Morning Minute | The Metaverse Comes to Bitcoin

TylerD's Market Summary

Is Bitcoin ready? Animoca thinks so. Plus catch up on a roller coaster day of Friend Tech action and the most important new trends.

🟠 Animoca and Darewise Launch the Metaverse on BTC

Animoca isn't concerned about Bitcoin Ordinals volume falling off a cliff.

They're investing deeper, partnering with Horizen Labs through their subsidiary Darewise Entertainment.

The goal of the partnership - to bring the first-ever metaverse token to Bitcoin.

Here is the quick summary:

• The partnership will harness Horizen Labs’ expertise in smart contracting and token strategy
• The new token will power gaming, brand collaborations, and real-world experiences.
• Darewise's Life Beyond will utilize this token for in-game assets, virtual lands, and more.

Many may recognize the name Horizen Labs - they were previously involved in the ApeCoin (APE) launch.

With their new venture, they're diving deep into the Bitcoin ecosystem, introducing a token designed to empower an entire ecosystem.

According to the team, this isn't just about launching a token; it's about creating a holistic gaming metaverse where in-game assets, from virtual lands to collectibles, can be traded and valued. All on Bitcoin.

Clearly they are bullish. Enter Yat Sui, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca.

"With the advent of the Ordinals protocol, we're witnessing a pivotal moment for Bitcoin as it extends its reach and introduces the concept of culture. High-quality gaming is one of the keys to mass adoption..."

Benjamin Charbit, CEO of Darewise went even further:

“We're still in the early innings, but the potential for Bitcoin to become more than just a store of value is immense. To achieve that potential we need to roll up our sleeves and build... We're joining forces to contribute to the foundational infrastructure that the Bitcoin ecosystem needs to truly flourish. This is about collaboration, community, and contributing to a collective effort that could redefine the digital landscape.” 

Will the metaverse make it on Bitcoin? Does it even make sense there?

Valid questions. Time will tell.

But certainly Animoca and team believe it's worth the effort.

👥 Friend Tech Trend Tracker

Major momentum continued on Thursday, but it was also the first time in a week or more where the sellers came out in force.

Let's start with the numbers.

Here are some of the core Friend Tech metrics for 9/14 and their day-over-day change:

• New users: 5,097 -> 9,028 (+77%)
• Return users: 10,807 -> 12,575 (+16%)
• Daily Buy volume: $11.97M -> $10.2M (-15%)
• Total Volume: $18.5M -> $20M (+8%)
• TVL: $32.6 -> 32.9 (+1%)
• Highest key: Racer 8.69 -> 9.07 (+4%)

Total users are now over 165,000 and total transaction volume is up to $186M.

Total transaction volume hit the new ATH at $20M though it was a real battle between buyers and sellers ($10.2M vs $9.8M) - the closest spread we've seen in awhile.

Prices felt it Thursday afternoon, as we saw broad sell-off in keys. Except for Racer, who cruised past 9 ETH and feels destined for 10 ETH this weekend (if not today).

A notable stat from NFT Stats is that on 9.13 there were more than double as many FT key buyers as ETH NFT buyers. That is a wild stat and also a sobering sign of the times. Also - FT paid over $1M in royalties on trades, while ETH NFT marketplaces generated just $200k.

A few other trends and developments we saw:

• FriendTech ranked #2 in fees generated ($2.27M) for all blockchains and protocols behind just the Ethereum network ($3.37M)
• The first NFT project joined FT - rektguy; promising to use fees to sweep the NFT floor, they're at a 0.19 ETH floor (vs 0.45 ETH for the NFTs)
• The first artist to drop exclusive artwork to keyholders with Arsonic and "OnlyFriends"
• A new wave of Asian interest, highlighted by ikehaya soaring to 0.48 
• Manifold Trading offered their bot-prevention services to more users via a sign up form
• MetaKeys DAO launched a new FT after their NFT's success, offering similar aggregator functionality, promptly running to 0.69
• Interesting new joiners included:
  • Sweaty Startup founder and self-storage business builder Nick Huber (0.2)
  • DJ and legendary NFT trader Steve Aoki (soared to 1.7 ETH, now 1.3)
  • Discord trading bot NONE 
  • Lucky Trader founders and legendary sports bettor/business builders Peter Jennings and Jonathan Bales
  • Blackbird.xyz founder Ben Leventhal (formerly of Resy and Eater)

The most interesting trend for me here is the new user growth. It's exciting to see leaders from other sectors starting to join, but their level of activity will be important to watch.

Also, from a trading perspective, new inflows aren't keeping up with new users. So we are likely to see prices compress mostly across the board (probably not Racer) as traders free up funds for the shiny new keys.

And the main event for today - the points airdrop happening this evening. If the points are good - we soar this weekend. Else, we could be in for pain.

If you like this content, catch our morning Friend Tech show at 10 am ET or come sweat the airdrop with me at a more casual show at 5 pm ET.

Good luck!

🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?

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

• NFTs saw a mix of red and green on the day; Punks at 47.5 ETH, BAYC at 23.8; Moonbears and G Tags led top movers
• Nakamigos made the head-turning pivot announcement that they're upcoming CLOAKS mint would be free for holders (vs 0.05 ETH previously stated); the floor rallied 60% plus on the news to 0.32 ETH before settling at 0.26
• Forked Nouns officially launched as a new collection, seeing 875 ETH in volume and holding a 37 ETH floor
• Machi's AIP to spend 11M $APE on Yuga NFTs officially went live for vote last night, open through Sept 20
• DraftKings Reignmakers saw 24 sales over $1,000 yesterday, ranging from $1,100 to $5,999 as big demand continues ahead of Week 2; be on the lookout for the next Classic Pack drop happening today at 6 pm ET with another 50% discount
• Cool Cats announced they will be featured in the 2023 Macy's Thanksgiving Parade
• In NFT Friend Tech news, rektguy signed up for FT in the first "mainstream" project to do that, while MetaKeys DAO launched a new FT in addition to their NFTs (the NFTs fell 28%)

🌎 Around Crypto and Web3

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

• The crypto market was up slightly on Thursday; BTC +0.5% at $26,500; ETH even at $1,625; SOL +1.4% at $19.09
• Deutsche Bank announced it will be entering crypto custody and tokenization using Taurus
• Maria Nawfal, NFT God and several others will be on a new "Killer Whales" show backed by Coinmarketcap

🚀 NFT Total Volume

• Nouns (876 ETH, 36.6 ETH Floor)
• Forked Nouns (873 ETH, 37 ETH)
• MAYC (465 ETH, 4.78 ETH)
• Milady (354 ETH, 2.3 ETH)
• BAYC (313 ETH, 23.79 ETH)

📈 NFT Floor Price Increase

• Moonbears (75%, 0.31 ETH Floor)
• 10ktf G Tags (61%, 0.29 ETH)
• Treeverse (45%, 0.19 ETH)
• Nakamigos (30%, 0.26 ETH)
• Checks - VV Edition (16%, 0.53 ETH)

🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals

Today is a very slow day headed into what will likely be a weekend of crickets in the NFT space.

The Sports NFT sector is alive today with Museum of Mahomes II set to drop. The project provides special edition sports cards, autographed memorabilia, 1:1 grails and more. Supply is 3,000 and priced at $500 - stay tuned for any last-minute announcements from the team for more.

In other sports drops, DraftKings Reignmakers is back with a new pack drop. The kicker - they're 50% off. These packs have been majorly +EV over the past few weeks, and this will be the last chance to pick them up at a discount.

If you want more, see the full list of today's drops from Swizzy's daily mint monitor. 

• Memes by 6529 (11:00 a.m. ET)
• cydr - New-life, t0 Still-life (1:00 p.m. ET)
• Museum of Mahomes (5:00 p.m. ET)
• DraftKings Reignmakers - Rush Standard Packs (6:00 pm 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.com.

For all volume and floor price data, see Lucky Trader's Project Rankings page.

For all upcoming mints, see Lucky Trader's NFT Calendar page.