Either way, Wasabi has you covered.

With Wasabi's Perps markets, savvy traders can now win in any market conditions and earn points and Blast GOLD while doing so. 

It's a huge unlock.

They recently crossed $100M in cumulative trading volume on the platform, so traders are figuring it out.

So why not join them and start trading today, and earn those rewards!

🫂🫂 Friendship Is Back - And Profitable

Friend Tech was arguably the most polarizing app in SocialFi and even broader crypto over the past 8 months.

The app and its users were widely mocked last year, with many calling it an unsustainable ponzi, "3,3" driven and that it would certainly go to 0 once the token dropped.

Well, they were wrong.

What Happened?

Friend Tech v2 launched late last Thursday night.

It launched with no formal announcement or info, which led to chaos.

The $FRIEND token dumped as low as $0.80 on Friday morning as several notable CT influencers sold their tokens, while the app itself was barely working and no one knew how to use it.

Chaos continued through Friday, but then slowly, people started figuring out how the new app worked.

The app became more stable.

And people started buying $FRIEND and understanding its importance in the current app.

Now $FRIEND is at $2.80 ($280M FDV), up 250% from the bottom.

How Does Friend Tech v2 Work?

There are 3 primary new components to v2:

• Money Clubs
• A native DEX "Bunny Swap"
• LP Staking

Money Clubs are the hot new feature, somewhat replacing Keys as the primary social layer.

Anyone can launch a club, set up a bonding curve (normal or exponential) and choose to run it however they like.

Clubs are an improvement over key rooms in that everyone can chat and see each other's message, the bonding curve isn't as steep, and fees are lower (1.5% vs 10%).

Clubs are also transferable tokens, meaning a club owner could airdrop their club keys to Key owners, a whitelist, etc.

Bread mentioned yesterday how 3 types of Clubs have already started to emerge - interests (alpha, specific topics, people, etc.), memecoins / culture coins (i.e. BLEU) and 3rd party apps.

This new social layer has emerged in just 2-3 days post-launch. And they run on $FRIEND, the native token required to buy entry to a club.

To get $FRIEND, one must use the native DEX Bunny Swap.

And if one wants exposure without buying clubs, they can simply stake in the LP with big rewards (APR at 600% or higher right now), given the final 10% of points are used for liquidity mining.

In many ways, Friend Tech v2 is like Pump dot fun but bigger, with a built-in user base and the attention of all of CT.

By The Numbers

Some key metrics from the opening weekend:

• Clubs volume: 17.1M FRIEND ($46M)
• Club fees: 256k FRIEND ($691k)
• Total clubs created: 119,380
• Club creators: 66,811
• Club traders (users): 88,735
• Liquidity pool size: $48.2M

So nearly $50M in volume across nearly 90,000 users in its opening weekend - not bad.

To give a sense of the top clubs by price:

• Ansem's Army at 2745 $FRIEND ($7,686)
• Fight Club at 2,371 $FRIEND 
• CBB Cartel Club at 1,587 $FRIEND
• CBB FC at 1,254 $FRIEND
• The Pack at 824 $FRIEND

So there are 4 clubs which cost 1,000+ $FRIEND already. And it's about 134 FRIEND to make the top 50 right now.

And, reminder - you have to have $FRIEND to buy into these clubs, which many are already calling levered bets on $FRIEND.

Perhaps that's why $FRIEND is up to $2.80 already ($254M mc, $280M FDV).

What's Next?

There is still so much to unpack from this app's launch.

The keys for me with respect to what happens next:

• Will power users continue to use and build on the app?
• Will the team continue iterating on and developing the app?

Early signs point to "yes" for both of those questions.

If that's the case, this app is going to be around for a while.

And $2.80 per $FRIEND is fud...

🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?

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

• BTC led NFT trading volume with $8.7M on the day (+25%); ETH was next with $6.2M (+16%) and then Solana with $3.09M (-5%)
• Blob led trading volume with 22 BTC volume (0.067 BTC floor) after ties to EPIC EPIC EPIC runes circulated
• OMB holds pole position of BTC PFPs at 0.45 BTC; Quantum Cats at 0.397, NodeMonkes at 0.342 and Puppets down to 0.266
• ETH NFT leaders were mostly green gaining 1-5% on the day; BAYC +2% to 15.4 ETH; MAYC +3% to 2.97; Pudgy +7% to 11.98; Azuki -7% to 5.16
• Geometries, Anata and alignDRAW were notable winners, jumping 30-50% on the day 
• Solana NFTs were mostly red on the day; Mad Lads -3% to 83 SOL, Tensorians -2% to 13.7; DeGods -10% to 51, and y00ts -2% to 12.7
• Blast NFTs saw mega-green with many sets up 20-30% or more, led by Plutocats (+4% to 2.38 ETH), Blastopians (+24% to 0.37) and Blast Hoods (+133% to 0.12)

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

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

🌎 Around Crypto and Web3

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

• Crypto majors are green this morning; BTC +1% at $64,250; ETH +1% at $3,160, SOL +5% at $154
• Memecoin majors were green as well DOGE +1%, WIF +8% PEPE +5%; MICHI, NUB, HALFIN outperform
• GBTC had BTC inflows on Friday, the first time in 80 days, which helped drive the weekend pump
  

🚀 Memecoin Movers 

• $HALFIN (+700%, $17.5M market cap, Base)
• $ELON (+32%, $19M market cap, ETH)
• $MICHI (+27%, $145M market cap, Solana)
• $NUB (+28%, $62M market cap, Solana)
• $POPCAT (+13%, $615M market cap, Solana)

📈 NFT Floor Price Increase (ETH)

• Kagami (47%, 0.09 ETH Floor)
• Frank Stella Geometries (33%, 0.6 ETH)
• Anata NFT (32%, 1.17 ETH)
• alignDRAW (27%, 2.15 ETH)
• CEDEN Keystone NFT (27%, 0.18 ETH)

🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals

Today has a solid slate of mints spanning Base, Blast and Bitcoin.

The highlight is likely the Fantasy Top main competition launching at 3 pm ET. Given all the hype, expect some major trading, pack ripping and card swapping ahead of that game beginning.

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

• Genesis Master Pass (8:00 a.m. ET)
• Reneverse (9:00 a.m. ET)
• Memes by 6529 (11:00 a.m. ET)
• Based Monsters (1:00 p.m. ET)
• Fantasy Top competition (3:00 p.m. ET)
• Bitcoin Keepers (3:00 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 to tyler.warner@luckytrader.com.

Blast introduced "Blast Jackpot" for Blast-based token and NFT holders, featuring total prizes of more than 1 million Blast GOLD. 

The Deets

• Eligibility: Open to all Blast token and NFT holders.
• Mechanism: Participation through adding up to 8 tokens or NFTs to your "Deck."
• Random Reward: Jackpot hits are block-based, with a random asset selection determining winners.
• Growing Jackpot: Starting at 1,000,000 Gold, increasing over time.

The Bulk

Blast added a new offering - an exclusive Jackpot for NFT and token holders on its L2.

In just more than two months since its launch, Blast has amassed a significant user base with more than 907,018 participants and greater than $2.64 billion deposited. 

To foster deeper community engagement and reward its loyal user base, Blast  introduced a unique Jackpot mechanism. Token and NFT holders can increase their chances of winning by adding more assets to their "Deck," enhancing their stake in the random selection process. 

During every block, the Jackpot "spins," presenting the opportunity to select communities to win a portion of the GOLD. 

Thus far Pacmoon holders and others have already earned their share of GOLD via the Jackpot. 

🎬 Take Action 

Users can add NFTs or tokens to their decks and learn more by visiting the Blast Jackpot page. 

For more web3 and NFT news, visit the Lucky Trader newsfeed.

Solana Labs is partnering with Google Cloud to integrate its GameShift Web3 platform, making it available to Google Cloud customers. 

The Deets

• Expanding Access: Simplifies Web3 integration for developers using Google Cloud
• Key Features: Offers a comprehensive suite of tools including non-custodial wallets and in-game NFT marketplaces.
• Simplified Integration: Abstracts complex blockchain technology, focusing on gameplay rather than backend intricacies.
• Optimized for Scale: Built on Solana's network, ensuring fast transactions and low fees.

The Bulk

Solana Labs is expanding its partnership with Google Cloud, integrating its GameShift platform, making it easier for game developers to incorporate blockchain technology into their projects. GameShift provides developers with essential tools such as seamless user onboarding, in-game digital asset minting, and easy-to-integrate marketplaces, all streamlined through an easy-to-use API.

🎤 Founder Feedback

🎬 Take Action

Developers interested in integrating web3 into their gaming projects can visit GameShift for more.

For more web3 and NFT news, visit the Lucky Trader newsfeed.

The MOCA Foundation's $MOCA token launch concluded with $29.3 million in pre-deposited funds, more than 12 times the subscription rate. 

The Deets

• Funds Raised: $29.3 million, far exceeding the $5 million goal
• Oversubscription: 12 times the initial available lots
• Rapid Success: Target surpassed in under 6 hours
• Global Participation: Nearly 17,000 participants from 123 countries

The Bulk

MOCA Foundation recently completed a successful token launch through CoinList. The sale, initially set to gather $5 million, surpassed expectations by amassing $29.3 million during its week long opening.

The token sale saw global participation with thousands of unique, KYC-approved users from across 123 countries.

📊 By the Numbers

The MOCA Token Launch allocated 126,984,127 tokens at $0.03938 each, contributing to a fully diluted value of the total MOCA Token supply at $350 million.

🔜 What's Next?

Final allocations will be announced shortly and the token distribution is scheduled for late May.

For more web3 and NFT news, visit the Lucky Trader newsfeed.

Either way, Wasabi has you covered.

With Wasabi's Perps markets, savvy traders can now win in any market conditions and earn points and Blast GOLD while doing so. 

It's a huge unlock.

They recently crossed $100M in cumulative trading volume on the platform, so traders are figuring it out.

So why not join them and start trading today, and earn those rewards!

⏫ Crypto Adoption Is Accelerating

Prices may be chopping this week.

But the bullish crypto headlines keep pouring in.

Several came through yesterday from Moonpay x PayPal, Jack Dorsey and Franklin Templeton, each of which will accelerate crypto adoption in their own way.

MoonPay Integrates PayPal

Yesterday MoonPay announced a major integration with PayPal for US users.

Key highlights:

• Fiat-to-crypto purchases for 110+ cryptos 
• Buying via standard PayPal payment methods available (PayPal balance, bank ACH, debit card) with just a few clicks
• Selling will be enabled soon

A telling quote from MoonPay co-founder and CEO Ivan Soto-Wright:

“Now more than ever consumers are exploring different avenues of financial systems–whether that be crypto, retail investing, or digital banking–and this partnership underscores our deep commitment to collaborating with trusted partners in the ecosystem to expand their access. By integrating PayPal, we are enabling consumers to transact with crypto in an already familiar environment, and significantly lower the barrier to entry for new users.”  

Now 100s of cryptocurrencies can be bought by millions of PayPal users with a few clicks.

The barriers are indeed being lowered.

Jack Dorsey is doing his part as well.

Jack DCA's Bitcoin And Shows Others How

Yesterday Jack tweeted out that his company Block is "DCA'ing bitcoin every month."

But that wasn't the important part of the tweet.

He also included a link to a 4-page primer titled "Bitcoin Blueprint for Corporate Balance Sheets."

The primer walks through their historical buys and how they executed them, their cold storage mechanisms, and insurance + accounting considerations.

Jack just shared the Bitcoin DCA playbook for any company (or wealthy invidivual) to follow.

And by the way - he is DCA'ing with a whopping 10% of gross monthly prifits.

It's not a stretch to think that at least a few companies will follow in his blueprint and begin their own DCA.

Jack and his company aren't the only ones ushering in adoption.

Franklin Templeton Lays Out Solana Thesis

The Franklin Templeton X account is becoming a must follow for their concise 2-pagers on a variety of crypto topics.

Yesterday they published "Solana: Accelerated Adooption."

Their core thesis is that Solana growth will continue, it will cement as the 3rd major crypto asset and it is uniquely positioned to catch the next trends in crypto.

Key takeaways:

• Airdrops -> wealth effect -> native tokens and memecoins surge (expect cycle to continue)
• Fees and DEX volume skyrocketing, to continue as performance improves
• Uniquely positioned for DePIN, payments, compression NFTs and limit order books
• Firedancer to solve current network limit issues

Favorite quote from the primer:

"Crypto enthusiasts are wondering what the next big thing in crypto will be...While we don't know the precise answer, we'd argue there is a strong chance it happens on Solana."

It's a convincing thesis.

Why It Matters

Momentum continues to build.

• MoonPay is unlocking crypto access for the masses with PayPal.
• Jack is teaching companies and major players how to safely DCA into Bitcoin.
• Institutions like Franklin Templeton are publishing theses on leading tokens, L1s and digital assets.

The signals keep getting stronger, and barriers to adoption keep getting broken down.

Higher.

🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?

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

• BTC led NFT trading volume with $9.8M on the day (+35%); ETH was next with $8M (+20%) and then Solana with $4.3M (+60%)
• NodeMonkes and Puppets both rallied ~20% leading BTC movers, now 0.4 and 0.31 BTC respectively
• Quantum Cats and OMB remain the leaders at 0.425 BTC and 0.42 respectively
• ETH NFT leaders were very green with most up 4-10%; BAYC +4% at 14 ETH, MAYC +4% at 2.6, Azuki +6% to 5.55 and Pudgy even% to 11.2
• DeGods spiked another 25% to 2.38 ETH as demand soared post-return home to Solana (multi-chain)
• Killabears and CEDEN Keystone Beavers jumped 40% and 30% leading other notable movers
• Solana NFTs were taken over by DeGods (+16% to 51 SOL) and y00ts (+20% to 13 SOL) in their first full day of trading post-bridge; Mad Lads -1% at 88 SOL, Tensorians even at 13.8
• Blast NFTs saw another $10M in volume , led by Plutocats (+10%), Blastopians (+19%) and BLASTR Keys (+130%)
• PacMan Blur loaded up 50 ETH in a wallet and began using dapps on Blast, winning 2.4 ETH on a 40+ eth spin roll on Yolo Games
• Pudgy Penguins teased that their plushy toys will be coming to amusement parks soon
• Cube Exchange bought 43 DeGods and 44 y00ts as part of its new partnership with DeLabs
• Garga shared a recap of The Otherside town hall which included a focus on Events, ODK alpha, new rewards for players, the launch of an L3 "Apechain", 3D Kodas, a new event code named Project Dragon and more

💰 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 mixed this morning ahead of a key US jobs report this AM; BTC +1.4% at $59,050; ETH -0.5% at $2,970 SOL +0.5% at $137
• Memecoin majors were also green/even; DOGE even, WIF even, PEPE +6%, BONK +10%; HAMMY, TOOKER, MICHI outperform
• Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas reported that the day 1 HK BTC ETF inflows were actually ~$290M vs the $11M previously reported
• MoonPay is integrating PayPal enabling fiat-to-crypto purchases for 110+ crypto assets using PayPal native payment methods
• Jack Dorsey announced that Block will DCA into Bitcoin every month, and shared details for other companies to do the same
• Coinbase commemorated its Q1 earnings with a new free NFT mint
• Sergito's new company Popset announced a $1M pre-seed raise to "build the next generation of onchain social"
  

🚀 Memecoin Movers 

• $HAMMY (+465%, $20M market cap, Solana)
• $TOOKER (+29%, $90M market cap, Solana)
• $MICHI (+27%, $120M market cap, Solana)
• $ANDY (+24%, $70M market cap, ETH)
• $USA (+22%, $75M market cap, Solana)

📈 NFT Floor Price Increase (ETH)

• Yogurt Verse (83%, 1.3 ETH Floor)
• Killabears (42%, 0.6 ETH)
• CEDEN Keystone (30%, 0.17 ETH)
• DeGods (25%, 2.38 ETH)
• Lasogette (24%, 0.48 ETH)

🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals

Today is a slower day of new mints to end the week.

Expect most attention on FriendTech v2's chaotic launch day, Fantasy Top on Blast plus whatever catches hype into the weekend.

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

• Paradise Tycoon (9:00 a.m. ET)
• Memes by 6529 (11:00 a.m. ET)
• Anomaly (2:30 p.m. ET)
• VeeFriends Ticket snapshot (5:55 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.

Are you ready to dive into the world of NFT trading but hesitant due to high entry barriers? Look no further than nftperp.

nftperp allows traders to go long or short NFTs with the click of a few buttons. 

And now it is officially live on Blast L2, providing a lower fee environment for traders along with:

• New "Degen Draw" raffle game

• Punks, Penguins and Milady's live for trading

• 100% of their Blast airdrop being shared with the community

• Additional $VNFTP rewards for traders

So start trading today.

💰 Everyone Is Coming for BTC

The past few weeks have been a brutal bear market for crypto.

I jest, but sentiment on the timeline reflects more concern than should be warranted for a 20% pull back in Bitcoin after a 2.5x over the past year.

Warranted or not, BlackRock thinks those concerns will be alleviated soon.

What Happened?

BlackRock's head of digital assets said that more (and different types of) institutions are coming in a recent interview.

Robert Mitchnick described it as “a re-initiation of the discussion around bitcoin,” and that we will "probably" see big new movers soon.

Who is coming?

• Sovereign wealth
• Pension funds
• Endowments

That's about as big as it gets.

Mitchnick goes on to say:

“Many of these interested firms – whether we're talking about pensions, endowments, sovereign wealth funds, insurers, other asset managers, family offices – are having ongoing diligence and research conversations, and we're playing a role from an education perspective."

BlackRock is certainly playing their part.

But they aren't alone in the realm of major players driving more attention to Bitcoin.

Saylor Builds on Ordinals

Last night, news broke that Michael Saylor is building on top of Ordinals.

He is building a decentralized identity protocol on top of the Ordinals protocol, according to Ord.io.

Not much additional information has circulated yet, but the details seem less important here than the signal.

Arguably the most important holder of Bitcoin in the world is legitimizing Ordinals, a sector of Bitcoin which has been heavily scrutinized by the "laser eyes" cohort.

It's a big deal.

Why It Matters

More adoption is coming.

From different types of funds buying Bitcoin to prominent figures building on top of Bitcoin (Ordinals).

Just yesterday the ex-PayPal President said that "Bitcoin is the neutral settlement network for all payments in the world."

The Bitcoin movement is hitting a new crescendo.

Don't lose the plot or get shaken out because of a 20% pullback in price.

🚚 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 $7.5M on the day (-10%); BTC was next with $7M (+2%) and then Solana with $2.7M (-1%)
• ETH NFT leaders were green in a solid rebound; BAYC +4% at 13.4 ETH, MAYC +10% at 2.5, Azuki +3% to 5.3 and Pudgy +2% to 11.3
• DeGods spiked 20% to 1.9 ETH after they (and y00ts) began to bridge back to Solana on Wednesday, with Phantom adding their own support with an in-app banner
• NodeMonkes led the BTC NFT board with 22.5 BTC, rallying 10% to 0.345 BTC; Puppets also rallied 10% to 0.268 as did RSIC (+10% to 0.05)
• Runestones were given a 25% Magic Eden diamond reward bonus, though still only came in 4th in volume with 12 BTC (floor even at 0.02)
• Solana NFTs were mixed on the day after DeGods (44 SOL) and y00ts (10.7 SOL) made their debut; Mad Lads -1% at 89 SOL, Tensorians +9% at 13.8
• Blast NFTs saw a huge day of volume in their 1st full day of trading on Blur; Blastopians +15%, Plutocats +30% and Blastosaurz +64% were notable winners
• PAC REKT fell 30% back to mint price after rewards were removed by the Blur team
• VeeCon moved its VeeCon ticket NFTs to Base for this year's conference

💰 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 green this morning; BTC +1% at $58,200; ETH +4% at $2,990 SOL +12% at $136
• Memecoin majors were also green as Zhu Su called for "alt szn now"; DOGE +5%, WIF +17%, PEPE +17%, BONK +11%; SC, ROCKY, POPCAT outperform
• Runes were mixed with DOG leading (+7%), RSIC down (-7%) and BITCOIN PEPE MATRIX (+74%) and LOBO (+27%) outperforming 
• Rollbit burned 71M $RLB to conclude its Solana migration phase

🚀 Memecoin Movers 

• $SC (+200%, $125M market cap, Solana)
• $ROCKY (+180%, $44M market cap, Base)
• $MICHI (+64%, $95M market cap, Solana)
• $TOOKER (+64%, $69M market cap, Solana)
• $BODEN (+60%, $334M market cap, Solana)
• $POPCAT (+47%, $530M market cap, Solana)

📈 NFT Floor Price Increase (ETH)

• KIP (82%, 0.14 ETH Floor)
• Tarot (58%, 2.94 ETH)
• Mittaria Genesis (49%, 0.22 ETH)
• alignDRAW (25%, 1.5 ETH)
• DeGods (23%, 1.92 ETH)

🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals

Today is a slower day of new drops.

The highlight is definitely Friend Tech v2 if it indeed launches today.

With alts heating back up and the crypto board flipping green, the macro backdrop is better than it was earlier in the week. If v2 comes with a splash, it's a set up for fireworks (or else $FRIEND will dump like every other recent airdrop).

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

• Sadwonderer - Faceless (11:00 a.m. ET)
• Origin Mint (12:00 p.m. ET)
• FriendTech v2 (1:30 p.m. ET)
• Aleks Ustya - Tessellation (11:00 a.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.

Prohibition Art aims to pioneer diverse digital art forms and community rewards on Base as part of new expansion efforts. 

The Deets

• Expanded Art Forms: Beyond generative, embracing varied digital expressions.
• Launching MOONSHINE: A gamified rewards system that drives artist and collector engagement.
• Strategic Expansion: Prohibition plants its flag on Base and Farcaster for broader impact.
• Art Meets Innovation: Emphasizing sustainable support over speculative gains.

The Bulk

Prohibition Art is broadening its horizons by embracing a wider spectrum of digital art forms and expanding its activity to Base. The new initiative also includes a new community rewards program, dubbed MOONSHINE, aiming to answer for community-centric, sustainable monetization methods.

With its expansion to the Base blockchain, Prohibition aims to enhance its technological footprint and community interaction capabilities and move beyond generative art. This move is complemented by a simultaneous launch on Farcaster, setting the stage for deeper, real-time community engagement. 

🎤 Founder Feedback

🔜 What's Next?

Prohibition plans to roll out tiered rewards, special quests, and community challenges within MOONSHINE, aiming to enhance the NFT experience through more interactive and integrated community involvement.

🎬 Take Action

Ready to explore the new frontier of digital art with Prohibition? Sign up for MOONSHINE to get started. 

For more web3 and NFT news, visit the Lucky Trader newsfeed.

Blur officially launched a new NFT marketplace on Blast, offering Blast Points and 2 million in GOLD rewards.

The Deets

• Chain Switching: Trade Blast NFTs by switching chains directly on Blur
• Blast Points and GOLD: Earn points through listing, bidding, and purchasing NFTs
• Points Hidden: The farming rewards remain hidden until end of the season. 

The Bulk

Blur unveiled the addition of Blast L2, allowing users to trade Blast NFTs on the leading ETH NFT marketplace. By participating with Blur on Blast, traders can earn Blast Points, which accumulate through active trading and bidding on NFTs. 

In addition to the Blast Points, Blast allocated a substantial sum of 2 million GOLD to incentivize early adopters and frequent traders on the platform. 

Users that deposit to the Blur Pool on Blast will still earn the native yield that is fundamental to the Blast L2. This native yield will be used for future creator rewards and trader giveaways. 

One wrinkle to Blast's inclusion on Blur is that the points earned from trading will remain hidden until the end of the season, keeping farmers in the dark about exactly how they're earning points and which activities will be most fruitful. 

📊 By the Numbers

As part of the launch, Blast has committed to distributing 2 million GOLD to active traders on the platform. 

For more web3 and NFT news, visit the Lucky Trader newsfeed.

Animoca Brands is teaming up with Saakuru Labs to integrate gasless blockchain technology into its gaming platforms. 

The Deets

• Strategic Integration: Saakuru Labs' L2 Protocol to support various Animoca Brands games
• Technological Advancements: Utilization of zero-transaction-fee technology for seamless gameplay
• Market Expansion: Focus on growing Animoca Brands' presence in the rapidly expanding Southeast Asian gaming market
• Developer Support: Saakuru's infrastructure to facilitate easier Web3 integration for game developers

The Bulk

Animoca Brands announced a strategic partnership with Saakuru Labs, known for its L2 Saakuru Protocol. This alliance is set to integrate selected Animoca games into the Saakuru ecosystem, leveraging its gasless transaction capabilities.

The partnership aims to transform the gaming landscape by enabling real-time, on-chain gaming experiences free from the usual transaction fees and delays, a common barrier in blockchain gaming. Animoca is targeting the vibrant Southeast Asian market, where blockchain technology is rapidly gaining traction yet often hindered by economic factors like high gas fees.

Saakuru Labs will provide essential infrastructure that simplifies the incorporation of blockchain features into games, reducing the barrier for developers transitioning from traditional gaming platforms to innovative web3 environments. This initiative not only accelerates the development cycle but also enhances the gaming experience by making it more accessible and engaging.

🎤 Founder Feedback

🔜 What's Next?

With the partnership now official, expect to see the integration of Saakuru's technology across Animoca's gaming platforms, with several launches slated for the coming months. 

For more web3 and NFT news, visit the Lucky Trader newsfeed.

Today's Morning Minute is brought to you by Arcade, the leading protocol for NFT lending.

Arcade allows users to hold on to their NFTs and still get liquidity when needed via their flexible time-based lending terms.

They changed the game with their Smart Vaults, allowing users to store their NFTs in vaults during the loan process - enabling them to claim airdrops sent to the NFT after paying off the loan.

It's a major unlock.

The protocol has seen an explosion in user growth (+130%) and monthly loans (+300%) over the past 8-9 months as more and more users find the platform.

And of course - users are being rewarded.

Lending and borrowing on the Arcade protocol earns points which convert to $ARCD tokens.

So check Arcade out today, give or take some liquidity and start earning!

🙈 Blur Launches On Blast

"Time for something new. April."

That was the tweet from the Blur account back on Feb 29 that tipped everyone off for the potential launch of Blur on the Blast L2.

On the final day of April, it finally happened.

And it came with some big incentives (and likely implications).

What Happened?

Yesterday Blur officially introduced its platform on Blast.

Highlights from the announcement:

• Users simply toggle a switch at the top of the UI to switch from ETH to Blast
• Depositing to the Blur pool on Blast continues to earn native yield 
• 2M Blast Gold* (~$20M at current prices) will be distributed to Blur traders on Blast (list, bid, trade to earn)
• A new "NFTfi" Blast multiplier was introduced, providing a 2x for using Blur or other NFTfi apps on Blast (like nftperp, Wasabi, etc.)

*The twist with the Blast Gold rewards - no points will be revealed until the end of May.

This means farmers will be flying blind, leading to some likely chaos in the market.

Market Impact

Chaos is probably the correct term for the first few hours of NFT trading on Blast.

Several leading NFTs saw major spikes then full roundtrips as Blast-front runners sold into the pump, and incentivized sellers simply listed and moved on.

OSF's PAC REKT collection is the top winner after day 1, jumping 50% to 0.28 ETH on a whopping 4,000 ETH volume.

Plutocats jumped 10% to 1.5 ETH leading notable floors.

The volume numbers are not to be trusted, as reports of rampant wash trading have been circulating already.

And with no fees and no royalties on trades, and no visible points system to track rewards - expect that to continue.

The impact on ETH NFTs - well none so far.

The large crypto dip pulled down ETH NFTs with them and that impact likely overshadowed any potential impact of this Blast announcement.

Many are calling for ETH projects to bridge to Blast - we'll see if any teams make the move.

Why It Matters

At the highest level, we may be approaching the Blur incentives end game.

Season 3 ends with the Blast launch coming in May, and it's unclear if the standing ETH NFT trading incentives will continue past that point.

That's a major potential impact for the ETH NFT market.

The Blur team will also have to find a way to prop up its token, which has fallen over 50% from local highs to just $0.37 ($590M mc) into the last month of Season 3.

The staking rewards given to BLUR stakers were seemingly outweighed by the Blast Gold farming opps, which in many cases were less risky than holding $BLUR.

As for the next month, it's going to be a chaotic sprint.

NFT Stats has the 66,666 Blast Gold/day as $1.2M in incentives, per day.

That's a big carrot and many feel "behind" in the Blast Gold farm - they will go hard at this.

And the rules are pretty murky with no visible points, leading to the chaos.

Get your popcorn ready for what will be a wild month on Blast.

🚚 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 $8.5M on the day (-2%); BTC was next with $6.8M (-10%) and then Solana with $2.8M (-10%)
• ETH NFT leaders were mostly red after crypto tumbled; BAYC -7% at 12.55 ETH, MAYC -13% at 2.2, Pudgy -4% to 11
• Azuki was the lone bright spot, jumping 4% to 5.05 ETH after the debut of their new Anime series was received very well
• Runestones led the BTC NFT board with just 8.8 BTC, rallying 20% to 0.02 BTC; new project BLIFSTONE reached 0.015 BTC in debut
• BTC PFP leaders were mostly stable as the Merlin Unlock continues; Bitcoin Puppets -20% at 0.24, NodeMonkes at 0.312, OMB at 0.42 BTC, Quantum Cats at 0.369
• Solana NFTs were mostly red on the day; Mad Lads even at 90 SOL, Tensorians -10% at 12.7, Mall Street -20%
• Blast NFTs saw an explosion in volume after the Blur on Blast debut; PAC REKT is top winner at 0.28 ETH, then Pluto Cats at 1.5
• Yuga announced an Otherside townhall held in The Otherside this Thurs at 6 pm ET;  all ecosystem NFT holders can attend

💰 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 down bad this morning; BTC -6.4% at $57,555; ETH -4.7% at $2,886; SOL -6% at $121
• Memecoin majors were also mostly red; DOGE -9%, WIF -7%, PEPE 12%, BONK -9%; ELON and BOOMER outperform
• Coinbase added support for Lightning Network on Bitcoin
• Binance founder CZ is getting 4 months in prison as a result of his most recent charges
• Prohibition Art is expanding to Base and launching MOONSHINE - a new community rewards program
• Pirate Nation announced a long-term partnership with Horizen Labs Ventures (known for its help in launching tokens)

🚀 Memecoin Movers 

• $ROCKY (+190%, $16M market cap, Base)
• $ELON (+90%, $21M market cap, ETH)
• $MANEKI (+18%, $94M market cap, Solana)
• $JOE (+17%, $9M market cap, ETH)
• $ROOST (+19%, $18M market cap, Base)

📈 NFT Floor Price Increase (ETH)

• Infinigods (46%, 0.19 ETH Floor)
• QQL Mint Pass (29%, 2.97 ETH)
• VeeFriends (20%, 1.22 ETH)
• Kiraverse (13%, 0.18 ETH)
• Meebits (12%, 0.67 ETH)

🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals

Today is another big day of token claims and airdrops + mints.

The $NIM token and mainnet go live this morning, and then the Pacmoon Airdrop 3 this afternoon.

Fantasy Top is set to launch its mainnet this morning (pending no more delays).

And artists Sarah Zucker and Patrick Amadon are back with new drops.

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

• Fantasy Top (10:00 a.m. ET)
• Ether Pillar (10:00 a.m. ET)
• $NIM claim (10:00 a.m. ET)
• Memes by 6529 (11:00 a.m. ET)
• Sarah Zucker - Strabismus (12:00 p.m. ET)
• $PAC Season 3 airdrop (1:00 p.m. ET)
• Patrick Amadon - disobedient (3:00 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 to tyler.warner@luckytrader.com.