Dear Bankless Nation,

NFT sales volume recently crossed $2.5 billion year-to-date, which is incredible.

Indeed, I noted on Twitter earlier this week that as of Nov. 2020 my prediction for NFT sales by year’s end in 2021 was $500 million.

The takeaway? Lately things have moved faster around NFTs than almost anyone, even the biggest bulls, could have predicted.

NFTs have captured peoples’ imaginations, simply put. So it’s too late to turn back now, as NFTs have now firmly entered the cultural zeitgeist of our times. And the proof’s in the pudding for the folks willing to try them!

-WMP

🏆 Digital Collectibles

• The Institute of Contemporary Art Miami (ICA Miami) received CryptoPunk #5293 as a donation from one of its trustees. The institution becomes the 1st major museum collection to possess a Punk!
• CryptoPunk #6297, a rare Zombie Punk, sold for 520.69 ETH this week.

• MoonCatRescue creators Ponderware launched the MoonCat Boutique, an accessories shop for Mooncats. 

  

• In a little over a week since launching, the Cool Cats project has facilitated ~2,500 ETH of trade volume. Even legendary boxer Mike Tyson decided to join in on the trading frenzy!

🎨 Cryptoart

• Cryptoart platform SuperRare launched its Un-realism exhibition this week.

• In October, Ethereum generative art platform Art Blocks is launching its official gallery in Marfa, Texas 🎉
• Artist Micah Johnson is auctioning “Hi My Name is…” — the 1st decentralized movie NFT franchise — via Async Art and Christie’s.

🕹️ NFT Games

• NFT game Axie Infinity facilitated over $22 million worth of trading volume on Wednesday, July 7th, leading to +$1M in revenues on the day. At this rate, Axie Infinity may soon be more profitable than all other games.

• Global fantasy ⚽ game Sorare introduced its Dynamic Rewards 2.0 system.

🌐 Virtual Worlds

• Cryptovoxels is experimenting with tiny parcels in its new Satoshi district. The idea? To see “what an island of extreme density looks like.”
• A Sushi community member has proposed building a Sushi Store complex in Decentraland’s Metajuku Shopping District.
• Check out the new test site Parcel, which aggregates info about parcel listings across projects like Cryptovoxels, Decentraland, and The Sandbox.

🛒 NFT News & Platforms

• As of this week, over 140,000 Ethereum addresses have traded on NFT marketplace OpenSea at least once.
• Speaking of OpenSea, nftommo.eth built a beta site that tracks floor prices across the popular NFT marketplace.

• Talented dev vasa unveiled Genie Swap, a production-ready update of his cross-asset-swap NFT trading system.

💎 DeFi x NFTs

• The smart contracts for Sushi’s coming Shoyu NFT platform are completed. Next up comes finishing up work on the project’s front-end and storage systems. The v0 release is tentatively slated for Aug. 2021.

  

• As a result of “large demand,” NFT liquidity protocol NFT20 activated $MUSE rewards for the project’s new Cool Cats liquidity pool.

Action steps

• 📰 Read “How to get exposure to CryptoPunks” by Bankless
• 📰 Read “How to use rarity.tools” by Metaversal
• 📰 Read “Inside ‘The New Octahedron’” by Metaversal