NFT Weekly Preview | Yuga Labs 'The Otherside' Headlines a Week of Hyped Drops

The NFT market is in full bull mode right now, as we just wrapped up a $963M week in NFT trading volume on OpenSea ($137.5M per day on average). And that does not even count the daily revenue from LooksRare, which has gained an increase in volume after their listing rewards announcement, or the X2Y2 marketplace which is also seeing an increase after waving transaction fees and royalties for the rest of April.

These are the highest daily revenue numbers we have seen since late January, and the impact is being felt already across the top end projects. In the past seven days, 16 of the top 20 PFP projects are in the green, and several are up 20-60 percent or more.

The week was led by Moonbirds, which has traded 45K ETH since last Monday and seen the floor rise 63 percent to 34 ETH in just nine days post-launch. Then the RTFKT and Nike MNLTH finally revealed Friday night, to widespread acclaim as Nike's first generation CryptoKicks were debuted, along with vials (or skins for the shoes) and MNLTH 2. The floor price for MNLTH went up nearly 50 percent after the reveal and holds an 11 ETH floor at time of writing.

But now the narrative has shifted to the BAYC ecosystem, as Yuga Labs finally announced the land sale date for Apr. 30, sending the BAYC NFT ecosystem into full send mode. At time of writing, BAYC is up to a staggering 147 ETH floor, MAYC is at 41 ETH and BAKC is at 14 ETH.

This is all happening against a shaky crypto market backdrop, as BTC and ETH were down 2.5 percent and 4.5 percent on the week, respectively. But this has not dragged APE down, as the Yuga Ecosystem token in is up 48 percent on the week and is at $17.3 at time of writing.

It's safe to say that all eyes are on the BAYC ecosystem and APE this week, but there are some other hyped projects launching this week which will impact the markets.

And although the markets are looking bullish, there are some recent red flags which could impact new drops and the overall ecosystem. The highly anticipated Akutar drop last week was exploited and $34mm was locked in their contract. And the other big drop, Anata, minted out at 5 ETH but is down 33 percent in just a few days of secondary trading, now at 3.33 ETH floor. 

Focus for this week in NFTs:

• Yuga Land Sale
• Imaginary Ones
• Blvck Paris

Yuga Land Sale Finally Arrives

We finally received confirmation that the next Yuga Labs NFT drop for their metaverse "The Otherside" is happening this Saturday at noon EST.

Editor's Note: After the publish of this article, Yuga Labs dropped more information about the upcoming 'The Otherside' launch. 

Community sentiment is still pretty torn on the anticipated price tag for the Otherside land. There have been rumors of a Dutch auction starting at 600 APE, which at the time of writing would be nearly 4 ETH. A primary sale at that price would likely suck 200K or more ETH out of the NFT ecosystem, and it is hard to imagine that it would be a positive outcome overall. Thus several folks (myself included) feel the price will be lower (the leaked pitch deck stated 1 ETH "conservatively"). 

The other big and important unknown is around Koda, the new PFP character that has been teased and hinted at by the Yuga team. The expectation is that there will be either a five or ten percent chance of minting a Koda along with the land NFT (packaged together somehow), and early speculation is that Koda NFTs would trade at a premium to BAKC (thus over 14 ETH). Thus the Koda "lotto" willl be a driving factor in those deciding to mint and at what price.

Expect speculation to swirl all week until more concrete information is released from the team. It would also not be surprising to see a drop in daily liquidity in the days leading up to the sale as folks prepare to mint. 

We'll keep updating our story as we learn more about the Yuga Labs 'The Otherside' launch. 

Imaginary Ones Debuts With Interesting Mint Mechanics

The 3D animated PFP project with 8,888 supply is set to debut this week, with allowlist minting starting on Tuesday and a public sale on Wednesday. Notably, the project's Twitter account has amassed over 500K followers, one of the biggest followings seen to date for a new project. Thus, demand, artificial or not, seems to be there.

The project roadmap includes a Phase 2 to "Hire. Experiment. Build.," a Phase 3 with hints of a metaverse "Imaginary World," and Phase 4 with utility and a coin. 

The mint mechanics are as follows:

• Private Whitelist on Tuesday at 10:00 pm EST; 4,200 supply at 0.2 ETH
• Public Dutch auction on Wednesday at 11:00 PM EST; 4488 supply, at 50 percent of OpenSea price with a 1.5 ETH cap

This twist on the Dutch auction price is an interesting tactic and almost certainly ensures a mint-out at the top price. This will certainly be one to watch this week.

Blvck Paris To Launch Fashion Membership NFT

The other highly anticipated new project for this week is Blvck Paris, the latest lifestyle and fashion company to get into the NFT space from French designer and founder Julian O'hayon. The project has accumulated over 220K followers on Twitter, and has an overall social media following of millions for its corresponding "All Black" fashion brand.

This 3D, fashion focused PFP with 9,999 supply will have different rarity tiers, with the most exclusive being the Blvck Shadows (99 supply).

The project has a roadmap including partnerships with Web 2 brands, launch of the Blvckverse and IRL events, a Blvck Alpha Membership for discounts and airdrops, and eventual land acquisition.

It is set to mint this Friday for 0.2 ETH, starting at 6:00 AM EST. Learn more on their website. 

Other Notable Events

There are a few other events happening this week to be aware of:

• Premint Town Hall today (rumored to include a big announcement)
• A Moonbirds announcement involved Alexis Ohanian and the future role of Ryan Cason on the team, also expected today. Read our article coverage. 
• Potential for Azuki's Beanz reveal (Saturday will mark one month from the airdrop) - no confirmed date

Make sure to follow Lucky Trader's twitter feed @LuckyNFTNews and follow our comprehensive newsfeed for breaking information related to these topics and all notable events in the NFT space.

Good luck this week, stay safe out there and happy minting!