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 - A huge CryptoPunks sale, an important historical rediscovery and much more
Each week delivers so much news it’s often tricky to pick a headline. This week was no different, but a combination of two stories, both steeped in history, seemed fitting.
Firstly, amidst this bear market, we saw an enormous CryptoPunks purchase for #2924, which is a hooded ape. Apes are the second rarest type of CryptoPunks, with only 24 in the collection, whereas the Hoodie accessory, albeit not particularly rare, is highly coveted amongst the community. There is only one NFT in the collection which has these two traits together, hence the 3,300ETH (approx. $4.4mill USD) price tag. Click here for full article.
Another big story is the rediscovery of what’s being touted as the first ever NFTs on Ethereum. The jury is still out but it’s looking likely it’s the case. I’m referring to the Linagee Name Registrar. I’ve covered this in full in the Talking Point section below.
Aside from this, we’ve seen Christie’s launch an NFT marketplace, BAYC come under fire from multiple angles, OpenSea announcing Optimism integration and Warner Music Group, Walmart & Disney embracing web3.
We also saw Meta announce NFT integration at the cost of KYC’ing, QQL selling out at 14ETH, the Appstore applying a hefty 30% fee for NFT sales and @fragmentxyz using 2 Mega Mutant Apes as collateral to borrow 1000ETH, which then funded their purchase of a third Mega Mutant Ape.
For these stories and many more, please take a look at the sections below.
Curated News - the biggest stories of the past week
BIGGEST NFT Sale: CryptoPunk #2924 sold for 3,300ETH
NFT trading volume plunges 98% from January despite rise in adoption
Art Blocks Fidenza Creator Sells $17M of Ethereum NFTs Amid Market Slump
FB, Instagram Users in US Can Now Share Ethereum, Flow and Polygon NFTs and Meta Announces NFT Integration For The US…But It Will KYC Your Wallet
Almost everything could be tokenized in 5-10 years — Matrixport exec
Anonymous makes numerous allegations against Yuga Labs and its BAYC
Someone Borrowed $1.3M in Ethereum Using Mutant Ape NFTs as Collateral
Customisable NFT Debit Cards Are Here Thanks To Mastercard and hi
NFT Influencer Hacked For $1 Million of NFTs, But Some Call It Karma
Disney Pushes Further Into Crypto, DeFi, NFTs With Recent Job Post
MetaMask adopts custodial features for NFT-hungry institutional investors
Educational: All you need to know about global NFT financial regulations
Educational: Top NFT Marketplaces for Cardano: Compare & Choose
Educational: What Is JPG Store: the Largest NFT Marketplace on Cardano
Project news & things we’re keeping an eye on
Solana NFT Game Star Atlas Launches Playable Demo on Epic Games Store
ArtBlocks Update: ‘The Curated Series, Completed’ - Click to read
Gutter Cat Gang unveiled their GangCoin Twitter account today with some news
ApeCoin DAO Vote To Create a Marketplace For Ape Holders To Connect
Doodles are hiring, looking for exceptional people. Click for more details
Original Banksy NFTs To Drop On MakersPlace Thanks To Austin Wilde
Talking Point - Linagee Name Registrar
Sometime yesterday there was a rediscovery. A group of NFT enthusiasts with a keen interest in blockchain archaeology claim to have unearthed what is potentially the oldest and first NFTs on Ethereum. It comes in the guise of a domain name registrar, not too dissimilar to ENS, and it’s currently known as the Linagee Name Registrar (LNR).
It wasn’t long ago that EtherID’s were rediscovered and considered the second oldest NFTs on Ethereum (29th Nov.2015), predated only by the Etheria project/s. However, the LNR discovery is older than both, dating back to 8th August 2015. Considering Ethereum was launched on 30th July 2015, it’s highly unlikely anything will crop up now that supersedes LNR.
The rediscovery sent the NFT community into overdrive, with record-breaking mint numbers observed. LNR saw 109,332 domains registered over a 24hr period. The previous record was held by ENS with 43,211 registrations.
People scrambled to acquire popular domains based on existing trends within ENS which saw the 999 club mint out almost immediately, closely followed by the 9999 club.
Secondary sales via OTC have been very active. Hundreds of 3-digit domains were sold on within hours for between 0.1-0.2ETH. The original mint price has been around the 60-cent mark.
It’s worth noting that unlike ENS domain names, LNR domains are case sensitive, allowing variants on one name. For example, ‘emma’, ‘Emma’, ‘EMMA’ and ‘EmmA’ are all valid and different domain names. That said, the “traditional” lower-case versions seem to be the most in-demand.
The contract was found by @m_keresty, who is also the person who created the minting app. And now he’s working on a wrapper. Since the contract predates the ERC-721 standard, it requires a wrapper to make it visible on popular marketplaces such as OpenSea.
There was only about 60 domains minted when the contract was originally released in 2015. To my knowledge, nobody has come forward claiming to own one of these. These 2015 mints would officially be the oldest NFTs on Ethereum (although there are plenty of older NFTs minted on other blockchains) and will likely demand a high price.
Anything minted now is (obviously) a 2022 mint, but using a contract from 2015. Still, a very cool bit of historical significance. I minted a few. At $0.60 there’s very little downside and i’m certainly partial to historically significant blockchain assets.
If you’d like to read more on the topic, click the on the thread below by Leonidas. From his Twitter profile you can keep abreast of all developments. Hopefully you can find a nice domain that has some meaning to you. Good luck and enjoy.
Tip Of The Week - OpenSea and Metamask updates
There’s been updates on two of the most popular NFT tools in the market, so here’s what’s new, and how it makes life that little bit simpler:
OpenSea has implemented the ability to search for accounts using ENS domain names. This means when a collector calls their OpenSea account something different to their ENS handle, you can now easily find them.
Metamask has a rather larger update in the form of a brand new Portfolio Dapp. In their words it represents “an entirely new way to manage your tokens and NFTs across multiple chains *and* multiple accounts!”. For an overview of the update, please click here to read a great report from team at Consensys.
ZenAcademy and 333 Club Noticeboard
Regular Event Reminders
Don’t miss the 333 Club’s weekly ‘This Week in NFTs’ Twitter Spaces, each and every Sunday. Follow the 333 Club Twitter page here for more info.
Don’t forget to keep across the Giveaways Discord channel, with plenty of allowlist spots up for grabs on a regular basis.
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.
There’s a new ‘global-events’ forum in the ZA Discord to help facilitate IRL meet-ups amongst the community. Find more details here.
Irregular Events and Community News
The 2nd Zen Academy Founders chat happened two days, giving community members the opportunity to meet each other, discuss the space, network and support each other.
Members of the 333 Club were offered the chance to have their projects showcased in a Twitter thread, providing some nice visibility to those involved.
Zen Academy are going to have a fairly significant presence at the W3BX Expo in a few weeks. For the full rundown of what’s on offer, please click here.
Additional ZA Content
YouTube Video: Welcome to ZenAcademy! and why to join
YouTube Shorts: The SECRET of successful NFT projects
YouTube Shorts: $4,500,000 CryptoPunk Sale + QQL Mint
YouTube Video: Episode #54 of Two Bored Apes is now available, featuring QQL, Art Blocks Curated Ending, and A Lot of Random Stuff.
YouTube Video: Watch ZenChats #43 where Zeneca talks to Derek Edws - Time-based Royalties, FlamingoDAO, Art Blocks Curation Board Explained
The ZenAcademy GITBOOK is now live! It’s a repository for everything ZA (values, the team, partners, perks & plenty of helpful resources). Visit 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.