Back back back again 🔥

Twitter, BAYC Council, Cool Cats and more. Read your weekly NFTimes... today.

After a two month hiatus, I’m back! I had to deal with bunch of legal and health stuff for a bit — but happy to be back. Welcome to the v2 of NFTimes where we will dive into crypto like never before. This is actually the 52th issue of this newsletter. The crypto space isn’t the same as a year ago. Heck, it’s not the same as two months ago. On top of what we have been doing, we’ll pivot towards what is new and have deep dives into what is brewing in the broader decentralized ecosystem, and explore projects pushing the boundaries of this technology.

In the macro sense, we are still in a bear market. Bitcoin is a bit below $20k while Ether is around $1300. Fed is acting up, war in Ukraine is destabilizing, stocks are down, so we still live in uncertain times. While activity remains in the lower levels in the NFT world, I must say that prices are holding up pretty well, f.e.: BAYC and Art Blocks. It seems evident at this point that while cryptocurrency prices are closely related to macroeconomics and TradFi, NFTs are pretty much divorced from any other external factor. The culture and news cycle within NFTs is their guide.

Headlines 📰

Elon wants Twitter again. 🐦

After the on and off relationship they have been having, Elon is finally (probably) ready to buy the company. Reasons for the sudden change of heart? Two possibilities: 1) The text messages from the Delaware court are not painting the most loving picture of Elon. The juice that comes out of the phone of the richest guy on the planet? Yeah, people are pretty interested. 2) Elon’s lawyers are telling him that he will lose. He is thinking, if I gotta pay, the least is I can own it. Twitter accepted the offer but only if Delaware court is involved - a smart move on Twitter’s part. Elon has a week to finish the deal (if he can still finance after all the drama.) Our very own SBF from FTX was willing to contribute up to $5 billion toward acquiring Twitter. MORE

images from Prof. G

BAYC Council. 🙈

Bored Ape Yacht Club introduced a council of 7 apes to represent the club at large and provide an avenue for new perspectives. I’m curious of the motivation behind this. Weirdly, it’s giving hierarchy vibes, as if now these 7 people are above the rest of the community. “How to flip NFTs? Learn this and more when you become a silver member.” haha — another reason could be to have members of the community represent them, and so the founders of Yuga could take a step back (after accusations over the summer). MORE

Cats Get Cooler. 🐈

Cool Cats NFT received an investment from Animoca Brands, building on top of the partnership they previously established. They partnered with GAMEE, one of Animoca Brands’ subsidiaries that built a virtual casual gaming space where CC owners currently can access. MORE

Kim is just fine. 💵

Kim Kardashian settled with the SEC over not disclosing a payment she received for promoting EthereumMax on Instagram. The thing is, she actually put #ad into her story — so she was fined because she should’ve disclose how much she got ($250k) as the tokens are *scary sounds* securities. Tokens are down 95% from the ad date, and she will be paying $1.26 million to the SEC. They probably wanted to make a good precedent and ‘scare’ celebs into not promoting financial assets. MORE

Binance Hack. 💻

The Binance blockchain was “suspended” on Thursday after $570 million was stolen in a hack. “Software code is never bug free,” said Binance’s chief executive, Changpeng Zhao. MORE

Tweet Check. 🐦

Alan Carroll @alancarroII

When you’re asked what the best blockchain is

Speed Round 🕺

• OpenSea added support for Optimism & bulk-purchasing.

• Audius hit 7.5 million monthly users.

• TIME president Keith Grossman said Web3 was about “rehabilitating a brand that was neglected for ten years.”

• VeeFriends will launch plush toys and vinyl figurines at Macy’s and Toys-R-Us stores.

• Rhue Resorts is releasing 10,000 NFTs for $15,000 each that will act as lifetime memberships for the golf club they are in the process of buying.

• Art Blocks is dropping their second version where they’ll merge the Playground and Factory systems, have a new website & smart contract.
  

Thanks. 🤝

Thank you to Robin at the Defiant for making what I consider the most beautiful videos about Web3, NFTs, and the metaverse. He is leaving the Defiant and I wish him the best! Thanks also to Trevor Noah, who is leaving the Daily Show after 7 years. His show was unique in covering the news around the world, with a non-nationalist perspective.

Fun Watch. 📹

Melonade.eth 🍉 (MINTING 8th October) @TMelonade

🚨ANNOUNCEMENT🚨 We’re pleased to show you what’s coming for ‘The Big Sweep’ 1st NFT based physical board game , on which we are working from months. Featured over 65+ IP’s . Why? The Utilisation of IP. Ready for the grab? 420 NFT’s . 8th October . 0.1E each. 🧵

Eyes Forward 👀

NFT London is happening on 3-4 November!

What do you guys think of the new format? Let me know on Twitter.

-Aleyna

Disclaimer: Investing in NFTs comes with inherent risk including technical risk, human error, platform failure and more. This newsletter is strictly educational and nothing we offer is financial advice. We are not professionals or licensed advisors. Views my own and not any other company I’m affiliated with.