Gucci to drop Otherside pendant, Jack Daniels taps AR, Web3 and more

by · April 3, 2023

Otherside holders are dripping in Gucci

Luxury fashion giant Gucci has designed a limited edition for Yuga Labs’ Otherside metaverse that comes in both physical and non-fungible token (NFT) forms.

Gucci’s silver piece is called the “KodaPendant,” and will be released on April 6 for hodlers of the Koda or Vessel NFT, which essentially act as either creatures or avatars in the Otherside.

Gucci to drop Otherside pendant, Jack Daniels taps AR, Web3 and more
Koda and KodaPendant NFT artwork. Source: Yuga Labs

The physical chain itself is 50 cm long, with a Koda-shaped pendant engraved with “GG”. There will be 3,333 total on sale for 450 ApeCoin (APE) a pop, worth about $1,930 at current prices.

Once the NFTs are purchased, their Koda or Vessel NFT metadata will be updated with a KodaPendant property, resulting in a physical update of the token’s associated animated character.

It’s the first drop as part of a wider collection called Otherside Relics By Gucci, with the two brands tight-lipped about what specifically is coming next.

Yuga Labs explained the partnership in an April 4 blog post, noting that the duo wants to “push the boundaries at the intersection of fashion, entertainment and gaming.”

“Through our comprehensive partnership, we will work together to engage Voyagers in immersive experiences at the intersection of fashion, entertainment and technology,” the firm wrote.

Jack Daniels is getting good

Whiskey producer Jack Daniels has launched a new Web3-focused campaign built around polygon-based digital collectibles and Augmented Reality (AR) in collaboration with Yahoo Creative Studios.

In a Pokémon Go-style map-based game, the duo will launch an AR mobile experience across five Australian cities where users can explore certain areas to find a “Jack Daniel’s crate”.

The crates contain prizes such as gift cards, trips to a Jack Daniel’s distillery and NFT music tracks from three Australian bands: Winston Surfshirt, Stand Atlantic and Psychedelic Porn Crumpets.

There are a total of 2,000 tracks to pick up, and if someone finds a crate they can make it a collectible on Polygon.

Dimitra Tassopoulos, senior brand manager for Jack Daniel’s Family of Brands, discussed the idea behind the campaign with Bandt on April 3:

“We briefed our media agency, Starcom, and told them ‘we’re a big brand, we need to push boundaries and look at doing things differently.’ We’re going to do out-of-home, digital, social and events, but we need to find new and innovative ideas.”

“I remember when bands released music and people lined up to buy it. They could see the cover art and open it to see the lyrics. It’s something the younger generation hasn’t had the pleasure of discovering because things seem a little less personal when you’re streaming the song instead of owning the song, he said.

NFT thieves cashed out on Blur in March

About $10.9 million worth of NFTs were stolen in March, three-quarters of which were first resold on the Blur market, according to data from blockchain security firm Peckshield.

Tweeting from its alert-focused account on April 2, the firm also outlined that half of the stolen NFTs in March were sold within two hours of being swiped, with 19.5% of sales coming from OpenSea.

“$10.9 million worth of NFTs were stolen, representing a 32.72%% decrease from last month. Half of the stolen NFTs were quickly sold on marketplaces within 2 hours,” the firm tweeted.

Packshield offered no explanation as to why the NFT thieves flocked to Blur in March.

Notably, stolen NFT activity on the marketplace was much lower in February, representing roughly 20% of the initial sales of stolen NFTs despite the platform being in the middle of a token airdrop campaign.

FIFA’s new AI Web3 game

FIFA, the international governing body behind confederation football, launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) and Web3-based mobile game called “AI League” on April 4.

AI League initially launched in open beta on Android, with plans to hit Apple’s App Store soon.

It consists of a “4-on-4 random soccer match, played between AI-controlled characters” with the player training by controlling tactics and customizing player attributes.

Related: What are Dynamic NFTs?: Use examples and examples

The AI ​​characters do not depict actual professional players, but instead resemble characters from an animated film or avatar-based NFT project.

In the case of Web3, the characters will eventually become NFTs that can be traded on a marketplace developed by FIFA. The game was announced late last year as part of a series of Web3 games to be broadcast before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Other good news

According to a March 30 report from blockchain analytics platform DappRadar, NFT trading volume was worth $4.7 billion in Q1 2023, more than double the previous quarter. The firm pointed to bullish action from the Blur marketplace that took the market by storm during its token airdrop breeding period in February.

In light of Hong Kong’s commitment to developing cryptocurrency infrastructure, fintech official King Leung recently visited Japan to speak with politicians and regulators in Tokyo to better understand the idea surrounding Web3 digital assets.

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