Morning Minute | CryptoPunks' Big Weekend Sparks NFT Hopes

TylerD's Market Summary

Talks of an NFT bull run are heating up after a big weekend of Punks action. And a surprise airdrop has kickstarted action over on Bitcoin.

📝 NFT Weekend Recap

Punks are the alpha.

At least that's the broad sentiment in Ethereum NFT circles, where CryptoPunks are broadly considered the best store-of-value NFT available.

And many from that group also believe that a Punks run will spark a broader NFT market rally (like in 2021).

Well Punks are definitely "walking fast" if not running after this weekend of activity.

Perhaps soon we'll see if they can pull the rest of the market along with them.

Punks Catch Major Bids in Big Weekend

Some of the bullish action from this weekend:

• $2.08M sweep on mid-tiers, including 2 Hoodies, 2 Top Hats and 2 Cowboys
• $2.65M sweep of 18 floor Punks
• 1,700 ETH bid entered on an Alien and 1,400 ETH bid on an Ape 
• Floor up to 64.6 ETH ($153,500)

The mid-tier sweeper also put in some major bids on additional Punks and are likely to acquire more.

It feels like fireworks (i.e. a major sale) could happen any day now.

Those fireworks, if they come, may be the catalyst to drive Punks to the next level.

Pudgy Penguins Reach New ATH

It's Punks and Penguins right now in the PFP sector.

The Pudgy Penguins caught a major rally last week, almost reaching 20 ETH before pulling back.

They closed the week at 18.15, up a whopping 42% on the week, and a clear level above the mid-tier PFPs.

The move came on no news, but Luca did drop a teaser over the weekend showing 2 Pengus in the lab - what are they cookin?

A Solana 1000x (Only Possible On Solana)

"Only Possible on Solana" is a tagline gaining some adoption during this recent Solana pump.

And this weekend's 1000x on an NFT project likely proved that tagline true.

Pingwings minted on Friday for $0.25 each.

On Saturday morning, they reached a 3 SOL floor ($270).

It was a 1000x+ for minters. In less than a day. And only possible on Solana.

Why? Even on a slow weekend, Ethereum gas fees (to buy an NFT on Blur) were roughly $5. 

Had Pingwings minted on ETH, each buy still would've cost $5.25 (assuming similar gas). Meaning that multiple would've dropped to 50x.

Still sizeable, but noticeably less.

And this is why memecoins and low-cost NFTs thrive on Solana and will likely become one of the primary "casino" use cases of that blockchain in the near future.

BTC Volume Declines, Ordinals Dip - Don't Tell Quantum Cats

The BTC NFT was the talk of the market to start 2024.

But after a series of high-profile (and high price tag) mints, liquidity seems to be running low.

And with Quantum Cats coming next week at 0.1 BTC a pop for 3,000 NFTs (and extracting an additional 300 BTC in the process), liquidity could very well get even tighter.

Taking a look at some of the leaders and their weekly price action (Sunday evening snapshot):

• NodeMonkes at 0.159 (-25% from 0.21)
• Bitcoin Frogs at 0.135 (-25% from 0.18)
• Bitcoin Puppets at 0.022 (+10% from 0.02)
• Pizza Ninjas at 0.07 (peaked at 0.12, minted at 0.03)
• Shadows at 0.06 (minted at 0.2)

Not great.

But there was an overnight rally Sunday night with some of these collections jumping 10-15% along with a surprise RSIC airdrop (more below).

Perhaps that airdrop, or the upcoming Quantum Cats, event will be a liquidity influx and "raise all ships" like NodeMonkes briefly did.

We will find out soon...

ETH NFT Market Overview

ETH NFTs just closed the first $200M volume week since Apr 2023.

Volume isn't a perfect metric, given how prevalent farming is right now. But there's a clear up trend, and volume does at least indicate liquidity.

And prices are starting to show it.

Here is a quick rundown of the notable floors (on ETH) and their 7-day price changes:

• Fidenza: 69.42 ETH (even)
• CryptoPunks: 64.6 ETH (+15%)
• Ringers: 33.3 ETH (+3%)
• BAYC: 25.35 ETH (+1%)
• Pudgy Penguins: 18.15 ETH (+28%)
• Gazers: 10.15 ETH (-3%)
• Chromie Squiggle: 8.7 ETH (+7%)
• Grifters: 8 ETH (-10%)
• Winds of Yawanawa: 7.7 ETH (+8%)
• Azuki: 7.19 ETH (+4%)
• Captainz: 4.65 ETH (+3%)
• MAYC: 4.45 ETH (even)
• Otherside Koda: 3.7 ETH (+16%)
• DeGods: 3.08 (+1%)
• Milady: 2.42 ETH (-1%)
• PROOF: 1.95 ETH (-7%)

So a strong week for PFPs and a softer week for art.

Punks and Penguins are leading the way again, standing out at clear winners in the PFP ecosystem right now. Azuki is looking strong as well, back over 7.

Fidenzas, Ringers and Squiggles are holding up well (throw Winds of Yawanawa in there too), but the rest of the art sector is largely continuing its down trend.

It looks like PFPs are going to continue to lead this 2024 cycle.

🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?

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

• ETH trading volume jumped to $25.6M on Sunday after a weekend around $30M/day; leaders saw major green
• Cool Cats led top movers on ETH, popping 55% to 1.05 ETH; Rektguy, Kanpai Pandas and Doodles each saw 20-30% gains as well
• Nakamigos Crypto Trading Cards and Bobblehead Toys jumped this weekend as well, reaching 0.77 ETH and 0.11 respectively
• NodeMonkes led action on BTC with 13 BTC in trading volume on the day, with the floor jumping at 0.175 BTC
• A surprise Ordinals airdrop called "RSIC Metaprotocol" landed in Ordinals traders' wallets and has opened at a 0.013 BTC floor on big volume; the project is seemingly tied to the Runes protocol and involves a game
• Solana NFTs were mixed again with Crypto Undeads spiking 30% to 13.6 SOL, Sujiko Warriors + 9% to 7.36 and Kanpai Pandas +20% to 49; Tensorians fell 5% to 75 and Mad Lads -4% to 166
• The Quantum Cat Genesis Cat is leading Sotheby's "Natively Digital" auctions with a $140k bid with less than a day to go
• A Dwight Howard NFT collection called "Ballers" started minting on Avax for 1 AVAX ($33) on Saturday, promising utility like "experiences, moments, content, twists, and mysteries"
• Saga phone owners were airdropped Cyber Frog NFTs on Sunday, not yet open for trading
• KILLABEARS and KILLACUBS will soon be traveling to "Planet SOL" in the latest PFP project to bridge blockchains

🌎 Around Crypto and Web3

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

• Crypto majors are red this morning ahead of trading; BTC -2% at $40,850; ETH -3.9% at $2,380; SOL -5.3% at $88.30
• Leading memecoins took a hit with the majors dip as well; WIF down to $280M, Bonk down to $690M
• Bybit is launching its Keyless Wallet, providing a new solution as it celebrates 1M Bybit web3 wallet users

🚀 NFT Total Volume (ETH)

• MAYC (1,993 ETH, 4.45 ETH Floor)
• Pudgy Penguins (1,403 ETH, 18.15 ETH)
• Azuki (1,320 ETH, 7.2 ETH)
• BAYC (1,100 ETH, 25.35 ETH)
• DeGods (942 ETH, 3.08 ETH)

📈 NFT Floor Price Increase (ETH)

• Library Onchain (114%, 4.69 ETH Floor)
• Cool Cats (55%, 1.05 ETH)
• CryptoNinjaPartners (36%, 0.53 ETH)
• Rektguy (31%, 0.54 ETH)
• Kanpai Pandas (21%, 2.04 ETH)

🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals

Today is a big day of new mints and events to kickstart the week.

Several artists are back in action on ETH with Tony Babel, Simon Lavi and Transient Labs all doing drops.

On BTC, Commoners is the highlight, minting for free for those who hold "uncommon" sats (0.012 BTC floor).

See the full list and dive in for more details with Swizzy's daily mint monitor. 

• Memes by 6529 (11:00 a.m. ET)
• Simon Lavi - Changing Places (11:00 a.m. ET)
• Tony Babel x Typical Friends (11:00 a.m. ET)
• Sotheby's "Natively Digital" auctions end (2:00 p.m. ET)
• Transient Labs "Frozen in Time) (3:00 p.m. ET)
• Commoners (4:00 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.co