Kevin, Amanda & Sam (aka NFTstats) chat about the NFT market, a little bit about Blur, the latest from the Jack Butcher ecosystem, and their 1 ETH picks. Plus, you will see the latest episode of Mythics Chronicles.
NFT Market Volatility
Last weekend was a disaster for NFTs, with several projects tanking up to 15% in one day. Many people lost money as bids collapsed and everything crashed. Then this morning things surged again. Prices are up and new buyers are stepping in rather than seeing people offloading into bids. This new buyer confidence happening is encouraging after such a painful weekend.
Sam’s stance in buying NFTs right now remains unchanged: As long as incentivised bidding persists, he prefers waiting until an environment returns where purchases aren’t influenced by compensatory losses or impending dumps from others.
Trait-Specific Bidding
Overall the impact of trait-specific bidding seems neutral or slightly beneficial. It lessens collection bids and may broaden activity beyond base-level NFTs, encouraging interest in rarer ones.
This system actually discourages pumping and dumping that focused too much on floor-level activities, potentially transforming our value perception within the marketplace. However, due to past overbidding mistakes leading to big losses, airdrop farmers are now more cautious. Market impacts from trade bids haven’t been significant yet, apart from sporadic profitable deals with undervalued assets. Major players are absent as they accrue points rather than trading NFTs.
In Discord discussions the panel observed hesitancy about participation due to the complexity and risks involved. Still there is interest in collections like Cryptopunks, Doodles and a few others. Large-scale dumping of NFTs has also been noticed – creating a ripple effect of sell-offs out of fear or frustration with trends. Speculative buying increased while some buyers keep purchasing, despite decreasing asset values.
Blur’s indefinite continuation announcement of Season 2 Airdrop Farming sparked controversy as this means further point dilution without clarity on token conversion rates or farming season end dates — causing tension between Blur and stakeholders.
Reflections on Creating Moonbirds
After watching the newest episode of Mythics Chronicles, Kevin reflects on the creation of the Moonbirds collection with Justin and remembers them sifting through 10,000 items to avoid any overlaps. He is thankful that they now have more efficient ways of doing this for Mythics due to advancements in coding.
The Moonbirds collection showcases their meticulous attention to detail, but they expect challenges with their next project, because this time around they are generating around 37,000 pieces. The community will be involved in the curation process, which makes it a very interesting experience.
Then he mentions a few interesting facts about the creation process:
- Projects that came before Moonbirds influenced decisions on rarity and value of the Moonbirds, for example the Hoodie Cryptopunks.
- Derek Edwards, their regular guest hosts, provided valuable input on choices.
- The release of the collection revealed unexpected popularity, even common ones titled “Nudebirds” seem popular due their clean aesthetic appeal.
- And some images resembled phallic symbols and required a “Do Not Pair” lists, so they don’t make it into the final collection!
Sub 1-ETH Picks
Amanda’s pick is Max Pain by XCOPY, chosen for its connection to CC0 art and Web3 culture. Despite the rights issues, the piece makes a powerful statement thanks to on-chain composability. Interestingly, pairing it with a Moonbird unlocks an exclusive background by XCOPY.
Sam picks Opepens by Jack Butcher due to their multiple verticals of collectibility. Similar to Artblocks fans, collectors show interest in owning all variations of his artwork. They admire Jack Butcher’s understanding of viral marketing and people. Though skeptical about the longevity of such NFT obsessions, Sam appreciates its layers of collectibility which could ensure relevance over time.
Kevin’s pick is Cryptoarte by seb. Collections like this one may lack aesthetic appeal but hold historical significance, being among early generative art projects. Don’t overlook older pieces that may gain value when markets rebound. Consider those with historical importance whose artists or teams remain active today!
Opepen Collector’s Guide
OPEPEN is a complex collector’s dream. If you’re new and want to understand the mechanics of it, here’s the scoop from Sam:
- You start with revealed or unrevealed pieces. The unrevealed ones fall into different categories like one of 40, 20, 10, five, four, or one.
- There are around 200 different art groupings (they’ve covered eight of them so far, currently working on the ninth). When you sign up for a grouping, if you have a certain category, you get another from that same group.
- If there are thousands of people signed up for the same piece, they have a random drawing to decide who gets what.
- The first batch is the most valuable, as earlier work tends to hold more value. So, folks often sign up for newer art, hoping it boosts their collection’s worth.
- In the drawing, if you get selected, your token permanently changes to that specific artwork type, and if you want to enter future drawings, you’ll need to buy another token.
Jack Butcher, the genius behind this game, usually starts by figuring out the emotions he wants players to feel. Only then he builds the mechanics around those feelings. This approach gives the game respect and flexibility for each season or round, while still keeping a long-term vision.
But with games like this, there’s always uncertainty about whether it’ll still be relevant in a couple of years. The tricky part is deciding whether to jump in or not, considering the potential increases if Jack becomes even more famous, but also acknowledging that prices can fluctuate, and trends might shift over time.
Just keep in mind that the odds of winning any given drawing are pretty low since there are so many participants (16k) and only a limited number of artworks available (200). However, they’re planning to complete all the artworks by the end of the year, so the waiting times won’t be as long as initially thought.
If you are interested to go deeper, check out Sams Interview with Jack Butcher, where he provides additional insights into his thought process behind creating such an engaging game mechanic catering to collectors like us!
Watch the whole 100 Proof episode here: