Weekly NFT Update (Week 12, 23/03/2022 – 29/03/2022)

Madonna joins the Bored Ape Yacht Club. Decentraland holds Metaverse Fashion Week with over 70 brands. Looking for an island getaway? Check out Satoshi Island, the first crypto-centric island.

Key Takeaways

• On Wednesday, BAYC creator Yuga Labs announced it raised US$450 million in its latest funding round led by a16z crypto, with participation from Animoca Brands and The Sandbox. This brings the company’s total valuation to $4 billion.
  
• Crypto artist XCOPY recently released ‘Max Pain’, an open edition NFT drop which raised US$23 million in mere minutes. 7,394 NFTs were minted in total priced at $3,108 each (price of 1 ETH at the time) and were sold within a 10-minute window.
  
• Decentraland recently held Metaverse Fashion Week, a virtual fashion event with participation from 70 brands such as Estée Lauder, Tommy Hilfiger, Dolce & Gabbana, and Forever 21.
  
• On Tuesday Bored Ape #835 sold for just 115 DAI, which was about US$115 at the time of sale on OpenSea. BAYCs are considered blue chip NFTs with extremely high floor price and boast a group of high-profile holders, with Madonna as the latest celebrity to invest, which is why this made the headlines and was even deemed suspicious to some. 
• LooksRare recorded a +42% increase in sales and a +8% jump in transactions. OpenSea recorded a +9% increase in sales and a +11% jump in transactions.

Crypto.com NFT in the Spotlight

• On their sacred and holy quest to make money from THE ONE TRUE DICTIONARY, a group of talented Hollywood writers and performers joined together to help create these handcrafted NFTs. With ‘Own Every Word: Trinity Drop Pack’, the hapless group of comedians are back to work translating the sacred Word Wizard’s text into 1-of-1 NFTs to be exploited for profit. And after a month with an epic Word Wizard airdrop where four legendaries were found, we continue our hunt for #1: The Original Word Wizard.
  
• Interdisciplinary visual artist Nibera welcomes you to an immersive experience in which you can explore The Cosmic City and its inhabitants. ‘The Cosmic City’ is here to offer you a space in which you can explore your imagination and ideas. From galactic landscapes to retro-futuristic scenes, Nibera created visual artworks and soundscapes that will inspire you to explore the universe in your mind.

Highlights

• Ukraine launches NFT museum ‘to keep the memory of war’
• World of Women Galaxy NFTs sell out in 3 days
• LooksRare to allow messaging between users after partnering with Etherscan to launch chat button
• An in-depth look at Satoshi Island — a crypto-centric residential community in Vanuatu where land titles are NFTs
• Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht to drop Bitcoin NFT collection
• China’s ZTE secures trademarks in the Metaverse
• Paris Saint-Germain Soccer Club files trademark application to get into the Metaverse and NFTs
• The NFL eases up on its NFT and blockchain restrictions
• Liverpool FC auctions official NFTs on Sotheby’s
• NEAR and SailGP partner on ground-breaking new sports DAO
• Qantas announces NFT collection and becomes the second airline offering NFTs
• Tommy Hilfiger designs to hit Decentraland’s Metaverse Fashion Week
• Bulgari brings a touch of the non-fungible to high end watchmaking
• Cool Cats Ethereum NFT project signs with CAA for media, licensing push
• Nelson Mandela’s original arrest warrant sold for $130K as NFT
• African Digital Art Network Launches Nandi NFT Marketplace on Celo
• Foodverse: World’s first food metaverse where NFTs can buy food IRL
• TooNFT looks to revolutionise the Webtoon industry via next-generation blockchain platform
• Canadian musician Grimes reveals ‘intergalactic children’s metaverse book’ at Avalanche Summit
• Grammy-winning DJ Diplo to sell NFT song on Royal
• NFT marketplace Blur raises $11 million in seed round led by Paradigm
• Bored Ape Yacht Club’s newest merch drop can only be bought with ApeCoin
• Chip giant Qualcomm launches $100M Metaverse fund
• Zilliqa ready to launch metaverse-as-a-service (MaaS) platform, Metapolis
• South Korea recruits NFT experts for metaverse boot camp
• 2021 Decentraland Annual Real Estate Report
• US Justice Dept. charges Ethereum NFT project creators over ‘rug pull’

Transaction Volume Benchmark

Top Collectibles

The following chart shows selected top NFTs and their historical floor prices.

Upcoming NFT Sales

The following table shows top upcoming NFT sales (by market cap) and a sample of their art.

Top Artists

The following table shows selected top artists (by sales volume on each platform) and a sample of their art.