A Metaverse/AR story game is coming to Polkadot, Square Enix has made another Web3 gaming play, and an NFT esports cricket game has launched on Tezos.
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Nike’s “Dot Swoosh” platform landsFootwear and apparel giant Nike has unveiled its latest foray into the non-fungible token (NFT) and Metaverse space with the launch of an NFT marketplace named “.Swoosh”While .Swoosh is still in the beta phase, Nike announced that its “first digital collection” is set to launch on the eb3 platform in 2023, with the rest of 2022 devoted to growing the platform and user base.✅ About .SWOOSH ♂️.SWOOSH is a platform for @Nike’s virtual creations, for them to be more accessible and to onboard the next millions into the wonderful world of web3 and digital assets.pic.twitter.com/F0M7Q8Ddwk— ycxc RTFKT (@ycxcRTFKT) November 14, 2022Among the “virtual creations” to become available next year are digital sneakers, apparel, accessories and other collectibles. In addition, some will unlock benefits such as access to real-life products and events.Following the first collection drop, members can enter a community challenge to win the opportunity to co-create a virtual product with Nike.According to Nike, the winners of the challenge can earn an undisclosed amount of royalties on the virtual product they help co-create.Ron Faris, general manager of Nike Virtual Studios, said .Swoosh offers a “gateway into a new digital arena,” while the Twitter post from Nike said the platform would help “onboard the next millions” into the “wonderful world of web3 and digital assets.”“We are shaping a marketplace of the future with an accessible platform for the web3-curious,” he added.In 2021, Nike entered the Metaverse game through the acquisition of virtual sneakers and collectibles brand RTFKT. It also launched the virtual world Nikeland. .SWOOSH uses similar tools and technologies but all three are different projects for the company.Steve Jobs NFT sandals go under the hammerA one-of-a-kind non-fungible token (NFT) of the Birkenstocks sandals worn by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs at various times during his life has sold for $218,750 at an auction. Steve Jobs sandals, complete with imprints of his feet. Source: Julien’s AuctionsJulien’s Auctions ran the auction from Nov. 11 to Nov. 13, with 19 people overall trying to claim the footwear with offers ranging from $15,000 to $175,000.Included in the deal was an NFT featuring a 360° digital representation of Steve Jobs sandals and was minted on the Polygon blockchain. The NFT is a 1-of-1 Edition and included the physical sandals, with the “imprint of Steve Jobs’ feet.” It also came with a hard case for storage and transport and a Jean Pigozzi book titled “The 213 Most Important Men in My Life.”Initially, the sandals and NFT were projected to fetch between $60,000 and $80,000, but after 19 bids, the sandals ended up going for $218,750. The new owner of the sandal NFT has not been publically disclosed. Jobs and Steve Wozniak co-founded Apple in 1976. Jobs died of pancreatic cancer in 2011. First airport metaverse takes flight in India Bangalore International Airport has launched Metaport, a metaverse airport built on the Polygon blockchain. Hello flyers ✈️ @BLRAirport launches #Metaport, the ‘s first airport metaverse exclusively #onPolygon to showcase the T2 Terminal.Experience the phygital world ofSocializing️ ShoppingEntertainmentWelcome to the future powered by #Polygon, @AWS & @Intel pic.twitter.com/9ESUoIvplm— Polygon – MATIC (@0xPolygon) November 12, 2022
Inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Nov. 11, the metaverse features a virtual reproduction of Terminal 2 at Bangalore International Airport and allows users to network with other travelers, access entertainment and go shopping in the digital space. Arpit Sharma, Vice President of Enterprises at Polygon, posted a Nov. 12 video of Metaport in action. BLR metaport powered by @0xPolygon, @awscloud, @intel, @BLRAirport goes live today! Super proud! Bengaluru is leading the way – @Tejasvi_Surya Kudos to the amazing leaders and team@HariMarar @sandeepnailwal @kamakshi_taneja @nikhilv @kanishkaagiwal https://t.co/5X9BBLOUIL pic.twitter.com/VgTomeNBxz— Arpit (@Arp_it1) November 12, 2022
In the video a user logs into the Metaverse airport, customizes their avatar’s appearance and clothing, and then wanders around the virtual space. The avatar interacts with several other users through a text-based chat, goes on an art tour, and gets the chance to purchase digital items before a boarding call prompts the user to leave the metaverse. The project is the result of a joint venture between Bangalore International Airport, Polygon, Intel and Amazon Web Services and is being called the first metaverse airport in the world by its creators. 2022 FIFA World Cup NFTs kicking off The 2022 FIFA World Cup is rapidly approaching its Nov. 20 kickoff in Qatar and in the leadup, several companies have been releasing NFT collections and announcing Web3 games for the event. Sportswear manufacturer Adidas posted a Nov. 14 promotional trailer for the World Cup featuring its Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) character Indigo Herz alongside Lionel Messi and other players. catch our family reunion all World Cup long #ImpossibleIsNothing pic.twitter.com/UCNG2WBnLg— adidas (@adidas) November 14, 2022
Herz was on a cereal box of “Indigoooooals.” The footwear giant purchased Indigo Herz, or BAYC #8774, on Sept. 17, 2021 for 46 Ethereum — worth approximately $58,500 at the time. Yuga Labs grants holders full intellectual property rights to use the characters for commercial endeavors. Related: Wuhan omits NFTs from metaverse plan amid regulatory uncertainty in ChinaEarlier this month, major credit card company Visa released five soccer-themed NFTs for auction on Nov. 1 featuring World Cup goals of famous players. The auction lasted until Nov. 8, with all proceeds donated to a U.K.-based charity. The payments company is also giving fans a chance to create their own NFTs on a digital pitch at the FIFA Fan Festival, which will launch during the World Cup. On Oct. 14, Budweiser partnered with FIFA to release a live scoreboard NFT collection called Budverse X World Cup. According to the OpenSea description, once users mint their world cup team, the NFT will follow and track the progress throughout the FIFA World Cup. Meanwhile, FIFA announced on Nov. 9 they will have at least four web 3.0 games that fans can play while at the World Cup.More Nifty News:NFT marketplace OpenSea announced it will continue to enforce royalties across all collections going forward, following an outcry from creators for considering otherwise. Web3 technology has opened a whole new frontier for musicians, but the head of IP at Animal Concerts metaverse platform says onboarding someone like Snoop who is active in the space is very different from “artists who don’t typically keep up with the Web3 ecosystem.”
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Reddit NFTs among OpenSea’s top 10 collectionsReddit’s Polygon-based nonfungible token (NFT) venture continues to impress with three of its tokenized avatar collections cracking the top 10 projects on OpenSea in terms of sales volume this week. Looking at the 24-hour sales volume chart, Spooky Season by Reddit user poieeeyee is ranked second with 274 Ether (ETH) ($401,000) worth of sales, behind only Yuga Lab’s Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) at 684 ETH. The ninth and tenth spots are then taken up by Imagination Station from user Chipperdoodle and The Senses from user Rojom with 121 ETH ($177,400) and 120 ETH ($175,900) worth of sales over the past 24 hours. Zooming out to the seven-day sales volume chart, Spooky Season is the sole Reddit project cracking the top 10 with its 880 ETH ($1.2 million) worth of sales placing it as sixth at the time of writing. Spooky Season NFTs: OpenSeaFor anyone unfamiliar with Reddit’s NFT project, it offers a Collectible Avatars Creator Program which enables users to create and sell profile picture (PFP) NFT collections with artwork based on the Reddit mascot logo Snoo.The move has been a hit so far, with Cointelegraph reporting on Oct. 24 that the number of wallets holding Reddit NFTs had hit around 2.8 million since launch in July. NFT considered physical property like ‘luxury watches’ in Singapore courtA judge from the High Court of the Republic of Singapore has drawn on existing property laws to grant a motion to refrain a defendant hodler from selling a BAYC NFT, as he likened the asset class to physical property such as luxury watches or fine wine. The dispute in question involves Plaintiff Janesh Rajkumar, who alleges that defendant chefpierre.eth broke the terms of an NFT loan agreement and foreclosed on the token too early. According to court documents, via the NFTfi platform, Rajkumar had borrowed crypto assets from chefpierre.eth by putting up his BAYC NFT as collateral, but had set terms in which the asset would not be liquidated without giving “reasonable opportunities to make full repayment of the loan.”After the NFT was liquidated, chefpierre.eth went on to list the NFT for sale, however, Rajkumar then filed a lawsuit and motioned for the court to bar the sale for the duration of the case. Explaining his decision to grant the motion, Judge Lee Seiu Kin compared NFTs to physical collector’s items, noting that: “Cars, books, wine and luxury watches … are a few examples of highly sought-after items for collectors, [f]or digital nomads, especially those steeped in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, NFTs have emerged as a highly sought-after collectors’ item.” Get a teardrop tattoo in the Metaverse, your grandma won’t careFreshly launched Australian Web3 tech firm Swallow is looking to expand the tattoo sector into the Metaverse.In a launch announcement this week, the firm outlined that it will allow “metaverse-goers and gamers to customize their avatars and accessories with tattoos and skins from the world’s most exciting tattoo artists.” A key focus for the firm will be offering tattoo artists ways to expand their presence outside of their shops, bring more exposure to their artwork and designs, and build a digital community. “Giving people the ability to represent themselves online through wearable art is an important part of their digital experience. Likewise, tattoo artists are looking for ways to expand outside their physical studios and share their designs more broadly,” the announcement reads. According to Swallow, more than 100 tattoo artists have signed on from the jump, such as popular podcaster Joe Rogan’s go-to artist Aaron Della Vedova. 25 business partnerships have also been penned, including two blockchain-based metaverses in Bloktopia and CrypCade. Galaxy enters NFT royalties debate saying it’s a ‘core value proposition’With the recent debate over whether royalties from NFTs are good for the industry or not, in which some projects have opted to move away from the model, asset manager Galaxy has emphasized that the community should be careful about shifting away from what it deems as a “core value proposition of NFTs.”In a lengthy report, Galaxy highlights data indicating that more than “$1.8 billion worth of royalties have been paid out to creators of Ethereum-based NFT collections” so far, suggesting a “strong contingent of users willing to pay royalties.” Related: Potential US ban is a reminder that influencers should dump TikTokUltimately, the report notes that it is too early to tell which NFT sales model will be best, as more solutions will likely emerge with different platforms and companies going down different paths. “Only time will tell if creators continue to reap benefits from secondary sales, or if they will lose out on potential income in favor of a ‘pure’ ownership model.”Other Nifty News: After recently enabling NFT purchase support on its app store, Apple has essentially reiterated that its 30% sales commission fee on all in-app purchases will apply to NFTs, as it will not enable apps to direct users to external avenues to purchase the NFTs. Cointelegraph reported on Oct. 24 that search data from Google Trends shows that the keyword “Web3” has picked up steam and recorded an all-time high in terms of peak popularity in 2022, while global Google searches for “Bitcoin” has reached their lowest point in over a year.
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Yuga Labs has announced a new Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) community council to help the project “grow and thrive.”The team revealed seven council members in an Oct. 5 blog post, noting that they are all OGs who have been around since the early days of the BAYC. Yuga Labs said it assembled a new community council made up of “Apes with a proven track record of proactively and positively contributing to the club since the start.” The members include, @beijingdou, @SeraStargirl, @TheMiamiApe, @OxEthanDG, @OxWave, @negithenagi, @peterjfang. “This council was formed with the intention of representing the club at large and providing an avenue for new perspectives,” Yuga Labs wrote. Yuga Labs stated that they will engage with the community and gather feedback for the firm, work with Yuga on community-driven initiatives such as commercial projects, meetups and charity work. “Every Ape in our community has directly impacted our decisions-making from day one. This council, and future councils to come, puts a more formal, efficient and consistent process in place for Yuga leadership to get community feedback and advice on an ongoing basis,” it wrote.Yuga Labs also teased that it could soon launch community councils for its other NFT projects including CryptoPunks, Meebits and the Otherside moving forward. Today, Yuga Labs welcomes the first BAYC community council that will assist us in shaping the future of the Bored Ape Yacht Club. For more details on the council head over to our official blog at https://t.co/MSD3M1QkfE— Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) October 5, 2022Animoca Brands partners with Cool Cats NFT venture fund giant Animoca Brands has made a strategic investment into blue chip NFT project Cool Cats to help the project expand into new avenues such as gaming. The Oct. 5 announcement from the duo states that the “partnership will drive Cool Cats’ mission to become the largest global NFT brand and a robust media and content company, including through expansion of its gaming offerings.” Cool Cats was launched in July 2021 and consists of 9,999 cartoon cat avatars. The project has generated $369.2 million worth of NFT sales volume to date as per CryptoSlam data. The latest announcement has also coincided with Cool Cats sales volume pumping 220% over the past 24 hours. The move also follows a partnership with Animoca Subsidiary GAMEE from Sept. 1, a virtual platform focused on connecting creators, brands and players in the GameFi space. 1/ .@animocabrands is excited to announce our partnership with @coolcatsnft one of the earliest, important and cutest #NFT metaverse first collections out there, to celebrate I picked up a few #CoolCats including this rare beauty #CoolCatsNFT #7807 a little pic.twitter.com/oYzRYHU4XC— Yat Siu (@ysiu) October 5, 2022
Solana NFT sales volume surges past $100M in SeptemberNFT sales volume on the Solana blockchain tagged $130.1 million in September, with that figure marking an 82.2% increase compared to the $71.4 million posted in August. While the figure still places Solana well behind Ethereum, which hosted $354.3 million worth of NFT sales volume last month, the difference between the two’s number of unique buyers is much smaller. According to CryptoSlam data, Solana NFTs saw 143,997 unique buyers in September (up from 95,516 in August) compared to Ethereum’s 166,168 that month (down from 202,467). While the figures may indicate that Solana is making up some notable ground on Ethereum, the latter still hosts the majority of blue chip NFT projects. Looking at data over the past 30 days, only one Solana NFT project makes the top 10 in terms of sales volume with tenth ranked y00ts mint t00b’s $13.3 million worth of sale volume. In comparison, eight Ethereum-based projects make the top 10 during that time frame. Mommy, I want that NFT! Gary Vaynerchuck’s NFT project VeeFriends has penned an exclusive deal with Macy’s and Toys “R” Us to sell physical plush and figure collectibles featuring VeeFriends NFT characters. The collectibles will be available in stores from Oct. 17th, and will be priced from $9.99 to $29.99. The characters include Common Sense Cow, Willful Wizard, Practical Peacock, Gratitude Gorilla, Genuine Giraffe and Be The Bigger Person. Related: Three Arrows Capital’s NFT collection to be liquidatedHodlers who own the NFT version of the characters will receive the associated physical collectibles, with the more expensive plush and six inch figures going to season one NFT holders. Notably, the hodler’s won’t get a kick-back from the sales of the physical toys however. Collectible toys: VeeFriendsOther Nifty News: Horizon Blockchain Games, the developers of popular NFT card game Skyweaver have raised $40 million in Series A funding, the company disclosed on Oct. 4. The round was led by Brevan Howard Digital and Morgan Creek Digital, with additional participation from Polygon, Take-Two Interactive, and Ubisoft to name a few. NFT marketplace OpenSea announced in a series of tweets on Oct. 5 that the platform will officially allow its users to bulk list and bulk purchase up to 30 digital collectible items in a single flow.
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Metaverse platform The Sandbox saw its Instagram profile hacked and used to try and rent out Bored Ape Yacht Club nonfungible tokens (NFTs) from a number of users on the social media platform.The voxel-powered NFT platform’s profile was compromised by hackers on Thursday, promoting a fabricated raffle ticket event that touted a season 4 LAND giveaway to unsuspecting users.The firm indicated that its two-factor authentication and other security measures had been bypassed to promote the fake giveaway. The profile’s website URL was changed, with one user claiming to have lost NFTs after clicking the fake link.Cointelegraph managed to follow the link to the fake website — which prompts users to connect web-based wallets for a chance to win the fraudulent raffle.In a bizarre twist, Sandbox co-founder and chief operating officer Sebastien Borget revealed that the hackers then reached out to a number of users on Instagram with Bored Ape Yacht Club profile pictures in an attempt to “rent” out the NFTs — offering 40 Ether (ETH) to use the BAYC NFTs for 24 hours. Instagram account recovered. The hacker tried to rent Bored Apes Yacht Club NFTs – using our account. We would NEVER ask via DM and have contacted all users to notify them. https://t.co/1DRFR3JlIq pic.twitter.com/CKQWfVBTNF— Sebastien (@borgetsebastien) September 8, 2022According to Borget, The Sandbox managed to recover control of its Instagram account a few hours later, while stories promoting the fake giveaway were still live on the account at the time of publishing (:00 pm EST).The NFT-powered Metaverse platform has collaborated with major brands and celebrities since its Alpha launch in November 2021. The likes of Paris Hilton and Snoop Dogg have partnered with the platform, while notable clothing retailers like Adidas launched NFTs wearables that are compatible with The Sandbox and other Metaverse platforms.Cointelegraph has reached out to The Sandbox to confirm details of the incident and will update this article accordingly.
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OpenSea, the world’s largest nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace, has witnessed a substantial drop in daily volumes as fears about a potential market bubble grow.OpenSea volume plummets to yearly lowsNotably, the marketplace processed nearly $5 million worth of NFT transactions on Aug. 28 — approximately 99% lower than its record high of $405.75 million on May 1, according to DappRadar.OpenSea users, volume, and transactions statistics. Source: DappRadarThe massive declines in daily volumes coincided with equally drastic drops in OpenSea users and their transactions, suggesting that the value and interest in the blockchain-based collectibles have diminished in the recent months.That is further visible in the falling floor prices — the minimum amount one is ready to pay for an NFT — of leading digital collectible projects. For instance, the floor price of the Bored Ape Yacht Club has dropped by 53% to 72.5 ETH on Aug. 28 versus a high of 153.7 ETH on May 1. BAYC floor price throughout history. Source: CoinGeckoSimilarly, the floor price of CryptoPunks, another top NFT collection, dropped almost 20% from its July high of 83.72 ETH.NFT bubble is burstingNFT prices are quoted in the native currency of the blockchain on which they are launched. So a digital collectible created on Ethereum will be purchased using Ether (ETH), which also means that NFT’s prices will fall if ETH’s market valuation plummets.A bearish ETH market appears to be one of the primary drivers behind the poor NFT statistics. Notably, the price of one Ether has fallen from $4,950 in November 2021 to below $1,500 in August 2022.ETH/USD three-day price chart. Source: TradingViewBendDAO votes to improve NFT liquidityLast week, BendDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization that enables NFT owners to collateralize their digital collectibles to take loans (in ETH) worth 30%-40% of the NFT’s floor price, voted to change its protocol’s code to make its NFT collateral more liquid.The vote occurred after a rise in Ether price increased the value of ETH-denominated loans in dollar terms. Meanwhile, on the other hand, NFT prices plummeted, reducing the value of the collateral held by BendDAO.As a result, BendDAO is now facing its own debt crisis moment, where borrowers cannot pay their dollar-denominated loans due to falling ETH prices, and lenders are finding it difficult to recover their loaned amount due to falling collateral valuations.Related: Prosecutors want to claim NFTs as securities, alleges legal team of former OpenSea employeeBendDAO’s latest vote has changed its NFT liquidation threshold from 95% to 70%. It has also reduced the time offered to borrowers to avoid liquidation from 48 hours to 4 hours to attract more bids for their NFT collaterals.In other words, the floor price of NFTs, including BAYC, risks plunging further if the market’s liquidity continues to dry u.agreed, 2020-2021 was crazy get-rich-in-months & the DeFi-NFT-Web3 bubble is going bust now, turns out founders & VCs were scammers only in for the $$$.But pipl said its over in 2018 too after ICOs.The next bubble will come 100%, you just need to survive.play the long game. https://t.co/5f17JfdFfY— doncrypto (@DonCryptoDraper) August 29, 2022The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
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Many owners of precious Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and CryptoPunks NFTs, who used them as collateral to take out loans in Ether (ETH), have failed to repay their debts. The situation could lead up to the NFT sector’s first massive liquidation event.gm.As a result of the floor dropping to 72, the first BAYC liquidation auction on BendDAO has begunStarting price of 68.4e…Any takers or is this going to be the first bad-debt domino that falls for the platform? pic.twitter.com/7qxsIi661e— Cirrus (@CirrusNFT) August 18, 2022BAYC “death spiral” incoming?DoubleQ, the founder of web3 launchpad Double Studio, says lending service BendDAO could liquidate up to $55 million worth of NFTs to recover its loans, fearing the so-called “health factor” of these debts could fall below 1.Notably, an NFT collection’s floor price is important in determining the health factor. BendDAO offers 30%-40% of the NFT’s floor price as loans. But the protocol sells the NFT if its floor price falls too close to the amount borrowed—a liquidation threshold, as explained below.BendDAO’s NFT liquidation protocol. Source: Official WebsiteMeanwhile, the floor price of BAYC has fallen from 153.7 ETH in May to 69.69 ETH in August—a nearly 55% plunge in three months. Simultaneously, the health factor of at least 20 loans with BAYC as collateral has fallen to 1.1 as of Aug. 19, data on BendDAO shows.4/ Why is this a problem?There are currently 20 BAYCs with under 1.1 health factorAnd wayyyy more under 1.2Meaning, all of those apes WILL get liquidated, soon. pic.twitter.com/5jwoZZXHRT— doubleQ (@xDoubleQ) August 19, 2022
Borrowers have 48 hours to repay the loan or their NFT collateral will be liquidated. According to doubleQ, these liquidations could lead to “a death spiral for the BAYC ecosystem and NFT market as a whole,” given BendDAO’s exposure to other NFT projects, including CryptoPunks and Doodles.”OpenSea volume is at the lowest point ever in the last 12 months,” the analyst warned, adding: “There’s simply not enough volume to save these liquidations.. It’s inevitable.”BendDAO NFT holdings distribution. Source: doubleQOpenSea is the leading NFT marketplace by volume.To buy the dip or not?Nevertheless, doubleQ believes the incoming BAYC liquidation could offer an opportunity to buy the NFTs at cheaper rates. 7/ So what can you do to take advantage (or at least protect yourself) from the situation?Two options:- Bidding on loans and go for a flip- Waiting for the mass liquidation to have one of the best entry points ever— doubleQ (@xDoubleQ) August 19, 2022
On the other hand, Naimish Sanghvi, CEO of India-based crypto news outlet Coin Crunch, wonders if there would be any buyers due to a lack of arbitrage opportunities. “Your bid has to be more than 95% of the floor value and higher than the debt amount,” explained Sanghvi, noting that there could no room for making money from arbitrage between these values.”The auctions don’t begin until the first bid is placed, so there may be several NFTs in limbo at a given point in time if the prices are unfavorable. And that should scare the Liquidity providers.”This scenario would have BendDAO wait for borrowers to repay their loans—or to wait for the re-emergence of liquidators after a market recovery—to subside its “temporary floating loss.”The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
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Some of the biggest NFT collections out there right now — Bored Ape Yacht Club among them — have given full intellectual property rights to users. This is a significant (and you could argue a very generous) development. It effectively means that those who own Bored Ape NFTs have the potential to profit from them. We’ve seen Eminem and Snoop Dogg team up for a new music video where they transform into their characters. Meanwhile, sites have emerged where collectors can effectively hire out their ape’s NFT to brands. As we alluded to earlier, the actor Seth Green made a splash when he unveiled plans to create a TV show themed around his Bored Ape NFT, which he affectionately calls Fred, called White Horse Tavern. Green’s beloved collectible ended up being stolen in a phishing attack, and he ended up paying over the odds to get it back. BAYC’s license states those who purchase NFTs “own the underlying Bored Ape, the Art, completely” — but doesn’t actually mention what happens in cases of theft. Many experts believed that Green would have been on firm legal ground if he released the TV show without the NFT, but there are no guarantees.
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Italian high-end fashion giant Gucci has become the first major brand to accept payments in the Bored Ape Yacht Club affiliated ApeCoin (APE). The move was announced on August 1 and could provide the ApeCoin project with significant mainstream exposure along with bringing further utility to the cryptocurrency.Gucci customers in the United States (U.S.) will now be able to purchase items in-store with APE, while the payment infrastructure will be provided by BitPay, a firm that has helped big names such as AMC Theaters accept crypto payments in the past. Excited to announce that @Gucci will become the first major brand to allow customers to pay for purchases in-store with ApeCoin, via @BitPay. https://t.co/ipoeW6lXLl— ApeCoin (@apecoin) August 2, 2022Despite the ongoing crypto bear market, the fashion brand has taken a serious plunge into the crypto sector this year. In February, Gucci kicked things off with the “SUPERGUCCI” NFT collection in collaboration with X toy brand SUPERPLASTIC. The following month, Gucci then rolled out the “Gucci Grail” NFT collection that was targeted toward owners of top NFT projects such as the BAYC. In May, the firm then went on to announce plans to accept 12 crypto assets as payment methods across 111 stores in North America. The list included Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ether (ETH), Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC), Litecoin (LTC), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Dogecoin (DOGE), and five U.S. dollar stablecoins. BAYC collectors seem to have shown strong support for Gucci’s crypto moves so far, with @NBATopShotEast claiming to be the first person to pay for Gucci items in ETH at the brand’s Wooster location in New York City in July. While another two BAYC members claimed to be the second and third people to do so. In response to the latest APE announcement, @NBATopShotEast outlined plans to once again be the first person to use the asset in the Wooster Gucci store. Lucky to be Guccis first ever in store crypto user… hope to be the first in store Apecoin user too https://t.co/mNdG9oSJPi— NBA Top Shot East Coast Podcast (@NBATopShotEast) August 2, 2022
The Apecoin community APE was launched to much anticipation earlier this year in March. Its accompanying decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) and governance community has since remained highly engaged and has overseen important decisions such as the vetoing of a proposal to port APE from Ethereum to a new blockchain in June. Last month, the DAO voted in favor of several notable proposals such as studying the feasibility to host an NFT conference and festival and providing APE funding for the BoredApeGazette to become a 24-hour news site. While the project is working on rolling out APE staking in response to a strong push from the community. ApeCoin fam – we hear you on staking. It’s important and something we want to get right. We’re currently finalizing details that will serve as the basis for a wider update on our progress in line with AIPs-21&22. Expect more frequent updates and collaboration soon. pic.twitter.com/jKi8fZuaqd— ApeCoin (@apecoin) July 22, 2022
At the time of writing APE is priced at $6.74 after pumping 11.4% over the past seven days. APE has shown a strong resurgence of late, due in part to positive developments in the affiliated Otherside Metaverse project, with the price increasing by 49.1% over the past month. Related: Tiffany & Co turning CryptoPunk NFTs into $50K custom pendantsIts current market cap of roughly $2.06 billion makes APE the thirty-third largest asset in crypto, however, APE is still down 74.8% from its all-time high of $26.70 on April 28.
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A proposed class-action lawsuit alleges that Yuga Labs “inappropriately induced” the community to buy Bored Ape Yacht Club non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the project’s affiliated ApeCoin (APE) token.The proposed class-action driven by law firm Scott+Scott was published on July 21, claiming that Yuga Labs used celebrity promoters and endorsements to “inflate the price” of the BAYC NFTs and the APE token.It also alleges that Yuga Labs promoted the growth prospects and chance for huge returns on investment to “unsuspecting investors.”“After selling off millions of dollars of fraudulently promoted NFTs, YUGA LABS launched the Ape Coin to further fleece investors.”“Once it was revealed that the touted growth was entirely dependent on continued promotion (as opposed to actual utility or underlying technology) retail investors were left with tokens that had lost over 87% from the inflated price high on April 28, 2022,” it added. The law firm is currently seeking impacted investors who suffered losses on BAYC NFTs and Apecoin between April and June of this year. During this timeframe, APE surged to its all-time high of $26.70, before dropping roughly 82.5% to $4.66 at the end of June, while the floor price went from 151.5 Ether (ETH) down to 92.9 ETH. So there’s a class action lawsuit against @yugalabs as investors were “inappropriately induced to buy financial products created by Yuga Labs”.Extremely ridiculous Take responsibility for your own actions people. https://t.co/WeuVVLNGv6 pic.twitter.com/7c9Jywvv9V— Kevin Wu (@kevwuzy) July 24, 2022The community seems to be relatively unfazed by the proposed lawsuit, with BAYC hodler @SoapBoxCar suggesting via Twitter on July 24 that a bunch of people are mad they bought at the top and “got rekt.” User @briann6211 also highlighted an interesting point in that Yuga Labs “never created a token… Apecoin DAO created a token which was then adopted” by the firm. Several members also noted that the Apecoin tanked after a free airdrop to BAYC holders, while the broader market was also suffering from a sharp downturn at the time. Ironically yuga labs never created a token… Apecoin DAO created a token which was then adopted by Yuga Labs— Brian (@briann6211) July 24, 2022
If the lawsuit eventually gets taken to court, it appears that Scott+Scott will need to prove that Yuga Labs and its celebrity promoters failed to disclose their paid advertisements, as they are legally required to do so. As the law firm is also claiming a pump and dump occurred, it would need to prove that Yuga Labs engaged in such practices, which may difficult given the strength of Yuga Labs’ projects. Pump and dumps, or rug pulls usually imply that a project has dumped artificially inflated assets on a community before abandoning the project altogether. Related: ApeCoin price eyes 45% rally following Otherside metaverse demoThe nature of Apecoin and BAYC NFTs may also be tricky, as the law firm may have to argue that they were promoted as investment contracts under the category of unregistered securities. Cointelegraph has reached out to Yuga Labs for comment on the proposed lawsuit, but is yet to hear back from the company.
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ApeCoin (APE) rallied to start the week as traders considered Yuga Labs’ decision to open its Otherside metaverse for selected users. In doing so, the token broke out of a technical pattern that hints at another 45% price rally by September 2022.Otherside metaverse euphoriaAPE’s price surged by almost 23.5% week-to-date to reach $6.12 a token on July 19. The weekly gains came as a part of a rally that started on July 16. Interestingly, Yuga Labs invited 4,300 players of its Otherside gaming metaverse for a demo—and the tour of its Bored Ape avatar online platform—on the day of APE’s rally.APE/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingViewThat suggests traders purchased APE after taking cues from the Otherside update, given it serves as a governance token at ApeCoin DAO. This “decentralized autonomous organization,” or DAO, powers the ecosystem of apps and services deployed by Yuga Labs and third-party brands, including Otherside.APE price eyes 45% rallyThe Otherside euphoria has also prompted APE to exit a technical setup called the “ascending triangle.”Ascending triangles are typically considered continuation patterns. Nonetheless, in rare instances, ascending triangles form at the end of a downtrend, leading to a strong price reversalRelated: Time to accumulate? 5 sectors to watch during crypto winterIt appears APE’s ascending triangle had formed at the end of its downtrend. That is because the token rallied by over 100% after bottoming out locally near $3 on June 15, followed by a break above the triangle’s upper trendline near $5.22 on July 18.APE/USD daily price chart featuring ‘ascending triangle’ reversal setup. Source: TradingViewAs a rule of technical analysis, a breakout originating from an ascending triangle pushes the price north by as much as the maximum height between the triangle’s upper and lower trendline. That puts APE on the road to $8.40, up about 45% from current price levels.Conversely, a close below the triangle’s upper trendline could trigger the prevailing bearish breakdown setup, with the profit target sitting below $3.50.The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
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Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) creator Yuga Labs has warned there may soon be a “coordinated attack” targeting multiple non-fungible token (NFT) communities.The NFT company told its Twitter followers on July 19 that its security team has been tracking a “persistent threat group” targeting the NFT community through compromised social media accounts, urging followers to be on the lookout. Our security team has been tracking a persistent threat group that targets the NFT community. We believe that they may soon be launching a coordinated attack targeting multiple communities via compromised social media accounts. Please be vigilant and stay safe.— Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) July 18, 2022This isn’t the first time the company has warned its community of a possible social media-led attack by hackers. Not the first, not the lastIn June, Gordon Goner, pseudonymous co-founder of Yuga Labs, issued a warning of a possible incoming attack on its Twitter social media accounts.Soon after the warning, Twitter officials began monitoring activity on the accounts and fortified their existing security. Goner told investors that the company would never conduct surprise mints, a popular method attackers use to lure victims. The month also saw two official Discord groups linked to BAYC and OtherSide NFTs were compromised, allowing scammers to share various phishing links into the official BAYC, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, and OtherSide groups on discord. Cointelegraph asked Yuga Labs for more details about the “persistent threat group” and the potential attack but did not receive an immediate response. Premint NFT website hackedYuga Labs’ new warning comes only days after threat actors hacked popular NFT platform Premint NFT, stealing approximately 314 NFTs and $375,000 in Ethereum (ETH), making it one of the largest NFT hacks in 2022. Premint is an NFT whitelisting service that helps NFT artists access a large number of verified NFT collectors quickly, whitelisting them for new NFT projects. The NFT services platform touts more than 12,000 NFT projects and a database of more than 2.4 million collectors. According to blockchain security firm Certik, the thefts occurred on Sunday after hackers inserted malicious code into Premint’s website. The code created a pop-up that prompted users to verify their wallet ownership but instead gave hackers the permissions necessary for them to transfer NFTs from their victim’s wallets. Related: NFT, DeFi and crypto hacks abound — Here’s how to double up on wallet securitySix wallets have been identified as falling victim to the attack, containing NFTs, including Bored Ape Yacht Club, Otherside, Oddities, and Goblintown. Premint said it would continue to “dig into the incident” and reminded users that they would never be asked to sign any kind of transaction on the platform. We’re continuing to dig into this incident, but a reminder:❌ You will never, EVER be asked to approve ANY KIND OF transaction on PREMINT.✍️ When connecting a wallet, you’ll be asked to *sign* a message, but there will NEVER be a gas fee or anything resembling a transaction.— PREMINT | NFT Access List Tool (@PREMINT_NFT) July 18, 2022
The platform has also changed in light of the attack, allowing users to log in without their wallets — which they claim will be safer and more convenient.
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