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The 10 most expensive NFTs ever

The most expensive NFT ever sold: all the digital artworks

What are the most expensive NFT ever sold? Here is the list of million-dollar crypto artworks! 

Have you ever wondered: “what are the 10 most expensive NFT ever sold?” Digital works of art sold at sky-high prices. Along with Picasso‘s cubism, Botticelli’s renaissance style and Rembrandt‘s baroque style; collectors and galleries of the future (and present) will also exhibit CryptoPunks and Beeple’s digital art. 

10. CryptoPunk #7804 – 7.56 million 

In tenth place among the most expensive NFT ever sold is a CryptoPunk, number 7804, purchased in March 2021 for $7.5 million (4,200 ETH). This Punk is an ‘Alien’, a decidedly rare category – only 9 out of 10,000 exist! Hallmarks? Sunglasses and a pipe! 

9. CryptoPunk #3100 – 7.67 million

There are 406 CryptoPunks who have the tennis-style band, but only one of them is an alien. That’s the 3100. Imagine how much it could be worth? 

8. CryptoPunk #5577 – 7.7 million

As you may have noticed, CryptoPunks are leading the ranking of the most expensive NFT ever sold. The #5577 was purchased in February 2022 by Robert Leshner, the CEO of Compound, one of DeFi’s most popular lending (decentralised lending) platforms. The CEO of the protocol shelled out a whopping 2,500 ETH to get it.

7. CryptoPunk #4156 – 10.2 million

All CryptoPunks are unique, but the number 4156 stands out because of the interesting story of its former owner. The user, whose Twitter handle echoes this numerical succession, is a very famous crypto influencer on the social network who is also part of the nouns DAO development team. When @punk4156 sold the NFT because he disagreed with Larva Labs‘ copyright policies, the entire community was stunned.

6. Tpunk #3442 – 10.5 million

Another Punk, also in sixth position in the ranking of the most expensive NFT ever sold. This time, however, not one from the collection created by Larva Labs, but a TPunk, a specimen from the collection inspired by CryptoPunks but built on the Tron blockchain. Purchasing this rare piece of the ‘derivative’ collection was Justin Sun, the founder and former CEO of TRON, who pulled 120 million TRX out of his crypto wallet.

5. CryptoPunk #7523 – 11.7 million

Crypto Punk #7523 was sold in 2021 for 4,700 ETH at a Sotheby’s digital art auction. Another ‘Alien’ equipped with earrings, cap and surgical mask. Perhaps the NFT was so coveted because of the presence of this very ‘avant-garde’ accessory at the time it was purchased.

4. CryptoPunk #5822 – 23.2 million 

Wooden medal for the ‘alien’ CryptoPunk sporting the blue bandana. This NFT was purchased by Chain’s CEO Deepak Thapliyal for the astronomical sum of 8,000 ETH.

3. Human One by Beeple – 28.9 million

In third place in the ranking of the most expensive NFT ever sold is Human One, a 3D digital sculpture by the famous artist Beeple, which depicts an astronaut walking in a glass case. The backgrounds are digital and the scenery changes on a rotating basis.

2. Clock by Pak and Julian Assange – 52.7 million

The silver medal goes to Pak for his work Clock. This NFT is a timer that counts down the days since Julian Assange, the co-founder of Wikileaks, has been detained in Belmarsh prison (UK). The digital artwork was purchased by the AssangeDAO, an autonomous and decentralised organisation established with the aim of fighting for the freedom of the Wikileaks founder. 

1. Everydays: the first 5000 Days by Beeple – 69.3 million

This work by Beeple is a collage of 5,000 photographs from the Everyday project: one photograph per day since May 2017. Not only does it hold the record for the most expensive NFT ever sold, but it is also a “historic” event that brought non-fungible tokens to mainstream media for the first time. It was talked about everywhere, even on Saturday Night Live.Do the most expensive NFT ever sold list include your favourite? The digital art scene is vast and you don’t have to spend astronomical sums to become an NFT owner. There are ones for all budgets, or you can hope that the ones on this list will become cheaper. After all, the prices you see here are not definitive, it is the market that determines their value.

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ApeCoin in the spotlight: what is it and how does the Bored Ape token work?

What is Apecoin, the Bored Ape Yacht Club crypto and how it works

What is ApeCoin, the token of the Bored Ape Yacht Club community, the world’s most valuable NFT collection  

What is ApeCoin (APE), the token of the Bored Ape Yacht Club community? The ‘monkey’ NFT collection is one of the most famous in the panorama of non-fungible tokens, but for about a year now it has also been on the market for ‘fungible’ ones. Thanks to ApeCoin (APE), the token managed by the Bored Apes community and the Ape Foundation. In these lines, you will discover not only what ApeCoin is, but in general everything you need to know about the crypto of the Bored Ape community.  

What is ApeCoin and how to use it

APE is an ERC-20 token developed on the Ethereum blockchain. At its launch on 17 March 2022, it was distributed to all users who owned an NFT from the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) collections through an airdrop. This free token distribution was one of the most valuable ever, with each holder of BAYC NFTs receiving more than $100,000 in APE.

Owning ApeCoins (APE) grants the right to participate in the autonomous and decentralised ApeDAO organisation. The DAO of the Bored Ape Yacht Club community, whose decisions are overseen by the Ape Foundation, serves to discuss and vote on ideas and new projects proposed by users. 

The Ape Foundation is the decentralised institution that administers the ApeCoin DAO, specifically it is responsible for the management of proposals on the platform and for accounting. At the head of the Ape Foundation is a special council, whose members are elected by the decentralised organisation itself. Ape Foundation is not linked to Yuga Labs, it acts independently by proposing initiatives for the community. 

In addition to participating in governance, the token is used as an incentive for the developers of the BAYC project. Finally, according to the ApeCoin DAO announcement, APE will also be the currency in the Bored Ape Metaverse, Otherside and will grant access to exclusive video games and events!

ApeCoin tokenomics

The total supply of APE is 1 billion, and the tokens, released as of 17 March 2022, will be distributed to the market progressively until 2026. 15% of ApeCoin availability was distributed to BAYC and MAYC holders at launch, while 47% is stored in DAO-owned crypto wallets. This percentage of APE tokens serves to finance BAYC community proposals that have been approved. The remaining part of the ApeCoin (APE) is owned by investors. These include the Web3 company that created the NFT collection of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Yuga Labs, which owns 15% of the supply.

What is ApeCoin DAO?

The ApeCoin DAO is the decentralised community organisation of the BAYC. It is necessary to point out that it is completely separate from Yuga Labs, which can express its opinion on future decisions as if it were a wealthy user with a large amount of APE. 

The way it works is simple: anyone who owns at least one APE is entitled to be a member of the DAO, and each token held is equivalent to one vote. Members can propose so-called AIPs (Ape Improvement Proposals), i.e. improvements to the ecosystem on three broad themes: Core, Process and Informational.

Core

Core proposals concern the heart of the ApeCoin project. This category includes all AIPs requiring a financial commitment from the DAO and all those involving the ApeCoin brand and possible collaborations with other Web3 players.

Process

Proposals that intend to change the AIP approval process. For example, those that include changing the voting procedures, or the technical tools of ApeCoin. In particular, the community may decide to vote against the current system whereby 1 token = 1 vote, or it may decide that a more than absolute majority of votes in favour (e.g. more than 70% in favour) is required to approve a proposal. 

Informational

Under this category are proposals on general community guidelines.

The Process for Proposing an Idea on the ApeCoin DAO

To understand not only what ApeCoin is but also how it works within the BAYC governance, let’s look in detail at the process leading to the approval of a new ApeCoin DAO proposal.

  • AIP idea: a member of the community publishes a proposal, which must first be analysed by a moderator of the AIP Foundation;
  • Draft AIP: the draft AIP enriched with comments from other DAO members and approved by a moderator is labelled, ‘AIP-#: (Name) – (Category)’;
  • Board review: the APE Foundation’s Board of Directors reviews the draft AIP and issues a report to ensure that costs and legal implications have been considered;
  • AIP approval: the draft and report are reviewed and approved by a team of moderators according to DAO guidelines;
  • AIP voting: approved proposals are published on the DAO’s platform during the ‘Weekly AIP Release’ Thursday and users can cast their votes for one week
  • Activation of AIPs: accepted AIPs move on to the ‘activation’ phase, which will be managed by the AIP owner and the ApeCoin Foundation team, while rejected AIPs can be resubmitted using the template provided.

The ApeCoin DAO website states ‘the ways in which blockchain can impact culture are infinite, and impossible to predict them all. APE is a token created to shape the future of the Internet, controlled and developed by the community’. So what is ApeCoin? Now you know, and we even went over the mechanisms governing its DAO, so you can make up your own mind. Is the BAYC community well on its way to shaping the web of the future?

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What is the Bored Ape Yacht Club? Everything you need to know about the NFTs of the moment!

bored ape yacht club

How much do you know about the Bored Ape Yacht Club, the collection that made NFT mainstream? Here’s its full story!

The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) marked the success of NFTs and made them mainstream. At almost two years old, it is the second largest non-fungible token project in terms of trading volume. But what is the Bored Ape Yacht Club? Who is behind it? Why are these ‘bored apes’ worth so much? In this article you will find everything you need to know!

Bored Ape Yacht Club: what is it?

The Bored Ape Yacht Club is a collection of 10,000 non-fungible tokens released by Yuga Labs in 2021. Each NFT in the collection represents an ‘Ape’, i.e. a monkey, generated by the combination of 170 randomly chosen characteristics, including expressions, headgear, and clothing. The concepts of combination and rarity are reminiscent of CryptoPunks, with the Bored Ape also being distinguished by its reference number. Technically speaking, these non-fungible tokens are ERC-721 tokens on Ethereum and their metadata are hosted in the decentralised repository of the IPFS.

Two spin-off collections derive from the Bored Ape Yacht Club: the Mutant Ape Yacht Club, which represents the monkeys in a ‘mutant’ version, and the Bored Ape Kennel Club, which includes the primates’ four-legged friends (pooches).

Celebrities who own Bored Ape

Owning a Bored Ape means belonging to an exclusive club of community benefits but above all social prestige. Many people from show business have climbed aboard the club that grants real status. Let’s take a look at some celebrities and their Apes:

  • Shaquille O’Neal
    The NBA champion owns a Mutant Ape, bought for $14,000;
  • Jimmy Fallon
    The Bored Ape number #599 is currently owned by the famous American talk show host. He bought it for $224,000;
  • Eminem
    In December 2021, Eminem bought an Ape for more than $450,000. An Ape that looks incredibly like him;
  • Neymar JR
    The player in January 2022 for 1 million took home two Apes, number #6633 and #5269;
  • Gwyneth Paltrow
    Paltrow’s last non-fungible purchase appeared on Twitter last January;
  • Justin Bieber
    The pop star keeps Bored Ape #3001 in his wallet.
  • Snoop Dogg
    The rapper in question, under the pseudonym Cozomo de’ Medici, is a big NFT collector. He certainly couldn’t pass up a few Apes.
  • Stephen Curry
    The four-time NBA champion also owns a Bored Ape, number #7990, which he has displayed for a few months as his Twitter profile picture.
  • Madonna
    “The Queen of Pop” owns BAYC number #4988, paid around $466,000.

How the Bored Ape Yacht Club came into being

Like all great stories, this one started with four friends at the bar. Gargamel, Gordon, Tomato and Sass, four eccentric, out-of-the-box types decided to experiment with blockchain and create some not-so-smart-looking monkeys. The first step was taken by Gordon who immediately came up with a detailed and enviable business plan, namely a chat message: ‘let’s make an NFT’. Gargamel and Gordon had stumbled upon cryptocurrencies in 2017 and in the famous bar they tried to pull the other two in. You know that friend for whom any opportunity is good to talk crypto? Spoiler: if you can’t think of anyone, it’s you.

Tomato and Sass’s role in the project was technical, meanwhile another message had arrived: “do you know JavaScript?”. Apparently it seemed essential to them to create NFT (spoiler #2: it’s not so much). All four of them together founded Yuga Labs to make digital, authentic art on blockchain. In February 2022, the American tabloid BuzzFeed published a report revealing the identities of two founders of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, specifically Gordon and Gargamel whose real names would be: Wylie Aronow and Greg Solano, two 30-year-old Florida residents. The article triggered a fierce reaction from the community, which accused BuzzFeed of illegally violating the privacy of the two founders.

But why monkeys? In the crypto world, monkeys are common animals, almost as common as whales. According to a long tradition, cryptocurrency traders affectionately refer to each other as ‘monkeys’. Cryptopunks also have monkeys, and they are among the rarest.

Key moments in the history of the Bored Ape Yacht Club

The Bored Ape was released in April 2021 and in just a few years wrote NFT history, achieving sensational milestones. Here is a brief summary of the highlights of BAYC:

  • 23 April 2021: launch of the collection with a one-week pre-sale. During this time, only 500 Ape were sold at 0.08 ETH (at that time about 220 USD);
  • 1 May 2021: crazy night when all 9,500 remaining Apes were sold! On that night, BAYC’s smart contract was the most used smart contract on Ethereum: “our Discord went from totally dead to the most hype place in the crypto world”. The collection thus sold out;
  • 8 August 2021: opening of the BAYC Riverboat Casino in Decentraland developed with Decentral Games;
  • 28 August 2021: arrival of the Mutant Ape Yacht Club, each ape owner received a symbolic ‘serum’ to mutate their ape with matching but ‘genetically modified’ traits. In addition, 10,000 more Mutant Apes were born,
  • 9 September 2021: During an auction at Sotheby’s (the famous auction house), a lot of 101 Apes was sold for almost $25 million;
  • 17 December 2021: collaboration with Adidas to bring the sports brand into the Metaverse.
  • 18 March 2022: airdrop of Apecoin (APE), the BAYC governance token, developed by ApeCoin DAO and not directly by Yuga Labs;
  • 19 March 2022: launch of Otherdeed, the LANDs of the Bored Ape Metaverse, Otherside (not yet officially released);
  • 16 July 2022: online the demo version of Otherside in which 4,500 users participated, the first exclusive journey into the Bored Ape Metaverse;
  • 19 January 2023: release of Doo-Key Dash, a mini-game for NFT holders of the Bored Ape Yacht Club to win valuable prizes;

Who illustrated the Bored Ape?

The Bored Ape originated primarily as an art project, their ‘bored, scruffy, punk’ graphic design stemming from the joint work of several freelance artists. All Seeing Seneca worked for four days under the creative direction of the founders to outline the basic character, later Mig and Thomas Dagley and two other artists who wish to remain anonymous created the expressions, clothing, accessories and design of the club itself within a month. The Mutant Ape Yacht Club is the work of Dagley and Lovans Hartes.

The Bored Ape are the undisputed stars of the crypto space

BAYC is now an institution in the crypto space. Apes are used as avatars for experiences that have to do with the Metaverse or Web3, such as Jenkins The Valet, the creative writing project using NFTs, or the digital band set up by Universal Music, in which the members are four Apes. A Bored Ape even appeared in the Adidas commercial for the 2022 World Cup, on the packaging of a cereal box. These are just a few examples, to keep up to date with all BAYC initiatives, there is The Bored Ape Gazette.

Another project developed by Yuga Labs is ‘The Bathroom‘. A virtual bathroom where each club member, i.e. those who have at least one Ape in their wallet, could paint a pixel on the wall for 15 minutes. “As with any good dive bar bathroom, this is the place to draw, doodle or write expletives”. An artistic and collaborative experiment for the cryptosphere, as crazy and creative as the four founders of BAYC. The (improvised) writers of the Bored Ape Yacht Club did a rather original job, even two Crypto Punks appeared on the canvas!

The universe of the Bored Ape

Yuga Labs is regularly releasing applications and features that help expand its ecosystem. The most important project is certainly the Otherside metaverse, announced in March 2022 and already ‘tested’ by the community. It is not yet known when this virtual world will be available, but to console users who can no longer wait, the mini-game Doo-Key was released in January 2023, opening a new chapter in the lore (plot) of the Bored Ape Yacht Club.

NFT Yuga Labs owners have previously minted the Sewer Pass to gain access to the game. In the game Doo-Key, the objective is to retrieve a valuable key lost by the careless character Jimmy The Monkey while darting through the sewers. This key, if collected, will allow you to open the door to the next scenario, learn about new plot developments, and qualify for exclusive prizes from the Bored Ape Yacht Club.

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After crypto, will China now also ban NFTs?

NFT news from China: will they become illegal like cryptocurrencies?

Will NFTs become as illegal as cryptocurrencies in China? A Chinese court issues a ruling and the debate opens up

A few days ago, the Hangzhou court in China ruled that NFTs must comply with laws established for e-commerce sales and those related to virtual property, due to their characteristics of ‘value, scarcity, traceability, and marketability’. The ruling was particularly lenient towards the sector after the 2021 ban on crypto. What might be the next developments following this news? Will NFTs become illegal in China?

Cryptocurrencies are banned in China

In 2021, the Chinese government officially banned crypto mining and trading. On the one hand mining was banned for environmental reasons (taking 50% of all global mining activity out of the country). On the other hand, crypto was banned for possible ‘speculation’ risks. All crypto-to-crypto and fiat-to-crypto transactions are therefore illegal in China. This is the case for both local and foreign platforms. The Chinese government had however not taken a decision at the same time to regulate NFTs.

Are NFTs legal in China?

From a legal point of view, NFTs are not banned in China. However, since their technology is linked to cryptocurrencies, the situation is complicated. A first aspect to consider is that, given the ban on crypto, non-fungible tokens cannot currently be purchased via cryptocurrencies. Generally speaking, although the Chinese government is not hostile to the concept of NFTs per se, it remains intolerant of possible financial applications and even simple buying and selling.

In this regard, on the 13th April 2022, the National Internet Finance Association of China, the China Banking Association and the Securities Association of China shared guidelines to ‘prevent financial risks related to NFTs’. These are not laws because these associations have no legislative powers, but rather steps to be taken to prevent users from associating tokens with the same concepts of ‘speculation’ that led crypto to be banned. These guidelines are like a test for those who want to create and sell NFTs in China and could guide future choices by the authorities by building standards.

Some of these measures are:

  1. Using only the state blockchain to create NFT (more on this blockchain later);
  2. Referring to NFTs as “virtual collector’s items” and not as “tokens”;
  3. Avoiding any association with crypto;
  4. Suspending NFT secondary markets;
  5. Using platforms that verify the identity of users.

A black market is born

The crypto ban has led many Chinese citizens to use virtual private networks (VPNs) that can circumvent the Chinese government’s localisation and censorship of international crypto services. In this manner, Chinese citizens can access marketplaces like OpenSea and Magic Eden, where they can buy crypto tokens and resell them according to their own strategy. It is estimated that 31% of Internet users in China use a VPN. Among them, buying and selling NFTs is very popular.

From the Hangzhou court: an NFT is like a pair of trainers

To complete the picture on the status of NFTs in China, a ruling came from the Hangzhou Court, which specialises in internet law. On the 29th of November, the court was called upon to rule on a conflict between a buyer and a marketplace that cancelled a sale of non-fungible tokens without the consent of the parties involved. On this occasion, the court ruled that NFTs belong “to the virtual property of the network” as a unique product protected by an intellectual asset. Non-fungible tokens should therefore, from a legal point of view, be considered as any product sold on an e-commerce website. The law that monitors this is the e-commerce Law, that has come into force since the 1st January 2019. It is a popular law drafted to respond to the rapid growth of online commerce.

Will NFTs become illegal? The latest news does not suggest any particular closures on the part of the Chinese authorities.

Can NFTs exist without cryptocurrencies?

The Chinese government has also proposed its own version of NFTs, i.e. created on the state blockchain. This network, called the Blockchain Services Network (BSN), is a centralised and ‘permissioned‘ blockchain. In contrast to all ‘permissionless’ public blockchains, the BSN is managed by selected employees and not by network validators. On this blockchain, all users are tracked in accordance with Chinese law. Also available on the BSN are tools for artists and brands that want to create their token collections, which can only be purchased in fiat currency. This Chinese version of NFTs is called BSN-DDC or distributed digital certificates.

In China, those who sell or create NFTs do so on the BSN or other similar compliant networks, such as Alibaba, Tencent and JD. Most of these services are offered by established Web2 companies, hardly any decentralised protocols can be found. So can there be NFTs without crypto? Can those proposed by the Chinese government not be considered real, non-fungible tokens? The debate is open, for the champions of decentralisation, ‘distributed digital certificates’ do not meet the needs of Web3.

An instrument of protest

Leaving aside the legislative aspects, NFTs have become popular enough in China to be used as a form of protest against the government.

The citizens of Shanghai last May chose non-fungible tokens as a means of communicating outside China about the oppressive lockdown policies imposed back in March. After the publication of a video against the harsh lockdown, the government had banned all references to the topic on social networks. NFTs then served as a way to bear witness to the difficult living conditions, in a way that was immutable and sharable worldwide.

Even if NFTs become illegal in China, examples like this make us believe that enthusiasts will not give up so easily on a technology with this potential.

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How to tell if an NFT is rare? A guide to rarity tools!

NFT rarity tools: how to use them and understand if an NFT is rare

What is rarity and how can you find the rarest NFTs in a collection? Find out how to use NFT rarity tools!

When you want to buy an NFT, one of the factors to be assessed is the rarity of the token you’re considering purchasing. This is because rarity influences the value of digital works. Usually, the rarer an NFT is, the more expensive it is. Consequently, if you plan to buy an NFT, knowing its rarity could prove to be a great advantage. The rarity level of an NFT can be measured in various ways according to the type of non-fungible token. For PFP collections and NFTs created by generative art systems, this can be done through tools. These are the so-called NFT rarity tools. Find out how to use them to find out if an NFT is rare!

Where to start when assessing the rarity of an NFT

To understand whether an NFT is rare, you must start by considering the type of non-fungible token. To simplify matters, we can divide them into two main categories: digital art produced by the most innovative and prestigious NFT artists and automatically generated NFT PFPs. Artistic NFTs produced by famous artists, such as those of Beeple or the Italian NFT artist Giuseppe Lo Schiavo, are usually unique copies. Because of this, the rarity of such NFTs is primarily determined by the scarcity of the specific digital work piece. Assessing the rarity of these pieces is complex because there are no objective parameters. It would be like asking how rare Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘La Gioconda’ or Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’ are. In this case, rarity is also determined by the prestige of the artist and the beauty and significance of the work.

How to find out how rare a PFP NFT is

For NFTs that belong to PFP collections or that are generated by random algorithms, rarity is calculated in diverse manners, i.e. statistically. Within a PFP collection, some NFTs are rarer than others and this rarity factor is not solely determined by uniqueness, just like for the works mentioned above. In other words, all PFP NFTs are unique, but not all are rare. In this case, the rarity of an NFT coincides with that of the attributes of which it is composed.

These NFTs are composed of a series of traits or characteristics that are randomly combined. Each NFT has a kind of ‘genetic code’ describing these attributes that is inscribed in the token’s metadata. In fact, the latter contains all the information about an NFT, from its transaction history to its attributes. Each of these attributes has its own rarity percentage.

The rarity percentage expresses the amount of non-fungible tokens that possess this characteristic compared to the total number of NFTs in the collection. Take the Bored Apes Yacht Club collection as an example, which to date contains the most expensive NFTs on the market. Among the various traits in the collection (there are a total of 168) are all the aesthetic characteristics that apes possess. For example, whether the eyes are closed or wide open, the Hawaiian shirt or sailor jacket, the diamond or gold teeth. There are only 49 apes that possess the blue beams eyes trait. Since the total number of NFTs in the Bored Ape Yacht Club is 10,000, the rarity of this trait is 0.49%.

Each trait or characteristic contributes to determining the total rarity of an NFT. By adding up the rarity percentage of each attribute, you can roughly determine the total rarity of the non-fungible token. At this point, it may be useful to learn how to find the rarest NFT in a collection. All major NFT marketplaces, such as OpenSea or Magic Eden, grant users the possibility of a filtered search by characteristic. However, to date, they do not allow a collection to be displayed in order of rarity. To meet this need, NFT rarity tools were developed. Let’s find out how to use NFT rarity tools to find out which is the rarest NFT in your favourite collection.

How does a rarity tool work?

Rarity Tools are software programmes that calculate and rank NFTs according to their rarity. In terms of their programming, they are simple databases in which users can search for specific NFTs and see how rare they are within their collection, as well as the characteristics that contribute to their rarity score. With this information, collectors can easily compare the rarity and value of individual NFTs to make informed purchases. Similarly, those looking for a ‘bargain’ can find the rarest NFTs that are offered for sale at a lower price than those with a similar score.

It is important to note that each platform has its own scoring system, so even if the actual rarity rankings are the same across platforms, the rarity score itself will probably differ. Let’s take a look at the 4 most commonly used rarity tools, and how to use them to find out how rare an NFT is.

The main NFT rarity tools

Some of these rarity tools are free of charge and serve mainly to rank NFTs in order of rarity. Meanwhile, others charge a fee and are built for the ‘professionals’ of buying and selling NFTs. Each has its own particularities and is designed for different needs.

1. Rarity Tools

Rarity Tools is the most widely used free rarity tool for finding the rarest and most expensive NFTs on the market.

Scores vary according to the number of different characteristics each collection possesses, e.g. the rarest Bored Ape was given a score of 333.86 while the rarest NFT Azuki anime collection was given a score of 11,096.

On Rarity Tools, you can also filter NFTs by other characteristics besides rarity, such as average price, total sales volume and number of owners. In short, Rarity Tools is a comprehensive tool for delving into which NFT you might want to buy.

On Rarity Tools, it is also possible to search for a specific NFT in a collection by typing its ID into the search bar, i.e. the identification number of the NFT that is usually preceded by a hash symbol. To find the ID of your NFT, simply go to one of the marketplaces where it can be purchased or consult the blockchain explorer of the network on which the NFT was created. For example etherscan.io for Ethereum and solscan.io for Solana.

In the “upcoming projects” section, Rarity Tools presents some of the projects that are about to be launched. To date, the platform only analyses NFT on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains. NFT prices and volumes are calculated in ETH for all collections. NFT collections that want to be included in the “upcoming projects” section of the platform have to pay a fee of 2 ETH. Rarity Tools also takes into account the value that NFT communities give to specific traits. These special traits are called “derived traits” by Rarity Tools, and NFTs that possess them are granted a higher score.

2. Rarity Sniper

The operation of Rarity Sniper is very similar to that of Rarity Tools. The tool started out as a simple Discord server, which users could join for free. Once logged in, you had to type the ID of your NFT in the chat, preceded by a specially created command. Once the message was sent, a bot was triggered by the command, and would give the NFT’s rarity score to the user. In January 2022, the team that ran the Rarity Sniper server decided to develop its own website, which immediately became an institution in the NFT world, reaching one million visitors in less than a month.  

3. Rarity Sniffer

Another popular free NFT rarity tool is Rarity Sniffer. Compared to Rarity Tools, this tool allows the rarity of each NFT in a collection to be displayed in no time after its creation. Whereas Rarity Tools needs a few days to register projects within its platform, Rarity Sniper manages to calculate the rarity of an NFT within a few minutes from the moment the metadata is revealed, i.e. the moment it is created (or ‘minted’ in Web3 jargon). Unlike Rarity Tools, it is not possible to filter collections by volume or price. Also, on Rarity Sniffer, it is not necessary to pay a fee to enter NFT collections for analysis.

4. Freshdrop

The fourth rarity tool is Freshdrop. This paid rarity tool allows you to find out if an NFT is rare instantly, beating all other rarity tools to the punch. On Freshdrop, you can inspect the rarity of an NFT at the exact moment the metadata is revealed. The rarity tool takes care of sending the user a notification when the metadata is revealed and then ranks the rarest NFTs in a collection. In order to use the service, the “All Access Pass” must be purchased. It is also an NFT, available on OpenSea at a price of about 0.07 ETH.

 

Rare NFTs: not just a question of numbers

We have now seen what is implied by the rarity of an NFT, as well as how to tell if an NFT is rare through rarity tools. It is also at this point necessary to specify that it is not only the statistical rarity of traits that determines how expensive NFTs are. Some traits that possess particular aesthetic and symbolic characteristics can become favourites among the Web3 communities and this consequently brings in value beyond mere statistics. For example, the Bored Apes with the golden fur, numbers #8817 and #3749, which are not statistically the rarest, were the two most expensive sales in the history of the collection. They were sold for $3.4 and $2.9 million respectively.

For other collections, it is not sufficient to use the NFT rarity tools. For example, the CryptoKitties collection by Dapper Labs is not present in any of the rarity tools we have seen above. Could it be because the rarity tools can’t stand kittens? Not really, the reason is related to the complex system of attributes, called ‘Cattributes’, and the genetic combinations through which the collection continually evolves.The CryptoKitties are not made up of a fixed number of non-fungible tokens. The NFT kittens reproduce and as a result, Dapper Labs’ collection grows more and more. By combining these ‘cattributes’, genetic mutations sometimes occur that manifest themselves with traits never seen before. NFTs with these mutations are considered among the rarest of CryptoKitties.

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The story of the CryptoKitties, the NFTs that wrote blockchain history

CryptoKitties: guide and history of NFTs on Flow blockchain

What are CryptoKitties? Who created them? Why did this collection mark the evolution of the blockchain? This and juch more in the NFT guide and history on Flow!

CryptoKitties are a game on blockchain based on the breeding and care of digital kittens in the form of NFTs. In addition to being one of the very first non-strictly financial applications of blockchain, CryptoKitties wrote blockchain history as pioneers of NFTs and gaming on Ethereum. Their success has helped advance the blockchain ecosystem in terms of technology and adoption. But how does the CryptoKitties game work? Who created it? And, how has it influenced the crypto world?

What are CryptoKitties? How can you play with digital kittens?

“Cats are impossible to understand. They are ambassadors of pharaohs, memes and your mother’s Facebook page. They don’t discriminate, they despise everyone equally.” To date, CryptoKitties’ NFT kittens have more than 130,000 wallets involved, 2 million NFTs and a trading volume 70,000 ETH. CryptoKitties are a collection of NFTs depicting cats with different characteristics that need to be bred and fed in order to give birth to kittens. Playing with CryptoKitties means first and foremost collecting, but also becoming expert breeders and scholars of feline genetics, as well as traders doing business by buying and selling the rarest specimens. In addition to this, thanks to the Kitty Verse platform, one can participate in experiences and play games with the CryptoKitties, e.g. by solving riddles and puzzles to unlock new attributes and gadgets, or make the kittens fight each other like in KotoWars. CryptoKitties are now compatible with other digital worlds such as the Decentraland metaverse.

To playCryptoKitties from your desktop, the project team recommends using Chrome or Firefox as a browser for better performance. In the meantime, a mobile app is being developed to keep the NFT Kittties with you at all times! To play, you also need a digital wallet and ETH, the Ethereum crypto that serves to cover the costs of feeding and raising the kittens. Where can you buy CryptoKitties NFTs? They are available on the project’s marketplace (accessible from the website) in the form of direct sales or offers, or in the most widely used NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea. The price of CryptoKitties starts from 0.003 ETH, up to thousands of dollars.

From Ethereum to Flow, the blockchain for NFTs

It can be said that they have come a long way since their launch in 2017, but CryptoKitties have been a success right from the start. The project was launched in 2017 by Axiom Zen, a company dedicated to promoting projects on new technologies such as blockchain. The Axiom Zen team, of which Layne Lafrance was also a member, presented the NFTs at the ETH Waterloo Ethereum hackathon, i.e. an event for programmers gathered to develop new projects or obtain funding. The first NFTs of the CryptoKitties with the Gen0 collection of 50,000 NFTs were soon released on Ethereum. The public reaction was immediately positive, so much so that transactions to buy and play with the kittens increased so much that they congested the Ethereum network, driving gas fees through the roof.

At its peak in 2017, CryptoKitties attracted more than 14,000 active users per day and popularised Ethereum’s technology worldwide. In other words, CryptoKitties helped make Ethereum the benchmark for digital collections and gaming. However, the collection also highlighted some of Ethereum’s weaknesses, and consequently the need for a highly scalable blockchain suitable for hosting games and entertainment. From Axiom’s team in 2018, Dapper Labs ‘The NFT Company’ was founded to build Flow, a blockchain with these characteristics. Starting in 2021, CryptoKitties began a gradual transition from Ethereum to Flow. This change, linked to the reasons for expanding the collection and the game, was designed to improve the project from an aesthetic and technical point of view (by implementing animations, for example) and to make the experience easier for users, even those less used to dealing with blockchain tools. Flow is mainly used in the field of games and social networks, and in general for all those experiences that involve many users simultaneously on the blockchain. Flow intends to manage communities that grow as fast as the Web3 and make blockchain usable for people, and “not just for industry experts and early adopters”. Other popular NFT projects are built on Flow, including NBA Top Shot.

The story of CryptoKitties is the story of the evolution of blockchain

In short, CryptoKitties opened up a need for blockchain scalability, which the industry has now been working on continuously for years. The CryptoKitties crash that sent Ethereum into a tailspin brought a number of innovative solutions to overcome Ethereum’s scalability challenges, as well as Layer 2s that are now essential pillars for network usability. Furthermore, the fact that Dapper Labs created one of the first games on blockchain brought countless new users to the technology, demonstrating the full potential of blockchain in the fields of digital art and gaming. Simply put, CryptoKitties is a pioneer of NFT games and its success pushed the blockchain ecosystem forward in terms of both technology and adoption.

The technology behind CryptoKitties

Each CryptoKitties is an ERC-721 token, the standard for non-fungible tokens. Each CryptoKitties is unique and indivisible and its ownership is tracked thanks to smart contracts. The Core CryptoKitties smart contract tracks all transfers of NFTs and all new ones created through breeding, as well as the attributes and genes that make NFTs different from each other. All actions in the game such as breeding, feeding, selling are transactions performed by smart contracts on the blockchain and therefore require a commission. Since they are NFTs, even if one day Dapper Labs goes bankrupt or the CryptoKitties’ platform gets eliminated, the digital kittens will continue to exist thanks to the blockchain, and so will their value.

Attributes and genetics of CryptoKitties

If there are over 2 million NFTs of CryptoKitties, how do you determine the rarest? By what is their value determined? CryptoKitties, unlike CryptoPunks, for example, are not a limited collection. There is a complex system of attributes, called ‘Cattributes’, and genetic combinations that also inspired the constitution of the little monsters in Axie Infinity, the DeFi video game. To begin with, CryptoKitties are divided into four types: Normal, Fancy, Special Editions and Exclusive. Already, these indicate an increasing scale of rarity because they are available in different quantities.

Each CryptoKitties in turn has a name and 12 attributes such as eye shape and colour, fur type, mouth type, all of which reflect its genetic code. Each attribute consists of a block of 4 genes, a primary one that is the one that manifests itself in the kitten and 3 latent ones. For example, if the fur colour has emerald green as primary gene (P), as hidden genes it can have salmon pink (H1), an orange soda colour (H2) and again orange soda as the third hidden gene (H3). While the primary gene is visible in the NFT, the secondary genes are transmitted to the offspring of CryptoKitties according to different percentages, e.g. the primary genes of the father cat are transmitted in 37.5% of the cases, H1 in 9.4%, H2 in 2.3% and H3 in 0.8%. All kittens can play the role of both father and mother – very modern from CryptoKitties! There is a tool that shows hypothetical kittens and their rarity based on the pairing of the parents. However, CryptoKitties are not always born based on percentages, it can happen that genes mutate creating truly unique and unexpected kittens! Since 2018, Mewtation Gems and Family Jewels, badges to trace and certify the lineage and pedigree of NFTs, have been included.

What is the rarest NFT of CryptoKitties?

A first way of assessing the rarity of CryptoKitties is therefore the type and its genetics; indeed, cattributes have varying degrees of rarity. However, there are other characteristics that do not depend on these aspects, but equally affect the value of NFTs:

  1. Gen0 of CryptoKitties: the first NFTs in 50,000 copies are the rarest and most valuable ever. At the moment, they are not all in circulation, about 12,000 are still owned by the team waiting to be released on special occasions;
  2. “Cooldown” or the resting time between one puppy and another. Each Kitties has a cooldown that depends on its generation, e.g. those from Gen0 have to wait 1 minute to make a new puppy, those from Gen26 onwards, over 1 week;
  3. ID number: NFT cats are numbered according to birth order, so the lower numbers are the oldest CryptoKitties that are sold at higher prices by collectors;
  4. Errors: sometimes newborn CryptoKitties have graphic errors, since mutations are difficult to create they are rarer and particularly hard to find;
  5. Pure-bred kittens: very few specimens have the same gene repeated 4 times in the attribute block.
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How to create and sell NFTs on OpenSea: the ultimate guide

Come creare e vendere NFT: la guida definitiva

Do you want to create an NFT project but don’t know where to start? OpenSea is a really simple tool to create and sell NFTs for free in 10 minutes

If there is one thing the NFT market of the past year has taught us, it is that anything can be sold on the blockchain. Or rather, any work that is completely original. You have probably heard of NFTs being sold at stratospheric prices on OpenSea or other marketplaces and wondered if creating and selling NFTs is within your reach. The answer is yes! If you have a unique idea and would like to turn it into a non-fungible token, you will find everything you need to get started in this guide. Wanting to monetise your creations is legitimate, but creating an NFT is not enough to start earning money. Making your way in this field requires commitment and hard work, such as building a community.

Generally minting an NFT, i.e. registering a piece of work on blockchain, requires a cost to pay in fees. However, there are platforms on which you can create and view NFTs for free in as little as 10 minutes. This is the case with OpenSea, the most popular NFT marketplace! OpenSea offers easy and intuitive tools to make your NFT project come true, and is often chosen by beginners because it is a giant showcase due to its large audience. The process for creating and selling NFT differs between platforms, although they share some steps. In the following 5 steps you will discover how to use OpenSea, the industry standard.

Ready? Let’s get started!

1. Create your crypto wallet

If you don’t already have one, now is the time to create a decentralised crypto wallet. Your wallet allows you to connect to the blockchain network and keep the key to your cryptocurrencies safe. One of the most popular wallets is MetaMask, also available as a Chrome extension or Firefox add-on. Metamask is one of the wallets recommended by OpenSea for creating and selling NFTs on Ethereum. If you intend to use the Solana network instead, OpenSea recommends the Phantom wallet. In the next section we will elaborate on the choice of which blockchain to use.

At this point, you may also want to buy cryptocurrencies. NFTs are usually minted using the Ethereum blockchain network, so having Ether is ideal to pay the fees to create your NFT. In some cases it is possible to create NFTs for free on OpenSea, i.e. without paying these fees.

Once you have created your crypto wallet, associate it with OpenSea and create your account.

2. Choose the blockchain on which to create your NFT

In contrast to NFT platforms such as SuperRare where NFT projects must be approved by the team, OpenSea is open to all. OpenSea is currently compatible with the Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Klaytn, Arbitrum and Optimism blockchains. Each of these blockchains has its own characteristics and different gas fees associated with transactions on their networks. To choose a blockchain for minting, take these costs into consideration. However, OpenSea is a great way to start your venture into the world of non-fungible tokens because, thanks to the ‘lazy minting’ mechanism, you can create NFTs for free, i.e. without paying fees if you choose Ethereum or Polygon. When you decide to use this option, your NFT is put up for sale but is also not yet registered on the blockchain. The latter step will only be taken when the work is actually purchased. In this manner, the payment of fees falls on the buyer.

3. Upload your NFT artwork

Of course, you will need your own creation to put on sale. NFTs can be associated with anything: a drawing, an MP3, or a three-dimensional image. Be creative! Opensea supports various file types including JPG, PNG, GIF, MP4, OGG but the file size of a non-fungible token must not exceed 100 MB.

In the ‘My Collection’ section, accessible from your account, click on ‘Create’. Create your Collection, it will be the showcase for your artwork. From here you can start creating your NFTs by filling out the “Create New Item” screen, you will need to enter:

  1. the file of the piece;
  2. the name of the piece;
  3. a link to the website or social page of your collection (not mandatory);
  4. the description of your NFT;
  5. the collection in which your NFT will be contained.

Next, you can also add other characteristics such as the attributes for the NFT (such as the available traits if it is a PFP collection), or the number of copies available. In this step, you will also have to select the blockchain you chose to create and sell your NFT on OpenSea. At this point your non-fungible token is ready and you can share it on social media. This is a crucial step, we will see why in step 5.

You can also set a ‘creator fee’, i.e. a percentage you will receive for each sale of your NFT work. This is known as a ‘royalty’. The percentage can be as high as 10%.

4. Choose the price of your NFT

After you have minted your NFT, all that remains is to choose the price at which you want to sell it. Go to your item’s page and click on ‘Sell’. Here, you can select the price of the NFT, and how long to leave it available on the market. A 2.5% commission from OpenSea will be subtracted from the selling price.

5. Advertise your collection!

Now your NFT is available on OpenSea, but it is not enough to simply create an NFT in order to earn money. As in real life, competition between artists is particularly fierce. For this, you will need to advertise your work effectively.

As you continue to expand your collection, you will have an increasingly interesting portfolio to show. In addition, consider also using art or social platforms such as Reddit, Instagram and Twitter: the more people like your work, the more possible buyers will want your NFT!

Cultivating a community is crucial for creating a successful NFT project. So is offering works with exclusive advantages that can attract collectors. Some of these advantages could be the possibility of using NFTs in the Metaverse, participating in a DAO and deciding on key aspects of the collection, or associating physical goods with the purchase of NFTs.

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Nike dotSWOOSH and other NFT news on Polygon

Nike NFTs on Polygon with the new dotSWOOSH platform

Nike’s NFT projects move from Ethereum to Polygon, here’s dotSWOOSH, a platform to buy and create wearables for avatars in video games and the Metaverse

After Starbucks, Disney and Adidas, Nike is also taking part in the list of brands building on Polygon‘s blockchain! Nike continues its exploration of the NFT world with dotSWOOSH, a Web3 platform that will host all the collections of Nike and the most creative users of its community. And the founders of Polygon are crying out for adoption! Discover Nike dotSWOOSH and the latest NFT news on Polygon.

Nike chooses Polygon for its next NFT projects

Nike has launched dotSWOOSH (or “.SWOOSH”), its new platform for non-fungible tokens. From the 18th of November, dotSWOOSH will be available in beta version to be tested by selected users from strategic areas of the US and Europe. The platform has been conceived as the home of all Nike NFT collections, relating to different disciplines and moments in sports culture. Specifically, Nike’s digital creations are so-called ‘wearables‘, i.e. clothing and accessories for avatars in video games and the Metaverse. On dotSWHOOSH, non-fungible Nike tokens can therefore be purchased. However, the highlight of the project is the possibility to create your own Nike-branded NFTs and put them up for sale while also receiving royalties. With .SWOOSH, Nike wants to expand its definition of sport and give birth to a new generation of sportspeople. The platform will be fully active and available to everyone in 2023 and will be inaugurated with an NFT collection created together with the community. And all this will happen on Polygon!

“Polygon’s ecosystem continues to grow at an exciting pace, be it DeFi, Gaming, NFT, Brand, Big Tech adoption or anything else,” commented Sandeep Nailwal co-founder of MATIC blockchain about the collaboration. Nailwal went on to reiterate that this kind of news about cryptocurrency adoption is a sign that events like the FTX epilogue will not have a long-term impact on Web3.

The dotSWOOSH project has been on the back burner for a few months. Last May, in fact, Nike bought an NFT domain on Ethereum Name Service: ‘dotswoosh.eth’ for 19.72 ETH (about $35,000 at the time).

Nike’s first NFTs and the digital store on Roblox

At the launch of dotSWOOSH, the Nike team thanked the ‘friends and mentors’ of RTFKT (pronounced ‘artefact’) for their support. Nike’s NFT adventure began just a year ago with the acquisition of RTFKT, a startup dedicated to making wearables in the form of non-fungible tokens. Nike’s first NFT collection with RTFKT is ‘CryptoKicks’. These tokens depict trainers and were minted on Ethereum. Nike in 2021 also opened a virtual shop on the Roblox metaverse, the Nikeland store hosted more than 7 million visitors in its first two months.

According to Vogue Business, Nike has so far earned $185.3 million with its Web3 products, overtaking its direct competitors in the NFT field: Adidas ($11 million) and Puma ($1.3 million).

The NFT of Steve Jobs’ Birkenstocks was sold for $200,000

Steve Jobs on the other hand was not a fan of trainers, he preferred Birkenstock sandals! Apparently the mind behind Apple had a soft spot for German footwear, whose practicality and functionality he admired. Between the 11th and the 13th of November, an auction was held to bid for a pair of sandals worn by Steve Jobs and the corresponding NFT mint on Polygon.

The auction run by Julien’s Auction fetched $218,750, and the anonymous (and lucky?) buyer took home the 1970s Birkenstocks with Steve Jobs’ footprint prominently displayed, along with the NFT that digitally represents them in full and guarantees ownership. The Birkenstocks in question are considered valuable because they were worn by Jobs at historic moments in Apple’s history and were also on display at the Salone del Mobile in Milan in 2017 and at Birkenstock’s headquarters in Germany. It really is true that everything is built on Polygon!

Bangalore Airport has its own Metaverse

In collaboration with Polygon, Amazon Web Service and Intel, Bangalore Airport in India released its Metaverse: Metaport on the 11th of November.

The Metaverse on Polygon gives airport visitors the opportunity to create their own avatar, visit virtual art exhibitions, go shopping, organise meetings and interact with other users, and access various types of entertainment.

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Lord of the Rings tokens and NFT news for October

NFT: The Lord of the Rings collection and October news

October NFTs news summarised in 5 items: Lord of the Rings, Art Gobblers, Reddit, blue chip collections and the royalties debate!

So, what happened in the NFT market this October? Among the new collections is the eagerly awaited Lord of the Rings collection, as well as Art Gobblers, a sui generis crypto art project. Record NFT sales involve blue chip collections, but all that glitters is not gold… Reddit’s NFTs continue their conquest of the industry, which in the meantime is busy deciding: should NFT royalties be paid to artists?

New: Lord of the Rings NFTs

Among the most interesting collections of the past month is certainly the one involving Lord of the Rings NFTs. On the 21st of October, Warner Bros. released 10,999 NFTs based on the first chapter of the saga inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s universe, The Fellowship of the Ring. The NFT collection is part of the broader ‘Warner Bros Movieverse‘ project unveiled by the film studio to create Web3 experiences and digital collectibles for fans (examples include exclusive behind-the-scenes content or augmented reality set exploration). The collection was built on the Eluvio blockchain, which describes itself as a ‘crypto content chain’. The Lord of the Rings NFTs were released in two different purchase options:

  1. “Mystery Edition”: at a cost of $30 (payable in fiat or crypto coins), an NFT representing the landscape of the Shire (common), with Rivendell (uncommon) or the Mines of Moria (rare) is minted and randomly awarded. By purchasing one of these tokens, you receive access to the extended 4K version of the film, eight hours of special content and commentary, images and themed collectibles. These NFTs were minted in 10,000 copies (at the time of writing, 5,230 are still available);
  2. “Epic edition”: at a cost of $100, it was possible to purchase an NFT depicting one of the landscapes from the “Mystery Edition” or to surprise others with additional special content. The 999 Lord of the Rings ‘Epic Edition’ NFTs are sold out.

In addition to the rights to Lord of the Rings, Warner Bros. owns those to the Harry Potter saga, DC heroes, Scooby Doo and the Hanna-Barbera classics. But it would seem that the next literary universe to enter the Warner Bros Movieverse will be that of the Iron Throne, as Game of Thrones NFTs were announced a few hours ago in collaboration with marketplace Nifty’s. The collection dubbed ‘Game of Thrones: Build Your Kingdom’ will be released in December 2022.

The top collection of the month is from the creator of Rick and Morty

Although Lord of the Rings NFTs were a real hit with fans, the token collection that really exploded in October was Art Gobblers. It was imagined by Rick and Morty creator Justin Roiland, in partnership with Paradigm, a well-known crypto-themed venture capital fund. Art Gobblers NFT was launched on the 31st of October on Ethereum. In just four days, it raised over $45 million ($13 million in the first two hours after launch alone). What is the special feature of this collection?

The Art Gobblers project is a ‘decentralised art factory’ owned by aliens, but that is another story. Using a drawing tool available directly on the site, anyone can create illustrations or patterns that are then randomly combined to generate unique NFTs. The Art Gobblers are called this way because they incorporate and display artists’ works directly in their stomachs. The NFTs are created without human intervention, meaning that Art Gobblers is a generative art project. The collection will consist of 10,000 pieces, and the first 2,000 non-fungible tokens were minted on the 31st of October. The remaining 8,000 can be created directly by the artists by paying a commission in the GOO token, owner of the project. One of the rarest Art Gobblers, number #9949 was purchased for 21.5 ETH (about 33,000 USD).

Reddit’s NFTs bring 3 million people into the crypto world

Reddit’s first NFTs were launched in July as avatars for use on the platform. On the 21st of October, the ‘second generation’ of avatars came out. Around 40,000 copies all sold in a single day for between $10 and $100 (although the most expensive was bought for $40,000). The tweet by Mihailo Bjelic, co-founder of Polygon, the blockchain on which Reddit’s NFTs were developed, shows the economic impact of the collection. But it’s not just for the sales figures that these tokens have attracted attention. Apparently, Reddit’s NFTs have brought 3 million users into the crypto world without ever having used the words ‘NFT’ or ‘cryptocurrency’ (and ‘blockchain’ only once). Millions of users were unfamiliar with cryptocurrencies but intrigued by a useful and curious initiative for Reddit users. The campaign to communicate and promote these NFTs took place under the terms ‘digital collectibles’. In fact, according to Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, the term “crypto” would have confused people.

Blue chip collections still in the rankings but their value is no longer the same

The collections with the highest sales in October are obviously the blue chips we know very well, such as CryptoPunks and the Bored Ape Yacht Club. The most substantial sales were:

  • CryptoPunks #924 for $737,160;
  • CryptoPunks #9476 for $487,830;
  • Fidenza #783 for $471,150.

However, the biggest winners in the NFT space are also the biggest ‘losers’. On DappRadar you can see that although these collections are the most valuable, their value has dropped dramatically within a year. For example, the CryptoPunks #5822 previously bought for $23.58 million is now worth ‘only’ $2.64 million. Or the Bored Ape #8817 sold for $3.4 million by Sotheby’s auction house and now has a market value of $805,043.

Marketplaces and NFT artists fight over royalties

The NFT world in October was also marked by the debate on royalties for non-fungible tokens. A ‘royalty’ means the percentage of a sale that goes to the artist or author of a work. Earlier this month, Magic Eden, the NFT marketplace on Solana decided not to make it compulsory for buyers to pay royalties, with the aim of attracting more collectors. Recently, this strategy was also adopted by the LooksRare marketplace. For some, royalties are indispensable to support artists’ work and are the basis of the creator economy. For others, royalties have become just a way to enrich the owners of large collections.

Confirming the latter thesis is Galaxi Digital’s report showing that the creators of collections on Ethereum have so far earned $1.8 billion from royalties from secondary sales on marketplaces such as Opensea. Of this figure, 20 percent is in the hands of only ten collections, the remaining 80 per cent is split between 482 projects. Topping the list in terms of royalty earnings is Yuga Labs with a take of $147 million, keep in mind that only royalties are being considered, this therefore excludes the cost of the NFTs themselves.

Magic Eden, despite the controversy over its decision and the dissatisfaction of crypto artists, registered 300,000 trader sign-ups in October.

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Ethernity Chain: 5 NFT collections of sportsmen and film icons

ERN crypto: the 5 most interesting NFTs on Ethernity Chain

On the Ethernity Chain, Web3 is reaching for the stars. Discover the 5 most interesting NFT collections, all purchasable with the crypto ERN!

Ethernity Chain is an NFT marketplace built on Ethereum. It has been talked about quite a lot, mainly due to its NFT collections in collaboration with internationally renowned artists and sportsmen. Among the most famous personalities to whom NFT artworks have been dedicated are Lionel Messi, Bruce Lee and James Dean. The non-fungible tokens that can be purchased on Ethernity Chain come in many different types, from playing cards to digital collectibles to items that can be worn by your avatar in popular metaverses. The NFTs on Ethernity Chain are grouped into thematic categories, which can be easily found through hashtags. There are 22 categories in total, ranging from music and football to art, technology, journalism and martial arts.

On the Ethernity Chain, NFT collections built on different blockchains coexist. In fact, NFTs on the marketplace can be purchased through three cryptocurrencies: ETH, MATIC and with ERN, the platform’s native crypto. The project is gaining fame: thanks to the prestige of the iconic characters, it gives a new impulse to Web3. Let’s see the 5 most interesting NFTs on Ethernity Chain!

1.   The Messiverse, the NFT collection for Lionel Messi

The most famous character you can ‘meet’ while navigating the Etherenity Chain ecosystem is surely the Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi. Messi’s original NFTs were released in August 2021 on the occasion of the player’s transfer from his long-standing club F.C. Barcelona to the French team Paris Saint Germain.

The collection in collaboration with ‘the flea’ consists of four NFTs designed by Australian artist BossLogic, who has worked for Marvel and Disney in the past. The rarest NFT, of which only one copy exists, is titled ‘Lionel Messi: The Golden One’. This digital artwork depicts the Argentinian footballer on top of a meteorite fragment as he is about to kick a completely golden ball.

The NFT was sold at auction with a starting price of $50,000 in the ERN crypto. The auction lasted 72 hours and reached $1 million. ‘Lionel Messi: The Golden One’, however, is not the only NFT collection of the Argentinian player created on Ethernity Chain.

The other collections are ‘Man Of The Past’ and ‘Man From Tomorrow’ which were released at the same time and depict a ‘robot’ Lionel Messi in two versions: one in which the champion wears the Barcelona jersey with the number 10 on his shoulders and one in which the PSG jersey is number 30 (the one he still wears at the French club). The cost for these two NFTs was $10,000 in ERN crypto per piece and 75 NFTs were available per version. The last two collections, ‘The King Piece’ and ‘The Magician’ cost respectively $99 in ETH on the Ethereum network and $50 in WETH on the Polygon network.

2.   ‘Hollywood Icon’ the NFT collection in honour of James Dean

Among the five most interesting NFTs on Ethernity Chain that can be purchased via the ERN crypto are those created in honour of the late actor James Dean. The collection is called ‘Hollywood Icon’ and was created through a collaboration between digital agency Worldwide XR and augmented and virtual reality software company VueXR. There are five of the NFTs in question and they depict iconic objects and moments from the actor’s life. The first NFT to be launched is a 3D reproduction of the metallic silver Porsche TYP 550 Spyder owned by Dean. The Porsche is the most iconic object in the collection mainly because it is the vehicle in which the actor was involved in the fatal accident that led to his death. The Porsche was James Dean’s favourite car and he even found an ironic nickname for it: ‘Little B*stard’.

The other works in the collection that will launch on the 16th of December 2022 are: a 3D bust of the actor with a gold signature, a gold medallion, the star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the last photograph in which the legendary actor was immortalised.

3.   Bruce Lee, an icon, even in the digital arts

The third NFT collection is dedicated to the actor, director and martial arts expert Bruce Lee. The six NFTs in honour of Bruce Lee were designed by three different artists : Raf Grassetti, one of the most famous digital sculptors in the world, Anthony Francisco, Senior Visual Development Artist at Marvel Studio and the artist we already presented at the beginning of this article: BossLogic.

Each artist interpreted the subject in a highly personal manner. For example Raf Grassetti, in the work “The Dragon”, sculpted the karateka with a Chinese dragon twisted around his body. Anthony Francesco & Ryan Moore placed him within cosmic settings trying to convey to the viewer also the actor’s philosophical wisdom as well as power and strength. The artworks were sold through two types of auctions depending on the quantity of versions produced. Each artist produced a single NFT, a single copy, and a piece with multiple copies. The three single works all started from an auction floor price of $1 and were purchased in the Ethernity Chain crypto ERN.

The other three works, those produced in multiple copies, were sold in ETH at different prices. Raf Grassetti’s artwork, ‘Bruce Lee: Formless’, of which 60 copies were available, was sold at $2,000 apiece, Boss Logic’s 100 copies of the artwork ‘Bruce Lee: Vortex’ were sold at $100 each while Anthony Francisco & Ryan Moore’s NFTs, of which there were 200, were sold at $500 in ETH each.

4.   Wearing Luka Modric’s shirt in The Sandbox

The list of the five most interesting NFT collections on Ethernity continues with another footballer, Luka Modric, the best Croatian footballer of all time. The collection was created by Visual Lab, an animation studio based in the Netherlands. As with the previous collection, there are six NFTs created on Ethernity Chain, of which three are digital artworks and three are wearable objects in the metaverse. All three virtual artworks have the Croatian footballer as their subject, either performing a perfect backhand underwater or dribbling through rubble in a post-apocalyptic scenario.

On the other hand, the three wearable items are two shirts, one of the Croatian national football team and one with the Ethernity logo and the iconic hair band that the Croatian champion can never do without when he takes to the pitch. These items will be wearable in the metaverse of The Sandbox, thanks to the implementation carried out by Ethernity, which has made it possible to bring its licensing library into the virtual world. In addition, the NFT marketplace has acquired some land in The Sandbox metaverse that will house a gallery and an NFT shop.

5.   Shaquille O’Neal and Justin Maller: NBA domination

15-time NBA All-Star Shaquille O’Neal is also among the most interesting NFT projects on the Ethernity chain. The basketball player collaborated with digital artist Justin Maller on the NFT ‘Eras of Dominance’ collection to commemorate his National Basketball Association (NBA) career. The NFT collection consists of five digital artworks depicting Shaquille O’Neal dunking and cheering. Each NFT relates a specific period of the player’s career to the three teams where he made his mark the most: the Los Angeles Lakers, the Orlando Magic and the Miami Heat.

The style of the NFTs, which appear dynamic and disruptive, is reminiscent of Shaq’s style of play. The ‘cracks’ with which the digital artwork is studded can be traced back to the NBA player’s tendency to break the ‘backboards’ of glass baskets due to the vehemence of his dunks. All the most interesting NFTs on Ethernity Chain featured in this article were sold differently. The unique work ‘Shaquille O’Neal: Peak Dominance’ was sold at auction, with a floor price of $20,000 in the crypto ERN.

Is it still possible to buy the 5 most interesting NFTs on the Ethernity Chain, and if so, where can you buy them? All the collections we have listed in this article can be bought either on Ethernity‘s platform or on the popular OpenSea marketplace. If you are wondering instead how much NFTs cost on Ethernity Chain, well, the answer is it depends. Some, like the wearables in the metaverse, are very cheap (even a few dozen dollars), others less so, like the digital artwork ‘Messi: The Golden One’.