The Olive Allen Interview, Axie Infinity, Jay-Z & More
🎙️ Olive Allen on Ensuring Inclusion in the NFT Space
On our latest podcast episode, crypto art OG Olive Allen recounts her journey into NFTs and tackles a number of discussion topics, from platform royalties and the Metaverse to the controversy surrounding Beeple’s The First 5000 Days auction.
Anyone who has followed Allen’s career knows that the artist is a prolific social commentator, whether it be through her tongue-in-cheek social media channels or her satirical art series like “Sheeples.” However, beneath her dry sense of humor lies a genuine passion for artist empowerment and supporting diversity and inclusion in the NFT space. Remarking on the issue of racial and gender inequity, Allen believes all members of the community share a responsibility to support marginalized groups.
“I feel like each of us can repost and share art of… I don’t want to say minorities, but artists of color and women are minorities in the space,” she says. “Amplify their voices, repost, share and purchase art created by those people. I feel like that’s important. I know a few collectors make a point of doing that, but far from everyone else. I mean, people are more passionate about buying Bored Apes or CryptoPunks than buying artists of color.”
Be sure to hit subscribe and watch the full episode here.
📈 Axie Infinity Ascends
NFT bear market? Someone forgot to tell the Axies.
Popular blockchain game Axie Infinity has moved more than $133 million in sales volume over the past 30 days.1 That’s nearly triple its next closest competitors in NBA Top Shot ($45.5 million) and Bored Ape Yacht Club ($42.3 million). Not only that, Axie Infinity has accounted for $11.76 million in sales over the past 24 hours, passing OpenSea ($4.61 million) to become the top NFT marketplace over that period.2 The platform has seen daily active users soar to 295,000 in a 1778% increase since January.
Created by developer SkyMavis, Axie Infinity is a Pokémon-inspired game that is leading the “play-to-earn” charge at the intersection of blockchain and gaming. Players breed, battle and trade virtual creatures called Axies and are incentivized to earn in-game rewards and tokens (see AXS) with the knowledge that they can be reinvested within the game or moved off the platform and traded for cryptocurrency. In May, SkyMavis announced a $7.5 million raise backed by Mark Cuban.
While Axie Infinity has been gaining steam for months, the recent sales spike is directly related to the June 30 launch of its Ronin sidechain. A layer 2 solution on Ethereum similar to Polygon, Ronin’s implementation means marginal gas fees, faster transactions and an improved user experience for Axie Infinity players.
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of Axie Infinity’s rise has been its real-world impact. As chronicled in a mini-documentary called “Play-to-Earn,” Axie Infinity has provided a critical financial lifeline for users in the Philippines during the country’s devastating economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the global gaming market projected to reach $180 billion in 2021, we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of the financial potential for blockchain gaming and its associated economies.3
💥 Quick Hits
Jay-Z caused a stir by changing his Twitter avatar to a CryptoPunk this week, accompanied by the announcement of his Heir to the Throne NFT auction with Sotheby’s. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of his 1996 debut album Reasonable Doubt, Hova tapped artist Derrick Adams to create a 1/1 animated piece that reinterprets the album’s iconic cover. Supported by physical and virtual exhibitions in New York and Decentraland, the lot sold for $138,600 today.
Fewocious closed out his historic Christie’s auction this week, grossing $2,162,500 in sales for the five lots, which contained unique NFTs accompanied by physical paintings and archival drawings. Revisit our podcast interview with the youngest artist ever to land a solo show at the major auction house.
Twitter announced its entry to the NFT space by giving away 140 free NFTs via Rarible and changed its official handle’s bio to “dropping NFTs all day.” They’ve seen a hot secondary market so far with the highest sale going for 25 ETH.
Reddit auctioned off three “CryptoSnoos” NFTs inspired by its trademark mascot on OpenSea, grossing 395 ETH ($2,916,297) in sales.
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This newsletter is purely for educational purposes and is not financial advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any investment decisions. Please do your own research!
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