Hi Fellaz,

I’ve got some great news to start the day: the past week, I’ve been voted “Funniest community member” in Deadfellaz's Top of The Horde awards. This title is accompanied by a free Deadfellaz NFT, but those close to me know how much pride I take in such a title ☺️. Thank you for your votes!

In the meanwhile crypto Twitter has been on fire as well: I’ve seen a lot of multinationals (like LEGO, Porsche,..) making their first moves in the web3 space, but I’ve also noticed an overwhelming amount of scams and rug pulls taking place. They are all listed below, so keep in mind: stay vigilant.

Without further ado: here is my curated list of NFT news articles that you should read up on!

— 🩸💀 AMERICAN RADASS

Wallets of NFT GOD drained in OBS malware attack

NFT God @NFT_GOD

Last night my entire digital livelihood was violated. Every account connected to me both personally and professionally was hacked and used to hurt others. Less importantly, I lost a life changing amount of my net worth

NFT Influencer who goes by ‘NFT God’ on Twitter lost all his digital assets in a hack on Jan. 14, as he downloaded the video streaming service OBS. However, he used a sponsored link on Google that contained malware-infected software. Cybersecurity expert John Hammond warned people against the fake OBS software two weeks ago.

A couple of hours later, a follower alerted Alex that his Twitter account had been compromised, his wallets had been drained of cryptocurrencies and NFTs, and the hackers had also taken control of his Gmail, Discord, and Substack.

The main reason why his wallets were drained is that he imported his cold wallet instead of connecting it.

Yuga Labs Launches Dookey Dash Skill-Based NFT Game

Bored Ape Yacht Club @BoredApeYC

The sewer is open. Sewer Pass holders, go to dookeydash.xyz to Dookey Dash as many times as you want until February 8th.

Yuga Labs, the company behind the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, has unveiled a new NFT mint, which will require players to compete in a skill-based game.

The game, called Dookey Dash, can be played by anyone holding the Sewer Pass NFT and is a skill-based ‘endless runner’ game similar to Subway Surfers and Temple Run. Holders of BAYC and MAYC NFTs are able to claim a ‘Sewer Pass’ for free.

Dookey Dash went live a few days ago, and players will have three weeks to try and achieve the highest score possible by collecting items and completing quests in the fame. As expected, some of them already tried cheating the system.

Azuki Begins Development on Metaverse City Hilumia

Azuki @AzukiOfficial

Welcome to Hilumia 🌱 The crossroads of the Garden. A growing city shaped and built by the community. The past, present, and future of Azuki. Explore at azuki.com/hilumia

The blue-chip NFT project Azuki has launched a virtual city called Hilumia.

Hilumia boasts a toy store, arcade center, gym, and even a romance competition called "Love Island." The virtual city launched earlier this week to celebrate Azuki's one-year anniversary, and the project's trading volume spiked 86% on the day of the announcement.

"Hilumia is an interactive virtual city that is shaped by the community and will expand over time," adding that its native Physical Backed Token (PBT) threads its ecosystem together. "PBT will also play a part in how Azuki bridges digital and physical. For example, the owners of the physical golden skateboard, upon scanning the PBT, will be enshrined in the Ruins."

MoonPay acquires web3 creative studio

Keith A. Grossman 🟣 @KeithGrossman

Welcome to the @moonpay family, @NightshiftXYZ! We could not be more excited & are are thrilled to now be able to provide our partners w/ end-to-end web3 solutions from ideation to enterprise-ready tech implementation & monetization. 🚀🟣 adweek.com/commerce/crypt…

adweek.comCrypto Startup MoonPay Is Building a One-Stop Web3 ShopThe payments provider is buying tech-focused agency Nightshift.

According to their press release, crypto payments turned Web3 infrastructure company MoonPay has just acquired Web3 creative agency Nightshift, rounding out its suite of services for brands building into Web3.

With this latest acquisition, MoonPay believes it will be able to provide a complete set of services to its current and future clients, offering “world-class, end-to-end support,” as mentioned by MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright in the press release.

In light of this acquisition, the Toronto-based Nightshift is rebranding to Otherlife. Crucially, Nightshift’s existing clients will see no interruption of services, as the agency will continue to serve said clients under this new name.

📰 OTHER NEWS FROM THE PAST WEEK

Fox News host Tucker Carlson theorized that recent bullish market moves were due to the U.S. government buying Bitcoin to pay ransomware attackers.
Woodstock has announced its plans to bring its famed festival to the metaverse through a partnership with Sequin AR.
YouTube influencer Logan Paul will create a refund plan for his troubled CryptoZoo NFT project, as announced in a Twitter video on Jan. 13.
Disgraced 3AC founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies want to raise $25 million for their new exchange – GTX.
Crypto Industry Booms: Report Shows 100% Increase in Developers in Two Years
After a little more than a year as a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, one of the most prolific investors in web3 technologies, James Gwertzman announced he is stepping down at the end of the month.
The new drop from Yuga Labs, Sewer Pass, has crossed over $4M in trading volume within a couple of hours of launch as it unlocks mysterious surprises for the holders.
Yuga Labs has blacklisted addresses from marketplaces that don’t support royalties for NFTs like its latest Sewer Pass mint.
NFT marketplace Rarible has expanded its marketplace builder to include Polygon-based NFT collections.
Virtual land developer LandVault announced it has signed with talent agency Creative Artists Agency.

✨ NEW IN THE SPACE

LEGO could soon be launching a variety of metaverse games and experiences, based on recent job listings for roles for its newly created GAME initiative.
Mcdonald's has entered the metaverse and teamed up with celebrated artist Karen X Cheng to celebrate the coming of the Lunar New Year.
After seven years of development, Apple is said to be close to revealing a mixed-reality headset that will include over a dozen cameras for hand tracking and to show its wearer video of the real world, as first reported by Bloomberg.
A California-based cannabis seed bank has turned to blockchain technology and smart contracts to verify the efficacy of its medicinal plants.
Crypto investing platform Robinhood has launched its self-custody wallet.
Payments giant Mastercard has expanded its reach in the blockchain sector again, this time by launching a spotlight program for emerging musical artists built atop the Polygon blockchain.
Multichain web3 wallet Cypher announced a $4.3 million seed round, led by startup accelerator Y Combinator.
Mahesh Ramakrishnan and Salvador Gala, two 27-year-old Goldman Sachs alumni, have raised $25 million for Escape Velocity’s, their crypto-focused venture firm's first fund.
Digital fashion brand Syky completed a $9.5 million Series A round led by Seven Seven Six.

💀 RUG PULLS

Mailchimp has announced that it was subject to a hack that compromised the account of Yuga Labs. However, the NFTs themselves are safe, Yuga Labs confirmed.
The founder of cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato was arrested and charged with processing $700 million in illicit funds, part of the Justice Department's efforts to take down a "money laundering engine" which it says "fueled a high-tech axis of cryptocrime."
A mysterious wallet purchased 6193.46 Rocket Pool (RPL) tokens 10 minutes before Binance announced the token’s listing, according to Wu Blockchain. Ten minutes after Binance’s announcement, the investor sold all RPL tokens and collected $55,397 in profit.
$323 million from FTX and $90 million from FTX US have been classified as “unauthorised third party transactions” since the bankruptcy petition.
MetaMask is warning its users against a growing new crypto scam called “address poisoning,” which rather relies on human psychology and the mechanics of crypto transactions
Nikhil Wahi – brother to former Coinbase product manager Ishan Wahi – has been sentenced to 10 months in prison following his guilty plea to leveraging his familial connection for insider trading of crypto tokens.

😂 LAUGH OUT LOUD

kmoney @kmoney_69

when every nft project is pumping except for the ones you have

🤓 DISCLAIMER: NFA & DYOR

This newsletter is a curated overview of the most exciting 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.

Alpha Schedule - Your Weekly NFT Newsletter

NFT God hacked, Yuga Labs launches Dookey…