Weekly Roundup: What Happened in Play2Earn Games and NFTs This Week? [Oct. 29, 2021]
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Weekly Roundup: What Happened in Play2Earn Games and NFTs This Week? [Oct. 29, 2021]

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CoinMarketCap takes a look at some of the most prominent play-to-earn and NFT events, from SuperRare's record month, to entertainment icons and pro sports leagues venturing into NFTs.

Weekly Roundup: What Happened in Play2Earn Games and NFTs This Week? [Oct. 29, 2021]

Índice

As the non-fungible token (NFT) and play-to-earn (P2E) industry continues to grow, professional sports leagues are now more receptive to the idea, according to the company behind NBA Top Shot and NFL NFTs. And, in addition to new celebrities hopping on the NFT trend every week, the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has also joined the party. 

Find out more about all the exciting play-to-earn and NFT news over the past week.

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WWE Teams up With Fox Entertainment Blockchain Division

A number of renowned brands have jumped on the NFT bandwagon, and it appears WWE is one of the latest to join the party.

The World Wrestling Entertainment, WWE, has inked a deal with the Blockchain Creative Labs division of Fox Entertainment to debut a new line of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Earlier this year, Fox Entertainment’s Blockchain Creative Labs released an NFT lineup based on the popular singing competition — The Masked Singer. The WWE collection will also be launched on the Eluvio blockchain.

It is worth mentioning that the WWE NFTs will be the first one from Blockchain Creative Labs that is not based on a property owned by Fox Entertainment. Recall that back in 2018, WWE entered into a five-year media and broadcasting deal with Fox.

It is obvious that Fox is actively spreading its tentacles into the NFT space. In June, the company disclosed a $100 million investment in its new blockchain division. On the part of the WWE, the entertainment firm had previously dabbled into the NFT space through the launch of Undertaker collectibles in April.

Meanwhile, collectors will need to create an NFT vault through Eluvio. They can purchase the NFTs using cryptocurrencies, debit cards and credit cards.

Commenting on the development, Scott Zanghellini, WWE’s senior vice president of revenue, strategy and development, said in a press release:

“This new partnership allows us to deepen our relationship with FOX, as we continue to explore new and creative ways to engage our passionate fanbase.”

NFT Marketplace SuperRare Posts Impressive Record Monthly Sales

OpenSea is undoubtedly the reigning king of NFT marketplaces. However, several other platforms are beginning to spring up to challenge its supremacy or capture a share of the market. SuperRare is one such platform.

The Ethereum NFT marketplace focused on single-edition artwork has recorded its best month in terms of total sales to date. With only a few days left in October, SuperRare has already seen a monthly NFT trading volume of more than $31 million, according to data curated by Dune Analytics. The new figure beats its previous March record of around $29.5 million.

Interestingly, the number of active users on the platform in October is half of what it was in March. An increase in the average sale price has boosted the platform’s trading volume, with the average from the last 1,000 sales standing at 12.1 ETH (about $50,300).

It is worth mentioning that Starry Night Capital, a $100 million NFT-collecting fund by Three Arrows Capital and renowned collector Vincent Van Dough, accounts for nearly half of SuperRare’s total trading volume in this month.

Starry Night Capital is focused on acquiring top-tier NFTs that it believes will appreciate in value over time. For instance, it purchased a piece on SuperRare from XCOPY over the weekend. The artwork — called “Dankrupt” — was purchased for 469 ETH, or $1.9 million at the time of writing.

Apart from Starry Night, American rapper and NFT sensation Snoop Dogg purchased a piece from XCOPY on SuperRare in late September. Dogg spent a record $3.9 million on the piece.

Finally, despite its seemingly impressive stats, SuperRare’s monthly figures are still a drop in the bucket compared to the trading volume of NFT marketplace OpenSea. In the last two months, OpenSea has handled more than $3 billion in trading volume. However, while OpenSea is more open to the general NFT market, SuperRare is carving a niche for itself from single-edition NFTs. The latter’s user base has an air of exclusivity around it.

FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried Is Yet to Wrap his Head Around the NFT Mania

Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is perplexed by the ongoing frenzy around NFTs. He admitted that he is yet to fully understand why the demand for NFTs is so high.

Speaking to Axios, the CEO explained that he is struggling to grasp the “visual aesthetics” of artwork in general. He said:

"I personally don’t understand the appeal of a Rembrandt painting. So, when I see NFTs, part of me is like… I don’t get the appeal of some of these."

Interestingly, despite his limited understanding of the sector, his exchange has dabbled into the NFT waters. Last month, FTX launched its NFT marketplace right after Bankman-Fried released his own NFT auction. His NFT was an image depicting the handwritten word “test,” and it sold for a whopping $270,000 on FTX.US.

While questioning Bankman-Fried’s NFT, the Axios reporter compared his handwritten JPEG to Mona Lisa. He replied, “Well, how about those paintings that are like six lines that cross with each other, how much would that be worth? I think they all look dumb to me.”

Dapper Labs: Pro Sports Leagues Are More Receptive to NFTs

NFTs are still the rave of the moment, and according to Dapper Labs, sports leagues are now buying into the NFT concept following the success of NBA Top Shot.

Although non-fungible tokens are not new in the crypto space, their popularity skyrocketed in 2021. From Beeple’s First 5000 days collection, which sold at a whopping $69.3 million to CryptoPunks selling for millions of dollars, the sector appears to be the latest cash cow.
In the past year, the entire NFT industry has evolved drastically. Confirming how receptive sports leagues are to NFT propositions, Dapper's head of partnerships Caty Tedman said at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit on Monday that “the conversation has shifted dramatically, where I think there's a little bit of an understanding that there's something here. I meet very little resistance these days that NFTs are a thing." 

He added:

"We were lucky to start with the NBA [...] At that time, it was a lot of explanation and we spent a lot of time with lawyers and people in finance to talk about what does it look like to have secondary revenue, you don't have secondary revenue on merchandise... what does it look like to have ownership in perpetuity of assets for consumers... NBA Top Shot has proven that there's something there."

Crypto Advocates Urge Valve to Reconsider its Ban on Crypto and NFT Games

Steam, which is undoubtedly one of the largest digital marketplaces for PC games, recently banned games with crypto and NFT elements. Several crypto game developers and blockchain advocates have stepped forward to speak against the decision.
The digital rights group Fight for the Future, for instance, released an open letter to Valve. It urged the Steam creator not to ban crypto-based games from its marketplace. Several others have joined the call for reconsideration, including NFT gaming infrastructure platform Enjin, the Blockchain Game Alliance and 26 blockchain game studios.

The Blockchain Game Alliance includes members like Ubisoft, Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Polygon, Atari, and The Sandbox publisher Animoca Brands.

An excerpt from the letter reads:

“Valve, web3 games are a fast-moving and exciting category of games that have a place within the Steam ecosystem. Please consider changing your stance on this issue and permit tokens and, more broadly, the use of blockchain tech on the Steam platform. Don’t ban blockchain-based games on Steam.”

Timbaland Launches his own Music NFTs

From American actress Lindsay Lohan to rapper Snoop Dogg, we’ve definitely not seen the last of celebrities cashing out from the NFT mania. Famed musician and producer, Timothy “Timbaland” Mosley has also joined the bandwagon.

Timbaland will not just be releasing his own music NFTs. He will be breaking the songs into NFT chunks that can be mixed and matched to create new jams.

Scheduled to launch on November 2, the NFT collection is built around tracks from his upcoming EP, the “Opera Noir.” Each track in the extended play record has been divided into several individual elements, including stems, hooks, and beats. They will be auctioned off individually as Ethereum NFTs.

Meanwhile, collectors who are able to grab at least two of the NFTs will be able to access a web-based mixing app that will allow them to plug in and manipulate the components of the NFTs to create a custom remix.

Bored Ape Yacht Club #8817 Sold for a Record $3.4 Million

Since its entry to the NFT scenes, the NFT collection of Bored Ape Yacht Club has remained a major hit, notching nearly a billion dollars in secondary market sales.

The rarest avatars in the set have continued to break new records. Earlier this week, a Bored Ape (#8817) sold for $3.4 million at Sotheby’s Natively Digital 1.2 online auction. The new record broke the previous high of $2.9 million from September.
Rarity Tools lists the latest sale as the third-rarest gold fur ape in the collection of 10,000 ape-looking avatars. It is ranked 17th in the series in terms of combined rarity and was sold by Jim “j1mmy” Mcnelis, an NFT creator and entrepreneur.

‘DeFi Rabbit Hole’ NFT Cover From The Economist Sells for $419K

Following the massive attention its “Alice in Wonderland” themed DeFi cover received from the crypto community, The Economist has leaped even further into the NFT space. 

On Tuesday, the news publication sold a one-of-one NFT cover for 99.9 ETH, or nearly $419,000 at the time of writing. The cover titled “Down the rabbit hole: The promise and perils of decentralized finance,” depicts an illustration by Sir John Tenniel from “Alice in Wonderland.” It was adapted for Web3 display by digital artist Justin Metz.

More traditional brands are beginning to embrace cryptocurrencies and NFTs in particular. The sale marks the first foray by the 178-year-old brand into the NFT market. According to the publication, the auction is an experiment aimed at helping its audience to better understand NFTs. They wrote in a post last week:

“We have always written about the potential of technology to change the world, be it self-driving cars or gene therapies. NFTs, and the crypto infrastructure they sit on, could transform finance. By minting and selling our own NFT, we are experiencing this first-hand."

The Economist will also be retaining a 10% royalty stake in the cover. Proceeds from the auction and all other future sales will go to an independent charity, the Economist Educational Foundation.

Baseball Legend Willie Mays Releases NFT Collection on Nifty Gateway

Willie Mays has collaborated with the Costacos Collection to release a series of NFTs celebrating his roots, life and career.

The launch, which comes right at the heels of the 117th World Series this month, is dedicated to the Baseball Hall of Famer — his life and career, from playing in the Negro American League to bagging the Rookie of the Year title with the New York Giants in 1951. The collection was released on October 24, commemorating Mays’ 90th birthday celebration.

All proceeds from the drop will go to the Mays’ Say Hey Foundation, which will then be used to establish a baseball academy for underprivileged Alabama youths, as well as to restore the historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham.

"I've never forgotten the people who supported me, taught me, and helped me find my way. I want every child to have the same chances that I had, and this gives me a way to do that starting in my original hometown."

Top 10 NFT Collections by Trading Volume for the Last 7 Days

The NFT space has had quite an interesting week. CryptoPunks is this week’s best-performing NFT collection, having seen a trading volume of $35 million from 69 sales. Along with the volume, which increased by 21% over the past 7 days, the number of sales increased by 25%.

Coming in at second place is the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection. It recorded a trading volume of $23 million from 130 sales. Meanwhile, Doodles generated $19 million from 2,707 sales.

Other NFT collections that have performed quite well over the past week include JUNGLE FREAKS BY TROSLEY, Boonji Project, Kaiju Kingz, Party Ape, CyberKongz, HeadDAO and CrypToadz by GREMPLIN.

In terms of the number of weekly sales, Boonji Project is currently leading the pack with 5,177 sales. It is followed by Doodles and Party Ape, which saw volumes of 2,707 and 2,892, respectively.

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