The Latest in NFT News | Web3, Art, Gaming, Metaverse, Collectibles and More

Gary Vaynerchuk's VeeCon 2024 will be held in Los Angeles in the LIVE Entertainment District from Aug. 9 -11.

The Deets

• Event Dates: Friday, August 9 through Sunday, August 11.
• Location: L.A. LIVE Entertainment District, Los Angeles.

The Bulk

Veefriends and Gary V. announced the next iteration of his VeeCon event will be held in Los Angeles. This marks the event's debut in the city, suggesting that VeeFriends is looking to tap into a different vibe and audience this time around.

The event, set for a weekend from Friday, August 9 to Sunday, August 11, promises to bring together industry experts, influencers, and fans in a celebration of innovation and entrepreneurial spirit.

🎤 Founder Feedback

🔜 What's Next?

With the dates and location now public, potential attendees and fans should keep an eye out for ticket sales, guest announcements, and more details about what VeeCon 2024 will offer.

For more web3 and NFT news, visit the Lucky Trader newsfeed.

Now, calculating the EV of these packs is relatively straightforward. Multiply the number of cards for each player at each tier by their price/marketplace value, or in our instance projected value ($825,000 total) for all tiers, and then divide the result by the number of packs available (10000).

While it's evident that not every pack will attain that anticipated value, it's worth noting that there are a few chances to get a card worth around $1,000. With Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, and the chance to win $100,000 this week using these cards, the allure and excitement of these packs are likely to lead to a quick sellout! So be ready at 6:00 p.m. ET today! Be sure to check out all the available players here.

Did you get your free Reignmakers pack yet? Learn more in our guide.

Half of the fees from YOLO and Raffles are now being utilized to buy back $LOOKS from the market, according to a tokenomic update from LooksRare. 

The Deets

• Initiative Rundown: 50% of fees from new initiatives buy LOOKS.
• Treasury Boost: 1,800,000 LOOKS already added to the Treasury since buy backs began. 
• Purpose: Increasing value and utility of LOOKS through buybacks.

The Bulk

In a strategic tokenomic move, LooksRare announced 50% of fees garnered from new initiatives, including YOLO and Raffles, are now directed towards buying back $LOOKS from the market. Since instituting buy backs the platform has already seen a significant influx of 1,800,000 $LOOKS tokens to the Treasury. 

📊 By the Numbers

Up 5% in the last 24 hours, $LOOKS is priced at $0.05 at the time of writing. At the current price, nearly $90,000 $LOOKS has been added to the treasury via buy backs. 

🎤 Community Quotes

🔜 What's Next?

LooksRare is expected to share more information regarding its on-chain gaming products in the near future. 

For more web3 and NFT news, visit the Lucky Trader newsfeed.

Animoca Brands Japan is partnering with Drecom Corporation, with hopes to strengthen Japan's global outreach in the web3 gaming space.

The Deets

• Animoca Japan focusing on overseas expansion of titles featuring renowned IPs.
• Emphasis on the blockchain game Eternal Crypt - Wizardry BC.
• Cooperation extends to Drecom's license of the Wizardry IP.
• Support for web3 ventures across multiple sectors is prioritized.

The Bulk

Animoca Brands Japan freshly minted partnership with Drecom Corporation is hoping to steer Japan's web3 gaming prowess towards an international audience. Drecom, with its lineup of popular game apps like ONE PIECE Treasure Cruise and Everybody’s Golf, has synergy with Animoca's vision for the future.

This partnership isn't just about expanding well-known IPs. Central to its combined efforts is the blockchain game Eternal Crypt - Wizardry BC. The game leverages the "Wizardry" IP licensed by Drecom, melding simple clicker gameplay with the strategic elements of an RPG. 

🎤 Founder Feedback

For more web3 and NFT news, visit the Lucky Trader newsfeed.

Transient Labs, working alongside AlphaCentauriKid, revealed T.R.A.C.E., a groundbreaking technology aimed at reshaping art authentication and provenance.

And IYK, after securing a substantial $16.8 million in funding led by a16z Crypto, is focusing on integrating the digital and physical spheres for brands.

T.R.A.C.E: The technology brings together blockchain contracts, secure chips, and Story Inscriptions to provide security and historical documentation for art and collectibles.

It debuts with ACK’s “The Muse - Sage Green” at Christie’s, with an embedded chip containing Digital Certificates of Authenticity and sovereign creator contracts from multiple blockchains showing the full history and provenance of the piece.

This isn't far off what IYK is doing, having collaborated with renowned brands and launching the IYK Platform.

The IYK Platform is equipped with ready-made NFC chips and a user-friendly API, enabling collaborators to create a tailored digital world without the need for extensive coding knowledge.

What's Next?

Both entities are gearing up for upcoming product releases and advancements in their respective fields.

Transient Labs is on the brink of announcing more details and a full product release for T.R.A.C.E., and IYK is launching its platform to integrate more creators and enrich the synchronization of digital and physical experiences.

👥 Friend Tech Trend Tracker

TVL is closing in on $50M as Blur farmers seem to be rotating to Friend Tech in size, bringing buy volume up with them.

Let's start with the numbers.

Here are some of the core Friend Tech metrics for 9/29 and their day-over-day change:

• Return users: 9,776 -> 9,662 (-1%)
• Daily Buy volume: $4.66M -> $5.78M (+24%)
• Total Volume: $8.2M -> $9.07M (+11%)
• TVL: $44.2M -> $48.2M* (+9%)
• Highest key: Vombatus 7.74 -> 8 (+3%)

*7.1% of TVL is from self-buyers (down from a peak of 15%) per Slice Analytics' new dashboard.

There was no pre-airdrop (or pre-snapshot) selloff this week, with top keys continuing their up-only path (basically a week straight now).

The top accounts continued to climb, with Vombatus +4% to 8 ETH and CBB up another 9% to 5.62 ETH (now just 0.4 ETH away from Racer and 2nd place on the leaderboard).

A top story from the day - another notable Blur farmer in Hanwe joined FT yesterday, making a splashy debut.

He botted 100 of his keys at launch, and his keys soared to 2.75 ETH within the first hour (now at 3.05 ETH and 15th on leaderboard).

His open PNL has jumped to 145 ETH without even buying a single other key yet, and he's made 15 ETH in trading fees.

With financial success like that in just hours, and with CBB espousing how "fun" FT is, it's just a matter of time until the Blur farming wave rotates to FT (seemingly already happening after looking at yesterday's Blur volume).

A few other trends and developments we saw:

• New tools: A VC tracker from @memphis_mantis has caught steam, showing the performance of notable VCs over time
• Nate Alex was a notable new joiner on the day, botting his own keys at launch and seeing a quick rise to 1.4 ETH before settling at 0.9
• A few notable winners on the day included:
  • Dingaling +13% to 3.969 ETH (now 7th on the leaderboard)
  • 0x5f +10% to 3.48 ETH (in 12th)
  • CBB cartel member bitgoten +11% 1.3 ETH
  • misterblue +30% to 1.02 ETH
  • EB7 +67% to 0.74 ETH after buying a few new keys for the first time

Now all eyes turn to today's points airdrop and what market correction/rotation may take place in the hours to come - buckle up, it could be a bumpy weekend.

🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?

Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:

• Trading volume fell sharply to $5.65M (3,300 ETH) on Thursday after notable Blur farmers have seemingly stopped farming, with leading NFTs seeing a mix of red and green on the day
• Fewocious Fewos debuted at 0.15 ETH with over 17,000 in supply, +19% on the day
• Grant Yun's "The Last Supper" sold for $95,250 (~57 ETH) at Sotheby's
• Floor App has partnered with Art Blocks to offer early access and the ability to purchase select projects directly in-app, with the collaboration will kick off this Sunday
• OpenSea Pro introduced Private Sales, with no platform fees, ERC-1155 support, bundling and more
• VeeCon was announced to be held in LA next year, from Aug 9-11
• Asprey Studio and Bugatti partnered with OnChainMonkey parent Metagood to launch the Asprey Bugatti Egg Collection on Osura
• DraftKings Reignmakers Ryder Cup tournaments launch today, and our Jason Rouslin shared his predictions and picks

🌎 Around Crypto and Web3

A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:

• The crypto market was up on the day; BTC +1.9% at $27,000; ETH +2.8% at $1,670
• Coinbase received regulatory approval from the Bermuda Monetary Authority to starts its retail perp futures product for non-US customers
• The SEC delayed the Valkyrie Fund spot BTC ETF decision on Thursday
• PayPal filed a patent for a unique "NFT purchase and transfer system," including off-chain transactions, multiple digital wallets and a service provider role

🚀 NFT Total Volume

• MAYC (306 ETH, 4.73 ETH Floor)
• Pudgy Penguins (255 ETH, 4.79 ETH Floor)
• Milady (233 ETH, 2.09 ETH)
• DeGods (175 ETH, 3.23 ETH)
• Forked Nouns (146 ETH, 36.7 ETH)

📈 NFT Floor Price Increase

• Primera by Grant Yun (71%, 3.69 ETH Floor)
• Cel Mates (56%, 0.09 ETH)
• Goda Mint Pass (35%, 0.61 ETH)
• Valhalla (29%, 0.14 ETH)
• Fewos (19%, 0.15 ETH)

🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals

Today is a big day of drops, spanning art, memes, collectibles, Ordinals and sports NFTs.

Killer Acid is doing the meme card, Vinnie Hager is making his Starbucks debut, and then DraftKings Reignmakers is back with their latest pack drops ahead of NFL week 4.

For those who want to dive in, see the full list and more details from Swizzy's daily mint monitor. 

• Memes by 6529 - Killer Acid (11:00 a.m. ET)
• Verse "Hyperconnection" (11:00 a.m. ET)
• Starbucks Odyssey - Vinnie Hager (11:00 a.m. ET)
• Nullish Antimatted (4:00 p.m. ET)
• DraftKings Reignmakers packs (6:00 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 tyler.warner@luckytrader.com.

For all volume and floor price data, see Lucky Trader's Project Rankings page.

For all upcoming mints, see Lucky Trader's NFT Calendar page.

While some golf fans may not be accustomed to partner golf, the Ryder Cup generates significant excitement due to its biennial occurrence. In this article, we will break down each of the formats that the golfers will be playing and when they will be playing them. Additionally, we'll explore potential player combinations to help you optimize your portfolio. Speaking of portfolio optimization, if you have a multitude of cards for this week's event, be sure to take advantage of our lineup optimizer tool, now available for both NFL and PGA. You can access it by clicking here.

Before moving on, let's just quickly update where we are in the fall golf schedule.  

• Ryder Cup- Sept. 25-28
• Sanderson Farms Championship -- Oct. 5-8
• Shriners Children's Open -- Oct. 12-15
• Zozo Championship -- Oct. 19-22
• World Wide Technology Championship -- Nov. 2-5
• Butterfield Bermuda Championship -- Nov. 9-12
• RSM Classic -- Nov. 16-19
• Hero World Challenge- DEC 5-8

The Formats

The Ryder Cup plays host to multiple formats of play. 

Foursomes

Let's begin by discussing the foursomes format, which essentially translates to alternate shot. In this format, one golfer from each team takes the first shot, and the partner who didn't hit the first shot will then take the next shot. This alternating pattern continues until the ball is successfully holed out. The team with the lowest score on each hole wins, and the victorious team at the end of the match earns one point for their country or team.

Fourball

The fourball format, often likened to best ball, is likely more familiar to many. In this format, each golfer in the group plays their own ball, and one score from each team is considered for each hole. The lowest score on each hole is the winner. Much like in the foursomes format, the victorious team in a match earns one point for their country or team. In the event of a tie, each team is awarded half a point.

Singles

Lastly, there are the singles matches that take place on Sunday. In this thrilling showdown, all twelve players from each team are individually matched up against a player from the opposing team in a head-to-head competition known as Sunday singles. The winner of each match secures one point for their team, and in the event of a tie, each team is awarded half a point. This day often adds tremendous drama to the Ryder Cup, as it can be a deciding factor in which team takes home the trophy.

Each time a format is used (two times each for the first two) it’s called a “session” and there are five sessions during the event. Thus, a golfer can play a maximum of matches.

The Slate: Reignmakers PGA TOUR

The Golfers

Now, let's delve into some analysis. As in normal PGA TOUR events, it's crucial to consider golfers who are likely to play the most holes for their team. Predicting match outcomes can be challenging, but estimating which golfers might participate in these matches is somewhat easier. Here's a breakdown of golfers expected to play:

Expected to Play All 5 Matches:

• Jon Rahm
• Viktor Hovland
• Scottie Scheffler

These golfers have consistently performed well and are injury-free, making them strong contenders to play all five matches. However, Rory McIlroy, while a top player, is dealing with back issues and might sit out one of the matches.

Speculative on 5 Matches:

• Rory McIlroy
• Patrick Cantlay
• Xander Schauffele

Cantlay and Schauffele have been a reliable duo for the USA, and if the team is in a tight spot during the event, they could potentially play all five matches together.

Likely to Play 4 Matches:

• Tommy Fleetwood
• Tyrrell Hatton
• Max Homa
• Collin Morikawa

These golfers seem, strong candidates, to play at least four matches based on their first session pairings and team dynamics.

As for Sam Burns, his playing time might be influenced by his strong friendship with Scottie Scheffler. If they perform exceptionally well in the morning session, they might be fielded again in the afternoon, which could impact the playing time of other American golfers. Expect the rest of the players like, Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Thomas, Shane Lowry, Sepp Straka, Brian Harman, and Wyndham Clark to all play three matches each. 

Lastly, before we leave, a bit of strategy. Partners do receive the same score for each match, so using stacks of known partners for the first session matches could prove vital if the pairs stay together throughout the team portion of the event. 

Check out these golfers and more on the new Player Profile page by clicking here.

IYK, which unlocks the fusion of digital and physical, announced a raise of $16.8 million led by a16z Crypto. 

The Deets

• Partnerships: Collaborations with adidas, 9dcc, and VÉRITÉ.
• Mission: Repairing the broken link between digital and physical spheres for brands.
• Funding Boost: A $16.8M fundraise steered by a16z Crypto.
• Game Plan: Redefine brand interaction in a modern era.

The Bulk

In an era where the lines between digital and physical are increasingly blurring, IYK works with companies to provide seamless experiences and connections between the two. Its overall objective? Mending the fragmented connection between digital presence and physical engagements for brands.

Over the last two years the company has associated itself with market leaders, including adidas and 9dcc. Moving forward, it will continue its push to onboarding more creators and collaborators, namely through the launch of its IYK Platform.

The IYK Platform will have ready made NFC chips, modules to help create experiences with no coding necessary, and an API to help collaborators build a customized digital world. 

🧐 Wait, What? 

IYK's collaborations help sync physical products to digital experiences. For example, users can scan a chip on a physical product and be prompted to engage with a brand or creator digitally as well. 

🎤 Platform Prose

🔜 What's Next?

With funds in place, IYK said its next step is launching its IYK Platform to onboard more creators and further intertwine digital and physical. 

🎬 Take Action 

Interested creators that are ready to create a digital and physical experience can contact IYK via email. 

🧠 Learn More

• GMoney Explains 9dcc, Networked Products

For more web3 and NFT news, visit the Lucky Trader newsfeed.

PayPal filed a patent for a unique "NFT purchase and transfer system," indicated as patent and document number US-20230298001-A1 on the USPTO. 

The Deets

• Off-Chain Transactions: System allows for off-chain transactions within an NFT marketplace.
• Multiple Digital Wallets: Various wallets will have access to the NFT.
• Service Provider Role: The system connects digital wallets with a service provider.

The Bulk

PayPal continued its push deeper into crypto and web3 with a patent application related to an NFT marketplace. The company's patent filing suggests creation of an "NFT purchase and transfer system," a move that may showcase its intention to integrate the world of NFTs with its payment solutions.

This new system aims to facilitate off-chain transactions within an NFT marketplace, a feature that could reduce costs and speed up transfers. Additionally, the patent mentions the provision of multiple digital wallets, allowing various users to access the NFTs.

❗Why It Matters

PayPal's venture into an NFT transfer system demonstrates the growing importance and mainstream adoption of NFTs. As a significant player in the online payments industry, PayPal's move could further legitimize the NFT space.

🔜 What's Next?

The patent application was officially published on Sept. 21, with more details expected as it moves its way through the process. It is currently pending. 

🧠 Learn More 

• PayPal Introduces Stablecoin

For more web3 and NFT news, visit the Lucky Trader newsfeed.

Transient Labs, in collaboration with AlphaCentauriKid, announced T.R.A.C.E. – a groundbreaking hardware offering blockchain-secured provenance for artwork.

The Deets

• Collaboration: Transient Labs partners with AlphaCentauriKid.
• Premiere: T.R.A.C.E. debuts with ACK’s “The Muse - Sage Green” at Christie's.
• Technology: Combination of blockchain contracts, Story Inscriptions for on-chain provenance, and tamper-resistant chips.
• Implications: Enhancing security and historical documentation for art and collectibles.

The Bulk

In a step forward for art authentication, Transient Labs and AlphaCentauriKid have partnered to introduce T.R.A.C.E. – Tokenized Records for Artwork Certification and Evolution. This novel technology ensures the provenance of artwork is secured via blockchain, setting a new standard for art authentication, documentation, and evolution.

Set to premiere at a Christie's auction with ACK’s artwork "The Muse - Sage Green," T.R.A.C.E. integrates cutting-edge, tamper-resistant chips into physical objects. These chips possess the TRACE Digital Certificates of Authenticity and are supported by sovereign creator contracts from both L1 and L2 blockchains. Alongside this, Story Inscriptions provide immutable on-chain storage for provenance.

With its unique amalgamation of physical and digital security mechanisms, T.R.A.C.E. offers artists and collectors enhanced peace of mind. The technology's implications are broad-reaching, promising a new layer of protection and historical documentation for a vast array of objects, from art pieces to collectibles.

🧐 Wait, What?

T.R.A.C.E. is a combination of physical and digital tools to authenticate and document the history of art pieces. It uses chips, blockchain contracts, and Story Inscriptions to ensure and verify an artwork's history and changes.

🔜 What's Next?

Transient Labs will announce a full product release and further details shortly. 

For more web3 and NFT news, visit the Lucky Trader newsfeed.

Courtyard.io is a platform that allows collectors to tokenize their physical cards and put them on the blockchain.

They're backed by some huge names like MoonPay, Opensea, Y Combinator and the Vayner Fund.

Their services include authentication, vaulting and insurance at Brink's, a marketplace to trade their digital collectibles, and a 1% fee rebate for original owners anytime their collectible is sold or resold.

The user's process looks like this:

• Submit a brief application for card(s) and ship them to Courtyard
• Courtyard authenticates and processes the card(s)
• They tokenize them and mint directly to the owner's digital wallet
• The owner has the chance to list their now digital collectible for sale, transfer it, or perform any standard blockchain-enabled action

Courtyard is running their own pack drops as well, like yesterday's Pokemon "Premium Pack: Grails That Got Away #3" which sold out in seconds.

Owners can rip packs or simply trade them.

But the digital Pokemon cards are already finding controversy.

Gary Gensler Enter the Chat

In his congressional hearing on Wednesday, Pokemon cards came up.

Gary effectively said that while the sale of physical Pokemon cards would not represent a security - the sale of tokenized cards might.

That's not too logical, but it does bring up a risk for the larger trend of RWA tokenization that has become the rage of late.

We'll see how/if it impacts the digital Pokemon card market, but for now, it looks like it's a non-factor.

Now we watch and see how much demand there is for ths new wave of digital collectibles...

👥 Friend Tech Trend Tracker

TVL made another big jump on Wednesday, leading to another leg up in key prices as well as an influx in return users.

Let's start with the numbers.

Here are some of the core Friend Tech metrics for 9/28 and their day-over-day change:

• Return users: 8,513 -> 9,776 (+15%)
• Daily Buy volume:  $4.59M -> $4.66M (+2%)
• Total Volume: $8M -> $8.2M (+2%)
• TVL: $41.95M -> $44.2M* (+5%)
• Highest key: Vombatus 7.31 -> 7.74 (+6%)

*7.6% of TVL is from self-buyers (down from a peak of 15%) per Slice Analytics' new dashboard.

TVL is soaring while self-buyer TVL continues to drop (now just $3.375M), contributing even more ETH to the pool.

The top accounts continue to grind up, with Vombatus jumping 6% to 7.74 ETH and CBB +7% to 5.15 ETH (tying Levi for 3rd on the leaderboard).

More NFT-natives are starting to come over, with notable new joins from Von Mises (0.45 ETH) and LuckyTrades (0.27) on the day,

A few other trends and developments we saw:

• New tools: Unibot added User sniping and auto-sniping on Wednesday, along with extending its 0% FT trading fee promotion
• Chat activity is starting to be monitored more closely, with "most active chat" leaderboards beginning to circulate - perhaps a metric to be rewarded this week?
• A few notable winners on the day included:
  • 0x5f +6% to 3.16 ETH and now in 13th on the leaderboard
  • Pranksy +11% to 2.4 ETH
  • mj23 +11% to 2.2 ETH
  • The Creator Fund +40% to 0.57 ETH

🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?

Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:

• Trading volume came in at $8M (4,900 ETH) on Wednesday, though most leading NFTs saw red on the day down 1-6%
• Tristan Reddich projects led top movers, with Constructs +110% to 0.15 ETH and Grids +19% to 0.29 ETH
• DraftKings Reignmakers announced that 2 different contests this weekend will have $100,000 as top prize, as tournament prizes keep getting bigger
• Sorare announced the beginning of its NBA season with Game Week 1 starting on Oct. 17; cash rewards will be included and managers will be able to utilize USD-based credit
• The Echelon PRIME Foundation introduced the Ardent Arena 2023, a tournament with approximately $40,000 in total prizes with seeding starting Oct 3 ahead of Oct 13 commencement 
• Pixelmon debuted its badge system, introducing Community Badges and Cosmetic Badges to reward active ecosystem participants
• Matt Kane, the artist behind ANONS and Gazers, was announced as SuperRare's October RarePass airdrop artist
• Sugartown Oras staking officially went live on Wednesday, though the floor fell another 3% to 0.21 ETH

🌎 Around Crypto and Web3

A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:

• The crypto market was mostly even; BTC -0.3% at $26,500; ETH even at $1,630
• Central Banks successfully tested CBDCs for cross-border trading in a proof of concept using a hypothetical Euro, Singapore dollar and Swiss Franc
• Gary Gensler didn't provide answers as to the SEC's position on the spot BTC ETF decision in a Congressional hearing on Wednesday while continuing his anti-crypto rhetoric
• Improbable reported an 85% reduction in losses, crediting its focus on creating metaverse experiences in improving revenue to $95M in their best financial year

🚀 NFT Total Volume

• BAYC (909 ETH, 24 ETH Floor)
• Pudgy Penguins (342 ETH, 4.9 ETH Floor)
• Milady (333 ETH, 1.99 ETH)
• DeGods (321 ETH, 3.14 ETH)
• MAYC (226 ETH, 4.76 ETH)

📈 NFT Floor Price Increase

• Constructs by Tristan Rettich (110%, 0.15 ETH Floor)
• Orbs (64%, 0.9 ETH)
• Memewhales (68%, 10 ETH)
• God Hates NFTees (49%, 0.15 ETH)
• Grids by Tristan Rettich (19%, 0.29 ETH)

🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals

Today is a lighter day of drops after a busy Wednesday.

For those who want to dive in, see the full list and more details from Swizzy's daily mint monitor. 

• Hugo Korhonen - The Sleeping Giant (12:00 a.m. ET)
• Godwits - Back to the Future (3:00 p.m. ET)
• Landscapes of Serenity (5:00 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 tyler.warner@luckytrader.com.

For all volume and floor price data, see Lucky Trader's Project Rankings page.

For all upcoming mints, see Lucky Trader's NFT Calendar page.