Morning Minute | BlackRock Launches $100M Digital Asset Fund on ETH
TylerD's Market Summary
Today's Morning Minute is brought to you by nftperp, your gateway to the future of NFT derivatives trading!
Are you ready to dive into the world of NFT trading but hesitant due to high entry barriers? Look no further than nftperp.
nftperp allows traders to go long or short NFTs with the click of a few buttons.
And now they are officially live on Blast L2, providing a lower fee environment for traders along with:
- New "Degen Draw" raffle game
- Punks, Penguins and Milady's live for trading
- 100% of their Blast airdrop being shared with the community
- Additional $VNFTP rewards for traders
So start trading today (and use our ref code "LUCKYTRADER" to get WL access).
💰 BlackRock Launches $100M Fund on ETH
The institutions are coming.
Well, they're already here with the BTC ETFs. But let's just say they're entering crypto even further.
And BlackRock is leading the way.
What Happened?
Yesterday BlackRock filed paperwork for a fund called the "BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund."
It will be launched in partnership with the Real World Asset (RWA) tokenization firm Securitize.
But it's more than just paperwork or an idea.
They already deposited $100M in USDC on ETH in an address many believe will be the home to the new digital asset fund.
This move is in line with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink's previous comments that the ETFs "are just stepping stones towards tokenization and I really do believe this is where we're going to be going."
Why It Matters
BlackRock is clearly betting on crypto, digital assets and tokenization.
Various sectors of traditional finance like stocks and even real estate will be brought onto the blockchain and its payment rails.
Money is already here, as are digital collectibles.
The world is moving onchain.
Adapt, or get left behind.
💰 NFTfi Launches The NFTfi Foundation
NFTfi is an OG in the NFT lending market with over $600M in lifetime volume.
Just last week they made headlines with their $6M raise, cementing their runway for the foreseeable future.
And with their latest announcement, they appear one step closer to decentralization.
What Happened?
Yesterday NFTfi announced it will be officially launching the NFTfi Foundation as the next step in their decentralization journey.
The TLDR on the NFTfi Foundation's role
- Steward and grow the NFTfi protocol
- Appoint the NFT council
- Define and launch the NFTfi DAO (and its likely governance token)
From the announcement post:
The NFTfi Foundation’s mandate is to develop the infrastructure necessary for healthy NFT credit markets. It will steward the NFTfi protocol and grow the NFTfi ecosystem until it becomes self-sufficient.
More information on the governance structure is expected soon.
And the team also mentioned "several initiatives to promote the use of the NFTfi protocol" coming in the near future.
Why It Matters
In the NFT and crypto space we all know what comes in the journey to decentralization - a token.
That possibility seems closer than ever for NFTfi.
The bigger item to me - the rollout of several initiatives in the near future.
Momentum is important in token launches, and the NFT lending landscape is competitive.
NFTfi rolling out new features and programs ahead of any potential TGE will be critical - and it seems they are planned.
Now we wait to see what they have in store...
🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?
Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:
- BTC led NFT trading volume with $13.2M on the day (+38%); ETH was next with $11.5M and then Solana with $7.8M
- Runestones dominated the BTC NFT board with 127 BTC volume and jumping 48% to 0.055 BTC, followed by RSIC +20% to a 0.082
- NodeMonkes (0.75 BTC), OMB (0.44) and Bitcoin Puppets (0.24) held up strongly as well; BitMon jumped 25% to a 0.2 BTC floor
- ETH NFTs were mixed, with BAYC -2% to 12.95 ETH, Pudgy's +5% to 11 ETH and Milady outperforming +22% to 4.18 ETH
- XCOPY dropped an open edition mint on Base called "MUTATIO," priced at 0.00069 ETH to mint (~$2.30)
- Solana NFTs were mostly green after SOL fell; Frogana +50% to 3.15, Tensoians +3% to 40, Mad Lads -7% 154 SOL
- Killabears are expanding to Solana later today, opening a bridge for Killacubs
- nftperp released its Degen Draw game, combining luck, strategy, and trading volume for major weekly rewards exclusively on Blast
- Wasabi introduced its new fractional NFT trading in partnership with Blastopians and ThrusterFi
- Chimpers shared a new partnership with Nifty Island for 2 new games with NFT rewards
💰 Token, Airdrop & Points Tracker
Here's a rundown of major token or airdrop news from the weekend:
- Rug Radio & Decrypt announced their new app Content+ allowing users to consume-to-earn their content in one place, featuring points, rewards, quests and more
- $PORTAL staking will go live on Thursday, Mar. 21
- BTC Machine wants to create the largest airdrop in history with 112,777 inscriptions dropped to Runestone holders (snapshot in 48 hours)
- CyberKongz announced a major upgrade to its Play & Kollect rewards, including a Jackpot Pool and a bump to 85% of $BANANA (from 50%)
🌎 Around Crypto and Web3
A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:
- Crypto majors are green this morning after a big pull back; BTC +1.2% at $63,360; ETH +1.5% at $3,260; SOL even at $172
- Grayscale updated its ETH ETF application to include ETH staking, along with Fidelity and others
- Base memecoins soared on the day; $BRETT +45% to $343M, $DEGEN +110%, $doginme +120% and $NORMIE +220%
- Alipay chose Avalanche for its web3-enabled loyalty program
🚀 NFT Total Volume
- Runestones ($8M ETH, 0.055 BTC floor)
- BAYC ($3M ETH, 12.95 ETH floor)
- NodeMonkes ($2.7M, 0.75 BTC floor)
- Pudgy Penguins ($1.8M, 10.99 ETH floor)
- OMB ($1.5M, 0.44 BTC floor)
📈 NFT Floor Price Increase (ETH)
- Age of Dino (34%, 0.49 ETH Floor)
- WebbLand (30%, 0.18 ETH)
- Redacted Remilio (30%, 0.91 ETH)
- Opepen (23%, 0.25 ETH)
- Milady (22%, 4.18 ETH)
🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals
Today is a slower day of drops in the NFT space, with focus squarely on memecoins and presale launches.
The highlight is likely Jack Butcher's launch of the revamped Opepen with Opepen v2 coming this afternoon.
See the full list and dive in for more details with Swizzy's daily mint monitor.
- George Condo x Avant Arte (10:00 a.m. ET)
- Antigens (12:00 p.m. ET)
- Space Nomads (1:00 p.m. ET)
- Opepen v2 (1:45 p.m. ET)
Enjoy this write-up and/or want to sponsor the Morning Minute? Follow along with me on Twitter @tyler_did_it or reach out via email to tyler.warner@luckytrader.com.
