According to the data provided by the analytics platform NFTGo during the month of April, the market for nonfungible tokens (NFTs) has been regularly seeing a greater amount of selling pressure than purchasing. There were only 7,907 purchasers on April 26, although there were 8,641 vendors trying to sell their NFTs. On April 19, there were just 5,893 purchasers, which led to the market reaching its second-lowest point in the preceding year.
There were 18,495 buyers in the market on April 5, but there were also 36,423 sellers, and there hasn’t been a single day in April in which the number of buyers has outweighed the number of sellers. Even with the rise on April 5 to 18,495 buyers, the market still had 36,423 sellers. Those who have their sights set on selling their NFTs in the near future could find this consistent selling pressure to be reason for alarm.
NFT trade volumes on March 10 were between $68 million and $74 million before the collapse of the bank; nevertheless, they dropped to $36 million on March 12. In addition, between March 9 and March 11, there was a reduction of 27.9% in the number of daily sales of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Twitter users have expressed their opinions on a wide variety of topics in response to the volatile circumstances in the NFT market. The co-founder of Canary Labs, Ovie Faruq, said in a tweet on April 26 that the NFT market is “not functioning” at the present time.
The amount of wash trading on the top six NFT markets increased to a total of $580 million in February, according to a research that was published by CoinGecko on March 20. This was the fourth consecutive month that wash trading increased. According to the findings of the research, the volume of the NFT marketplace increased by 126% from the previous month’s level of $250 million. The rise may be attributed to the general recovery of the market for non-traditional financial assets.
Despite the fact that the NFT market has been under pressure to sell during the month of April, it is important to keep in mind that the NFT market is still a relatively young and emerging business, and it is not unusual for the market to be volatile. Despite this, the consistent selling pressure may indicate to sellers that they need to change their pricing strategy or explore the possibility of hanging onto their NFTs for extended periods of time.
In a recent incident that left the NFT community stunned, NFT collector Brandon Riley accidentally burned a CryptoPunk NFT worth $200,000 by sending it to a burn address. Riley had purchased the coveted CryptoPunk #685 on March 13, paying 77 ETH in the hopes of holding onto it for the long term. However, in a bid to borrow some money against it using a technique called wrapping, he ended up losing the NFT forever.
CryptoPunks are among the most popular NFTs in the market and have gained a cult following in recent years. These 8-bit pixel art characters, created by Larva Labs, are unique digital assets that are stored on the Ethereum blockchain. Each CryptoPunk has its own distinct traits, making them highly sought after by collectors.
As a seasoned investor, Riley was well aware of the potential of NFTs and had invested heavily in them in the past. He knew the importance of procuring new NFTs before the crypto markets took off, especially during a bull market. In an attempt to maximize his investment, Riley decided to borrow some money against CryptoPunk #685 using the wrapping technique.
Wrapping involves creating a wrapped token that represents an NFT and can be used as collateral for loans. This technique is popular among NFT collectors who want to borrow against their holdings without selling them. However, the process can be confusing for beginners, and Riley made a fatal error by sending the NFT to a burn address.
A burn address is a special type of Ethereum address that has no private key and can’t be accessed by anyone. Any crypto asset sent to a burn address is effectively destroyed, and the asset cannot be recovered under any circumstances. In Riley’s case, the CryptoPunk #685 was sent to a burn address by mistake, permanently deleting it from circulation.
The incident has sparked a debate among the NFT community about the risks of borrowing against NFTs and the need for more education around wrapping techniques. While Riley’s mistake was a costly one, it serves as a cautionary tale for other NFT collectors who may be considering borrowing against their assets.
In conclusion, the accidental burning of CryptoPunk #685 by NFT collector Brandon Riley highlights the need for greater awareness around the risks involved in borrowing against NFTs. While NFTs have the potential to be highly lucrative investments, it’s important for collectors to educate themselves on the intricacies of the market and the various techniques used to maximize their returns.
Shiba Inu (SHIB) is now the 13th-largest cryptocurrency with its market valuation sitting near $18 billion, right behind its rival meme-cryptocurrency Dogecoin (DOGE), worth roughly $20 billion.
But despite falling behind in ranks, SHIB’s price has outperformed DOGE in 2022. February has seen a sharp recovery for the SHIB/DOGE pair, in particular, rising by over 38% month-to-date (MTD).
As a result, Shiba Inu gained more than 50% MTD against the dollar versus Dogecoin’s 11%, as shown in the chart below.
SHIB/USDT vs. DOGE/USDT daily price performance. Source: TradingView
Most of the February’s — and, in fact, 2022’s — gains in the SHIB market surfaced on two dates: Feb. 6 and 7. SHIB’s price rose by a net 41% led by back-to-back optimistic updates in the Shiba Inu market compared to DOGE’s 12.5% gain.
Welly’s adoption, burn party, other bullish catalysts
Shiba Inu’s rally in February primarily came in the wake of multiple bullish catalysts, including merchant adoption, a token burning event, and the announcement of a layer-2 blockchain solution.
On Feb. 3, Welly’s — a fast-food chain selling burgers and french fries — announced a tie-up with Shiba Inu. In doing so, the firm decided to rebrand its stores to integrate Shiba Inu-themed products, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs) featuring their mascot dog’s imageries.
SHIB X WELLY (.@wellyfriends)! Exceptional Shib Branded Fast Food available NOW, Shib Ecosystem integration, Global Store Expansion and our first bold step into “in-real-life” products all explained in this medium! Don’t eat like a clown, eat WELL. https://t.co/jgs4pWQNHw
— Shytoshi Kusama™ (@ShytoshiKusama) February 2, 2022
Welly’s customers will be able to buy their products using SHIB tokens while participating in their food chain’s expansion via Shiba Inu’s decentralized autonomous organization “Doggy DAO.” A day after the announcement, SHIB’s price rose by 7% to $0.00002219.
On Feb. 5, a day before the big Shiba Inu rally, crypto company Bigger Entertainment announced a massive “coin burn” involving SHIB tokens on Valentine’s Day, effectively removing 162 million SHIB from circulation.
On the same day, Singaporean blockchain solutions firm Unification, which has previously worked with Amazon and Google, announced that it had been engaging with the Shiba Inu creators to develop a layer-2 solution called Shibarium, optimized for gaming.
In contrast, Dogecoin’s ecosystem stayed far from hype-building scenarios and traded, more or less‚ in sync with broader crypto market trends. Its last big update came on Jan. 14, when billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk announced that his electric vehicle manufacturing company, Tesla, would accept payments in DOGE.
Tesla merch buyable with Dogecoin
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 14, 2022
DOGE rallied to as high as $0.2148 after the Tesla news on Jan. 14 but has since dropped to near $0.1500.
Next Shiba Inu hype in focus: metaverse
Unlike Dogecoin, Shiba Inu has been holding its recent gains. On Thursday, SHIB was trading merely 5% lower than its year-to-date high of $0.00003523 while eying a breakout above its interim resistance level of $0.00003331.
SHIB/USDT daily price chart. Source: TradingView
SHIB held its bullish bias as Shiba Inu creators announced on Wednesday that they would foray into the emerging metaverse sector. In doing so, they would enable users to buy plots on virtual lands. However, they did not disclose when they plan to launch the yet-to-be-named project.
The news also helped LEASH, a token that would enable users to purchase and auction lands inside the Shiba Inu metaverse, rally by 45% on Feb. 9. This also coincided with someone purchasing 3.4 trillion SHIB worth almost $116 million in a single sale.
On Feb. 8th a new Shiba Inu whale purchased 3.4 trillion $SHIB ($115.9 million USD)
SOMETHING BIG COMING!!
— Shiba Inu News (@ShibReports) February 10, 2022
But SHIB comes with its own set of risks. For starters, the token’s upside boom has done little in boosting its use case outside the cryptocurrency exchanges. For example, Cryptwerk, an online crypto directory, shows that only 618 merchants globally accept payments in SHIB. In comparison, more than 2,000 merchants have integrated DOGE into their checkout page.
Extreme price volatility also puts Shiba Inu at risk of facing massive pullbacks.
Related: Is Shiba Inu overheating after SHIB price gains 75% in two weeks?
SHIB’s recent history shows that it has corrected 80-90% during its previous two bearish cycles. As the token now eyes a decisive close above $0.00003331 to ensure its long-term bullish bias, a pullback of equal proportion could have it wipe 40% of its recent gains, with the next downside target sitting near $0.00002091.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Sandbox (SAND) refused to go down despite broader negative market sentiment in the past 24 hours. Instead, the altcoin logged a breakaway recovery as traders assessed its recent high-profile partnerships as a sign that the project has strong fundamentals.
SAND rose 10.23% to $3.38 at the UTC close on Jan.27, followed by another 5.42% spike to $3.57 on Friday. In contrast, Bitcoin (BTC), dropped 1.41% within the same timeframe.
SAND/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView
SAND adoption booms
Traders decided to increase their exposure to SAND after the Sandbox announced partnerships with American rapper Snoop Dogg and Warner Music, a major record label.
On Jan. 27 Snoop Dogg tweeted a teaser of what appeared to be his upcoming nonfungible token (NFT) collection, dubbed “the Snoop Avatars.” The rapper further hinted that his avatars would come as a part of the Sandbox metaverse.
Somethin big comin soon. ⬇️ Keep up 2 date @TheSnoopAvatars @TheSandboxGame https://t.co/GkqdAJE10L
— Snoop Dogg (@SnoopDogg) January 26, 2022
Later, that day, the Sandbox announced that it would create a music theme park and concert venue within its metaverse with the help of Warner Music. In doing so, the gaming project noted that the Warner Music artists would virtually engage with their fans and generate real revenues streams.
“We’re shaping The Sandbox as a fun entertainment destination where creators, fans, and players can enjoy first-of-a-kind immersive experiences and be more closely connected to their favorite musical artists through NFTs,” Sebastien Borget, chief operations officer and co-founder of The Sandbox, told Cointelegraph.
Naturally, the high-profile partnerships boosted the prospects for SAND to find more takers in the future. That is primarily because of the token’s role as a primary asset inside the Sandbox metaverse — a medium of exchange, governance and staking. As a result, it fared better than most of its top-ranking crypto rivals on Thursday.
What’s next for SAND?
The latest bout of buying appeared in line with a choppy recovery in the broader cryptocurrency sector that started on Jan. 24.
Between its nadir of Jan. 22 and Friday’s top, the crypto market added over $150 billion to its net valuation. SAND, which recovered alongside other assets, bottomed out at $2.56 then went on to rally over 40% in just four days.
SAND/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView
Following the bounce, SAND price confirmed its 200-day exponential moving average (200-day EMA; the blue wave in the chart above) as its interim support. If the euphoria surrounding the Snoop Dogg and Warner Music partnerships sustain, Sand will likely extend its upside momentum toward the 50-day EMA (the red wave) near $4.50.
Meanwhile, independent market analyst Cantering Clark doubted the upside setup, reminding that SAND’s pump could have posed a “helpful exit for holders” before a potential bearish continuation ahead.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Within months after its launch in April 2021, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) has become one of the main reasons Wall Street should take the emerging nonfungible token (NFT) market seriously, thanks to its recent sales turnover of over $1 billion.
Celebrities ape into BAYC
For the uninitiated, BAYC is a collection of 10,000 cartoons of anthropomorphic apes with stylish clothes and disreputable expressions. Each ape is practically an image file that should be worthless in a sane world. Nonetheless, they have been managing to fetch astonishing sums, sometimes from some of the world’s most renowned celebrities.
For instance, Jimmy Fallon, a popular American TV host, bought the image of a Bored Ape that wore a striped T-shirt and heart-shaped shades for almost $220,000 in November last year. And very recently, Academy Award-winning rapper Eminem paid nearly $462,000 for an ape that somewhat resembled him.
Eminem’s bored ape, dubbed BAYC #9055. Source: The Guardian
Meanwhile, one of the rarest Bored Apes, which had a gold fur trait, fetched $3.4 million in an online auction held by Sotheby’s in October, breaking the record of another rare ape with laser eyes, which was sold to the Sandbox for $2.9 million a month before.
But what is the selling point?
The BAYC collection fetches its value from NFTs, digital ownership proofs logged on a public blockchain. Think Bitcoin (BTC), but each “coin” is indivisible and unique in some way.
Meanwhile, most NFT projects, including BAYC, settle via the Ethereum blockchain, priced in its native token Ether (ETH).
But rarity is not the only reason people pay millions of dollars for Bored Apes. In addition to owning a unique avatar, people also gain admissions to an exclusive membership club, imposed with tokens. That gives them entry into an inner circle of elites, bringing them status and more profitable opportunities.
APE FEST 2021 details posted in the BAYC Discord:https://t.co/KjYGPhYWCP
☠️⛵️ pic.twitter.com/jvY38qf6NK
— Bored Ape Yacht Club (@BoredApeYC) October 1, 2021
Evan Luthra, the CEO, and founder of EL Group International and a BAYC’s exclusive club member discussed the allure attached to the elite association. The 26-year old angel investor referred to the membership as something that is “very strong for the Wall Street folks.”
“I think there is a new celebrity joining the club every single day.”
Bored Ape collectibles also enable their owners to enter private messaging boards on Discord and gain privileged access to other NFTs.
Bored Ape Yacht Club “floor price”
Bored Ape collectibles also enable their owners to enter private messaging boards on Discord and gain privileged access to other NFTs. And then, there is a certain reselling value attached to these NFTs, as visible in its rising “floor price,” which reflects the lowest bid one may open for the collectibles.
As of Jan.7, the BAYC floor price was 68 ETH, or around $217,800, up 380% from its mid-August low.
BAYC Floor Price chart. Source: CoinGecko
Noelle Acheson, head of market insights at Genesis Trading, credited BAYC for being more flexible in collaborations than CryptoPunks, one of the only high-profile NFT collectible series that came before it.
These collaborations include a BAYC-inspired Adidas gear, the signing of a talent agency, a potential Bored Ape music group, and other related assets emerging around the languid ape characters.
“So, the concept of floor prices — which drives institutional investment in NFTs as well as their increasing use as collateral for loans — no longer depends just on how much investors think someone else will pay further down the road,” Acheson explained, adding:
“Floor prices, and an asset’s appreciation potential, now also depends on what else the NFTs can be used for, other than just displaying.”
Luthra agreed, adding that the continuous involvement of celebrities with BAYC would further boost its recognition among retail and institutional investors alike. That may bring more demand for its NFT collection, which, in turn, would push its floor price higher.
The “Meta” factor
Jelmer Rotteveel, the co-founder of NFT collection MoonwalkerFM, attached one more bullish backstop to the BAYC core valuation: the ongoing hype around Meta, rebranded from Facebook to support the social media giant’s metaverse ambitions.
“With the emergence of Meta we will be entering a new way of communication and business,” he told Cointelegraph, adding that NFTs would become an integral part of the metaverse sector, with users supporting unique digital avatars, such as Bored Apes, to interact with one another digitally.
He added:
“I believe that people will be looking more closely at the developments of NFT projects like BAYC, and, just like you saw with cryptocurrency, they will be stepping in one by one.”
Acheson noted that Facebook/Meta has committed to spending approximately $10 billion on metaverse development, citing its CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s statement that they would look into decentralized metaverse applications.
“Whether we believe him or not — investors are likely to think about getting in ahead of those flows,” she added.
Will Wall Street ape into NFTs?
As stated, BAYC’s net sales recently crossed the $1-billion-mark, almost 10% of what Apple earned in 2021. Meanwhile, the NFT sector, on the whole, processed sales worth $41 billion, which came to be almost equal to the global art sales in the year, data from Chainalysis showed
Matt Hougan, the chief investment officer of Bitwise Asset Management, admitted that many of their clients had been looking for exposure in the NFT space without needing to crisscross through its daunting technology.
In response, Bitwise launched a dedicated fund last mont, which tracks its own Bitwise Blue-Chip NFT Collections Index — a basket of the ten largest NFT collections weighted by market capitalization — and buys and holds artworks from BAYC, CryptoPunks, and other NFT projects.
Related: The NFT world is gradually bridging the gap between niche and mainstream
The “Blue-Chip NFT Index Fund” is available only to institutional investors who invest at least $25,000 into the product.
Returns brought forth by Bitwise’s NFT fund since inception. Source: Bitwise Asset Management
Rebekah Keida, director of marketing at New York-based investment management firm, XBTO, favored the prospects of Including blue-chip NFT projects like BAYC or CryptoPunks into funds on Wall Street.
Keida says that it would open the floodgates for accredited investors to pour thousands, even millions, of dollars into these digital projects.
“The opportunities afforded by the increased capital flow enhances the legitimacy of top NFT projects while allowing investors a diverse bet in crypto,” she told Cointelegraph.
Luthra showed confidence in asset managers’ ability to tail Meta’s foray into the metaverse sector, which, in turn, would benefit the NFT projects like the BAYC, saying:
“If Meta thinks that the future lies in the metaverse and that’s where they are investing their time and energy, it only makes logical sense for asset managers to deploy funds towards the industry. As the space matures and there is more opportunities available, I am confident we will see many more metaverse related funds pop up to capitalize on the opportunity.”
Meanwhile, Sami Chlagou, CEO at Cross the ages metaverse game, compared Meta’s potential involvement in the NFT space with “lighting a lamp in the heads of investors who are much more backward about this concept.”
“Whether you think Meta’s decision is good or bad, the fact remains that when one of the largest social networking groups open to innovation and known for shaking up our environment talks about a subject, it opens doors and the desire to get involved.”
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
SAND, the native token of the Sandbox — a blockchain-based gaming platform owned by Animoca Brands, inched higher on Tuesday, building on its gains made all across November, to reach another record high.
SAND token price rose to $5.64 after swelling 16.25% intraday but retraced some of those gains to trade at $5.54 at the press time. The move took the Sandbox token’s month-to-date (MTD) and year-to-date (YTD) gains to nearly 260% and over 14,700%, respectively, with its market capitalization crossing above $5 billion, making it the 41st-largest coin in the sector.
SAND/USDT daily price chart. Source: TradingView
Many catalysts behind the SAND price rally
This month’s exuberance was in part attributable to Sandbox’s announcement of opening up part of its metaverse via its multi-week play-to-earn (P2E) Alpha event beginning Nov. 29, at 13:00 UTC.
In detail, the blockchain startup confirmed that it would select a group of 5,000 players to earn up to 1,000 SAND (now worth $5,540) and three nonfungible tokens (NFT) as they spent time across Sandbox’s eighteen virtual experiences.
Get ready for The Sandbox Alpha!
Launching November 29th
Anyone can experience the Alpha hub and three experiences
5,000 Alpha passes giving access to content, NFT, and 1,000 SAND!
Get all details below https://t.co/63iAl5MMmS pic.twitter.com/OiXmbAWYN2
— The Sandbox (@TheSandboxGame) November 16, 2021
Additionally, the recent bout of buying across the SAND spot markets — which saw its price gain over about 37% and 40% against the U.S. dollar and Bitcoin (BTC) in the previous 24 hours — came on hopes of a potential collaboration between the Sandbox and sports merchandise giant Adidas.
On Monday, Adidas’s Twitter handle was seen discussing the potential to build a so-called “adiVerse” with the support from the @theSandboxGame, the Sandbox’s official Twitter account.
adiVerse anyone?
What should we build, together in @TheSandboxGame? ⬇️ https://t.co/VbAdIi9cxN
— adidas Originals (@adidasoriginals) November 22, 2021
The tweet received nearly 1,450 retweets and 4,400 likes.
RSI divergence in play
Despite solid fundamentals, SAND risked rallying into a bull trap as its price trends showed clear deviations from its relative strength index (RSI).
Specifically, the RSI typically returns higher values when the market rises, and lower values when it falls. Occasionally, the RSI and the market move in an opposite direction, leading to so-called RSI divergences.
Related: Metaverse and blockchain gaming altcoins rally while Bitcoin looks for support
That said, a falling RSI and a rising market show a bearish divergence. Notably, since the beginning of November, SAND has been forming a similar RSI divergence, a sign that the momentum in the move upside has been slowing down.
That does not mean that the bull trend is over, but alerts about a possible short-term pullback move. The following chart shows the potential entry and exit targets for the sessions ahead, based on the Fibonacci retracement graph between $0.17-swing low and $8.72-swing high.
A pullback upon testing 0.382 Fib level at $5.45 could have SAND return to its next support line at the 0.5 Fib level, near $4.45. The same line has acted as resistance during SAND’s upside attempts between Nov. 18 and Nov. 22.
Conversely, a continued move above $5.45, accompanied by a rise in volumes, may open the possibility for SAND to test $6.70 — at 0.236 Fib level — as its next upside target.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Gala Games’ in-house currency GALA rallied by nearly 350% in November, ignoring corrections across the top cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC). Notably, GALA price surged from $0.088 to $0.42 between Nov. 1 and Nov. 22.
GALA’s gains primarily came in the wake of a price rally across a majority of gaming and metaverse crypto assets. For instance, MANA, the native token of Decentraland — a blockchain-based virtual world that allows users to create, experience, and monetize content and applications, climbed by more than 30% month-to-date.
Similarly, SAND, the native asset of decentralized metaverse project, the Sandbox, more than doubled in prices in November. Gaming projects, including Dvision Network (DVI) and Ultra (UOS), also witnessed more than 100% growth in value.
Rally or correction ahead?
The upside moves across metaverse and gaming tokens picked momentum primarily after Facebook decided to rebrand its parent company to Meta, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitting that they would be “metaverse first,” not the social media first.
GALA, whose issuance company Gala Games build blockchain-based games, soared to its record high at $0.489 on Nov. 22 amid the metaverse craze. Nonetheless, the cryptocurrency also showed weaknesses in its ongoing bullish momentum as it painted a dreaded head and shoulders (H&S) structure.
One of the most widely known and trusted technical patterns, H&S, appears when the price forms three peaks in a row, with the middle one, called Head, higher than the other two, called Shoulders. Meanwhile, the three peaks have the same support level, called the “neckline.”
On its shorter-timeframe chart, GALA’s formed the left shoulder near $0.39, corrected lower towards its rising neckline support, rebounded towards $0.48 to form the head, got pulled back again towards the same neckline, and has now been recovering to form its right shoulder top potentially near $0.43.
A breakout confirmation will appear as GALA closes below the neckline with convincing volumes. Should that happen, the Gala Games crypto would shift its downside target at a length equal to the maximum distance between the Head’s top and neckline.
That may end up putting GALA en route to $0.24, or about 34% below the potential point of breakout.
Bearish divergence/Bull Flag
In addition to H&S, GALA showed a clear divergence between its rising prices and falling momentum.
Notably, the cryptocurrency’s price formed a string of higher highs. In contrast, its relative strength index (RSI), which measures the magnitude of price changes to evaluate an instrument’s overbought or oversold conditions, formed lower highs, as shown in the chart below.
The GALA bull run also coincided with a decrease in trading volumes, signifying that its price uptrend did not have strong underlying momentum.
As a result, GALA confirmed bearish divergences between its rising price and falling trading volume, doubling down the H&S setup as discussed above. On the other hand, the entire bearish outlook risked invalidation should the price confirm a potential Bull Pennant setup instead, as shown in the chart below.
The profit target for the bull pennant sits near $0.69, given GALA breaks out of its Triangle range to the upside with a rise in trading volume.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
The FC Barcelona soccer club has partnered with Ownix to debut the launch of its nonfungible token, or NFT, collection focused on enhancing the connection to its global audience.
The series will showcase historic moments from the club’s 122-year history, one that includes an illustrious trophy display of 95 domestic and international triumphs, including 26 national league and five UEFA Champions League titles, according to archive data from Wikipedia.
The digital assets will be facilitated through Ownix’s marketplace, and is expected to launch in the final week of November utilizing the platform’s native ERC-20 token ONX.
Cointelegraph spoke to Guy Elhanani, the CEO of Ownix, for exclusive insight into the partnership.
Cointelegraph: Will the NFT collection be immediately accessible to Barcelona’s global fan base or will, for instance, season-ticket holders and other core groups be granted early access?
“We’re opening our collection to all Barcelona fans and anyone around the world, we’re not restricting it to the fan-base.”
NFTs are becoming rapidly adopted in the sporting landscape, not just for their lucrative financial appeal, but also as an opportunity to engage fans and supporters around the world with more immersive and personal experiences. The likes of Dapper Labs, Sorare and Socios to name a few, have all made considerable advancements in this nascent space, collaborating with some of the world’s top professional leagues, clubs and athletes.
Ethereum-based NFT marketplace Sorare has recently penned partnership agreements with Spain’s top-tier soccer division, La Liga, to launch digital cards of players, as well as Germany’s corresponding league, the Bundesliga, to introduce digital moments.
The platform has reported trading volumes in excess of $170 million throughout 2021 and expects to double that figure before the year is out.
Cointelegraph: How will the assets be launched on the marketplace? In a dutch auction, limited edition drop, minting event, etc?
“The first 5 NFTs will be launched in a minting event which will take place within the next few weeks in FCB facilities. In the first few weeks after the launch, the platform will offer unique items as NFTs. Further down the line, limited editions and collections will also be put up for auction.”
Related: Pro sports leagues are no longer resisting NFTs: Dapper Labs
To conclude our conversion, we asked Elhanani to share his expectation for the receptiveness of Barcelona’s fans and supporters in embracing this new asset class.
He expressed high “enthusiasm” for the adoption as both parties seek to connect their relationship on a deeper level, a sentiment echoed in comments from President of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta.
Facebook’s decision this Thursday to rebrand itself to Meta—to indicate its plans to build an avatar-filled metaverse—helped spark a speculative rally across cryptocurrencies that belong to similar virtual world projects.
Decentraland, a virtual place with its own economy, currency (MANA), and social events, accessible to anyone with a web browser, saw its market valuation exploding from $1.44 billion to $2.08 billion in the previous 24 hours. That happened as its native token MANA jumped circa 45% to $1.14 in the same period.
MANA/USDT daily price chart. Source: TradingView
At its intraday best, the Decentraland cryptocurrency was changing hands for $1.227 Friday, its highest level since May 18, 2021.
The “Meta” FOMO
Traders started rushing into the Decentraland market after assessing Facebook’s foray into the virtual world sector. The company’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, said they will from now on be “metaverse first, not Facebook first” following the latest rebranding.
Emil Angervall, COO & Co-founder of music tech startup Corite, told Cointelegraph that Meta poses extreme upside opportunities to the still-emerging nonfungible token (NFT) space.
Calling it a highly liquid venture, Andervail stressed that Meta would eventually collaborate with existing NFT projects in the space, which would help the crypto sector, on the whole, to come to the mainstream. He added:
“We can expect unique NFT and metaverse innovations tailored to Meta in the coming months.”
Axie Infinity, a Pokemon-styled “play-to-earn” pet training game, and virtual world, also saw its market valuations increasing by around 10% in the past 24 hours, from $7.74 billion to $8.40 billion.
AXS/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView
At the same time, Axie Infinity’s native token AXS also rallied by over 20% to hit $150 for the first time in two weeks. AXS serves as legal tender in the Axie marketplace, where players use it to purchase in-game NFTs (digital pets).
Other metaverse projects and their tokens, notably the Sandbox (SAND), Illuvium (ILV), and Division Network (DVI), also rallied strongly, confirming a price boom across digital assets that specifically focuses on virtual reality services.
Metaverse tokens and their performance in the last one and 24 hours. Source: Messari
On the whole, the net market capitalization of metaverse tokens grew 13.40% to $12.36 billion in the previous 24 hours.
“The growth in these tokens did not come as a surprise,” Mike Dickens, operations manager of NFT marketplace Blockasset.co told Cointelegraph, adding:
“The new Facebook name alludes to the ground-breaking work these NFT protocols have done in recent years […] These factors also contribute to the rising sentiments surrounding these NFT tokens Friday.”
Correction risks
Greg Waisman, co-founder, and COO of crypto-based payment network Mercuryo advised traders to wait for a price correction across multiverse crypto assets despite their recent gains.
Related: Digital land in Decentraland sells for $913K… to a virtual property developer
The executive told Cointelegraph that “traders will profit more to place their bets when the market has cooled off from this massive price upshot,” albeit adding that Meta would overall push the sector to higher valuations in the coming quarters. Notably:
“Meta’s exerted indirect influence may push this capitalization which may top $60 billion before the end of Q1 2022.”
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Three-dimensional nonfungible token (NFT) project HapeBeast is garnering notable attention on social media following the release of a highly-professional teaser video for their upcoming ape-themed profile picture project.
Created by the founder of Digimental Studio London, Digimental, the project encompasses 8,000 unique aesthetic depictions of digital ape avatars. Having operated for a number of years, the studio has amassed an illustrious list of clientele including Chelsea FC, Nike, MTV and Jordan Air, among others.
APEFLUENCERS NEEDED. ™️
8K positions available. Join us on Discord.https://t.co/nIIBqe5Dl7#hapebeast #apedemption pic.twitter.com/lHFZx6t8f4
— HAPEBEAST (@HAPEBEASTGANG) October 19, 2021
A number of notable Youtube NFT commentators and researchers, most notably NFT Nate, have identified the project as demonstrating the early characteristics and social awareness necessary to become the next blue-chip investment in the space.
The release date for the NFTs is expected to be sometime in December 2021, with the mint price currently undisclosed. Alongside this, the official website is expected to launch on Friday.
Crystallized ocean NFT’s
The environmentally-focused NFT collection, “Organic Growth, Crystal Reef,” recently launched a collaborative project on Snark.art led by artists Michael Joo and Danil Krivoruchko in a bid to support ecological sustainability of the world’s ocean coral reefs.
In a first-of-its-kind, each artwork will transform and grow through each sale by algorithmically observing the owner’s wallet identification and history, and combining the data with a multitude of coral patterns and shapes. The niche feature was introduced to mirror the evolution of ocean reefs amid environmental developments and changes.
“Like the living architecture formed by the exoskeletons of coral polyps, past, present and future coexist, offering a new take on NFTs, value and the creative process.”
This evolutionary process will conclude two months after the launch date, or after seven sales of an artwork, whichever comes first. At this point, the rarity traits, visual structures and shapes of the artworks will become static.
In addition, the project has outlined ambitions to create a single mosaic-type artwork that can be pitched to leading physical art galleries and institutions for real-world display.
The project creators will allocate 3% of all funds from primary sales to advancing the development of oceanographic research and conservation efforts at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.
All 10,301 crystal seeds were sold at a minting price of 0.1 Ether (ETH) on Oct. 15, amassing $4 million dollars. Since its release, the project has traded 1.8K ETH on OpenSea and currently records a floor price of 0.138 ETH. The all-time sale was for artwork #9136 two days ago for a price of 3 ETH.
Related: We haven’t even begun to tap into the potential of NFTs
Elephant painting set for NFT sale
An NFT artwork titled, “The Tree of Life,” will become the world’s first artwork created by an elephant to be minted as an NFT asset this week by BitTrunks, the digital asset side of Elephant Art Online.
Tunwa, a 15-year-old 14,000-pound female elephant, has been practicing her painting with a passion for the last decade at the Maetaeng Elephant Park & Clinic in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The elephant has been a core symbol of the nation’s iconography and cultural appreciation for over 800 years.
The project’s website added more details on the environment which these animals inhabit:
“Elephant painting is a beautiful collaboration between an elephant and their mahout (the elephant’s life-long caretaker). It showcases the extraordinary bond between them, but even then it takes great time and effort. At our park, we have over 80 elephants, but only four of them choose to paint.”
On October 28th, we will drop a series of elephant-made NFTs that will make your jaw drop.
Here’s a sneak peak of The World’s First Elephant-made NFT. Mark your calendar! Join the herd.
More info: https://t.co/8BMdzgjjPN#Bittrunks #NFTCommunity #nftart #NFTdrop pic.twitter.com/DpYfjS8IX0
— BitTrunks (@BitTrunks) October 18, 2021
Earlier this month, podcast pioneer Joe Rogan expressed his amazement at the drawings, speculating on the vast capabilities that the world’s largest land mammal holds.
The debut piece, “The Tree of Life,” which was painted by Tunwa, will be auctioned off as an NFT asset on Thursday at 9:30 AM EST on leading marketplace OpenSea.
The successful bidder will receive the NFT asset, a physical painting, a certificate of authenticity (QR Code), and photograph and video documentation of the creation process to complement the piece.
Related: We haven’t even begun to tap into the potential of NFTs
WWF Germany to launch NFT series
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Germany is set to launch a new environmental initiative titled NFAs: Non-fungible animals in a bid to protect the existence and habitat of ten of the planet’s most endangered species.
The environmental organization expressed interest in utilizing crypto and blockchain technologies in the past but also raised appropriate concerns about the high-energy demand of mining operations of assets such as Bitcoin.
Tagelang twitterten wir viel davon, was alles #NichtVerhandelbar ist. Zur Abwechslung etwas, dass schon ganz bald handelbar ist: Unsere NFAs zum Schutz bedrohter Tierarten. Von jedem Kunstwerk gibt es genau soviel, wie noch in RL existieren:https://t.co/eNc7pYuQEd #NFA
— WWF Deutschland (@WWF_Deutschland) October 23, 2021
The artwork series will depict 10 animals in a variety of artistic themes, including coloured sketches, pop art, PFP-styled art, as well as digital renders, among others. The announcement reveals a sobering numerical connection between the supply of assets and the number of animals in existence:
“The number of the respective works is limited to the exact number of still living specimens of the respective animal species depicted. Thus, each of the NFA crypto artworks reflects a living but threatened animal that can be protected by purchasing it.”
For example, 1,063 mountain gorillas NFTs will be available to mint as this represents the species’ total population. Likewise, only 22 NFTs depicting the Vaquita whale will be available to mint as there are only 22 Vaquitas left in the world.
WWF Germany has revealed that the funds will be fairly distributed to the organization’s global network of 1,300 projects, which are inherently focused on preserving and rejuvenating our ecosystem’s biological diversity
The sale will commence on Nov. 2 and those participating will be required to create a Torus digital wallet. Assets can be purchased with the stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) between a price valuation range of 79 to 799 USDC.
Other NFT news
Amid Facebook’s plans to deviate to metaverse operations, other social media platforms are pursuing advancements in the NFT space, with Jack Dorsey’s Twitter currently leading the charge, unveiling plans for NFT integration on its platform.
Tech blogger Jane Manchun Wong recently shared visuals on the platform’s development testing for a new collectibles tab, which will enable users to showcase their profile picture (PFP) avatars to the public.
