Category: NFTs

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Crypto News NFTs

OpenSea Update Leaves Some Creators Unable to Mint New NFTs

In 2021, NFT platform OpenSea recorded over US$14 billion in transaction volume, an increase of 646 times over 2020. Unfortunately, its user experience hasn’t come close to its financial performance, as the exchange has experienced one PR disaster after the next.

The latest relates to a limitation on the number of NFTs a creator can mint:

OpenSea, One Drama After the Next

Over the past six months alone, Crypto News Australia has reported on several instances where OpenSea ended up with egg on its face. These include:

More Drama, Like a JPEG Soap Opera

Yesterday, OpenSea announced it had “updated our collection storefront contract limits” to only allow five collections per NFT wallet or user, and a maximum of 50 NFTs in each collection. Recognising that the community might not like it, the platform got on the front foot:

We know this change may impact our community, so please don’t hesitate to share how this affects your creative flow.

OpenSea via Twitter

Within hours, the NFT community was up in arms, with users calling it “unnecessary”, among other less cordial terms:

As some creators noted, for those who had already minted 50 or more in an existing collecting, they were unable to continue and deliver on promises made to prospective investors:

This is probably the worst response to some pretty wonderful competition emerging and others opening up just around the corner. Very sad to see. For me personally, I wouldn’t even care if they [OpenSea] reversed this one hour later. The fact that they would put this out there and let people wake up to it – I’m done with them.

David Horvath, Uglydoll co-founder

OpenSea Backtracks

In virtually no time, OpenSea did a complete 180 on its position, saying:

In a Twitter thread, it explained that the limitation was imposed to reduce plagiarism on the platform, but that it “should have previewed this with you before rolling it out”.

Considering OpenSea’s 2.5 percent fee, you’d imagine that at least part of its US$350 million in revenue in 2021 could go to some good PR management and training.

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Australia Blockchain Crypto Art Crypto News NFTs

Picasso Family Launches NFT Collection to Bridge Fine Art and NFT

Marina Picasso, granddaughter of famed 20th century artist Pablo Picasso, and her DJ/record producer son Florian Picasso, have announced a groundbreaking multi-platform collection of 1,010 NFTs.

The Picasso family plans to auction off more than 1,000 digital copies of a never-before-seen ceramic work by the Spanish artist, with the collection divided into multiple drops from January 28.

Marina and Florian Picasso with Pablo’s prized ceramic work. Source: bloomberg.com

The first collection consists of five limited sets of 200 NFTs entitled “Visage de Couleur” and will be sold via the family’s own marketplace, “ManAndTheBeat.com”, before the final collection of 10, titled “Visage de Lumière”, is released via Nifty Gateway.

Debuts in the Blockchain Marketplace

The collection released by the family will be further commemorated by Florian’s new song Tomorrow, which also features soul singer John Legend and rapper Nas, set for release on February 4. Marina will extend the NFT drop into March by partnering with an auction house for the sale of a one-of-one NFT paired with an exclusive piece from her private collection.

A portion of the proceeds from Picasso’s family NFT project will be donated to Nurse Heroes – a charity devoted to keeping nurses in the workforce – as well as Carbon180, a climate-focused NFO.

NFTs and Fine Arts Mesh

Blockchain and art enthusiasts are continually able to enjoy the two worlds come together. Last year, Australian multimedia artist Dave Court became the first in his field to stage a physical NFT exhibition. Court decked out an ordinary brick house in colours and light as part of a unique art installation. The house has since been demolished, but collectors can still purchase a digital piece of it online.

Another artist still making headlines is Beeple after his latest installation, Human One, paired with an NFT, sold at Christie’s for almost US$29 million in November.

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Crypto News NFTs Reddit Social media

Reddit Allows Users to Change Profile Pic to an NFT

Following Twitter’s lead earlier this month, Reddit is testing a new feature that would allow its 450 million users to set any NFT they own as their profile picture. And it’s not just limited to Reddit’s own Ethereum-based NFTs called “CryptoSnoos“, which the company released in limited number last year.

However, details regarding how Reddit’s support for NFTs would work have not yet been decided, much less revealed.

Reddit Expands its NFT Reach

Reddit has explained that the particular NFT test is still in the very early stages and has not yet been made available to public users on the site. According to company spokesperson Tim Rathschmidt, “We’re always exploring ways to provide value for users and communities on Reddit. At the moment we’re testing the ability to use NFTs as profile pictures (avatars) and [to] verify ownership.”

Rathschmidt added that it was still a small internal test and that no decision had been made regarding rolling out the feature’s capability.

This is not the first time Reddit has explored the NFT space, having set up a dedicated page for NFT-related activities at nft.reddit.com. At the moment, the page mainly focuses on CryptoSnoos, of which only four have have been released so far.

Reddit also recently launched a new Ethereum-based community points reward program to even more of its subreddits. Currently, the program is only available on two subreddits.

The news comes only a couple of months after a job posting for a senior backend engineer was posted to the site, fuelling speculation that the social media giant was building its own NFT platform.

CryptoSnoos already in existence. Source: Reddit

Users Not Entirely Convinced of Reddit’s Efforts

While many users are thrilled at the notion of Reddit testing out NFT profile pictures, many remain unconvinced or are downright angry about the venture, describing the expansion into NFTs as “idiotic”, “a gimmick”, among other far less complimentary terms in Reddit’s comments section. Others also displayed their concerns over the high prices associated with collectibles that currently exclude many people from the ecosystem:

Some are even calling it a Ponzi scheme:

And even a scam:

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Blockchain Crypto News Crypto Wallets Ethereum NFTs Social media

Ethereum Users Can Now Chat with Each Other by Connecting Their Wallets

Blockscan, the team behind the Etherscan blockchain explorer, has released Blockscan Chat in beta, an Ethereum-based wallet-to-wallet instant messaging service.

As well as enabling users to engage in instantaneous wallet-to-wallet chat, Blockscan will allow them to:

  • access chats from multiple devices;
  • block spam or unwanted addresses; and
  • be notified on the block explorer when a message has been received.

Negotiating Power with White-Hat Hackers

Above all else, the new feature may prove itself invaluable for dealing with white-hat hackers, who tend to leave messages embedded in Ethereum transactions in order to communicate with individuals and exploited crypto platforms.

It would have proved particularly useful in last week’s ongoing Multichain exploit, in which an assumed white-hat hacker returned 322 ETH (about US$770,000) but kept a hefty finder’s fee, not to mention last year’s US$610 million Poly Network hack. In both cases, anonymous discussions via Ethereum transactions formed part of negotiations between culprit and victims.

Blockscan Also Has NFT Applications

Apart from pleading with hackers to return funds for a bounty, the service could also prove useful in negotiating NFT purchases between buyers and sellers. If the transaction were to be conducted by a decentralised exchange, both parties could reduce the fees associated with NFT platforms such as OpenSea.

In related news, Unstoppable Domains – a US-based company that provides blockchain-based domain names – announced a fortnight ago that Ethereum and Polygon NFT domains can now be used for single logins. The service allows users to sign in to their favourite apps with an NFT portable name, thus eliminating the need to provide any additional information.

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Blockchain Google Metaverse NFTs

Google Launches its Own Blockchain Division

As reported by Bloomberg, software giant Google has reportedly formed a division focused on blockchain technology, appointing Shivakumar Venkataraman as the new executive to lead the unit.

What Will the Blockchain Division Do?

Venkataraman, an engineering vice-president for Google, says the new division will focus on “blockchain and other next-gen distributed computing and data storage technologies”.

The new division comes under the umbrella of Labs, an incubator created by Google that focuses on long-term projects regarding emerging technologies such as virtual reality. Venkataraman will also become the “founding leader” of Labs.

Not much is known about the group apart from the information obtained by Bloomberg. This is probably a response to other tech giants integrating emerging technologies, such as Meta (formerly Facebook) and Instagram, both exploring NFTs (non-fungible tokens).

Will Google Integrate Crypto into Its Business Model?

While it’s still not known if Google will integrate digital assets like Instagram and Meta plan to do, this could be its jumpstart for exploring crypto assets and their foundational technology.

Google has alleviated the pressure on cryptocurrency promotion by lifting its advertising ban last August, allowing crypto companies to place ads on its search engine and sites that are part of its platform.

Another tech giant focusing on the rise of NFTs and Web3 is Microsoft, which has followed Facebook/Meta into the metaverse by launching 3D avatars and immersive meetings.

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Crypto News Facebook NFTs

YouTube CEO Hints at NFT Integration

In a letter to creators, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has flagged that the company is interested in “expanding” its ecosystem to possibly include NFTs. This comes soon after competitors such as Twitter and Instagram announced they would also be expanding into the NFT space.

Wojcicki didn’t specify what the team at YouTube is planning, or even when, but this does mark the first time Alphabet Inc, the platform’s owner, is looking to become involved in the NFT space.

“We’re always focused on expanding the YouTube ecosystem to help creators capitalise on emerging technologies, including things like NFTs, while continuing to strengthen and enhance the experiences creators and fans have on YouTube,” Wojcicki wrote in the letter.

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. Source: wired.com

She also noted that Web3, a term used for internet models built around crypto, has been “a source of inspiration” for the company, adding that NFTs and decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) have the “unimaginable opportunity to grow the connection between creators and their fans”.

YouTube Already Has NFT Options in Place

Although its NFT expansion has not yet been confirmed, YouTube already has a number of ways it could allow creators to showcase their NFTs. The platform offers a “merch shelf” option that can appear under a creator’s video where they can, for example, feature products through an increasing number of supported retail partners. YouTube could also partner with NFT platforms and integrate crypto wallets to allow digital contributors to feature their NFTs there as well.

NFT holders are are naturally excited about the possibility, despite YouTube recently being at the centre of a massive crypto scam. Circle of Ninjas creator and Bored Ape Yacht Club #1334 owner David Gokhshtein expressed his enthusiasm, albeit in a sarcastic fashion:

Another Passenger on the NFT Bandwagon

The news from YouTube comes as a welcome surprise considering many of its competitors have already expanded their reach into the NFT-sphere. Twitter has just launched its latest in-development feature, implementing a verification tool for users who want to display their NFTs as profile pictures.

Meta, formerly Facebook, is also delving deeper into the space by reportedly drawing up plans to allow its users to create and display NFTs on both their Instagram and Facebook profiles.

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Crypto Art Crypto News NFTs

Pulp Fiction ‘Royale with Cheese’ NFT Sells for $1.1 Million Amid Impending Lawsuit

One Maccas quarter-pounder and cheese? That’ll be US$1.1 million. Cash or credit? Please make payment to the attention of TarantinoNFTs.com.

Just when you thought the non-fungible token world couldn’t get any crazier, director and screenwriter Quentin Tarantino’s first Pulp Fiction NFT has sold for that exact eye-watering figure, despite the best efforts of Miramax – the film studio that produced the 1994 cult classic – to block the sale.

You Want (French) Fries With That?

In November last year, as reported by Crypto News Australia, Tarantino announced he would auction off seven Pulp Fiction scenes as NFTs. On January 24, SCRT (Secret) Labs announced that the first of these, named for a scene in the film where a character explains how in Paris a McDonald’s cheeseburger is known as a “Royale with Cheese”, had sold for US$1.1 million to crypto collective AnonDAO.

However, Miramax immediately filed a lawsuit claiming intellectual property rights over the content. “Whatever limited rights Mr Tarantino has to screenplay publication, they do not permit the minting of unique NFTs associated with Miramax’s intellectual property,” lawyers for the studio said in a statement.

All seven scenes in the Pulp Fiction series offer Tarantino’s original handwritten screenplay from the film as one-of-a-kind NFTs. In collaboration with SCRT Labs, the scripts come with audio commentary from Tarantino explaining each scene’s significance.

Next Cab off the Rank: ‘Pumpkin and Honey Bunny’

Upcoming auctions of the remaining six NFTs will last for 24 hours or until the target price is reached. Scenes include: “Pumpkin and Honey Bunny”, “Foot Massage”, “Check Out the Big Brain on Brett”, “Captain Koons Monologue – The Gold Watch”, “Bring Out the Gimp”, and “Last Scene: Coffee Shop – Ezekiel 25:17”. Auctions run until January 31 through the Tarantino NFTs site.

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Blockchain Crypto News NFTs Social media

NFT Hater Builds Plug-in to Auto-Block NFT People on Twitter

Mcclure, a developer, GitHub contributor and obvious hater of NFTs, has built a plug-in that allows the auto-blocking of NFT proponents on Twitter. The release of the tool comes within 24 hours of Twitter rolling out its NFT verification feature for anyone who wants to prove they do in fact own the NFT they have displayed as their profile picture.

The “NFTBlocker” is a Google Chrome and Firefox plug-in that blocks Twitter users who have NFT profile pictures. Users who have installed the tool can press the “run NFT block” button, which then scrolls the page and blocks anybody with a seemingly offensive picture. According to the developer, future versions will scan the user’s notifications and run the blocking process automatically.

Why Block NFT Users?

Explaining on the GitHub page why anybody would be interested in blocking NFT users, Mcclure summarised three reasons:

  • NFTs are designed in a “foolish way” and their impact on global warming is great.
  • The NFT market is rife with scams and art theft.
  • NFT users are just irritating to be around.

The developer also gave his take on NFTs, providing an in-depth explanation. According to Mcclure, an NFT is an “investment scam”. In the README section of the GitHub page, Mcclure indicated the driving force behind Twitter’s pivot to using NFTs. The developer claims that former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey “is invested in cryptocurrency and if Twitter makes NFTs more popular, Jack Dorsey will make money”.

Mcclure might be a little misinformed in this instance, given that Dorsey has demonstrated little interest in NFTs since stepping down as CEO of Twitter in 2021.

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Crypto News Ethereum Hackers NFTs

OpenSea Bug Sees Bored Apes Sold for 90% Below Market Value

A bug has been exploited by hackers to purchase NFTs from OpenSea users at well below market value. The loophole allowed Bored Ape #8924 to be snatched up for an old sale price listing of only 6.66 ETH (about US$16,200), leaving its seller, VirtualToast.eth, very angry.

VirtualToast.eth expressed his outrage at OpenSea’s negligence and warned other users of the platform’s flaw, urging them to remove all permissions for OpenSea to avoid suffering the same fate:

The bug allows attackers to snap up NFTs at previously listed prices (chosen by the seller in the past), which are often well below current market prices. The exploit relies on the fact that NFT owners are unaware that old marketplace listings for their NFTs are still active. This is due to the seller not delisting the item correctly by paying a gas fee. The Messenger | NFT posted on Twitter to help explain the issue:

Source: @MessengersCry

To protect users, Rarible was quick to temporarily disable all OpenSea orders on Rarible.com. It also developed a tool, Rarible Order Manager, to allow everyone to see and cancel their potentially risky sale orders.

Other NFTs Flipped Following Exploit

Etherscan has dubbed the account in question “OpenSea Opportunistic Buyer”. The exploit allowed the buyer in question (who goes by the name “jpegdegenlove“) to successfully purchase other NFTs at heavily discounted prices, including BAYC NFT #8274 for just under 23 ETH (around $56,000) and BAYC #9991 for just 0.77 ETH (about $1,800). The floor price for a BAYC NFT is currently 86 ETH, worth almost $210,000 at the time of writing.

“Jpegdegenlove” bought seven NFTs in the hack, paying a total of $133,000, before immediately flipping them for $934,000 in ETH and sending the funds through Tornado Cash.

Interestingly, “jpegdegenlove” seems to have partially compensated two of his/her victims, sending 20 ETH ($49,000) to “TBALLER” and 13 ETH ($32,000) to “Vault327”.

This isn’t the first time OpenSea has been criticised for flaws in its code. Just a few months ago, Crypto News Australia reported a bug on the platform that destroyed at least 42 NFTs worth around US$100,000.

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Crypto Art Crypto News Fashion NFTs

Adidas Teams Up with Prada to Launch User-Generated NFTs

The worlds of fashion, design and crypto intersect in a new collaboration between Adidas Originals and Prada that will feature user-generated content and creator-owned art.

Adidas Originals and Prada have invited their respective audiences to contribute anonymised photographs to the non-fungible token (NFT) project on the Ethereum-compatible Polygon network.

Digital Artist to Create Mass-Patchwork NFT Design

New York City-based digital and new media artist Zach Lieberman will compile 3000 joint community-sourced minted NFT artworks into a single mass-patchwork NFT design. Contributors will retain full ownership rights over their individual NFT tiles, and participation in the project – dubbed adidas for Prada re-source – is free.

An example of Zach Lieberman’s interactive art. Source: the verge.com

Contributors whose tiles are featured in the final project will have the chance to earn a form of royalty on the secondary market, according to the joint Adidas-Prada release:

Owners of each individual NFT will receive a percentage of the auction sale of adidas for Prada re-source each time it is sold, in perpetuity. This new structure of shared ownership, made possible by Web3 technology, represents a cultural shift towards creator rights which is core to the crypto arts movement.

Adidas-Prada release

Proceeds to Go to NPO Slow Factory

The completed NFT will be auctioned on SuperRare with most of the auction proceeds to go to non-profit organisation Slow Factory, which purports to assist marginalised people “to become climate leaders through regenerative design, open education, and narrative change”.

The waitlist is open from January 24 at adidas.com/prada-nft.

The collaboration with Prada follows the success of Adidas Originals’ Into the Metaverse, its debut NFT project launched last month, which minted 30,000 NFTs to more than 21,000 buyers.