Category: NFTs

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Bored Ape Yacht Club Ethereum Metaverse NFTs Polygon

ApeCoin Integrates with Polygon After NFT Mint Disaster

ApeCoin (APE) has integrated with Polygon, an Ethereum sidechain known for delivering faster and cheaper transactions, as a direct consequence of Yuga Labs’ recent Otherdeeds NFT mint disaster:

This week, Crypto News Australia reported how Yuga Labs made more than US$550 million with the minting of its virtual lands called Otherdeeds, NFTs belonging to the company’s metaverse project, Otherside.

Ethereum Blockchain Brought to its Knees

However, the hype and demand for Otherdeeds caused massive congestion on the Ethereum network, leading to a sharp increase in gas fees and practically shutting down the entire Ethereum blockchain.

Some users reported paying up to US$10k to $14k in gas fees to obtain their Otherdeeds NFTs, but some others weren’t so lucky as they paid the gas fee but the transaction still failed. Yuga Labs said it would refund users who had experienced failed transactions for their gas:

‘You Messed Up,’ Says Community

Yuga Labs remarked that the demand was higher than expected, and that Ethereum’s capacity failed to meet the project’s size. However, the community started speculating that this was just a marketing stunt to show that ApeCoin needs its own chain.

ApeCoin DAO board member Yat Siu dismissed the allegations, saying Yuga Labs encourages its DAO to propose ideas for a new chain. Yet it seems the community is not buying it:

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Australia Crypto News Fashion NFTs

Australian Fashion Week to ‘Take Crypto to the Catwalk’

Cryptocurrency exchange BTC Markets has been announced as an official partner of 2022 Afterpay Australian Fashion Week (AFW), and will take to the runway across various venues in Sydney next week with a haute couture dress that doubles as an NFT.

Dress Buyable as an NFT or Actual Garment

The dress, designed by eponymous Australian label CCO (chief creative officer) and founder Daniel Avakian, will be displayed virtually in animated avatar form and buyable as an NFT. It will also be displayed physically during AFW, from May 9-13, and available for sale as a real garment.

Caroline Bowler, CEO of crypto exchange BTC Markets. Source: news.com.au

BTC Markets CEO Caroline Bowler will speak at AFW on May 10 as part of a series of panel discussions involving “notable” industry leaders. In a statement on its website, AFW organisers announced how one of those sessions would focus on crypto’s role in fashion:

Fashion has entered the metaverse, with NFTs and augmented reality gaining popularity among consumers who want more ways to shop and engage with brands. The session will break down the fashion-tech trends.

Australian Fashion Week website

Female Crypto Investors Outstrip Men: BTC Survey

Bowler says BTC Markets’ association with AFW will help the company connect with the crypto-savvy women of Australia, a smart move considering the number of females signing up for crypto trading accounts has risen by 128 percent compared to last year. (The corresponding figure for men is 83 percent, according to the company’s own research.)

Fashion houses including Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Victoria’s Secret are no strangers to NFTs and the metaverse. In March this year, Decentraland hosted the world’s first Metaverse Fashion Week, with the participation of Paco Rabanne, Dolce & Gabbana, Tommy Hilfiger and other elite brands.

And last year, Australian venture capital firm Morgans Financial staked US$9 million on a local NFT fashion app for virtual showrooms.

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Australia NFTs Scams Sports

Aussie Crypto Project Sportemon Go Token Collapses Leaving Investors Fuming

Australia-founded crypto NFT project Sportemon Go has ceased trading on its native token SGOX, leaving investors disgruntled, to say the least.

The news has spread across all major UK news media as Sportemon Go was sponsoring Scottish football clubs Rangers and Hibs. The brand removed all presence from social media on Monday night and locked up its website before resurfacing with a notice:

The SGOX Token has ceased trading. The community voted unanimously to redeem SGOX for L1TF token. This was [a] great result for Token holders, with 1 x SGOX Token being redeemable for 1 x Liberty One Treasury Fund Token. This was overwhelmingly voted in favour by over 90% of holders, with more than 95% of tokens. Also note the Team, Athletes and other IP are currently being removed or deleted, as we finalise amicable termination agreements. These will all be removed once finalised. For further partner and token information or information on how to redeem tokens, please email: [email protected]

Notice on Sportemongo website

Rangers signed a two-year deal with Sportemon Go in October 2021 and the club has since featured the Sportemon Go logo on its player strip and TV ads for the brand.

The Edinburgh Evening News reported that Hibernian FC, aka Hibs, began to distance itself from Sportemon Go after it showed signs of financial difficulty some months ago, with commercial director Greg McEwan telling the paper: “Knowing Sportemon Go’s difficulties, we had been planning for a mutual termination of the partnership and have a new partner in place for the upcoming season, which will be announced soon.”

What Now For Sportemon Go?

Sportemon Go co-founder Ricky Jackson has taken to Twitter and Telegram to try to calm the FUD caused by the SGOX token collapse:

At the time of writing, there was no information about the new “Liberty One Treasury Fund Token” referred to in Sportemon Go’s website notice and there are reports that SGOX token holders were not adequately notified about any voting poll. With the brand’s Telegram channel history deleted, there is nothing in the discussions.

Investors took to Twitter to voice their frustrations, with some writing off their DeFi investment in the project:

SGO Biting Off More Than It Can Chew?

Crypto News Australia reported last August that Sportemon Go was to create NFTs for Australian cricket legend Adam Gilchrist. Since then we have followed the project, and it has promised more and more platforms, features and tokens, including (but not limited to):

  • an SGO NFT marketplace
  • Australian ‘Home Town Heroes’ sports NFTs
  • SGO Bot NFTs
  • NFTs for NRL team the South Sydney Rabbitohs
  • NFTs for Scottish football team Rangers
  • Metarace virtual dog racing NFTs
  • Virtual Metaverses Play-to-Earn
  • eSports Integration for Personalisation
  • Rewards for gaming
  • Physical and Virtual Fan Experiences
  • SGO token launch on ETH
  • SGOX token launch on BSC
  • SGO/SGOX Staking Pool
  • Stablecoin Liberty Project

Delivering on all of these features would be quite a task, and it may simply be that Sportemon Go has bitten off more than it could chew.

Crypto News has contacted Sportemon Go for comment and will update this story once a response or further information is received.

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Bored Ape Yacht Club Ethereum Metaverse NFTs

Yuga Labs To Offer Gas Refunds After ‘Otherside’ NFT Mint Burned $157 Million in ETH

ApeCoin (APE), the governance token of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), has plunged as much as 11 percent after a catastrophic NFT sale by Yuga Labs.

Single NFT Collection Shuts Down Ethereum

The price drop came shortly after Yuga Labs (the company behind BAYC) made over US$550 million with the sale of “Otherdeeds“, a new Ethereum-based NFT collection that’s part of the Otherside metaverse.

However, the sale came with a few problems. The NFTs sold at a fixed price of 305 ApeCoin, or roughly US$7,000 each, but the high demand congested the Ethereum network to the point of rendering it practically useless:

Up to $14k in Gas Fees

Users reported paying gas fees from up to US$9,000 to $14,000, while others saw their transactions declined as a result of high network traffic. Yuga Labs said it would refund gas to affected users, but didn’t disclose when:

Over 71,000 ETH – approximately US$200 million at time of writing – was paid in gas fees, a new record for the Ethereum network. Fees were burned or destroyed, taking $200 million in liquidity out of the market.

While Ethereum gas fees are back to their usual levels, the price of ApeCoin dropped sharply after the event. At press time APE was trading at $14.19, down 4 percent from its recent weekly high, and trading volumes are still in the red with a 34.81 percent drop.

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Airdrop ETFs NFTs Regulation

VanEck Community Airdrop ‘NFT to Function Like a Digital Membership Card’

US asset management firm VanEck has announced that the first NFT of its upcoming collection is set to be launched and delivered via Airdrop. The collection will follow “Hammy” (Alexander Hamilton, the first US Treasury Secretary) and his journey through monetary policy’s past, present and future.

265 Alexander Hamilton Ten Dollar Bill Photos - Free ... https://www.dreamstime.com/photos-images/alexander-hamilton-ten-dollar-bill.html
US monetary policy pioneer Alexander Hamilton set to become an NFT.

For the first 1,000 of those who signed up for the project, the initial Airdrop takes place this week. At the end of the month, each purchased NFT will transform into a unique avatar that permits exclusive access to content produced by VanEck.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattbartlett1/overlay/photo/

The use of this NFT allows us to build an exclusive community where members who hold said NFT are invited to experiences and events where they can network with like-minded investors and crypto enthusiasts.

Matthew Bartlett, internal sales manager, VanEck

The major selling point of the collection will be the exclusive access it grants to in-person and digital events. It is intended to be an “NFT [that] functions as a digital membership card”, with the collection split into three tiers – common, rare, and legendary, with the latter tier having only 20 NFTs in circulation. The higher your NFT’s ranking, the more exclusive benefits will be available to you.  

Airdrops Gain Traction

Airdropping is now a popular method of dispensing crypto and NFTs to users. Last month, Ethereum scaling solution Optimism announced plans to utilise Airdrop to help its new token, OP, take off. It plans to feature several more Airdrop-based events, the next scheduled for a yet-to-be-announced date in Q2.

In other recent, less positive news regarding VanEck, November 2021 saw its rejection by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding ETF manipulation concerns. VanEck’s application for the Bitcoin ETF was denied as the fund allegedly did not meet its burden under the Exchange Act and the SEC’s Rules of Practice.

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Crypto News Fantasy Sports NFTs Sports

PGA Golf Tour Close to Deal With ‘Sorare’ Giving Players NFT-Based Income

Following the lead of major league baseball, basketball and various football codes, the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour is on the verge of launching NFT programs in concert with digital platforms Sorare and Autograph.

In a deal yet to be finalised, players stand to earn revenue based on the sales performance of NFTs using their name, image and likeness (NIL).

Autograph was co-founded last year by American football player Tom Brady as a platform for athletes and celebrities to market branded NFT collections, with former golf superstar Tiger Woods – among other sports celebrities – an equity holder and board adviser.

PGA Shoots for Fantasy Sports Par

Until now, Sorare has focused on soccer and acquired NFT video partnerships with major associations in Europe and the US. However, its main product is a digital fantasy sports game based on NFTs.

A deal with the PGA Tour for fantasy trading cards could lead to Sorare expanding into other sports. One of those is tennis, and to that end the company has signed multiple grand slam winner Serena Williams as an adviser.

Golf Perceived as ‘Crypto-Friendly’

With its appeal to a wealthy audience, golf is one of the more crypto-friendly sports. Market research shows that 37 percent of PGA Tour fans own crypto, compared to 32 and 27 percent of NBA and NFL followers, respectively. Another indicator is that golf startup LinksDAO raised US$11 million earlier this year to build a course.

Unlike team sports, the PGA needs only athletes’ individual approval to use their NIL. Golfers will have to “sign up” for Sorare to mint their trading cards or for Autograph to sell NFTs featuring their highlights packages.

NFT Royalties Tied to Performance

PGA Tour golfers who opt in will earn a lump sum based on their performance at the previous year’s FedEx Cup, the sport’s season-long points competition. Additionally, they will earn pro-rata royalty payments based on the market performance of their respective NFTs and trading cards. Golfers can still launch their own NFT collections, but they will not be allowed to use Tour-licensed images.

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Bored Ape Yacht Club Crypto News Ethereum Metaverse NFTs

Bored Apes Metaverse Project ‘Otherside’ Tops $561 Million in 24 Hours

Yuga Labs, creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) series, has witnessed US$561 million in Otherside NFT sales within a matter of 24 hours. The craze led to the crash of Etherscan, and Ethereum gas fees blew out to thousands of dollars per transaction.

The highly anticipated Otherside metaverse mint on April 30 clogged the Ethereum mainnet, catapulting gas fees to shocking new heights. In less than a day, Yuga Labs generated most of its sales from just the Otherside’s “Otherdeed” NFT, intended as “the key to claiming land in Otherside”, Yuga’s upcoming metaverse game.

A total of 55,000 NFTs were minted at 305 APE each, which translates to about US$5,800 per Otherdeed, given Apecoin’s price at the time of the mint. From this mint alone, Yuga Labs raked in over US$318.7 million.

According to data from CryptoSlam, Otherdeed has already seen over US$242 million in secondary volume traded, and US$190 million of that was on OpenSea. APE pumped 55 percent last month following rumours of a land drop going viral.

High Demand Causes Etherscan Crash

Given the high number of NFTs and higher demand, the Otherdeed mint immediately caused a massive surge in Ethereum gas fees. Traffic on block explorer Etherscan also led to the site crashing. Gas wars, such as experienced in this mint, can occur on proof-of-work chains such as Ethereum when a sudden increase in demand for fast transactions clogs a network, sending fees soaring:

Gas fees on Ethereum saw extreme spikes up to thousands of dollars per transaction. While some were able to get their transactions processed within a few hours for a couple of hundred dollars in gas fees, others reported paying upwards of US$4,000 for a single transaction.

Given the context, the average price of Ethereum gas over the course of the night was more than US$6,000, about 100 to 200 times the normal fee. Data from Etherscan shows that users have paid around 64,000 ETH in gas fees, equalling in excess of US$175 million in 24 hours in relation to Otherside.

Gas Fees Could Have Been Averted

Will Papper, the co-founder of Syndicate DAO, has said that the contract had “nearly zero optimisations” and provided a few “tricks” that could have “saved many millions”:

Yuga Labs has addressed the gas fees issue, noting that the mint was “so large that Etherscan crashed”, and apologised for “turning off the lights on Ethereum for a while”:

There has been a lot of concern regarding Ethereum’s high gas fees, and many Ethereum layer 2 NFT marketplaces are aiming to effect reductions.

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Crypto News NFTs Ukraine

Ukraine Launches Website for Donating and Buying NFTs

The Ukrainian government has launched a website for NFT (non-fungible token) donations in an attempt to raise funds to aid the country’s military forces in their ongoing conflict with Russia.

Supporting the Ukrainian Military With NFT Donations

The new marketplace, which comes with an ETH address for everyone wishing to donate, will host a wide range of NFTs, including the popular MoonCat collection and the Ethereum-based CryptoPunks.

Government NFT marketplace. Source: Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine

So far, the Ukrainian government has received over US$100 million from crypto donations, an amount acquired shortly after digital assets exchange Kraken and the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) joined the charitable efforts last month.

The proceeds were largely used to buy the necessary equipment for Ukraine’s military arm, including bulletproof vests, medicine, and general supplies.

Blockchain, crypto and NFTs will not stop missiles, said Alex Bornyakov, the Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, “but [they] do offer a way to protect our defenders and rebuild Ukraine as an innovation-friendly country”:

While the Ukrainian government is happy to attract crypto donations, recent news of its limiting crypto purchases has baffled the wider community. As Crypto News Australia reported last week, the National Bank of Ukraine has prohibited citizens from buying more than 100,000 UAH (approximately US$3,400) worth of crypto per month.

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NFTs

Mercedes Formula 1 NFTs Come with a Piece of the Actual Car

With Formula One’s Miami Grand Prix ready to roll next weekend, Mercedes has announced a new NFT collection. The twist? It could come with a piece of the actual car:

NFTs You Can Touch

F1 team Mercedes-AMG Patronus has revealed a long-term alliance with global crypto exchange FTX for the release of NFT collectibles for the Miami Grand Prix and the remainder of the 2022 race season.

FTX will be releasing 2,500 free-to-claim “ticket stubs” in the form of artistic renditions of actual race tickets. This gives fans the opportunity to collect ticket stubs throughout the season, creating a community of traders with a passion for racing.

The Miami event will even feature Mad Dog Jones, a notable NFT creator. Fans can also look forward to two special NFTs attached to the rear wing endplates of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton’s race cars – both of which will be auctioned together with accompanying Mad Dog Jones NFTs.

While the goal of the collection is to increase fan engagement, many have pushed back, mocking the initiative as far as calling it a “scam” and “stupid”:

Not Mercedes’ First Rodeo

This isn’t Mercedes’ first venture into the world of NFTs. In January, it teamed up with Art2People to launch a collection to celebrate its G-class series.

More recently, South Korean manufacturer Hyundai dipped its toe into the NFT ecosystem with its ‘Metamobility Universe’.

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Crypto News Ethereum NFTs Solana

Solana NFT Project ‘Okay Bears’ Sets Record Day 1 Sales

As Solana continues to challenge Ethereum’s dominance of the NFT ecosystem, the former’s new profile picture project Okay Bears generated more trading volume on its first day than any rival’s.

With 10,000 unique avatars, Okay Bears launched this week on Solana NFT marketplace Magic Eden at a mint price of 1.5 SOL (about US$145) per NFT. Secondary market sales quickly surged, sending the price of the collection soaring and generating US$18.4 million in trading volume.

First For Solana in Terms of a Single Day’s Trading Volume

The stunning Okay Bears performance represents the first time a Solana NFT project has beaten individual Ethereum projects in terms of 24-hour trading volume.

“Solana projects have just as bright a future as projects on other chains,” said Tiffany Huang, Magic Eden’s head of content and marketing, with some understatement.

With a more than passing physical resemblance to Ethereum’s Bored Ape Yacht Club avatars, Okay Bears sport a random array of mix-and-match traits. And like BAYC, the creators of Okay Bears plan to reward holders with future NFT drops, additional perks and benefits.

According to Huang, the platform generated over 380,000 SOL (about US$37.4 million) of secondary trading volume in 24 hours, a record for Solana. Yet Ethereum retains the ascendancy with its recent MoonBirds NFT launch generating more than US$200 million on debut. Earlier this week, a single Moonbirds NFT changed hands for more than US$1 million.