Welcome to the 32nd issue of the DeFi Arts Intelligencer, your weekly source for key happenings around Ethereum art, collectibles, games, finance, and more. Subscribe here.
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For this dispatch:
🎨 Digital Art & Collectibles
The i4 DAO, a new collective of artists curating beautiful NFT art, is kicking off “Start with the Art” talks on Tuesday, September 1st at 19:00 UTC. Artists Matt Kane and Sparrow will be discussing four of the inaugural pieces of the i4 collection.
The Pranksyland Grand Opening kicked off this week in Cryptovoxels, and it was epic event of unprecedented proportions. 20 artists created stunning builds packed with signature NFTs, i.e. virtual “time capsule art pieces” as artist Coldie aptly put it …
On art marketplace SuperRare, artists and collectors have now collectively earned +$2 million.
New works from artist Josie Bellini fetched 85 ETH in volume this week. Josie was the star of the show for Nifty Gateway’s recent Drop 18.
Innovation, all the time: artist Terrence Moreau introduced Print Ticket NFTs, which can be redeemed for a physical print of the current state of his Async Art debut comic, “Phase Space #1: Spiral Riders.”
Generative art and avatar project Avastars launched a Scroll to Earn system, where users can consign great Avastars to a Global Feed and earn an ETH finder’s fee when other collectors buy them.
NFT collateralized loans project NFTfi crossed the 400 ETH milestone in outstanding collateralized loans.
The WIP Meetup project released a native token, WIPCoin. These tokens are earned for attending WIPs in Cryptovoxels and can be redeemed for perks like wearables and beyond.
Metacartel Ventures, the venture arm of the MetaCartel DAO, commissioned artwork “Sum of Parts” by artist Thato via SuperRare.
“A Hero’s Purpose,” a collaboration between renowned comic illustrator Jose Delbo and cryptoartist PR1MAL CYPHER, sold for 11 ETH on MakersPlace.
Virtual world Decentraland just hosted the World Stablecoin Summit for “leading stablecoin projects, investors & advocates to connect.”
NFT marketplace OpenSea saw its largest secondary sale yet this week when the “sex.crypto” Unstoppable Domains name sold for 230 ETH (~$90,000).
🕹️ Blockchain Games
- Fantasy ⚽ game Sorare topped volume in the NFT economy this week, bringing in +497 ETH in sales over the last 7 days.
- Ethereum trading card game Gods Unchained is holding a “Gods Unchained DeFi Challenge” contest, in which users can win ETH and NFT prizes for proposing interesting GU-centric DeFi-NFT melds. I submitted a proposal dubbed WARCHEST, an NFT yield farming system that would involve staking ERC-20 Chests in ERC-721 Boards.
- Don’t sleep on Axie Infinity’s Mystic Axies: two mystics sold this week for 60 and 90 ETH respectively.
♦️♦️ DeFi News
- The USDC stablecoin’s V2 system has arrived. The upgrade allows for gasless sends, which allows developers to abstract ETH gas fees away from users.
- Uniswap Token Lists are now live. The system makes it easy to filter tokens through curated community lists, e.g. social money lists.
- Lending protocol Aave became the largest DeFi app.
- Proposals to help fund Gitcoin Grants via protocol earnings from Yam Finance and yEarn gained steam this week. Look for this to become a new trend around DeFi, which is great news because Gitcoin Grants democratically fund a range of Ethereum public goods 🥂
📰Fresh Content
- “Major Risks of the Current NFT Ecosystem” - Andrew Steinwold
- “SuperRare Art Market Weekly Report #12” - An Rong
🖌️Extra, Extra
I picked up an edition of “Obsessed” from artist Hilen Godoy this week …
Thanks for reading, and stay creative on- and off-chain!
Keep an 👁️ out for the 33rd issue of the DeFi Arts Intelligencer this time next week, too. Cheers ✌️
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About DeFi Arts Intelligencer
The DeFi Arts Intelligencer is curated by me, William M. Peaster, a professional writer and editor who’s been tracking the Ethereum and DeFi beats in recent years.
I’m passionate about art and a DeFi/NFT optimist, so putting together this newsletter is both fun and informative for me. I hope others may find the content helpful, too. But be mindful, the information herein should not be construed as investment advice. I’m not a financial adviser, and these are my opinions. Always take care to seriously consider the various layers of risk you face in participating in the still-maturing cryptoeconomy.
If you have a DeFi tip or lead, questions or comments, or would be interested in commissioning me for a writing gig, you can ping me at wmpeaster@gmail.com or on Telegram at @wmpeaster.
If you enjoy this newsletter and want to support it, feel free to subscribe or have a like-minded friend subscribe as well. I have collected NFTs open for offers, too, as well as my own art NFTs available on OpenSea. Tips also accepted at wmpeaster.eth. Thanks kindly!