NFT Market Update — Week Ending August 26th, 2022

State of the Market, Platforms Target Royalties, Sotheby’s NFT Specialist, Paramount Lands Misan, MUGA Launches, and more!

Curated by the WHALE Market Strategy team: Ekaitza, Frank, and Song 📊
To get the full report and discuss market activity with the team, Join WHALE

📈State of the Market📉

Total number of sales in past 30 days. Data from nonfungible.com.

Market activity for the past 7 days:

By comparing this week with last week’s measures, we can see that although the total number of sales didn’t drop much, the sales in US $ dropped quite a lot. Same as the Secondary sales count. This is the last week of August and next week will be September. People are getting back to work from summer holidays and vacations. The million dollar question is — will people also get back to the NFT market? Let’s have our fingers crossed.

- WHALE Market Strategy Team

⚖ NFT Fear and Greed Index ⚖

The NFT Fear and Greed Index (NFGI) dropped to 39 (Thurs. Aug 25th, 2022), back into FEAR territory after the recent climb to NEUTRAL.

The NFGI remained Neutral for all but one day over the last week, closing at 39. Given the recent peak in mid-August, the index has trended downward since and has now slipped back into Fear.

Readings for the NFGI are as follows: 0–20 = Extreme Fear, 20–40 = Fear, 40–60 = Neutral, 60–80 = Greed, 80–100 = Extreme Greed.

🥇 Top 3 Sales 🥇

Top sales in USD for the past 7 days.

Don’t Panic — XCOPY 500ETH (US $796 K)
Pudgy Penguins #6873 400 ETH (US $754 K)
The Sailor — Fewocious 361 ETH (US $680 K)

Suspected wash trading transactions have been removed.

This week we finally see some new faces in the Top 10 list. APEs and Punks were pushed out of the top 3 positions. It might also be the first week we saw more artworks than PFPs. There are total 5 pieces of art showed up vs 4 pieces of PFPs in the TOP10 sales.

Recent Events

🧵 Royalty Opt Out!? A Thread by Cirrus 🧵

Platform X2Y2 just pushed an update that will save traders millions on NFT purchases at the cost of creators. Buyers now have the ability to adjust and opt out of paying creator fees. Short thread on the implications along with some thoughts… The UI gives you 3 creator fee options when making a purchase. Azuki royalties are set at 5% but as a buyer you can now cut that in half or bypass it entirely. This coupled with the platforms comparatively low 0.5% marketplace fees makes it a traders dream and creators nightmare. X2Y2 probably jumped to make this move after Sudoswap, which is set to 0% creator fees by default, began dominating floor listings since its launch.

🗿 Sotheby’s Hires NFT Specialist 🗿

The historic art auction house Sotheby’s has hired an NFT specialist to join its digital art team. Brian Beccafico, who goes by Arthemort online, announced his new position at Sotheby’s through a meme. The auction house confirmed in a call that he has joined the company. Sotheby’s has steadily increased its involvement in NFTs since it auctioned its first NFT, one by digital creator Pak for nearly $17 million, in April 2021. The auction house launched its own NFT platform called Sotheby’s Metaverse in October.

Art auction house Sotheby's hires an NFT specialist

Brian Beccafico, an NFT art collector who goes by Arthemort online, will be on Sotheby's team as an NFT specialist.

www.theblock.co

🐒 BAYC and Moonbirds Enter the Sandbox 🦉

Holders of NFTs from some popular collections will be able to play as avatars based on their NFTs in The Sandbox’s Alpha Season 3, which launches on Wednesday. Thirteen major NFT collections, including the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Moonbirds and World of Women are part of the rollout. “If you own those NFTs, those 2D images, you will be able to see them become a 3D character on the avatar creator and immediately interact with them,” explained The Sandbox COO and co-founder Sébastien Borget during a walkthrough of the platform on Tuesday.

Bored Apes and Moonbirds to get playable avatars in new Sandbox season | Headlines | News |…

Holders of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from some popular collections will be able to play as avatars based on their NFTs…

coinmarketcap.com

🥽 Ready Player Me raised $56M in Series B 🥽

Ready Player Me, an avatar platform for the metaverse that allows users to explore virtual worlds with one consistent identity, has recently announced USD $56 million in Series B funding. The funding round was led by a16z GAMES FUND ONE and a16z crypto, with participation from a few other VCs and Angel Investors. The company stated that with the new funding, it aims to Scale the Ready Player Me avatar creator to make it more flexible and performant for the many types of developers the company works with; Build avatar content creation tools to enable developers, brands and individual artists to create and sell avatar customization assets that work across thousands of virtual worlds; Improve avatar diversity with body types, granular clothing customization, more accurate face shape prediction, stylization and more; Include other avatars on Ready Player Me and more.

Ready Player Me raises $56M in Series B funding | Auganix.org

Nytmare using his Ready Player Me avatar at Jokreg’s lair in Substrata

📰 Other News

Three Arrows Capital Co-Founder Calls Crypto Hedge Fund’s Liquidators Inaccurate, Misleading: Report https://bit.ly/3TdfSz7
Nike’s NFT Sales Make It One of the Most Profitable Fashion Brands in the Digital World https://bit.ly/3PX3d0e
Scents Of Wood Travels To The Metaverse With First Fragrance NFT
https://bit.ly/3RaXUv3.
Paramount Consumer Products Brings Misan Harriman Aboard As Creative Advisor https://bit.ly/3dZOXqk

Misan Harriman | Source: Paramount Consumer Products

🎯 Upcoming Drops 🎯

Ekaitza and Zigor return to Nifty Gateway with an exciting collaboration and the launch of MUGA. Two founders cards are available to buy and each are Open Editions capped at 500. Those who buy these founders cards will accumulate numerous benefits along the way including airdrops. There will also be two 10 edition Ranked Auctions for each of the MUGA factions — GUNE and GURE — that depicts the story being brought to you by the crypto artists involved. The winner of the top ranked auction will receive a physical of the respective faction. Mark your calendars for the drop happening Tuesday August 30th. https://www.niftygateway.com/collections/lifeofmuga