New here? Read up on our past NFT issues to get the most from this post.
June 24 | ± 6 minutes
HIGHLIGHTS:
- New and / or improved NFT indices
- Chromie Squiggles lead the way
- Do you have $2.5m and want to light it on fire? Read on!
- Doodles are making some noise
This week’s issue is being edited by Wyatt, so please forgive typos, errors, omissions, shameless self-promotion, and general f-ck ups.
Let’s go!
Table of Contents
Introducing our Blue Chip NFT Index
Big update this week as we’ve launched a Blue Chip NFT Index to track the PFP and art market broadly.
It’s not perfect, but it does give a broad sense of what’s going on particularly relative to crypto:
Everything is down 30% to 40% on the year. But there are glimmers of a bottom. NFTs also seem to have decoupled slightly from BTC and ETH.
More changes! We’ve modified our Fractional Index, looking at returns since January 1, 2022 rather than September 2021. The change means that if you bought all the NFTs on Otis and Rally at the beginning of the year, the ROI would be -52%. This is about 16% lower than the general NFT index above.
Last week saw a bump in NFT trade volume – the highest in five weeks – according to theblock.co. Some of the earliest and most notable projects of the NFT era are enjoying a bump in volume with traders buying at a speculative ‘bottom.’
Some buyers speculate that if bitcoin and Ethereum have hit bottoms, then it’s likely that NFTs are in that range too. [Wyatt Ed note – I don’t think we’ve hit bottom]
NFTs Last Week
NFTs on Fractional Marketplaces
The fractional markets remain the same, with many assets trading well above floor prices. An illiquid market and a lack of sellers on the Rally and Otis platforms have kept prices the same.
We do want to point out one potential value on the Otis platform. Chromie Squiggles have benefited from the most recent relief rally in NFTs, though that could be short-lived. What the rally indicates, however, is that Squiggles are viewed favorably among collectors seeking value.
At the moment, the floor price for a Squiggle is $11k. As of Thursday evening, Squiggle #524 on Otis is trading at a market cap of $7.6k, or $0.30 per share.
There are currently 30 “Buy bids” for $0.30 per share, but the lowest “Asks” are at $0.55 per share. Yeah, big spread. The discrepancy highlights the illiquidity in the fractional marketplace, but even a “Bid” of $0.35 per share might be enough to move some shares while buying at a discount.
A buyout offer on June 3rd for $11.7k with the Squiggle trading at $0.70 per share was rejected by 91.3% of votes.
NFTs on OpenSea
Someone is selling a BAYC bottle of champagne for $2.5m.
Would you rather have that or a signed ticket from Elvis’s first concert? Have your say today!
This week, I’ve seen two assets come up for sale in the $2m – 2.5m range.
— Wyatt Cavalier (@itiswyatt) June 24, 2022
🎸🎟️ A PSA graded and signed copy of a ticket to Elvis’s first concert ($2.15m), and
🐵🍾 A 1.5L bottle of Premier Cru BAYC champagne ($2.5m)
Which would you rather have?
Links and images of both below.
The last week has seen a resurgence in OG collections – from true OG’s like the CryptoPunks to “new” OG’s like Chromie Squiggles and Fidenzas.
Some of the more iconic NFT collections have also increased in volume, including Doodles, Clone X, and Meebits.
What does this mean for the market? That collectors believe many of these collections are at an attractive price point – possibly at the low. It also means that investors are confident enough in the space to begin deploying capital in the most iconic collections.
At #10 is the Sneaker Heads collection. We profiled this project in early April.
NFTs This Week
Project to Follow
Mc’s Cel Mates
Mint Date: TBD
- A project from French artist Matthieu Bessudo, a talented artist, musician, illustrator, and director. 🇫🇷
- There isn’t much known about this specific project, but Bessudo has released a lot of artwork, giving those interested in the project a good idea of what the images might look like.
- Bessudo primarily works with ink on paper, but he also has experience with animated videos in color, sticking to his style.
- Bessudo’s style is reminiscent of late 1920s Steamboat Willie infused with dark satire.
Industry News
We wanted to promote our friends at The Tokens Awards, to raise awareness about a fun event on July 10th at 4 pm PST on Twitter Spaces (mark your calendars!). It’s a grassroots, online Awards Show meant to recognize creators and artists that are not necessarily in the NFT limelight.
The Tokens will feature artists, musicians, and photographers to celebrate the international NFT community and contributors. It is the first-ever true NFT awards show and is organized by veteran producers Antares Vargas and Narumi Inatsugu.
There are 24 Award categories, including “Kindest Community Member,’ ‘Best NFT Couple,’ and ‘Most Provocative Art.’
Presenters include director/actor Anthony Hayes from Retrogression, prominent businesswoman Kelly Ann, and Grammy-nominated singer/Songwriter Shontelle Layne.
The Doodles announced hiring singer Pharrell Williams as the company’s Chief Brand Officer. It’s unclear what Pharrell’s responsibilities will be, but he is also executive-producing Doodles Records: Volume 1, to be released in partnership with Columbia Records.
It has been a big week for the Doodles brand, which also released a feature announcing the upcoming release of Doodles 2. CEO Julian Holguin, who left his post as President of Billboard to join Doodles, also released a company mission statement and its vision at NFT NYC.
What @doodles did last night was something I’ve never seen in NFTs. Forget terms like bullish and bearish…those are often short term phrases. Last night shows me Doodles is a brand ready to permeate pop culture for years to come. Here’s why…
— Steve 📍at NFT NYC (@NFTbark) June 22, 2022
👇(THREAD 🧵 1/8)👇 pic.twitter.com/vQMffusUxL
His announcement marks the beginning of the Doodles moving from an NFT collection to a brand.
Doodles volume and floor price have gone up with major announcements this week.
At NFT NYC, a group of protestors showed up outside the Adam Bomb Squad pop-up show, holding signs that read, ‘God Hates NFTs,’ and ‘Vitalik Is the Anti-Christ.’
The protest garnered a ton of attention on Twitter, with some reactions seeming to take the protest seriously. But the protest was staged courtesy of Adam Bomb Squad co-founder Bobby Kim; aka Bobby Hundreds.
Kim staged the protest as a joke, intending to lighten the mood by producing a piece of performance art during the year’s most important NFT conference. Kim told AdAge, “I find the line between the skeptics and the devotees to be really interesting within crypto.”
[Wyatt Ed note: for those who don’t recognise the signs above, they’re a riff on the Westboro Baptist Church, a collection of the worst people the Earth has to offer]
I hope you enjoyed this week’s issue. We take all feedback into consideration, so please feel free to reach out with tips, comments, or suggestions on what you’d like to hear about next.
Until next week!
Horacio
