GM - this is The Snapshot, edition #120.
This is what I’ve got for you this week.
This Week In NFT World - Market sentiment crushed - any hope?
Sponsored Post - Lil Nouners 40 ETH Artist Program Seeing Success
Notable Sales - CryptoPunks, Azuki Spirit, Fidenza
Investor Focus - Why Airdrops Are Not Free Money
For sponsorship enquires, please DM me on Twitter.
Have a great day,
B
This Week In NFT World - Market sentiment crushed - any hope?
Crypto majors crash 10% each: BTC $58k; ETH $2.9k; SOL $130
The timeline was in complete disarray this week as the majors all moved down between 5-10% - and memecoins experienced an even more aggressive sell off.
I made this point multiple times on shows this week: I don’t think the sentiment was a true reflection of the market’s status (BTC was at this level no longer than 3 months ago!), but more a reflection of individual’s allocation/overexposure to the market.
I think when people realised that we were in a bull market (as BTC soared past 40k and teleported to 60k) they thought they missed the major BTC move, so decided to gamble on memecoins.
Whilst there have been crazy profitable trades in that arena, naturally these get hit the hardest in moments of downturns.
The sentiment this week told this story: I am half way through a bull market and I am either down or not anywhere near enough up for me to be calm right now - please, please go higher, right here, right now
Hong Kong BTC & ETH ETFs underwhelm
US BTC ETFs have driven a lot of the narrative for BTC this year as inflows have been colossal.
Whilst some expected fireworks for the Hong Kong ETFs, they have not appeared to deliver - at least not yet.
The mitigating factor is that it can take months for these institutions to receive the relevant approvals/conduct the appropriate DD to start buying these ETFs (this continues to be an argument for why the US BTC ETF has not seen even more inflows as many are still mobilising).
We will have to see how this progresses. I am personally persuaded by the argument that those who are wealthy in the East (against the backdrop of a Chinese property market crisis) will increasingly allocate to BTC.
Blur goes live on Blast with 2M Gold incentive for users
Blur has thrown the mother of all incentives out for its users by providing 66k Gold per day as an incentive to use its Blast NFT trading platform.
Users are incentivised to bid and list their NFTs on the Blur on Blast trading platform.
The sheer number of Gold allocated to itself (remember the new Blast L2 is made by the creators of Blur) is what is staggering when compared with other protocols and the relative size of the Blast NFT market.
"What’s wild about the self-allocation of 2,000,000 gold to Blur isn’t the sheer amount. Thruster has received 1,700,000. It’s a) the short duration they have spend it. It amounts to 66,666 gold per day. That’s over $1,200,000 per day based on my estimate. b) the tinyness of the asset. The blast nft ecosystem consists almost entirely of farming-first tokens with only a few above 0.2 ETH before today. c) redeemable NFTs add complications and chances to scam and wash trade."
If you are in the game of accumulating Blast Gold because you think $BLAST is going to be valuable, this is absolutely impossible to ignore for the next month.
I will not ignore.
Former Binance CEO CZ sentenced to 4 months prison in US
Absolutely hilarious that CZ got 4 months jail time given his obsession with the number 4.
"U.S. Justice Department officials said that Zhao created a company culture in which Binance’s growth was prioritized over compliance with U.S. financial rules. By serving American customers without the proper controls in place, funds linked to virtual theft and terrorism were able to flow through Binance undetected, officials said."
CZ has already started planning for life after jail, and crypto, with his new education startup, Giggle.
Eigenlayer airdrop details revealed to criticism: approx. $17B FDV but non-transferable and heavy geoblocking
The restaking protocol Eigenlayer - which we have spoken about a great deal as a huge opportunity - was fudded this week as its airdrop details disappointed some. (Although, as usual, Twitter was far more dramatic than they needed to be, as it will still be highly lucrative)
The criticism was broadly: that it’s not clear when people will actually get their hands on the token, when they will become transferable because they are not transferable now, and that certain jurisdictions were geoblocked even though they were not geoblocked when depositing their funds in the first place (which is pretty bad tbh)
"when tge? vesting period starts from tge or once transferability is enabled? (remind them they are the poster boy of ethereum alignment before they answer this) why geoblock claims but not deposits?"
Nevertheless, Bread provided some good perspective in this tweet with which I generally agree:
It is still an exceptionally valuable token, and pushes the whole of Ethereum forward in a novel way.
If you want a further rundown of how Eigenlayer works, have a read of this brilliant summary again by Bread.
Pudgy Penguins launch first 3rd party licensing deal on Overpass by Orange Cap Games
Very cool to see the dream of people leveraging web3 IP being executed by Orange Cap Games - who are providing an opportunity for Pudgy Penguin holders to be included in a Penguin trading card game via a license.
With their licensing platform, Overpass, Pudgy Penguins are hoping Pudgy Penguin NFT holders will have more opportunities to connect with builders who want to leverage their IP.
“Orange Cap Games is bringing 200 Pudgy Penguins to life for their upcoming trading card game."
Sponsored Post - Lil Nouners 40 ETH Artist Program Seeing Success
Nouns DAO has passed a 40 ETH small grants program that seeks to fund artists to create CC0 artwork in any medium.
Round 1 had over 100 entries and has now voted through the first 20 artists to the program.
Three of those artists have already submitted their final work, and anyone can go and mint them here
These pieces have already been minted hundreds of times between them!
Round 2 submissions have now concluded and there were just under 80 submissions.
Voting has taken place and we will now see the next 20 artists inducted to AP.
If you are an artist, or know of one, head to Artistprogram.org to get details on how you could be funded 0.3 eth in the next round.
This is just another example of Lil Nouns DAO buildors doing great things!
Notable Sales - CryptoPunks, Azuki Spirit, Fidenza
CryptoPunk, Eye Mask/Pipe - 38 ETH
Azuki, Spirit - 70 ETH
CryptoPunk, Hoodie - 105 ETH
CryptoPunk, Eye Mask - 54.69 ETH
Tyler Hobbs, Fidenza - 41 ETH
Investor Focus - Why Airdrops Are Not Free Money
We write a great deal on airdrops because people are excited by the idea of free money and certainly motivated by the idea of free money.
This week I reflected on all the unrecorded time and effort that goes into securing such “free money”:
If you make a $10k of an "airdrop" that is not free money.
Unless you literally parked it somewhere and did nothing.
People will inevitably share Blast "airdrops" of huge numbers relatively soon, but you have to ask how much time and ETH were sunk into that airdrop
- Time spent clicking buttons
- Time spent strategising which buttons to click
- Time spent considering how much clicking buttons is worth
- ETH spent as a consequence of clicking the buttons
When framed as a job, it quickly becomes apparent that it's not as great value as you think (unless you can farm in huge size and do nothing and don't get rugged).
Most simply don't value their time high enough.
So what does this mean for the average participant?
It means that you don’t need to beat yourself up as much about not getting as much “free money” as the next person because they are not actually getting “free money” - it comes at a cost of their time, effort, and locking up their ETH in a risky smart contract which could legitimately get drained.
I hope that perspective helps when thinking about the time, effort and risk required to secure the “free money” which we so desire.
Have a great day,
B
Disclaimer: The content covered in this newsletter is not to be considered as investment advice. It is for informational and educational purposes only.
I hold some of the NFTs mentioned in these newsletters