ZenCaps: Edition #36

Your weekly NFT recap to cut through the noise

Nov 5, 2022

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 - Art Gobblers launch sparks controversy

It felt like a busy week in the NFT space with plenty going on. This included the eagerly anticipated ZenAcademy Town Hall, where Zeneca shared his plans and visions regarding the future of ZenLabs with the community at large. He also disclosed some information regarding the upcoming PFP project. Full details of the Town Hall can be found in the section ZenAcademy and 333 Club Noticeboard towards the end of this newsletter.

New collection Art Gobblers was certainly the hottest topic of conversation over the past week as it found itself mired in controversy. Initially, huge floor prices (~15ETH) and whale trading reignited the debate around NFT influencer ethics. Simultaneously, another debate was raging, as Art Gobblers creator Justin Roiland came under fire from the CT community regarding his previous involvement in certain creative projects. Some of these creations have been referred to by Twitter users as “abhorrent”. Others community members quickly came his defence. Certain marketing strategies employed by the Art Gobblers team have also come under fire. More details on these stories can be found in links below.

Controversy aside, Art Gobblers was head and shoulders above the competition in the weekly volume charts with the floor price touching around 20ETH at one point, having now retraced back to 7.5ETH. CryptoPunks is in second spot, Bored Ape Yacht Club in third, Chromie Squiggle in fourth and Otherdeed for Otherside in fifth.

The crypto markets have had a green week, with ETH up 6.3% over the past seven days, and both Polygon (MATIC) and Arweave (AR) experienced huge pumps on the back of Meta integration news. There was also big upticks for numerous other infrastructure and Layer 1 tokens.

Additionally, Instagram’s NFT marketplace is upon us, Blur.io volume sky-rockets as it eclipses OpenSea, y00ts finally reveal art, CryptoDickButts temporarily topped the volume charts after an Elon Musk tweet reference and the Japanese government has created its own DAO to understand its use cases.

For full details on all these stories and more, please see the sections below.

Curated News - the biggest stories of the past week

Project news & things we’re keeping an eye on

A Special Introduction - Swombat aka Daniel Tenner

ZenAcademy has partnered with community member Swombat (aka Daniel Tenner) for a series of educational videos geared towards everything NFTs.

Daniels extensive experience within the tech world, spanning over 15 years, combined with his expert knowledge within the web3 and NFT space, makes him uniquely positioned to deliver thoughtful and informative content with regards to the ongoing developments and future potential of NFTs.

We’re very grateful for his collaborative efforts and excited to share his first video with you, which explores ten awesome use cases for NFTs.

Daniel has his own YouTube channel, which will house the upcoming videos, so make sure to show some support and ‘Subscribe’ to keep across all of his content. He also has a Twitter account which is full of insightful musings on the NFT space, so follow him there too for the full package.

Without further ado, here’s the first of his videos in collaboration with ZenAcademy:

Tip Of The Week - Blur.io Airdrop 2: Some Insights

Yesterday, having received an abundance of questions regarding how the 2nd Blur.io airdrop works, Zeneca decided to share his knowledge on the topic with a wider audience by creating a Twitter thread. The full thread can be found below, but the TL;DR is this:

Airdrop 2 is geared towards rewarding those who use the platform between launch and the end of November.
The exact algorithm that determines those rewards is a secret, even to Zeneca.
The quality of the NFTs you list matters (listing your dead/hidden NFTs won’t count for much).
Sweeping 3 times or more may be beneficial.
Loyalty is a factor with regards to the rarity of the care packages you’ll receive, but not the quantity.

Please read Zeneca’s full. thread here: Zeneca thread on how Airdrop 2 for Blur.io works.

For transparencies sake, it should be noted that Zeneca is an early stage investor in Blur.io. Zeneca takes transparency very seriously and has recently published a website which provides details of all the crypto/NFT companies he has a financial interest in. It also provides information of all of his current and past advisory positions. You can find this information here: https://zeneca.xyz/transparency/.

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.
There’s a new ‘global-events’ forum in the ZA Discord to help facilitate IRL meet-ups amongst the community. Find more details here.
ZenAcademy is dedicated to bringing the community closer together. To this end there will be weekly events held, which all community members are welcome to attend. These are for us to get to know each other, but also enable us to use the power of shared experience and expertise to benefit the collective. Each and every one of us has something to offer and through interaction, learning and networking as a group, we undoubtedly level up both on an individual level, but on a community level too. You can always find the latest Events details in the Discord Announcements channel.

Irregular Events and Community News

The ZenAcademy Town Hall was a resounding success, but if you missed out on what went down, you can find all the necessary info here:
And we're always here to help and answer questions, so please hop into ‘general-chat’ or ‘ask-a-question’ in Discord and one of the Z-Team will respond.
The ZenAcademy and 333 Club Discord merger also happened over the past week. This is a 2-week trial period and the Z-Team welcomes all feedback on how community members feel about this transition. Let us know in Discord. Your voices will be heard and your opinions matter.
ZenAcademy will be starting Artist Calls soon where the focus will be on supporting artists and allowing both collectors + artists to mingle and get to know one another. In addition, Zeneca plans to bring in guest speakers on a frequent basis who are successful artists in the space to chat about what has worked for them and to discuss their journey. Keep an eye out for these.
Zeneca is contemplating the idea of doing something similar to the “1ETH Challenge”. No firm plans yet, but the community seems keen so far. Keep an eye out for further updates.
ZenAcademy is gearing up and preparing for Zenmas #3 to go out at the end of the year. Zenmas is an initiative which aims to support new artists and creators, especially those struggling to get noticed and find an audience. If you’re an artist who might be interested in taking part, please fill out this form: Zenmas #3 Artist Application Form.

Additional ZA Content

YouTube Video: Welcome to ZenAcademy! and why to join
YouTube Video: ZenAcademy Town Hall (PFP, our future, and much more!)
YouTube Video: Episode #59 of Two Bored Apes is now available, featuring a Twitter Q&A which discusses onboarding into web3, Meta and royalties
YouTube Video: Swombat discusses TEN awesome NFT use cases FROM THE FUTURE
YouTube Video: Rescuing Dogs With NFTs - ZenAcademy Mentorship with Doris Was Not Meat
YouTube Video: Best NFT Marketing Strategy That Works In 2022
YouTube Video: Watch ZenChats #44 where Zeneca talks to SuperMassive about Why Metaverse Is The Biggest Opportunity For Content Creators
YouTube Shorts: Save Time and Money with AI
YouTube Shorts: The Million Dollar Strategy Behind FlamingoDAO
Zeneca’s latest Newsletter is now out, entitled ‘How We Onboard Billions to Web3’. Click here to read the full article.
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.

ZenCaps: Your Weekly NFT Recap to Cut Through the Noise