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

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Dear Bankless Nation, 

Ethereum is on pace to undergo “The Merge” in September 2022. 

<div class="tweet" data-attrs="{"url":"https://twitter.com/CryptoGucci/status/1552728106447806465","full_text":"Ethereum devs finalize Goerli Merge details!nnGoerli will be the final testnet before the Merge and will transition between August 6th- 12thnnMake sure your nodes are up to date!nnThe Merge is coming 🔜🐼nnblog.ethereum.org/2022/07/27/goe…","username":"CryptoGucci","name":"Crypto-Gucci.eth ᵍᵐ🦇🔊","date":"Thu Jul 28 18:50:03 +0000 2022","photos":[],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":28,"like_count":101,"expanded_url":{"url":"https://blog.ethereum.org/2022/07/27/goerli-prater-merge-announcement/","image":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/2cf37f78-e8f0-461b-ae74-528ac18bd007_600x320.png","title":"Goerli/Prater Merge Announcement","description":"For the last testnet proof-of-stake transition, Goerli will merge with Prater. The combined Goerli/Prater network will retain the Goerli name post-merge. Bellatrix, the Prater upgrade readying it for The Merge will happen at epoch 112260, expected at 12:24PM UTC on August 4, 2022. After Bellatrix is…","domain":"blog.ethereum.org"},"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":false}”>

Crypto-Gucci.eth ᵍᵐ🦇🔊 @CryptoGucci

Ethereum devs finalize Goerli Merge details!

Goerli will be the final testnet before the Merge and will transition between August 6th- 12th

Make sure your nodes are up to date!

The Merge is coming 🔜🐼

blog.ethereum.org/2022/07/27/goe…Goerli/Prater Merge AnnouncementFor the last testnet proof-of-stake transition, Goerli will merge with Prater. The combined Goerli/Prater network will retain the Goerli name post-merge. Bellatrix, the Prater upgrade readying it for The Merge will happen at epoch 112260, expected at 12:24PM UTC on August 4, 2022. After Bellatrix is…blog.ethereum.org

This will be Ethereum’s biggest upgrade to date and will shift the leading smart contract network to proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus. 

Over time, this evolution will be a gamechanger for Ethereum in multiple ways, especially with regard to efficiency and security. But the advance will also cleave our perceptions of Ethereum into two eras: pre-Merge and post-Merge. 

You know what that means — the “Historical NFT” category is about to get a new sub-category, i.e. pre-Merge. And while it may take years for this distinction to really set in, right now you have a chance to collect such NFTs before everyone else wakes up to the history of digital collectibles.

Maybe in 10 years and beyond these pre-Merge NFTs will be celebrated as having come from a legendary time. In the very least, I think we’ll see this thesis more and more in the coming years. For now, though, plan how you see fit and have a great weekend ⁠— thanks kindly for reading ✌️

-WMP

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🛒 General NFT News

• Mirror, a web3 publishing dapp, unveiled a subscriptions functionality.

• Optimism launched a Get Started onboarding quest that rewards everyone who finishes with an NFT. 

• Rainbow rolled out support for L2 NFTs:

<div class="tweet" data-attrs="{"url":"https://twitter.com/rainbowdotme/status/1551978336359890944","full_text":"Rainbow now supports NFTs on Mainnet, @0xPolygon, @arbitrum and @optimismFND. nnThank you @Treasure_DAO for the gift &lt;3 nn@smolverse @toadstoolzNFT ","username":"rainbowdotme","name":"Rainbow","date":"Tue Jul 26 17:10:44 +0000 2022","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/FYm7DwMVQAAA9kF.jpg","link_url":"https://t.co/LNC5E6XOB9","alt_text":null},{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/FYm7Ez8UsAAs9pE.jpg","link_url":"https://t.co/LNC5E6XOB9","alt_text":null}],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":100,"like_count":583,"expanded_url":{},"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":true}”>

Rainbow @rainbowdotme

Rainbow now supports NFTs on Mainnet, @0xPolygon, @arbitrum and @optimismFND. 

Thank you @Treasure_DAO for the gift <3

@smolverse @toadstoolzNFT

🏆 Collectibles

• Nick Tomaino bought iconic ape CryptoPunk #4156 for 2.69k ETH:

Nick Tomaino @NTmoney

Recently bought Cryptopunk #4156 for $3.31M

Here’s why:

July 26th 2022

426 Retweets2,793 Likes

• VeeFriends closed a seed round from a16z crypto. 

🎨 Art

• Fingerprints, a blockchain art collector group, became the largest holder of Mutant Garden Seeders by artist Harm van den Dorpel:

<div class="tweet" data-attrs="{"url":"https://twitter.com/FingerprintsDAO/status/1552679189970558982","full_text":"We’re thrilled to announce that we are now the largest collector of Mutant Garden Seeder by @harmvddorpel.nnHaving just acquired 14 more pieces, we now hold 25 mutants. These new pieces also mean we now have a full set of every possible mutation frequency from the project. 1/ ","username":"FingerprintsDAO","name":"Fingerprints","date":"Thu Jul 28 15:35:40 +0000 2022","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/FYw4SdaWQAUeOza.jpg","link_url":"https://t.co/c8aWuXRBEB","alt_text":null}],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":7,"like_count":70,"expanded_url":{},"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":true}”>

Fingerprints @FingerprintsDAO

We’re thrilled to announce that we are now the largest collector of Mutant Garden Seeder by @harmvddorpel.

Having just acquired 14 more pieces, we now hold 25 mutants. These new pieces also mean we now have a full set of every possible mutation frequency from the project. 1/

• Infinite Objects unveiled authenticated physical prints for Chromie Squiggle holders. 

• shl0ms minted DAVINC‧I on Foundation:

<div class="tweet" data-attrs="{"url":"https://twitter.com/SHL0MS/status/1552084923292565504","full_text":"𝙳𝙰𝚅𝙸𝙽𝙲‧𝙸nn𝙲𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚙𝚒𝚎𝚌𝚎.n͏n͏n͏nfoundation.app/@shl0ms/shl0ms… ","username":"SHL0MS","name":"𒐪","date":"Wed Jul 27 00:14:16 +0000 2022","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/FYoaVlFWYAAR7FR.jpg","link_url":"https://t.co/2AUmsCrj3s","alt_text":null}],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":45,"like_count":231,"expanded_url":{},"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":true}”>

𒐪 @SHL0MS

𝙳𝙰𝚅𝙸𝙽𝙲‧𝙸

𝙲𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚙𝚒𝚎𝚌𝚎.
͏
͏
͏
foundation.app/@shl0ms/shl0ms…

• XCOPY minted God is typing… on SuperRare, after which the piece promptly sold for +256.5 ETH:

<div class="tweet" data-attrs="{"url":"https://twitter.com/XCOPYART/status/1552427096064069633","full_text":"God is typing …n@SuperRare 💎 ","username":"XCOPYART","name":"XCOPY 🏴","date":"Wed Jul 27 22:53:57 +0000 2022","photos":[{"img_url":"https://res.cloudinary.com/hhsslviub/video/upload/e_loop,vs_40/ridn8qm6cqc812lymlnx.gif","link_url":"https://t.co/1S9Suhbned","alt_text":null}],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":277,"like_count":1620,"expanded_url":{},"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":true}”>

XCOPY 🏴 @XCOPYART

God is typing …
@SuperRare 💎

• Zien, a WhatsApp digital art institution focused on NFTs, published its introduction. 

🎮 NFT Gaming

• Axie Infinity rounded out the first season of its Origin Alpha:

Axie Infinity🦇🔊 @AxieInfinity

The Origin Alpha Season has concluded!

This month, Origin showed its true potential as a competitive and immersive card battler.

Origin DAU increased 263.636% from the beginning of the season, while downloads spiked and averaged around 3,000 per day for the period.

July 29th 2022

90 Retweets451 Likes

• Aavegotchi launched Season 4 of its Rarity Farming play-to-earn system.

• Noun Esports is holding a Dota 2 art contest. 

• Yield Guild Games (YGG) published a retrospective report on the organization’s first year. 

💽 Music

• Arpeggi unveiled its first Sound Puzzle campaign. 

• Audius, a decentralized music streaming platform, published a post-mortem in the wake of a recent governance attack. 

🌐 Virtual Worlds

• Decentraland announced its entry to The Open Metaverse Alliance. 

• Robotos launched its Robopolis Microverse experience. 

• Webaverse is conducting its public mint on August 3rd, 2022, with prices starting at 0.2 ETH per NFT. 

💎 DeFi x NFTs

• Abacus, an NFT pricing protocol, released a primer on its spot pools system. 

• Botto and SuperRare DAO agreed on a token swap.

Action steps

• 📺 Watch interviews with Roundtable anchor Rob Nelson and Devotion co-founder Andrew Wang on Overpriced JPEGs

• 📺 Watch interviews with Metalabel co-founder Yancey Strickler and Toucan Protocol founder Raphaël Haupt on Green Pill

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

  • 🤖 NFTs in the Microverse

  • 🔩 Defending NFTs with Gnosis Safe

  • 🏄 How to surf web3 like a pro

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.