Weekly Roundup: What Happened in Play2Earn Games and NFTs This Week? [Feb. 24, 2022]

From phishing scams targeted at OpenSea users to TV shows based on the World of Women NFTs, this week has been a roller-coaster ride for the NFT sector. However, it is hard to ignore the fact that some people are cashing out big from the NFT frenzy.

17 OpenSea Users Lose $1.7 Million Worth of NFTs in a Phishing Attack

Earlier this week, the NFT community was sent into a mode of panic after news broke that OpenSea had been compromised and hackers were out stealing assets. Although some users were affected, it turns out that the NFT marketplace was not affected and those affected were victims of a well-orchestrated phishing attack.

According to OpenSea, 17 users were affected by the attack, leading to a net loss of around $1.7 million.

OpenSea announced a smart contract upgrade a day earlier. The hacker capitalized on this upgrade to send users legit-looking phishing mails and then redirect them to a fake website where their wallets were emptied.

We’ll Keep Producing NFTs, Picasso’s Granddaughter Says

“I have a 30-year-old son who’s passionate about NFTs. It appealed to me, so I looked into this subject, and I find that it’s a modern technology that allows us to connect with art. It really appealed to me. And it’s in this way that I decided with my son to create our first NFT collection.”

Marina clarified that her uncle has now endorsed the collection. She explained in the new video:

“Unfortunately, our ideas weren’t communicated as they should have been, and in relation to certain members of my family that already had a difference of opinion, there was really a misunderstanding that didn't do anyone any good. I have the support of my uncle, Claude Picasso... he’s dedicated his life to protecting the legacy of my grandfather, his father.”

Hopefully, the new endorsement from the family will jolt the project back to life.

Reese Witherspoon to Release TV Shows Based on World of Women NFTs

Now, actor and producer Reese Witherspoon is looking to contribute her quota to the growth of the project. Through a new deal announced last week, Witherspoon’s production company Hello Sunshine will create feature films and TV series based on the popular NFT collection.

Witherspoon and actress Eva Longoria have been using the World of Women (WoW) NFTs as their Twitter profile pictures for more than a month, and the new deal comes a month after the NFT collection signed music exec Guy Oseary for Hollywood representation.

“While the crypto and NFT space is largely dominated by men, there are inspiring leaders like World of Women creating incredible communities for women during this massive shift for media and technology.”

WoW is so far the most successful female-based NFT collection. The lowest-priced piece in the collection is currently going for around $29,000. It is also ranked 21 on OpenSea’s top NFT collections of all time, having seen over $145 million in secondary sales.

NBA Teams Up With Dapper Labs on All-Star VIP Pass NFTs

Each NFT represents one NBA team and the top bidder in each category will receive a single-edition NFT that will grant access to five annual NBA All-Star events, starting from the 2023 event in Salt Lake City.

For the next year’s event, the VIP access includes two lower-bowl tickets to the All-Star Game, the Clorox Rising Stars Game, and the Stater Farm All-Star Saturday Night Events. Other perks include access to an exclusive tour of the arena, a merchandise bag with an All-Star jersey, and a shootaround with an unnamed “NBA legend.”

The auction for the NFTs will begin on February 23, with one NFT being launched per day. Biddings will be open for seven days.

In addition to the 30 NFTs, Dapper Labs will host a giveaway with the NBA. The additional single-edition NFT will represent the league, as opposed to a single team. However, it will carry the same perks as the other NFTs for the next five years of events.

TreeTrunk to Roll Out New Royalty Options for Artists

Although still nascent, the potentials of NFTs are far-reaching. From applications in the art and music industry to real estate, and exclusive access to certain events, NFTs are unique tokenized assets that are often used to create a verifiable digital scarcity and digital ownership.

TreeTrunk, a startup that developed a variation of the ERC-721 NFT-specific protocol, is expanding the utility of its protocol to cater to the needs of artists. Having modified the protocol, artists will be able to mint a master NFT of their creation and sell the derivatives to fans. The firm explained in a press release:

"The TreeTrunk smart contract distributes royalty payments not only to a single creator but also to collectors who make and sell authorized digital 'prints,' […] The buyers of the prints can, in turn, make new prints from their NFTs until the number of generations set by the creator is reached."

A number of visual artists have already been brought in ahead of the launch that is scheduled to drop in March. The artists will each be donating a piece of original artwork that will be available to early collectors.

OpenSea Teams Up With Metalink in a Bid to Improve Customer Service

In general, although OpenSea has recorded many wins, it has also had its fair share of losses. For instance, the platform recently had to pay $1.8 million to collectors who had their NFTs sold at old prices.

In a bid to improve its relationship with its users, the NFT marketplace has collaborated with Web3 communications platform Metalink. Metalink will be launching three official channels for OpenSea, targeting user feedback, announcements,and support.

According to him, after seeing about 15% of CryptoPunks owners sign onto Metalink with their wallets, he realized the platform could be more than a private chat group for one collection.

Meanwhile, OpenSea’s new head of community, Stevey Tromberg, disclosed on the same Twitter Space that his company was “looking at it as an experiment.” Tromberg said that OpenSea’s Metalink channels would “have dedicated community support staff from OpenSea spending a few hours a day in Metalink, all of whom will be marked as verified OpenSea Staff."

VR Platform Cyber Teams to Launch a Virtual NFT Marketplace With Rarible

Cyber, a virtual reality platform, has inked a deal with NFT marketplace Rarible to develop a virtual NFT marketplace.

"You had all these top-to-bottom companies that were selling [virtual] land that is quite expensive, and then you had a lot of 2D platforms, but not the option in the middle. We launched and placed the first brick of a bottom-up metaverse company that we would build with the help of the [blockchain] community."

Boutaleb explained that the VR app can run on Oculus and mobile devices, including older models. For now, the new functionality will be available for only Ethereum NFTs minted through the Rarible protocol.

Steve Aoki Has Made More Money From NFTs Than His Music Royalties

You’ve probably come across stories of people who quit their 9-5 jobs because of NFTs or became overnight millionaires by investing in digital collectibles. Well, veteran DJ and producer Steve Aoki is a testament to the profitability of NFTs.

While giving the opening talk at a private Gala Music event on February 10, Aoki revealed that he had made more money from NFTs in one year than from DJing in the past ten years. He said:

“But if I was to really break down, OK, in the 10 years I’ve been making music… six albums, and you [combine] all those advances, what I did in one drop last year in NFTs, I made more money. And also, I was way more unhinged with music.”

Aoki, who labeled himself a “futurist,” believes that NFTs will transform the music industry, particularly in the area of royalties.

“As music NFTs become more of a part of how we integrate and support artists, the labels will have to do more than just add the song on a playlist.”