter purchased Bored Ape #4988 for 180 ETH or $564k last week.
Meanwhile, fans have gone agog following the announcement, with many suggesting names for her newly acquired BAYC NFT. One user wrote:
“This is cute, I like it. Btw, isn’t Evil Eye just a superstition? Noone is evil by nature. I would name her Pinky.”