Yuga Labs co-founder takes leave of absence, Moonbirds creator Kevin Rose hacked, and Porsche Hits Brakes on NFT Mint
Yuga Labs co-founder takes leave of absence, Moonbirds creator Kevin Rose hacked, and Porsche Hits Brakes on NFT Mint
w/ more news about Doodles, NFT LA, Binance,...
Hi Frens,
Last week I mentioned how proud I was for being crowned as the Funniest Fella in the “TOP OF THE HORDE”-awards. This week, I decided to show my gratitude to this community by painting a giant mural in the center of Antwerp together with my friend RISE ONE. Below is a quick snapshot of the mural; make sure to consult my Twitter thread for detailed pictures, the location, the easter eggs, and the behind-the-scenes!
Making this newsletter, it surprised me how much NFT-related news stayed under the radar. I’ll highlight them in detail below, but here are a few of my favorite headlines to spark your interest already:
NFT LA announced its expansion into Outer Edge LA.
The NFT-funded film, Calladita, won the top prize at the Sundance film festival.
Binance has admitted to not keeping customers’ funds and the platform’s separate
OREO is making its way into the metaverse.
Amazon is planning a new initiative using NFTs
California’s DMV is going to use NFTs for the digitization of car titles.
Next to these highlights, there are a few of the most interesting tweets I came across:
Would you trust Ledgers sold at convenience stores?
How to secure your portfolio using 3 wallets.
Did you know? A quarter of all US taxes are just to pay the interest on their debt!
Before we dive into last weeks’ news, a quick question: NFT Paris is coming up fast. Do I have readers who’ll be attending this conference?
— 🩸💀 AMERICAN RADASS
Yuga Labs co-founder takes leave of absence
Yuga Labs co-founder Wylie Aronow disclosed on Twitter that he was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and is taking a leave of absence.
“Some heavy news: a few days ago I was told by my doctor I have congestive heart failure. Symptoms started last year out of the blue and I put off seeking help (like an idiot) so I could keep working. But after testing, my doctor called and asked me to radically change my life,” Aronow wrote.
“The condition is progressing pretty fast and that means I need to make some serious changes,” Aronow said.
Aronow said he would remain as a board member and strategic advisor to Yuga Labs.
Moonbirds creator Kevin Rose hacked
Kevin Rose, the co-founder of the Moonbirds NFT collection, has fallen victim to a phishing scam, losing over $1.1 million worth of NFTs from his personal collection. Rose confirmed the hack on Twitter, and a glance at the transaction history for Rose’s wallet on OpenSea reveals the extent of the hack; Rose lost several NFTs, such as OnChainMonkeys, Squiggles, and Cool Cats.
However, Rose saved his most valuable NFTs by keeping them in a separate vault. These NFTs include a Zombie CryptoPunk (CryptoPunk #5066), of which there are only 87 other NFTs. Users speculated that the wallet in question was compromised because Rose signed a malicious seaport bundle. A seaport bundle allows users to trade multiple assets for other items of the same value. Rose, on his part, urged users to avoid purchasing Squiggle NFTs while his team worked on getting them flagged as stolen.
Arran Schlosberg, vice president of engineering at the NFT collection organization Proof Collective, confirmed its NFTs are safe.
Porsche Hits Brakes on NFT Mint
Porsche is the latest luxury brand to hop on the NFT bandwagon, however, buyers have not been getting on board.
The sports car manufacturer launched an NFT collection featuring its 911 model in a series of 7,500. Apparently, in celebration of its iconic vehicle, Porsche has set the mint price for each at 0.911 Ethereum (about $1,490 each). However, the price does not seem to reflect market sentiment, as one day after the launch, roughly 6,000 are still available, some 80% of inventory.
Criticism of the collection mounted on Twitter, with creators and collectors sharing their thoughts on the company racing into a Web3 strategy without considering the overall state of the NFT market. As a result, Porsche decided to halt the mint of its collection. As a result, the floor price surged by over 350%, but their own team was sweeping the floor to get the sales going.
Another reason for this bold move might be the fact that Porsche set a precedent in NFT land with the inclusion of a 14-day return period in the terms of its collection.
Despite the fact that consumer laws have been in play for EU and UK customers since before NFTs were created, the idea that you could return an NFT for the full amount you paid, even if the floor price has gone to zero, has set Twitter abuzz.
📰 OTHER NEWS FROM THE PAST WEEK
An NFT-funded film, Calladita, has won the top prize at the Sundance film festival.
Binance has admitted to not keeping customers’ funds and the platform’s separate, according to a Bloomberg report. The cryptocurrency exchange has “mistakenly” mixed some of its Binance-peg tokens (B-Tokens) with customers’ funds into one specific wallet.
Doodles 2 will launch on the Flow blockchain, a distributed ledger created by the prolific NFT studio Dapper Labs.
Doodles announced that it has agreed on terms to acquire award-winning animation studio, Golden Wolf.
Kaigani has joined Doodles as a consultant/advisor helping the team revamp the DoodleBank, strategic direction, and roadmap for the fund.
The Australia-based crypto casino Stake.com has signed a $100 million partnership with the Alfa Romeo Formula One team in a sign that sponsorship is returning to crypto.
Fractal, the Web3 gaming platform founded by Justin Kan, a co-founder behind Twitch's popular streaming service, has just announced that his platform is expanding to the Polygon ecosystem.
Digital Currency Group subsidiary Genesis Global Capital has filed for bankruptcy protection. It owes over $3.5 billion to its top 50 creditors.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed a "stealth address system" to improve transactional privacy on the Ethereum blockchain.
Crypto investment firm Pantera Capital released a ‘Year Ahead’-letter to investors in which it disclosed data showcasing the blockchain industry’s resilient nature.
U.S. senator Elizabeth Warren urged banking and environmental regulators to fight crypto fraud along with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
✨ NEW IN THE SPACE
NFT LA – the largest gathering of cultural influencers and Web3 innovators to hit the American West Coast – announced its expansion into Outer Edge LA.
California’s Department of Motor Vehicles will test the Tezos network for the digitization of car titles as NFTs.
OREO, the world’s most popular cookie, has recently announced that it is making its way into the metaverse.
Little Red Book, the Chinese version of Instagram, integrates Conflux Network as a permissionless blockchain allowing users to showcase NFTs minted on Conflux on their profile page in the digital collection section called ‘R-Space’.
Amazon is planning a new initiative using NFTs that could be launched in the spring.
Brevan Howard Digital added to its senior leadership ranks, hiring former Dragonfly general partner Kevin Hu to focus on investing in listed digital assets.
💀 RUG PULLS
NFT collection Azuki’s official Twitter account was compromised on Friday afternoon. As a result of the hack, over $750,000 worth of USDC was compromised, along with 11 NFTs and 3.9 ETH, thanks to the malicious land mining links posted by the attacker.
Robinhood's Twitter account was hacked and used to promote a fraudulent crypto project.
The FBI confirmed that Lazarus Group was responsible for last year’s attack on Harmony’s Horizon Protocol.
U.S. Attorneys want to restrict FTX founder and ex-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s access to encrypted messaging services and bar communication with former FTX and Alameda employees after prosecutors suggested he was trying to influence witnesses, according to court documents.
U.S Federal prosecutors seized around $700 million in cash and assets associated with its founder and former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried.
😂 LAUGH OUT LOUD
🤓 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.