CoinMarketCap takes a look at some of the most prominent play-to-earn and NFT events, from a DAO raising funds for lobbying efforts in Washington to NFTs descending upon NYC Times Square.
![Weekly Roundup: What Happened in Play2Earn Games and NFTs This Week? [Nov. 5, 2021]](https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/1c07f13ce8e748f6934a28583cca6f5b.jpg)
Beyond selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for high amounts, crypto lobbyists are now using them to raise funds for pro-crypto efforts. Meanwhile, the cartoon creations of an artist from the 1970s have come back to haunt his recently-launched NFT collection.
Find out more about all the exciting play-to-earn (P2E) and NFT news over the past week.
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Crypto Communities Turn to NFTs to Raise Funds and Boost Lobbying Efforts
— Universe.XYZ 🌌 (@universe_xyz) September 10, 2021Voting is live for 1000 ETH to @coincenter https://t.co/PlNWk2dl2K pic.twitter.com/VAqw6Uh3sP
There has been a lot of drama in the US crypto scenes, particularly around the government’s effort to increase regulatory scrutiny and capital gain taxes. On the flip side, crypto enthusiasts are doing all they can to kick against any stringent policies, including raising funds from NFTs.
Universe.xyz, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) for launching NFT projects, has channeled the proceeds from its NFT sales last month into crypto advocacy.
The DAO raised about $4 million from the sale of its Lobby Lobsters series, a collection of 10,000 Ethereum-based cartoon lobsters on September 5. The idea for the collection began as a Twitter conversation between Synthetix founder Kain Warwick and Uniswap creator Hayden Adams about the possibility of raising funds for crypto lobbying efforts by selling NFTs.
The idea was picked up by the Ethereum NFT marketplace — Universe. In a matter of weeks, its artists came up with the Lobby Lobsters series, and barely a month after the original Twitter discussion, the NFTs sold out in just 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, a DAO proposal was created to give the entire bounty to Coin Center, a Washington-based research and advocacy group. Members of the community were all in support of the group, making it the single largest donation Coin Center has ever received.
Commenting on the decision, the head of operations at Universe Mark Ward, said:
“It’s a really good feeling to know that we're making a difference and giving runway to the people who are out there fighting for us, and don't even really know us,” says Ward. “They're working all day and all night, doing their day jobs for crypto anons… They’re badass at heart.”
NFTs Takeover Times Square as Part of NFT.NYC Conference
— NFT.NYC (@NFT_NYC) November 3, 2021We like the cats #NFTNYC2021 https://t.co/nSGP6t24LT
Anyone following Crypto Twitter (CT) would have probably seen the flood of NFTs lighting up the famed billboards of New York City's Times Square by now.
The NFT community descended upon NYC as part of the NFT.NYC conference, which ran from Nov. 1 to Nov. 4, 2021 — and featured over 600 speakers, numerous launches, announcements, exclusive parties and even a Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) party on an actual yacht — as over 5,000 people celebrated everything NFTs.
The largest annual NFT conference drew all the biggest names in the space — from creators, protocol developers, investors, collectors, fans and public figures — but the talk of the town (or square) has to be Cozomo de' Medici, the pseudonymous account of Snoop Dogg, and his "The Medici Collection," with NFTs from the rapper's collection featured on billboards in Times Square.
— Sam Spratt (@SamSpratt) November 4, 2021man.
Birth of Luci up in Times Square
Thank you @CozomoMedici 🍷 this is special. pic.twitter.com/IL9LTZlLSD
Iconic film director Quentin Tarantino also made a splash during the event when he announced on Tuesday the exclusive launch of 7 "Pulp Fiction" NFTs, as a wider trend of mainstream names are being associated with NFTs. This exciting, hyper-growth space has truly exploded this year — few have heard of the term "non-fungible token" in the past year, while this event drew only 460 attendees in 2019.
NFT Frenzy Cools Down as OpenSea Trading Volume Drops by 12%
Although billions of dollars are still being spent on NFTs every month, the momentum of the market has been on a steady decline from its August peak.
Top NFT marketplaces along with several highly-coveted collections have seen a drop in monthly trading volume lately. According to data from Dune Analytics, the trading volume on leading NFT marketplace OpenSea saw a $400 million decline between August and September. Its transaction volumes fell from $3.4 billion in August to $3 billion in September. It dipped even further in October to $2.64 billion, representing a 12% month-over-month drop since August.
For some context, while OpenSea’s was a record single-day volume of nearly $323 million worth of transactions in August, its best single day in October saw $157 million worth of ETH volume.
Comparatively, the drop in trading volume has been much more gradual than its phenomenal rise in late summer. The value of sales on the platform jumped from about $329 million in July to the $3.4 billion figure in August.
Jungle Freaks NFT Collection Criticized for Artist’s old ‘Racist’ Drawings
Jungle Freaks, a new NFT project endorsed by Elijah Wood, has come under intense fire after racially charged cartoons drawn by the project’s artist in the 1970s came to light.
Launched by George Trosley, a former cartoonist for Hustler, the NFT collection consists of 10,000 zombies. Several high-profile investors have already abandoned ship, while others are dismissing the backlash as a case of “cancel culture” gone wrong.
During his time at the Hustler, Trosley created a series of racially provocative cartoons. Many years later, his work has come back to bite the father-and-son project that was endorsed by actor Elijah Wood on October 27.
While having a celebrity back your project is arguably one of the surest ways to gain attention, the endorsement from Wood did not go according to plan. The endorsement brought increased scrutiny from the eyes of the public, eventually forcing Woof to sell all his NFTs on Sunday and give the proceeds to different charities.
A larger selloff has trailed Wood’s fallout with the project. This caused the floor price of Jungle Freaks to plummet by 94%, crashing from 1.3 ETH ($5,614) to 0.29 ETH ($1,252). However, it is still up by 314% from the initial mint price of 0.07 ETH ($302).
Speaking to crypto news site Decrypt, Trosley debunked claims that his cartoons were racist. He explained:
“As a cartoonist, I was asked by my editor to illustrate topics that the magazine was focused on […] Hustler Magazine was known for publishing material that pushed the edge, many illustrations were drawn to evoke attention and conversations surrounding societal and political issues during that period.”
Trosley’s son also stepped into the matter in an attempt to calm the situation. He revealed that he and his father would be taking a LinkedIn course on anti-racism “in an attempt to understand others points [sic].” And in a later statement on Twitter, he apologized for his father’s actions and said that his family does not condone racism.
Surprisingly, the Trosleys tried to downplay the earlier apology in another video statement. According to them, the said cartoons depicted the “social injustices in America” at that time.
Quentin Tarantino’s NFT Collection Features Exclusive Perks For Owners Only
— 𝕊ecret Network - Nov 10th Supernova Mainnet 💥 (@SecretNetwork) November 2, 2021🚨 NEW on @CNBC 🚨
Quentin Tarantino is breaking into NFTs, thanks to Secret Network.
Seven uncut scenes from “Pulp Fiction” are being released as Secret NFTs, including original handwritten scripts and exclusive audio commentary from Tarantino himself. https://t.co/OaQLinUAIn
While there has been a lot of argument on why a JPEG that anyone can download with a simple right-click should cost millions of dollars, iconic American film director Quentin Tarantino is introducing an element of exclusivity into his latest "Pulp Fiction" inspired NFTs.
Launched on Secret Network, each NFT in the collection features bonus content that can only be viewed by its owner. Only the owner of each NFT will be able to view the bonus content, making it the first project to explore Secret Network’s Secret NFT technology.
The tech allows creators to choose which elements of their collectible they want to be accessible to the public and private to only the owners. Buyers, on the other hand, can also decide to make their ownership public or not.
The collection was created in collaboration with SCRT Labs, the core developer of Secret Network. Meanwhile, Tarantino will be launching a total of seven NFTs based on his 1994 movie “Pulp Fiction.” Each NFT features an uncut scene from the film, commentary from the director, original handwritten script pages, as well as details about the film and Tarantino himself.
They will be auctioned on OpenSea.
International Chess Federation set to Debut its own NFT marketplace
Ahead of the International Chess Federation World Championships scheduled to hold this month in Dubai, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) has announced that it will be launching an NFT marketplace dedicated to the sport of chess.
ChessNFT.com was developed in partnership with TON labs. The marketplace will feature collectible and digital art from iconic moments in chess. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich said in a press release that:
“FIDE has started an exciting and ambitious journey of digitalization to bring new experiences and opportunities to chess enthusiasts around the world. We are excited for one of the first steps to be a comprehensive NFT marketplace, coming right in time for the world championship match in Dubai.”
Andbox to Release NFTs That Unlock Unique Perks for Fans
— Moonwalk (@Moonwalk) November 2, 2021We are excited to announce our partnership with @andbox_official, New York’s flagship esports organization. @Moonwalk will be powering NFT communities for the @NYXL @Subliners, and the @andbox_official Valorant team #NFTNYC https://t.co/avNwPM6Je5
Andbox, the owners of the Call of Duty Esports team and a major player in the esports industry, is dipping its feet in the NFT waters.
Following a partnership with the blockchain startup Moonwalk, Andbox will be debuting NFT collectibles that offer real-life and metaverse perks to fans. Apart from rewarding users, the collectible can be used for ticketing and special fan access.
The aim of the initiative is to boost fan engagement and build a community around owning NFTs. Moonwalk will be creating a branded utility wallet for Andbox’s team that users can connect to their standard wallets to get additional benefits.
Top 10 NFT Collections by Trading Volume for the Last 7 Days
CryptoPunks has managed to retain the top spot from last week after recording a total weekly trading volume of $37 million from 69 sales. Its sales are up by 25% from the previous week.
Meanwhile, Bored Ape Yacht Club has moved up to the second place, while HeadDAO slipped to the 9th position. BAYC saw a 7-day trading volume of $24 million from 130 sales. Similar to CryptoPunks, sales are up by 39% from last week.
Sitting in the third position is Doodle. This NFT collection has recorded a total of 2,707 sales totaling $20 million over the past seven days.
Other collections on this week’s top-10 list include JUNGLE FREAKS BY TROSLEY, Boonji Project, Kaiju Kingz, Party Ape, CyberKongz, HeadDAO and CrypToadz.
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