American ticketing company Ticketmaster announced that it will enhance the fan event experience through digital collectable NFTs, and will mint ticket NFTs for selected events on Dapper Labs’ Flow blockchain, providing users with a new experience.
Ticketmaster will issue NFTs for event organizers to provide fans with live events before, during and after the event.
At the same time, fans can share or activate online through digital souvenirs to receive unique loyalty rewards, VIP participation opportunities and more.
Ticketmaster previously partnered with Flow to distribute more than 70,000 one-to-one virtual commemorative ticket NFTs as souvenirs at Super Bowl LVI, which are marked with each user’s unique seating location.
Flow is a blockchain platform that originally was designed for gaming purposes, but has expanded since its launch in 2020. The flow blockchain enables fast, low-cost transactions and supports smart contracts. It powers blockchain applications including NBA Top Shot, a non-fungible token (NFT) offering. Ticketmaster EVP Brendan Lynch said
“Event organizers who choose to offer fans an NFT with their ticket have a real opportunity to make this new technology relevant and relatable at scale. This is why we are partnering with Flow because their blockchain is custom-built for fan engagement and frictionless consumer experiences.”
According to Dapper, in a pilot program, Ticketmaster minted more than 5 million Flow NFTs on the Flow blockchain in six months, including Apollo Theater, Gavin de Grau, Black Crow and Sebastian Maniscalco.
Mickey Maher, Senior Vice President of Partnerships at Dapper Labs, emphasized that the partnership with Ticketmaster will enable millions of fans of live events to immortalize, share and enhance their IRL experiences through digital collectables.
The general outlook of the digital currency ecosystem is one of positivity, which is evident by the combined crypto market cap pegged at $1.1 trillion, up 0.22% over the weekend.
Despite the recorded weekend dip, many altcoins were still in the green compared to the weeklong performances.
With varying fundamentals driving their inherent growth, Flow (FLOW), Quant (QNT), and Decred (DCR) are the three altcoins leading the next wave of bullish momentum in the crypto ecosystem.
Flow (FLOW)
Flow is one of the most important protocols designed as a fast, decentralized, and developer-friendly blockchain. It is designed as the foundation for a new generation of games, apps, and the digital assets that power them.
The relevance of the protocol, designed by Dapper Labs, is becoming more evident by the day, with Meta Platforms announcing that its Instagram users who own Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) on Flow can now showcase them on the platform alongside Ethereum and Polygon.
The news fueled the massive uplift of FLOW since it came out last week, and in the week-to-date period, FLOW was up 32.59% to $2.64. While a correction might be natural for FLOW, the digital currency has unique potential for more bullish growth in the near to long term.
Quant (QNT)
Quant was launched to connect blockchains and networks globally without reducing the efficiency and interoperability of the network. Since it launched in June 2018, its ecosystem has grown remarkably, and its users have continued to fuel a rally in the protocol’s token, QNT.
QNT is amongst the major coins that have led to the market’s growth this past week and has surged by 23.80% to $127.06. Besides being among the best performers, it is also a key token to watch in the short term.
Decred (DCR)
Decred is branded as an innovative project because it bets on blockchain technology’s decentralized nature to prevent monopoly over voting status in the project itself. The token is best described as ‘Money Evolved’, and many have come to appreciate its offering since its inception. The DCR coin is up 44.71% to $40.38, and despite its recent slip, Decred is a formidable token that must be on every trader’s watchlist in the near term.
It is a new week with new opportunities for cryptocurrency investors across the board.
The crypto ecosystem recorded a very massive plunge over the weekend after Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger incited another bout of sell-offs after both re-emphasized how worthless Bitcoin (BTC) is at the Berkshire Hathaway Annual General Meeting held on Saturday.
As expected, the Bitcoin plunge brought down other altcoins, most of whom are just recovering at the time of writing. As the new week unfolds, here are three of the top altcoins to watch out for.
Binance Coin (BNB)
Binance Coin remains the utility digital asset of the Binance ecosystem and currently sits as the fourth largest digital asset by market capitalization. BNB took a big hit over the weekend, dropping as low as $377.29, the lowest in a month.
Despite these price plunges, the inherent value of the BNB coin has never been in doubt and with the growing utility and value constantly being churned out by the Binance exchange and the BNB Chain, the digital coin is bound to see more demands that will help reroute the direction of the growth of the coin in the coming week. BNB has started recovering at the time of writing and is changing hands at $388.55, up 0.28% in the past 24 hours.
ApeCoin (APE)
ApeCoin saw a meteoric rise in its popularity and value since it was airdropped to BAYC holders back in March. At a price of $16.38, APE is down 21.57% in the past 24 hours, a bearish trend that was necessary following a correction period following the completion of the sales of the Otherdeeds NFT from Yuga Labs. This price plunge can be considered to be temporary as Yuga Labs has promised a series of values to the community of its NFT holders in the near term. This value addition can begin manifesting in an upward shoot-up as early as this week.
Flow (FLOW)
Flow has been a silent performer since the beginning of the year and though its longer-term outlook shows a massive dip from its all-time high price of $46.16, recent partnerships and ecosystem growth tactics show potential in the long term. The coin is trading at $4.69, up 1.98% in the past 24 hours.
Bitcoin’s (BTC) relief rally rose above $38,500 on Jan. 29, but the bulls are struggling to sustain the higher levels. For the past few days, Bitcoin’s sentiment has closely followed the U.S. equity markets. Hence, analysts warned traders to be careful and not to read much into any possible weekend rallies when traditional markets are closed because it could be a trap.
However, analysts at trading suite Decentrader said in a recent report that a “near-term relief bounce” is possible. The report also highlighted that “meaningful buyers” were stepping in and that could result in “a potential change in the higher time frame trend from bearish to bullish.”
Crypto market data daily view. Source:Coin360
The recent downturn in Bitcoin seems to have turned the JPMorgan analysts bearish as they believe the increased volatility could “hinder further institutional adoption.” In a note, the strategists have reduced their long-term theoretical Bitcoin price target from $150,000 to $38,000.
If Bitcoin extends its recovery, select altcoins could attract buying from the aggressive bulls. Let’s study the charts of the top-5 cryptocurrencies that could extend the recovery in the short term.
BTC/USDT
Bitcoin’s relief rally has reached the stiff resistance zone between $37,332.70 and $39,600. The 20-day exponential moving average ($39,475) is also present in this zone making this important for the bears to defend.
BTC/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
The downsloping 20-day EMA and the relative strength index (RSI) in the negative zone indicate advantage to bears.
If the sellers pull the price back below $37,332.70, the BTC/USDT pair could gradually drop to $35,507.01 and later retest the Jan. 24 intraday low at $32,917.17. A break and close below this support could clear the path for a possible drop to $30,000.
Alternatively, if the price turns up from the current level and breaks above $39,600, it will suggest a possible change in the short-term trend. The pair could then rally to $43,505 and later retest the 200-day simple moving average ($48,833).
BTC/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
The 4-hour chart shows that the 20-EMA has started to turn up gradually and the RSI has risen into the positive zone. This indicates that bulls are trying to make a comeback. If buyers drive the price above $39,600, the pair could reach the 200-SMA, which may act as a resistance.
On the other hand, if the price turns down from the current level and slips below $37,312.70, it will indicate that bears have not yet given up. The sellers will then try to pull the price to $35,507.01, which is an important support for the bulls to defend.
If the price rebounds off this level, it will suggest that traders are buying on dips. That may increase the possibility of a break above $39,600.
LINK/USDT
Chainlink (LINK) has been range-bound between $15 and $36 for the past several months. Several attempts to escape the range have failed, indicating that bulls are buying at the support and bears are selling at the resistance.
LINK/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
The bears pulled the price below $15 on several occasions in the past few days but they could not sustain the lower levels. This may have attracted buying from aggressive traders who are attempting to push the price above the 20-day EMA ($18.91).
If they succeed, the LINK/USDT pair could rise to the 200-day SMA ($24.75). Contrary to this assumption, if the price turns down from the 20-day EMA, the bears will again try to pull the pair below $15 and start a new downtrend.
LINK/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
The 4-hour chart shows that bulls have pushed the price above the $16.88 overhead resistance. The 20-EMA is turning up and the RSI is in the positive territory, indicating that bulls have a slight edge.
If buyers sustain the price above $16.88, the pair could start an up-move to $20 and then to $23. Conversely, if the price turns down and plummets below $16.88, it will indicate that bears continue to sell on rallies. The pair could then drop to $14.
HNT/USDT
Helium (HNT) plunged below the 200-day SMA ($26.67) on Jan. 21, but the bears could not sustain the lower levels. The bulls aggressively purchased the dip to $20 and pushed the price back above the 200-day SMA on Jan. 26.
HNT/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
The recovery hit a wall at the 20-day EMA ($28.84) and turned down but the bulls did not allow the price to dip below the 200-day SMA. The price has been trading between the moving averages for the past three days.
This tight-range trading is unlikely to continue for long. If bulls drive and sustain the price above the 20-day EMA, the HNT/USDT pair could rally to $36 and then to the downtrend line.
This positive view will invalidate if the price turns down and plummets below the 200-day SMA. That may pull the pair down to $20.
HNT/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
The price broke out of the downtrend line, indicating that the bears may be losing their grip. The bears tried to sink the price back below the 20-EMA but the bulls are attempting to defend the support.
The up-move may pick up momentum after bulls drive the price above $31 as that could signal a 1-2-3 bottom. There is a minor resistance at the 200-SMA but once that is cleared, the pair could start its march toward $40. Conversely, if the price turns down and plummets below $26, the pair could drop to $24.
Related:Bitcoin miners believe global hash rate to grow ‘aggressively’
FLOW/USDT
Flow (FLOW) has been in a strong downtrend for the past few months. The bears pulled the price below the strong support at $6 on Jan. 22 but have not been able to build upon their advantage. This indicates accumulation at lower levels.
FLOW/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
The bulls have pushed the price back above the breakdown level and the 20-day EMA ($6.41) today. If they sustain the price above the resistance level, it will signal a possible change in trend.
The 20-day EMA is flattening out and the RSI has recovered into the positive territory, indicating that bulls are on a comeback.
This positive view will invalidate if the price turns down from the current level and plummets below the $6 support. Such a move will indicate that bears continue to sell aggressively at higher levels.
FLOW/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
The 4-hour chart shows the price is facing resistance at the 200-SMA. This is a critical level to watch out for because the previous recovery had faltered at this resistance. If the price turns down from the current level, the FLOW/USDT pair could drop to the 20-EMA.
If the price rebounds off this level with strength, it will indicate that bulls are buying on dips. The buyers will then make one more attempt to push the pair above the 200-SMA. If they manage to do that, the pair could rally to the overhead resistance zone at $9.27 to $9.70.
ONE/USDT
Harmony (ONE) is trading inside a large range between $0.16 and $0.36. The bears recently tried to sink the price below the range but the bulls firmly held their ground.
ONE/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView
The price has rebounded off the support and the bulls will now try to push the ONE/USDT pair above the 200-day SMA ($0.19). If they succeed, the pair could rise to the 20-day EMA ($0.23) where the bears may again mount a stiff resistance.
A break and close above the 20-day EMA could clear the path for a possible rally to $0.28. Conversely, if the price turns down from the current level, the bears will attempt to pull the pair below $0.16. If they can pull it off, it will signal the possible start of a new downtrend.
ONE/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
The 4-hour chart shows the formation of a symmetrical triangle pattern. The 20-EMA has flattened out and the RSI is just below the midpoint indicating a balance between supply and demand.
This indecision could tilt in favor of the bulls if the price rises and sustains above the triangle. That could suggest a possible trend reversal and the pair may rise to $0.22 and later to $0.26.
This positive view will invalidate if the price turns down and plummets below the support line. Such a move will indicate that the triangle acted as a continuation pattern.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Dapper Labs and Ultimate Fighting Championship will launch the UFC Strike NFT collectibles platform on January 23.
Meanwhile, the NFL All Day platform is still set to launch publicly by the end of the current NFL season.
After finding success withNBA Top Shotand inking subsequent deals with theNFLandLaLiga, Dapper Labs announced today that it will launch an NFT platform for the popular mixed martial arts organization Ultimate Fighting Championship later this week.
UFC Strike will debut on Sunday, January 23, just after Saturday’s UFC 270 pay-per-view live event. Like Top Shot, UFC Strike’s digital collectibles will be minted on Dapper’s ownFlowblockchain and will revolve around video footage from previous events. However, unlike Top Shot, the UFC collectible moments will feature the original audio to match the video clip.
Additionally, all of the packs—which feature a random selection of moments—will be sold at the same price, rather than at varying tier levels (as with NBA Top Shot). The first pack will feature NFT moments from fighters such as Francis Ngannou, Amanda Nunes, Kamaru Usman, Rose Namajunas, Derrick Lewis, and Justin Gaethje.
Interestingly, Dapper’s deal with the UFC predates the launch of NBA Top Shot. The tie-up wasannounced back in February 2020, when the NFT market was still small and niche—well before it expanded to some$23 billion worth of trading volumein 2021, per data from DappRadar.
Caty Tedman, Dapper Labs head of partnerships, toldDecryptthat Dapper wanted to launch NBA Top Shot first and learn from the experience—which includedmajor scaling challengesearly last year—before rolling out the UFC collectibles product.
A look at UFC Strike’s packs of NFT moments. Image: Dapper Labs
“We’ve gotten to the point where we feel ready to [launch],” she said. “We’re really excited about giving UFC fans a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and the utility that comes along with this kind of product. As the industry is growing and as we’re growing, we’re finally ready to launch this.”
Tedman said that the UFC Strike platform will get a big push as part of this weekend’s pay-per-view event, with participation from UFC President Dana White and fighters at the event.
Given that the UFC’s own schedule largely relies around pay-per-view fights that take place every few weeks or so, UFC Strike will time its drops around those headline events. The platform will initially focus on fights from the last year, but will eventually highlight top moments from older UFC fights as well. The promotion’s first fight dates back to 1993.
Despite the nearly two-year span between the original announcement and this week’s rollout, Tedman said that the UFC—which also has a crypto fan token via the Socios.com platform—has been eager to make a big splash in the NFT space.
“Every organization has a different personality to them, and the UFC’s outlook is really to test with us and try new things with us,” she said. “It’s great to have a partner who, when you’re talking about how to launch a product, it’s not like: ‘Well, let’s do it small and see how it goes.’ It’s like: ‘Let’s do it as big as possible. Let’s do it UFC-sized.’”
UFC Strike will launch directly to the public and will not have a closed beta period, unlike Top Shot and the upcoming NFL All Day platform. Tedman said that Dapper is considering live activations at future UFC events, as it has done with the NBA, and that it is also looking into additional utility for UFC NFTs—such as potential community or gaming aspects.
Top Shot in 2022
Today’s UFC news comes following yesterday’s launch of NBA Top Shot’s first major advertising campaign, which features Kevin Durant, the Brooklyn Nets star and two-time NBA champion.
Durant and his Boardroom media organization signed a partnership with Dapper Labsin Octoberto give him “a starring role across NBA Top Shot,” the company said at the time. Durant, who was anearly investor in Coinbaseand has also invested in other crypto startups, knows the Top Shot product well, according to Tedman.
“He’s an elite athlete. He’s an elite human. He’s a tech investor,” she said. “He’s been with us for a long time. He’s been interested in the crypto community for a long time, so he just checks every box there. He also has swagger, right? There’s nothing about him that would not be awesome to do this kind of campaign.”
For 2022, the NBA Top Shot team is “extremely focused on growing participation in the product and growing accessibility,” said Tedman. Following the early 2021 surge in demand and Dapper’s time spent working on platform stability and customer support, the company believes that Top Shot still has significant growth potential ahead.
“We’re still in such early days of this industry,” she said. “There’s no such thing as ‘tried and true.’ We’re going to try a lot of stuff, but we’re going to try a lot of stuff to ensure that current collectors maintain value—so they don’t feel like we’re creating an experience where they don’t have value in it anymore.”
And NFL All Day, which Dapper said wouldlaunch by the end of the current NFL season, is still on track to do so—Super Bowl LVI takes place on February 13, for reference. The NFT platform is currentlyin closed beta testing, and given the relative recency ofDapper’s deal with the NFL, Tedman said that they’re focusing on polish before the public launch.
“In the same vein that every organization has a different personality and every partnership has a different cadence to it,” she said, “we’re much newer to the NFL. And so we’re taking our time with that one.”
U.S.-based music blockchain NFT platform LÜM has announced 25 partnerships with world-renowned musicians to launch the “Access Pass” NFT.
These musicians can build their own communities and launch their own access passes on this platform for crowdfunding projects such as releasing new albums.
Founded in: 2018, LÜM will introduce blockchain technology and NFTs to an entire generation of artists and fans.
For which specific 25 artists remain unknown. Still, the LÜM platform aims to cooperate with 100 top musicians in 2022, and the longer-term goal will be to collaborate with tens of thousands of artists to create a platform for fans and musicians—a revolutionary new way to combine music and blockchain.
“When designing our First Fan Access Passes, every detail was taken into account. We wanted to create something that felt exclusive, collectible, but looked & felt functional. Something fans will cherish but could expect to use IRL and in the future music metaverse. “
According to LÜM, it does not require artists to sign any rights or intellectual property rights to intermediaries.
LÜM CEO and founder Max Fergus chose to launch this NFT project on Dapper Labs’ Flow blockchain thanks to the many successful and user-friendly NFT projects on the Flow blockchain, such as the popular project NBA Top Shot.
The decentralized Flow framework will provide a platform for NFT-powered games and apps, and has already formed development partnerships with big names such as Warner Music Group, Ubisoft, and UFC.
Max Fergus says that：
“For us, we really wanted to model ourselves off NBA Top Shot. A community that was building collective value by bringing players underneath an individual umbrella.”
LÜM has raised a total of $4.4M in funding over 3 rounds from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and Alumni Ventures
Many pop musicians have begun to dabble in the NFT market, and LÜM will collaborate with the popular R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo in 2020.
Furthermore, on August 27, 2021, Blockchain.News reported, American DJ and electronic dance music producer Justin Blau, also known as 3LAU, established the blockchain music investment company Royal, supported by a $16 million seed round led by cryptocurrency investment company Paradigm and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.
NFT data platform CryptoSlam has raised a $9 million seed round.
Led by Animoca Brands, the round included participation from Mark Cuban, Polygon, and more.
CryptoSlam, a data and analytics platform focused on the burgeoningNFTindustry, announced today that it has raised a $9 million seed round led by Animoca Brands, with major backers like Mark Cuban, Sound Ventures, andPolygonparticipating as well.
Cuban was previously announced as a pre-seed investor in CryptoSlamin April 2021. Ryan Wasinger, CryptoSlam’s chief revenue officer, confirmed toDecryptthat Cuban made an additional investment as part of this seed round. Sound Ventures—the firm co-founded by actor Ashton Kutcher and music industry executive Guy Oseary—is another pre-seed investor that likewise also joined this seed round.
Animoca Brands is aprominent crypto industry investorthat has backed more than 100 firms, with a focus onan open, interoperable metaverse. The company is also the publisher ofThe Sandbox, an upcomingEthereum-based metaverse video game.
The oversubscribed seed round also included participation fromBinance Smart Chain, OKEx Blockchain Ventures, Forte, and others, as well as founders including LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, Zynga’s Mark Pincus, and FanDuel’s Nigel Eccles.
“I’m excited about what CryptoSlam has accomplished to be the de facto source of information and pricing on all things NFT,” said Cuban, in a release.
An NFT acts like a deed of ownership to a unique digital item, including images, video files, video game items, and more. The industry expanded dramatically over the course of 2021, generating more than$22 billion worth of trading volumeaccording to a mid-December estimate by analytics resource, DappRadar.
The NFT market hasbeen hot again in recent weeks, asleading marketplace OpenSearecorded its second-best month of Ethereum trading volume in December with $3.25 billion. That’s a nearly 37% increase over November’s tally. OpenSea has alreadypassed the $1 billion markin January in less than five days, per data from Dune Analytics.
CryptoSlam tracks sales data for hundreds of notable NFT projects and collections across various blockchain protocols, including Ethereum,Solana, Polygon,Flow, and Binance Smart Chain. It also tracks the sale ofsports industry fan tokens, such as those launched by soccer teams Paris Saint-Germain and FC Barcelona through the Socios platform.
The firm, which currently has more than 20 employees, plans to further expand its team, support additional blockchain protocols, and launch an enterprise data API that other developers can use to build their own NFT tracking tools.
Metaversal, an NFT investment and co-production firm, has raised a $50 million Series A round.
Investors include CoinFund, Foxhaven, Dapper Labs, Franklin Templeton, Rarible, and many others.
The NFT marketis booming again in recent weeks, and Metaversal—a holding company that invests in and co-produces NFT projects—has just announced new funding to take advantage of the growing interest around tokenized collectibles.
Today, Metaversal revealed a $50 million Series A fund co-led by CoinFund and Foxhaven Asset Management. The oversubscribed round included a number of other participants, includingNBA Top ShotandFlow blockchaincreator Dapper Labs, Franklin Templeton Investments, Digital Currency Group, Galaxy Vision Hill,NFT marketplace Rarible, and NGC Ventures.
Metaversal was founded in 2021 by CEO Yossi Hasson and President Dan Schmerin and invests in potentially high-value NFT collectibles. The firm has collected NFTs from theartist FEWOCiOUS, a rare founder’sCryptoKitties NFT, and pieces from the Rare Pepes project, as well asa Noun NFT. Metaversal has invested in more than 750 NFTs to date, the firm says.
Besides investing in individual NFTs, however, Metaversal also invests in and co-produces NFT-driven projects. The firm has invested in projects such as Holaplex, anNFT storefront builder on Solana, as well as media outlet NFT Now and cannabis-focused Far Tech Ventures.
Metaversal also says that it was the first institutional investor in ConstitutionDAO, the recently launcheddecentralized autonomous organization(DAO) that raised $45 million worth of cryptocurrency to purchase an original copy of the United States Constitution. The effortfell short at auction.
While many of the notableNFTcollectibles purchased by Metaversal are minted onEthereum, currently the leading blockchain network for NFTs, the firm is focused on supporting anopen metaverseacross multiple blockchains. Metaversal plans to build on Flow andTezos, both of which new investor Rariblehas recently added support for as well.
An NFT acts like a deed of ownership to a unique digital item, whether it’s a piece of digital artwork, a one-of-a-kind profile picture, or an interactive video game item. The market swelled over the course of 2021, generating anestimated $22 billionin trading volume as of mid-December, per data from DappRadar.
Some individual NFTs have sold for considerable sums, most notably artist Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5000 Days,”which netted over $69 millionin a Christie’s auction last March. Dozens ofCryptoPunksavatars have sold for over a million dollars, plus pieces from artistXCOPYand theArt Blocksgenerative artwork collection have netted seven figures apiece.
As the NFT market matured and grew over the course of 2021, other firms and funds emerged to invest in artwork and collectibles in the space.
For example, Three Arrows Capitalspun up Starry Night Capitalin August in collaboration with pseudonymous collector Vincent Van Dough, with plans to raise up to $100 million to invest in NFTs. Meta4 Capital, meanwhile, announced its own $100 million NFT investment fund in October andspent millions at a Sotheby’s NFT auction.
Rarible announced plans this week to support Tezos NFTs, joining current platforms Ethereum and Solana.
The platform, which also recently launched a messenger service, also plans to add Solana and Polygon support.
NFTmarketplace Rarible might appear similar to leading rivalOpenSeaat a glance, but it has taken a different approach towards serving digital collectors. Rarible’s RARI governance token gives users a say in its future and stake in its success, for example. However, the marketplace is also pushing faster for a multi-chain future beyond the biggest current network for NFTs,Ethereum.
In November, Rarible launched support forFlow, Dapper Labs’ burgeoning blockchain network that plays host toNBA Top Shot. And last week, the marketplace announced plans toadd support for Tezos NFTsin mid-December.
Tezosdoesn’t have anywhere near the level of NFT trading volume of Ethereum, but it hosts a vibrant crypto art community and has been supported by creators likeblue chip NFT artist XCOPYand Linkin Park member Mike Shinoda. Its biggest NFT marketplace, Hic et Nunc,recently shut down, but an identical “mirror” marketplace wasrecreated within days.
Bringing the Ethereum, Flow, and soon Tezos NFT ecosystems together makes Rarible unique, uniting three layer-1 blockchains under a single umbrella.
FTX US currently supportsEthereum and the risingSolanaNFT ecosystem, while OpenSea supports Ethereum, Klaytn (popular in South Korea), andlayer-2 Ethereum scaling solution Polygon. OpenSea, for its part, announced plans earlier this year to support both Flow and Tezos, but neither integration has come to fruition yet.
“For now, we’re the only marketplace that supports several layer-1 chains,” Rarible CEO and co-founder Alexei Falin toldDecryptlast week at NFT BZL in Miami. “Most other marketplaces just support layer-2 chains such as Polygon, which we will roll out pretty soon, as well.”
Falin also confirmed that support for Solana is “very close” on their roadmap as well. Solana support is being developed internally at Rarible, while Tezos developers have handled their own implementation into the marketplace protocol. By building open-source, he said, it’s easier to pool resources and let blockchain creators develop on top of Rarible’s protocol.
Flow is an interesting piece of the equation. There are many developers building on the blockchain—more than 600, says Dapper Labs—but most of those projects are still out on the horizon. NBA Top Shot has been a big hit and Dapper has an NFL equivalent,NFL All Day,launching soon, but Flow’s wider NFT ecosystem could rapidly accelerate once more projects debut.
Falin described Dapper as being “pretty successful” at wooing intellectual property holders to the Flow ecosystem, and called the blockchain’s future expansion a “really big opportunity” for Rarible. Users can mint their own NFTs on Flow with Rarible, too, giving anyone access to theincreasingly decentralized blockchain network, which is less expensive to use than Ethereum.
Rarible also just recently launched a first-of-its-kindbuilt-in marketplace messaging service, letting potential NFT buyers and sellers communicate directly via their Ethereum wallet addresses. That saves the hassle of attempting to get in contact via Twitter or Discord.
Rarible eventually plans to spin the messenger tool out into a standalone product that otherWeb3developers can implement, as well. In this case, Falin said that what benefits Rarible initially can ultimately benefit the entire NFT ecosystem, as well. “We’re trying to build products that industry needs, and also the products that Rarible needs,” he explained.
Late last year, before the NFT marketreally took off, Rarible was generating more monthly Ethereum trading volume than OpenSea. That’s no longer the case: OpenSea has logged multiple $3 billion months of late, per data fromDune Analytics, while Rarible’s best month wasjust above $21 millionin trading volume in August.
Falin believes that it’s still early in the NFT market and that trends and interests are rapidly changing, but he also suggested that Rarible is building in a different way.
Between its token-based community ownership and maintaining a protocol that other apps can tap into and build upon, Rarible is targeting other edges that towering ETH tallies alone can’t quantify. Monday’s news that OpenSea isplanning to eventually go public with a traditional IPO, possiblyinstead of a token airdrop to early users, may only reinforce that view.
“We have a little bit different approach to OpenSea,” said Falin. “We are trying to be a Web3-native company—decentralized as much as we can.”
Dapper Labs’ new NFL-based NFT marketplace will be called NFL All Day.
NFL All Day will feature collectible video highlights sold as NFTs, much like NBA Top Shot.
In September, Dapper Labs announced that it had struck a deal to translate its mega-successfulNBA Top Shotformula to pro football, teaming with the National Football League and NFL Players Association tolaunch an NFL-branded NFT platform.
Now we know what they’re calling it.Dapper’s new platform is namedNFL All Day, and it’s still planned to launch sometime during the current NFL season.
Running on the sameFlow blockchain as Top Shot, NFL All Day will initially debut in a closed beta test before opening to the wider public. Prospective collectors can sign up for early access via a waiting list.
Functionally, NFL All Day appears to be very similar in approach to Top Shot, focusing on collectible NFT “moments” made from official video highlights of top league plays.
AnNFTacts as a blockchain-based deed of ownership to a digital item, and each Top Shot moment comes in an edition ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands of individually numbered pieces.
The first NFL All Day pack will feature top players such as Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Los Angeles Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey, and Seattle Seahawks receiver D.K. Metcalf, Dapper revealed today. Other players that will be featured in the first pack include Trevon Diggs, Marquise Brown, Nick Chubb, Davante Adams, and Josh Allen.
Dapper Labs Head of Partnerships Caty TedmantoldDecryptin Septemberthat signing the NFL was the “holy grail” of American sports, and that the deal “came together really quick” in the run-up to the announcement.
The NFL was notablyslower to embrace NFTsthan the NBA or Major League Baseball.
While NFL All Day looks to follow a familiar format, Tedman toldDecryptthat it would be programmed in a “very different way than we program Top Shot.” She pointed to the week-to-week format of the league’s schedule as opposed to the NBA’s more frequent game pattern, plus having many more players on the field and various strategic nuances.
NBA Top Shot helped drive NFTs into the mainstream earlier this year, generating more than $780 million worth of secondary market sales. But the bulk of that volume took place in February and March, per data fromCryptoSlam, and there have been fewer buyers in recent months amid falling Top Shot NFT prices—even as the platformwelcomed the WNBA.
Dapper has an array of upcoming sports-centric launches as it broadens its scope beyond the NBA. In addition to NFL All Day, the firm is developing NFT platforms forSpain’s LaLiga soccer leagueand theUltimate Fighting Championship.
