The Binance NFT marketplace, from the Binance crypto exchange, launches June 24th. The marketplace kicks off with “100 Creators” ranging from crypto artists to musicians to athletes. The launch is preceded by numerous NFT platforms and marketplaces appearing on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC). In addition, Featured by Binance recently launched under the auspices of the Binance developer network, Binance X.

Binance is currently ranked by CoinMarketCap as the world’s largest exchange based on volume. It has been particularly adept at fast following trends developed in other ecosystems, particularly in the world of Ethereum, and in finding ways to participate in decentralization while maintaining a very centralized organization. It is not the least bit surprising to see NFTs launching on BSC and for Binance itself to be launching an NFT platform. What remains to be seen are the larger potential effects of NFTs being directly supported by such a major force.

Binance NFT is expected to launch on June 24th featuring a high-end “Premium Event” category and a more open “Trading Market” category. The platform is custodial and will require Binance.com accounts to participate. The overall goal, as stated by the Head of Binance NFT, Helen Hai, is to “provide the largest NFT trading platform in the world with the best minting, buying, and exchanging experience, by leveraging the fastest and cheapest solutions.”

 

With low transaction fees and a 1% processing fee on sales, Binance sounds like a great deal. Perhaps the biggest catch is that the secondary marketplace will provide only a 1% royalty. Given the sizable role Binance plays, one would expect a large group of collectors to respond to this opportunity. While they might appreciate lower royalties, increasing the percentage would be a smart move by Binance in order to attract the best artists active on other blockchains.

That said, the “100 Creators,” include some standout names such as Osinachi, Kelvin Okafor, the Uganda National Museum and Trevor Jones. Other participants are known more as influencers or celebrities, such as Russell Simmons, or have a solid history in crypto art with somewhat less visibility in the West, such as IOYOI. Overall, the group seems relatively diverse though seems to be overly dominated by male participants even more than is typical in the space.

Musicians and sports figures will also play a prominent role, as noted in two preview posts on the Binance blog (here and here) again featuring only men. Musicians include Lil Yachty, Kyle and Lewis Capaldi while athletes include Michael Owen, Alphonso Davies and Guti.

 

 

I spoke briefly with four crypto artists about their involvement with Binance NFT.

Trevor Jones, well known for the “Picasso’s Bull” drop on Nifty Gateway in 2020, also created the “Binance, Bull and Rocket” physical artwork shown above and an animated NFT MP4 at that time. Due to the pandemic, Jones’ plans for exhibiting this work were put on extended hold. When Binance contacted Jones to see if he would be interested in participating in the launch, he recognized that it would be a great opportunity to finally release the NFT.

Notable African crypto artist Osinachi found out about Binance NFT when a Binance Africa staff member contacted him. He will be “sharing 5 artworks that encourage people to create happiness with what is around them.”

He also states:

“I’m joining Binance NFT marketplace because I feel that, just as they are an exchange with incredible success, they can help spread the NFT gospel to people in crypto and even add to the already existing channels through which enthusiasts can buy and trade NFTs.”

IOYOI, a crypto artist based in Taiwan, is active on a variety of platforms and is also a member of The Sandbox Creators Fund. He is “currently focusing on the combination of voxel and painting.” His initial collection for Binance NFT “interlaces retro games with today’s blockchain universe (metaverse), from sports video games to Sandbox lands.”

IOYOI is “honored” to be among “talents from various fields selected by Binance NFT platform to exhibit together.” He appreciates being in the first wave of creators given that it is a “big platform” and a “new opportunity” with many more artists able to join after July.

Phygital artist MAIKEUL will also be offering three 1/1 NFTs “which are the digital versions of physical works that will be available at Eternity Gallery in Paris, on the same date as the launch date of the NFT platform of Binance.”  He is “super excited” about the launch and “think[s] Binance NFT is a good thing” to achieve “more visibility and to share [his] vision of what NFTs are.”

 

Featured by Binance is a related NFT platform, though non-custodial, that Binance X launched on June 17th. Its debut featured the work of Dylan Cole who has designed for over 60 films including Lord of the Rings, Avatar and Maleficent. Essentially Featured by Binance supplies the decentralized wing of Binance’s entry into the world of NFTs. This approach allows Binance to satisfy a broader range of needs than a centralized NFT marketplace alone could address.

A variety of other NFT marketplaces and platforms have launched or are launching on BSC, including some that will be compatible with other blockchains as well, such as:

 

While the Binance NFT marketplace, along with Featured by Binance, may initially overwhelm smaller NFT platforms on BSC, in the long run, it may well produce a stronger ecosystem. Binance’s efforts to promote NFTs will likely validate them to skeptics in a way that numerous smaller platforms could not do so easily. As Binance introduces a growing number of new collectors to NFTs, some will eventually seek out specialized markets on BSC. Enticing artists and collectors when Binance will offer its own NFT marketplace next to Featured by Binance will be no simple task for smaller platforms. But those prepared for the long haul will find themselves part of what is likely to be an incredibly rich ecosystem for NFTs on BSC.

 

Featured Images by Binance

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Most would agree that music is an important part of the human experience, and we are all wondering what role NFTs will play in the industry. Frequency and rhythm make up our lives as individuals. Every breath we take is a metronome to our thoughts and movements. Our inner rhythms have all been shaken with the pandemic, but issues within the music industry have been brewing for much longer than that. Some believe that NFTs may be the remedy. 

That shared energetic communication is now going to be incorporated into the metaverse. A new green platform has been created to offer musicians of all levels a place to be seen and heard, while also supporting the causes and initiatives that are important to them.  It’s also perfect for the fan bases, as they will be able to connect to their favorite artists regardless of their location or status. With the importance of genres and job titles fading, the music industry has figured out a way to make the system breathe again in an inclusive, sustainable fashion. 

 

Quincy Jones and a very powerful group including Adam Fell, Joshua James, and tech entrepreneur Lyn Dae are the founders of OneOf. These powerhouses have curated a proof of work protocol that is efficient while emphasizing the importance of protecting our environment. While traditional proof of work protocols aren’t necessarily unsustainable, this boasts being 2 million times more efficient than Ethereum platforms. Hopefully, this gives new body and breath to the music industry through NFTs, which will augment what music can be and establish a new structure that can regenerate the industry. With top artists already on board and ready to share themselves in a new way, a much-needed revolution is forthcoming.

Dae’s background as an early investor in Zoom, and Jones’s timeless legacy as a godfather of the modern-day music industry, are a perfect pairing for this project. Their focus will be on creating freedom for any musician to share music on their own terms while utilizing a swift eco-friendly cryptocurrency.  As an added bonus, there will be no minting or gas fees for creating NFTs on this platform. 

“The artist can sell NFTs at any price… one NFT for a million dollars or a million NFTs for one dollar.” Oneof will also offer a team of marketing strategists for new artists, which is incredible. This will heal so many voices and expressions that have been suppressed for so long in the collective consciousness. OneOf offers a place for beginners to come together with established artists and have easy access to their same network. There are limitless opportunities for personal promotion, and fan base participation. As well as options for exclusive content allowing for a more tailored experience. Quincy Jones has also incorporated a way for a percentage of the sales to go to various causes, putting emphasis on the artist’s social and environmental responsibilities and contributions. 

 

Each time an NFT is resold, the artist will receive royalties, even on secondary sales. Jones is granting the wish of anyone who wants a chance to be a musician, skipping the legal processes that often cause songs to become lost in translation. This will likely awaken an infinite fan base, emboldened by the freedom for an artist to market and display themselves as they see fit. Jones will also be minting NFTs from his phenomenal personal catalogue. Unknown artists will have hope that they can leverage the same power of NFTs without the usual gatekeepers closing them out, and without exorbitant fees.

Oneof will be fantastic for recording artists, enabling limitless navigation of NFTs where value can be decided by the creator and the collector, with no authenticity lost. It will also be an amazing platform for fans with the thrill of personal social-media(esque) content that connects them to their favourite musicians. Oneof appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel and has the potential to be the most authentic way music has ever lived thus far.

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A new world record sale for a CryptoPunk recently took place at Sotheby’s Natively Digital auction that ran from June 3 -10th 2021.  

This ultra rare 1 of 9 alien CryptoPunk #7523 was won by Shalom Meckenzie, the largest shareholder of sports-betting outfit @DraftKings, and went for a whopping $11.75 Million dollars.

This CryptoPunk was first minted on June 23rd 2017 by Larva Labs and is 1 of only 10,000 original CryptoPunks in existence.  CryptoPunks became the genesis NFT collection, and thereby poster-child  of the Ethereum blockchain, and has inspired the ERC-721 token standard that is the underlying technology that powers today’s digital collectibles. 

While technically only 24 x 24 pixels in size with a very simple 8-bit style, there are no two punks that are the same, much like the owners of these rare and valuable NFTs. 

CryptoPunks have come to symbolize the very early days of the blockchain space and embody the energy and spirit of challenging the status quo; at the intersection of what is considered art, technology, and traditional methods of collecting and appreciating art.

 

NFTs enable a whole new model for ownership of art and collectibles, and this Sotheby’s auction proves this to the world yet again – on the heels of mainstream media sources claiming the NFTs were dead no less. 

You may have seen CryptoPunks used as avatars all over twitter and anywhere you can add a profile image. The incredibly passionate community that has formed around CryptoPunks has seen members identify with their CryptoPunk NFTs so much that they use them as  consistent digital representations of themselves. 

Collecting art has largely been reserved for private spaces like the home or some other type of gallery and is a way that collectors can show their appreciation of culture and how they fit within their world.  With the advent of digital collectibles like the CryptoPunks, collectors can now digitally flex who they are, and their place in the Crypto ecosystem. As owners of one of the pioneering technologies that, in my opinion, will lead to the mass adoption of blockchain technology – using what we now know as non-fungible tokens. 

This $11.75 Million dollar sale not only solidifies the value of the CryptoPunks project as a whole, it further legitimizes the innovation that NFTs bring to the world.  This historic moment is not limited to art alone, as many who look from the outside at this 24 x 24 pixel CryptoPunk still miss the bigger picture behind what this technology truly means. 

Digital ownership, transferability of assets, authentication and access. From this minimalistic piece of Crypto history, will spring a wealth of innovations that will touch nearly every sector of our lives. Most people will never have any knowledge or idea that non-fungible tokens have anything to do with the infrastructure behind the services, technologies, applications, and experiences they will be using in the not too distant future. CryptoPunks, in many ways, will be the genesis of a new digital paradigm, regardless of their value, measured by monetary means.

I had the chance to ask SillyTuna the owner of CryptoPunk #7523 that sold at the Sotheby’s auction, what was next for him? he responded with “Focus on my own projects (games, nft’s), do some donations later this year, and think about how to deal with the Mccoy artwork.” which just made me smile, as I personally love to see good humans, win in this space and  witness the awesome things they go on to do.

Congrats again to SillyTuna and the whole CryptoPunk community on this incredible sale, as we see more evidence that NFTs are not in fact mortal and can not be “dead” for very long.

 

SillyTuna

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Igor Kourany – Genesis Drop on Makersplace, June 11, 2021, at 5pm PT

Igor Kourany is an extremely interesting and talented guy – super nice too! Born and raised in Panama, when he first got a glimpse of MTV, he “fell in love with the visual effects.” Early in his career, he got a primitive version of photoshop and started making images. Eventually becoming a professional architect, his artwork developed as the software did. After 10 years he began full-time art creation after putting a few of his pieces in his brother’s furniture store. Clients loved the work and it started selling.

He’s experimented with various mediums for over 20 years; including sculpture, painting, and a lot of photography. Igor has volumes of sketchbooks and plans out his ideas to a degree while leaving space for serendipity. He started out pouring paint over live models. “I wanted to simulate the aesthetic of Terminator and conquer the look of liquid humans.” As the paint was poured, he caught the action in a series of rapid photographs, often thousands. He then separately, painted mannequins, and later, on the computer, fused the images together to construct the finals, utilizing a vast array of software. The idea was to create a liquid simulation and capture the randomness of the phenomena of liquids coming into contact with solids. Developing this technique took years of trial and error. And the final look and methodology are truly unique. 

Igor’s works have been showcased in galleries throughout the world. He now brings his exclusive work practice to the NFT world in this debut drop. Three new pieces will be released each as a 1 of 1 on Makersplace. Each NFT will be paired with a large-scale print signed by the artist. These physical pieces are printed by Igor himself in his studio in Panama, so he can control the quality of which he is very adamant about. Each work will drop in auction format beginning June 11, 2021, at 5 pm PT and will continue until a reserve price is met triggering a countdown timer.

The address of the drop is: https://makersplace.com/igorkourany/

 

Milky Angel

Milky Angel, is a combination of CGI and photography employing models and mannequins. The milky white against the black allows for the viewer to really get a sense of splashing wetness, down to each drop.

 

Mujer Tabaco

Mujer Tabaco, is full on CGI down to the eyelashes. Here Igor gets to flex his obsession with the android, futuristic girl who can live forever so she can smoke tobacco! Her body is made of the strongest earthly material and is covered in a web of flowing gold veins.

Bubble Girl

Bubble Girl, pays homage to African culture, appropriating colors from African clothing into glass balls for hair. The light reflection off the glass in this CGI rendering is astounding.

To learn more about Igor and his process, check out the Apollo NFT Gallery in the 100x Art District in Decentraland which will be hosting an event tomorrow to celebrate the drop. 

All of Igor’s works celebrate the woman as a superhuman with futuristic aspirations. This drop is not to be missed!

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The online auction behemoth eBay is getting into the NFT game. The company confirmed via Reuters that they will be allowing the sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) beginning Tuesday, May 11th sellers who meet eBays standards will be allowed an “NFT inventory.” eBay has also expressed that they will be allowing NFT sales with traditional payment methods like credit cards and Paypal.

This big news will surely have some ripple effects throughout the NFT space, but what those effects might be is yet to be seen for existing creators, collectors and blockchain entrepreneurs.

I recently asked David Sneider, founder of Lit Protocol, and a forward thinking NFT marketplace called HelloApricot.com, what his thoughts were on eBay entering this space and his response echoed some of my own sentiments around this development. According to Sneider:  “With deeper utility for NFTs coming soon, eBay is setting themselves up to become the crypto entry point for millions of new users and extend their offering into the metaverse.”

With the ability to use eBay as a secondary marketplace for certain NFTs, I believe this could be a massive opportunity for the entire NFT community and ecosystem.

Removing the crypto complexity for new users is one major weakness of nearly all NFT marketplaces out there. While I have been a true believer in blockchain and crypto since 2014, I do feel that the “meta maskery” needs to be simplified industry-wide for non-technical users.  eBay will be one of those entry points that anyone can interact with  seamlessly and that will most certainly drive other marketplaces to also innovate within the user experience arena.

Another major challenge facing a majority of NFT marketplaces is the discoverability of artists. eBay entering this space with over 180 million active buyers can potentially drive other NFT platforms to innovate and improve on the gaps in the current state of NFT marketplaces, to retain and attract more users.

Big companies like eBay were always bound to get involved in this space. As the masses are starting to become more aware of NFTs, a large driver of this hype stems from the celebrities and influencers looking to cash in on this crypto craze, while missing the real point and possibilities of non-fungible token technology.

 

Big names entering the NFT game

In a refreshing twist, influencer Gary Vee  and his NFT project Veefriends has, in my opinion, really entered this space thoughtfully and is setting a new standard for what an influencer / celebrity NFT project could look like, by creating additional utility and experiences for his collectors. Ranging from 3 year of access to his annual conference to being able to have dinner or even play a game of basketball with the famous CEO. These types of influencers with millions of followers bring new non-crypto-native users into this space and that, fundamentally, is a good thing.

Founded in 1995, eBay has a long-standing reputation as one of the first online marketplaces for all types of goods and products. The eBay brand lends an enormous amount of additional credibility to this emerging paradigm-shifting technology that is NFTs.  While many in the mainstream are maybe still having trouble wrapping their heads around what a non-fungible token is and why they can be so valuable, it’s seeing big brands like eBay jumping into this space, that will give millions of users the curiosity and confidence that may nudge them into the market for buying NFTs.

The massive amount of traffic and eyeballs on eBay is astounding and this most certainly could be a great source of traffic for creators and collectors alike who are willing and able to become savvier in learning how to market and promote their creations.

 

What could go wrong?

However, there are some potential pitfalls here to take into account with eBay joining the NFT space. The most pressing one is the lack of a recognized NFT royalty standard, that is acknowledged and adopted across all NFT marketplaces.

As it stands now, when a creator’s NFT is removed from most NFT marketplaces to be listed on another, any royalties set for secondary sales are lost, and this negates one of the primary benefits for creators (the ability to be compensated for secondary sales).  This will almost certainly be true for NFTs listed on eBay. Specific details around how eBay will implement NFTs on their platform are still scarce.

eBay Getting into the NFT game, what does it mean for creator royalties?
What effect will eBay getting into the NFT game have for creators?

 

There has been an Ethereum improvement proposal (EIP) for creating such a royalty standard, proposed by Zach Burks, James Morgan , Blaine Malone, and James Seibel that has yet to be adopted on a massive scale but should be made known to all creators and collectors called the EIP 2981: ERC-721 Royalty Standard. The community should be making it known to all marketplaces that they want a standard adopted for the benefit of the entire NFT economy.

This loss of secondary royalties could create a negative impact on the NFT community and ecosystem. However, this gap is also an opportunity for other marketplaces to step up and adopt a royalty standard in order to retain the best artists, creators and collectors.

Overall, I believe that eBay being in this space will have a net positive effect, and be a major driver of mass adoption that will bring an additional flood of interest and users. Though eventually, these users will want more than what eBay will allow to happen on their platform. These new users will trickle into other parts of this incredible NFT ecosystem. eBay’s move may also spur some additional big brands to pay attention and enter this space, hopefully in a way that also benefits the overall industry and community.

As with anything that involves a big brand like eBay, there will be positive and negative aspects involved. It truly depends on where you find yourself and from what perspective you are viewing this news; as an artist, content creator, collector, curator or just now learning about NFTs.

 

NFT & Crypto Community Concerns

There are many crucial concepts that I know are important to the blockchain community, such as decentralization and moving away from centralized platforms, middlemen and gatekeepers, and to some, the name “eBay” may sound like the antithesis of the blockchain ethos.

I would like to invite you to consider a different perspective, for those who truly believe in the possibilities and benefits of blockchain and non-fungible tokens. We cannot be maximalists at the expense of mass adoption. In order to alchemize the incredible changes this technology enables, we must align ourselves with how nature operates, which is via the path of least resistance, especially for new users. In all honesty, most people will not care about the technology, but only that it works seamlessly.

There will always be some form of centralized systems because there is a general benefit to having them set up that way. As this technology matures, centralized systems that do not serve us as a society, a human culture, and as a planet will eventually be replaced with more decentralized systems. This will take mass adoption events like the eBays of the world getting involved, paired with a bit of time, development, and patience.

eBay will undoubtedly bring new energy, attention and opportunities to this space and it will be up to each artist, content creator, collector and blockchain entrepreneur to decide how they react to more mass adoption as big brands take note and enter this space with considerable resources, users and capital.

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