Category: NFTs

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Fantasy Sports NFTs Sorare

Major League Baseball NFT Fantasy Sports is Coming with Sorare Partnership

Sorare, creator of the popular NFT fantasy football game, is now set to expand the game to Major League Baseball, partnering exclusively with the MLB and the MLB Players Association.

Team-Building Exercise With New Baseball NFTs

Sorare, known for its Ethereum-based NFT fantasy soccer game – one of the most popular on the blockchain – is broadening its portfolio with the addition of an MLB NFT fantasy collection. Co-founder and CEO Nicolas Julia drove the May 13 announcement:

https://www.slush.org/person/nicolas-julia/

MLB has been at the forefront of interactive games for decades … Today, as digital engagement and technology evolve for a new generation, our partnership will help a new and broader fanbase to connect with America’s pastime.

Nicolas Julia, CEO, Sorare

The project will be Sorare’s first new fantasy sport since its 2019 launch of fantasy soccer. Set to release this northern summer, the game will allow fans to build a team with the player NFTs they collect and enter those teams into tournaments. The results of the fantasy team will be based on the weekly performance of the real players.

Sorare’s Other Sports-Based NFTs

Sorare has been active in the sports NFT community, signing two new deals with the collection’s respective teams. In March, Sorare signed up MLS football league to its NFT fantasy football game. This time, US Major League Soccer joined the Sorare platform of collectibles – the first American league to join.

This month, Sorare is on the verge of closing a deal with the PGA Golf Tour. While the deal is yet to be finalised, Sorare is set to launch NFTs for the players, allowing them to earn revenue based on their NFTs’ sales performance.

If you would like to learn more about Sorare fantasy football check out our Sorare Fantasy Football Game Review.

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Crypto Art Crypto News NFTs

Madonna and Beeple Partner Up for Bizarre NFT Collection

Pop singer and cultural icon Madonna is well-known for her boundary-breaking love of all things risqué and has taken this to a new level. Partnering up with famous NFT artist Beeple, Madonna has released a series of NFTs that leave very little to the imagination when it comes to motherhood.

The series features three videos of Madonna-as-mother in virtual-reality simulations where she respectively “gives birth” to a tree, butterflies, and robotic centipedes:

Madonna Bares All for Women and Children

Madonna sparked confusion and some social media dismay this week with the release of her NFT collection, called ‘Mother of Creation’. The series of three single-edition NFTs features the singer naked and in the act of “mothering” various forms of life.

It’s been an amazing journey building this from an intellectual idea to an emotional story, giving birth to art. I wanted to investigate the concept of creation, not only the way a child enters the world through a woman’s vagina, but also the way an artist gives birth to creativity. Most importantly, we wanted to use this opportunity to benefit mothers and children who are most in need right now.

Madonna, pop singer and cultural icon

The first, titled ‘Mother of Nature’, sees Madonna lying on a laboratory bed and “giving birth” to a tree that starts to blossom as it exits her body. The second, ‘Mother of Evolution’, depicts her recumbent on an abandoned vehicle in an almost destroyed city where she is seen “giving birth” to butterflies. In the final instalment of the series, ‘Mother of Technology’, the singer is seen lying in a forest and “birthing” a series of biomechanical centipedes.

Madonna commented: “When Mike [Michael Joseph Winkelmann, aka Beeple] and I decided to collaborate on this project a year ago, I was excited to have the opportunity to share my vision of the world as a mother and an artist with Mike’s own unique point of view.”

Proceeds Go to Three Worthy NPOs

Proceeds from the NFT sales will benefit three non-profit organisations that support women and children. These are the Voices of Children Foundation, the City of Joy Foundation, and Black Mama’s Bail Out.

The collection has been slated as “soft-core porn” and has upset many who took to Twitter to express their dismay, but Madonna is not the first to bring the porn industry together with NFTs.

Racy online subscription service OnlyFans announced in February that its users could use ETH NFTs as their profile pictures. Also, the original and biggest player, Playboy entered the space last year when it combined its 68-year legacy of arts patronage and progressive conversations on sexuality with an exhibit that invited the digital art community to create original works to celebrate what it called “sexual liberation, gender equality and representation”.

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Crypto News NFTs Scams

Azuki NFTs Collapse 63% Amid Revelations of Founder’s Failed NFT Projects

Azuki NFTs have plunged 63 percent in price after the project’s pseudonymous founder Zagabond revealed his previous involvement in three failed NFT projects – some of them considered rugpulls.

Azukies are currently the sixth-highest-selling collection but now both the project and its founder face a massive backlash from the crypto Twitter community, shortly after Zagabond published a blog post talking about his previous experience building NFT projects:

In the blog post, Zagabond revealed he was behind three NFT projects before Azukies – CryptoPhunks, Tendies and CryptoZunks – all abandoned by their founders after they failed to gain traction.

Zagabond’s approach was to share his previous work and experience in the digital art field but the publication of his post backfired within hours as several users pointed out his previous projects were scams. After the blog’s publication, Azukies went from trading at an average of 20 ETH, or approximately US$49,900, to barely 9 ETH ($21,380).

Zagabond Dismisses Accusations

Zagabond quickly dismissed the accusations, saying he and the other creators delivered everything that was promised and the fact that they had no PMF, or product-market fit (the degree to which a product satisfies a market demand), didn’t mean the projects were rugs:

One Zagabond defender noted that if these projects had delivered their users what was promised, then the creators had no need to continue to work on them:

It seems that consumers still have an expectation that the team and the developers will continue to work on the project in perpetuity. And as a creative, are you indebted to these community members and this project forever?

Zagabond blog post

However, the majority remained reluctant. “No PMF yet you profited millions while buyers were left holding the bag?” one user commented.

Another Twitter user shared on-chain data about the CryptoPhunks creator performing a flashloan transaction of 5,000 ETH on the NFT marketplace LooksRare:

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Crypto News Facebook NFTs

Meta to Start Testing Digital Collectibles on Instagram

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, will start testing digital collectibles on a small number of users on its Instagram platform, according to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

A small group of creators and collectors in the US on Instagram will be able to use NFTs as profile pictures in a move similar to what Twitter has done in recent months. The test group will be able to post NFTs at no cost by linking their third-party digital wallets in-app. Each NFT will get a special “shimmer” around the photo attributing the piece to both creator and owner.

Ethereum and Polygon Provide Initial Blockchain Support

Ethereum and Polygon are blockchains that will be supported, with Flow and Solana launching soon. Rainbow, MetaMask and Trust Wallet, along with Coinbase, Dapper and Phantom, will be compatible with the platform.

Zuckerberg commented: “Meta plans to bring NFTs to apps in our family. This week, we’re starting to test digital collectibles on Instagram so creators and collectors can display their NFTs on their profile. Similar functionality is coming to Facebook soon, along with augmented reality NFTs on Instagram Stories via Spark AR [a free studio that allows businesses and private users to create their own filters] so you can place digital art into physical spaces.”

Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, tweeted in agreement:

The news comes after speculation that Meta will support NFTs from Ethereum, Solana and Polygon, and confirms the rumour raised last year that the social media giant would support NFTs via the Novi digital wallet.

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CryptoPunks Markets NFTs

CryptoPunk Sells for Just $140k, 87% Lower than All-Time High

In a sign that the public’s appetite for cartoonish NFT art might’ve peaked, CryptoPunk #273, a male punk with a cap and “big shades”, sold on May 8 for US$139,836, which is 87 percent lower than its October 19, 2021 purchase price of US$1.03 million. 

That’s an eye-watering loss of around US$890,000 in just over six months and is consistent with a recent downward trend in the CryptoPunks market, with eight of the last 10 NFTs changing hands at a loss:

You’re Not Feeling Lucky, Punk

The slowdown in the CryptoPunks market reflects a general weakening of interest in NFTs in the first quarter of 2022, with data from the crypto analysis site NonFungible showing a decrease in transactions volume of 47 percent quarter on quarter.

An increase in exploits and NFT thefts, such as a recent phishing scam that resulted in the loss of US$2.8 million Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs, in addition to the downturn in the wider crypto market, may partially explain the cooling of prices.

Other popular NFT collections are also seeing dramatic falls in their floor prices (the cheapest NFT in the collection): BAYC’s floor price is down around 55 percent since April 29 and Moonbirds’ floor price fell 34 percent in a single day yesterday. 

Not All Doom and Gloom

Despite the recent declining values of some collections, it’s not all bad news for the NFT market – so far this year there’s been US$16 billion worth of organic trading volume, almost two-thirds of the 2021 total of US25 billion, and we’re only in May. 

Also, many NFT owners who got in early are still up considerably on their initial investment, such as the Australian man who bought a Bored Ape NFT in 2021 for US$300 which is now valued at around US$5 million.

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Hackers NFTs OpenSea Scams

OpenSea Discord Hacked, NFTs Stolen Using Fake YouTube Site

OpenSea has suffered a security breach on its main Discord channel, allowing hackers to promote a fake YouTube partnership with the NFT platform. OpenSea Support warned the community not to click on any links in its Discord channel, and that it would investigate the situation:

The scam was first pointed out by a Twitter user called Serpent, who shared a screenshot of the marketplace’s hacked Discord, showing the scammers promoting an NFT mint pass as part of a fake partnership with YouTube and a link to a phishing site:

Webhooks Used for Phishing

Apparently, the hacker(s) used webhooks – a technique used to augment or alter the behaviour of a web page in real-time – to access server controls.

The hacker(s) was able to stay on the server for a considerable amount of time before OpenSea staff were able to regain control. It appears that at least 13 wallets had fallen victim to the scam, as per on-chain data on Etherscan.

Another Discord Channel Hacked

Compromised Discord servers aren’t that uncommon, and more users are demanding better security protocols from the messaging platform.

It seems NFT channels are the biggest target for scammers. A month ago, Crypto News Australia reported how $APE dropped over 20 percent after the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) Discord channel got hacked.

Five months ago, blockchain gaming company Animoca had to repay users 265 ETH, or US$1.1 million, after several victims fell for fake NFTs, draining a considerable amount of money out of investors’ pockets.

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Australia Bored Ape Yacht Club Crypto News NFTs

Australian Bored Ape NFT Investor Turns $300 into $5 Million

An Australian investor in the NFT space has managed to turn US$300 into a whopping US$5 million. Steve Morlando is the proud owner of Bored Ape #2177 (above), a particularly rare ape in the series, which he bought last year for what amounts to 0.01 percent of its current value.

Morlando acquired the Ape before NFTs took off. He says he won’t be selling it anytime soon, unless somebody quadruples their offer, and he freely admits the project could yet crash and be worth nothing. The Aussie is a seasoned online gambler and blogger and is a huge proponent of the emerging NFT market, to the point of launching his own collection.

Morlando is also a long-term investor who seeks out projects to hold for a minimum of 10 years. “In 2020 I was on Twitter and all the crypto people I followed started talking about NFTs,” he told The Sydney Morning Herald. “I got very close to buying a few but didn’t and probably researched it for three or four months before, eventually, I bought a Beeple piece called Bull Run for $1000, and then the whole space just exploded.

I had offers of $300,000 to $400,000 on that piece just two or three months after I bought it. And then May came around, and I saw a project called the Bored Apes. I had a few ethereum left in my wallet and I thought they looked cool, so I minted 10 of them, and I was lucky enough to get one of the rarest ones, a gold ape … for which I now get offers of $5 million-plus, weekly.

Steve Morlando, NFT investor

NFTs are ‘Double-Sided’

For Morlando, NFTs have two different sides. On one side, some NFTs are just beautiful art and on the other side are projects like BAYC, which is “like gambling squared”. He explains that you are gambling when you pick a project that does well, “then you are gambling if you are to get a rare one in the set, and then you gamble again if the project team can do what they say they’re going to do”.

Regulatory Clarity Needed in Australia

The NFT space in Australia is heating up with projects garnering a high degree of popularity in the country. As a result, more clarity needs to be offered regarding regulation for digital assets and artists. It has been noted that the country needs to implement policy specifically related to NFTs to stave off a potential “brain drain” on the Australian economy, according to NSW Liberal Senator and crypto proponent Andrew Bragg.

Regulatory clarity will offer greater protection to artists from Australia, such as those of the Yolngu nation in the Northern Territory who have started to digitise their work as NFTs in an effort to create a new stream of income and share their art with the global market.

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Crypto News Metaverse NFTs Virtual Reality

Sony Partners with Theta Labs to Launch Interactive 3D NFTs

NFTs are set to go 3D as the result of a partnership between Sony and Theta Labs that has revolutionary ramifications for how future viewers engage with the metaverse.

The Theta Project will take the form of a decentralised video streaming and/or delivery network with its own native crypto asset, THETA. Associated NFTs will be crafted for the Sony Spatial Reality Display (SRD) and are designed for three-dimensional viewing. They will also be available in 2D versions:

Sony’s SRD is a tablet-like device that leverages technologies such as augmented reality and 3D enhancements. The Japanese multinational’s official YouTube channel has issued a video that showcases the device:

Nick Colsey, Sony’s VP of business development, believes NFTs will only enhance the SRD experience:

Immersive, three-dimensional NFTs are a great way to showcase the potential of Sony’s SRD for metaverse enthusiasts and collectors. Theta’s NFTs are the latest way we can show our rapid adoption of metaverse-friendly technology.

Nick Colsey, VP of business development, Sony Corporation

No Need For Designated 3D Eyewear

The revolutionary aspect of the SRD monitor is that it allows the viewer to partake in 3D experiences without the need for traditional 3D accessories such as glasses or goggles. Instead, the device tracks eye movement and automatically adjusts the 3D display as the viewer moves.

As Theta Labs’ co-founder and CEO Mitch Liu notes, “the metaverse is already 3D”, which opens up the need for users to be able to “visualise and showcase their NFTs in a way that has a physical presence”.

Release Date TBA

Sony and Theta will jointly release an NFT called ‘The Tiki Guy’, which takes the form of a 3D tiki mask. Only 10 of these NFTs will be minted. All NFTs (including the 2D versions) will be released on ThetaDrop, Theta Labs’ NFT marketplace. When? “Later this year” is as accurate as the forecast gets.

In February, Samsung’s South Korean customers who ordered the new Galaxy S22 smartphone or S8 tablet were able to collect Theta-based NFTs with their purchases. And almost a year ago, Sony Interactive Entertainment published a patent application for an eSports betting platform that would support Bitcoin payments.

It’s clear on the evidence of their latest partnership announcement that both Sony and Theta are marching deeper into crypto-based leisure territory. With Sony’s net profit down 12 percent year-on-year according to fiscal Q1 figures, perhaps Theta’s NFTs will prove just the tonic.

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Bitcoin Dogecoin Ethereum Fashion Litecoin Metaverse NFTs Payments Shiba Inu

Gucci to Begin Accepting Bitcoin in Some Stores

Luxury high-end international fashion brand Gucci is set to accept various cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ether, and even Dogecoin in some of its stores in North America.

Gucci will start accepting cryptos in five of its stores across the US later this month. The locations are New York City (Wooster Street), Los Angeles (Rodeo Drive), Miami (Design District), Atlanta (Phipps Plaza), and Las Vegas (The Shops at Crystals).

The stores will accept include Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Wrapped Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, and five stablecoins that are pegged to the US dollar.

Crypto Provides an ‘Enhanced Customer Experience’

According to Marco Bizzarri, president and CEO of Gucci, the brand is “always looking to embrace new technologies when they can provide an enhanced experience for our customers”. He added:

Now that we are able to integrate cryptocurrencies within our payment system, it is a natural evolution for those customers who would like to have this option available to them.

Marco Bizzarri, president and CEO, Gucci

Gucci has been active in the Web3 and NFT space and recently established a Web3-focused team and released a couple of NFTs. The brand is also extending its crypto efforts to the metaverse where it is developing digital real estate in the decentralised blockchain game The Sandbox. Further, Gucci is building a virtual “Gucci Vault” for Gucci-themed NFTs.

More and More Companies Accept Crypto Payments

Gucci joins a raft of companies that accept crypto as payment. Last year, Crypto News Australia reported that a real estate company in Los Angeles would allow its tenants to rent properties with Bitcoin, starting with the Grove shopping centre and other LA properties.

Many companies in Australia are also accepting cryptocurrencies as payments. You can now order a custom-built PC, buy dog food, design a custom home, get solar power and pay for almost everything in Bitcoin.

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Australia Crypto News NFTs

Australia Zoo Launches NFT Project ‘Wildlife Warriors’ to Help Protect Wildlife

The world-famous Australia Zoo is collaborating with Meadow Labs to create a unique Australian-themed NFT collection built atop the carbon-neutral Algorand blockchain.

The collection is in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Queensland-based zoo’s Wildlife Warriors, and all primary proceeds generated from the project will be donated to Australia Zoo and its associated conservation organisation:

Established in 2002 by Australia Zoo co-founders Steve and Terri Irwin, Wildlife Warriors is all about the protection of injured, threatened, and endangered wildlife. The initiative boasts 11 conservation projects worldwide and three conservation properties. Wildlife Warriors’ flagship project, the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital, has treated over 110,000 animals since opening its doors.

Sustainable Blockchain Placates the Naysayers

Created on Algorand, the world’s first carbon-negative blockchain with 0.01 gas and transaction fees, the series of NFTs celebrates the 20th anniversary of Australia Zoo’s Wildlife Warriors. By building the series on Algorand, hardline environmentalist naysayers on Twitter can be effectively shut down:


The limited set of NFTs is centred on raising awareness and funds to protect Australia’s wildlife and wild places. In partnership with Meadow Labs, an Australian-based technology start-up, this rare NFT collection will consist of a series of drops, each focusing on a different Australia Zoo Wildlife animal. Each NFT will be randomly generated, non-deterministic, utility-driven, and unique to each buyer.

Meadow Labs co-founder and CEO Martin Kelly said: “We’re really excited to partner with Australia Zoo in their first foray into Web3 and their mission of fighting for the planet’s wildlife and wild places, one NFT at a time. This is a sensational example of what innovative brands can achieve when they open themselves up to the endless possibilities Web3 has to offer. This is just the beginning of a long term-partnership to create an ‘NFT for good’ movement that builds on ensuring we all have a sustainable future.”

Robert Irwin, son of Steve and Terri, added:

At Australia Zoo we’re always open to new ways [to] help continue our Wildlife Warriors mission. Any innovation that can help our conservation efforts, particularly one that shares our vision of protecting the planet, is something we’re thrilled to support. This green chain and new technology allows us a new avenue to continue to fight for the protection of our wildlife and wild places.

Robert Irwin, Australia Zoo

Although an Australian project, the NFTs will be available globally and can be purchased with fiat (tangible currency) on-ramping via MoonPay, which will allow customers to buy cryptos directly from the bespoke webstore, thus simplifying the process and making the collection accessible to all.

Could NFTs Help With Wildlife Conservation?

A variety of different industries are incorporating the sale of NFTs to boost fundraising efforts, and why should wildlife be any different? Crypto News Australia has previously reported on the endangered Seychelles magpie robin NFT project. The magpie robin has been made available to purchase in digital form in a series of collectible NFTs, sales of which will help fund conservation efforts.