NFT Coca-Cola contains works by emerging artists and works of world art. In particular, Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” and Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring”

Coca-Cola has issued a series of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) called Masterpiece on Coinbase’s new Base network.

Base is a so-called Level 2 (L2) blockchain, with Coinbase’s cryptocurrency exchange team behind its development. After several months of work in test mode, the network was fully launched on August 9. The launch was timed to coincide with the Onchain Summer program. The program includes a hackathon for developers and several blockchain-related initiatives in art, music and games. One of them was the NFT collection from Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola tokens contain works by little-known artists as well as works of world art, including Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” and Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring.”

So far, eight different NFTs are available, ranging in price from 0.0011 ETH ($2) to 0.014 ETH ($25.8). The NFT collection is based on the corporation’s recent advertising campaign. And which is partially created with the help of artificial intelligence.

Our experts note that in August it became known that former U.S. President Donald Trump invested up to $500 thousand in cryptocurrency. The funds of the former President of the United States are stored on Ethereum-wallet. As the media believe, he may be associated with a number of past projects of Trump. And in particular, with the collection of NFT which he began to sell after he left the post of head of state.

In July, prices for CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club and other popular NFT collections fell by more than 60%. Our experts talk about the trends in the market. And the existing trading opportunities and its further prospects

In early July, the prices of the well-known and best capitalized collectible NFTs plummeted. And which are considered the blue chips of the NFT market. Collections such as CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) or Azuki fell in price by more than 60% in just one month. This is attributed to market trends. However, even a bearish period leaves traders with opportunities to make money.

BAYC, which is backed by Yuga Labs, saw its floor price fall below 30 ETH for the first time since October 2021. At the time of publication, the price has recovered to 32 ETH (about $60k). But it is still far below the historic high of $370 thousand in April 2022. The news that singer Justin Bieber bought BAYC image #3001 for $1.3 million (500 ETH at the exchange rate at the time of purchase) had fallen in price by more than 20 times by early July was widely circulated on the web.

The fall in the NFT market comes on the back of Bitcoin’s rise

So far, NFT prices have been falling systematically since the beginning of the year. And bitcoin kept going to new annual highs, and now its return for the year exceeds 80%. Most altcoins have also been rising in price, but less aggressively. This is evidenced by bitcoin’s growing dominance – for the first time since April 2021, the figure exceeded 50% of the total crypto market capitalization.

Along with the fall in prices on the NFT market, the volume of trading on the platforms significantly decreased. This indicator can be seen as a marker of interest in the market. And the low volume indicates a smaller number of participants. According to NFTGo data, over the month the total daily volume of NFT secondary trades fell by 55% from $22 million at the end of June to $10 million or lower.

Copyright royalties (royalties) from NFT creators have also hit a two-year low. According to a recent report from analytics platform Nansen, weekly royalty payments peaked at $76 million in April 2022. And by the end of June, they fell 95% to $3.8 million. Royalties are directly tied to trading volume – many NFT projects include a commission on secondary trades when creating collections. And that is paid to them in the form of royalties and serves as revenue.

In addition, the total volume of royalties fell as some trading platforms made them optional in order to attract traders. This was the case with the market leaders Blur, OpenSea, Magic Eden and LooksRare. Thus, the reduction in trading volumes and changes in the market structure led to a noticeable decrease in royalties as the main source of income for companies and teams behind NFT projects and art creators.

Whale Games

The fall in NFT prices and trading volumes is also attributed to the growing dominance of the Blur platform. It is initially oriented at more professional traders and speculators. But due to its scale, transactions on it inevitably affect the entire market. After the launch of its own token BLUR and its sensational airdrop in February this year. Blur has implemented a user reward program where traders receive tokens for placing orders and listing NFTs.

Traders on Blur with significant capital (“whales”) who can afford short-term losses sell large NFT positions en masse. And which they previously purchased and then buy them back again, gaining more tokens through more trades. This is called “farming” the tokens. Selling these tokens in the future is likely to compensate them for their losses.

Such activity increases selling pressure and collapses minimum prices in collections. It also provokes panic selling by smaller traders. And some of them in addition take loans for trading against NFT or other crypto-assets in specialized services. The combination of these factors leads to fewer and fewer new users entering the market. Alternatively, they act as the buyer of last resort.

However, there is a contrary view that token farming increases liquidity on the platform. Those traders who engage in it get an incentive to place more assets on it. And thus preventing an even greater collapse of prices on NFT.

The resulting farmed tokens are actively traded on exchanges – at the time of publication, the price of BLUR is near an all-time low of $0.30, according to CoinMarketCap. This is nearly 80% below the all-time high of $1.40 reached in late February.

NFT market prospects

Like the broader cryptocurrency market, the NFT market is likely to continue to exhibit cyclical price dynamics. As new projects emerge in the sector, bullish cycles occur. And leading to increased innovation and adoption of new technologies. This eventually leads to the emergence of lower quality projects. And then a market crash and the start of a new cycle.

The NFT sphere could, in theory, benefit from the gaming business. Blockchain gaming has become one of the popular destinations for venture capitalists in the Web3 segment. And investment in this sector is estimated at $10 billion. Many of these games involve using NFT to represent ownership of in-game assets or players’ digital avatars. However, developing truly high-quality, high-budget games can take several years. And so it’s not yet obvious which developers can take on this niche and carve out a leadership role in it.

The NFT market is no longer limited to marketplaces like OpenSea or Rarible, where you can release new NFTs or trade them with other users. There are credit services or platforms for trading derivatives on NFTs from large collections. And allowing you to speculate on NFTs without actually owning them.

Earning opportunities

For those who believe the bearish trends in NFT will continue, there is an opportunity to make money on a short position (on a “short”). And roughly the same as in the traditional or cryptocurrency markets. To do this, you can use credit platforms such as NFTfi, Arcade or the Blend service on the Blur platform. In order to “short” NFT, the trader first defines a collection. And whose value he believes will decline. Then he uses the lending platform to borrow NFTs, sells the asset at the current market price. And then re-buys it at a lower value, after which he closes the loan.

Because such platforms require lenders to actually own the underlying asset. So borrowers can only “short” NFTs from the largest and most liquid collections. Those who, conversely, believe in market growth can use these same platforms to borrow against their NFTs. And accumulating more assets and taking profits if the market goes into a bullish phase.

Platforms for trading perpetual futures for specific NFT collections. NFTPerp, for example, allow speculating on the floor prices of popular collections without the need to own the underlying assets. However, this is still a new market segment and the services are highly dependent on external data providers (aka oracles). And who can distort the data, which creates corresponding risks. In addition, as in the traditional market, there is margin call risk when trading NFT futures.

Music NFTs

Our experts note that in addition to collectible NFTs or blockchain games, there are NFT-related initiatives from big brands or, for example, music NFT platforms. In July, the market decline did not prevent the Sound service from raising $20 million from investors. And that includes Andreessen Horowitz’s largest crypto fund (a16z crypto). The platform allows you to trade musical compositions in the form of NFT. And musicians who place compositions on it have already collectively earned more than $5 million.

Sound music NFT startup raises $20M in another round of funding helped by a16z fund and Snoop Dogg

The a16z crypto fund (Andreessen Horowitz) led the round. Other investors included Sound Ventures, Collab + Currency, Scalar Capital, rapper Snoop Dogg, and Ryan Tedder.

According to Sound co-founder David Greenstein. And the funds will be used to hire new employees and expand in the online music space. And including on mobile devices.

All music on the Sound platform can be listened to for free. But when downloading them, the authors also issue NFT. Which gives the right to own the song. The price of the NFT is set by the author, and the platform takes a fixed commission for the issuance of each token. Songs in this format can be traded on the secondary market on NFT-marketplaces. The total revenue of musicians who have uploaded works to Sound, according to the platform, already reaches $5.5 million.

In December 2021, the startup led a $5 million seed investment round, which was also led by a16z.

In April, a16z also led a $120 million investment round for LayerZero Labs, the company behind the development of the LayerZero project. The project has raised more than $250 million from venture capitalists and is valued at $3 billion.

Our experts note that venture capital funding for the Web 3 segment fell sharply in the first quarter of this year. And that there is an 80% decrease compared to the same period last year. In the first three months of 2023, cryptocurrency venture capital funds made 353 transactions worth $2.6 billion. The number of transactions was 12.2% lower than in October-December 2022.

The most expensive NFT piece of art The Golden Goose from a bankrupt hedge fund’s collected tokens went under the hammer for twice as much as expected

An NFT called Ringers #879, or The Golden Goose, from the GRAILS collection of the bankrupt cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) was sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $6.2 million.

The digital piece by Canadian Dmitry Chernyak was bought by hedge fund 3AC for 1.8 thousand ETN ($5.6 million at the time of purchase) in August 2021. It was the most expensive NFT in the fund’s collection.

The auction house expected the Golden  Goose to sell for $2-3 million. But the NFT went under the hammer for $5.4 million. Including commissions, the total was over $6.2 million.

NFT’s collection, assembled by 3AC, is up for sale as the fund’s liquidators try to raise funds to reimburse creditors. Hedge fund Three Arrows Capital filed for bankruptcy last July. It suffered losses during the collapse of the Terra ecosystem. And it ran into problems after the closure of cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network.

Other famous NFTs from the GRAILS collection sold at auction were Autoglyph #218 by Larva Labs. Which sold for $330k, Tyler Hobbs’ Fidenza #479 went for $622k. As well as Fidenza #216 – for $609 thousand Chromie Squiggle #1780. Eric Calderon, founder of Art Blocks, sold for $635,000, more than three times its estimate before the auction.

Our experts note that earlier Sotheby’s announced that the series of sales of GRAILS will begin in May and will continue throughout 2023. The collection will be released in pieces that will be displayed in several locations around the world.

French fashion house Louis Vuitton has announced that it will soon begin selling a series of tokens in the form of the brand’s iconic trunk. NFTs will only be available to “select customers.”

French fashion house Louis Vuitton has announced the launch of the VIA Treasure Trunk, a digital copy of its iconic product, the treasure chest, in the form of NFTs.

There will be “only a few hundred” NFTs available for purchase. And each Treasure Trunk is priced at €39k. Waitlist entries will begin on June 8, and select participants will have access to a preview of the tokens on June 14. You’ll be able to buy them starting June 16, including for cryptocurrencies.

The Louis Vuitton Chest appeared in the mid-19th century and has since become a hallmark of the brand. NFT, called VIA Treasure Trunk, is designed as a token linked to the identity of the owner (SBT).

Soulbound tokens (SBTs) are unique non-financial tokens that are not transferable. Such NFTs are issued in a single instance and are permanently tied to a single blockchain address.

The company explained that the NFT Treasure Trunk will give owners access to the VIA portal (the brand’s NFT store). And which will act as a gateway for those wishing to purchase other Louis Vuitton digital items. Each collectible from the new releases will give buyers exclusive access to its physical counterparts. And so the company promises, without explaining what the exclusivity of this access is.

The SBT format prohibits owners from transferring or selling Treasure Trunk tokens after purchase. While “ensuring that only a select few will have access to the VIA portal,” Louis Vuitton said. Users will then be able to sell future digital collectibles purchased through VIA on other NFT marketplaces.

Our experts note that this is not the fashion house’s first experience in the digital space. In 2021, Louis Vuitton released a video game called Louis The Game to celebrate the 200th anniversary of its founder Louis Vuitton. And in which players had to find 30 hidden NFTs.

NFT digital tokens can be used at Formula 1 races starting with the Monaco Grand Prix on May 28

Formula 1 ticket supplier Platinum Group has introduced tickets in the form of NFTs. The first event to which they will be available is the Monaco Grand Prix, which will be held on May 28.

The tokens will be issued on the Polygon blockchain. In addition to admission to the event. NFT tickets will also give owners various bonuses. For example, discounts for future races or participation in parties.

For sports fans, easy entry is the most important principle. Eli Zerbib, co-founder of the Web3 company Bary, which was involved in the creation of the tokens, said this. According to him, NFT tokens provide just that simplicity. And they offer transparency, traceability, easy purchasing, personalization. And also great audience involvement, which the company needs.

Our experts note that the use of blockchain technology in sports already goes beyond selling event tickets or issuing fan tokens and NFT collections

Because of the small amount of liquidity of the asset on exchanges. It may be difficult for large holders of LADYS token to realize these profits. Crypto-Upvotes expert review

Amount of unrealized profit of the top 10 holders of the cryptocurrency Milady Meme Coin (LADYS) exceeded $20.4 million, according to the analytical service Lookonchain. These addresses hold 180 trillion LADYS tokens. Which is 20.3% of the issued coins.

The LADYS token was launched on the Ethereum network in early May. And it also supports the Arbitrum network standard (ARB). On the evening of May 10, Elon Musk posted a meme on Twitter with an image of NFT from the Milady Maker collection. After that, the LADYS token rate went up 119 times. Or almost 12,000% – from $0.0000001444 to $0.000000172234.

Coin is trading both on decentralized platforms, as well as on major DEX exchanges. LADYS has already been listed by Huobi, Gate.io, Bybit, Bidget and MEXC. According to CoinGecko, the market capitalization of the asset as of May 16 is $88 million. And the daily trading volume is $89.5 million.

At the same time, Lookonchain analysts noticed suspicious transactions with the cryptocurrency LADYS. And as they then stated, related to DWF Labs. After this information emerged, developer Milady added the three largest token holders to its blacklist. They contain 109 trillion LADYS (about $15 million) and it is now impossible to withdraw funds from these addresses.

Other large holders of the coin may also find it difficult to realize profits. According to him, the liquidity of the asset is about $3 million, distributed on the Uniswap v2 and v3 platforms. If token owners want to sell the cryptocurrency. Then they should either consider the possibility of huge slippage, or close their positions gradually.

The former product manager of the OpenSea platform knew which of the NFT collections would be advertised on the home page of this site. And was buying them up in advance for resale

Prosecutors have won the first ever U.S. insider trading lawsuit involving digital assets. A former employee of NFT marketplace OpenSea has now been found guilty of using confidential information to make a profit.

A jury found former platform product manager Nathaniel Chastain guilty of fraud and money laundering. In contrast, insider trading litigation centered on securities fraud charges. Then Chastain was charged with wire fraud. This allowed prosecutors to sidestep the issue of classifying NFTs as an asset, not yet spelled out in the law.

Chastain, 32, was responsible for selecting the NFT section of Trending. These are the images that were posted on the front page of OpenSea’s home page. Getting NFTs into that section of the site usually resulted in an immediate jump in their price. According to the charge, OpenSea kept information about the NFT collections secret. Which were chosen to be displayed on the home page. But Chastain, in possession of this information, bought up dozens of the right images in advance. And when he published them in the Trending section, he immediately sold them at several times the purchase price, violating the confidentiality agreement.

The prosecution alleges that Chastain profited over $57,000 in ETH cryptocurrency from the scheme. The defendant himself claims that he never converted the proceeds into dollars. Consequently, he made no profit.

In September 2021, Chastain was asked to resign after his activities became visible both internally. And to outside observers in the crypto community. Who analyzed sales and tracked wallet transfers at the expense of blockchain transparency. The company then introduced a policy prohibiting employees from buying or selling NFTs. As long as they are displayed on the home page of the site.

Our experts note that Chastain was arrested in June 2022. He faces up to 20 years in prison for each count. Although he will likely end up with a much lesser sentence. Sentencing is scheduled for August 22.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump released a new series of 47 thousand tokens, it was sold out within 24 hours

Sales of the first NFT collection of Donald Trump rose 860% after the launch of the second series of tokens. According to the Cryptoslam platform, secondary sales of items from the first issue of Trump Digital Trading Cards totaled $384,000 per day. During the week before the announcement of the new batch of NFTs, sales were $20,000 to $40,000 per day.

Also sales of the second series of NFTs featuring the former U.S. president began April 18. He appears on them as Elvis Presley, the chess king, in company with a fire lion and in other flamboyant images.

The new collection includes 47,000 NFTs – 2,000 more than the first issue. Buyers of the 47 tokens got a chance to be a guest at a dinner with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The number 47 could be a hint at his intention to become the 47th president of the United States.

The initial cost of the “cards” remained the same – $99. However, as stated on the site, all tokens have already been sold out.

Our experts note that the first collection of 45 thousand NFT on the blockchain Polygon Trump released last December. There were 44 thousand tokens for sale. All NFTs were sold out in the first 24 hours. And initial sales brought the project nearly $4.4 million.

Despite an increase in sales of NFTs from the first collection, the minimum price for them on the largest NFT-marketplace OpenSea fell by 64% overnight. On April 19, it stands at 0.1396 ETH ($279), almost three times the initial price of NFT.

Net book value of digital assets of Playboy as of December dropped to $ 327 thousand. A year earlier the figure was equal to $ 6.8 million

PLBY Group, parent company of Playboy magazine, said it suffered a $4.9 million asset impairment loss in Ethereum (ETH) in 2022, according to its annual report. The company was accepting the leading altcoin as payment for its 2021 Rabbitars collection NFTs.

In 2021, the company received $7.8 million from the sale of NFTs. At the end of that year, however, it recorded a $1 million loss on their impairment. At the end of 2022, the value of the digital assets on the Playboy balance sheet was $327,000.

Digital assets as of December 31, 2022 and 2021 consisted of Ethereum cryptocurrency from the sale of NFT. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, the carrying value of our digital assets was $0.3 million and $6.8 million, respectively. The digital asset impairment charges for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 were $4.9 million and $1 million, respectively.

Playboy explained that it accounts for its digital assets as “indefinite-lived intangible assets.” These are subject to impairment if their fair value falls below their carrying value at any time. Impairment losses that the company incurs on digital assets cannot be recovered. Even if the fair value of the assets increases after impairment losses are accepted.

The market price of a single Ethereum ranged from $964 to $3,813 during 2022. But book value of each Ethereum that Playboy owned at the end of a reporting period. It reflects the lowest price per Ethereum on the exchange at any time since it was received.

Our experts note that negative fluctuations in the market price of Ethereum could have a significant impact on Playboy’s profits and book value. While an increase in prices will only have a positive impact on company profits. If the tokens on the balance sheet are sold at a profit.