NFTs in a nutshell: A weekly review
There are more NFT debates this week, with Apple politics at the forefront. Meanwhile, for one region, figures show that NFTs are leading the charge for crypto volumes, and a Solana-based NFT project has signed a master license agreement.
These are some of the most notable stories in the NFT landscape over the past week – let’s look at them, and more, in a nutshell.
This week’s non-fungible token news
Apple insists NFT sales in apps are subject to the platform’s commission fees, critics voice disappointment
Young, crypto-first platforms looking to use NFTs are not happy with Apple this past week. The global technology company has told platforms that want to sell NFTs that they must commit to Apple’s ongoing commission structure. But companies have argued that it’s simply not sustainable – as we covered in our report, depending on geographic location, these commissions can exceed 30% and include other costs.
The CEO of Epic Games also spoke out against Apple’s stance on NFT platforms, describing them as a “grotesquely overpriced in-app payment service.”
Asia’s crypto adoption driven by NFTs, says report
The growth of crypto adoption across Central and South Asia and Oceania (CSAO) has been fueled by NFTs, according to a new Chainalysis report. Our team took a deep dive into the report, which has shown that despite other regions across the globe fueling adoption through major blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum, CSAO has seen it being spearheaded by NFTs.
From a year-over-year period beginning last June and ending June 2022, this region accounted for nearly one trillion dollars in volume in crypto in general, and nearly 60% of that was NFT trading volume.
Solana's (SOL) Okay Bears have proven to be the top dog across the blockchain, at least for the time being. That's exhibited most recently by a new licensing deal with IMG that could see bears on consumer products in the future. | Source: SOL-USD on TradingView.com
Solana’s Okay Bears Sign With IMG
Solana-based Okay Bears has turned heads this year, emerging as the top project on the blockchain, and a top collection — blockchain aside. If you need proof, look no further than the latest headlines surrounding the collection, with the Okay Bears signing a licensing deal with IMG. The 10,000 mint project will see IMG as its representative for global licensing around consumer products and experiences. IMG has worked with some of the biggest names in IP and exists within the Endeavor conglomerate which has a significant presence across entertainment through almost every medium.
Goblins Go Live with Beta ‘Truth Labs Marketplace’
What a long winding road it has been for the Goblintown.wtf collection this year. The project had unprecedented hype at the time at mint, just five months ago. However, the project has cooled and today has a floor price of just under 1ETH – after seeing an all-time high of daily average price north of 7ETH back in early June.
That hasn’t slowed goblins too much though, as this past week Goblintown creators Truth Labs launched their ‘Truth Labs Marketplace’. The marketplace will serve as a dedicated platform for Truth Labs’ collections and will only charge a flat 5% fee on transactions (compared to OpenSea’s 2.5% + flexible creator royalty).
Universal Studios launches Halloween NFT Scavenger Hunt
Next month, attendees at Universal Studios in California and Florida will have the opportunity to take home an NFT. Until October 31st, the parks will offer a Halloween-themed scavenger hunt with up to 7 million NFTs available for coin. A total of seven QR codes will hyperlink visitors to unique NFTs. The offer comes thanks to Universal’s partnership with MoonPay; the two tied the knot in June and are clearly working quickly on their new relationship.
The NFTs will reportedly offer additional benefits (at least for those who collect all seven QR codes), but those benefits don’t seem entirely clear yet. Nonetheless, it’s another notch on the belt of growing case studies of fans and user engagement for brands and properties. The NFTs have been described as “proof of attendance protocol” tokens that can take over traditional methods of measuring attendance at events and engagements.
Featured image from Pexels, Charts from TradingView.com
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