Morning Minute | Coinbase's Hidden Secret
GM!
Take a minute to catch up on the latest in the Web3 space with today's NFT market analysis, top movers, and upcoming mints:
Skip to
TylerD's Market Summary
Coinbase made it abundantly clear in their Base L2 announcement that they will not be launching a new network token.
What if I told you - they already have.
C Coinbase Launches "Base"
Coinbase delivered on their cryptic "blue circle 2.23.23" teaser with a blockbuster announcement.
They have officially launched Base, an Ethereum Layer 2 network built using Optimism's OP Stack.
Using their terms, Base will be:
- The onchain home for Coinbase
- An open ecosystem where anyone can build dapps
- A bridge that brings users onchain and enables them to go anywhere, including L1, other L2s, and ecosystems like Bitcoin & Solana
Their stated goal with Base is "to make onchain the next online and onboard 1B+ users into the cryptoeconomy."
And they will certainly have an early leg up on that goal, with their existing 110M user base.
There is much to unpack in this announcement, which is huge for Coinbase, Ethereum, and likely all of Web3.
But one specific component of the announcement stuck out to me the most:
The Coinbase team is going out of their way to declare that they are NOT issuing a new token for Base.
Though it seems that they already have.
Coinbase's New Token
Coinbase launched a "free" mint commemorative NFT as a part of the Base launch.
It is called "Base, Introduced" and is mintable on Zora until midnight EST on Sunday.
While they call it free in the announcements, it's not technically free - it costs 0.000777 ETH (~$1).
Almost 100,000 of these NFTs have already been minted, and speculators have paid up for low serials.
Serial #7 has the current high* sale at 2.5 WETH (*wash trading excluded), with #420 catching 2 ETH along with a few others.
In total there has already been 400 ETH traded on this collection, which is openly minting for another 3 days.
Tinfoil hat time.
What if Base, Introduced is not just a commemorative NFT? What if it is Coinbase's de facto new token?
Here are the facts:
- It is an edition NFT, effectively fungible besides serial numbers
- It was delivered via a "free" airdrop (perhaps the $1 fee to avoid legal issues)
- It was launched at the same time as their new L2 went live in testnet
Those are all hallmarks of token airdrops.
Additionally, the Base Twitter bio includes the statement "We have no plans to issue a network token."
Why do they need to keep hitting us over the head with that fact? It was in every aspect of their announcement - we all know they are not launching a new network token.
Unless this is their way of saying - look, we already have.
Come and get us SEC.
Perhaps we will get more info next week after the mint window closes. One thing is certain - this is an important NFT to watch.
🎶 Spotify and Token-Gated Playlists
Music NFTs.
We keep waiting for them to happen. They haven't quite made it.
But now Spotify is trying out a new use case with their token-gated playlists, and KINGSHIP and Overlord are jumping in for the ride.
Holders of these specific NFTs will have access to exclusive audio content only accessible for those in their NFT community.
Pretty cool.
How Will It Work?
Interest participants will follow these steps (using KINGSHIP as an example):
- Launch the Spotify link from the official KINGSHIP discord or Twitter
- Tap the "Play" icon in their Spotify app
- Connect their wallet
- Access the exclusive KINGSHIP playlist
- Click play and enjoy
This is definitely cool innovation and a nice perk for these NFT holders.
Will this be the use case that finally makes Music NFTs happen?
We will find out.
🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?
Here is a lengthy list of the other major headlines from the long holiday weekend, a busy one for NFTs:
- Trading volume came in at 52,000 ETH, down over 20k from yesterday; Blur captures 79% share, and most NFTs down 5%-10% on the day
- Blur and LooksRare drop third-party flags for suspicious assets by default, though still cannot be sold into bids
- $COLLAB airdrop goes live though price action disappoints; token at $0.07 this morning
- Worldwide Webb raised $10M from Pantera Capital, plans to use funds for recruitment and team building; floor runs 200% to 0.6 ETH before settling at 0.4
- PROOF announces artist profiles as a new way to showcase artists on their website
- Wolfgame ships several new updates, including in-game ENS name display, farmers moving in-game, ability to view others wallets and analyze their moves, and more
- 3AC's $6M NFT portfolio is expected to enter liquidation, likely in later March; means several grails may be coming on sale very soon
- Pixel Vault's UPDAO enters 690 ETH bid on the Sewer Pass golden key
🌎 Around Crypto and Web3
A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:
- The crypto market is up slightly; BTC +0.5% at $23,900 and ETH +0.3% at $1,650; OP +10% to $3.06 after Base launch
- ConsenSys invests more into blockchain notifications, acquires "HAL" to enhance developers' capacity to create notifications for a variety of blockchain signals and activities
- Gary Vee announces first wave of speakers for VeeCon, including Andy8052, Sara Baumann, Tom Bilyeu, Deepak Chopra, DeeZe, Carly Reilly
- Sign of the times - there is a metaverse wedding taking place today inside a virtual Taco Bell in Decentraland (Taco Bell is sponsoring the event)
🚀 NFT Total Volume
- MAYC (13,626 ETH, 15 ETH Floor)
- Azuki (6,730 ETH, 14.4 ETH)
- Otherdeeds (4,096 ETH, 1.8 ETH)
- BAYC (2,665 ETH, 73.1 ETH)
- Checks - VV Edition (1,921 ETH, 1.9 ETH)
📈 NFT Floor Price Increase
- World Wide Webbland (100%, 0.4 ETH Floor)
- byteGans (67%, 2.17 ETH)
- Keepers V2 (31%, 0.29 ETH)
- Valhalla (24%, 1.14 ETH)
- Terraforms (17%, 2.48 ETH)
🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals
Today is a slower day of new drops.
The market is feeling a bit shaky with all of the Blur farming drama, and folks seem to be protecting capital a bit more than they were this time last week.
With that said, the Cryptoon Goonz have a loyal base and their new collection will see some interest, and today's Art Blocks drop is interesting at just 150 supply (though 0.24 ETH is not cheap).
- Memes by 6529 (11:00 a.m. ET); 0.069 ETH mint
- Cryptoon Goonz - Always Tired (12:00 p.m.)
- Art Blocks Presents: KARMA by KALA (1:00 p.m. ET); 0.24 ETH mint
- KillaBears - Burn 3 (4:20 p.m. ET)
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.
