Headline News - Ledger Recover Experiences Huge Backlash, OpenAI CEO Calls for New Regulatory Agency for AI, Pudgy Penguins Releases Toy Line & HV-MTL Evo 1’s Revealed
Mutant Ape Yacht Club tops the 7-day volume charts, clocking in at around 12K ETH. Bored Ape Yacht Club sits in second, Wrapped CryptoPunks is in third, Milady Maker is in fourth and Pudgy Penguins are in fifth spot.
It was a considerably better week in terms of NFT collection floor prices, with a lot of notable collections showing increases. Milady Maker continues to impress, up another 30% over the past 7 days. Pudgy Penguins (25%) and LilPudgys (30%) also saw nice increases, as did mfers (37%) and ON1 Force (65%). But the runaway winner was Opepen Edition, whose floor price soared an incredible 133%. And, yet again, it was another Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT which secured the weeks largest sale at 100ETH. This is half the amount spent on last weeks top NFT sale.
The big caps of the global crypto market are at largely the same price positions they were this time last week. Bitcoin sits at $26,858, whilst ETH is holding around $1,808. Memecoin $PEPE experienced the biggest pullback within the top 100 coins/tokens, falling 13%. The biggest winner of the top 100 was Render, which describes itself as “the leading provider of decentralized GPU based rendering solutions, revolutionizing the digital creation process”. This saw a 23% appreciation over the past week.
Veecon is in full flow, and we’ll be getting some IRL feedback from the team to include next week, but elsewhere, there’s been a lot going on. Pudgy Penguins release a toy line, BAYC & MAYC are now on Blend, Sotheby’s start to auction off 3AC’s NFT collection, and Axie Infinity hits the Apple store.
However, probably the biggest news this week, was the horrendous backlash suffered by Ledger after the release of Ledger Recover. Due to the impact of this story across the Web3 space, I’ve included three news articles on it below. Elsewhere, money continues to be poured into Web3, with Jack Dorsey leading a $6M raise for Bitcoin payments company Azteco, Red Beard VC closing a $25M Web3 funding round and OpenAI CEO's is eyeing up $100M in fresh funding for crypto project Worldcoin.
OpenAI was in several other headlines, including the CEO calling for a new regulatory agency for AI, as well as the company announcing that ChatGPT has added a web browsing feature to rival Google Bard and Microsoft Bing.
For full articles on all the above and much, much more, head into the sections below and click on the relevant links.
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Curated NFT News - the biggest stories of the past week
BIGGEST NFT Sale: Bored Ape Yacht Club #8332 - 100ETH
Web3 Education Leaders Team Up to Roll Out Beginner NFT Platform HeyMint
Avalanche Unveils New Marketplaces & Plans to Bridge the Physical-Digital Gap
Sotheby's Auctions Part of 3AC's Rare NFT Collection, Bringing In $2.4 Million
Paraspace NFT Protocol 'usurper' Resigns After Failing To Overthrow CEO
Pudgy Penguins Releases Toy Line, Earns $500,000 in 48 Hours
First Free Spacebrat NFT Minted Over 300,000 Times Across Several Blockchains
From Cars to NFTs: Renault’s RACING SHOE5 Accelerates Their Innovation
NFT Lending Platform Blend Surges Past 100,000 Ethereum in Total Volume
Ledger Faces Security Questions over its New Seed Recovery Feature
'So Much Anger, So Much Hate', Says Ledger Co-Founder Amid Botched Recover Service Launch
MicroStrategy Looking at Bitcoin Ordinals for App Development, Says CEO
Chinese Prosecutors To Crack Down On ‘pseudo-innovation’ In NFT Market
Why Relics and Steve Aoki Are Building NFT Jukeboxes for the Metaverse
Axie Infinity Rolls Out ‘Lite' Version of Crypto Game on Apple App Store
Bitcoin Frogs Becomes Most Traded NFT Amid Bitcoin Ordinals Hype
NFT Trading Volume on Track to Drop Below $1B, But Does That Metric Matter?
Curated AI & Web3 News
Most Americans Consider AI a Threat to Humanity, New Poll Finds
Jack Dorsey Leads $6 Million Raise for Bitcoin Payments Company Azteco
OpenAI CEO's Crypto Project Worldcoin Eyes $100M in Fresh Funding
ChatGPT Adds Web Browsing Feature to Rival Google Bard and Microsoft Bing
OpenAI Debuts ChatGPT App for Apple iPhone, Says Android Coming Soon
‘Inferno Drainer’ Scam As A Service Has Stolen $5.9M Since March
Coinbase Finally Launches Subscription Service Overseas, Focuses on Staking
Apple Bans Employees From Using ChatGPT Over AI Privacy Fears: WSJ
Binance Australia says banking disrupted as payment provider cuts service
Crypto Browser Opera Integrates Layer 1 Blockchain MultiversX
Endaoment Expands Web3 Charitable Fundraising Efforts With GlobalGiving Partnership
A word from our Founder: Welcome to ZenAcademy! and why to join
Educational: ZenAcademy’s 30 Days Of NFTs - Entry Level NFT Course
Educational: ZenAcademy’s Web3 CryptoStudyHall
Educational: ZenAcademy’s Copyright for Digital Artists Vol 1 (FREE eBook)
Talking Point - ETH Value & NFT Sales
In light of recent volatility, I thought we’d take a look at how external factors can impact NFT prices, with a particular focus on ETH value.
NFT prices, and in this context, it’s simplest to refer to collection floor prices, are affected my many things. These can include project milestones, acquisitions, leadership changes, partnerships, celebrity endorsement, FUD, FOMO, art reveals and new roadmaps. However, there’s other, less obvious things to be mindful of as well. Primarily, ETH value, and consequently, the macro economic climate.
As we saw during the SVB collapse, several notable collections, including Azuki and PROOF Collective, came forward and disclosed that they had exposure to SVB. This led to some market panic, and Moonbirds in particular, saw a reasonable drop in its floor price. This trend wasn’t only limited to collections who announced exposure to SVB though.
Floor prices were reacting to the volatile shift in general market sentiment. In a situation such as this, where we also saw USDC depeg, a certain element of panic sets in. People start to lose confidence. Talk of bank runs, and thread upon thread being written on Twitter, outlining the fragility of the US banking system, led to people actioning risk management tactics. This includes offloading high risk assets (e.g. NFTs) and converting them into stable coins or FIAT. So when the market sentiment dips, we tend to see a portion of the market looking to exit. This has a negative affect on floor prices, as people start to undercut each other. The result: the floor price drops.
Funnily enough, the same is true when sentiment is good, and confidence is high. When the macro environment is healthy, and ETH is gaining value, people also want to exit, but for different reasons: to capitalize on profits. This has a similar affect on floor prices (except in the throws of an insane bull run maybe), whereby people looking to exit begin undercutting each other, leading to a reduction in the ETH floor price.
Which begs the question, so under what conditions do NFT floor prices tend to increase/thrive? The answer: When ETH is stable. This is the best scenario. But we also see reasonable positive price action in periods of low volatility, or slow, steady accumulation phases.
This thread, by the wonderful Punk9059, provides more information and statistics on this topic, with the use of graphs and other analytical tools. Take a look. It’s interesting to note that the NFT floor prices were largely green over the past week, and ETH’s value was relatively stable. Click here or on the Image below to see full thread.
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HeyMint Launchpad
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Koinly
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Vela Exchange
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Project news & things we’re keeping an eye on
Deadfellaz Introduces Streamingfellaz, a New Extension to Its IP
Otherside Shares Key Strategic Elements Of Legends of the Mara
ApeCoin Foundation Is Accepting Applications To Run For The Special Council!
LooksRare Announces You Can “Win BIG with LooksRare Raffles”
ALTS By ADIDAS Airdropped 3* Rift Valley Motel Coin NFTs Per ALT
Cool Cats’ ‘Journeys Season 2: Welcome Shadow Wolves’ Has Begun
Chimpers Adventure 3 Is Complete & Team Release Review Article
Nike's Web3 Initiative, .SWOOSH, General Access Sale Delayed
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Liams Top Tips - "Buy the rumour sell the news"
It was a common saying long before web3 came along, but re:NFTs it describes how floor prices will start pumping in the lead-up to a big announcement or event, but then ironically dump when the actual event happens.
Let's look at CHECKS in the image below.
Burn event is announced (see green arrow). The market thinks that checks will become in high demand due to burn, therefore, floor price sky rockets THEN…
RED arrows show when the burn event actually begins
Those who speculated price would appreciate in the lead up to burn, start selling off, taking profits on their correct prediction
Floor price dumps despite the "burn" actually mattering more than ever.
I've said it countless times before, but the fundamentals behind an NFT project rarely impacts the floor price.
Instead, remember people buy NFTs if they are confident that the floor price is going to go up! And of course, people will sell NFTs if they are confident floor price is going to go down. Hence why "Buy the rumour sell the news" works near perfectly every time!
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ZenAcademy & 333 Club Noticeboard
ZenAcademy Community News
ZenAcademy @ Veecon - Several team member attended the popular annual Web3 conference, and there was a ZenAcademy meet-up yesterday, which judging by the photos, looked like a lot of fun.
The ZenDaily show is going to be on hiatus, due to Zeneca traveling a lot over the next few weeks & @emileevee getting married at the end of the month. We will keep everyone posted regarding our return plans.
ZenCoaching - something’s brewing. The first ZenCoaching program was extremely well received, and the second offering is on its way in the coming months. Watch this space!
The PFP sneak peeks continue - We'll let the art speak for itself, but hopefully you can begin to see the characters in the world we're creating take shape. Their personalities, their traits. It's been so fun developing these and we truly hope and believe everyone in the community will be able to find PFPs they relate and resonate with. Enjoy!
The ZenAcademy Consulting website was officially launched last month, and we’re extremely excited to be able to offer our services to those looking for a helping hand in Web3, and beyond. Check out the link above for more details and drop us an email if you have any questions.
Get our free “12 days of Web3” email series to learn the basics at your own pace. Simply sign up here.
The "guests of 333" initiative launched in the The 333 Club, in an effort to provide some bidirectional value to our consulting clients as well as the community itself. The goal is to bring in interesting people working on topical projects to stimulate conversation and hopefully foster meaningful connections between builders.
Our Little Atlas community endeavour has been going exceptionally well, with 1,146 members now signed up. There’s currently another 12 upcoming events in the calendar. Keep up the good work. There’s few things more important than human connection.
ZenAcademy - Latest Content Releases
YouTube Video: The Importance Of Asking Questions In Web3 - MET AMS
Spotify: Two Bored Apes Ep. 79: Memecoins, BRC-20 and Bear Market Vibes
Zeneca Newsletter: Letter 38: Meme Coins Are NFTs Without Pictures
YouTube Shorts: The Future of NFTs: Embracing Subscription Models
ZenAcademy Regular Events
Wellness Wednesdays - Hosted by @Kit777 every other Wednesday. Kit talks with one of our highly esteemed members in a Twitter spaces where we pause, take a break and discuss all things related to mental health/wellness and our shared human journey in life.
Keep across the Minor Announcements channel in Discord, for details on Founders Calls, Casual Voice Chats, Trivia Challenges and more!
Artists Corner - Every other Wednesday, hosted by KingInTheCastle, this event takes place in our Discord for our members. Artists take to the mic and share their journey, experiences and knowledge with our community. Hop in the call to learn and have fun.
333 Club’s weekly ‘This Week in NFTs’ Twitter Spaces, each and every Sunday. Follow the 333 Club Twitter page here for more info.
Join Poker Nights via our Discord. Events held weekly, with prizes to be won.
There’s a ‘global-events’ forum in the ZA Discord to help facilitate IRL meet-ups amongst the community. Find more details here.
Don’t forget to keep across the Giveaways Discord channel, with plenty of allowlist spots up for grabs on a regular basis.
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 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.
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