Morning Minute | Bitcoin's NFT and Memecoin Burst
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Take a minute to catch up on the latest in the Web3 space with today's NFT market analysis, top movers, and upcoming mints:
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TylerD's Market Summary
There's a booming token market forming on Bitcoin. Here's what you need to know, plus catch a preview of ACK's new "The Broken Keys" collection dropping today.
🚀 Bitcoin BRC-20s Surge
Bitcoin maxis are seemingly in disbelief as their favorite blockchain is actually being used for transactions.
The drivers?
NFTs and Memecoins.
What's Happening?
The launch of the BRC-20 token standard has led to Bitcoin transaction fees reaching two-year highs.
With the BRC-20 token standard, users can effectively create fungible tokens on Bitcoin using the Ordinals protocol, for free.
Though it would be easy to compare to the ERC-20 standard on ETH, the comparisons basically stop in name only.
See this explainer from ChainLinkGod on the limitations of BRC-20 compared to ERC-20s.
Regardless, BRC-20s have enabled a booming memecoin market on Bitcoin.
By The Numbers
- $20: Average transaction fees on the Bitcoin network on Monday, up 15x from last week's average $1.20
- 11,705: Number of BRC-20 tokens issued on Bitcoin
- $730M: Total market cap of the Bitcoin BRC-20s
The $ORDI BRC-20 has seen the most action, reaching a market cap of $479M as of this morning.
And yes, Bitcoin has its own version of a $PEPE BRC-20, but it's not holding up quite as well, with an MC of just $32M.
NFT Explosion
NFTs have also exploded in popularity on Bitcoin very recently, as the Ordinals Protocol has eased the creation process.
Over 5M inscriptions have now been recorded, and Sunday's Ordinal fees reached 257 BTC, a whopping $7.5M (data here).
Now most of the NFTs are simply text-based (86%) and not resembling those most of us are familiar with on ETH and other blockchains.
The png inscriptions on Bitcoin are the 2nd-most frequent, with 9.6%.
Conclusion
For those remaining active in the market, the explosion on Bitcoin is becoming too big to ignore.
The launch of early infrastructure like the Ordinals protocol has propelled this emerging market, and it seems much more like the early stages of something real vs a temporary bubble.
It's time to pay attention to Bitcoin.
🎹 ACK Launches "The Broken Keys"
Arguably the biggest art collection drop of the week (maybe the quarter) begins today with Alpha Centauri Kid's (ACK) "The Broken Keys."
ACK is auctioning 48 1/1 pieces as a part of a larger piano-focused collection, his biggest collection to date.
A potential comparison would be to XCOPY's Grifters (even though this isn't a PFP), and some collectors have gone as far as calling it his Andy Warhol "Campbell's Soup Cans" collection.
Their expectation is this may not be his most valued collection when it's all said and done, but it will be what he is remembered for.
And I think ACK would be fine with that.
The Details:
Here's the TLDR for the drop, for those interested:
- What: 48 1 of 1's with one underlying theme; Piano
- When: 1 pm ET (bidding goes live, auctions are 24 hours)
- Where: The mint site is https://pianos.ack.art/
- How much: auctions starting at 0.001 ETH
The thumbnails don't do these justice, so when browsing on the site make sure to click into the images to see full detail (they are mind-blowing).
Expectations are that these will close in the 3-5 ETH range, but who knows given recent market conditions.
In a bull market these would likely go for 10 ETH+.
Regardless, this should be a fun auction to watch.
ACK's advice: "choose your keys wisely."
🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?
Here is the list of other notable headlines from the weekend in NFTs:
- Trading volume bounced back 30% 13.5k ETH on Monday, though most leading NFTs fell 3-5%
- Blur announced DeGods as their newest Blend and BNPL collection, leading to an immediate 10% pump before retracing to 8.66 ETH (+3%)
- OpenSea hinted at accepting $PEPE as a payment option for NFTs
- NBA Top Shot shared several updates, including new exclusive packs, a new distribution mechanism and a trip to the NBA draft
- RTFKT extended the deadline for their Air Force 1 physical forging to May 10, based on high gas fees
- VeeFriends announced Phase 2 of their collab with Snoop Dogg, including a trivia contest and a Bored Ape as top prize (an $86k prize)
- Cool Cats released their newest character, Kritten, that will play a role in Journeys and their gaming world
🌎 Around Crypto and Web3
A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:
- The crypto market fell again on Monday; BTC -1.3% at $27,600; ETH -1% at $1,840
- $PEPE fell 9% on the day to $870M MC while $TURBO rebounded 30% to $96M (both still down >50% from ATH)
- The Sandbox has partnered with Singapore-based web3 company Affyn to develop first-of-its-kind, community-focused interoperable metaverse experiences
🚀 NFT Total Volume
- Azuki (3,515 ETH; 14.7 ETH Floor)
- MAYC (2,359 ETH, 10.3 ETH)
- DeGods (1,460 ETH, 8.66 ETH)
- Wrapped CryptoPunks (746 ETH, 50.5 ETH)
- Milady (423 ETH, 3.35 ETH)
📈 NFT Floor Price Increase
- VeeCon 2023 Tickets (78%, 0.12 ETH Floor)
- Opepen (20%, 0.18 ETH)
- Nakamigos (15%, 0.19 ETH)
- Killabears (14%, 2.35 ETH)
- Chimpers (13%, 0.56 ETH)
🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals
Today is a huge day for art drops.
ACK is headlining with the debut of his highly anticipated The Broken Keys collection (described at length above).
But he is joined by three other artists in Jeremy Cowart, Jeremy Booth and Chen Man each trying to make their mark.
There's no secret that this is a brutal bear market for NFTs and art has not been spared, but the collectors are likely going to come out today.
- The Broken Keys by ACK (1:00 p.m. ET); auctions
- AURAS by Jeremy Cowart (12:00 p.m. ET); 0.044 ETH
- Silent Noise by Chen Man (TBD); $100
- Jeremy Booth - Western Art Dept (TBD); auctions
Enjoy this write-up? 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 Project Schedule page.
