CoinMarketCap takes a look at some of the most prominent play-to-earn and NFT events — from a new NFT marketplace for photographers raising $2 million, to Budweiser's first NFT collection.
![Weekly Roundup: What Happened in Play2Earn Games and NFTs This Week? [Dec. 3, 2021]](https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/c9ab52b719d94ff0a293c48aec469364.jpg)
Damien Hirst Converts Cover for Drake “Certified Lover Boy” Album Into 10,000 Ethereum NFTs
English artist, entrepreneur, and art collector Damien Hirst has converted his Drake album art cover into a series of 10,000 free non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The NFTs will be gifted to collectors who already own pieces from his earlier “The Currency” collection.
Although dubbed “lazy” by many fans and critics, the cover art stands out from the pack. It features multiple colorways of the iOS pregnant woman emoji.
Hirst, who is the artist behind the controversial piece, has decided to turn it into a series of NFTs. The best part is that there won’t be any public sale or minting event for the 10,000 collectibles, which the artist has titled “Great Expectations.” Instead, Hirst will be airdropping the tokens to holders of his July-launched NFT collection, The Currency. Hirst tweeted last week that:
“Everything done well is art. With Drake’s support and blessing, I’ve created this free Thanksgiving gift for all Currency NFT holders; it’s loosely based on the album cover I made for Drake.”
He goes on to detail the creation process for the collection in a series of tweets.
“Like all great art, it looks easy,” he writes, noting that he “wanted it to be pop, high, and low art” and that it had to “be ironic while remaining iconic.”
Each piece of artwork still maintains the same basic grid of 12 cartoonish pregnant women characters. However, Hirst has added a bit of a twist to the design. The has spiced the artwork by differentiating each woman on the basis of background, color palette, hair and accessories. Some women even have a skull instead of a face.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Great Expectations holders have rushed to the leading NFT marketplace OpenSea to flip their free NFTs. According to data available on the platform, 476 items have been listed and over 300 ETH volume has been traded. The floor price is currently 0.619 ETH, or about $2,850.
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Sloika Secures $2M Funding for NFT Photography Marketplace
Although much of the NFT hype has revolved around profile picture collections and the works of famous artists, photography is beginning to gain momentum in the space. For instance, Justin Aversano’s Twin Flame collection has been purchased by the likes of Snoop Dogg and Gary Vaynerchuk, with one piece selling for a whopping $1.1 million at a Christie’s auction in October.
Sloika, a new NFT marketplace for photos, has raised $2 million to propel the growing NFT market for photography.
The seed funding round was led by 1confirmation and the new platform is looking to help photographers enter the booming NFT space.
Sloika is the brainchild of Ev Tchebotarav and Arseniy Ivanov. While Tchebotarav is the founder of an online photo-sharing platform called 500px, Ivanov was the first employee. Following the success of their company to tens of millions of users, they are looking to take a bite at the NFT pie.
However, unlike other NFT marketplaces like OpenSea and Rarible, Sloika is solely photo-based. Images in the curated drops have a dedicated page on the website. Moreover, photographers are not struggling with flashy profile picture collections to gain the attention of an audience.
According to the team, Sloika gives creators full control over key details of their work, including royalties and rights.
Snoop Dogg Debuts NFT Artwork ‘Decentral Eyes Dogg’ on SuperRare
American rapper Snoop Dogg has continued to dig deeper into the NFT space. His latest move has seen him launch his first NFT collaboration with mixed media artist Coldie on SuperRare.
Decentral Eyes Dogg features an animated collage of images from the hip-hop legend’s life. It was created by collaging 10 different images of his face throughout his life. It is also set to new audio recorded by Snoop for the drop.
According to a description on SuperRare, “the purple area is a nod to his hip-hop royalty. The halftone and grunge effect on his left eye speaks to his being an OG in the game and the Doggystyle references are a nod to his epic first release… This is the final 1/1 release of the Decentral Eyes Portrait Series in the OG style.”
Commenting on his latest NFT sting, Snopp tweeted:
"The tech we used allows the viewer 2 travel thru the piece and experience highlights of my career with some audio narration from me."
Interestingly, with only a few days left on the auction, a buyer is willing to pay 169 ETH (over $750,000) for the piece.
Speaking of Snoop Dogg’s activity in the booming NFT market, the artist made his foray into the space earlier this year when he launched a series of NFTs called "A Journey With the Dogg." He also revealed his identity as a high-value NFT collector.
Budweiser Launches 1,936 NFTs as “Key to the Budverse”
From Visa to McDonald’s, several global brands have jumped on the NFT train.
In August this year, American-style pale lager company Budweiser plunged into the NFT space when it acquired an Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domain called “beer.eth” and also bought a Bud-themed piece from Tom Sachs’ Rocket Factory collection. It spent a total of $96,000 to purchase the domain.
The company has now opted to take things a little further, debuting a collection of 1,936 “Core NFTs,” as well as 36 super rare “Gold NFTs” this week. Each NFT unlocks certain future benefits and perks.
Dubbed Budverse Cans: Heritage Edition, the series is a collection of 1,936 individual NFT collectibles. It references the year the company started producing beer in cans, featuring elements of classic photos, design documents, and company ads. According to the NFT website, “each NFT will act as an entry key to the Budverse, unlocking exclusive benefits, rewards and surprises for all 21+ (or legal drinking age) NFT holders.”
The Budverse Cans were sold at two levels of rarity. While Core Cans were available for $499 apiece, Gold Cans sold for $999 each. The NFTs were sold on OpenSea, with Budweiser minting the NFTs themselves before distributing them to buyers.
Interestingly, the collection sold out within an hour. And as expected about 1,800 of the Budweiser NFTs have already been listed on OpenSea to be resold at a floor price of 0.259 ETH.
FTX.US Expands to Ethereum NFTs, Opens Trading for Cryptopunks, Bored Apes and More
Months after launching its Solana NFT marketplace, FTX.US announced on Wednesday that it was expanding to Ethereum collectibles. The U.S.-based crypto exchange will now allow users to trade and display Ethereum NFTs on its previously Solana-only marketplace.
The move positions FTX.US as the first and so far the only NFT marketplace to offer both Ethereum and Solana NFTs. But will this be enough to compete with leading NFT marketplaces like OpenSea?
Speaking to crypto news site CoinDesk, FTX.US President Brett Harrison said:
“We’re starting with the top 10 – let’s call it – profile-pic, avatar-type projects, and then we’re gonna move on to the generative artwork and then go for the one-of-ones with basically the top volume… By not requiring gas for doing things like bids, we’re going to see a lot more price action and price discovery on the platform, and we hope that in general attracts liquidity.”
Similar to Solana NFTs, the marketplace still maintains its custodial and centralized approach. Consequently, customers are expected to go through some know-your-customer (KYC) checks. NFTs must also be transferred to the marketplace before they can be sold.
Investors Spend $100 million on Ethereum and Solana-based Metaverse Land in One Week
Play-to-earn, NFTs, and the metaverse have grown to become the latest buzzwords in the blockchain scene. The frenzy is being fueled by investors who are looking to get in early on the next big thing.
With a company like Facebook changing its name to “Meta,” one could assume that the metaverse mania is only just starting. According to crypto analytics site DappRadar, more than $100 million was invested in metaverse land and virtual real estate in the past week.
A metaverse land is a form of NFT that can be used to represent ownership of property online. Investors can buy land and build virtual worlds on their property. And although most metaverse projects currently exist on the Ethereum blockchain, Solana-based projects are beginning to gather steam. DappRadar wrote in its blog post:
“Undoubtedly, metaverse land is the next big hit in the NFT space. Outputting record sales numbers and constantly increasing NFT prices, virtual worlds are the new top commodity in the crypto space. Metaverse events are becoming an industry-standard in the crypto space. The wave of attention towards virtual worlds like The Sandbox and Decentraland started with Facebook’s rebranding to Meta […] However, this is only the tip of the iceberg that pushed the term metaverse into the mainstream. Virtual worlds carry such enormous potential, and we’re just beginning to see the full array of use cases for metaverse land.”
Looking into the details, The Sandbox is currently leading the pack of metaverse projects, having recorded the highest number of traders and sales. Last week, $86.66 million was spent on land on The Sandbox. The project has gained the attention of many big brands, including Adidas, Japanese tech investment firm Softbank, LG Technology Ventures, blockchain gaming company Animoca Brands and rapper Snoop Dogg.
Decentraland came in second place, with more than $15 million spent on land NFTs.
In general, the four top virtual world projects attracted combined traffic of more than 6,000 traders over the past week.
Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht Turns to NFTs to Help Convicts and Freedom Efforts
The founder of the now-defunct Silk Road marketplace, Ross Ulbricht, is tapping on NFTs to help support other prisoners and aid his freedom efforts.
Ulbricht announced in a Medium post that he was going to auction a line of NFTs detailing various points in his life, from childhood to his time in prison. The collection includes artwork, writings, and original animation by digital artist Levitate. It also includes a voiceover from Ulbricht.
"I was 29 years old when I was arrested. Suddenly, sitting in prison, I had time for drawing again. I reconnected with my artistic side, producing illustrations that told the story I was going through […] There is a lot we can do with the proceeds of this auction, but one idea I am committed to is to help kids travel to visit their moms and dads in prison."
The Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection made its debut on Thursday at the 2021 Art Basel event in Miami. The auction will be open on SuperRare until December 8.
Ulbricht was convicted in 2015 for running a criminal enterprise, narcotics trafficking and conspiracy to launder money.
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