Nifty News: Ulbricht’s NFT bids top 261 ETH, Irishman producer funds movies with NFTs

December 3, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Polygon has ramped up its NFT gaming plans with GameOn partnership, Irishman producer launches NFT firm to fund movies, and the Silk Road founder‘s NFT drop has fetched bids higher than $1 million.

Silk Roads lead to nonfungile tokens

Bidding for a 1/1 NFT auction created by imprisoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht has surpassed 261 Ether (ETH), $1.17 million at the time of writing.

The NFT depicts a hand-drawn illustration from Ulbricht of a psychedelic eye, and is part of a collection of writings and nine other artworks he created, some while in prison, that are included as part of the NFT sale. The auction kicked off on day one of the Art Basil Miami art fair on Dec. 2 and is being hosted by SuperRare.

The auction is set to conclude on Nov. 8 and proceeds from the sale will go towards a trust supporting Ulbricht’s fight to be freed from his double-life prison sentence, and will also help launch the donor-advised charitable fund Art4Giving that aims to help prisoners and their families.

In a blog post announcing the NFT drop, Ulbricht said that while his future looks bleak during his ninth year in prison without parole, he can do something positive to heal all the “damage” he sees around him.

$225K NFT on sale for $20?

Speaking of the Art Basil Miami art fair, Dmitri Cherniak the founder of the Ethereum-based and algorithmically generated NFT collection “Ringers” made an appearance out the front, offering to sell one of his NFTs worth $225,000 for a mere $20.

It is unclear if the move was in jest, or a genuine offer however Cherniak shared a picture of himself at the event with a note on his Ipad that read “Ringers #0 for sale for $20.” Despite the floor price for Ringers NFTs currently sitting at 50 ETH or $225,000 on OpenSea, the artist noted that nobody took him up on the offer.

Stood outside of the Art Basel convention center with a sign that said “Ringers #0 for sale for $20” and no one took me up on the offer. pic.twitter.com/2DWr7aml4A
— Dmitri Cherniak (@dmitricherniak) December 2, 2021

One user on Twitter noted that the stunt was similar to that of world-famous street artist Banksy, who has reportedly taken to the streets on multiple occasions to sell his art.

“This is just like Banksy selling on the streets and no one taking him up on it until he started slashing prices. Dmitri might have gotten a nibble from the normies at $5-10, they def ngmi,” user 5511 wrote.

Polygon to launch NFT games

Polygon (MATIC), the Ethereum-based layer-two scaling solution and its gaming unit Polygon Studios have entered into a strategic partnership with GameOn Entertainment Technologies Inc. to build NFT games.

GameOn is a U.S.-based sports prediction and gaming firm that caters to sports and media entertainment.

According to a Dec. 2 announcement, the deal will see GameOn launch a series of NFT games on the Polygon network, while Polygon Studios will provide non-dilutive funding for 50% of GameOn’s going product development costs.

The investment from Polygon Studios is part of a $100 million fund announced earlier this year that is focused on backing Web3 projects, with investments so far including DraftKings, DeFine and GameOn.

GameOn stated in the announcement the partnership with Polygon Studios will significantly help the firm ramp up plans for the NFT sector.

“The Polygon Studios investment allows GameOn to offer the full stack of capabilities from the creation, minting and selling of NFTs, to the game layers it already deploys for white label customers such as prediction and fantasy games,” the announcement read.

Irishman producer looks to fund movies with NFTs

Neils Juul, the executive producer behind Martin Scorsese’s hit film The Irishman, has created a new NFT company that aims to fund Hollywood films via NFT sales.

According to a Dec. 1 report from The Hollywood Reporter, Juul’s new firm is dubbed “NFT Studios” and already has plans to fund a new comedy-drama film from NFT sales called “A Wing and a Prayer.”

The movie will depict the real-life story of Brian Melton, who became the first man to circumnavigate the globe in an ultralight aircraft back in 1998. The film aims to feature A-list actors and is set to be shot in Malta and London by next April.

“We are in the middle of a great transition in the entertainment business where traditional ways of film funding and ownership are being uprooted due to the rapid rise of streamers and other digital platforms,” Juul told the publication.

Other Nifty News

On Thursday, Adidas announced it was entering the Metaverse in partnership with the Bored Ape Yacht Club creators Yuga Labs, gmoney NFT, and PUNKS Comic.

On the same day, registered investment adviser and fintech firm Defiance launched the first NFT-focused exchange-traded fund (ETF) on the New York Stock Exchange Arca. The fund is listed under the ticker symbol NFTZ and has a management fee of 0.65% per year.

‘Crypto Critic’ — Hollywood insider has a message for celebrities who shill token projects

December 1, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Ben McKenzie

According to Ben McKenzie, blockchain technology may still play an important role in the future of finance, but “rich and famous people pushing these products" haven’t yet earned the trust of investors.

Ben McKenzie, the actor known for his roles on TV shows including Gotham and The OC, is speaking out against public figures endorsing projects in the crypto space without seemingly disparaging the technology, itself.

Working with The New Republic staff writer Jacob Silverman, McKenzie made waves in early October after penning a Slate piece with his partner titled, “Celebrity Crypto Shilling Is a Moral Disaster.” The duo called attention to Kim Kardashian’s Instagram account promoting the token EthereumMax (EMAX) in early June, a project whose price gained 116,000% in just one week before shedding more than 99% of its value, leaving many in the red.

“Celebrities are lending their names and promotional talents to everything from NFTs to crypto exchanges to their own custom coin offerings,” said Silverman and McKenzie. “Together, they are communicating something clear but terribly misleading: That cryptocurrencies, and the many shady areas of this gray-market economy, offer a path to sustainable riches. The truth is almost always the opposite.”

They added:

“These rich and famous entertainers might as well be pushing payday loans or seating their audience at a rigged blackjack table. While the wild swings of crypto might be exciting for some, the rewards for many are illusory.”

Though much of Silverman and McKenzie’s criticism is aimed at actors and influencers who may not necessarily know the types of projects in which they’re seemingly encouraging for their followers to invest, they’ve also called out lawmakers. When New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams announced he would be accepting his first three paychecks in Bitcoin (BTC), the duo referred to it as “an embarrassingly stupid move” outside of merely attempting to get publicity — it may set the bar higher for other political candidates.

“Pledging fealty to the Bitcoin cult, promising to become a low-tax crypto playground, laying out the red carpet for the venture capitalists investing in this industry — these are rapidly becoming table stakes for tech-forward mayors,” said Silverman and McKenzie. “[It’s not] a good idea for a public servant to promote gambling with one’s entire paycheck in what is essentially an unlicensed, unregulated casino.”

Here's a CNN video piece about what @ben_mckenzie and I are up to with all this crypto skeptic stuff.https://t.co/z3JJmlOclV
— Jacob Silverman (@SilvermanJacob) November 30, 2021

CNN published an interview with McKenzie on Nov. 23, referring to the actor as someone who “stands virtually alone as a celebrity willing to publicly buck the crypto trend.” Unlike some figures like gold bug Peter Schiff who regularly calls BTC investments inferior to those in traditional assets, McKenzie seemed to be more concerned with the trends around pump-and-dump projects and their celebrity backers who are “unwittingly involved in something that is damaging to others.” According to the actor, crypto and blockchain technology may still play an important role in the future of finance, but "rich and famous people pushing these products" haven’t earned the trust of investors to make seemingly spurious claims.

McKenzie has not had a shortage of figures to target, as many professional sports players, including Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers, have attached their names to crypto exchanges through sponsorship deals. In Hollywood, Matt Damon recently became one of the biggest celebrities to promote a crypto firm after appearing in a TV spot for Crypto.com.

In their Oct. 7 Slate article, the 'Crypto Critic' pair added:

“Whether it’s Lindsay Lohan peddling five-figure NFTs, laser-eyed Tom Brady endorsing the exchange FTX, or Akon promising to build a $6 billion, crypto-inspired city in Senegal, there’s a lot of capital swirling around this industry, and much cause for worry. Celebrities are encouraging their fans to gamble on speculative, unproven investments that may soon see a major regulatory crackdown, if not an outright implosion of the market.”

Miramax sues Tarantino over ‘money grab’ Pulp Fiction NFTs

November 17, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The film production company behind Pulp Fiction called Quentin Tarantino’s plans to make NFTs based on the film a “deliberate, premeditated, short-term money grab.”

Production company Miramax has filed a lawsuit accusing director Quentin Tarantino of copyright infringement for selling NFTs derived from his blockbuster 1994 film, Pulp Fiction.

On Nov. 2, Tarantino announced he would be tokenizing seven uncut screenplay scenes for the critically-acclaimed film as nonfungible tokens in December 2021. The NFTs will be built on the Secret Network, a layer one blockchain.

Each of the tokens would feature “the uncut first handwritten scripts of “Pulp Fiction” and exclusive custom commentary from Tarantino, revealing secrets about the film and its creator.”

Miramax owns the rights to the director’s classic edition of Pulp Fiction. In the suit filed on 16 Nov in the Central District of California. it claimed that, “Tarantino kept his Pulp Fiction NFT plans secret,” and that the announcement has interfered with its own plans to mint Pulp Fiction NFTs.

“This one-off effort devalues the NFT rights to ‘Pulp Fiction,’ which Miramax intends to maximize through a strategic, comprehensive approach,” Miramax attorney Bart Williams wrote in a statement.

Williams also accused Tarantino’s team of a “deliberate, premeditated, short-term money grab.”

“This group chose to recklessly, greedily, and intentionally disregard the agreement that Quentin signed instead of following the clear legal and ethical approach of simply communicating with Miramax about his proposed ideas.”

The suit stated: “He made no efforts to contact Miramax prior to his coordinated press campaign, despite having what were likely extensive negotiations with third parties to develop and sell the NFTs.”

Tarantino’s lawyers have claimed that he retained the right to publish his original screenplay in the Miramax contract, and that he is exercising that right through the NFT sale.

However, Miramax argues that NFTs are a one-time sale, and are not equivalent to publication of a screenplay. The suit states claims of breach of contract, copyright infringement, trademark infringement and unfair competition. Miramax has sent Tarantino a cease and desist letter to block the sale.

Miramax is the production company behind Pulp Fiction, co-founded by disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein and his brother Bob Weinstein. Harvey Weinstein was ousted from the production company in Oct. 2017 after a laundry list of sexual abuse charges were revealed.

Miramax financed and collaborated with Tarantino on several of his more commercially successful films, including Jackie Brown and Kill Bill: Volumes 1 and 2. Pulp Fiction was Miramax’s first major release following its acquisition by Disney, grossing over $213 million worldwide.

CryptoPunks creators sign with top Hollywood agents, as sales top $305M in a week

September 1, 2021 Coin Telegraph

CryptoPunks creators sign with top Hollywood agents, as sales top 5M in a week

Autoglyphs

Larva Labs' blockchain-created IP is set for Hollywood after the firm signed a representation deal with United Talent Agency for CryptoPunks, Meebits and Authoglyphs.

Larva Labs, the team behind the outrageously popular NFT project CryptoPunks, has penned a deal with Hollywood agents United Talent Agency (UTA).

According to an Aug. 31 article from the Hollywood Reporter, UTA will represent Larva Labs for intellectual property (IP) deals in TV, film, video games, licensing and publishing. Two other NFT projects from Larva Labs, Meebits and Autoglyphs, will also be represented by UTA.

CryptoPunks was launched back in 2017 and is one of the first NFT projects created on Ethereum. The IP-related deal with UTA marks a significant milestone for Larva Labs, as it is one of the first examples of content created in the blockchain sector that has entered the mainstream entertainment industry.

Lesley Silverman, head of UTA Digital Assets told the Hollywood Reporter:

“I would say that it is one of the first opportunities for an IP that fully originated in the crypto-world to enter a broader entertainment space, and they earned it.”

“They really have hit the zeitgeist in a tremendous way,” he added.

The CryptoPunks project maintained a relatively niche following for most of its short history, before exploding in popularity this year amid a growing wave of interest in the NFT sector which saw $2.5 billion worth of sales in the first six months of this year.

According to data from the CryptoPunks website, the Larva Labs OG NFTs have generated a whopping $1.18 billion worth of total sales since 2017, with $304.8 million worth of sales in the past seven days alone. The cheapest CryptoPunk on sale is currently priced at 115 Ethereum (ETH) worth around $391,000 at the time of publication.

Public figures such as rapper Jay Z, electronic dance musician Steve Aoki and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk all reportedly own CryptoPunks. Cointelegraph reported on Aug. 23 that payments tech giant Visa purchased CryptoPunk 7610 — a female figure with a mohawk, clown green eyes and lipstick — for 49.50 ETH worth $150,000 at the time of purchase.

The Cryptopunks have done ~$140M worth of transactions in the past 24 hours, and have now passed $1B in lifetime transaction volume. pic.twitter.com/SCBY6F22Ho
— Larva Labs (@larvalabs) August 28, 2021

There are 10,000 CryptoPunks NFTs in total, all of which were computer-generated from a set of unique features to create the individual pixel art avatars. They were initially claimed for free, with TechCrunch reporting in April this year that a collector who goes by the name “mr703” online snatched 703 Punks at initial launch — keeping hundreds of the NFTs in a collection now worth tens of millions at current prices.

With a Punk now being a VISA mascot we are living through the end of an era: a fringe art experiment is turning into a corporate marketing tool. Happy, as it will propel #cryptopunks valuation through the roof.
— mr703 (@mr703_punks) August 27, 2021

Larva Labs’ other NFT projects also follow the computer-generated route of CryptoPunks. The Meebits NFTs were launched this May, and consist of 20,000 unique 3D voxel characters that are built for use in the Metaverse and NFT gaming.

Autoglyphs launched in 2019 and is a generated art project that is limited to 512 NFTs, where users generate a “Glyph” by donating a creation fee of 0.20 ETH ($687) to the chosen charity of Larva Labs, 350.org — an organization aimed at combating climate change.

NFT animation ‘Stoner Cats’ preps for launch following delay

July 27, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Business

After a false start yesterday, the Stoner Cats team say they're now ready for take two.

A cat-themed animated series, featuring prominent entertainers and personalities from the crypto space, is reportedly back on schedule after an unexpected delay.

Stoner Cats is an NFT series launched by actress Mila Kunis in partnership with CryptoKitties co-founder Mack Flavelle, CryptoPoops NFT creator Jonathan Howard, and others through their recent endeavor Big Head Club. The project is scheduled to launch at 5:00 PM EST today after a false start prevented the tokens from dropping on Monday. The project's NFTs, which feature characters from the show, will allow holders to watch episodes as they're produced and, at some future point, may also allow some form of governance over the studio's production decisions.

"We are ready for the launch tonight and excited,” Flavelle told Cointelegraph, before going on to acknowledge the difficulties experienced during yesterday's not-quite-launch:

"People's time is the most valuable thing they have and we took their time. So I totally understand their frustration."

Yesterday, Flavelle told disgruntled cat fans on Discord that “we f--ked it up” after the team found a bug in the underlying art layers which could have affected the project's NFTs. The group's Twitter account said it was “working on some tech issues” before eventually announcing the sale would be pushed to Tuesday.

Many crypto users were seemingly frustrated at the delay, with some in Europe and Asia reporting they had stayed up late due to the time zone difference for the project that “failed to mint.”

Despite the issues, the project continues to attract a lot of attention due to the involvement of major celebrities including Mila Kunis, Jane Fonda, Ashton Kutcher, Seth MacFarlane, and Chris Rock. All cast members will reportedly be paid in Ether (ETH), including Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, who said he would donate his pay for the project to the SENS Foundation — a non-profit organization researching the applications of regenerative medicine to aging.

“I think people are starting to understand it’s not about access to the first piece of content,” said Kutcher in a discussion with Howard today. “It’s about access to the ongoing content that will be created as a result of this.”

The actor added:

“Anybody who’s holding the NFT fundamentally has their own theater. They are the owner of the ticket kiosk for the future.”

There will be 10,420 initial cat NFTs available at a price of 0.35 ETH — roughly $784 at the time of publication. The price of Ether jumped to more than $2,400 yesterday but has since dropped to the $2,200s.

The first episode of Stoner Cats — titled "Stoned Awakening" — is set to premiere on July 29, and will be available to participants of today's sale.

Hollywood Sign, Amy Winehouse Photo to Be Auctioned as NFTs

May 21, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Hollywood elite will receive NFTs in recognition of upcoming awards ceremony

April 22, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Among the digital artwork is a piece created as a tribute to late actor Chadwick Boseman, with the proceeds from the auction benefitting the Colon Cancer Foundation.

A project will be distributing nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, in the gift bags of 25 actors, actresses, and directors nominated for their roles in feature films.

According to Nomine(eth), a project formed in partnership with online marketplace Rarible, Metaversal, and AdVenture Media, 25 people from the 115 nominated in this year’s Academy Awards ceremony will receive three nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, in unofficial gift bags. The project will gift the NFTs to Hollywood insiders nominated in the best actor, best actress, best supporting actor, best supporting actress, and best director categories.

All the digital pieces designed by artists Jon Noorlander, Shaylin Wallace, Rocco DiSpirito, and others will be minted with the names of those nominated in their respective categories. The winner of each category will receive an additional NFT auctioned off on Rarible. Some or all of the proceeds will reportedly go to a charity of their choice. Because NFTs do not exist in the physical world, the project will add a ticket to each bag allowing nominees to claim their gift through a Portis wallet.

“The motivation to distribute NFTs in the gift bags was to show what can be done with NFTs, raise awareness for the charitable causes that we're supporting and pay tribute to the tremendous achievement that these nominees have achieved,” said Yossi Hasson, co-curator of the project. “[We’re] inviting them to co-own that moment with some of the most inspirational digital artists and the public that purchase their works.”

Among the NFTs is a piece created by 3D animator Andre O'Shea as a tribute to famous actor Chadwick Boseman, best known for his role as King T'Challa in the 2018 film Black Panther. Boseman passed in August from colon cancer but is still nominated this year for his part in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. The proceeds from this NFT auction will benefit the Colon Cancer Foundation.

Some experts believe the Hollywood film industry should move to the blockchain, allowing new creators to bypass the traditional "exclusive" route for projects by decentralizing power within the space. A number of film and TV projects related to the crypto industry have popped up as the space becomes more mainstream, including a 10-part crypto-comedy series expected to start filming later this year.

Please note that the gift bags mentioned above are not directly affiliated in any way with the Oscars or the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences.

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