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 - Trading volume dwindles, but the builders keep building
This week saw an article highlighting how far we’ve fallen from the glory days of the bull run. It labels OpenSea a ‘ghost-town’ as volume sinks 99% from its highs. NFT analyst @NFTherder published a thread named ‘18 Uncomfortable truths about the NFT industry…’ and Twitter users asserted that VIP Restaurant NFTs are DOA.
Despite this, we saw several global brands, such as FIFA and Ticketmaster, announce their intentions to embrace NFTs (see full articles below), and were treated to some of our favourite NFT projects sharing news of their upcoming plans. PROOF, Pudgy Penguins, Cool Cats, WoW, Parallel and Otherside were amongst them. Full details can be found in the Project news section below.
Aside from this there’s huge anticipation over the upcoming y00ts project launching on the Solana blockchain, from the team that brought us DeGods. The y00ts mint is on 4th September. Here’s a detailed overview of the project by the team at DappRadar: What Are y00ts NFTs?
Other news included Meta announcing Facebook and Instagram users can post NFTs from digital wallets. Following the announcement Crypto Twitter shared security concerns regarding Meta’s NFT integration.
Curated News - the biggest stories of the past week
BIGGEST NFT Sale: Bored Ape Yacht Club #6588 Sold for 769.9ETH
OpenSea turns into NFT ghost-town after daily volume plunges 99%
Twitter reinstates suspended NFT accounts as Solana threatens to halt ad spend
Ticketmaster Partners With Dapper Labs to Mint NFTs on Flow Blockchain
OpenSea Adds Polygon Support to Expand Features, Accept MATIC
Decentralized NFT Marketplace Sudoswap Announces ETH Token Airdrop
OpenSea says marketplace won’t support forked NFTs post-Merge
X2Y2 announced an option allowing buyers to set royalty fees
FIFA Launches NFT Platform on Algorand in Run-Up to World Cup
A16z proposes a set of licenses especially for NFTs, based on Creative Commons model
Nifty Gateway Goes for Gold with Game Changing NFT Management Tools
Educational: What is the Flow Blockchain?: Everything you need to know
Educational: Six Ways to Spot an NFT Scam
Project news & things we’re keeping an eye on
Kevin Rose Announces New NFT Collection and $50 Million Proof Raise
DigiDaigaku developer ‘Limit Break’ raised $200 Million to build Web 3 MMO
DeGods : Solana NFT Project Soars Ahead of Buzzy y00ts Launch
Cool Cats release more details of upcoming game in collaboration with Arc8
Parallel shares details of dates/times for the Open Faucet, Manifest and PDV.
Historical Insight: RarePepes are one of the most iconic NFT collections there is, and date back to 2016 when they were launched on the Counterparty blockchain. The collection is enormous and it’s often overwhelming trying to decide what to buy. So here’s a link to a website that can help you choose which NFT is best for you, with stats on recent sales, holder distribution and supply numbers all available at a glance: Discover the Universe of Pepe NFTs
Talking Point - Sudoswap
Sudoswap is the first decentralized marketplace to offer swaps between NFTs and ETH. It launched in July 2022, and the growth trajectory has been nothing short of remarkable, as shown in the diagram below.
It’s worth noting that although marketplace fees are considerably lower on Sudoswap, coming in at 0.5% compared to 2.5% on OpenSea, the platform is considered controversial by some due to the fact that is does away with creator royalty fees.
Controversy aside, the platform has certainly attracted the attention of traders who are simply looking for gas-efficient, low fee transactions. If you’d like a better understanding of how the platform works and want to explore whether it’s something that you’d benefit from using, below is a selection of different ways to do that.
Firstly, here’s a great thread by cygaar which gives an overview of how to use the platform in an easy-to-understand manner with diagrams included:
For those not so keen on Twitter threads, here’s an overview of the platform from the guys at CoinGecko: What Is Sudoswap And How To Use It?
And for those of you who want to dive into the deep end, here’s the link to their own documentation which covers all the technical aspects of Sudoswap’s functionality: Sudoswaps Official Docs and User Guide
You can also read about the upcoming Sudoswap token here: Decentralized NFT Marketplace Sudoswap Announces Ethereum Token Airdrop
Tip Of The Day - Supply and Holder Diversification (For Beginners)
The blockchain and its inherent transparency make for an analysts dream. This characteristic is extremely useful when it comes to comparing and contrasting collections, and enables us to easily access key metrics.
By simply noting readily available data points on popular NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea, you can immediately verify the total supply of a collection as well as ascertaining whether the supply is highly concentrated or diversified.
These two metrics (amongst many others) are key to consider when looking at potential investments.
In general, the lower the supply, the easier it is for a collections floor price to rise when demand increases. The perfect collection size is still open to debate and is dependant on a considerable amount of factors. For example, a collection with 3 items will not be able to build a thriving, healthy community that attracts lots of liquidity. Equally, a collection of 10 million nfts will suffer from (likely) never selling out and having a fragmented community direction.
As we all know, the standard of 10k(ish) seems to work well for PFP projects, but more exclusive communities, such as PROOF and 333 Club, have opted for lower supplies. It’s completely dependant upon the NFT collection’s hype, budget, marketing prowess, quality of team, utility and ambitions as to what size is suitable, but the point is this: if two collections are equally matched in all other areas, the one with the lower supply size will likely see a higher floor price over a given timeframe.
When it comes to holders, the better the diversification (i.e. the more unique holders there are) the more appealing the collection is to a potential investor. Of course a single person or group of people can create multiple ETH addresses and hold more NFTs, but regardless, you want to see a large number of holders, since this implies that the collection is less centralised.
These are just two factors to consider when buying into any collection. Unfortunately, ‘hype’ still seems to be the main contributing factor for floor price movement as opposed to utility or project ambitions, but we’ll explore more elements to look out for in the coming weeks.
ZenAcademy and 333 Club Noticeboard
Regular Event Reminders
Don’t forget to keep across the Giveaways Discord channel, with plenty of allowlist spots up for grabs on a regular basis.
As a ZenAcademy member you get exclusive access to periodic market health statistics in the Discord content channel.
Join poker nights via our Discord. Events held weekly, with prizes to be won.
Weekly Movie Nights are going strong. Click here for the latest info.
As part of the ZA community you have free access to the Misfit Robot Discord (focused on mental health & recovery), and several of their “Members Only” rooms. Check them out here: https://discord.gg/misfitrobots
Season 2 of the ZA Trivia Challenge is underway. Click here for more info.
A ‘global-events’ channel was launched in the ZA Discord to help facilitate IRL meet-ups amongst the community. Get involved by clicking here.
Irregular Events and Community News
Zenmas is upon us, with airdrops going out to community members daily. Zenmas is an initiative started in December last year, modeled after the 12 days of Christmas. The idea is to commission art from 12 up-and-coming NFT artists and airdrop their work everyone who holds a ZA/333 token. This is to support art, and support artists, and give our community some awesome art .See full Twitter announcement here.
Zeneca will be speaking at the web3 conference, W3BX, being held in Las Vegas from Oct 10-13. ZenAcademy are going to be running a 4 day workshop on "Building a web3 / NFT business". They're also planning to have some side events exclusive for ZAG / 333 token holders. Click here for more info.
The 333 Club formed a partnership with the amazing Unfiltered project, who have provided the community with free access to their paid subscription services. Unfiltered look to bring high-quality analysis and educational content to the NFT space.
Additional ZA Content
YouTube Video: Episode #51 of Two Bored Apes is now available, where the guys discuss Tornado Cash, Royalties, Burps and a Zancan. Click here to watch.
YouTube Video: Watch ZenChats #40 where Zeneca talks about Turning Web3 into a Habit w/ Mikey Ahdoot from Habit Nest.
YouTube Video: All about Creator Royalties
Video: An Introduction to FX Hash on TEZOS in collaboration with InPeak
Zeneca’s latest Newsletter is now out, entitled ‘Creator Royalties in NFTs’. Click here to read the full article.
The ZenAcademy GITBOOK is now live! It’s 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.