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Nifty News: The Simpsons roast NFTs, Yuga Labs exec departs after anti-semitic tweets and more

November 7, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Apefest

The Simpsons poked fun at NFTs in their annual halloween special but degens still managed to take advantage of the publicity to hoist an NFT collection to near top of the charts.

The Simpsons roasts NFTs in new Halloween special

Animated television series The Simpsons spent an entire segment mocking nonfungible tokens (NFTs) during the latest 34th annual Treehouse of Horror Halloween special, in a segment called “Wild Barts Can’t Be Token.”

In the special, Homer accidentally mints Bart on the blockchain, and in the ensuing scenes, the creators poke fun at NFTs, all while referencing collections such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Doodles, as well as the viral digital artist Beeple.

Get ready for a non-fungible night in tomorrow's #TreehouseOfHorror XXXIV on @FOXTV, next day on @hulu. pic.twitter.com/Y4cSiyp4kD
— The Simpsons (@TheSimpsons) November 4, 2023

The special revolved around poking fun at the speculative nature of NFTs and how the market is largely fueled by the fear of missing out (FOMO).

Once Marge discovers that Bart has become trapped on-chain, she too digitizes herself as NFT. She battles her way through carriages on a virtual train — which is literally powered by FOMO — to rescue Bart, fighting NFT-themed characters all the while.

The final joke lands when Homer finally gives into FOMO and mints himself as NFT. The second he does so, the train runs out of steam and the price of all the NFTs plunge to near-zero, ending the episode with his iconic catchphrase “Doh!”

Despite being the essentially the punchline of an episode-long joke, the NFT community on Crypto Twitter reacted with delight, with Beeple saying that his work appearing on the show was a “bucket list moment” for him as an artist.

Notably, the Simpsons creators even parodied their own NFT collection — Golden Moments — which was first offered in conjunction with Disney+ by the NFT platform VeVe in Nov. 2021.

“We saw that,” wrote the official account for Veve.

We saw that @TheSimpsons pic.twitter.com/nBAQEjJmyp
— VeVe | Digital Collectibles (@veve_official) November 6, 2023

Degens cash in on Simpsons NFT episode

NFT enthusiasts certainly didn’t let the Simpsons roast go to waste, with creators rushing to capitalize on the newfound publicity for NFTs.

Just hours after the episode first aired, Italian parody artist Rino Russo launched a Simpsons-derived NFT project, which combined the likeness of Simpsons characters with CryptoPunks.

The collection, dubbed Springfield Punks, was launched as a free mint and quickly sold out as NFT fans raced to jump in on the action.

Bart's an NFT in Treehouse of Horror XXXIV

Celebrate with free Springfield Punks mint live now!!

‍♂️‍♂️‍♂️
Mint Site: https://t.co/E8DD0JhAY6

Contract: https://t.co/o5J43ndaKb #Simpsons #NFTs #Halloween #FreeMint pic.twitter.com/v1D9ccSj4X
— Rino Russo (@RinaldoRu) November 6, 2023

At the time of publication, the Simpsons Punks collection has witnessed a whopping 1,377 Ether (ETH) — worth $2.6 million at current prices — in trading volume, making it the third most traded collection on OpenSea in the last 24 hours.

Yuga Labs social lead steps down after anti-semitic tweets resurface

Shpend Sahilu, the social lead for NFT company Yuga Labs announced that he would be stepping down after anti-semitic tweets he posted years ago resurfaced on social media.

Sahilu, better known by the pseudonym NGBxShpend on X, explained that he would be leaving his role at the company, due to his past anti-semitic tweets becoming “a distraction” from the Bored Ape Yacht Club.

“I want to apologize to anyone who I may have let down with tweets I made in poor taste,” he wrote in a Nov. 5 post on X.

Hey everyone, tough day today. I am stepping down from my position at Yuga Labs. Some tweets have resurfaced from my past and it’s become a distraction from the Club and what we’re all about. These tweets do not reflect who I am or what I believe in. It has been an amazing…
— ngbshpend.eth (@NGBxShpend) November 5, 2023

One user attached a screenshot of one of the offending tweets from 2016 in the comments section of the original post, showing him making a joke about Hitler.

Yuga Labs, the company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club and Crypto Punks, have been accused of perpetuating anti-semitic stereotypes in their artwork by controversial artists Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen. These accusations, which took the form of a knock-off NFT collection led to a more than year-long legal battle.

However, Yuga Labs recently notched a legal victory against the provocative duo, with the court ordering Ripps and Cahen to pay $1.6 million in damages to Yuga Labs for copyright infringement.

NFT sales show signs of strength after year-long downturn

After a prolonged and continuous decline in NFT sales, the market seems to be finally showing signs of a recovery, with monthly trading volumes growing for the first time in a year, according to a report from crypto data firm DappRadar.

“The year-long downward trend in NFT trading has been broken. Trading volume is up by 32% from $306 to $405 million, returning almost to levels seen in August,” wrote the report.

DappRadar found that NFT trading volume grew by $99 million in October compared to sales in September, bringing overall trading activity back to levels slightly below that of August.

*NFT sales volumes increased by nearly $100 million in October. Source: DappRadar*

Despite the seemingly significant increase month-over-month, it's worth noting that October’s $340 million sum pales in comparison to the $1.98 billion of volume witnessed seven months prior in March.

When it came to trading volume, Ethereum-based NFTs still dominated the market, growing more than 50% in October. Meanwhile other networks such as Polygon, Starkware, and Flow saw their sales volume drop 48%, 42% and 32% respectively.

The report made special note of NFT activity on the Solana (SOL) ecosystem, which — after being plagued by the FTX downfall — showed signs of strength, notching a 15% uptick in overall trading volume.

Other Nifty News:

Attendees of the Yuga Labs’ ApeFest event on Nov. 4 in Hong Kong have reported burns, damaged vision and “extreme pain” in their eyes, which they attribute to the use of improper lighting.

NFT marketplace OpenSea announced on Nov. 3 that it would be laying off 50% of its total staff. Co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer broke the news on X saying the company was launching OpenSea 2.0 with a smaller team.

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Stoner Cats NFTs ‘fan crowdfunding’ not securities: SEC’s Peirce, Uyeda

September 14, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

SEC commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda described the NFT sales as a "common phenomenon" in the world of creators.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charging nonfungible token (NFT) project Stoner Cats sparked feedback from commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda, arguing that the project’s activity constitutes fan crowdfunding, which they believe is common for artists.

On Sept. 13, the SEC charged Stoner Cats 2 LLC, the firm behind the animated series dubbed “Stoner Cats,” with conducting an unregistered crypto-securities offering using NFTs. Stoner Cats 2 LLC agreed to a cease-and-desist order and other imposed measures by the commission.

Making its case, the SEC argued that the NFTs were marketed by the company as having potential for secondary sales and implied that their value would rise. In addition, the SEC pointed out that the company will receive a 2.5% royalty on every secondary sale. The SEC highlighted that the company sold over 10,000 NFTs for $800 each, and the proceeds were used to fund the series. Furthermore, there were at least 10,000 secondary sales, worth over $20 million, according to the SEC.

There has been a lot of talk about cats at the SEC over the past week: https://t.co/VHFt4CVEV0 and https://t.co/pFXmkGxd2r
— Hester Peirce (@HesterPeirce) September 13, 2023

Not everyone within the SEC agrees with the enforcement action. SEC commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda published a dissenting statement, arguing that the activity could be considered fan crowdfunding. Pierce and Uyeda argued that this is "a common phenomenon in the world of artists, creators, and entertainers."

They also noted that instead of the SEC’s approach of bringing actions against NFT projects, they should lay down clear rules. The commissioners wrote:

“Rather than arbitrarily bringing enforcement actions against NFT projects, we ought to lay out some clear guidelines for artists and other creators who want to experiment with NFTs as a way to support their creative efforts and build their fan communities.”

The commissioners also compared the Stoner Cats NFTs to collectibles sold by Star Wars in the 1970s. According to Pierce and Uyeda, toy company Kenner sold early bird certificates that are redeemable for future action figures and membership to the Star Wars fan club. The duo argued that based on the actions against Stoner Cats, the SEC should’ve “parachuted in” to save those buyers back in the 70s.

Apart from the SEC commissioners, members of the crypto community were also unhappy with the SEC’s actions. YouTuber Crypto Tea argued in a post that Stoner Cats raised money to make a show and delivered. The social influencer said that she bought the NFTs for fun and to support the show without expecting any profits.

An artist should always be able to say “buy my art, it will become the most expensive art in the Universe”.

To forbid an artist from making an ostentatious claim about the value of their own work would dull the world.
— toly (@aeyakovenko) September 14, 2023

Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko also expressed his opinion about the topic on X (formerly Twitter). According to Yakovenko, artists should not be forbidden to make claims about the value of their work. Yakovenko believes that doing this would "dull the world."

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