In this weekly roundup, CoinMarketCap takes a look at some of the most prominent Play-to-Earn and NFT events, from Ripple's $250M Creator Fund, to a NFT PFP verification feature on Twitter.
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Ripple Launches $250M Creator Fund to Support NFT Projects
The San Francisco-based blockchain firm has launched a $250 million “Creator Fund” geared towards providing financial and technical support for NFT creators and developers.
Interestingly, Ripple is betting big on its XRP Ledger to provide lower transactions and sustainability to new projects in the NFT space. While creators are faced with “the fear their NFTs won’t sell and a lack of understanding when it comes to navigating NFT concepts,” developers “are often burdened with high gas fees and clunky user experiences on NFT marketplaces or platforms.” Ripple’s Creator Fund hopes to help a lending hand while luring positioning itself as a possible contender to Ethereum and other similar blockchains.
Creator of “The Sims” Is About to Launch a Memory-based NFT Game
Over a decade after launching the legendary “The Sims,” Will Wright is back to grace the streets of the gaming world. However, this time around, the video game designer will be exploring Artificial Intelligence (AI), blockchain technology, and his experience on NFTs.
The new game, known as “Proxi,” is based on a simulation that is powered by AI. Players will be taken on a journey of self-discovery that is further enhanced by introducing the concept of true ownership of in-game digital assets.
Proxi was developed by Wright and his new team, named Gallium Studios. Players begin by creating an individual diorama of memories from thousands of in-game items. Gradually, a unique avatar is generated for a player that allows them to interact with other players. According to the Gallium team, it will be helping players along the way to “gain more insights about their subconscious.”
Much like popular games like Fortnite and Roblox, Proxi is focused on user-generated content but with an element of NFTs. The tokens will function as receipts for provably scarce digital items that can be resold to other players in the game. Users own their own memory creations as NFTs and can even profit from the sale of user-generated items within the game.
The game is set to launch on mobile devices by this fall.
DeFi-based NFT Project Aavegotchi Set to Launch on Ethereum, Promises 3X Trading Rewards
Aavegotchi, a DeFi-focused NFT protocol on Aave, will be launching its bridge to Ethereum on Monday, October 4. Consequently, the project will be incentivizing participation on the NFT marketplace Rarible for trading Aavegotchis in its Ethereum-based platform.
Similar to CryptoKitties, Aavegotchis are game avatars that can be used as collateral for staking and earning rewards. Each token has a unique set of properties in the form of body color and personality. The tokens have a pixelated ghost appearance.
“Having Aavegotchis available on both networks offers a huge boost to the collectability of these otherwise playable NFTs.”
Meanwhile, Rarible will be offering trading incentives on Aavegotchis on this platform. Between October 4 and October 18, the NFT marketplace will be offering 3 times trading rewards to users.
Commenting to CMC on the collaboration between Aavegotchi and Rarible, Aavegotchi summoner Jesse (aka gldnXross) said: “Both having very active DAOs, Aavegotchi and Rarible share a strong dedication to decentralization. That’s very important when considering partners for major events like this debut on Ethereum.”
Meanwhile, Alexander Salnikov co-founder and head of product at Rarible remarked: “At Rarible, we are always looking to provide the best experience to the community. And they love play2earn, they love Aavegotchi! It’s a great match, and I’m excited to see talented teams that share our values coming to Rarible.com.”
DC Comics to Give out Millions of Free NFTs During its FanDome 2021 Streaming Event
If you missed out on getting a CryptoPunk for free in 2017, you might still have a chance to own an NFT of one of the characters of DC Comics.
The 2020 streaming event reportedly pulled a massive crowd of 22 million viewers last fall. This year might even be bigger since the company is offering to give out some NFTs.
The WarnerMedia-owned DC has teamed up with Palm NFT Studio to create its first collection of NFTs tied to the upcoming streaming event scheduled to hold in October. All the NFTs are free for individuals who register to attend the DC FanDome 2021 streaming on October 16.
Participants will begin to receive their tokens starting October 5. Users can also unlock a second stage of free NFTs by sharing the word about the event on social media. According to DC’s Publisher and Chief Creative Officer Jim Lee:
“We spent a lot of time on how to translate and adapt these classic covers into a 21st-century format such as NFTs […] This drop pays homage to our 87-year history while visualizing a future in which NFTs play a foundational role in novel ways of interacting with DC content and unlocking new experiences.”
Snoop Dogg Splashes $3.9 Million on XCOPY Ethereum NFT
Days after revealing that he is behind the notable pseudonymous NFT collector, Cozomo de Medici, American rapper and entertainer Snoop Dogg has acquired another high-value NFT.
“Welcome ‘Some Asshole’ to the Medici villa. Let's hope he's polite at Nonna's Sunday dinner […] Honored to acquire XCOPY's 1st published character piece & #7 mint on SuperRare.”
Looking at the history of the art, it was sold for 100 ETH back in March. Before that, it sold for 25 ETH in September 2020, which was about $8,200 back then.
Solana’s Metaplex Studios Welcomes New CEO to Grow its NFT Ecosystem
Solana-based NFT platform Metaplex Studios has named a new CEO and other team members dedicated to growing its ecosystem.
While Adam Jeffries, the former Citadel and Google executive, has been appointed as the new CEO, a number of other strategic advisors, including CoinShares’ chief strategy officer Meltem Demirors, have come on board.
Metaplex is an open-source platform that allows creators to mint and auction NFTs. The protocol has already powered more than 2 million Solana transactions from several NFT sales. It hopes to lower the fees charged by centralized platforms for NFT sales.
Jeffries is quite optimistic about his new role and the future of NFTs. He said:
“NFTs present a very unique opportunity for the millions of artists, makers, and creators around the world. For the first time, they will be empowered to take ownership of their content, how it’s distributed and how they’re compensated for it […]This value proposition has already attracted 500 plus makers who want to launch an NFT marketplace on Metaplex and we are extremely excited to be the bridge that brings original, never-before-seen content to the metaverse.”
NFT Collectors Are Using Nansen AI's NFT Leaderboard to Trade
Nansen’s NFT leaderboard features a comprehensive set of tools for examining top collectors’ behavior while giving access to the best-performing NFT collections. It has grown to become one of the popular options that collectors use to find hot NFT trends before they hit social media.
Yearn.Finance Creator Andre Cronje Debuts NFT Marketplace
That being said, his NFT platform looks and functions just like OpenSea. It, however, does not charge any commissions on trade and will eventually support ERC-721 tokens just like OpenSea.
The platform was deployed on the Fantom blockchain, making it significantly lesser to mint tokens on Artion. For some perspective, while it costs several hundred dollars to mint NFTs on Ethereum, depending on the status of the network, it costs just $1.3 to mint and NFT on Fantom.
According to Cronje, his motivation is not the money, instead, “it’s about sending a message.” The real question is will Artion be able to take the market away from OpenSea?
Dapper Labs on its New NFL NFTs: They will be “Very Different” From NBA Top Shot
Although the details are still sketchy, the NFL marketplace is expected to launch between now and February 2022. And just like NBA Top Shot, the marketplace will run on Dapper’s Flow blockchain and possibly focus on highlight moments from real NFL games.
NFT Avatar Verification Is Coming to Twitter
Days after launching its Bitcoin tipping feature, social media giant Twitter has given a sneak peek into what could become the world’s first social media verified NFT profiles.
Top 10 NFT Collections by Trading Volume for the Last 7 Days
Art Blocks Curated has secured the second position with $35 million and 959 in weekly volume and sales, respectively.
Meanwhile, LOSTPOETS, which is a newcomer on the list, is sitting at the third spot, having recorded a weekly volume of $25 million from 5,478 sales.
Other projects that made the top-10 list (in descending order) include GalacticApes, Art Blocks Playground, Cool Cats, Bored Ape Yacht Club, CrypToadz, Creature World, and Lazy Lions.
In terms of the number of sales over the past seven days, Winter Bears, GalacticApes, and Crypto.Chicks are currently taking the lead with total weekly sales of 9,442, 9,372, and 7,352, respectively.