The NFT space can feel like information overload at times, so we’ve cut through the noise to deliver you a curated dose of what matters most. Your all-in-one weekly companion.
Headline News - NFT volume sees yearly low in June, but first-time buyers remain consistent
Nansen recently released its NFT Indexes Report for Q2 2022. The leading blockchain analytics platform noted that June recorded the lowest weekly volume of sales this calendar year, with an average of approximately 600,000ETH of sales per week.
June was considerably less than May, which closed at approximately 1,300,000ETH of sales per week. These figures are calculated based on trading volumes across six leading NFT marketplaces.
Despite this huge reduction in volume, there were some positive takeaways from the report too. Returning monthly users and first-time buyers’ numbers were both healthy, with much-reduced NFT entry prices a likely catalyst.
Returning monthly users increased from 35,000 in May, to around 48,000 in June. First-time buyers have remained reasonably consistent, at around the 5,000 mark, since March 2022, suggesting that Ethereum NFTs as a speculative investment vehicle have sustained modest appeal. The overall monthly user count has also remained steady at around 650,000-700,000 users.
Despite much lower ETH trading volumes, the number of transactions has remained high, with June eclipsing May in that respect.
There’s undeniably a bearish sentiment overall, but the underlying statistics look very healthy. The market certainly hasn’t been abandoned by any stretch of the imagination, and there’s innovation, investment and building continuing on as if nothings happened. Feeling long-term bullish.
For an in-depth article on this topic, please click here.
Curated News - the best bits of the past week
BIGGEST NFT Sale: CryptoPunk #4464 for 2,500ETH
Former head of TikTok gaming leaves Web2 to build core Web3 protocol
World’s rarest whisky to be auctioned as NFT starting at $75,000
3AC NFT Treasures Moved To A Single Wallet…Is It Discount Time?
Solana NFT Marketplace Magic Eden Launches Gaming Venture Arm
Tamago Redefines Music Streaming with Excellent Paramida NFT Drop
Maybe Something - things we’re keeping an eye on
Historical Insight: UMBRELLA is a historic Counterparty token (now purchasable on Ethereum via the Emblem Vault) issued in November 2014. It was the first time a token was issued on the Bitcoin blockchain as part of a plan to deliver a physical product. The 600 original token supply was chosen because that was the minimum order from the manufacturer. The UMBRELLA asset would be pegged to the Bitcoin umbrellas 1:1 and eventually exchanged for the real thing. Supply is now 300 after the rest were burned. Read more here.
Stickmen Toys – The Utility-Enabled NFTs from Bose & Warner Records
Cool Cats released a teaser about upcoming new characters
Moonbirds/Proof Collective team releases video of staff meeting about upcoming roadmap
The Saudis was a free mint from the past week, and saw floors reach 1.5ETH, before settling at 0.7ETH, and now edging up again.
Reddit introduces new “Collectible Avatars” supported by the blockchain
ParallelNFT: The window for caching began on July 11. $PRIME distributions start after a seven-day grace period, on July 18. Lots of buying activity in anticipation of good rewards over time.
Talking Point - Generative Art Resurgence
I’m no expert on generative art, but having made a shortlist of collections I liked back in January, with a view to buy them in a bear market, I was both happy and disappointed to see all of them trending in the top 100 on OpenSea over the past two weeks. Happy since they were clearly good picks, disappointed as I’d forgotten to buy any of them.
In a recent conversation with Zeneca, we briefly touched on generative art and it revived my interest. His main focus is still Art Blocks (primarily the Curated collections) and he also mentioned an interest in FxHash, a platform to mint Generative Tokens on the Tezos blockchain.
Zeneca was kind enough to recently share his top 22 favourite Art Blocks Curated projects with the ZenAcademy community. You can find these below:
Fidenza, Chromie Squiggle, Subscapes, Archetypes, Ringers, Memories of Qilin, Anticyclone, Gazers, Genesis, Construction Token, Screens, Edifice, Fragments of an Infinite Field, Skulptuurs, Chimera, Pigments, Elementals, CENTURY, Watercolor Dreams, Vortex, Dreams, Phase
I really enjoyed going through the Art Blocks Curated collections back in January, and having been reminded of their ongoing relevance and desirability within the NFT space, will now take the time to revisit this section of the market.
Generative Art NFTs seem to have a special place in the NFT marketplace with traditional art collectors choosing this area to invest in over any other. These types of collectors, as Zeneca pointed out, are much more likely to hold on to these artworks for a long period of time, meaning the active market supply is often much lower than the collection size. This provides ample room for an increase in asset appreciation during hype cycles.
That said, I find generative art a much more personal acquisition than other NFTs, and i’ll be looking for artwork that resonates with me for a long-term hold, not a flip.
So this is simply to serve as a reminder to anyone else who might have looked into generative art in the past and never made a purchase, to take another look.
The fact that it’s had a nice resurgence, even during this bearish period, lends weight to the fact that it’s likely an area of the market that will always have interest. Happy shopping!
If you’re new to NFTs and/or generative art, take a look at this free-to-view intro by Zeneca himself as part of a collaboration with InPeak: Intro to Generative Art Video
Tip Of The Week - Magic Eden Adds Sweep function
Just a short one this week, but Magic Eden, the leading Solana NFT marketplace, added a bulk sweep function on 8th July, allowing degens to purchase up to 50 NFTs at a time from the floor. Happy sweeping!
ZenAcademy and 333 Club Noticeboard
Regular Event Reminders
Join poker nights via our Discord. Events held weekly, with prizes to be won.
Weekly Movie Nights are going strong. This week is ‘Up’. See more info here.
As a ZenAcademy member, you get exclusive access to market health statistics on a daily basis in Discord, and you can check out community member Swombat’s daily NFT market health updates on YouTube here.
As part of the ZenAcademy community you’ll also have free access to the Misfit Robot Discord, and several of their “Members Only” rooms. ZA believes mental health support should be accessible to everyone. Check them out here: https://discord.gg/misfitrobots
Season 2 of the ZenAcademy Trivia Challenge has started up again. Click here for more info.
Irregular Events and Info
InPeak is a life long learning platform for emerging technologies and all thing Web3. Zeneca has created An Introduction to Generative Art NFTs video for the platform. It’s free to view so if anyone wants to check it out, you can see it here: https://www.inpeak.xyz/event/generative-art-nfts. There’s also a 33% discount for the ZA community. See Discord Announcements channel for more info.
The latest edition of ZenChats is available on Spotify. Check it out here. Carlini8 is the guest. He’s an NFT expert who’s been in the NFT space since 2017, the ex co-founder of NFT Boxes, a project he co-founded with Pranksy, and the founder of Purrnelope's Country Club.
Zeneca’s latest course with Nas Academy is now available. It's on "How to Build an NFT Community". It can be taken as a 5-day course along with a cohort of other students, or you can do it at your own pace. The course is 100% free for anyone holding a ZenAcademy Genesis or 333 token. You can sign up here.
ZA introduced the ‘ZenAcademy Ethical Trading Policy’. See more about it in this Twitter post.
A Prysm "Squad” is being formed by the 333 community. 333 members can delve into the Discord announcements channel for more info.
Office hours will be expanding for 333 Club members with Emileevee opening up time slots for the community to discuss branding and marketing with her.
Episode #46 of Two Bored Apes is available. Listen on Spotify here.
The 333 Club is officially SOLD OUT! Here’s a thread of Zeneca’s thoughts on the topic.
Our GITBOOK is now live! It is a repository for all of the information relating to ZA (our values, the team, our partners, perks, and plenty of helpful resources). You can visit it by clicking here.
Nothing in this or any other ZenCaps publication should be construed as financial or investment advice. The views and opinions expressed in ZenCaps publications do not reflect those of Zeneca_33 or the ZenAcademy.
Always exercise caution within the NFT space and adhere to best practices when it comes to making any investments. There is plenty of potential, but this comes with inherent risks.
Stay safe, and as always, good luck.