🥩 NFTs leak into meat-world.

Photoshop opening the gates

• Adobe recently announced its entry into NFTs by dropping news that Photoshop will host a tool to prepare images for the blockchain

• The new function called “Content Credentials” allows creators to link their Adobe ID to their crypto wallet, providing an additional layer of authentication to prevent art theft.

• This functionality may specifically provide an entry way for blockchain-based stock photography, but it’s sure to entice a mass swell of photographers to start dabbling in NFTs.

Reddit upvotes NFTs

• Reddit announced it’s building it’s own NFT platform that aspires to be the “biggest creator economy on the internet”

• The social media giant is currently searching for a senior engineer to spearhead backend development of the platform, and hopes to parlay its nearly 50 million users into a new community of NFT traders.

• Given that the platform is the home of the infamous Wall Street Bets subreddit, we’re secure in our belief that Reddit NFTs will be in good, diamond hands.

Facebook Trying to Ruin it for Everybody

1. On Friday, Mark Zuckerberg announced in a cringe video that Facebook is rebranding itself as “Meta” as it prepares it’s 5-year plan to build its metaverse. 

2. The company’s hijacking of the term for its own namesake is leaving a sour taste in the mouths of the NFT world, leading some to call for new terminology while others expressing down right antagonism toward the CEO.

3. Still, the re-brand signals a massive bullish flag for widespread corporate acceptance of Web3, and as we’ve been sharing here, Web2 companies are now announcing Web3/NFT plans on a near daily basis. Things are changing.

Speaking of "new projects"...

Doodles

The proof is in the pudding, or in this case the avatars, where all around the Twitterverse this week we’ve been seeing collectors flaunting their delightful Doodles. It’s a project designed by three founders with credentials that include Dapper Labs, CryptoKittes, Google, and Snapchat, which injected a shot of legitimacy into the project’s credibility. Although with artwork like this, it’s easy to say yes anyway.

In the Weeds

• Doodles released last week to much anticipation with a following that recently topped 50k on Twitter and nearly 15k members in its discord channel, providing it community power that can translate to staying power.

• Beyond it’s visibility and solid team, the collection has a clear and interesting roadmap that includes developing relationships with retailers and studios, and a “Doodle Bank” which sports an eye-popping 650 ETH in its community treasury.

• The team also is innovating with community participation models, allowing owners to put forward proposals for the project that can be voted on by it’s community

Bird’s Eye View

• As more and more collections flood into the market it becomes ever more important to conduct proper due diligence on the team, plans, and long-term viability of new projects. Doodles seems to check all the boxes, but as always, DYOR.

• It may very well be that the winning collections of the present are those that make their ways out into the broader, non-NFT culture. We’ve see this with BAYC and CryptoPunks already, and given the unique, family friendly artwork of Doodles, it may have potential to do the same. We wonder when we might see a collectable project translated into an animated series on Netflix…

• It’s rare to see any project with such a large community treasury designed to reinvest in the future of the collection. And with an existing community governance structure, Doodles will be a good case study to follow as a potential model of sustainability, engagement, and growth.

CreatureToadz

What happens when the artwork and communities of two legendary collectables projects collide? The answer is most definitely CreatureToadz. With the blessings of both Danny Cole and Gremlin, the respective creators of Creatures and CrypToadz, the artist Skirano has created an undeniably charming mashup project that brings together two hard-core communities in the NFT game.

In the Weeds

• CreatureToadz followed a minting model in which half of the collection was reserved for owners of either CrypToadz or Creatures, which was followed by a public sale which promptly sold out.

• The minting went without a hitch, but the project was maligned a day earlier when a hacker gained access to the Discord channel and set up a fake minting site - the beginning of a bizarre night that led to the hacker returning all the funds.

• The roadmap for the project is light on the details, but includes ideas of creating a DAO and organizing a community token airdrop for CreatureToad owners. 

Bird’s Eye View

• We’ll be very eager to see other projects emerge that seek to bring together communities in the way that CreatureToadz has. This will be a case study to follow in the effectiveness of such strategies, and could lead toward a consolidation of the community cultural ecosystem if widely adopted. 

• In contrast to Doodles, CreatureToadz is driven by the artist himself, and the project finds itself with an interesting dynamic of being integrated within a rabid community while existing at the mercy of one person’s productivity and drive. It will be another case study in how these factors influence the long-term success of a collection like this.

• The hacking event prior to the mint resolved itself in a strange way when the person behind the hack was doxxed, entered a Spaces chat to talk about how he did it, and then returned all the ETH, which the devs then refunded to the hack victims. Once again we see community investigative behavior win the day, but as scams become more and more creative within the space, we must remember to stay on our toes.

Since it matters...

NFT NYC

• NFT NYC is upon us this week as thousands of degens prepare to invade Times Square in what’s surely to be the NFT event of the year.

• The third-annual event will include over 500 speakers talking about NFT projects of all different kinds, and the conference is supported by a whopping 126 sponsors from across the cryptosphere. 

• Of course along with official conference programming are hundreds of satellite events around the city, many of which dedicated to collectables communities like BAYC, Creatures, and DeadFellaz, among many others.

• In addition to the official event list on the NFT NYC website, there are unofficial event lists circling around that offer no shortage of degen party vibe to ape into

• The conference comes at a moment when NFTs are set to hit the mainstream. With ETH prices reaching record highs and Coinbase set to bring a tidal wave of users into the space, the media coverage for the event is expected to be enormous.

• We’ll be interested to see how the social dynamics of the NFT space play out in IRL, who doxxes themselves, and who will be rocking their Avatar on custom shirts and hats, and what other surprises might be in store.

• Needless to say, next week will be peak NFT fam and we’re all for it.

Drift @DrifterShoots

Just went to a coffee shop in New York and the barista said GM and everyone echoed it back??? NFT NYC has arrived for sure

October 30th 2021

62 Retweets1,093 Likes

Feature: DeadFellaz

As we approach Halloween, naturally we want to talk about DeadFellaz, a collection of zombie delights that has demonstrated strong staying power since it’s launch back on August 12th. With a combined Twitter/Discord following nearly 40k, Deadfellaz is rooted in NFT culture with immediately identifiable artwork and undeniable charm

Floor: .58 ETH  Highest sale: 25 ETH  Value Traded: 7k ETH

Issues: 10,000  Unique Wallets: 4900  Average Owned: 2.04

Fundamentally Speaking

The DeadFellaz sports 2-D cartoon-esque artwork of zombie guys and girls of innumerable variation with 300 traits and 50 outfits spread across it’s 10k collection. The zombies feature just about everything you can imagine from tattoos to blood spatters of all types, beanie hats, crazy hair, and facial expressions to suit all moods. A recently released Halloween collection: DeadFellaz Infected S1, offers some unique variations to current owners.

On the Radar

• The team is rolling out a Halloween extravaganza, including an exhibition, Decentraland party, and a concert by Steve Aoki.

• The community is also loaded up with some upcoming roadmap treats that include a theme song contest, a charity-driven collection, and unique 1/1s for top owners.

• Owners in NY will also be treated to seeing DeadFellaz on Times Square Billboards on Halloween and throughout the week for NFT NYC.

Technically Speaking

Since its launch, DeadFellas saw a steady and healthy rise in price from .11 ETH on Aug. 13 to .68 by Sept. 26th. From there it rocketed to an average sales price over 1.5 ETH before gradually settling back down to it’s current floor at a seemingly buoyant .56. Ownership is well-balanced at near 50% distribution. While sales volume is relatively slow at the moment at 21 sales in the last 24 hours, we’ll be eager to see market activity as the project moves into a major promo cycle through the coming days.

Photographer of the Week

This week we’re spotlighting the genesis drop of Columbian photographer Cristina Velasquez - a series of photographs titled El Nuevo Mundo (The New World). 

El Nuevo Mundo is a critical exploration of colonial legacies relating to the term “new world”, and the photographer uses playful visual strategies that encompass performance and sculpture to explore issues of race, class, and labor in Latin America.

Throughout the collection we encounter colorful depictures of human bodies engaging in unique and unexpected gestures that allow audiences to enter into the heavy issues behind the work with a whimsical point of entry. They are fun pictures to look at on the surface, but contain depths of insight into Latin America’s colonial history.

In the IRL photo world Velasquez has been widely exhibited at venues such as MoMA PS1, International Center of Photography, and Musee de l’Elysee in Switzerland. Her entry into the NFT space is in partnership with Assembly, who we interviewed just two weeks ago.

Also brewing...

• The McRib is back…wait, now it’s non-fungible? McDonald’s is dropping an NFT of its legendary seasonal menu item that we can’t eat, but maybe we can flip!

• No, that crypto punk wasn’t actually sold for half a billy… there’s more to the story.

• Disney will begin cashing in on its massive IP heap by launching “Golden Moments”, an NFT collection of stories and moments from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars. In the words of Mickey Mouse, Oh boy!

• A group of game developers sent a letter to Steam pleading with it to reconsider its stance on NFT-integrated games, we wonder if the platform will come to its senses.

• Galaxy interactive is spearheading an initiative to help collectors protect their digital assets, and it sounds like a pretty good idea.

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