Non-Fungible Thursdays: What Happened in NFTs This Week? [April 7, 2022]

Here’s a rundown of some of the hottest NFT news over the past week.

NFT Market Up 59% in the Last 30 Days

Magic Eden To Accept Tokens From Top Solana NFT Projects DeGods and Aurory

Magic Eden, currently the largest NFT marketplace on the Solana network, will integrate the native tokens from top Solana NFT projects, beginning with DeGods and Aurory. Consequently, customers on the platform will be able to buy any NFT on its marketplace with DeGods’ DUST token or Aurory’s native AURY token.

Speaking to reporters, Magic Eden’s head of content and marketing Tiffany Huang said that the tokens can be used in place of Solana once added. Commenting on the move to integrate the tokens of native Solana projects, she said:

“We wanted to get those projects really excited that they could use those tokens on our site. We didn’t see any other marketplace doing this, so we thought it was a huge opportunity.”

More so-called Solana “blue chip” NFT collections are expected to come on board. But in the meantime, only DUST and AURY have been confirmed. According to Huang, the rollout for the two first tokens should be expected in the next few weeks.

Grammy-winning Producer Illmind Taps on NFTs To Transform the Music Industry

The top producer, who has worked with stars like Drake, Ye, Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar and 50 Cent, recently debuted his NFT collection called “Squad of Knights.” The project is aimed at connecting and mentoring upcoming musical talents.

Speaking to Decrypt at NFTLA, Illmind shared the story of his entry into the NFT space back in 2020. He said:

“Being a music producer, everything we do is digital […] So when I heard about NFTs, and hearing that it was sort of like this way to provide authenticity for a digital file, I was immediately curious […] and then I decided to release an NFT of a sample pack—of an audio pack—which is basically a collection of 10 original melodies.”

His first attempt at tokenizing assets was an immediate success. According to the producer, sound packs typically sell for around $30. However, his collection was sold for about $15,700 in February 2021 when presented in the form of an NFT.

Now, Illmind is looking to achieve more with his 8,888 NFTs called “Knights.” The digital tokens will serve as membership passes to an upcoming community of musicians – singers, producers, sound engineers, etc. According to the producer, the initiative is not geared towards making any profit, since 100% of the proceeds from music created through the community will go to holders.

Knight NFT holders will be able to earn $KNIGHT tokens for completing collaboration challenges. These tokens can then be used to redeem various rewards such as access to studio recording sessions.

Meanwhile, the senior vice president of A&R and marketing for RCA Records at Sony Music, Jonathan Master, is involved in the project, creating the possibility of collaborations with traditional record labels.

Speaking of traditional labels, Illmind does not see them disappearing anytime soon.

“It can’t be a war … that’s not sustainable […] We need to either obliterate the system and create a new one, or figure out a way for them to coexist, and I think that’s going to take a few years […] I would personally want to obliterate them.”

Ice Cube’s BIG3 Basketball League To Offer Ownership Stakes via NFTs

Co-founded by rapper and actor Ice Cube in 2017, the BIG3 basketball league is taking a new approach to team ownership. The 3-on-3 league will tap on NFTs to fractionalize team ownership.

The league currently owns all of its 12 teams. However, in the near future, NFT holders will be able to lay claim to a portion of the business. Each of the 12 teams will have 1,000 digital collectibles split into two tiers - 25 "Fire" NFTs at $25,000 apiece, and 975 "Gold" NFTs at $5,000 per.

Speaking to reporters, Ice Cube said that the advent of NFTs has made it a lot easier to distribute ownership to a much wider audience, including small-time investors.

“The NFT blockchain revolution hit, so to speak, and we were like: ‘Yo, do we want just some fat cats coming around buying teams that we gotta deal with?’ This is a great way for the fans to be owners. And so, it's a no-brainer for me. I'm all about changing the game and shifting the paradigm.”

BIG3 NFT holders will enjoy perks like the ability to vote on team matters, VIP experiences, tickets to all BIG3 games, and exclusive merchandise. The $25,000 Fire NFT, however, comes with added benefits, such as licensing rights to create merchandise upon approval from the league. If approved, the league will take a cut from the merchandise sales.

Other holder perks include whitelist access to future NFT sales, as well as strategy calls from Ice Cube, NBA legend Clyde Drexler,and Kwatinetz.

Netz Capital Acquires Trouble-laden Pudgy Penguins NFT Collection for $2.5 Million

Pudgy Penguins, a collection of 8,888 Ethereum-based collectibles, has been purchased by Netz Capital’s Luca Netz for 750 ETH, or roughly $2.5 million.

The NFT project has gone through a series of community turmoil, including an ousted leadership before it was eventually sold to Netz last week.

Cole confirmed to reporters that he and three other founders were no longer linked with the project. He said:

“The original team wanted to see our creation go to the next level and we felt Luca has the connections and experience to do that.”

As a backstory, Pudgy Penguins made its debut in July 2021, minting 8,888 NFTs at a price of 0.03 ETH apiece. The founding team pitched several rewards to holders, including a game, a token, and books. However, the project went on for months with little to no action.

Some community members have called out Cole for his style of leadership, with known Pudgy Penguins whale 9x9x9 describing the project as a “sinking ship.”

“Cole is the reflection of the lack of trust and transparency between the founders and community of the project. Removing Cole is like eating a painkiller when you have cancer.”

As for the new leadership, the announcement has already generated some response in secondary sales volume. Within 24 hours post-announcement, sales volume climbed to $1.8 million, up 26% from the previous day. The floor price of a Penguin also climbed to 2.98 ETH, from around 0.7 ETH. Number of transactions and unique buyers peaked at 324 and 173 respectively.

Interestingly, we see that unique addresses holding the NFT is still on a down trend. It’s certainly too early to tell what impact and changes the new team will bring but it’s one worth keeping an eye on.

NFT Platform Fractal Raises $35M From Coinbase, Animoca and Other Top Investors

“Taking a page out of our playbook from when we launched Twitch, we decided that Fractal would focus on being the best friend to blockchain gaming studios. We've seen an abundance of interest in the mints we've launched. Every mint that we've launched has sold out […] We think games are how the next 100 million users get onboarded into crypto. With this new capital, we'll be focused on building out our engineering team and making the best product possible for gaming companies who want to build around blockchain and turn their games into truly open economies.”

Blockchain.com ups its NFT Game, Enables NFT Usernames for its 82 Million Wallets

If you’ve ever tried to send or receive cryptocurrencies, you’d agree that wallet addresses are quite complex to read. Thankfully, things are about to change for the 82 million users of crypto wallet-cum-exchange Bitcoin.com

Following integration with Unstoppable Domains, Bitcoin.com will now allow customers to skip alphanumeric addresses in favor of NFT usernames. Consequently, users can purchase one of ten domain name extensions and use them as their Blockchain.com wallets.

For example, instead of sending Ethereum to an address of this nature “0xef301920b9ead886945f53cd6f0808784b38c0ce,” you can easily send funds to Joe.crypto or John.nft. Blockchain.com senior product manager Amadeo Pellicce in a press release said:

“Replacing complicated addresses with human readable domains on Blockchain.com allows users to send and receive crypto as easily as sending an email.”

Samsung Teams up With Nifty Gateway on NFT-Supported Smart TVs

Imagine being able to browse, display and trade NFTs directly from your TV set. Well, Samsung is working to make this a reality. The tech firm has entered into a partnership with Nifty Gateway that would see the addition of NFT functionality to its 2022 range of QLED sets.

Consumers who own Frame and Micro LED TVs will also be able to download the Nifty Gateway app to gain access to the new features, which taps into Nifty Gateway’s custodial wallet system. Moreover, collectors will be able to purchase NFTs using credit or debit cards, as well as cryptocurrency. Griffin Cock Foster told reporters:

"Through our partnership with Samsung, one of the global leaders of electronics, together we will expose millions of mainstream users to NFTs […] Last year, NFTs had a breakthrough moment specifically for the art industry. Creators and collectors were able to see the power of this technology. This year, we hope to see continued growth from mainstream consumers by providing for the first time ever a seamless way to buy and collect NFTs.”