Metaversal is a Bankless newsletter for weekly level-ups on NFTs, virtual worlds, & collectibles
Dear Bankless Nation,
There’s a new type of NFT scam going around that you should know about.
A new NFT wallet draining exploit is taking shape that uses a mixture of social engineering and takes advantages of the “degen meta”
Let’s break it down
I recently wrote about the popularity surge of free mint NFTs, and this new scam takes advantage of people wanting to ape into these potentially lucrative projects.
Simply put, the trap involves tricking folks into giving up their most valuable NFTs via a bogus “mint” transaction. Make sure if you’re minting from an upstart project that you triple check you’re not “setting approval for all” when you don’t mean to be:
Here’s what it looks like when you’re asked to setApprovalForAll on Metamask. If you ever see this function in your Metamask popup, TRIPLE CHECK that you actually want to do this. If you’re not interacting with a trusted marketplace then you almost certainly don’t want to do this
In general, keep your guard up and stay on the lookout for new scam styles like this — a little caution can go a long way here! And with that PSA out of the way, let’s now get you caught up on some of the biggest NFT news from the past week. Cheers everyone ✌️
-WMP
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🛒 NFT News & Platforms
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NFT marketplaces saw their trade volume levels boom over 2,439% collectively between Q2 2021 and Q2 2022.
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ENS DAO is considering proposals to create a dedicated ENS marketplace and to institute a royalty on secondary ENS domain sales:
<div class="tweet" data-attrs="{"url":"https://twitter.com/makoto_inoue/status/1545151527593148418","full_text":"The first proposal is to fund the creation of the dedicated marketplace discuss.ens.domains/t/proposal-for… and the second proposal is to impose a royalty discuss.ens.domains/t/closed-impos… n15/","username":"makoto_inoue","name":"matoken.eth | .lens","date":"Thu Jul 07 21:03:26 +0000 2022","photos":[],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":0,"like_count":12,"expanded_url":{"url":"https://discuss.ens.domains/t/closed-impose-a-royalty-on-the-secondary-sales-of-ens-names-to-offset-the-running-costs-of-tnl-development/13405","image":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/95b869e0-bd9f-4d12-9d07-1e3b0f4a8bcd_1000x1000.png","title":"[Closed] Impose a royalty on the secondary sales of ENS names to offset the running costs of TNL development","description":"Since the temp check is negative this isn’t proceeding and the thread can be locked. [Temp Check] Impose a royalty on the secondary sales of ENS names In anticipation of the running costs of $11,500 per day requested by True Names Ltd in [EP#][Executable] Funding True Names Ltd for ENS development…","domain":"discuss.ens.domains"},"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":true}”>
The first proposal is to fund the creation of the dedicated marketplace discuss.ens.domains/t/proposal-for… and the second proposal is to impose a royalty discuss.ens.domains/t/closed-impos…
15/
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OpenSea welcomed a new VP of Engineering, Marko Iskander.
🏆 Digital Collectibles
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Nouns DAO received nearly 500 new Noun head proposals to consider for its upcoming August 8th collection update:
~500 new noun heads were submitted by nounish artists for inclusion in the 8/8 artwork upgrade proposal. the community is now starting the difficult process of selecting the handful that will make it into the on-chain collection
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ImmortalPlayerCharacter is not older than CryptoPunks despite some chatter to the contrary this week.
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Cool Cats is giving away unminted PFPs from the collection via puzzles.
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Rarible created a bespoke marketplace for rektguy holders:
<div class="tweet" data-attrs="{"url":"https://twitter.com/rarible/status/1545075172335566850","full_text":"Announcing RektGuy x Rarible! 0% Marketplace fees on trades so you can get less rekt @rektguyNFT. nnGo explore 👇 nrekt.market ","username":"rarible","name":"Rarible","date":"Thu Jul 07 16:00:01 +0000 2022","photos":[{"img_url":"https://res.cloudinary.com/hhsslviub/video/upload/e_loop,vs_40/togxhxxzpyaqhdsethqp.gif","link_url":"https://t.co/8SSCffsYVt","alt_text":null}],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":134,"like_count":394,"expanded_url":{},"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":true}”>
Announcing RektGuy x Rarible! 0% Marketplace fees on trades so you can get less rekt @rektguyNFT.
Go explore 👇
rekt.market
🎨 Art
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ARC and Nahiko have teamed up for a game-theoretic cryptoart project titled “Centralized,” which is due out on Nifty Gateway on July 12th:
<div class="tweet" data-attrs="{"url":"https://twitter.com/Nahiiko/status/1544324719175925767","full_text":"If you want to learn more about the drop feel free to check out this deep dive.nnAnd thank you to @niftygateway for trusting us with this. Be there on July 12th. ","username":"Nahiiko","name":"Nahiko","date":"Tue Jul 05 14:17:59 +0000 2022","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/FW5DaKrXkAAC3c_.jpg","link_url":"https://t.co/F44IXn9VFC","alt_text":null}],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":5,"like_count":38,"expanded_url":{},"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":true}”>
If you want to learn more about the drop feel free to check out this deep dive.
And thank you to @niftygateway for trusting us with this. Be there on July 12th.
🎮 NFT Gaming
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Axie Infinity’s Ronin hack resulted from a former employee being tricked by a fake job offer.
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Life Beyond, by Animoca Brands, is now available as a free-to-play alpha.
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Nouns Esports recently trounced the FTX-sponsored TSM team 2-0 in a Dota 2 matchup:
jokes aside, e-sports has been one of the highest ROI proposals (in terms of attention generated) thus far, a vertical nounders didn’t ever consider pursuing. imo the success of nouns e-sports clearly demonstrates the power of handing the reigns to the community
4156 ⌐◨-◨ @punk4156
https://t.co/HEU1ThnPrw
<div class="tweet" data-attrs="{"url":"https://twitter.com/Peterpandam/status/1544841379783872514","full_text":"NADOTA representing web3 in a major way as @nounsesports who is funded by @nounsdao just beat n@TSM who is sponsored by @FTX_Official 2-0. Love to see it. ","username":"Peterpandam","name":"Peter Dager","date":"Thu Jul 07 00:31:01 +0000 2022","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/FXBg9v8XkAAeU0i.jpg","link_url":"https://t.co/OAbkdCgKrl","alt_text":null}],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":10,"like_count":77,"expanded_url":{},"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":true}”>
NADOTA representing web3 in a major way as @nounsesports who is funded by @nounsdao just beat
@TSM who is sponsored by @FTX_Official 2-0. Love to see it.
💽 Music
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Arpeggi Labs introduced Arpeggi v2.
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Beat Foundry released the details of its upcoming BF Season Pass mint.
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Coopahtroopa.eth published This Week in Music NFTs – July 4th.
🌐 Virtual Worlds
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Decentraland launched a $500k USD bug bounty on ImmuneFi.
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Voxels community builder 4everKurious is selling four builds in Architect Island on July 13th:
<div class="tweet" data-attrs="{"url":"https://twitter.com/cryptovoxels/status/1544928255374868481","full_text":"🏙️Section, Architect Island… the 🔥est new district in Voxels??? 4 buildings from @4Kurious go on sale next week, July 13. voxels.com/buy nLearn more here: cryptovoxels.medium.com/dont-miss-out-… #Metaverse #metaverserealestate #virtualland ","username":"cryptovoxels","name":"Voxels","date":"Thu Jul 07 06:16:14 +0000 2022","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/FXCwCOzXgAAokqk.jpg","link_url":"https://t.co/3oJDfmjKxb","alt_text":null}],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":6,"like_count":18,"expanded_url":{},"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":true}”>
🏙️Section, Architect Island… the 🔥est new district in Voxels??? 4 buildings from @4Kurious go on sale next week, July 13. voxels.com/buy
Learn more here: cryptovoxels.medium.com/dont-miss-out-… #Metaverse #metaverserealestate #virtualland
💎 DeFi x NFTs
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Fractional v2 began an audit contest on Code4rena.
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MakerDAO created a profile through Lens Protocol:
<div class="tweet" data-attrs="{"url":"https://twitter.com/MakerDAO/status/1545061485717512194","full_text":"Hello Lens frens 🤝nnmakerdao.lens @LensProtocolnnlensfrens.xyz/makerdao.lens ","username":"MakerDAO","name":"Maker","date":"Thu Jul 07 15:05:38 +0000 2022","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/FXEoFX7UUAMc_Yc.jpg","link_url":"https://t.co/ddF4fhIC8K","alt_text":null}],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":17,"like_count":183,"expanded_url":{},"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":true}”>
Hello Lens frens 🤝
makerdao.lens @LensProtocol
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Teller created ApeNowPayLater, an app for financing purchases of blue-chip NFTs.
Action steps
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📺 Watch Interview with Tokenproof founder Fonz on Overpriced JPEGs
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🧐 Catch up on my other write-ups from this week:
Author Bio
William M. Peaster is a professional writer and creator of Metaversal—a Bankless newsletter focused on the emergence of NFTs in the cryptoeconomy. He’s also recently been contributing content to Bankless, JPG, and beyond!
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