Alpha Schedule #13 - Shady Founder Crashes Azuki Floor
*Read this newsletter online to read all the info*
Hi Fellaz,
The past week has been very eventful, featuring ...
📉 The collapse of UST / Luna
📉 The decline of Azuki
📸 NFTs on Instagram
🤩 Former Billboard executive is the new CEO of Doodles.
Fact is: the collapse of Luna and the decline of Azuki have dragged the market down. It is currently casting a very dark cloud over the entirety of the NFT space, and will later be seen as an important historical event.
So, if the tumbling markets impacted you, know there is no shame to take a step back and take time away from the charts.
Personally, I'm trying to use this time to learn a skill, so when the next bull comes - I'll be one step ahead.
— 🩸💀 AMERICAN RADASS
SHADY FOUNDER CRASHES AZUKI FLOOR
Known only by his Twitter pseudonym Zagabond, the founder of the Azuki NFT project has revealed a controversial part of his history with previous projects on Monday night.
The NFT community responded furious to his statements, reflecting negatively on the value of the Azuki collection on OpenSea. In a detailed blog post, Zagabond lists the previous projects he has worked on - CryptoPhunks, Tendies, and CryptoZunks, and elaborates why each of the projects had to be wrapped up.
As a result, the NFT community started digging for old tweets and dirt. Here's a list of interesting posts:
TL;DR - What was said in the Spaces Zagabond organized to save his skin?
Zagabond talks about how collectors are bad at due diligence
LUNA MADE A DEATH SPIRAL
Terraform Labs, the company behind the Terra USD (UST) and Terra (LUNA) cryptocurrencies, briefly halted the Terra blockchain for two hours on Thursday following the Terra ecosystem’s meltdown this week, which caused its stablecoin, UST, to crash, taking with it the rest of the cryptocurrency market.
The move comes after Terra’s not-so-stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) depegged from the $1 level it was supposed to stay at and plummeted over 99% earlier this week.
Interesting tweets to understand what happened:
NFTs ON INSTAGRAM
Instagram, the social media platform owned by Meta, will support NFTs from several major blockchain networks, with the first pilot currently live on @misshattan's Instagram profile (tip: check via mobile app!).
Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, and Flow, which host most of the trading in digital collectibles, are in line for Instagram NFT integrations.
Instagram will not charge users for posting and sharing NFTs, as Twitter initially did for its hexagonal NFT profile pictures in January.
📰 OTHER NEWS FROM THE PAST WEEK
Julian Holguin, the former executive at Billboard, is the new CEO of Doodles.
The investor who bought CryptoPunk #273 for more than $1 million less than seven months ago sold the NFT for $139,530 — at a massive almost 80% loss.
Otherdeed #59906, the eighth rarest virtual land piece from Yuga Labs’ Otherside metaverse project, sold for a record 625 ETH ($1.5 million) on the NFT marketplace X2Y2 on Sunday.
The German Ministry of Finance has made certain amendments to its cryptocurrency policies; assets won’t be taxed if individuals hold the assets for more than one year.
Social media has been buzzing over a statement that implies Coinbase consumers are not insured in the event of the firm going bankrupt. The CEO of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong has said that money is secure “as they’ve always been.”
Meta is partnering with Polygon as they make their push into web3.
OpenSea is rolling out features to “improve authenticity” on the digital marketplace, the company announced in a series of blog posts.
Axie Infinity, one of the largest play-to-earn blockchain games by volume, has crossed the $4 billion mark for all-time NFT sales.
Dapper Labs, the company behind the NFT and gaming-focused blockchain Flow, has raised $725 million to support the growth of its blockchain ecosystem.
✨ NEW IN THE SPACE
Digital artist Beeple and Madonna have collaborated to produce three NFTs that depict the pop superstar as the mother of all creation.
Sports Metaverse, the first sports-focused metaverse in the world, and top UFC fighter Amanda Nunes announced a partnership, under which Nunes will offer personal training in her metaverse gym.
Renowned and respected feminist artist Lina Valentina is preparing to launch her first NFT series. Under the “No More” banner, the collection will solidify women’s position within the Web3 environment and denounce domestic violence.
Zora, an Ethereum-based marketplace for buying, selling and curating NFTs has raised $50 million in new funding, valuing the company at $600 million.
💀 HOW TO RECOGNIZE A RUG PULL
As Twitter user Serpent points out: you have to be careful every step of the way because scams and rug pulls are literally everywhere. Check and double-check everything, please.
🔮 LOOKING FORWARD
We normally highlight upcoming mints, but honestly? I haven't seen a project I wanted to highlight for this week ... so let's look ahead to the next few weeks.
It’s no financial advice at all, but you might want to start doing your research and grinding for these allowlists before it’s too late.
PS - Don’t hesitate to tell them you found out about them via this newsletter ;)
📖 LEARN HOW TO DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH
Earlier this week, OSF - an NFT collector who founded his own NFT investment firm - shared some tips on approaching the current bear market.
TL;DR - Get a fresh mind, write down your exposure, look at your conviction, look at your investments, and convert low and medium conviction positions.
👀 BEHIND THE SCENES: OTHERSIDE GAMEPLAY
Yuga Labs recently released Otherside land, and now they are teasing some gameplay.
😂 LAUGH OUT LOUD
The only good thing about these bear market are the amount of memes - I've lised my favorite ones below.
😊 ENJOYED THIS WEEK'S ALPHA?
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🤓 DISCLAIMER: NFA & DYOR
This newsletter is a curated overview of the most interesting things I’ve read the past week, the projects I’ve researched, and the NFTs I’ll be trying to buy.
This means I’m - per definition - biased, so don’t consider this as financial advice and keep doing your own research if you see something you like.