History is about to be made in Florida as a piece of US real estate goes to auction as a non-fungible token for the first time. The property rights will be minted into a token and transferred via blockchain by real estate technology company Propy.
Extra extra! We come with news that will shake the NFT-obsessed part of your brain 😉. A home in Tampa Bay will be auctioned off this Tuesday as an NFT and it’ll be the first piece of U.S. real estate to be auctioned as a non-fungible token! pic.twitter.com/XRV7zkTnes
No 6315 11th Avenue, a modern Spanish-inspired estate in the city of Gulfport, is expected to go to auction on February 10. Initially set for February 8, the auction has been delayed slightly due to immense public interest as 2,000 bidders queue to participate.
Blockchain start-up Propy will host the auction via its online platform, with Ethereum the cryptocurrency of choice. From a US$650,000 starting price, the conclusion of bidding will see one lucky buyer receive the property deed in the form of an NFT. While this transaction will not be a global first – the first NFT property sale was an apartment in Kiev, Ukraine last year – it will be an American first.
The current owner of the Gulfport home, Leslie Alessandra, is a local real estate investor and founder of DeFi Unlimited, a Tampa Bay blockchain company. Alessandra hopes that the auction of her home will stimulate conversation surrounding the potential of NFTs.
We’ve seen what NFTs and crypto does for the art community … Now we’re demonstrating what it can do for the real estate community.
Leslie Alessandra [Bay News 9/Twitter]
This real-world application of NFT and blockchain technology allows the buyer security and anonymity. Alessandra hopes the future new owner will be another NFT enthusiast. However, she acknowledges that market trends are volatile and sharp fluctuations may impact the future performance of the home in the crypto market.
Is Australia Set to Follow Suit?
Real estate-backed NFTs have been slow to gain traction in Australia. However, crypto property transactions have taken place across the country. Sydney, in particular, has seen multiple bitcoin transactions in its property market.
Although we are yet to see any Australian property deeds minted into NFTs, this could change in coming years – pending the outcome of this week’s Gulfport auction.
Broadening Horizons of NFTs
NFTs are moving beyond the realm of mere digital art collectibles into several increasingly varied industries. Worldwide interest in real estate-backed NFTs is taking off, with Propy’s smart contract token excelling since its Coinbase listing in January 2022.
Chinese tech giant Alibaba’s e-commerce platform Taobao has unveiled a digital collection of NFT houses. The backing of this artistic collection serves to demonstrate the willingness of large companies to embrace NFT technology. And, with music festivals such as Coachella and a number of sports teams seizing the opportunities NFT technology provides, it’s likely the technology will keep on adapting.
Art NFT collections are propelling the art world into the modern age using the power of blockchain technology. Cultural art collectors can now own digital artwork as NFTs (non-fungible tokens) to verify ownership and display them in virtual galleries.
Digital Art’s New Frontier
2022, the art industry is now entering a new digital age, allowing artists to create and sell their pixel based art and 3D animations from anywhere around the world. We have seen a dramatic rise in the number of art NFT projects fueling a new appetite to modern art. Not only are there new opportunities for artist to sell, but NFTs also offer the possibility for collectors to purchase art at online auctions and also resell in secondary NFT marketplaces.
Enter Cultural Art
Cultural art focuses on making art from cultural traditions to highlight traditional forms of style and artistic expression. To help you discover great new digital cultural art we’ve compiled a list of ten popular collections from around the globe.
Mark Winklemann, better known as Beeple, is a giant in the NFT space. One NFT collage propelled Beeple into the record-breaking spot of “third most-valuable living artist” with his piece selling for US$69 million.
The American-based artist has both an extensive and well-deserved net worth and social media following. His collection of work is immense, with individual pieces embracing sci-fi and steampunk themes. The works are composed of bright, fluorescent colours, and are truly intriguing to look through. Some of these individual works have been compiled to form the collage that boosted Beeple into the public eye.
Hashmasks is unique in the sense that the collection has been put together through the efforts of 70 different artists. Each of the NFTs in this collection are “the first travellers of Earth”, and comprise various masks, skin and eye colours, and props. The masks have taken strong inspiration from the 1980s works of Jean-Michel Basquiat.
According to the creators, the Hashmasks “forgot their names by the time they arrived to Earth”. This allows collectors the unique opportunity to name their own Hashmasks. To do so you will need to be in possession of name-changing tokens (NCT) – the native Hashmasks currency.
Though the real artist behind the XCOPY name remains anonymous, we do know that XCOPY is a London-based creator presenting a series of distorted visual loops. These somewhat disturbing, yet intriguing, GIFs established XCOPY as one of the pioneers of the cryptocurrency art scene.
If you are sensitive to flashy imagery, XCOPY may not be the artist for you, with quick-moving pixels and bright colours creating truly mesmerising art pieces. You may either not be able to look for too long or have trouble looking away. As for the imagery itself, the pieces are quite dystopian with most featuring macabre, distorted faces. This collection won’t appeal to everyone but there is evidently an immense amount of skill and thought behind each piece.
Blake Kathryn’s work has found a balance between the conceptual and the commercial. Exploring the music, fashion and tech industries, her pieces are extremely ethereal and dreamlike. Kathryn’s vibrant futurist aesthetic is easy to get lost in.
The Los Angeles-based artist’s multidimensional creations have led to several high-profile collaborations across various industries, some of which include Fendi, Smirnoff, Jimmy Choo, even Paris Hilton. Kathryn’s collection feels like scenes from an open-world RPG, which may be due to her main inspirations being science fiction, anime, cinematography and architecture. She is currently working to raise awareness for lesser-known creators.
Giant Swan is a Melbourne-based artist utilising virtual reality technology to explore 3D sculpting. His pieces truly are captivating; featuring glass-like consistencies, they often depict humanoid figures in various surreal backgrounds. Giant Swan creates these environments through extensive depth experimentation and repetitive layering.
Outside of Giant Swan’s NFT creations, he has been an art and experience director for several projects, recently having his works displayed in Melbourne, Miami and Shanghai exhibitions.
Micah Dowbak, aka Mad Dog Jones, operates out of Ontario, Canada, to create beautiful cyberpunk-style pieces of the mundane. Described as bringing a “fresh thematic to the metropolitan aesthetic”, Mad Dog utilises Japanese animation style to make the ordinary seem extraordinary.
His pieces begin as a rendered hand-drawn image or photograph, which is then illustrated over to achieve a gorgeously colourful aesthetic. Mad Dog’s fame extends beyond his NFT success, however. He has had several collaborations with high-profile names including Connor McGregor, Maroon 5, the Jabbawockeez, and Run the Jewels.
FEWOCiOUS takes the spot in this cultural art NFT collections list as the youngest artist. At only 17, high school student Victor Langlois found success and, a year later at just 18, FEWOCiOUS has become the third-best-selling NFT artist.
Langlois’ art is said to “create snapshots of [his] memories and a mirror into [his] heart”. Originally, Langlois used art in middle school as a tool to beat boredom, which soon turned into a means to process growing up. FEWOCiOUS’s pieces are caricatures consisting of bright colours and linework – carrying over his childhood interest in doodling and transforming it into sought-after artworks.
Refik Anadol – inspired by Blade Runner‘s landscapes.
Inspired by the landscapes of Blade Runner, Refik Anadol uses AI, architects, musicians, neuroscientists and data scientists to develop his works. Combining the physical and virtual worlds, Anadol presents kinetic artworks that appear to have the consistency of sand.
Recently, Anadol has collaborated with NASA, using millions of the space agency’s photographs and inputting them into AI technology to result in an AR sculpture and an NFT room. The immersive technology of this NFT room is making history, such a room allowing viewers to simultaneously interact with technology, space, and art.
The name Hackatao itself has a meaning as distinctive as the art pieces the so-named artist creates, with ‘Hack’ standing for discovering what is hidden under the skin, and ‘tao’ meaning yin and yang. Hackatao’s works encompass some of the main issues plaguing society, the environment, and crypto. They also explore art, psychology and history through the various symbols in the collection.
The bulk of Hackatao’s works consists of humanoid creatures called ‘podmorks’, decorated with doodles. Most of the podmorks are feminine creatures and come in GIF style, moving gently on loop.
Coldie – a collection built around Warren Buffett.
Coldie, an award-winning artist featured among an array of exhibitions, conferences and auctions, has a collection of stereoscopic 3D art built around the face of billionaire Warren Buffett. The imagery is subject to digital distortion and offers a comic-like vibe.
Coldie’s collections are blockchain-themed, aiming to offer a visualised representation of the “disruptive industry”. The main theme listed behind the Warren Buffett collection is the billionaire’s investment in gold without recognising the digital value of Bitcoin – which Coldie describes as “digital gold”.
Conclusion
NFTs are providing a plethora of opportunities to artists and buyers alike. Traditional artists can transform their work into NFTs, allowing them to grow their fanbase and increase their buyer pool. Collectors, on the other hand, can visit the works of artists on the other side of the globe and expand their collections into the digital world.
If you are new to the concept of NFT collecting, you can start smaller. NFTs cater to various budgets, and you don’t have to start at the top to become a collector. Alternatively, you can now own NFTs in video games and across various other intriguing projects. Regardless, NFTs are seeing extreme growth of late, moving away from the niche into the mainstream. This is a space that rewards creativity and provides an inherent feeling of community to those involved.
Cultural art collections are expanding in this digital community, connecting more artists than ever before. Anyone with internet access and an artistic mind can leverage the blockchain however they see fit. This list merely offers you an idea of what can be done with NFTs, allowing you to enter the space with the confidence you need to complete further research. This space is a completely new approach to the art industry, and understanding the founding pillars will help you to positively interact with art globally.
Blockchain is set to influence gaming in a big way throughout 2022 and beyond, and one of those lesser known players is the WAX blockchain. Home to some of the most interesting blockchain based card strategy games, WAX appears to be a silent growing in stature.
DAOs, decentralised autonomous organisations that provide self-enforcing open-source protocols, are helping WAX games do this. DAOs bring native tokens and smart contracts that allow the network to remain transparent.
WAX is a purpose-built blockchain and protocol token designed to make e-commerce transactions faster, easier, and safer for all participants. Offering a lot of potential for those who enjoy P2E and also the wider industry of traditional gamers.
To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of what we think are the Best 10 WAX blockchain games using DAOs.
Within this NFT game, it’s all about locating and customising the best starship you can get your hands on. If you wish, you can put your tokens toward a pack of NFT cards. These cards allow you to optimise your starships via NFT stacking in local space stations.
If you are more of a mobile gamer, fancying apps such as Candy Crush or Clash of Clans, Clash Dome could be more your style. The phone-app-style games within WAX’s Clash Dome can be gambled on to earn. With the game’s main token being $WAX, most of the mini-games available are pay-to-enter, allowing the tokens to pool for a winner-takes-all outcome.
While these games are typically played by a large group of players, you can play quick 1v1 games instead. $WAX isn’t the only available token; players may also obtain $LUDIO, which can be traded on the exchange or used for in-game powerups.
Alien Worlds – the game dominating the WAX blockchain.
If you’re looking to opt for one of the big-name games running on the WAX blockchain, Alien Worlds is your giant. The NFT metaverse strategy game has seen staggering growth since its original release in mid-2021. Offering NFTs with utility, a Binance-listed token ($TRILIUM), and planet DAOs, Alien Worlds is another space-situated game with some unique features such as earning NFTs by playing the ‘play to earn’ game.
One such feature is the opportunity to ‘teleport’ your $TRILIUM (TLM). Once you connect to MetaMask you can teleport from the Binance Smart Chain to WAX or Ethereum, allowing you more room to move with your earnings. Connection to the metaverse permits you to find a group of explorers – from there, the prospects available are vast.
Currently, Taco is another project that is split in half, with a utility side and a gaming side. While the utility aspect of the project is up and running, much of the game is still in development. The Taco app allows users to earn and trade $TACO tokens at the best market price. It also permits you to transfer $WAX and your tokens to other accounts without fees. Interestingly, you can also find a music player on Taco for your enjoyment.
Taco Universe – the game side – is still in development and aiming to arrive soon on the Apple and Google Play stores. With phase one being the launch and two the landing, you can look forward to creating worlds that feature little taco ingredients.
Farmers World – your typical farming game combined with NFTs.
Another P2E, Farmers World is one of the first farming games to land on the WAX blockchain. Some of the elements featured within the game include mining, construction, cultivation, reproduction, and wild animals.
The game’s NFT marketplace allows players to purchase farm animals, tools, associations, and farm buildings. These are all unique features that contribute to a successful agribusiness lifestyle. Farmers World is rapidly increasing in popularity as this is a game genre that seems to be tried and tested. Adding NFTs and elements of crypto only further intrigues players.
Another collectible card game, Splinterlands is the next game to rival the success of Alien Worlds in terms of sheer popularity among gamers. The game has been in circulation since 2018, but it is only now growing into its boots. If you are a fan of Magic the Gathering or simply enjoy the format of collecting cards and battling with them, Splinterlands might appeal to you.
Splinterlands is a colourful game combining ‘mayhem and magic’. Not only this, but the developers have found a way to combine digital and traditional gameplay, with three available game methods: physical games, digital games, and Splinterlands. There truly are multiple opportunities within this project.
Sony’s Funimation has teamed up with WAX to present NFTs for the anime franchise of Robotech. Originating as a science-fiction series, Robotech has enough of a fanbase to garner interest in the concept of purchasing NFTs based on the show.
In collectible card format, these NFTs are ranked by rarity. With categories such as build, base, bronze, silver and gold, you’ll know exactly whether your purchase is worth its money. Combining cards increases their power level. The WAX blockchain works to ensure that your cards are 100 percent authentic, meaning they cannot be duplicated or changed.
WAX Arena – battle your collection against other players.
Described as enabling users to “collect NFTs, raise power points, and earn WAX”, WAX Arena offers three distinct game modes for you to explore. When beginning the game, you have the option to choose one of four distinct races and create a character that can be linked to your WAX cloud wallet. Much like many of the other game formats in this list, the main objective of WAX Arena is battling against other players with your collection of cards.
The game modes available include player vs player, challenge mode, and player vs environment. The WAX Arena cards feature aesthetic illustrations; the higher your card’s rarity, the more power your character will receive.
Green Rabbit seeks to offer an exciting new experience to the industry of NFT gaming. The Green Rabbit developers claim that the game has been developed with “integrity and ethics” and caters to the industry’s collectors. The Green Rabbit story begins in Nanotopia, and if game lore is of interest, you can find a lengthy dissection on the website.
Within the game, you can get access to chests classed from common to mythic. Inside these chests, players can find the game token $SHELLINIUM, which can be put towards your rabbit. The game also offers concepts such as ANIMA-armour, which you can craft with your tokens.
Train of the Century – trains combine with time travel.
If you’re a train enthusiast, then out of all the WAX blockchain games available this one could be your go-to. Train of the Century presents the opportunity for you to become a railroader – a time-travelling entrepreneur. This means that you can play in any period, providing it has trains.
The cards available are NFT trains of the century. Using the games token, $TOCIEN, you can collect, build, and rule the rails. The game also allows you to purchase commodity cards – the freight that your train can haul – providing the commodity is compatible. For more information about how the game operates, there’s a beta gameplay guide on the website.
Conclusion
We’ve seen NFT avatar meme projects surge in popularity through 2021 and we could see this surge transition into the gaming industry. WAX is providing the next steps towards building this new enterprise of blockchain-based games with low transaction fees and high throughput.
An added layer of ownership and governance will be provided by games adopting DAOs which allow the token holders to have a big part in the organisations, providing an ecosystem that is designed for the players.
Currently, the WAX blockchain is processing more than 80 percent of in-game transactions across all blockchains. With many of the games on this blockchain being play-to-earn (P2E), WAX is ideal for the gamer looking to monetise their time while having fun.
Yet WAX isn’t the only blockchain bringing cryptocurrency and NFTs to gaming. Alongside the metaverse projects and the THETA projects, the future of gaming is looking bright and experimental.
THETA Blockchain Projects present decentralised ecosystems that serve to improve the streaming quality and delivery of video content. As open source crypto technologies evolve through THETA labs, developers can offer more features to video platforms, viewers, and streamers.
When a person streams a video, they are accessing this content without needing to download it, whether this is watching a movie, listening to audio, or – popularly – watching gamers stream their gameplay. Currently, due to the way streaming operates, there are several issues with the streaming quality and latency of video and audio.
THETA projects seek to set up a peer-to-peer network that permits users to connect their unused bandwidth and resources to the system. Not only does this improve the quality of the content, but it can also reduce costs. A handful of these projects are worth investigating if you have any interest in streaming.
Here is our list of the top 10 exciting THETA blockchain projects we suggest you investigate:
StreamVerse believes that the current streaming platforms lack realism and interactivity. Therefore, this project seeks to “capture the attention of Gen Z while also maintaining the ease of usage”. StreamVerse is working to allow its users to access realistic spaces and emotions through the incorporation of NFTs.
Any moment of the stream can be converted to an NFT that lives on forever. Moreover, StreamVerse helps streamers maintain eye contact, have more than one group within a single room, talk with fans, and host charity events. StreamVerse is currently looking for ways to make its project more scalable for future relevance.
TKETS presents a unique use for NFTs and blockchain technology that combats the issues with e-tickets. The age of paper tickets is coming to an end, as e-tickets become harder to misplace and easier to deliver. However, most of these e-tickets use a typical barcode or QR code, which is static and easy to replicate. It is also impossible to ensure these tickets haven’t been duplicated.
TKETS aims to bring more functionality to NFTs. All you’ll need is a MetaMask wallet and your ticket can be minted directly to you. Your ticket will be uniquely yours and its information gets listed on the blockchain. The TKETS platform allows for direct payment but is not centralised, meaning the ticket itself can only be accessed by the holder.
Scrubr is an application for the sharing of short video content, designed for creators and viewers to contribute and watch. If your video is well-received there is potential for creators to earn $SET (Scrubr Engagement Token). Views and likes on owned videos generate tokens that can be used to purchase merch or other videos from the site (NFTs). $SET has governance and utility power.
Essentially Scrubr is combining NFTs with YouTube. Using blockchain technology, the minting, buying and selling of these videos are tracked to ensure proper ownership. Soon, Scrubr is looking to introduce a mobile app, along with VR integration and direct messaging features.
Seeking to make it possible for anyone to mint, launch and trade NFTs, OpenTheta presents an easy-to-use marketplace. Running as a smart contract on the THETA blockchain, OpenTheta allows users to easily search for, upload, and filter through the site’s NFTs.
The marketplace is very creator-friendly, working to help with all technical aspects of a launch. OpenTheta is still in its early days; as the site expands the creators are looking to implement auction-style trades, along with methods to continuously update the prices of the available NFTs.
If you are seeking THETA blockchain projects that are heavily situated around working with not-for-profits, HarkTV could be a good place to start. HarkTV recognised the potential for a political streaming service, broadcasting rallies and smaller political gatherings to viewers. Non-profits play a big role in HarkTV’s adherence to individual regulations across the 50 US states.
The $HARK token is required to get involved with this project. Actions on the website can generate these tokens, which can be used to vote in elections that decide the not-for-profit that will receive a lump sum. HarkTV is for streaming of all sorts, not just of the political kind.
Originating from a love of trading cards, Minty NFT provides an app where users can mint their own trading-card NFTs. Built on the blockchain, Minty NFT allows for the opportunity to create customisable 3D cards, something not often seen in the NFT landscape.
Built for Android, Minty NFT is easily accessible via a downloadable app. The future brings the potential for more canvas sizes to mint onto. However, the app is intended for 3D trading cards and does not look to move past this.
Blockchain eSports is looking to bring Roku games into the digital era. Roku itself is a box that allows you to stream to your TV. Blockchain eSports for Roku is bringing Theta.TV to viewers, Theta.TV being the first streaming service to be published to the THETA blockchain.
The app is now available for download; however, the future of Blockchain eSports involves improving the app to provide user login, so that users can eventually personalise features and engage with TFuel (the token for the THETA network).
As previously mentioned, THETA TV was the first blockchain project to go online within the THETA network. Branding itself as the “next-generation esports platform”, THETA TV brings 24/7 live streaming. With a lot of the big streamer names from platforms such as Discord, viewers can earn $TFUEL through watching and interacting with these streams, and streamers can earn theta coins through guardian nodes.
Users of the platform also get access to fun perks such as the ability to open themed crates and to win a variety of gaming gear. THETA TV is very much made for and designed by gamers.
THETA Drop classes itself as a next-generation NFT marketplace. Launching with the World Poker Tour, THETA Drop incorporates streaming into NFT auctions to increase creator-fan engagement.
Powered by the THETA network, this project is utilising blockchain technology specifically for media and entertainment. Using TFuel, like many other THETA projects, allows transactions to be environmentally friendly. THETA Drop transactions are also supposedly cheaper and faster than Ethereum transactions.
Dedpool – enhance your betting with AI technology.
If you are a League of Legends fan, this is a project worth investigating. Combine LoL with gambling and you have the project Dedpool. With esports betting being a complex matter, Dedpool is making its betting easier and more specific. This allows for new ways to interact with the streaming ecosystem.
Like many other projects, watching streams allows viewers to generate TFuel – which you can then use to bet. Dedpool is currently utilising AI technology to read the game in real-time, meaning the onus is not on the streamer to manage the viewer’s experience.
Conclusion
Much like the various metaverse projects in circulation, THETA blockchain projects are adding new dimensions to the utilisation of cryptocurrency and gaming industry engagement. All THETA projects are situated around the idea of the THETA token, with the blockchain merely providing the right environment for this technology to grow.
As the aim of these projects is to prevent viewers from paying for low-quality streaming services, the projects within this list are finding ways to fix this and apply their own unique spin. This often features the inclusion of NFTs. THETA itself is looking at future partnerships with existing streaming companies, such as Twitch. However, if you are sick of the mainstream and are looking to support other aspects of this growing industry, these listed innovative projects could be worth your time.
Don’t stop with this list, either. If you are looking for other projects in the same vein, it’s worth investigating the THETA Hackathon. With the most recent Hackathon having over 700 participants, a plethora of opportunities await the future of THETA technology.
Metaverse NFT projects have been in development behind the scenes prior to the metaverse becoming a buzz term after Facebook’s recent announcement. But what exactly is the metaverse? and which games are worth checking out?
The idea of the metaverse is that of a virtual and immersive online only world. If you’ve ever seen the movie Ready, Player One, you might have an idea of how a metaverse could look. Within these worlds, an avatar represents you and you are free to interact with other people and places (occasionally replicated from real life).
This mass multiplayer format (MMO) often seeks to develop its own governance and economy. This is where in-game tokens and NFT assets can represent some kind of value through uniqueness and scarcity.
Typically, there are four main components of metaverses and their NFTs are
Transparency: Anyone can check the blockchain to find more information about the NFTs and their transactions.
Decentralisation: There is no central entity controlling the metaverse. It should be an equitable experience for all.
Real-life value: Any tokens you encounter within the metaverse should be tradeable on external markets.
User governance: The players should have a say in changes implemented within the metaverse, via a vote.
Some metaverses can be explored for free, and you can acquire the NFTs or in-game tokens from airdrops and giveaways, then participate in play-to-earn aspects. However, most require you to purchase digital assets from NFT marketplaces using your DeFi crypto wallet such as MetaMask.
This article will highlight what we believe to be the current top 10 metaverse NFT projects available. Here, we will address what comprises each project, how it is unique, and where NFTs fit into the game.
Decentraland is the metaverse NFT project that allows its players to truly immerse themselves in the game. Compatible with online browsers and VR technology, Decentraland leverages the Ethereum blockchain to monitor the buying and selling of virtual real estate, known as land. How you use your land is entirely up to you; your possibilities are near endless. However, the goal of Decentraland is to create a collaborative user network through peer-to-peer communication.
The concept of buying land is not unique to Decentraland, yet $MANA is. $MANA is a cryptocurrency specific to the game. Land and artwork, which take the form of NFTs within Decentraland, can only be bought with this currency.
Both the land and the Axies you purchase are NFTs sold via the in-game marketplace. Most of the transactions within the game take place on Ronin – a tailored sidechain offering lower fees than you’d ordinarily find on the main blockchain. The game design itself is simplistic, colourful, and attractive to the eye.
The Sandbox combines the blocky terrain of Minecraft with the metaverse concept to provide players with a play-to-earn universe. The Sandbox only launched last month after four years of development. It allows players to earn its currency ($SAND) by completing game quests or through the sale of their digital assets.
NFTs can be found within gameplay in the form of land. Once you purchase a piece of land, you have the option to begin creating your own minigames that you can publish, charging token fees to play. Beyond creating your own games, a key aspect of The Sandbox is allowing its players a say in the metaverse governance.
If you’re a Destiny fan or like to explore the latest RPGs (Role Play Games) in your free time, Star Atlas is offering its own metaverse NFT take on these concepts. Star Atlas presents an MMORPG (mass multiplayer online role-playing game) that gives you the power to create a character and a spaceship and explore outer space in an open-world game style. Star Atlas’s unique appeal comes from the opportunity for players to buy in and partly own the game.
$ATLAS and $POLIS are the two in-game currencies. While Star Atlas is play-to-earn, you can purchase NFT-style game features across the in-game market and contribute to a robust virtual economy.
CryptoVoxels is another play-to-earn, Minecraft-style metaverse. Developed by a New Zealand company and listed on the Ethereum blockchain, CryptoVoxels is one of the less creatively impressive metaverse on this list. However, what it lacks in aesthetics it makes up for in versatility and gameplay, being categorised as a game of financial strategy.
Ethereum is the sole payment method within this metaverse. You can use it to purchase collectibles or collections, and land. CryptoVoxels is versatile in supporting platforms, which include the options to play online, on Android, or on VR.
Bloktopia is a fluorescent sci-fi VR metaverse with many real-life connections. The game itself is played within a 21-storey skyscraper called ‘Bloktopia’, where ‘Bloktopians’ have the option to earn tokens ($BLOK) through advertising revenue, network building, real estate, and more.
The real-life links within the game can be found in advertisements from companies such as Polygon, Animoca Brands, and Jake Paul, visible on billboards within the game’s trailer. The game is heavily designed around incorporating NFTs and profiting from your endeavours. However, the gameplay seems well-designed and might be quite immersive in VR.
Starl – become a landlord, customise yourself, explore.
The Starl metaverse functions similarly to other projects on this list. You can buy land within the game to use as you please. With your virtual real estate, you have the option to rent it out to other players, which seems to be unique to the Starl metaverse. Beyond this, you can interact with real people, customise your avatar, explore and gamble.
$STARL is the token used within this metaverse, tradeable for other cryptocurrencies or for fiat money. The opportunities for your in-game tokens spring from an interconnected economy within the metaverse’s ecosystem.
Somnium Space – where the Sims meets VR technology.
Somnium Space presents a metaverse that feels like the Sims. It is an open-world, virtual society that you can interact with via PC or mobile; however, to get the full experience and really jump into the game, you may want to connect it to a VR headset.
Somnium Space tracks your purchases (via $CUBE) on a blockchain, allows you to monetise your experience, own virtual real estate, and live ‘forever’. In recent exciting news, there may be potential in the future to see Somnium space partner with TESLASUIT for a boosted VR experience.
Nakamoto Games considers itself the play-to-earn revolution. Evident in its mission, Nakamoto seeks to give every person the opportunity to earn crypto and generate a sustainable income. $NAKA, the metaverse’s token, is necessary to access the ecosystem. Naka tokens can be entered into a weekly prize pool and players who rank highest on the leaderboard can win a share from this pool.
Anyone with a crypto wallet can enter this metaverse to play. However, if you consider yourself more of a developer, you can create and monetise games within the metaverse that can generate you a return. If you aren’t that tech-savvy, it’s worth noting that anyone with Naka tokens can contribute to the metaverse governance instead.
You can ‘be your own hero’ in Metahero’s which boasts Ultra-HD photogrammetric scanning technology to bring yourself and real-life places into the game. Within this metaverse, you are likely to encounter gaming, fashion, medicine, NFTs, social media, and VR/AR capabilities.
The $HERO token is the sole currency belonging to this digital ecosystem. Metahero is paired with Wolf Digital World (WDW), and together they define their partnership as two separate companies with one life-changing mission. This metaverse aims to allow its players to do anything in the digital world that they can do in the real world. You also get the ability to create NFTs that you can use to auction, trade, or sell as you see fit. However, it may be exciting enough just to copy yourself into a video game.
Conclusions
Whether it’s buying and selling virtual real estate, creating and monetising your own minigames, or playing to earn, metaverses provide many crypto-related opportunities.
The creation of NFTs, known as “minting” allows players to truly own any digital assets that they purchase within the game. Then, thanks to blockchain technology, these purchases and trades can be traced to verify their true ownership.
Metaverse projects are designed to create safe spaces for play and for financial transactions. With these various metaverses offering platform compatibility via smartphones, VR headsets, and computers, what these digital worlds can offer is extensive. It is likely that the future will only bring more versatility to this industry.
If you consider yourself to be a gamer or a crypto lover, it may be worth keeping up to date with this technology as it evolves.
Uncovering the top 10 art NFT projects worth looking into.
Art NFT Projects have been exploding onto the scene recently as they represent an opportunity for artists to generate “money” through their digital art creations that can be sold for cryptocurrency tokens.
These Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique digital assets that are minted on the blockchain using smart contracts to prove ownership and authenticity. They can be either digital versions of physical artworks or purely digital works.
This article will provide you with a list of what we think are the Top 10 Art NFT Projects at the moment. We’ve compiled the list based on popularity, profitability and creativity to help you explore some of the amazing NFT communities available to you.
Cats on the Ethereum blockchain seem to be popular among those looking to get involved with NFTs. Cool Cats have a lot to offer in terms of personalising your unique tokens. With 9,999 randomly generated and curated cats, you’ll be on the hunt for the rarest facial expressions, colours and outfits.
Cool Cats have a current trading price of 7.6969 ETH (approximately A$46k). Beyond the price, Cool Cat holders can get involved with community raffles and giveaways, along with exclusive NFT claims. The goal is to locate the coolest cats you can find. With each feline composed of different outfits, bodies, hats and faces, these fun and colourful creations may just be worth your cash.
Check out: The Cool Cats site home page has a delightful interactive map that all digital art and NFT lovers should explore.
Developed in 2017, CryptoPunks has gone on to perform incredibly well on the Ethereum blockchain. With 10,000 little pixelated punks available for you to collect, this is one of the original art projects that fostered developments in modern crypto art. Originally, if you owned an Ethereum wallet, you could claim one for free. However, if you are seeking CryptoPunks now, you will need to purchase them through the market.
Currently, the lowest-priced punk you can get your hands on is worth 83.95 ETH (approximately A$512k). So, while these punks aren’t affordable for everyone, if you have the available crypto they may be worth the purchase.
Check out: The backgrounds of these CryptoPunks are important. Blue denotes not for sale, red is for sale, and purple has active bids taking place.
Decentraland presents the concept of using NFT art to create an alternate reality on the Ethereum blockchain. The NFT aspect allows you to buy and sell land assets on its NFT marketplace; it is then up to you what you choose to build on the land that you own. Mana is the currency used for Decentraland. Given the size of this project, this article only has enough space to scrape the surface. There is so much to explore within this project that we recommend taking time out to get to know the opportunities Decentraland can offer.
While Decentraland uses Mana, the current ETH price is 0.001193 (approximately A$7). Therefore, if this is a concept that interests you, now may be the time to consider buying in.
Check out: Decentraland is equally compatible with web browsers and VR technology; if you have the equipment, why not get properly immersed?
If you like your art projects in the public domain, with fun background stories featuring amphibious creatures, CrypToadz might be for you. There are 6,969 of these small, pixelated toad friends, all with unique colours, facial expressions and seeming personalities. Gremplin, the creator of CrypToadz, and his group of acolytes are no longer creating more Toadz, making these NFTs more expensive than others.
The floor price is 3.45 ETH, which is roughly A$20k. However, as CrypToadz has strived to waive as many copyright laws as possible to keep the Toadz part of the public domain, what you use them for is up to you.
Check out: The fun origin story is a must-read if you’d like to gain an appreciation for Gremplin and his NFTs.
VeeFriends: simple doodles with business connections
Are you a fan of meaningful intellectual property? If so, you may want to know more about VeeFriends, composed of a series of animal doodles on various colourful backgrounds. Most of these drawings are very basic line art, mainly in black; however, different line colours can be found across different friends.
Owning VeeFriends also gives you access to VeeCon, which is essentially an exclusive multi-day event focused on business, entrepreneurship, friendship, etc.
Check out: The number of extras included within VeeCon may be extremely useful for business-minded people looking to learn from each other.
Perhaps you want something that feels more like a game in a similar way to Decentraland; in which case, The Sandbox has future potential. Rather than a typical image NFT, The Sandbox allows you to purchase land that you can use in whichever way you like. The game is very Minecraft-style with a blocky terrain; there are 166,464 land assets available for purchase.
The floor price of 0.781 ETH (almost A$5k) allows you to break into the game. Once you own land, you have the option of hosting events and contests. You can also create your own games and have your say in the metaverse governance.
Check out: The art style of this metaverse is intriguing and despite sharing similarities with Minecraft, the games look quite different.
The second cat-related entry in this list is CryptoKitties. CryptoKitties are slightly different from some of the other works available as they allow you to find your unique tokens through purchasing and breeding these colourful cats. Each Kitty has a unique genome, and you can find differences in eye shape, chin shape, fur colour, etc; the possibilities are endless.
CryptoKitties aren’t always cheap, ranging from one dollar to thousands, with it being difficult to narrow down the ETH floor price. CryptoKitties is on the Ethereum blockchain and, while popular, they’re not as popular as you might think, meaning there’s plenty of time to buy in if that’s what you wish to do.
Check out: The tutorial can be played on the CryptoKitties site without signing up for anything. If you want to get a feel for these NFTs, it may be worth starting there.
Experience exclusivity with the Bored Ape Yacht Club
Bored Ape Yacht Club has a slightly edgy feel to its sought-after cartoon apes. You can find 10,000 Bored Apes in circulation on the Ethereum blockchain, each of which displays high levels of sass, and (as you’d expect) boredom. Regardless of the attitude of the apes, yacht clubs are always exclusive affairs. Art NFT Projects like BAYC give you membership and access to ‘that bathroom’ – a collaborative graffiti board.
Unfortunately (if you don’t yet own one), these apes aren’t cheap; with a floor price of 47.98 ETH – approximately A$298k – it’s a highly successful and thus valuable collection. If you do have a Bored Ape, exposing it to ‘mutant serum’ will allow you to join the Mutant Ape Yacht Club, a parallel NFT strain.
Check out: The gently animated background art for the Bored Ape Yacht Club needs to be seen to be appreciated.
If you have a great dad or are looking for one, CryptoDads may be the NFT for you. With 10,000 dads in circulation, the paternal possibilities are abundant. The dads are popular with those seeking 100 percent of the innovative and commercial rights. Not only that, but real dads are putting these out into the world – to add a little more authenticity.
The current price floor for the CryptoDads is 0.225 ETH, or slightly over A$1k. However, if you’d prefer a more feminine touch, the CryptoMums are free to mint for all NFT holders.
Check out: CryptoDad holders may be eligible for merchandise discounts – if you’re interested.
Finally, if small, pixelated bears are more your style, the Littles could be a good option for you. They may not be so appealing to those who take life seriously; however, if you fancy collecting colourful and diminutive movers and shakers, there are 10,000 “dreamers, explorers, and mischief makers” available.
Check out: The wide range of outfits, facial expressions and background colours that accompany these little teddies.
Conclusions
And there we have it, some creative NFTs projects to help put you on the path to choosing from thousands of available options to add to your digital art collections. You can also buy digital art now via online nft art auctions where you can bid using cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum. There is so much potential for the future of blockchain and art, especially as NFTs move into game development which adds utility for them.
