NFT Innovation Digest #25

Cover Art: Crypto Fetish by Bard Ionson

Most innovative (author's pick)

After two years of development, the OG crypto artist Josie Bellini launched the CyberBrokers NFT collection, the first NFT collection to add high fidelity and high-quality art fully on-chain using SVGs.

More:

• More details on the collection have not been disclosed yet, but the team hinted at possibilities of integration with another Josie's project, MirrorWare, a "limited edition digital goods brand that is interoperable in metaverse experiences. In the future, it will create an enhanced layer for CyberBrokers";

Most discussed

The NFT scaling platform Immutable has raised $200M in a Series C funding round at a $2.5B Valuation. The funding will be used on the platform's global expansion, including leveraging Immutable Gaming Studio and merger-and-acquisitions activity.

More:

• The Series C round was led by Temasek with the participation of Mirae Asset, ParaFi Capital, Declaration Partners, and Tencent Holdings;
• Immutable plans to expand the team with 200 new hires in 2022, more than double of its current 165-person team.

Treasure, the biggest NFT marketplace on Arbitrum, was hit by a $1M+ exploit. Treasure advised its users to delist all the assets and said the marketplace had been paused. A blockchain address associated with the hacker appears to show that 17 Smol Brains valued at around $1.4M have been stolen.

More:

• The news of the hack triggered a fall in the $MAGIC token from around $3.8 to as low as $2.6, according to CoinGeko;
• PeckShield, security, and data firm published an analysis of the incident, reporting that 100 NFTs from several collections have been stolen from the marketplace.

Mainstream Adoption

Healthcare giant CVS filed a trademark application that mentions NFTs and health services in virtual and augmented reality on Feb. 28, under the "entertainment and amusement" category.

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• In the filling, the company lays claim to “downloadable virtual goods, namely, a variety of consumer goods, prescription drugs, health, wellness, beauty, and personal care products and general merchandise for use online and in online virtual worlds.”;
• CVS Health is the parent company of several well-known US-based businesses, including CVS Pharmacy. CVS Health ranked fourth on the Fortune 500 list.

Children’s film and television company Dolphin Entertainment partnered with the NFT collection The Flower Girls to make television series, books, games, music, events, and merchandise inspired by the NFT collection.

More:

• Flower girls are donating 20% of their profits to children's charities and have already donated more than$400k. The collection is also donating another 5% of profits toward supporting NFT collections created or designed by children.

Sony and Universal Music Group (UMG) partnered with Solana-based NFT marketplace Snowcrash in an effort to mix music with play-to-earn gaming.

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• Snowcrash has plans to provide artists with different opportunities, such as the launch of NFTs dedicated to Bob Dylan and Miles Davis;
• According to Dennis Kooker, president of global digital business at Sony, the intention of the partnership is “To develop a range of opportunities for our recording artists with a focus on delivering accessible, user-friendly experiences for both creators and fans”.

New products and ideas

Music Sharing Service LimeWire announced a comeback as an NFT marketplace. The platform is set to relaunch in May as a digital collectibles marketplace for art, entertainment, and music.  

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• The platform will initially focus on music-linked NFTs, and its new version will allow fans and artists to create, and trade digital collectibles without the current "technical hurdles" of the NFT space;
• The music-related collectibles will include limited editions, pre-release songs, unreleased demos, and digital merchandise.  

Manifold launched Merch Bridge, a tool to easily setup a token gated experience for any Ethereum NFT. It also partnered with Shopify to launch the integration of the Manifold x Shopify App to enable creators to select products that can only be purchased or claimed by NFT holders.

More:

• Several prominent artists such as Steve Aoki, 1/n, whitelights, and MetaZoo Games are already using Merch Bridge to provide exclusive content to their fans.

Ledger announced a limited edition of the new hardware wallet, the Ledger Nano S Plus, with 10,000 devices available for pre-order at $79. Each limited edition Ledger will come with a commemorative POAP NFT.

More:

• "Securing and protecting your digital memories, like the POAP you can collect with your Ledger Nano S Plus, is a must for anyone building their lifelong collection," said Lucas Verra, CEO of POAP.

Recommended Readings

• The Advent of NFT Finance #2: Why Trad A&C Matters for NFTs: The second part of the research series from NFTfi in collaboration with CADLabs explores the systemic impact of NFT Finance on mass adoption of NFTs within the Art & Collectibles vertical and beyond;
• Lessons We Can Learn From the Onslaught of NFT IP Cases for the Entertainment Industry: This article by NFT Plazas extract lessons from different use cases of NFT IP rights and provides insights to leverage the power of blockchain to better preserve intellectual property;
• A Q&A with the seller of a $650,000 NFT-backed Florida home: This The Block article is an interview with the seller of the first NFT-backed real state in the U.S., and provides insights on how NFTs can revolutionize the real estate industry.

New podcasts and shows

• Delphi Podcast: In this episode, Dhadrien, founder of Sismo, a new primitive for private attestations on and off-chain data, talks about the evolution of the Web3 ethos, the purpose of Sismos, and the future of Web3 identity and privacy.
• The Crypto Conversation: In this episode, Andy interviews Sandy Carter, SVP at Unstoppable Domains, a digital identity platform where domain names are minted as NFTs that can be used to replace crypto addresses with a human-readable name, host decentralized websites, act as a chat ID;
• Overpriced JPEGs: In this episode, Carly talks to Rug Radio’s Founder, Farokh, and Tokenomics Advisor, Mel about Rug Radio's complexities, innovations, and potential to disrupt the Web3 media landscape.

Save the date

• 20th - 23rd June: NFT NYC is the leading annual NFT event, don't miss it!

NFT space in numbers

The values below are from 4th-10th March 2022. Source: DappRadar.

Top Marketplaces

Top Sales

Top Collections

*Most of the sales in the collection occurred on the LooksRare marketplace and may be a subject of wash trading.