Morning Minute | NFT NYC 2023: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
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TylerD's Market Summary
The first real bear market NFT NYC event took place this week. Here's what you need to know, from a first-hand boots-on-the-ground account.
🏙 NFT NYC Reactions
The NY Post had a flashy headline yesterday for their NFT NYC event coverage:
"NFT NYC events head to dive bars, apartment buildings as crypto crashes."
Apparently, the author (and their editing team) are not following the crypto market too closely.
That aside, how were the vibes at this year's event? And how has the market reacted?
The Good
From the events I attended, you would not have known that NFTs are in a brutal bear market.
Lines were everywhere, and so were smiles.
People still seem as excited as ever, and eager to connect with their fellow Web3 participants and community members.
A few stream of conscious takeaways from a quick 2 days at NFT NYC, where I was able to hit a private artist and collector's dinner, the Blur lunch, the DeGods kickoff party and the Pudgy Penguin event:
- Artists and collectors feel as strongly as ever about the digital art market and its future
- There is alpha shared at these events that you won't get anywhere else, especially from those investing in teams and products
- So many people are building Web3 products or projects (they were everywhere, at every event), especially in infrastructure and NFT finance
- There are very distinct and unique groups of people in the various NFT communities; art collectors vs DeGods vs Pudgy Penguins are clearly all separate niches and the differences were striking
- NFT holders love showing up to parties early (and don't mind waiting in long lines)
- Merch was everywhere (especially DeGods), and those not rocking merch were often rocking big name or designer gear
That last point was one that surprised me, but it makes sense. A group of people who care about flexing status digitally (via PFPs) would do the same thing with clothing/gear from brands to flex IRL.
The alpha that is shared at NFT NYC makes it a must-attend for anyone seriously investing in the space, and I'm absolutely kicking myself for not attending the previous two years.
The vibes from the bigger art collectors and from artists was probably my most positive takeaway.
These people are bullish on the space and will still be here in 5 years. It was quite reassuring.
The Bad
The combination of a huge chunk of traders and collectors at the event, along with crypto and ETH surging (up 6% yesterday to $2,110), hurt the NFT market.
The Blur board this morning is washed in red.
A few notable floors and their daily change:
- Wrapped Cryptopunks: 54.49 ETH floor (-4%)
- BAYC: 53 ETH (-4.5%)
- MAYC: 12.2 ETH (-6%)
- Azuki: 14.4 ETH (-3%)
- Clone X: 2.32 ETH (-11%)
- Beanz: 1.34 ETH (-11%)
- DeGods: 8.3 ETH (-10%)
- Otherdeeds: 1.35 ETH / 0.89 ETH for Expanded (-8%)
Not great.
Many expected an NFT NYC "dump" and they indeed got one.
Now two major questions:
How long will this downtrend last? And will there be any winners out of the NFT NYC event?
Starting with the second question, it seems too early to tell.
So far, none of the teams have really dropped any major news at their events. With a lack of news, we turn to "vibes."
BAYC famously rallied after NFT NYC 2021, as many who went to the event saw how strong the holder base was in person.
If I had to make a similar bet based on this year's event, it would likely be on DeGods.
The group I saw at the Public Hotel (where the multi-day DeGods event took place) seemed very distinct, strong, and diamond handed. Merch was everywhere.
So they are my primary prediction for a winner from this year's event, if we have any.
As for how long the downtrend will last - there's growing sentiment that crypto will run though April and into May, where it will then cool off.
In that scenario, NFTs likely bleed until May, but perhaps see a turn-around or bottoming.
It's the hopium we need right now.
The Ugly
NFT Now published their annual "Top 100" list for the NFT space and held their event on Tuesday.
Unfortunately, one of the influencers on that list got caught up in what can accurately be described as a pump and dump.
This led to the NFT Now team removing that person from their list, and you can read that person's take on the event here.
Two quick takeaways:
- If you have hundreds of thousands of followers, you should not promote NFT projects publicly and then sell them all within minutes (via secondary wallets to "hide" the transactions); this can quite literally lead to jail time
- As a trader, please do not buy an NFT project solely based on who is talking about it / promoting it
These things should not have to be said, but alas, here we are.
Conclusion:
Bad market and that one ugly scenario aside, NFT NYC was a major success.
I have never been more bullish on the longevity of the space and the people in it; there are several sharp people who care deeply about Web3 and want it to succeed.
Anyone on the fence about going, or attending any major NFT or Web3 event, should just pull the trigger and go. You won't regret it.
🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?
Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:
- Trading volume came in at 26k ETH on Thursday, up 30% on the day and at the highest level in about 10 days; OS Pro captured 6.5% share, with Blur holding 67%
- NFTs were red on the day as crypto pumped, with most down 3%-10%
- 10KTF confirmed that their G-Tags will indeed by the ecosystem PFPs, sending their floor from 0.7 ETH to 0.9 ETH in minutes
- NFTfi announced a snapshot has been completed regarding all historical lending and borrowing on its platform (airdrop coming?)
- Fewo's Paint surged 23% to 0.48 ETH after the artist alluded to some secrets and previews coming soon
- Jenkins the Valet shared plans for overhauling its writing room in a lengthy 57-tweet thread
- Notable whale and BAYC holder Franklin shared that he lost 2,000 ETH in a bad investment and will be stepping back from NFT trading
🌎 Around Crypto and Web3
A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:
- The crypto market was up big yesterday; BTC +1.9% $30,800; ETH +6.4% at $2,110; APE +2.5% to $4.60 and ARB +19% at $1.56
- Mastercard unveiled a new free limited-edition NFT, it's Mastercard Music Pass, kicking off its artist accelerator and educational program in collaboration with Polygon
- Solana Labs announced that its crypto phone "Saga" will go on public sale on May 8
🚀 NFT Total Volume
- Wrapped CryptoPunks (6,194 ETH, 46.5 ETH Floor)
- BAYC (4,710 ETH, 53.3 ETH)
- MAYC (3,193 ETH, 12.2 ETH)
- Azuki (1,049 ETH; 14.35 ETH)
- Outlaws (767 ETH, 0.2 ETH
📈 NFT Floor Price Increase
- Outlaws (29%, 0.19 ETH Floor)
- 0n1 Force (12%, 0.79 ETH)
- Pixelmon Trainers (10%, 0.34 ETH)
- Nouns (6%, 29.96 ETH)
- Forgotten Runes Wizards (5%, 0.89 ETH)
🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals
The primary drop for today is PROOF's "Evolving Pixels," open to the Moonbirds raffle winners today after going live for PROOF members yesterday.
The collection floor is below the mint price currently, for the Lycorises, Singularity, and Memorias projects, but there are several above-floor sales. It should mint out, but secondary expectations are on the lower side right now.
- PROOF Curated: Evolving Pixels (12:00 p.m. ET); 0.25 ETH
- Art Blocks Presents: Systems Madness by Claudia Hart and Andrew Blanton (1:00 p.m. ET); Dutch auction
- Let's Dance by David Bowie (TBD)
- Parallel - Playtest (TBD)
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.
