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June 4, 2023

šŸ„›Open up for a Sunday SpecialšŸŽ

Hey everybody, itā€™s TPan. A friend of the Milk Man.

Iā€™m not a carton, but I am a cat thatā€™s here to share the NFT headlines for the week. šŸ„›

Here are our stories:

  • NFTā€™s top movers of the week šŸ“Š

  • Brands have a big week šŸ‘€

  • Sothebyā€™s auctions off millions in digital art šŸ’°

  • Bitcoin transaction fees soar thanks to Ordinals šŸŖ

NFTā€™S TOP MOVERS OF THE WEEK šŸ“Š

Source: CryptoSlam

Here were this weekā€™s top movers:

  • The Captainz (+33% sales): The collection by the creators of 9GAG reach an all-time high in anticipation of the $MEME token launch.

    Opepen (+29% transactions): The collection by Jack Butcher continues to see strong volume with new art reveals.

  • FF6000 ($2.3 million sales): The orange collection by memecoin influencer ben.eth launched with significant volume. Yes, itā€™s a collection of orange squares.

BRANDS HAVE A BIG WEEK šŸ‘€

It was a big week for brands in Web3. A brand a day keeps the bear market away as the doctor likes to say. Jk, no one says that. It does have a nice ring to it though!

What happened?

1/ Nike šŸ¤Video Games

The Our Force 1 sale concluded with the following stats:

  • 97,627 Our Force 1ā€™s minted

  • $1.93 million in revenue

  • 52,971 minting addresses

The morning after, Nike announced a partnership with EA SPORTS.

The partnership will build new experiences for players and unlock customization for players. Future EA SPORTS titles will feature .SWOOSH virtual creations.

Self-expression through customization has been a part of video games for as long as we can remember. Whether itā€™s giving your avatar a cool outfit or creating your own maps, Nike and EA SPORTS are providing a new way to customize with items that players actually own.

If this announcement from Nike came the day after the Our Force 1 mint finished, I wonder what else they have up their sleevesā€¦Also, does this fan the flames of competition with other athletic brands like Adidas and Puma?

I share more details about the partnership here.

2/ Mercedes shares details for its first NFT collection

Mercedes announced Mercedes-Benz NXT, a division dedicated to building in Web3 and focused on digital and collectibles. The team is building an ecosystem with 3 categories:

  • Core collections: Developed and managed by NXTā€™s creative studio

  • Satellite projects: Experimental efforts unrelated to NXTā€™s long-term plans

  • Peripheral projects: Use Mercedes trademarks, and are created independently from the brand

The first core collection is co-created by Harm van den Dorpel and Fingerprints DAO, a renowned group of art collectors. It will be launching on June 7th via a Dutch auction.

I imagine these will go for a pretty penny. Or should I sayā€¦a pretty ETH.

3/ Kelloggā€™s files for NFT trademarks

Your favorite cereal or snack brand may become a JPEG soon. Kelloggā€™s has filed 12 trademarks for its most popular brands.

Now you donā€™t have to worry if you run out of your favorite cereal! You can go to your crypto wallet and stare at your digital cereal to feel full.

BONUS: Michelin is coming out with an NFT collection

The tire brand has been active in the space as well, with a collection called the Michelin 3xplorer Club coming out this month. The collection will have a supply of 5,000 NFTs and be based on the Michelin Man character with unique traits.

The NFT collection will have benefits that focus on mobility, motorsport, travel, and gastronomy.

Dinner at a Michelin-starred restaurant? Donā€™t mind if I do.

Why does this matter? The NFT space may not have the same level of excitement as weā€™ve seen in the past couple of years, but larger players are starting to make moves.

This is a short list of brands just this week. Brands from all industries are exploring ways to be top of mind for consumers in an ever-increasing digital and virtual world.

Brands have been observing, learning, and implementing this new technology in ways that complement their business. The snowball effect will happen if these companies start sharing their results and see positive impacts on the bottom line.

Now excuse me while I go through the list of Kelloggā€™s cereals that might become NFTs. Iā€™m getting hungry.

SOTHEBYā€™S MAJOR ART AUCTION šŸ’°

Sothebyā€™s is holding the largest-ever live auction of digital art on June 15th. This collection comes from the bankrupt investment firm 3AC.

The event is called Grails and itā€™s such a big deal that itā€™s split into multiple parts.

Here are some numbers from the Grails Part I:

  • Total works sold: 15

  • Private sales: $3.7 million

  • Auction sales: $2.4 million

Sheesh, $6.1 million. I could buy a lifetimeā€™s supply of Kelloggā€™s cereal NFTs with that.

Grails: Part II will feature 37 NFTs from famous collections such as Fidenzas, Autoglpyhs, and Cryptopunks.

The biggest one? Ringers #879, otherwise known as The Goose.

Source: Sothebyā€™s

I propose we call it The Golden Goose because the estimate for this piece is $2 to $3 million.

Michael Bouhanna (VP of Digital and NFTs at Sothebyā€™s) considers the estimate conservative. Iā€™m assuming itā€™s because this piece of digital art lays golden eggs as well.

The collection is available to be bid on now, and the live auction begins on June 15th. Many of the pieces already have bids near or within the estimate, which suggests that weā€™re going to see some spicy bidding action as the auctions close.

Why does this matter?

The digital art space is alive and well, and sales like these will bring back attention to the space. Physical fine art collectors have been watching this space closely and may lean back in with these kinds of numbers.

And the kicker? Sothebyā€™s has many more NFTs in Grails wallet.Ā šŸ‘€

MILK & COOKIES šŸŖ

Blur's NFT lending platform Blend reaches $225 million in volume.

Bitcoin transaction fee revenue surges due to Ordinals.

Doodles partners with Camp to create retail and entertainment experiences.

F1 race tickets are being issued as NFTs for Monaco Grand Prix.

MILKY MEMES šŸ¤£

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