Snoop Dogg, Steve Aoki, Logan Paul, and Beeple Dusted by OFAC-Banned Tornado Cash Transactions

August 9, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Free-to-Mint NFT Collection Goblintown Is Now Worth Over $50 Million

May 29, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Report: Andreessen Horowitz Seeks an Investment in Bored Ape Yacht Club

February 6, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Pop Star Justin Bieber Buys Bored Ape NFT for $1.29 Million, Pays More Than 300% Above Floor

January 30, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Fan Controlled Football raises $40M to expand league with Bored Apes and Gutter Cats

January 14, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Fan Controlled Football raises M to expand league with Bored Apes and Gutter Cats

Animoca Brands

“One of the most powerful things that tokenization does is release the energy of fans into tangible forms of value and meaning, we see this effect in NFTs and also social tokens,” said Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu.

Alternative sports organization Fan Controlled Football (FCF) has raised $40 million in Series A funding from crypto and blockchain gaming firms to support the league’s expansion plans, including four new teams and an NFT project.

The FCF was founded in 2017 by Sohrob Farudi, Patrick Dees, Ray Austin and Grant Cohen and hosted its debut season inside a bubble environment in Atlanta amid the pandemic last year. The FCF features an indoor version of American football in a seven vs seven-player format, and the games are streamed live on Twitch.

The unique feature of the league is that the teams are governed by their fans, who have voting rights on anything ranging from player acquisitions, in-game plays, branding and team selection. For the upcoming season, NFTs will play a key role in the voting process for half of the teams.

The $40 million Series A funding round was led by NFT and crypto firms Animoca Brands and Delphi Digital. The funds will be used to expand the league from four to eight teams for the 2022 season, along with launching NFTs called “The Ballerz Collection.”

All four of the new teams are owned by figures tied to NFT projects with the Bored Apes and Gutter Cats teams being the latest to be announced following the unveiling of the Knights of Degen and Team 80KI (co-owned by DJ and NFT proponent Steve Aoki) in October.

The FCF is rolling out 8,888 Ballerz NFT avatars for each new team which fans can snap up to hodl and obtain voting rights for their team. The NFTs will differ in rarity and value, with the more expensive tokens offering greater benefits such as enhanced voting power, exclusive content and game tickets.

Any existing Bored Ape Yacht Club or Gutter Cat NFT hodlers will also receive a 50% discount on Ballerz NFT purchases if they buy tokens corresponding to those teams. The NFTs are slated to drop late this month, and the public minting cost per token will be 0.1776 Ether (ETH) or roughly $580.

Speaking with Cointelegraph , Animoca Brands chairman and co-founder Yat Siu emphasized that fan tokens can enable fans to directly participate in their favorite sports:

“One of the most powerful things that tokenization does is release the energy of fans into tangible forms of value and meaning, we see this effect in NFTs and also social tokens.”

“Fan Controlled Football is an evolution where the game is in the hands of the fan from the get-go and introducing blockchain technology will give it deeper meaning and purpose for all the fans that are playing FCF,” he added.

In an interview with Forbes on Jan. 12, FCF co-founder Farudi stated that the organization is “experimenting” with its format and will continue to do so to find out what works best for the fans and the league.

“We don’t know exactly what’s going to work and what’s not going to work. But we don’t have a player’s union. We don’t have 30 owners around the table telling us no. We have one agenda. Our agenda is to be successful. We’re going to experiment to the nth degree to figure out what works and what fans love,” he said.

Nifty News: Mike Tyson loves Solana, Aoki stops show to flaunt NFT, Apple and the ‘AR Verse’

January 14, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Apple

Apple is reportedly looking at AR over the Metaverse and Artemis has launched a mobile-based social media NFT platform.

Mike Tyson is living the $DREAM

Boxing icon Mike Tyson has stepped into the ring this week, after he shared his enthusiasm for Solana and unveiled a partnership with mental health-focused crypto project TheDreamChain ($DREAM).

In the first round, Tyson — who previously launched an NFT project on Ethereum via OpenSea last year — tweeted on Jan. 13 that he was a born-again Solana (SOL) proponent while sharing a screenshot of a new NFT he'd snapped up from the Catalina Whale Mixer project.

The Solana-based Catalina Whale Mixer NFTs currently have a floor price of 15 SOL ($2,200), and Tyson’s NFT depicts a whale version of himself wearing a world championship belt along with his famous face tattoo.

All in on Solana… Just copped a Catalina Whale... pow pow! pic.twitter.com/97voS15B8y
— Mike Tyson (@MikeTyson) January 12, 2022

In round two later that day, the 55-year-old tweeted about either what appears to be a partnership or paid celebrity promotion with TheDreamChain. The token’s unusual selling point is that it's just as difficult and limited to trade as a stock.

“It’s the first of its kind that can only be traded during US stock market hours. Could revolutionize the space and help the mental health of the crypto community.”

According to TheDreamChain’s website, its token $DREAM is only available for trade between the standard stock exchange hours of 9:30am to 4:pm, with the idea being that 24/7 trading is causing a mental health crisis amongst crypto traders.

The project states that it will divert 0.5% of all transaction fees to its own foundation, which will donate funds to mental health charities or use the capital to sign partnerships with non-profit organizations.

Apple looking at AR, not the Metaverse

Amid a landrush from tech giants toward the Metaverse, Apple won’t be rushing in with its latest gadget according to Bloomberg’s Apple tech reporter Mark Gurman.

Gurman shared snippets from the latest Q&A section of his paid consumer tech newsletter via Twitter on Jan. 10 regarding Apple’s upcoming virtual reality headset. He noted that:

“Here’s one word I’d be shocked to hear on stage when Apple announced its headset: Metaverse.”

“I’ve been told pretty directly that the idea of a completely virtual world where users can escape to — like the can in Meta Platfroms/Facebook’s vision of the future — is off-limits from Apple,” he added.

According to Gurman’s understanding, current and former Apple execs such as Jony Ive have always envisioned the firm’s VR headset to be a device used in short “bursts” for gaming, content consumption and communication and not as part of a full-blown Metaverse experience.

Instead, Apple is said to be eyeing the augmented reality space (AR) in which the user's physical experience is enhanced with digital or virtual features via devices such as eye lenses, as they can be worn all day and don’t distract from the immediate environment.

Lots of interest in my take on “Apple Reality” and the Metaverse https://t.co/ZmacFcOC9k pic.twitter.com/C4SNbFbULp
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) January 9, 2022

Artemis launches mobile-focused NFT social media platform

Hong Kong-based blockchain firm Artemis Market launched a new social media and NFT trading platform yesterday.

According to a Jan. 13 announcement, the Solana-based platform has initially launched a desktop and mobile web version with limited functionality, and will be rolling out a mobile app and full social features in the near future.

Artemis is hoping to attract new users with 0% transaction fees on trading until the end of February.

We know all of you have been waiting for this day…
And we are finally LAUNCHING NOWhttps://t.co/OBLamZSR18

What's more? ✨0% TRANSACTION FEE✨until end of Feb!
Join us and start trading on Artemis NOW!#Solana #NFT #NFTlaunch #NFTmarketplace #SocialFi #ListAndEarn #0TxnFee
— Artemis Market (@Artemis_Market) January 13, 2022

The firm stated that it was focused on building a one stop shop mobile platform to provide a user-friendly platform that can be accessed on the go, as it highlighted that the NFT sector currently lacks a “compelling user experience” despite its booming popularity.

"We want our users to be able to conduct their whole NFT experience all in one app. From discovering and hanging out with creators, to collecting NFTs, to interacting, sharing and commenting with friends."

Steve Aoki stops live show to flaunt NFT acquisition

Millionaire DJ Steve Aoki abruptly stopped one of his live music events this week to flaunt a freshly acquired NFT that many of his fans could only dream to afford.

Aoki tweeted a video on Jan. 12 sharing his glee at snapping an NFT from the Doodles collection accompanied by a caption that read:

“Had to stop my show to celebrate my excitement on my doodle! Nfts make me feel like a kid again.”

The Doodles project consists of 10,000 NFT avatars featuring art by popular Canadian artist Burnt Toast. The NFTs currently have a floor price of 11.75 Ether (ETH) worth roughly $38,300 at the time of writing.

Aoki is a major NFT proponent with his fingers in multiple honey pots, and his latest behavior suggests early signs of a crippling NFT addiction.

Other Nifty News

A group of editors on Wikipedia voted against classifying NFTs as a form of art on Jan. 12, opting to exclude NFT art sales from the list of top art sales of living artists. They have agreed to re-open discussions at a later date however.

U.S.-based music streaming platform LÜM is slated to relaunch as an NFT platform later this quarter. It is shifting its focus to musician-focused fan NFTs that enable users to support the artist of their choosing.

Record Producer Steve Aoki and Spawn Creator Todd McFarlane to Launch Solana-Powered NFT Market

November 10, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Paris Hilton and Pranksy collections featured by Sotheby’s new NFT platform

October 15, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Art

The first auction on Sotheby’s Metaverse will go live on Oct. 18, with the auction featuring prominent collections such as Bored Ape Yacht Club, MoonCats and CryptoKitties.

Prestigious auction house Sotheby’s has launched a new Metaverse themed NFT platform.

The platform is dubbed “Sotheby’s Metaverse” and was announced alongside the “Natively Digital 1.2: The Collectors” (ND1.2) auction that will run between Oct. 18 and Oct. 26. The auction consists of 53 lots of tokenized art from the vaults of 19 curators.

Welcome to Sotheby's Metaverse. https://t.co/hZvYIkO3xx pic.twitter.com/9Wl9fUwibe
— Sotheby's Metaverse (@Sothebysverse) October 14, 2021

The list of curators includes some top collectors in the NFT space such as PleasrDAO, Pranksy and 888 along with crypto-friendly stars such as DJ Steve Aoki and self-described “Boss-Babe” Paris Hilton.

“These collectors are people with deep histories and relationships in the digital art and media space, many of whom have been collecting long before NFTs became a common term and have helped build the ecosystem from the ground up,” the exhibition notes state.

*Paris Hilton's curation: Sotheby's Metaverse*

The platform is accepting payments in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and USD Coin (USDC), along with credit card payments and wire transfers. Sotheby’s Metaverse is powered by Mojito, an NFT studio and blockchain tech platform that develops and operates NFT marketplaces for brands and IP holders.

The ND1.2 collection features NFTs prominent projects such as Yuga Labs (Bored Ape Yacht Club), Dapper Labs (CryptoKitties), Art Blocks (Chromie Squiggle) and Ponderware (MoonCats).

Sotheby’s was founded in London during the mid-1700s, and has since grown into a multinational giant that has expanded into 80 locations across 40 countries. The firm hosted its first NFT auction in April, partnering with the digital artist known as “Pak” to sell $16.8 million worth of tokenized art.

In June the auction house sold CryptoPunk #7523 —also known as “COVID Alien” — for a record $11.8 million, and last month it hosted an auction with Yuga Labs for a collection of 101 Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs that generated $24 million.

Sotheby’s is no stranger to the early iterat metaverse either. In June the firm opened a virtual gallery in Decentraland which depicted the auction house's New Bond Street Gallery in London.

The structure was built in Decentraland’s Voltaire Art District, and featured Sotheby’s London Commissionaire, Hans Lomulder who greeted guests at the door, with the gallery displaying the COVID Alien CryptoPunk and Robert Alice’s intelligent NFT (iNFT).

The virtual metaverse has been grabbing the headlines of late, due in part to Facebook’s recent push to establish itself in the sector. Cointelegraph reported on Sept. 28 that Facebook is allocating $50 million to a two-year fund to back the firm’s target of building its own metaverse.

“The metaverse won’t be built overnight by a single company. We’ll collaborate with policymakers, experts and industry partners to bring this to life,” Facebook said as part of its funding announcement.

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.

Steve Aoki