Metaversal is a Bankless newsletter for weekly level-ups on NFTs, virtual worlds, & collectibles

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Dear Bankless Nation, 

The NFT ecosystem, growing as it is in all directions, has been wrangling from one hot topic to another lately. The biggest of these ongoing debates have centered around heady questions like:

1. Should NFT projects offer licensing agreements to holders, or should projects submit their IP to the public domain via CC0?

2. Is AI art authentic art? 

3. Is the 0% NFT royalties approach, a la Sudoswap, acceptable?

My quickfire answers to each of these questions respectively are: 1) it depends on the circumstances, 2) absolutely AI art is real art, and 3) not in all cases but again it depends on the circumstances. 

Ultimately, the design space around NFTs is totally open and essentially endless — and this reality will make the ecosystem increasingly multiplicitous over time — so expect more and more big debates going forward.

Keep your footing by tracking and thinking through the arguments of supporters, critics, and onlookers alike, as a bird’s-eye view will best position you to critically and fairly approach these debates. In the meantime, thanks for reading and I hope you have a great weekend ✌️

-WMP

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🛒 General NFT News

• Fractional rebranded to Tessera and announced a $20M Series A raise.  

• TreasureDAO hired Anonymice creator MouseDev to its Bridgeworld team. 

• Unlock Protocol unveiled new monetization options for its users. 

• Zora and Connext rolled out Lanyard, an open-source tool for creating universal NFT allowlists. 

🏆 Collectibles

• BAKC #8234 resold for $500k, marking the new biggest BAKC sale to date: 

<div class="tweet" data-attrs="{"url":"https://twitter.com/boredapebot/status/1560402919026991104","full_text":"Dog #8234 was purchased for 499998.0 USDC n opensea.io/assets/ethereu… ","username":"boredapebot","name":"boredapebot","date":"Thu Aug 18 23:07:01 +0000 2022","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/FaeqL5ZWIAIarBR.png","link_url":"https://t.co/8BzW9B4ELl","alt_text":null}],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":48,"like_count":379,"expanded_url":{},"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":true}”>

boredapebot @boredapebot

Dog #8234 was purchased for 499998.0 USDC
opensea.io/assets/ethereu…

• Chimpers now has over 4,000 NFTs staked in its gamified DOJO staking hub. 

• CrypToadz are now completely on-chain. 

• Finiliar minted out and held its art reveal:

<div class="tweet" data-attrs="{"url":"https://twitter.com/stevefink/status/1560693709167026178","full_text":"these are fun 🙂 @finiliar ","username":"stevefink","name":"evets.eth ⌐◨-◨","date":"Fri Aug 19 18:22:31 +0000 2022","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/FaiyohQUEAEwfaQ.png","link_url":"https://t.co/MFbB2oOXre","alt_text":null}],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":8,"like_count":44,"expanded_url":{},"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":true}”>

evets.eth ⌐◨-◨ @stevefink

these are fun 🙂 @finiliar

• Rally is offering fractional ownership of Noun #160. 

• Yuga Labs published the new CryptoPunks and Meebits licensing agreements. 

🎨 Cryptoart

• Art Blocks unveiled its newly structured Curation Board, whose luminaries include Anne Spalter, Casey REAS, Dmitri Cherniak, Micol Ap, and beyond:

<div class="tweet" data-attrs="{"url":"https://twitter.com/artblocks_io/status/1560061063378440193","full_text":"1/🧵nOver the past months, the AB Team has been adding structure to our Curation Board and our project review processnnKeep reading to learn why we're making the change, then read this article to learn about the members of the Art Blocks Curation Board👇nnmedium.com/the-link-art-b…","username":"artblocks_io","name":"Art Blocks","date":"Thu Aug 18 00:28:36 +0000 2022","photos":[],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":50,"like_count":314,"expanded_url":{"url":"https://medium.com/the-link-art-blocks/meet-the-art-blocks-curation-board-696102e747e3","image":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/83c005de-417a-4134-8fb5-8a5c654e5c14_500x333.png","title":"Meet the Art Blocks Curation Board","description":"Art Blocks Curation Board members are responsible for reviewing, critiquing, and selecting Art Blocks projects to be included in Art…","domain":"medium.com"},"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":true}”>

Art Blocks @artblocks_io

1/🧵
Over the past months, the AB Team has been adding structure to our Curation Board and our project review process

Keep reading to learn why we’re making the change, then read this article to learn about the members of the Art Blocks Curation Board👇

medium.com/the-link-art-b…Meet the Art Blocks Curation BoardArt Blocks Curation Board members are responsible for reviewing, critiquing, and selecting Art Blocks projects to be included in Art…medium.com

• 6529 acquired The Sailor by FEWOCiOUS for 350 ETH from fellow cryptoart collector YeahYeah.

🎮 NFT Gaming

• Axie Infinity launched Origin Portal minting for Ronin Runes and Charms:

<div class="tweet" data-attrs="{"url":"https://twitter.com/AxieInfinity/status/1560582360470470656","full_text":"Ronin Runes and Charms can now be minted through your Origin Portal 👇nmarketplace.axieinfinity.com/profile/origin…nnOnce these are minted as tokens on the Ronin blockchain, you can list them for sale.nn📺 | Tutorial: youtube.com/watch?v=SNJ1no… ","username":"AxieInfinity","name":"Axie Infinity🦇🔊","date":"Fri Aug 19 11:00:03 +0000 2022","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/Fag7xfCUUAAjEfG.png","link_url":"https://t.co/XmoBhiZK9u","alt_text":null}],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":58,"like_count":189,"expanded_url":{},"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":true}”>

Axie Infinity🦇🔊 @AxieInfinity

Ronin Runes and Charms can now be minted through your Origin Portal 👇
marketplace.axieinfinity.com/profile/origin…

Once these are minted as tokens on the Ronin blockchain, you can list them for sale.

📺 | Tutorial: youtube.com/watch?v=SNJ1no…

• The Forgotten Runiverse fantasy MMO is slated to launch in the first half of 2023.

• Gods Unchained, the NFT trading card game, has seen a recent spike of activity on ImmutableX:

Blockworks Research @blockworksres

ImmutableX has jumped Solana in daily NFT dollar sales volume, ranking second only to Ethereum.

The volume increase has been led by Gods Unchained, DC Comics, and Illuvium Land.

August 18th 2022

147 Retweets766 Likes

💽 Music

• Coopahtroopa announced the first artists accepted to his Music NFT Launchpad program. 

🌐 Virtual Worlds

• Decentraland is kicking off the Metaverse Art Week 2022 event next Wednesday.

💎 DeFi x NFTs

• Uniswap (which has NFT LP positions in V3) optimized its routing APIs to find more trade routes between Uniswap V2 and V3:

<div class="tweet" data-attrs="{"url":"https://twitter.com/Uniswap/status/1559207044506419200","full_text":"Hey swappers 👋nnOur routing APIs can now find more routes between v2 and v3 — ensuring that swaps are always taking the most optimal route and finding the best prices. nnBig thanks to our Summer Intern, @_ericzhong, for this update! ","username":"Uniswap","name":"Uniswap Labs 🦄","date":"Mon Aug 15 15:55:02 +0000 2022","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/FaNpFMGXoAA6XHb.jpg","link_url":"https://t.co/OuhDRy5Xxg","alt_text":null}],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":41,"like_count":336,"expanded_url":{},"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":true}”>

Uniswap Labs 🦄 @Uniswap

Hey swappers 👋

Our routing APIs can now find more routes between v2 and v3 — ensuring that swaps are always taking the most optimal route and finding the best prices.

Big thanks to our Summer Intern, @_ericzhong, for this update!

• Aelin, a deal coordination protocol on Optimism, activated NFT-gated pools. 

• Arcade, an NFT borrowing and lending protocol, launched its V2 system.

Action steps

• 📸 Watch the IP Lawyers Talk NFTs panel and an interview with Venice Music’s Austin Hurwitz on Overpriced JPEGs

• 🌳 Watch interviews with Ceramic Network’s Danny Zuckerman and Upala’s Petr Porobov on Green Pill

• 🧐 Catch up on my other write-ups from this week: 

  • NFT minting UI tools 

  • Creating an NFT allowlist

  • The Essential Guide to GMX

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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Not financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This newsletter is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here.