Weekly NFT & GameFi Update (Week 27, 01/07/2023 - 07/07/2023)
Yuga Labs releases HV-MTL Forge game. Credit Suisse partners with the Swiss Football Association to release an NFT collection. Dior announces sneakers with “digital twins” on Ethereum.
Chart of the Week
The floor price of blue-chip NFT collection ‘Azuki’ was down more than 60% in the past week after its Elementals collection mint. The mint appeared to be successful, and the collection sold out in 15 minutes, earning US$38 million worth of ETH. However, the hectic minting process, release of identical art to the original collection, and lack of innovation in the roadmap sparked a backlash from the community. Mass selloffs of other Azuki collections soon followed.
New Project Spotlight
NFT Collectibles
[COMING SOON] ‘Aliens in Cyberspace’ is a project by Nibera, an interdisciplinary visual artist. Dropping on 10 July on Crypto.com NFT, it features the virtual world of Cyberspace, which faces the threat of invasion from an unknown species of aliens.
[COMING SOON] ‘Anatomy of Emotions’ is a collection by Igor Martins, a multidisciplinary artist and the founder of a motion and VFX studio. This drop explores the contrast between emotions we reveal to others and the ones we feel. The collection goes live on Crypto.com NFT on 14 July.
Blockchain Games
[LIVE] The Cronos ecosystem update for July 2023 features various games across multiple genres that can now be played on Cronos, including D.G.Pals, Eyeball Games, Marble Verse, and Bored Candy City.
[LIVE] Croskull Adventure Season 5 has reached 6,036 Croskulls, a 3% burned GRVE index, and 177 pet eggs minted. In addition, Croskull has partnered with Boring Security, a project that aims to keep the NFT and crypto community safe by providing classes and informative articles.
The following table shows select top collections (by weekly sales volume on each platform) and a sample of their art:
The following table shows select top games by weekly Unique Active Wallets (UAW):
Gaming Token Performance
The total market cap for gaming tokens now stands at US$9.5 billion, down -0.5% from last week.
News Highlights
Yuga Labs has released its latest game experience, HV-MTL Forge, which blends Tamagotchi-style pet care with world-building and social strategy. Currently, only holders of HV-MTL NFTs are able to fully experience the browser-based game; however, they can delegate their NFTs to another Ethereum wallet to allow a friend to play.
Credit Suisse is partnering with the Swiss Football Association (SFA) to release an NFT collection set to launch on 11 July. The collection comprises 756 NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain that feature talented female football players from SFA.
French fashion house Dior has announced a line of men's sneakers with “digital twins”. Each pair of shoes costs $1,350 and will be linked to a corresponding NFT minted on the Ethereum blockchain.
Apparel giant Lacoste has introduced an interactive Web3 experience where fashion NFTs can be turned into digital cards. Users can complete game missions and receive points, increasing the rarity of their cards in the process.
Recent Research Reports
The Development of ZK Rollups: Zero-knowledge rollups (ZK rollups) are still in their nascent stage. However, as the technology evolves, various methods to achieve compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) have emerged.
Layer-0: Infrastructure for Customised Blockchains: Layer-0 protocols are the infrastructure that customised Layer-1 blockchains can be built on. We explore notable projects like Cosmos, Polkadot, Avalanche, LayerZero, and zkLink.
Alpha Navigator: Quest for Alpha [June 2023]: Asset classes finished the first half of 2023 strongly, with crypto in the lead. Decelerating US inflation readings could ease market concerns for the time being, while BTC options implied volatilities remain muted.
Recent University Articles
What Is Sharding? Sharding can improve transaction speed and scalability. Learn what the term means and how sharding works.
Bitcoin Scalability: Challenges and Solutions: This article explores the various challenges associated with Bitcoin’s scalability problem, with potential solutions while maintaining network security.
Cryptocurrency Futures and Derivatives: A Growing Market: Explore the rapidly expanding world of crypto futures and derivatives, and learn about their impact on the digital asset market.
Disclaimer
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Nothing in this report is intended to suggest that NFTs are investment products, nor securities, nor anything similar or “financial” of any description. NFTs are to be reserved for fun only and NOT with any expectation of “value”, “profit”, “yield” or “investment”. You are also aware that NFTs are not a store of value, are not a generally accepted medium of exchange, and are considered very illiquid and volatile.
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