Alpha Schedule #5 - 🏆 Scavenger Hunt Unveils Meebits NFT (+ WL Giveaway)
Alpha Schedule #5 - 🏆 Scavenger Hunt Unveils Meebits NFT (+ WL Giveaway)
*Read this newsletter on the web for the best experience*
Hi Fellaz,
We originally had planned to send out this email on Friday 18 March, but we had some technical issues with our email provider, which is why we didn't send it out any sooner - we're so sorry!
Anyway, we had another exciting week is behind us, filled with NFT news!
The main reason for all the excitement was Yuga Labs, the company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club. They have dominated the entire week, confirming their status as one of the most innovating companies currently active in the NFT space.
Here is what they've done since our previous newsletter.
💸 Acquired CryptoPunks
💰 Launched $APE
⚖️ Submitted various trademarks
🎮 Announced a new project called Otherside
Quite impressive, right?
On another note, we've made some exciting moves as well:
🥳 Reached 400+ subscribers
📅 Built a new Mint Calendar: calendar.alphaschedule.io
🔗 Registered alphaschedule.eth, our ENS address
🎉 New allowlist giveaway: Tomorrowland NFT
... and more great things are in the making! :-)
P.S.: You'll find the Tomorrowland NFT allowlist giveaway under "UPCOMING MINTS," and we are announcing the winners of the Lost Samurise allowlist at the bottom of this newsletter!
— 🩸💀 AMERICAN RADASS
💸 YUGA LABS ACQUIRES CRYPTOPUNKS
Yuga Labs, the creators of the sought-after Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, has acquired CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs for an undisclosed sum.
In a tweetstorm, Yuga Labs said that it would be granting CryptoPunks and Meebits owners intellectual property rights to their NFTs, similar to how Bored Ape owners have commercial rights to their cartoon apes. [cryptobriefing]
After the announcement, various NFT collectors started brainstorming on what this acquisition means for the future and how it changes the value of Bored Apes.
Shortly after the announcement, the BAYC collection saw its floor price surge by about 25% in less than a day.
-
PS: You might want to check out @DaitoYoshi's extensive Twitter Thread if you're looking to learn more about corporate mergers, acquisitions, and what it means for the NFT space.
💰 $APE LAUNCHED FOR BAYC OWNERS
Yuga Labs also announced and launched its cryptocurrency token called ApeCoin ($APE).
The company announced on Twitter that ApeCoin would be used “as the primary token for the Bored Ape Yacht Club ecosystem as well as future Yuga products and services.”
However, rumors are that the new token could be used for transactions across all BAYC products and services, including an upcoming play-to-earn game developed by nWay.
The ApeCoin DAO governs the new token, which currently has a board of five inaugural members, all of which are Bored Ape holders.
The inaugural Ape Foundation board includes:
Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and founder of Seven Seven Six
Amy Wu, head of ventures and gaming at FTX
Dean Steinbeck, president and general counsel at Horizen Labs
Maaria Bajwa, principal at Sound Ventures
Yat Siu, co-founder, and chairman of Animoca Brands
$APE launched on Binance, Coinbase, FTX, Gemini, and Kraken on its first day.
🎮 Yuga Labs announces the 'Otherside'
The same Yuga Labs continued to amaze the entire NFT space by dropping a teaser trailer for a new project called 'Otherside'.
The teaser itself doesn't explicitly state what Otherside is, but recent hints strongly suggest that Otherside will focus on the "culture, gaming, and commerce" invoked during this week's announcement of ApeCoin.
The teaser features examples from NFT collections such as Mutant Apes, CryptoPunks, Meebits, World of Women, CrypToadz, Nouns, and Cool Cats. Needless to say, the floor price of these projects quickly rose substantially. [The Block Crypto]
This release of this teaser also sheds some light on why Yuga Labs acquired CryptoPunks and Meebits; to open up its intellectual property rights.
🏆 SCAVENGER HUNT UNVEILS MEEBITS
After almost a year, three people have finally cracked the Larva Labs secret treasure hunt.
Three NTF collectors worked together to decode the puzzle, revealing private keys to a pig Meebits worth 10 ETH. The private keys were enshrined inside a digital artwork.
Badr narrated the experience on Twitter. According to him, it started when Proof, an artist collective, did an NFT drop of 20 artworks by 20 anonymous artists. One of the pieces in the drop, the Grail #11, turned out to have been made by Larva Labs. [CryptoSlate]
📰 NEWS FROM THE PAST WEEK
Speaking at South by Southwest earlier this week, Mark Zuckerberg said NFTs would be mintable on Instagram “hopefully” within months.
Zuckerberg said Meta was “working on bringing NFTs to Instagram in the near term,” though he added, “I’m not ready to kind of announce exactly what that’s going to be today. But over the next several months, the ability to bring some of your NFTs in, hopefully over time be able to mint things within that environment.” [cryptobriefing]
OTHER NEWS
With the anticipation skyrocketing around BAYC’s launch of a new token, an unknown user gamed the system and received more than 60,000 APE tokens. After paying off the flash loan and the fees, they netted $820,000 (almost 300 ETH). [CryptoPatato]
Deadfellaz's exclusive Deadfrenz 1/1 Tiger, Hybrid, Hyena, Lizard, and Wolf Alpha's got revealed.
DigiART is suing artist Danny Casale, the creator of Coolman’s Universe, for repeatedly violating a collaboration contract. According to them, he gave DigiART the exclusive right to promote and sell NFTs. Casale, on the other hand, claims that he never signed an agreement with the company. [NFT Evening]
Several Bored Ape Yacht Club submitted trademarks are in the final stages, covering a wide range of new plans: from physical products and merchandise to nightclubs, animated shows, bar/restaurants, games, and online stores.
Ripple has recently announced the launch of its NFT Creator Fund, which aims to support the NFT creators providing them opportunities to grow.
LimeWire recently announced its comeback as a marketplace for NFTs. It has now stated that its NFT marketplace will run on the Algorand blockchain. [Invezz]
Singapore Finance Minister Lawrence Wong announced on March 11 that NFT owners in Singapore will start paying taxes on their investments. [Blockonomi]
Ukraine has promised to release NFTs that will help raise more funds to help the country in the war efforts. [Invezz]
After weeks of debates and delays, the EU has voted against banning the use and mining of proof of work digital assets, such as bitcoin and ether. [CryptoPotato]
✨ NEW IN THE SPACE
As part of its mission to make cryptocurrency products accessible to the broad public, Coinbase introduced Coinbase Pay. The company explained that the solution is an extension of its existing digital asset wallet that allows users to interact with Web3 applications. With this new function, Coinbase also provides access to the NFT universe. [CryptoPotato]
Earlier this week, the company announced it will “soon” introduce its NFT marketplace, adding that hundreds of creators displayed enthusiasm towards joining the project.
OTHER BRANDS ENTERING THE WEB3 SPACE
American video games retailer GameStop revealed its intentions to launch an NFT Marketplace by the end of the second quarter of 2022. [CryptoPotato]
According to U.S. trademark attorney Josh Gerben, on March 14, singer and businesswoman Rihanna filed a new batch of trademark applications to offer her company’s cosmetics and products in a “virtual” format in the metaverse. [CryptoPatato]
Celebrity chef and media personality Gino D’Acampo is the personality behind a new play-to-earn Metaverse game called Big Town Chef.
RSTLSS, a digital fashion label and co-creation platform, announced today they raised $3.5 Million during their seed round! The investment will be used to grow the team and refine their product for the go-to-market launch. [NFT Evening]
The popular Ethereum wallet “MetaMask” is officially launching its own token, as confirmed by Consensys CEO Joseph Lubin. The team will also reportedly launch a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) for funding the wallet’s growth. [CryptoPatato]
Joel Dietz, the founding architect of Ethereum wallet Metamask, has announced a new project that "seeks to enhance metaverse interoperability as the sector continues to see massive interest and investment". [Invezz]
British bank HSBC has announced a partnership with the leading metaverse crypto project The Sandbox. [Crypto Daily]
Three months after Bob Iger stepped down as the Walt Disney Company’s executive chairman, he is joining the board of Genies, a Los Angeles-based startup that celebrities and others are using to create NFT avatars in the metaverse. [fortune]
FTX Europe & MENA recently announced that it has obtained a license to establish and operate its virtual asset exchange and clearinghouse services in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). [CryptoSlate]
Magic Eden, the largest NFT marketplace on the Solana blockchain, has raised $27 million in a Series A funding round. [The Block Crypto]
MakeMyTrip reportedly jumped on the NFT bandwagon by planning the release of digital collectibles which will feature Indian landscapes as the proceeds from the sales will promote the local tourism sector. [CryptoPotato]
💀 HOW TO RECOGNIZE A RUG PULL
A “rug pull” is a wildly used term within the crypto world and NFT space to describe a scam in which the founders of a project don’t fulfill their promises after receiving funds - essentially, running away with the money.
In order to recognize these rug pulls and to help you improve your research, we’ll be sharing various tips and tricks over the next few newsletters.
Here is a checklist you can use to protect you, your NFTs, and your funds:
Secure your physical devices (Hardware Wallet, 2FA,...)
Learn to spot the Smart Contract risks and flaws
Know the top scamming tactics in 2022
HACKER STEALS $790,000 OF NFTS VIA RARE BEARS
Collectors of Rare Bears, a recently-launched NFT project, have lost around $790,000 worth of NFTs and other cryptocurrencies in a phishing attack.
On Wednesday, an unknown person gained unauthorized access to the project's Discord server and posed as an official moderator. This enabled them to share a phishing link that was designed to steal people's funds.
The perpetrator shared a message saying there was a new NFT mint, providing a link to a phishing website. According to security firm PeckShield, the website hosted a malicious smart contract that — when interacted with — gave them control over the victim's wallets. With this control, the hacker stole 179 NFTs and other assets belonging to everyone who participated in the mint. Among the stolen NFTs included Rare Bears and many other high-value items from popular collections: CloneX, Azuki, mfer, 3landers, and Sandbox. [The Block Crypto]
IS UTA GUILTY OF INSIDER TRADING?
NFT Ethics has revealed insider trading as @lesleysilverman, Head of Digital Assets at UTA & formally representing Larva Labs' IP, purchases two Meebits NFTs a couple of days before Yuga Labs acquires Larva Labs.
OTHER POTENTIAL RUGS
The ApeCoin launch has created quite a flurry in the crypto space. However, the impatience of the community has also meant that scammers are out to have a field day, targeting individuals gullible enough to fall for their elaborate ruse. [CryptoDaily]
0xSocialDao has rug pulled their token, less than 24 hours after launching it.
We already knew we shouldn't completely trust everyone with an expensive Twitter profile picture, but now we know we shouldn't trust the Hexagon profile pictures without research either.
There is an ongoing attack targeting NFT projects, the attack works by social engineering owners into collaborating with a "legitimate" NFT project (fake site, botted discord, botted twitter).
Another "request token approval"-scam is making rounds, so make sure to always check what websites you confirm token approvals for.
Never ever use Swapstr, because it's a fake website and causes you to lose all your expensive NFTs.
Apparently token airdrops all suffer a similar fate: they can't keep up with $eth. This was the case for $x2y2, $gas, $looks, $ens, $tknfy, $sos, $wtf, and $uni.
Another gentle reminder: never ever take trading advice from anyone without doing your own research. It doesn't matter how successful they look on social media.
📅 UPCOMING MINTS
This chapter of the newsletter functions as the extension of my public NFT mint calendar, which is meant to highlight projects I’m looking forward to.
You might have seen it already, but we moved the calendar to our own website in order to build it out even more. So please make sure you have bookmarked our new link: calendar.alphaschedule.io!
Below are the upcoming projects I’m looking forward to the most, but don’t forget to do your own research into them if they sound interesting because this shouldn’t be considered as financial advice.
CHUM CHUMS
Mint date: March 23rd
Supply: 10.000
Mint Price: Ξ0.08
Twitter: @chumchumsnft
Website: chumchums.io
The Chum Chums are on my calendar as both founders - @liv_chum and @lucy_chum - have been active contributors in the Deadfellaz discord, where they built up their strong reputation.
In their AMA Twitter Spaces, Liv and Lucy revealed that they have the experience of running a Digital agency for years, which is something that comforts me: they definitely know how to get shit done.
Next to building a solid reputation, they've been focused on building a tight and inclusive discord community; they even set up discord pronoun roles. Their discord is invite-only to protect their current community from bots.
Another positive aspect is the amount of (blue chip) collaborations they have, for their allowlist giveaways. Personally, I'm assuming every project does a minimal amount of research into a roadmap and the art before partnering up and launching a giveaway. This means they have received endorsements from WonderPals, Cool Cats, Robotos, CryptoMories Little Lemons, Star Catchers, and many others.
In the run-up to their release, they announced their roadmap to contain:
Art Fund
Monthly Airdrops
Charity Projects
NFT Educational Hub
Virtual Galleries and Land
Design exploration, storytelling, real-world collectibles, apparel,..
And last but not least; they have cute art and everyone likes cats. 😉
TOMORROWLAND
Mint date: March 26th
Supply: 6.500
Mint Price: 3 SOL
Twitter: @tomorrowlandnft
Roadmap: nft.tomorrowland.com
Tomorrowland, the world's largest dance music festival which takes place in Belgium, is set to launch its NFTs in a partnership with FTX.
We covered the announcement in our previous newsletter, where we mentioned that these NFTs would unlock hidden locations throughout the mountains in Alpe d'Huez, France, where the winter festival is held at the end of March.
In their roadmap, they announce that 1500 of the NFTs will be given to Tomorrowland Winter attendees (250 winners each festival day), while the other 5000 are meant for the public sale on March 26th.
By being active on their discord, we learned those holders of this NFT collection would be "taken on a magical journey and get a guaranteed spot on the allowlist for the next drop, can partake in airdrops, exclusive raffles & contests. Experience the unimaginable."
While I'm personally not a big fan of the Solana blockchain, I have to acknowledge that this NFT drop sparks my interest ... a lot. Mainly because it's being launched by a festival that has won various awards for being creative and innovative. Another reason is that they sell over 400.000 festival tickets to people from over 200 different countries. They have a reputation to live up to, which should interest every investor in this space.
🎉 EXCLUSIVE ALLOWLIST GIVEAWAY
We partnered up with Tomorrowland in order to give away 30 allowlist spots to our loyal audience, which will allow them to mint these NFTs for 3 SOL via FTX's NFT Marketplace (USA platform).
You can participate in this allowlist giveaway by filling in this google form, and we'll announce the winners in our next newsletter.
SPRITE CLUB
Mint date: March 26th
Supply: 7.777
Mint Price: Ξ0.07
Twitter: @spriteclubnft
Roadmap: spriteclubnft.com
The first thing everyone talks about when they mention the Sprite Club is their minting process. They've successfully created a lore around it, by announcing a personality quiz that will decide which distinct Classes your Sprite will be assigned to. I'm assuming their inspiration comes from Harry Potter's Sorting Hat?
Anyway, there will be 5 distinct Sprite species that you could potentially mint: Adventurer, Muse, Mystic, Rogue, and Warrior.
Next to this, their website contains the minimal info and their litepaper hasn't been updated since January. This vaguely announces "adventures bridging the physical and digital world", and vaguely doxxes some of the team members.
Their discord, which has been closed at 8898 members, contains a bit more information. For example the difference in the species:
Adventurer: Green skin, elf-like ear
Rogue: Grey skin, pointy ear
Muse: Orange skin, frilly ear
Mystic: Purple skin, curved ear
Warrior: Blue skin, torn ear
The discord is pretty active, for only having 8900 members, which is why I'll be keeping an eye on their volume on mint day.
🔮 LOOKING FORWARD
We are already looking ahead to the next few weeks, meaning we’re currently doing our due diligence and researching the projects listed below.
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
🔥 LEAKS: YUGA LABS FUTURE PLANS
The Block, a cryptocurrency news website, recently published the details of a leaked pitch deck from the company behind The Bored Ape Yacht Club, but according to the co-founder of Yuga Labs, the leaked pitch deck does not reflect the startup’s current plans.
According to The Block, the pitch deck was last updated in February and distributed to investors as part of ongoing fundraising efforts. It revealed many of Yuga Labs’ plans for its famed Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, including its intention to build a gaming-focused metaverse called MetaRPG, a sale of 200,000 digital lands worth $178 million, and the recently released Apecoin.
👀 BEHIND THE SCENES
Adidas and Creative Debuts released an after movie celebrating their past International Women’s Month exhibition, which shows how they activated their visitors with mind-blowing NFTs, jaw-dropping live art, scavenger hunts, and so much more.
😂 LAUGH OUT LOUD
We've all been there, right? 🥲🥲🥲
🤑 RESULTS: LOST SAMURISE ALLOWLIST
Last week, we had the opportunity to organize a contest to giveaway 15 different reserve list tokens for Lost SamuRise, which will allow them to mint these Lost Samurise NFTs for 0.047 ether.
🏆 We're very happy to announce the 15 winners here. 🏆
The winning wallets are added to their mint system, they won't receive any additional roles on Lost SamuRise their discord server.
😊 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.