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FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested last night in the Bahamas. What happened? What will be the next developments?

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested on the morning of the 13th of December (at 5:00 a.m. GMT) in the Bahamas, at his residence in Nassau. Local police forces detained him one day before his testimony before Congress that was scheduled for Wednesday the 14th December 2022. It is now likely to be canceled. But why was SBF arrested today specifically, after weeks of being left free?

There are two main hypotheses. For some, the arrest comes with the fear that Bankman-Fried might move to a country where the US could not extradite him. Others speculate a connection with new allegations made by Do Kwon that were picked up by the media. They concern a possible involvement in the collapse of the Terra (LUNA) ecosystem.

According to the New York Times, there are five charges for the founder of FTX: wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and money laundering. What will be the next developments? Will Sam Bankman-Fried’s collaborators Caroline Ellison and Sam Trabucco also be arrested soon? Are SBF and Alameda Research really responsible for the collapse of the Terra-LUNA ecosystem?

What will happen now to Sam Bankman-Fried and his co-workers?

After being ‘at large’ for quite a long time (it has been about a month since the FTX exchange declared bankruptcy on the 11th November 2022), as of yesterday morning, Sam Bankman-Fried is being held in custody in a Bahamian prison. The FTX founder’s arrest came at the request of the US government, which plans to extradite him to a US federal prison.

Commenting on the incident, the Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis said: ‘The Bahamas and the United States have a common interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with the FTX failure who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law.

In these first hours after the arrest, uncertainty reigns. It is not yet clear how many years in prison SBF faces, just as it is not yet known whether he will testify before the US Congress tomorrow as scheduled, although this seems unlikely.

Another question on the minds of many concerns the future of Sam Bankman-Fried’s associates, Caroline Ellison and Sam Trabucco. For the two, respectively CEO and co-CEO of investment fund and market maker Alameda Research, the same fate is probably in store. In the meantime, statements by the FTX founder are circulating again. A few days ago in an interview, he said was sure that he could not be arrested. On that same occasion, he had revealed his commitment to working on a new project with the aim of returning the money lost to his users.

Was it SBF and Alameda that brought down Terra (LUNA)?

What does Terra (LUNA) have to do with the SBF affair? In recent days, there has been talk about the possible responsibility of Alameda Research in the failure of the ecosystem. Alameda was the trading company founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, that has strong ties to FTX for reasons linked to fund management. A large amount of these funds were allocated to FTT, the token of the FTX exchange.

According to these allegations, Ellison and Trabucco’s hedge fund allegedly attacked Do Kwon‘s blockchain in order to destroy its competitor: Three Arrow Capital (3AC). They were heavily exposed to the blockchain’s two main assets: the LUNA crypto and the UST stablecoin.

The accusation, which originated from former Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon and Three Arrow Capital co-founder Su Zhu, has not been ignored by US prosecutors. They have launched an investigation that will result in a market manipulation charge against Bankman-Fried and Alameda Research. Should evidence be found of Do Kwon’s and Sun Zhu’s allegations, the charge of market manipulation could be added to SBF. This would aggravate the legal situation of the FTX founder in no small measure.

There is currently no conclusive evidence to support these allegations. The investigation by the US government will shed light on the facts as it takes course. In short, as of today, there are very few certain answers. Many questions about the future and past of the former FTX CEO remain.

The opinion of crypto Twitter

Meanwhile, on crypto Twitter, all hell has broken loose. Thousands of users are rejoicing and making sarcastic comments about the FTX founder’s arrest. Some wonder how many years in prison he will have to serve, and how he will pay for a good lawyer.

In particular, the crypto Twitter users are summoning the extraordinary lawyer Saul Goodman, star of the series ‘Better Call Saul’. He is the only one, according to them, capable of saving the defendant.

Nothing is sparing SBF in the world of crypto Twitter. A series of tweets have also surfaced that bring up his alleged relations with the US Democratic Party.

Bankman-Fried had secretly given donations to Joe Biden’s party during the election campaign of late 2020 and early 2021. These tweets underline the strange timing of this arrest. Perhaps his statement under oath to Congress could have been quite uncomfortable.

In light of recent events, the plot of the movie that Apple plans to produce is also thickening. Now that he has been arrested, will Sam Bankman-Fried be convicted? Is the founder of FTX really involved in the collapse of Terra (LUNA)? And what will happen to Caroline Ellison and Sam Trabucco?

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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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“Fear Of Missing Out” is one of the most common forms of anxiety of our time. But what does it really mean? Here are some examples from the crypto world

The word FOMO stands for ‘Fear Of Missing Out’. FOMO is the feeling of anxiety that you may experience when you fear that you have missed out on something important. It could be an event, an opportunity or a conversation. With the arrival of social networks, this fear has become more widespead although it has always characterised human behaviour. In other words, FOMO is the constant feeling of being excluded from experiences that everyone else but us is experiencing. The term has also become very popular in the context of trading and cryptocurrencies. In this context, it could involve a fear of missing out on an upward price movement or a potential profit opportunity more generally. In this article, you will find out what FOMO is, its origins and what the term means in the world of crypto! 

What is FOMO? Meaning and origins

The term FOMO was created in 2004 by Patrick J. McGinnis, a Harvard Business School scholar, as part of his research on the social behaviour of first-year university students. From 2010 onwards, psychologists have taken up the concept of FOMO to describe a condition found in individuals who are constant users of social networks. These people, who spend a lot of time observing the lives of others, find themselves obsessively comparing their own experiences with those of others. By constantly comparing themselves, they feel like something is lacking, that they are mistaken or lagging behind in certain aspects of life. Psychologists have described this psychological condition as a constant apprehension that others might have experiences from which the person experiencing FOMO was personally excluded.

Is FOMO just social media anxiety?

The ways in which FOMO manifests itself can be different and vary mainly depending on the intensity of the sensation. You may experience it once in a while during a conversation or more continuously, which may turn this feeling into a real pathology. Suffering from this fear on a continuous basis can cause a worsening of mood, feelings of social inferiority, loneliness and anger.

As we stated before, FOMO became particularly popular after the emergence of social networks. This gave birth to a new culture based on influencers but also everyday friends, who share their dream life online. This can lead people to compare themselves and feel inadequate. Måneskin‘s bass player Victoria De Angelis also spoke about this recently. In an interview with Radio Deejay, she said that she suffers from FOMO, and that she can’t stop going out for fear of missing out on an experience. In fact, the fear of being cut off turns into a schedule full of commitments and hectic days spent chasing experiences. Often without feeling truly satisfied anyway!

You may have just come home from a hard day and you can’t wait to settle down on the couch, but you see all your friends on Instagram getting ready for a concert. If FOMO arrives, your only thought is ‘I can’t stay at home while the most important concert of the year is just a few steps away from me’. You get ready and go out. When the concert is over, the feeling comes back: ‘maybe I could follow my friends to that club and have a drink instead of going to sleep’. In the mildest cases, people in this situation just crawl into bed with some discomfort. For others, the thoughts become obsessive and limiting.

FOMO in the crypto world

In the crypto world and in trading, the meaning of FOMO remains the same. However it applies to missed profit opportunities rather than experiences. People get convinced that they have forever missed the chance to buy the next crypto that will explode. Everyone but themselves is guaranteed stratospheric gains. The venture into the crypto world of a person suffering from crypto FOMO is conditioned by thoughts like “why did I sell at that price?”, “I should have bought more” or “I absolutely cannot miss out this token’s presale”. This psychological condition usually affects those who have recently got interested in the market and who therefore do not have enough experience to know and control their anxiety. These users often buy and sell impulsively for fear of losing a potential profit opportunity.

Those who get caught up in FOMO when approaching the crypto world are engaging in outright fear, and emotions can hinder the pursuit of a rational strategy. Behavioural finance explains how rash actions, triggered by emotional aspects, can negatively affect the achievement of your goals.

Examples of FOMO with cryptocurrencies

To better explain what FOMO is in the context of crypto, we can use some practical examples. The term is for instance particularly appropriate in the case of new crypto launches. These launches always come together with presales that allow those who participate in them to financially support a crypto project before the official launch by purchasing the native cryptocurrencies. One feature of presales is that they have limited access. Only the quickest users to purchase can actually participate in the launch. This aspect generates crypto FOMO in those who want to participate and fear being excluded.

Dogecoin’s bullish movements linked to Elon Musk‘s tweets can also explain crypto FOMO. Every time Musk posts a DOGE-themed tweet, the price of the crypto goes up thanks to so-called FOMO buyers. These people decide to buy DOGE in fear of missing out on the price rise.

The JOMO (Joy of Missing Out)

The opposite psychological phenomenon is JOMO ‘Joy of Missing Out’. JOMO can be defined as the pleasure of enjoying your interests and passions without worrying about the fact that other individuals are pursuing more satisfying activities.

Instead of despairing over untapped crypto opportunities, those who live in the name of crypto JOMO simply disregard them. In fact, the term JOMO is usually used by no-coiners, those who do not hold crypto. While those in the throes of FOMO feel the need to spend hours and hours in front of charts looking for the next opportunity, the JOMO team doesn’t even bother to give it any thought.

Now that you know what FOMO means and how it differs from JOMO, you might ask yourself: which of the two is the best attitude for experiencing the world of crypto? Probably neither, both FOMO and JOMO are extremes. On the one hand we have a tendency to get too emotionally involved, on the other hand we have a tendency to avoid situations completely. Knowing the latest trends and cryptos on the upside, in short ‘being on your toes’ about all the industry news is certainly not a bad thing. So is learning to be more detached like JOMO fans.

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From Dogecoin to Shiba Inu, via Baby Doge and Dogelon Mars. What are meme coins and which are the 5 most famous?

Believe it or not, meme coins are an important component in the huge world of cryptocurrencies. This type of crypto dominates bullish market phases and then almost disappears during bear markets. The term ‘meme coin’ can be defined as a neologism, created to describe the first cryptocurrency born in honour of a meme: Dogecoin. The first meme coin was therefore Dogecoin. To this day, it is still the most famous one and has the highest market cap from all those in our list.

But what is the definition of a meme coin? Meme coins are cryptocurrencies born from internet memes or an episode of internet culture. The term ‘meme coin’ is often used to describe a crypto with a negative connotation, although sometimes projects define themselves purposefully in this manner. However, meme coins are not all the same. Some are created as a joke and remain so, others manage to develop a project and consolidate their position. Discover the differences and common characteristics of the 5 most famous meme coins from Dogecoin to Baby Doge!

1. Dogecoin

Dogecoin (DOGE) was created in 2013 by Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus, and is based on the Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism. After Bitcoin, it is the second largest PoW crypto in terms of market cap. The first meme coin in history was inspired by the famous meme depicting a small Shiba Inu dog (named Kabosu) accompanied by short, broken sentences in Comic Sans, a sort of Doge inner monologue.

Dogecoin is one of those meme coins that ‘made it’. Dogecoin’s roadmap is very simple and brief and also seems to be inspired by the manner Doge expresses himself in broken English: ‘utility -> adoption’. This equation means that Dogecoin’s goal for the future, and consequently the utility the team plans to give to the Dogecoin crypto is adoption. The adoption process is coming to fruition with major companies choosing to accept Dogecoin as a payment method. Among these companies are AMC, Twitch, Tesla and SpaceX. Dogecoin’s fame also depends on its relationship with who is now the owner of Twitter, Elon Musk.

Elon Musk, nicknamed ‘The Dogefather’ by the Dogecoin community, was the first famous supporter of the project. The DOGE crypto owes much of its success to the owner of Twitter. In a way, all the meme coins created in honour of our four-legged friends are Musk’s daughters. Some of them, as we will see later, pay explicit homage to him.  

2. Shiba Inu

Among the five most famous meme coins in the crypto world is undoubtedly Shiba In (SHIB). This meme coin was born from an experiment: to replicate the Dogecoin project and make another crypto inspired by a small dog achieve mainstream status. The Shiba Inu project was created in 2020 by an anonymous developer known by the pseudonym Rioshy. Shiba Inu’s crypto, SHIB is actually not a real coin, since it does not yet have its own blockchain. Instead, it is an ERC-20 token built on the Ethereum network. Although it is derogatorily considered ‘just’ a meme coin, over time, Shiba Inu has been integrating various functions within its ecosystem.

The Shiba Inu ecosystem is populated by a decentralised exchange (DEX) with AMM similar to Uniswap, ShibaSwap, and by two other tokens: BONE and LEASH. The former is the governance token that guarantees holders to participate in decisions about the future of the ecosystem. LEASH is distributed as a reward to those who stake SHIB on ShibaSwap. Recently, the Shiba Inu team also released a smartphone game called Shiba Eternity, which was very successful and reached the top positions of the ‘card games’ section on the App Store and Play Store. The next steps for the second of the 5 most popular meme coins envisage a Layer 2 blockchain that should be called Shibarium, as well as a stablecoin named SHI.

3. Dogelon Mars

A meme coin bearing the name of Elon Musk was not a chance to be missed. The Dogelon Mars token, ELON, is one of many ERC-20 tokens that were created following the rise of Dogecoin and Shiba Inu in 2021, the so-called ‘meme coin season’. The idea of Dogelon’s anonymous team was to create a crypto entirely managed by its community.

How does Dogelon Mars differ from any other meme coin inspired by doggos? The answer is incredible storytelling! According to the project’s official synopsis, in the year 2420, Mars will be colonised by the Dogelon Mars breed : humanoid pooches vaguely resembling Elon Musk and endowed with a distinct intelligence. Dogelon Mars began as a meme coin, but following its success and the rapid growth of the community, it decided to develop its own roadmap. The next steps are the development of a decentralised finance ecosystem (DeFi) that allows the ELON token to be staked in order to receive rewards in the ecosystem’s governance token: xELON.

4. Baby Doge

Baby Doge also earns a place on the list of the crypto world’s top 5 meme coins. It is an ERC-20 token built on the Binance Smart Chain, Binance’s EVM-compatible blockchain. It calls itself the ‘daughter’ of Dogecoin. The Baby Doge crypto was also created during the 2021 meme coin season. Baby Doge was conceived as a reward token, i.e. a token that automatically rewards its owner with other cryptos. In the case of Baby Doge, the rewards for holders are of course paid in Dogecoin. This is possible thanks to a smart contract that converts part of the crypto that users use to buy Baby Doge into Dogecoins, which are then redistributed to the holders. One of Baby Doge’s projects is Baby Doge Swap, a decentralised exchange (DEX) with AMM very similar to PancakeSwap. On this DEX, it is possible to sell and buy tokens built on the Binance Smart Chain and to stake the Baby Doge crypto as well as other tokens.

5. Floki

We conclude our meme coin list with Floki (FLOKI), one of the five most famous meme coins in the crypto world. Floki was created following Elon Musk’s tweet published in June 2021, in which he told his followers that he had named his new Shiba Inu puppy “Floki”. The Floki Inu team was very quick to create an ERC-20 token, first on Ethereum and then also on the Binance Smart Chain, named of course after the newborn puppy. In the days following the launch, Floki’s team embarked on an effective marketing campaign on social networks that allowed the project to gain a large number of followers. Floki, as the website states, wants to become ‘the people’s cryptocurrency’. To achieve this ambitious goal, the Floki team is collaborating with platforms that encourage charitable initiatives.

Thanks to the great success in the days immediately following its launch, the Floki Inu meme coin was able to work on the project’s roadmap, starting to develop a series of decentralised platforms and applications. To date, the Floki Inu ecosystem is working on a play-to-earn metaverse named Valhalla, a debit card and a platform for staking FLOKIs.

In addition to the meme coins we listed, which are considered the most famous, an avalanche of similar cryptos have sprung up. Some of these failed to survive. How come? Meme coins are born in favourable market moments, trying to intercept narratives or trends with the aim of reaching as many users as possible. Not all meme coins manage to become useful and offer appealing solutions to users after becoming popular. When you are considering taking a look at the next crypto dedicated to an emoji or a dog’s snout, watch out for FOMO and as always, DYOR!

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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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