Morning Minute | Shaq Faces NFT Securities Lawsuit for Astrals

TylerD's Market Summary

🤯 Shaquille O'Neal Will Face NFT Lawsuit, Court Rules

Celebrities popped in and out of the NFT bubble in 2021-2022.

Now being mirrored by their involvement in the 2024 memecoin cycle.

But some of those celebs are facing some ongoing issues.

What Happened?

Yesterday a court ruled that a class action lawsuit against Shaquille O'Neal for his role in the Astrals NFT project could proceed.

The allegations are that Shaq offered and sold investors unregistered securities via his role as a project promoter.

For quick background, the Astrals NFT project was on Solana, featured 10k "metaverse-ready avatars" and was tied to a token GLXY.

The lawsuit alleges that the NFTs tanked in value after Shaq left the project during the fallout of the FTX collapse (which he was also involved in), even after posting "I'M NOT FUCKING LEAVING" in the project Discord.

Regarding some legal details:

• The judge found that Shaq could be considered a seller, citing his son's role as the head of "investor relations" and allegations that the project's success were tied to his status
• Shaq's financial motives behind broad communications were found relevant, beyond any personal interaction with investors
• The court did dismiss claims that Shaq was a "control person", found not to have an active role in day to day operations

Relevant to the case (and not helping the cause), Shaw was one of FTX's celebrity promoters prior to the collapse in November 2022.

Why It Matters

This is an important ruling for celebrities involved in NFT (and memecoin) projects.

The key here is the importance of Shaq's broad communications and how he left the project, and how the judge finds that impacted investors.

Certainly several other celebs acted similarly across the last 3-4 years.

There are also several open lawsuits involving FTX led by the Moskowitz Law Firm which is pursuing this case, and any momentum gained here may impact those other cases as well (given Shaq's involvement).

This will be an important case to follow as it proceeds.

🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?

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

• ETH led NFT trading volume with $4.9M on the day; Solana was next with $2.6M, and then BTC with $1.68M
• ETH NFT leaders were slightly red down 1-2%; Pudgy -1% at 9.1 ETH, BAYC -2% at 11.9 ETH, Azuki +1% at 4.5, Milady +1% at 3.79
• CEDEN Keystone Nodes (+50%) and Nakamigos (+33%) were other notable top movers
• BTC NFT leaders were mixed; NodeMonkes even at 0.127 BTC, Puppets -3% at 0.084 BTC, Quantum Cats +3% at 0.27; DomoDucks jumped another 23% to 0.037 BTC
• The Runes leaders were slightly green; DOG +3% at $305M mc, RSIC +3% at $89M mc, PUPS +5% to $47M
• Solana NFTs were mixed; Mad Lads even at 57 SOL, SMB Gen 2 +5% at 24.4, DeGods -3% at 29
• A group of 10 Snowfro/Jack Butcher Opepens already exceeded the estimated lot price at Sotheby's Digital Art Day Sale
• Dimensionals announced that it would transition to a Web2 project, abandoning its NFT and web3 gaming plans

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Here's a rundown of major token or airdrop news from the day:

🌎 Around Crypto and Web3

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

• Crypto majors are up 3-4% this AM; BTC +4% at $60,750; ETH +3% at $2,650, SOL +3% at $146
• Memecoin majors are more green with DOGE +6%, PEPE +11%, WIF +19%, BONK +9%, MOG +17%; 
• $1B of Tether was minted on Tron in the past day, at its new memecoin leader Sundog hits $159M mc
• Bitwise has acquired the ETC Group, enabling it to expand into Europe
• The Democratic National Committee rolled out its official platform on Monday ahead of the DNC, with no mention of crypto in the 90 page document 
• Shaquille O'Neal will continue facing a class action lawsuit against him for his role in the Astrals NFT project, on allegations that he offered and sold unregistered securities

🚀 Memecoin Movers 

• $GINNAN (+44%, $23M market cap, SOL)
• $WDOG (+44%, $13M market cap, SOL)
• $FWOG (+33%, $15M market cap, SOL)
• $NEIRO (+30%, $160M market cap, ETH)
• $POPCAT (+25%, $477M market cap, SOL)

📈 NFT Floor Price Increase (ETH)

• Producers (124%, 0.05 ETH Floor)
• Heurist Imaginaries (100%, 1.38 ETH)
• CEDEN Keystone Nodes (50%, 0.07 ETH)
• Nakamigos (37%, 0.13 ETH)
• Kaiju Kingz (25%, 0.1 ETH)

🗓 Upcoming Mints and Events

Today is a slower day of drops.

The highlight is likely the Pacmoon team making their debut on Solana with the ARMY airdrop. The PAC token has surged to $10M-$12M ahead of the burn window closing, and now all eyes will be on it's Solana open.

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

• ARMY launch (8:00 a.m. ET)
• intraverse (12:00 p.m. ET)
• Chainvirus - BitSplits (2:00 p.m. ET)
• James Mendenhall - vaporCity (4:20 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 to tyler.warner@luckytrader.com.