ZenCaps: Edition #64
Your curated weekly Web3 & AI recap
Headline News - Ethereum Taken Over By A Cartel?, Nike NFTs To Make Their Way Into EA Sports Games & AI Developers Evoke Satoshi Nakamoto
Bored Ape Yacht Club tops the 7-day volume charts, clocking in at around 20K ETH. Mutant Ape Yacht Club sits in second, Azuki is in third, Opepen Edition is in fourth and Nakamigos are in fifth spot.
NFT collection floor prices were generally more stable this past week than they have been in recent times. Beanz (+18%), Azuki (18%) Doodles (17%), and The Captainz (13%) saw some of the larger increases amongst the more established collections. Beanz was also added to Blend this week. The CloneX collection saw the largest drop, with the floor price decreasing by 14%. And, yet again, it was another Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT which secured the weeks largest sale at 116WETH.
The majority of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap have experienced a green week. Bitcoin sits at $27,250 (+2%), whilst ETH is at $1,907 (+4.3%). Several Layer 1 coins had good weeks, with XRP (+12%), ADA (+4.3%), SOL (9.8%) and TRON (9.9%) all seeing nice increases.
There’s been concerns raised about just how decentralised the Ethereum network really is, with a tweet from sassal.eth spurring on the conversation around LSD’s and Lido’s dominance in the ecosystem. Elsewhere, Nike will be bringing their NFTs into the gaming world via a partnership with EA Games, Coinbase Derivatives will launch institutional Bitcoin and Ethereum futures, and a PayPal-backed crypto wallet aims to be a 'Ubiquitous Solution'.
In NFTs, Doodles partnered with CAMP, to further bridge the gap between the digital and physical, Ben.eth suprised everyone by dropping a 9K NFT collection, which minted out at 0.1ETH, and FEWOCiOUS unveiled his new ‘FEWOS’ NFT Collection
There was plenty of AI news making the rounds over the past week too, a lot of which had negative headlines. These include AI deepfakes of child murder victims being referred to as ‘the new worst thing on the internet’, a US Military drone controlled by AI killing its operator during a simulated test, and experts warning that Artificial Intelligence could lead to extinction.
OpenAI was also featured in numerous headlines, including news of its CTO having their Twitter account hacked, the company pledging $1M towards AI-driven cybersecurity measures, and the company stating that they want to stop AI from Hallucinating and Lying.
For full articles on all the above and much, much more, head into the sections below and click on the relevant links.
HAVE YOU GOT A HARDWARE WALLET YET? Every day people lose their assets due to poor security. The safest way to protect your assets is to use a hardware wallet, like Ledger. Get yours here, and help support ZenAcademy in the process
Curated News - Best Of The Week
Web3
PayPal-Backed Crypto Wallet Magic Aims to Be 'Ubiquitous Solution'
Has Ethereum Been Taken Over by a 'Cartel'? Here’s What You Need to Know
Web3 Can Help Marginalized Communities Share Their Stories: Jordan Bayne
PancakeSwap Launches Tower Defense Game—With CAKE Token Rewards
Transak Raises $20 Million to Facilitate Web2-to-Web3, Fiat-to-Crypto Payments
Coinbase Derivatives to Launch Institutional Bitcoin and Ethereum Futures
Leading the AI Revolution in Web3: Orbofi AI Raises $2.8M in High-Profile Funding Round
NFTs
BIGGEST NFT Sale: Bored Ape Yacht Club #4066 - 116WETH
Blur's Blend Has Already Handled $225M Worth of NFT-Based Loans
Ben.eth Did A Suprise Drop Of FF6000, 9k NFTs Minting Out At .1ETH
Nike NFTs To Make Their Way Into EA Sports Games & Its Millions Of Fans
Sotheby's Second 3AC NFT Auction Includes Dmitri Cherniak Work
Find Satoshi Labs Rolls Out AI Tool That Turns Selfies Into NFTs
What is Emblem Vault: Trading Bitcoin Ordinals NFTs on Ethereum
Artificial Intelligence
US Military Drone Controlled By AI Killed Its Operator During Simulated Test
OpenAI's CTO Hacked Twitter Account Promotes Fraudulent 'OPENAI' Token
Artificial Intelligence Could Lead To Extinction, Experts Warn
OpenAI Pledges $1M Towards AI-Driven Cybersecurity Initiatives
Australia Taking First Steps In Regulating Artificial Intelligence Development
They Plugged GPT-4 Into Minecraft—and Unearthed New Potential for AI
AI Deepfakes of Child Murder Victims Are New Worst Thing on the Internet
AI Developers Evoke Satoshi Nakamoto With ‘Talk2Satoshi’ Chatbot
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 - Educational Resources
A word from our Founder: Welcome to ZenAcademy! and why to join
Get Our Free “12 days of Web3” email series to learn the basics at your own pace
ZenAcademy’s Copyright for Digital Artists Vol 1 (FREE eBook)
ZenAcademy Consulting Services - a helping hand in Web3, and beyond. Check out the link for more details, and drop us an email if you have any questions.
If you enjoy ZenCaps, don’t miss out on ZenDaily. It’s published Monday to Friday and provides a short recap of the past 24hrs in the NFT space. Subscribe for free here.
Talking Point - Mindset Is Everything
In life, we have very little control over anything at all. Specifically, I refer to everything external from ourselves. We can’t control how others think, feel or react. We can’t predict what tomorrow will bring. We can try to influence others, but it’s by no means a given they’ll respond as we so desire. In nascent environments, such as Web3, having a firm grasp of this concept, and an acceptance of it, is a key component to survival. As is determination, adaptability, flexibility and the ability to self-reflect. But today I wanted to focus on mindset.
Mindset is key to everything because it fundamentally determines how we perceive, interact with, and react to the world around us. It is the lens through which we interpret our experiences, and ultimately, our existence. It plays a crucial role in determining our reactions and attitudes towards life's challenges and opportunities.
The intrinsic power of mindset is directly related to the truth that our thoughts and behaviours are the only aspects of life we can wholly control.
Firstly, our thoughts directly influence our emotions and behaviours. A positive mindset can lead to a positive outlook on life, better stress management, healthier behaviours, and ultimately, better outcomes.
This perspective recognizes that, despite external circumstances, we can choose our responses. For example, in the face of adversity, a growth mindset, which embraces challenges as opportunities for learning and self-development, can lead to resilience, perseverance, and in some instances, success. In this regard, the crypto market provides ample examples. Those who remained after the last bear market, those who stayed, built and continued to learn, grow and develop, gaining a deeper insight into the overall environment, would have undoubtedly been the same people who most benefitted during the last bull run. Those who recoiled when the bear market arrived, surely did not.
Secondly, our mindset can shape our behaviours. If we believe that our efforts will lead to progress, we are more likely to make those efforts. For instance, if you have a mindset that embraces physical fitness as a key part of a healthy lifestyle, you're more likely to engage in regular exercise and make nutritional choices that support this lifestyle. This is in stark contrast to someone who views exercise as a chore and sees no value in mindful eating.
Lastly, mindset is foundational to personal change. The belief in our capacity to grow and change is the first step towards any significant personal transformation. Our thoughts are the driving force behind the actions we take, which can either keep us stagnant or propel us forward. The concept of neuroplasticity supports this, suggesting that our brains can change and adapt based on our thoughts and experiences.
In conclusion, mindset is key to everything because it is the determining factor in how we view and respond to the world. A positive and growth-oriented mindset can lead to more resilient behaviour and successful outcomes, illustrating how crucial our thoughts and behaviours are - the only things in life we can truly control. This control extends not only to our immediate reactions but also to our personal growth and overall life trajectory.
Think about all the above in relation to yourself, and consider these last parting words: “The greatest sources of all our sufferings are self-inflicted, based on stories and thoughts, born from our own minds”.
Liam’s Tips - "Most requested tip so far"
The most common question people ask is "When mint opens... how do we know if floor is going to go down or up?"
This relates to the M/W price action. So let's use the Superbowl Digidaiku drop as an example.
See the below image from NFT nerds, and my quick squiggles analyzing why i thought floor price would temporarily go up about 15mins post mint (spoiler it did! Going from 0.4 to > 0.6 before correcting back down).
Green line = shows scatter plot of sales in real time. clearly showing a trend in floor price increase beginning to start... but this is NOT enough for me to be confident.
So i check the next chart Yellow lines = Listing walls. Can see the main wall of 50 listed at 0.5...saw that volume of sales was well over 50 per minute (see purple bars on right hand side) so another good sign but again not quite enough.
Orange line = Buys VS listings = Can clearly show that the buy pressure was overpowering the listings pressure and had been doing so for nearly 10mins.
SO…All of these combined meant I was confident enough to call it that we would break 0.5 wall here and run up. Usually enough for me to want to swing trade but the crazy 12.5% royalty fee meant I was staying away from this trade
Complicated topic distilled into a few paragraphs but I hope that helps!
Today’s ZenCaps is brought to you by HeyMint Launchpad
Interested in sponsoring our newsletter? Contact vitor@zenacademy.com to discuss opportunities and connect with our +20,000 engaged members
ZenAcademy & 333 Club Noticeboard
ZenAcademy Community News
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 "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.
ZenCoaching - something’s brewing. The second helping of the ZenCoaching program will be starting towards the end of July. Watch this space!
Our Little Atlas community endeavour has been going exceptionally well, with 1,173 members now signed up. There’s currently another 13 upcoming events in the calendar, with one happening today, in Vienna. Keep up the good work team. There’s few things more important than human connection.
ZenAcademy Recommends…
NordVPN
It is critical to keep your data secure and private when browsing the web. A VPN can provide you with peace of mind, especially if you use public Wi-Fi. NordVPN is one of the most reputable and well-known VPN service providers.
NordPass
Designed for ease of use and equipped with advanced encryption, NordPass password manager is the most convenient and secure way to store and access your passwords, credit cards, and personal information.
Trading View
If you're looking for a great tool to help you with chart analysis and indicators, TradingView is the most active social network for traders and investors and is a platform that focuses on Advanced Charts for trading.
Koinly
Koinly calculates your cryptocurrency taxes and helps you reduce them for next year. Simple & Reliable. Their tax calculation is available in 20+ countries and is done in within 20 minutes. When it comes to NFTs, Koinly supports NFTs for most EVM-based blockchains and is always adding more support.
Vela Exchange
Vela Exchange is a decentralized exchange (DEX) with advanced perpetuals trading capabilities, community focused incentives, and scalable infrastructure. Vela Exchange was built as a 'next-gen' platform to overcome familiar DEX issues including front-running, slippage, asset limitations, and lack of risk management features.
Travala
Experience the convenience of Travala, a comprehensive travel-booking platform. Discover a world of possibilities as you book flights, accommodations, and unforgettable experiences all in one place.
ZenGo Wallet
ZenGo is an extremely secure crypto wallet: The only self-custodial wallet with no seed phrase vulnerability, powered by MPC cryptography instead, and has been operating since 2018 without a single security incident.
Note: All links in the above text are referral links; by using them you are directly supporting the ZenAcademy Community. Thanks for your ongoing support.
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.
✌️✌️✌️✌️
I see how much work you put into your newsletter, that's incredible!
That's why I subscribed🤝
Keep it up!