Rarible

NFT Marketplace Opensea Raises $100 Million — Firm Becomes a Blockchain Unicorn

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NFT Marketplace Backed by Mark Cuban Raises $13 Million in Series A

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NFT Marketplace Rarible Raises Over $14 Million, Plans to Launch on Flow Blockchain

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NFT marketplace Rarible closes $14M fundraising round led by CoinFund

June 23, 2021 Coin Telegraph

NFT marketplace Rarible closes M fundraising round led by CoinFund

Business

Rarible said it will use the funds to hire new team members, and announced the launch of a marketplace on the Flow blockchain.

Major venture capital firms responsible for crypto investments have led the latest $14.2 million fundraising round for Rarible, the online marketplace behind many nonfungible token listings.

In a Wednesday announcement, Rarible said crypto investment group Coinfund and Venrock — the venture capital arm of the Rockefeller family — had led a $14.2 million Series A fundraising round for the nonfungible token, or NFT, platform. Rarible said it will use the funds to hire new team members. Other participants in the fundraising round include 01 Advisors.

In addition, Rarible said it would be launching an NFT marketplace on the Flow blockchain, with users able to mint NFTs while listing them on Rarible. The platform announced it had partnered with artists and creators including Maxim, Ghostface, Johnny Nunez, and Xeo Chu to release NFTs.

“Flow has a fantastic track record of bringing NFTs mainstream by creating native experiences for non-crypto audiences,” said Rarible co-founder Alexander Salnikov. “As a blockchain, Flow enables easier access and lowers the entry barrier for consumers and brands via gasless minting, low-cost transactions, and scalability.”

CoinFund originally partnered with Venrock to support innovation in crypto and blockchain firms in 2018 during the initial coin offering boom. The New York-based crypto investment firm also made an undisclosed investment into Rarible in September.

Rarible said at that time that the NFT sector would likely see a 50% growth in capitalization. The NFT market was worth $338 million in 2020. However, Cointelegraph reported last month that NFT trading volume could reach $175 million by October 2021, with an industry market capitalization of $470 million.

Nifty News: Doge NFTs much wow, Paris Hilton is an NFT advisor, NFT game raises $3M

June 10, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Nifty News: Doge NFTs much wow, Paris Hilton is an NFT advisor, NFT game raises M

Billy Markus

The founder of Doge dropped a three-tiered series of NFTs and Paris Hilton becomes an NFT advisor.

Billy Markus, the co-founder and engineer of Dogecoin (DOGE), who also sold off his DOGE stash for the equivalent of a used Honda Civic in 2015, has entered the nonfungible token (NFT) market.

On June 9, Markus unveiled the drop of Doge-based NFTs dubbed “Capped Dogecoin” which he described as “Much cap, very deflation, many tokenomics. Many Available.”

Capped Dogecoin - Much cap, very deflation, many tokenomics. Many available!

- Tier 1 is available on Rariable, 420 issued: https://t.co/00wSCeciCB
- Tier 2 is also on Rariable, 3 issued (already sold out)
- Tier 3 is up for auction on @withFND, only 1: https://t.co/1LiijfSvCy pic.twitter.com/JprzxPoaeO
— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) June 8, 2021

The NFTs are split into three tiers, and all depict a spinning golden coin, with a picture of the iconic Shiba Inu in a Dogecoin baseball cap — with the upper two-tiered NFTs having more detail such as a colored cap, an outer space background or a shiner polish to the coin.

Tier-one is an open edition of 420 copies and can be purchased on Rarible for 0.081 wrapped Ether (wETH) worth $208.52 at current prices.

Tier-two is already sold out on Rarible, and had three copies which sold for 0.8 Ether (ETH) each worth around $2,063.

The third tier consisted of a one-of-one which sold for 1.5 ETH worth $3,866 on Foundation earlier today, with Foundation user “swaggmire” purchasing the rights to the NFT.

Interestingly, “swaggmire” went on to re-list the NFT for 420.69 ETH worth around $1 million, however that appeared to be in jest, as they promptly changing the price to 6 ETH worth roughly $15,500.

Paris Hilton becomes an NFT advisor

While other celebrities have since left the NFT space following a cooldown of prices in the market, billionaire and self-described “boss girl” Paris Hilton is doubling down.

Paris crypto angel pic.twitter.com/l4EPuY8S4J
— BitIcon (@BitIcon2) June 9, 2021

According to a June 8 Medium blog post from Origin — Paris Hilton has joined the team as an investor and an advisor, with the firm seeking her out to provide expertise on how to cater to the upper echelons of society.

World-renowned business & media icon @ParisHilton is joining Origin as an advisor & $OGN investor.

She will be supporting our mission of making NFTs mainstream, advising on delivering value to top celebrities & more.

Welcome to Team Origin, Paris! https://t.co/U62lh3fwV1
— Origin Protocol (@OriginProtocol) June 8, 2021

“As an investor and advisor, Paris will provide strategic advice on how to most effectively deliver value with NFTs for top-tier creators like celebrities, influencers, and brands.” the blog post read.

Origin is an Ethereum-based protocol that helps buyers and sellers transact in a decentralized environment.

According to the firm’s website, the project wants to bring “NFTs and DeFi to the masses” by enabling users to host NFT sales on their own domains, and also by offering yielding returns along with its governance token, and OUSD stablecoin.

Guild of Guardians

A new mobile-based NFT game called Guild of Guardians has completed the first wave of its "Founder’s NFT sale," raising $3 million in sales, according to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph.

The sale was for a collection of usable and “playable” NFTs that will be introduced into the game, with prices ranging from $200 to $100,000.

Philippines-based crypto gaming collective Yield Guide Games purchased one of the 10 “mythic guild” NFT worth $100,000. The mythic guild NFT allows up to 50 players to enter the game and provides the guild owner a 10% cut of earnings from guild crafting in the game.

“The community response has been incredible. Over 50% of all sales came via referrals — indicating that the community was sharing with each other, and there is a real 'share-to-earn' aspect in place," said Derek Lau, Game lead for Guild of Guardians.

The game follows the play to earn model, however, Lau also expressed the importance of developing a game that is fun to play and not just about the monetary rewards:

“Rather than 'play-to-earn,' we want to instill the idea of 'play-and-earn' — ensuring that players are not just playing to make money alone, but playing for fun and great gameplay as well," Lau said

Defi Economy Is Recovering Faster Than Most Crypto Assets After Market Rout

June 3, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Dropping Today: Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s Legacy NFT Collection Available Now on Rarible

May 26, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Nifty News: Earn NFTs watching TV, DAO pays $1M for Aoki and 3LAU track … and more

May 19, 2021 Coin Telegraph

3LAU

Jenny DAO paid Aoki and 3LAU $1 million to create an NFT, as comedy icon Steve Harvey drops NFTs for charity.

Blockchain-based streaming service Sator has developed a decentralized app that will enable users to earn NFTs, tokens and “other rewards” by watching TV and playing games.

While details are sparse on the exact amount of rewards users can receive, according to the website, NFTs awarded will be directly tied to amount of shows watched, and time spent engaging with puzzles and TV trivia on the app.

Sator CEO Isla Perfito said the firm has created: “An easy and powerful solution for TV producers to turnkey deliver a unique NFT experience of their shows while viewers are tuned in.”

He added that, “NFTs will bring lots of activity to the platform, a fantastic jumping off point for a user looking to dive in to blockchain technology.”

While it hasn’t been revealed what TV show rights the app is planning to acquire, the company did announced that it recently closed a $2 million seed round which included investment from Faculty Capital, Genesis Block Ventures, Digital Strategies and PetRock Capital.

Jenny from the blockchain

The Jenny DAO has paid $1 million for a one off NFT track produced by DJ’s Steve Aoki and 3LAU.

FIRST NFT FOR #JENNY DAO!

We got an unreleased song called "Jenny", 1/1 by @steveaoki and @3LAU.

Visual art by @peiterhergert ✨

So excited to be part of Aoki and 3LAU's first ever collab. #Jenny making history! https://t.co/dbaNHdfHov
— Jenny Metaverse DAO (@JennyMetaverse) May 16, 2021

The one-of-one NFT is a tokenized song named “Jenny” and was commissioned to celebrate the recent launch of the Jenny Metaverse DAO, or Decentralized Autonomous Organization, on Unicly. The NFT contains an unreleased track by Aoki and 3LAU, and is accompanied by visual art from Pieter Hergert.

The NFT was minted on OpenSea by 3LAU, also known as Justin Blau, and then transferred to vault controlled by a smart contract on the Unicly Protocol which enables users to combine, fractionalize and trade their NFT collections.

DAOs are crazy.@steveaoki and @3LAU launching an unreleased song via the @JennyMetaverse DAO

At what stage do DAOs make up the majority of economic activity in the metaverse? https://t.co/K8ZOZMbuHw
— Andrew Steinwold (@AndrewSteinwold) May 17, 2021

The metaverse DAO recently pulled together $7 million to fund NFT acquisition for shared ownership between its governance token holders — with the Aoki and 3LAU NFT being the first choice for its collection after the community voted for it earlier this month.

The organization paif Aoki and 3LAU $499,000 each to produce the track, with the transactions conducted outside of OpenSea to avoid fees.

The NFT is likely to be locked up for some time. According to Jenny, the NFTs stored in the Unicly vault can “only be released if consenting Jenny Token holders reach a certain threshold and instruct the smart contract to unlock the vault.”

Comedian Steve Harvey’s NFTs are no joke

While many celebrities have flocked to NFTs in hope of making a quick buck, comedian Steve Havery appears to have entered the game for more selfless-purposes.

I’m always adapting, learning, and growing. Classic Steve Harvey NFT Dropping TODAY, Friday 5/14 at 12pm est on @rariblecom. I’m donating all proceeds to @thesmhf. Link for more info: https://t.co/GgbDB9JNeR pic.twitter.com/v96MJzDBWQ
— Steve Harvey (@IAmSteveHarvey) May 14, 2021

The comedian dropped a series of NFTs via Rarible on May 14 to raise funds for his non-profit “Steve and Marjorie Harvey Foundation” that provides outreach services for the disadvantaged youth.

The series includes an open edition with 112 minted tokens depicting a GIF from Harvey’s stand up comedy, and a limited edition of three minted tokens depicting an autograph portrait, and a one-of-one edition. The one-of-one is a tokenized GIF that depicts Harvey’s confused reaction to hearing about NFTs for the first time on his TV, and is on auction until May 21.

Bidding has been slow however, the auction started three days ago and the current highest bid is 2.2 Wrapped ETH, or WETH, worth around $6,770.

WAX announces more partnerships for NFT drops

Decentralized entertainment network WAX has announced more partnerships with entertainment brands to release licensed NFTs.

The new partnerships include cult-favorite anime franchise Robotech from Funimation and Harmony Gold, the movie Five Nights at Freddy's from ScottGames, the Bears vs Babies card game from Exploding Kittens and The Princess Bride movie from Act III.

The new partnerships add to an already impressive list of partners such as Major League Baseball, Capcom, Atari, Reebok and DeadMau5.

In June this year, the cult-favorite collectibles creator Funko Pops partnered up with WAX to drop packs tokenized Funk Pop collectibles.

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.

Paris Hilton becomes an NFT advisor

Guild of Guardians

Jenny from the blockchain

Comedian Steve Harvey’s NFTs are no joke

WAX announces more partnerships for NFT drops

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