What’s the value of an NFT? As more people become curious about this emerging market, creatives worldwide are turning to DIY projects to help bridge the gap between the traditional and the unknown. Two weeks ago in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, La Casa Art House presented BK’s first NFT art exhibition, complete with live performance, DJs, and of course, NFT art. But in the NFT space, two weeks is more like six months. Since the La Casa Arthouse premiere, there have been many first exhibitions, new NFT gallery spaces, and record-breaking auctions. There’s now even an NFT wellness app powered by Enjin.

It makes sense that artists in New York, one of the cultural hubs of punk rock, are already experimenting with ways to incorporate NFTs into IRL experiences. From NFT rugs to a movie theatre showing NFTs on loop, La Casa Arthouse showcased a diverse roster of fresh artists from Brooklyn. A standout of the show was artist Charles Bentley, who turns his digital works into physical paintings.

While some artists in the showcase chose not to mint their work, others were trying out the NFT minting process for the very first time. Some were even testing more underground minting platforms. Ksenia, whose work emphasizes the urgency of climate change, chose to mint her pieces on HicEtNunc, an eco-friendly platform that runs on the Tezos network.

 

New York’s favorite pop-punk act, LPX, fronted by Neon Gold founder Lizzy Plapinger is one such artist entering the NFT space for the first time. Plapinger has always been a pioneer of new opportunities that allow for a deeper connection with fans. With all live shows canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, this was not only LPX’s first live show in over a year but also their first foray into this future technology. The band’s set was filmed with live projection mapping, which will later be turned into an audio/visual NFT. Lizzy chatted with us about her experience with NFT’s and why they’re important for musicians.

In a cloud photographed by Sasha Bianca

 

Can you remember who the first person you talked to about NFTs was?

“Absolutely, it was my friend Ryan Rabin of Captain Cuts. After that, it was my business partner Derek (who’s had an interest and foot in this world for some time) while also doing a deep dive into whatever I could find online, glean from clubhouse, or gather from my friend Verite about her experience.”

 

What was it that drew you to La Casa Art House?

“I’m a huge fan of a local NYC artist named Rachael Tarravechia, who was showing her work at La Casa Art House. When I went to check it out, I immediately clicked with Gonzo, who runs the space, and we bonded over our mutual love and appreciation for the NYC art scene, as well as their passion for community, their taste, and their enthusiasm to share it. I started regularly coming by, and the same week I learned about NFTs, I stopped by to talk to Gonzo about it. We’re both really hyped on the possibilities that come with such an intersectional medium. And his interest in educating other artists on the crypto world and inclusiveness/desire to bring more people into the space is really inspiring. We knew we’d love to collaborate on something together down the line, so when he proposed LPX playing this show, it felt like all the pieces were finally coming together. It’s meaningful to me that this collab has come from a really genuine connection and that the piece itself authentically merges IRL and metaverse in a unique way that speaks to both of our interests and spaces.”

 

In a cloud photographed by Sasha Bianca

 

Why is this technology exciting for the music space? Are you working on other ways of incorporating them?

“I’ve always felt like a more holistic artist than just a musician, so this technology to me is a really exciting invitation and creative prompt to create something that can represent that multidimensionality. From a music and technology perspective, it has the potential to better service and pay artists, writers, producers, and the visual artists attached to a project continuously and fairly for their work. I’m especially interested in the artists who use it as an opportunity to think outside the box. Art and music have always gone so hand in hand, but this feels like another way to really honor and explore new levels of collaboration and interplay.”

 

You’ve always had a strong connection with your fan base. Are you exploring POAP (proof of attendance protocol badges) or unlockables?

“I’m not currently, but it’s something I might consider for the future. There’s still a barrier to entry on the tech + NFT side, be it financial or education/understanding/familiarity, etc., but it has the potential to be a really special (and financially beneficial) way to honor and give back to the fans who are there from the start.”

 

 

What’s one of your favorite songs that came out through the coronavirus pandemic?

“The Divine Chord” by The Avalanches. It’s been a bright light on all my best and worst moments of the past year.”

At Bitcoin Conference this past week in Miami, it was clear that the hype surrounding the NFT market is not fading soon. There are a myriad of use cases for NFT technology, and art happens to be one of the most accessible examples. Clubhouse group turned powerhouse community NFTs.tips organized a week of programming around this technology, hoping to educate the curious while also showcasing top-notch art from 116 artists from 6 continents. The power of community in NFTs is also evident by the collaboration between NFTs.tips and La Casa Arthouse at BTC 20201, with the Brooklyn-based gallery designing light forms for the “Out of the Dark, Into the Light” exhibition.

In a cloud photographed by Sasha Bianca

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Kevin McCoy’s “Quantum” Claimed the High Note for Crypto Artists

Sotheby’s concluded its Natively Digital NFT sale with a record-breaking price for a single CryptoPunk. Though the CryptoPunk’s $11.754 million final bid is already dominating the headlines, twenty-seven additional works were on offer with final bids ranging from a high of $1.472 million for Kevin McCoy’s “Quantum” to a still impressive low of $9,450 for LaJuné McMillian’s “Self-Portrait 2”. Responses on Twitter from the crypto art community ranged widely from celebrations of success to expressions of concern that women, transgender individuals, and artists of color ended up with much lower priced sales.

Sotheby’s Natively Digital: A Curated NFT Sale took place online between June 3rd and June 10th with final bids coming in at 10:45 pm EDT on Thursday evening. Sotheby’s used Samsung displays for physical showings in New York, London, and Hong Kong which made for a nice look. Sotheby’s also opened an outpost in Decentraland which was intended to support both the Natively Digital sale as well as future efforts in the space.

The physical displays of NFTs were well-received in contrast to the initial response by Gmoney, later retracted, to the CryptoPunks displayed physically at an earlier Christie’s auction. However, Santiago Iꜩcoatl did raise a legitimate concern:

 

The attention grabbing sale of CryptoPunk 7523, in addition to leading mainstream media coverage, is being taken up by the NFT and crypto art communities on Twitter as a counterpoint to recent media speculation that NFTs are dead. For more on the CryptoPunk sale, see “NFTs are Dead” here at NFTS WTF.

The overall successful auctions of 27 additional pieces, most by individual crypto artists,  did serve as vindication for many. For example, Brendan Dawes, whose work “The Pandora Variations” sold for $52,920, shouted out the naysayers as he thanked his supporters:

 

There was also a strong celebratory response to Sarah Zucker’s sale of “Self Transcending” for $22,680 – with many likes and congratulatory comments. Yet it must be noted that for an early piece by a well-known and historically significant crypto artist, the final sale price seems low by contrast to other such works.

As Carlos Marcial noted:

An even stronger and broader critique came from Black Dave:

He went on to share a thread that dug deeper into his concerns regarding the final sales prices of “Black women, female-identifying & non-binary artists.”

The fact that the community is discussing a broader range of identities than one typically encounters at a Sotheby’s auction is testament to the co-curation of Robert Alice and Sotheby’s associates. However, l’arc-en-ciel pointed out the lost opportunity to include an additional woman artist through the community recommendation process:

Given the historical importance of this auction for the NFT and crypto art communities, it would be well worth a researcher’s time to take a closer look at the artists based on identity, sales history, media coverage, and final prices. It would also be worth asking collectors why they chose to purchase specific pieces and what went into decisions about how much to spend. 

Hopefully such research could provide additional insights to support current and future efforts to create a more diverse and equitable crypto art ecosystem. For now, Sotheby’s Natively Digital sale marks an important moment for crypto art, while raising questions about how far the community has come to date.

 

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Twitter has been banned in Nigeria, a move rooted in short-sighted reactiveness as well as a long-standing ethnic conflict. The ban comes after Twitter and Facebook both deleted posts by Nigerian President Buhari in which he threatened genocide against the Igbo population of Nigeria’s southeast. This move, made in anger to save face, has seriously impacted not only exposure of the arts in general but the NFT artists living there in particular.

 

Background History

Nigeria won its independence from British rule in 1960, with the borders drawn encompassing almost 300 different ethnic backgrounds. There were three major groups amongst them; the Hasua-Fulani in the North, the Yoruba in the West, and the Igbo in the East. 

Hostilities have been rising in Nigeria as the government faces inner turmoil and six simultaneous insurrections. The Igbo lead one of these insurrections in a conflict that stretches back decades to Nigeria’s creation and the tumultuous years that ensued.

Despite being less active in Nigeria’s war for independence, the North contained more than half the population of 60 million Nigerians, so they were in control when Nigeria was born. Following 7 years of Hasua rule, the Igbo claimed election fraud against the ruling government and set up the secessionist state of Biafra in 1967. Massacres ensued. Between 600,000 and 3,000,000 people are estimated to have died.

Since then, the Hasua government has remained in power, albeit precariously. With rife corruption across the Nigerian government, economic conditions in the country have continued to deteriorate. The government finds itself in a position of fear and feels the need to showcase its strength, and assumes it could do so by threatening violence against the Igbo on Twitter. 

 

The Ban

When Twitter took down his post, Buhari was embarrassed but did nothing. When Facebook took down a similar post two days later, Buhari became enraged at these companies for silencing him. Realizing that banning Facebook could cause more dissent than it would be worth, Buhari set his sights on the easier target, Twitter. 

Two days after Twitter deleted Buhari’s tweet threatening genocide, the official government account tweeted that Twitter would be banned indefinitely for “undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.” They used Twitter to ban Twitter. In a sadder twist of irony, the President’s reaction to being silenced was to enforce the same censorship upon the 200+ million people living within his borders.

 

The Impact 

This has a massive impact on Nigerians, many of whom rely on the platform for a living as entrepreneurs, influencers, and artists. At least a third of Nigerians are currently unemployed, giving Nigeria the third-worst employment rate in the world as of December 2020. The ban sets additional barriers on economic mobility, and this latest attempt at censorship displays the fragility of the current regime. 

According to freedommuse.org, the international non-governmental organization campaigning for freedom of artistic expression and cultural diversity, “Artists face a complex system of censorship carried out by a variety of actors, further complicated by multiple censorship boards. In addition to the national censorship boards, states such as Kano in the North and Lagos in the South even have their own censorship boards, with the consequence that artists and cultural producers of these states face double censorship mechanisms.” 

 

Over the past year, there are many brilliant Nigerian artists that have entered the NFT community. In March 2021, one of the leading NFT artists, Jacon Osinachi, sold his pieces “Mirror Mirror” and “Am I Pretty” for a solid 9ETH and 13.2ETH respectively. This was a tremendously important leap forward for all Nigerian artists and the crypto community as a collective. The use of Twitter has been shown to be the most important platform for generating NFT sales.

 

Furthermore, this ban sets a dangerous precedent if allowed to continue. Since this was an order put out by the President but not ratified as law by the National Assembly (NASS), it would mean the President can target any platform it wishes, no matter how unjustified. This not only threatens the many innocent Nigerians living there, but the tech industry that has been booming in the country in the past years.

The Censorship

What happens now? Nigerians stand deprived of access to Twitter, where a large, if not the largest segment of the NFT community lives. The use of Twitter is pivotal, especially for NFT artists, to promote not only their art but to share the stories behind the art and the daily struggles the artists face themselves. These struggles and restrictions result from a structure built by an oppressive regime systemically promoting censorship of the creative and innovative mind.

And yet, the Nigerian presence in the NFT community is strong and passionate. The abundance of beautiful art and the warmth of the Nigerian creators who made them have earned Nigeria a place in the hearts and minds of many people abroad. They’ve collectively put Nigeria on the decentralized map by instilling their roots in the NFTs they produce. Artists like Dammy, Tayo, Gbenga, and Mayor as well as Jacon and many others have brought so much beauty to the space; many abroad cannot separate the beauty they’ve seen from the Nigeria they imagine. This is what causes such great sadness among many as censorship is imposed on the beautiful souls they’ve met.

 

his piece, “Failed State,” is a social commentary on the current state of Africa. The skulls on the ground represent our African ancestors who lost their lives trying to make the continent better.
 
Artist: Owo Anietie
 

The Solution

Nonetheless, where an oppressive government tries to silence many, it is up to the community those many belong to raise their voices on their behalf. The impact Nigerian artists have had on the NFT community has been formative and will not be forgotten. It is up to this community now to help eliminate the impact of the censorship the Nigerian government is attempting to impose. By promoting Nigerian artists on every other platform, the community can ensure any impact to these brilliant artists is only temporary. By speaking with and for Nigerian artists, the NFT community can stand with an oppressed group inside it. By raising its voice to elevate theirs, the community can render the oppression of a government meaningless.

 

 

The title is Puff Supremacy and the purpose of this art so to celebrate the black woman and let them appreciate their hair texture more.
Artist: Taslemat Yusuf
This is an image Taiserat Yusuf’s my personal project titled “Boys Wear pink too” which challenges the stereotype in Nigeria as regards male gender in expressing themselves through their choice of style.
Artist: Taiserat Yusuf

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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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Miami is always filled with energy, but this past week, frequencies were even higher than usual. That’s because approximately 50,000 people descended on the coastal city for the 2021 Bitcoin conference.

What made this year so special was the broad range of parallel events that were running alongside the conference. From the Shitcoin conference at Wynwood Factory to a host of unofficial NFT events (including NFT Basel and six events produced by NFTs.tips), it was clear that despite the state of the market – the enthusiasm around crypto right now is magnetic.

 

People from all sides of the emerging NFT sector were in Miami, showcasing digital and crypto art and relatively new use cases for the technology. This included proof-of-attendance protocol (POAP) tokens used by the Lottery NFT (which minted on crypto.com) to unlock prizes for event attendees. Experiences gifted to POAP holders included tickets to the Mayweather vs. Paul fight, a merch bundle, and more.

While many conversations were had about NFTs in conference rooms, poolside, and on the dancefloor- it was evident throughout the week that many people are still in the process of fully understanding NFT technology and how it can apply to their brand vision or personal investment strategy.

One phrase that seemed to be floating around quite a bit is “NFT art.” Because NFTs are essentially digital tokens that prove ownership, uniqueness, and authenticity; the question stands -isn’t it still just digital or crypto art utilizing NFT technology?

A great application of Digi/Physi (digital artwork with a physical component) was Warhodl’s presentation during the Bitcoin Conference. Warhodl is a breakout artist in the NFT space and the only official art presentation at Bitcoin Miami 2021. “The Soup Factory” was the artist’s first IRL pop-up and included digital NFTs with  physical components. Warhodl had a record-breaking weekend, selling almost 100 pieces over two days, including thirteen pieces to one single collector. 

As potential collectors and members of the traditional fine art world scrutinize the value of digital art, the inclusion of a physical collectible appears to be a means to build a bridge over to this seemingly inevitable future.

Even with the NFT buzz, Bitcoin was, and still remains the star of the show. With news coming in post-conference announcing that El Salvador would become the first country to use the cryptocurrency as legal tender. The IMF has raised concerns over this deal, but it appears Bitcoin may have deals in the works with other countries as well.

Beyond the Bitcoin standard, new tokens and startups were on display at alt-venues in Little Havana, Miami Beach, Brickell and the design district. From “crypto for veterans” platform Military.Finance to Tezos minting platform Kalamint, Miami was filled with unique value propositions and solutions to aid in the growing crypto market.

 

It’s clear that the roadmaps for the NFT space are just beginning to be drawn. The opportunity to blueprint how NFT technology will be utilized on a large scale creates immense excitement but also presents unsolved challenges. For one, the scalability of digital display frames could be prohibitive to mass adoption by the general public. Other challenges include the need for more education on the collector side, as new collectors are learning what it means to be responsible for assigning financial value to art.

However, for every one challenge, there are at least ten ideas of how this technology can transform the creative economy, protect the supply chain, and do social good. If anything, Miami solidified the notion that blockchain has arrived, cryptocurrency is the future, and NFTs are just getting started.

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No, it’s not the ‘Fed’ you’re thinking of. Metaverse developers, Polygonal Mind launched their latest game in Decentraland (DCL) on behalf of the ‘Federated Reserve Wish’ project. Featuring fountains of lava, piles of gold and the eccentric NPC ‘Uncle Crypto,’ the Federated Reserve is an intricate build that puts users on a treasure hunt for hidden coins.

 

 

 

Once you’ve explored the lavish treasure rooms, be sure to find those coins and throw them in the lava fountain. When you ‘burn’ your coins, you get to make a wish. These wishes are minted on the Matic network in the form of stylish NFT tickets. These tickets serve as your entry into a raffle for some DCL wearables. It’s free to play, and new prizes will be announced every two weeks. There are even special edition Federated Reserve wearables launching later this season.

 

The best part is that wishes are anonymously displayed throughout the building. Most are jokes, some are funny, but a surprising number are heartfelt wishes. When given the opportunity, users pause and ask themselves, “What do I want most in life?” Some wish for peace, world travel, a lost loved-one or simply “more bitcoin.”

The event went smoothly with over 100 global visitors across servers. Attendees who managed to grab a special POAP (Proof of Attendance Protocol), received VIP access to the penthouse and an additional coin to burn for wishes. The energy was wild as people rushed to find their coins and tossed them into the lava. Users gathered to read the wishes on the walls, sharing their dreams for the metaverse and showing off their new NFT wish tickets. The elegant (and slightly creepy) Uncle Crypto, watches over the hoard of treasure and is also minted as an NFT CryptoAvatar.

Federated Reserve

 

I asked Polygonal Mind CEO, Tox Sam, how the Federated Reserve came together and their latest utility NFT, The Wondertech Pledge. According to Sam, “The wondertech pledge started because we were getting a flood of people contacting us.”

Polygonal Mind has become a leader in metaverse development with projects in DCL, CryptoVoxels, The Sandbox, and Somnium Space. That’s an impressive feat for a small but powerful team. Their CryptoAvatars project has been very successful as well as their popular MetaTrip tour events.

To mitigate nonstop inquiries, they minted their service package as an NFT and auctioned it on OpenSea. The winning bid for the Wondertech Pledge was 6.3 ETH from the Federated Reserve. “It came with an unlockable […] and full services with premium features. The team really went all out,” said Sam. 

 

From concept art to product launch, Polygonal Mind’s Wondertech Pledge is one of the most valuable utility NFTs out there. With droves of projects entering the metaverse, dev teams like Polygonal Mind become increasingly important. Not only do they expedite project onboarding, but they ensure a level of quality and attention to detail that have, thus far, led to some truly stunning builds and user experiences.

Come see the Federated Reserve for yourself in Decentraland (location:144,-37), and be sure to follow Polygonal Mind on twitter for weekly events and announcements.

Federated Reserve

 

play.decentralnd.org. “Federated Reserve”

OpenSea. “Wondertech Pledge #01 March 2021 – MetaverseBuilder.”

PolygonalMind Discord Server Discord

 

 

 

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I recently had a zoom chat with Johan of Meme.com wherein we discussed his upcoming launch, how memes fit into blockchain and much more:

D: You’ve recently raised over 5 million in VC backing for this new meme blockchain project.  So, speaking about memes, what makes them so valuable in our society today?

J: I think they are the most fun way to tell stories.  They’re also very effective in getting the story told, and there’s also a really strong internal recognition as in “oh, I understand what this means.” This meme understands, and so do you.  It’s like this connection between people and it’s a lot of fun!  So that’s why I think it’s so powerful.  And that people can relate to it as well is a big part of it.  

So I’ve almost turned into when I talk I find myself more and more referring to memes. “It’s like that meme.”  You know? 

D: It’s become part of our vocabulary at this point, it’s not so foreign. 

J: Yeah exactly!

D: So for you, what’s the connection between memes and blockchain?

J: I think it’s the way to measure the value of the memes.  I think we are moving towards a trend where more and more things become financialized.  And the line between entertainment and speculation is blurring.  And so there I think that memes, and trying to determine the value of memes is a great way for people to speculate on the popularity of things, and try to ascribe value to them.  And that’s where crypto comes in.  

Meme.com

 

D: Excellent, and perfect transition. The first “meme currency” that gained popularity was Dogecoin. How do you feel about Dogecoin?

J: It’s definitely an inspiration, it’s the first time a token’s value came from a meme.  And it kind of opened the door to the notion that anything can be valuable as long as people agree that it is valuable.  So I think that it opened the door to much of our thinking, both around Marvel Cards but also around meme.com as well.  

D: Awesome.  The universal value, or ability to use technology to measure value has been discussed as being one of the most important elements of this whole space.  The certification aspects of NFTs or tokens.  So when you start to see different coins popping up, it makes sense that the ones that are the most popular are the ones that have the most pop-culture value.  So to me, it makes sense.  I’m also someone who has done a lot of research in this space – I did my master’s thesis on NFTs and DeFi. So this next question isn’t coming from a place of criticism – but more so just to get your opinion:

Hearing people use the term “Shitcoin” to describe something like Doge – how does that make you feel – or what is your response to those that tout similar projects as less than valid?

J: I think that people use “Shitcoin” because that’s just what they’ve always said when describing something that’s not Bitcoin.  In most cases, it is just used to describe something as a “non-Bitcoin-coin.” That being said, I can totally understand why people think that Dogecoin is a joke and we look at some of the other meme coins that have popped up recently and many of them are definitely not here for the long term.  But I think that the trend where people speculate on things where the value comes from the name of the coin for example. I think that it’s an interesting trend that will, moving forwards, be refined.  And we will see more interesting use cases pop up that tap into this speculation on trends.  

 

Verify Gems

 

 

D: And I think it also does tap into a little bit of the reality of all kinds of investments within this ecosystem.  A lot is, to a degree, speculation.  You can do your research, you can have 10-year projections; but they’re projections, right?  And I think something really interesting that a lot of companies have done is to just go to “Shitcoin” conferences – like the one that just happened in Miami.  And projects like Cardano were even there, projects that are new but really respected in the space.  And they’re almost embracing the term “shitcoin” as in – call us what you want.  How do you feel about that?  Do you see a future in almost “memefying” the response to these meme coins?

J: Sure – that’s marketing.  If they can get a result from that, then sure, why not.  I do think that the memetic layer of things – take something like Gamestop for example – where people bought into it just because it was a meme on Reddit. I think potentially more companies and coins will try to embrace that and capitalize on that somehow.  So we’ll probably see more and more weird attempts at getting this meme thing running. It will be interesting to see as I’m sure some will come up with interesting ways to achieve that.  So it will be interesting to follow.  

Earn Rewards at Meme.com

 

D: Absolutely, and again – perfect segue – thinking about some of these larger meme coin projects (like Doge or Shiba). A lot of the early adopters are trying to find more and more use cases for those currencies. Even being as simple as accepting them at their local businesses etc. How do you feel about that response from the community?  Do you see a future in people trying to find more use-cases for these coins?

J: I think the value of the coins comes from the value of their memes. And so, if I have a local business that accepts it, I don’t think it has much impact on the actual value of that coin. So I think for a meme coin to be successful, it simply has to have a very strong meme.  Which Dogecoin has, for example.  I think when it comes to meme.com – the coins are means to an end.  The goal of the platform is to try to quantify the value of the memes.  To see what is trending at the moment, what people believe in.  And so the platform itself can give value to the coins.  But I think that for standalone meme coins, the meme is everything.  So for it to be valuable it has to have strong marketing basically.  

D: That makes a lot of sense.  It sounds like something that you’re going to provide which doesn’t exist right now is the quantifiable data about specific memes and their popularity.  Maybe they can go on other sites and databases to see some information about the history, but they can’t really get stats, which people who are investing on any level really want.  So maybe with that in mind – to people who want to make the argument that this is investing and not gambling – what is your response to naysayers? 

J: So we like to describe ourselves as: if Wikipedia and Dogecoin had a baby.  And what we mean by that is – you have sites like Wikipedia, Knowyourmeme, etc. Where you can go to get the history, and maybe some extra links and content. But where it gets interesting is where we can actually get ‘skin in the game data.’ Where we can actually see that people are believing in this meme and putting money behind it.  Or people are creating NFTs around this meme which are selling for X amount. So I think it adds another layer of analytics or data when you add financial mechanics to it.  

D: Perfect. And I think that’s really what people need in the space right now to ease a lot of speculation.  And also just to have some specific projections in the space, so that’s awesome. So just wrapping things up, with this venture in mind – what’s the future of memes in crypto – is there anything in particular with this project that you’re particularly excited about at the moment? 

J: We’re launching the first version of the meme market in July.  Before we were Meme, we were Marvel Cards which is an NFT platform that has been around since 2018.  So we’ve been building that, and now we’re finally ready to start launching big sites that people can “Marvel” from.  So we just launched Spotify, our biggest launch yet. And we’re planning on launching Twitter and Instagram and YouTube in the coming two months. So we’ll correlate with the launch of meme.com hopefully and get a lot of people to engage.

Marble Panel Doge

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There is an important connection between Gaming and the Metaverse. Video games are often derided as a waste of time, but when you take a step back and look at the connection between gaming and NFTs, we have much to thank gamers for.

If not for the millions of people spending their money within digital gaming worlds, from Grand Theft Auto V to Fortnite and everything in between, we would have no frame of reference for purely digital assets holding real-world tradable value.

Similar to the gaming universe, different corners of the metaverse are being built using artistry, graphic design, and 3D rendering to create digital playgrounds that are often just as immersive as real life.

 

Decentraland

The gaming universe is evolving into the metaverse, with games like Gods Unchained and Upland as examples of true hybrids of the two – allowing players to create real-world wealth through their in-game economies.

“You can’t really know where you are going until you know where you have been.” – Maya Angelou

One could view the metaverse as the lovechild of gaming and cryptocurrency, where people can now create and own a customized digital space on the secure foundation of the blockchain. The micro-economies that support new worlds like Decentraland or Cryptovoxels are only beginning to take hold, but the cost of owning land or custom items is a hurdle for many newcomers. According to Michael Bouhanna, head of sales at Sotheby’s: 

“We see spaces like Decentraland as the next frontier for digital art where artists, collectors and viewers alike can engage with one another from anywhere in the world and showcase art that is fundamentally scarce and unique, but accessible to anyone for viewing,”

 

NFTs are an important aspect of the expansive digital space known as the metaverse – they are the artwork on your digital walls, the shoes on your digital feet or even the keys to your digital vehicle or home.

With Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) taking both video games and digital art to an entirely new level of immersion, the connection to gaming becomes even more apparent. 


People engage with the digital world for the escape and security provided by the programmed yet unpredictable spaces that pop up. With artistry and 3D rendering comes important literature necessary to tell a story that ties everything together. According to Anand Venkateswaran, aka Twobadour, who runs the Metapurse fund:

“The current Cambrian explosion of NFTs that you see is all about acquisition – people want to buy up NFTs, gobble as many of them as they can, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg. The real explosion will happen when they’re able to … experience these NFTs as they were intended. If it’s a plot of virtual land, you ought to move around in it, have an immersive experience in it.”

To understand why NFTs in their digital art use-case are exploding, you don’t have to look any further than the gaming industry. And just like a good video game tells a compelling story, a good NFT should create an emotional connection and tell its own story that pulls in the collector.

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The Shitcoin conference was just held in Miami on June 3rd and 4th, just down the road from this year’s largest crypto event, the Bitcoin conference. According to the Shitcoin conference website, “Shitcoin 2021 is dedicated to all the companies that got turned away from participating in one of the largest crypto events.” the event slogan is “because F*ck Maximalism,” and I agree!

 

The event was masterminded by Kenn Bosak, a Bitcoiner since 2015. Bosak has traveled around the world attending over 200 Blockchain conferences, also happens to be one of the most well known NFT creators and influencers in the Wax blockchain ecosystem.  Kenn is great at creating an engaged and loyal community. I have seen first hand his generosity and commitment to his community and in helping others get into the NFT space. He was actually one of the influencers who made me fall in love with what I saw going on in the Wax NFT community.

 

Kenn Bosak NFT

See More Kenn Bosak NFTs Here 

 

One of the key takeaways I received from Kenn was that there is a shift taking place right now. Especially within the creative spaces wherein NFT creators and companies need to transition from acquiring customers to creating communities. This is all made more possible via the use of non-fungible tokens.

The wild, free and open vibe of the Shitcoin conference was evident as soon as you walked in the door. While I did not attend the Bitcoin conference for several reasons, the main one being that I am not a maximalist and personally believe that attitude to be completely anti-innovation, I did run into some incredible characters that I connected with who did attend the Bitcoin conference. One of them goes by the name @hyperspek who had this to say about the Bitcoin conference:

“The Bitcoin maxis really seemed to have blinders to the future of blockchain innovation.  Understandable for some who still have PTSD from getting rekt last cycle.  As they try to adapt an “old” technology not really designed for these applications, they will get left for dead by what is happening on ETH and other platforms.”

Hyperspek is an investor and NFT collector who also happens to be a virtual gallery builder. He showed me his gallery in Crypto Voxels and it was amazing, he likes to make art with other art and is quite good at doing so! His attention to details and his creativity was impressive. You can check out his awesome collection and gallery here

Hyperspek.io
Hyperspek.io

 

To me personally, being a Bitcoin maximalist is like saying “I like airplanes and what they allow, but not helicopters, planes without props or jet engines.

This kind of thinking is nonsensical and will not pass muster in the grand scheme of technological innovation. There will be many protocols, many will fail, but innovation and experimentation will dictate what survives.

The stark contrast of the Shitcoin conference and crowd was much more open to new ideas, fun, and was largely centered around NFTS. The atmosphere was younger, less refined, more tolerant, and brimming with excitement for the future of NFTs and blockchain technology.  It seems quite evident that there will be another event next year because the demand from the community is definitely there. Next year’s event will almost certainly be a few blocks away from the next Bitcoin conference as a statement against the very term “Shitcoin.”  Meant to encompass everything that is not Bitcoin, to include non-fungible tokens, and create something which the community can embrace and own.

 

Photos by Dynamic Eye Studios
Photo by Dynamic Eye Studios

 

The lineup of speakers at this year’s Shitcoin conference can be seen here, and I am sure next year’s event will improve on this.  Some interesting concepts that were discussed while I attended were: the fractionalized ownership of assets by blockcities, regenerative farming, and how blockchain can play a role during the Blockchain for Impact panel. In this particular talk,  Irina Litchfield, founder of Blockchain -Cubed, a blockchain technology consulting firm and adviser for Prochain Capital, discussed some innovative solutions.  

 

From Crypto hedge fund managers to NFT artists, defi protocol developers to musicians, comedians to filmmakers. The diversity represented within this year’s Shitcoin conference is more reflective in my opinion of what the future of NFTs and blockchain looks like. In all fairness, I do believe that an overwhelming majority of the crypto community are not in the cult of Bitcoin maximalist and do support innovation and advancement within this space.

 

Photo by Dynamic Eye Studios
Photo by Dynamic Eye Studios

 

 

Photo by Albert Polanco
Photo by Albert Polanco

 

 

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Arguably the biggest artist in the NFT space and digital art world as a whole, @beeple/ Michael Winkelmann lit Twitter and the Metaverse afire recently when he joined the Meebits army and launched a broadside attack on @danny_p3d/ Daniel Poschinger and the simians from the Bored Ape Yacht Club. Retaliation was swift and brutal with @youngandsick bringing home a Meebits skull as a trophy before cooler heads prevailed and the fighters hugged it out.

 

 

At this point you’re probably wondering wtf I’m talking about, wtf is a Meebit and wtf is The Bored Ape Yacht Club. In the wake of such hugely profitable collectable projects such as Cryptopunks and Crypto Kitties, it was only a matter of time before similar projects and innovations would begin popping up. From bitmap art, to 2D, to 3D art, creators have been searching for the next big thing and how to monetize it.

 

LarvaLabs, the creators of the Cryptopunks, recently  released the Meebits. Unlike their Cryptopunks, which only included 10,000 NFT’s in the collection of algorithmically generated 2D art, the Meebits consist of 20,000 3D voxels characters that owners can use as their avatars in the metaverse. They also have the option to load their Meebits into almost any standard 3D modeling software, and animate their collectables as they see fit. There is also a trustless marketplace built into the smart contract allowing trades of up to 100 Meebits per transaction.

 

The Bored Ape Yacht Club is a project of 10,000 cartoon ape NFT’s programmatically generated and stored as ERC721 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. Released around the same time as the Meebits, BAYC exploded on the scene during the peak of the NFT boom last month, in early May 2021 with countless remixes and derivative pieces stemming from popular digital artists floating around the interwebs. Bored Ape #8023 recently sold for 49.99 ETH, or more than $132,000 at the time, and the Bored Ape Remix has built an Ape-arel line around the property selling T-shirts, hats and accessories. One stand out artist is Daniel Poschinger @danny_p3d who’s 3D renders have been pushing the already hot secondary  market into new territory.

 

 

Enter @beeple, the level of attention that an artist of his stature brings to these projects can’t be overstated or accurately quantified but for people whose first exposure to either the Meebits or the Bored Ape Yacht Club was through the first of what may prove to be countless digital skirmishes between two distinct camps of crypto enthusiasts.  This serves as a window into a world where creatives are pushing the boundaries of collectibles, monetization, and community building. Hype aside, the popularity and variety of artists associated with these two projects bodes well for their financial viability, and the health of the NFT marketplace overall. I for one can’t wait to see what happens next.

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It was a first for me, DiscoWarlock (Disco) is one of the first to mint a full-fledged video game as a collectible NFT. His latest creation Synthcity Streets — a 2D side-scrolling retro style game — is certainly creating some buzz across Hic et Nunc (H=N) where all 4 editions sold out quickly. The lowest price now sits at 75 tez (~$270) for a Standard edition, with Deluxe, Collectors and Legendary editions going for substantially more.

The initial prices for the Standard editions started at 5 tez, Deluxe at 15 tez, Collectors at 25 tez, and the Legendary gold edition for 100 tez. Each edition above Standard came with its own bonus. Deluxe buyers obtained an alternate skin for the main character Felix, Collectors got a bonus level as well as the alternate skin, and Legendary collectors got all of the above plus the opportunity to work with Disco directly to make themselves a boss in an upcoming episode. Disco also has plans to turn one of his biggest collectors into a playable character for users in a future episode.

According to Disco, he was inspired by the 1993 Sega classic Streets of Rage.  As an ode to the classic 2D side-scrolling games of my youth, this experience teleported me back to 1990, playing Double Dragon on my Nintendo. And the way the NFTs are presented as different types of handheld gaming devices fits the retro vibe of the game while offering collectors a beautiful way to display their NFT.

 

Discowarlock

 

“The NFT space has so many stories to tell, why not gamify it?” asks Disco. The story behind Synthcity Streets weaves in the legendary CryptoPunks by reimagining “crypto punks” as a crime syndicate that has taken over Synthcity and forced residents to bend to their will. While the narrative is still evolving, it captures some of the zeitgeist of the metaverse while delivering a heavy dose of nostalgia.

“Since I entered the [NFT] space back in October, I knew I wanted to make a game and really push the limits,” says Disco. “After shifting from ETH to Tezos, I found out that H=N had html uploads and this just blew the doors open for me. Being a game developer, the only limit was the 40mb file size. I knew I wanted to create a 2D game and with Streets of Rage being a big part of my early childhood, I used it as my main source of inspiration.”

Hic et Nunc and the Tezos “clean NFT” movement have created a kind of counterculture within the NFT scene that many artists are embracing. It turns out that their platform is also uniquely suited for html-based content which can offer collectors a new level of virtual experiences. Disco’s first foray into offering a virtual world as an NFT was his tribute to @jjjjjjjjjjohn’s artistic window NFTs, where he gives visitors a window that they can  explore and interact with. “I spent about 14 hours putting it together and was blown away by the feedback, then the next day I began creating Synthcity Streets and 3 weeks later, here we are.”

DiscoWarlock is a true gamer at heart, it’s clear that this creation was born out of his passion for game developing, and he has big ambitions for the future. He created this innovative NFT using the WebGL build option in Unity to publish his game as JavaScript.

“When I first started working on Synthcity Streets, I knew I wanted to make more. I sketch a lot of my storyboards and game flow before I go digital, so right now I have about 7 episodes cooked up but this could change, as I really want to be community oriented,” he says. “I plan to keep on innovating and keep developing NFT games, with the hope that one day I am creating the World of Warcraft of the NFT world.”

With just over 2 years of professional game development under his belt, Disco has a bright future ahead of him and his NFTs will be ones to watch out for as he continues the story of Synthcity Streets while delivering other new creations.

 

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