NFT Roundtable | Yuga's NFT World
Welcome to the Weekly NFT Roundtable, where members of the Lucky Trader team weigh in on some of the most pressing questions, news, and events in the web3 space.
The commentary below is purely opinion —not financial advice!
Recommended Reading:
- Y00ts coming to Polygon | Over 5,000 y00ts Bridged
- NFT-Gated Tickets: Ticketmaster & Avenged Sevenfold Collab
Yuga's World š
Question 1:
Fresh off this weekend’s Otherside 2nd Trip, Yuga made a surprise announcement regarding the Legends of Mara — the next experience in the ecosystem. The update will feature a 2D standalone game fueled by ApeCoin, a new airdrop of vessels which impact a new collection (mara), and additional information about the mysterious Koda.
Thoughts on the 2nd Trip, and the new game and collection? Are you feeling more bullish or bearish on Otherdeeds?
Logie: As a non-gamer, all the technical bullishness sort of waves right over me. I have no context, nor care for details about concurrent users, shards, instances, or beyond. Nevertheless, while the math doesn’t make a lot of sense, I’m “quietly bullish on the Otherside after reading some of this weekend’s recaps. What I was most impressed with from the commentary I consumed was the genuine interest that many had with the unfolding storytelling.
While I’m skeptical of web3 lore and fear many projects will introduce far too much complexity, Yuga seems to have compartmentalized the strings of its lore quite well. Those actively playing in the Otherside don’t need to be thinking about Dookey Dash, and Dookey Dash doesn’t need to connect to Legends of the Mara, and so on. Other projects like RTFKT have seemingly connected Clones to MNLTH, to this thing, and that thing, and another thing, introducing so many layers of complexity that it becomes too daunting to follow along. The mini-game approach seems like a huge slam dunk and should remove some of the obvious execution risk that exists for Yuga. With that being said, I’m still probz not going into the Otherside, just not my cup of tea.
Jason: I mostly agree with Logan here. Legends of Mara looks cool. The character and trait and land variables seem well thought out and interesting enough. I would probably play this game for some type of small reward. But I won’t drop thousands of dollars on the NFTs I’m required to have to gain access. Those who are holding should be excited, but those who are buying in just to play the game… try Xbox?
Ghost: I participated in the 2nd Trip, and had fun (and was fortunate enough to be on the winning team, shout out Galacia!). I enjoyed the simple game mechanics, and it felt like an N64 game in Mario Party — which made me more bullish from an accessibility standpoint for non-gamers.
I also am bullish on the Legends of Mara announcement — and think the NFT space will absolutely love a 2D strategy game if it’s executed well. I’m still uncertain to where I stand on Otherdeeds long-term — as I’m not sure the 2nd trip gave a ton more insight into how 100,000 of these will be used (though short-term bullish with the airdrop coming). What these announcements did make me bullish on is $APE — I think we’re about to see a ton of different sinks added, which is music to the ears of any token holder.
Tyler: I’m conflicted on this one. I love that Yuga is launching this game to keep Otherdeed holders interested and engaged during this long build process. The game looks very cool on a first glance, and if it is a low-time commitment strategy game, I might indeed buy in and play.
The bear case for me is the influx of 110,000 NFTs (100k vessels + 10k Kodas) into this bear market. I’m not sure there is liquidity support for this influx, even from the biggest brand in the space. And if these come out and Deeds go down more than the cost of Vessels (a likely outcome) it probably hurts sentiment.
Ticket Talk šļø
Question 2: Ticketmaster, in collaboration with the popular metal band Avenged Sevenfold, introduced NFT-gated ticket sales this month. How big is this — are we seeing a prime example of mass adoption coming to NFTs? How do you see NFT ticketing impacting the event space, and the relationship between artists and fans?
Logie: Avenged who? Just kidding…but seriously. Ticketing has widely been regarded as one of the potential slam dunk use cases for NFTs but outside of VeeCon, I’m not certain anything of note was willing to lean into it. This seems like it’s probably a big deal, but I’ll wait to comment when someone I recognize leans into it. At this point, I don’t expect much of a change in the near future and many platforms are already changing the way artists interact with their fans…without the tickets.
Jason: I’m turning “Bat Country” up to 11 to spite Logan. This is huge. Ticketmaster controls 70 to 80 percent of all major concert venues in the United States, according to select senators. Live Nation estimates closer to 60 percent, according to New York Times. Either way, it’s HUGE. NFTs as access passes to live events (i.e. tradable tickets) is so obvious. This is the first of many partnerships between Ticketmaster and artists. It will start small as Ticketmaster develops the technology necessary to scale, but soon enough, every single ticket will be an NFT. It makes secondary marketplace sales faster and safer. Artists can collect a resale royalty. And the ticket, after the event is over, serves as a personal collectible or memento. Imagine the resale value on Taylor Swift and Beyoncè ticket NFTs… *rocket ship emoji*
Ghost: Huge news — I feel like tickets have always been referenced as a great use case for NFTs, and seeing a giant like Ticketmaster embrace the technology is absolutely massive. While most normies that hate NFTs probably think of PFPs and dumb cartoon animals, this is an easy real-world example that can help open eyes to the power of the tech.
It’s also big from an artist perspective — I imagine it’s a win-win for everyone to have a better experience for your most loyal fans, and avoid the dreaded structure we currently see in ticketing (shady/difficult secondary market, bots scooping up all the tickets, etc.). I also love Jason’s point about the resale value of the NFTs, both as a collectible and as a royalty value-add for the artist. Hard not to be extremely bullish.
Tyler: This is the biggest NFT news of the week, month and maybe the year. Real use cases for NFTs are starting to be unlocked at scale, which will actually benefit consumers. I’m exposing myself here, but some of the artists I’m really looking forward to seeing live soon are Kygo and Lady Gaga, and if I can get priority access to tickets via an NFT I am slamming the buy button.
I wrote about this topic in depth in my Wednesday newsletter, so I’m not going to recreate that all here, but token-gated ticket sales solve some major problems in the music industry and broader live event space and I don’t see a single valid bear take for this one.
y00ts on the Move š
Question 3: The hotly-anticipated bridging of y00ts to Polygon began late Monday night, with Phantom, Magic Eden, and Dust Labs partnering to make the move a seamless one. Additionally, ME is covering gas fees for the transfer, and is gifting users $5 USDC for each y00t listed on their marketplace — with fee free trading for 30 days. How are we feeling about y00ts on Polygon? Is what chain an NFT is located on becoming less important?
Jason: I don’t really care to comment on y00ts. I’m not a huge fan. It doesn’t matter. That they migrated to Polygon specifically doesn’t even matter. What’s important here is that popular NFT projects are migrating to cheaper, faster blockchains (Layer 1 or Layer 2). Chain agnosticism is coming. And the chains that offer the cheapest, most liquid trading opportunities with great NFT infrastructures will see the most movement. Right now, that’s Polygon. Gone are the days of paying $1,000 in gas fees to mint a project or $200 to buy on secondary (yeah, you remember 2021, don’t lie).
Logie: I totally get moving DeGods to ETH, where volume reigns supreme for NFT trading. But I have no clue why you’d move y00ts to Polygon, which is established narratively (and literally) as a “sidekick” to the real NFT collections. While the seamless nature of the bridge seems to have pushed beyond a major execution risk, I still think that Frank and team firmly cemented y00ts as a “companion” instead of what could have been a leading PFP collection. Of course, it’s impossible to quantify my rather anecdotal response - so we’ll let the floor price do the talking a few months from now.
Ghost: I think that chains are going to matter less and less going forward — what matters is how the project delivers and rewards holders. For y00ts, they have already built up a loyal following (over 85% migration on day one speaks volumes), so I don’t suddenly think the project is just dead after moving to Polygon. It may also surprise many to see that the floor is 1.7 ETH — which was not as apparent when things were denominated in SOL. I am bullish on Frank, and the baked-in partnership opportunities that come with Polygon — what matters now is how the project delivers going forward, not what chain it’s on.
Tyler: I’m bearish on y00ts on Polygon and here’s why - lack of volume. Tuesday bridge day was a marquee day in the y00ts ecosystem and they were only 12th in overall project volume across chains, and they weren’t even 1st on Polygon! They were out-traded by 60% by a new degen mint called BROZO. Polygon was a winner here, seeing its daily volume spike 130% on the day but I’m bearish of it being sustained.
Logan had a hot take on our spaces this morning, calling y00ts effectively the “double little brother”, little brother to DeGods and on Polygon which is the little brother to ETH for NFTs. Not great for y00ts price action.
As for chain mattering, it matters as much as the buying and utility process is conducted in a single crypto (i.e. ETH). If I can buy, stake and unlock total y00ts utility with ETH and without MATIC, then I’m cool. But if I need to hold new cryptos to trade and execute, that’s a big barrier for me. So chain absolutely still matters and i don’t think we’re close to it not mattering (tho eventually I do believe it will not).
Nakamigos Doing Numbers š
Question 4: The big winner over the last week has been Nakamigos, a 20k pixel art collection that was minted for free to holders of End of Sartoshi passes. The rise has been a polarizing one — with many calling it a pump and dump and others vibing and having fun with a new PFP collection (especially the MFers community). Do these have staying power? Is the FUD on Twitter valid, or just cope?
Jason: Can I be honest here? Is this a safe space? I don’t know what Nakamigos are. I’m glad the End of Sartoshi holders are getting something for providing the amount of exit liquidity they did.
Logie: They do not have staying power, but the FUD is cope. Does this mean I’m coping? I don’t know. “Good vibes” projects can have a moment in the sun, but the metas are so fast in this space that it won’t matter for long. I bet you don’t even remember Checks.
Nevertheless, the fact that MFers community in particular is so happy to shift away from MFers for this feels weird. What about MFers? I guess I’ll echo Jason, good for End of Sartoshi holders.
Ghost: Love the Nakamigos. It’s sad that people can’t just vibe with a new project these days, everything not anointed as a top project by the broader community is either a pump-and-dump or rug. I think they make awesome PFPs, and have a built-in rabid audience of MFers that helped cement the good vibes early on. The traits are unique but familiar at the same time, and I think people are itching for a new PFP project to latch onto with most of the older collections bleeding out.
We need more fun in the space, and less BS — and the Nakamigos feel like a breath of fresh air right now. Are they probably going to zero over a long time horizon — sure. But we’re all dying slowly! Just have fun and enjoy the ride.
Tyler: I personally fudded Nakas and have done a 180 and am a supporter (and bought a bag). Here’s why I fudded - the names pumping Nakas over the weekend included some very questionable personalities. That’s why they caught so much FUD.
But they have moved past that, some legit collectors and whales have bought into Nakamigos in size now, and they continue to be the main topic on NFT Twitter (now in a better light).
Quick reminder to anyone looking to buy in here that they are up 40x from mint and the most likely outcome is a trend to 0. But for consenting adults who know the risks - man this is a fun set to buy and collect. The traits are awesome, and the fun buying experience is why I’m personally bullish in the short term.
Meet the Roundtable:
Ghost: Ghost is an NFT analyst at Lucky Trader. He has been in crypto since 2017, and entered the NFT space via NBA Top Shot in January of 2021 before minting Bored Apes and degenning into the broader market.
Tyler: Tyler is a high-volume NFT trader, having reached the top 100 in NFT sales revenue using NFTBank’s rankings, a Pengu maxi (in Luca we trust), and a writer for Lucky Trader. Tyler’s writing spans market analysis, news breakdowns, project ecosystem overviews, and web3 opinion pieces.
Logie: Logan is a content lead at Lucky Trader and is best known for selling every good NFT far too early. He also maintains an irrational exuberance for clay-based NFTs.
Jason: Jason is an NFT lead at Lucky Trader. He has been involved in the NFT space since CryptoKitties in late 2017, and, like most, he lost a lot of money on Top Shot in early 2021. But nevertheless, he persists (with his Series 1 Legendary From The Top LeBron James Block).
