Re-igniting the NFT community’s fire
Web3’s most anticipated non-fungible token (NFT) conference, VeeCon, has come and gone, but not before leaving a lasting impression on attendees, and perhaps the market itself.
So what did Gary Vaynerchuck’s second annual VeeCon teach us?
Let’s just say the state of NFTs is strong.
Builders and brands are pushing Web3 forward with innovative products and solutions, but it’s the collectors and communities that show the real strength of NFTs in the bear market.
VeeCon was my first NFT event and it moved me.
Connecting to the lifeblood of the NFT scene, the community itself, filled me with renewed hope that Web3 is headed in the right direction. I wrote some quick thoughts about my experience at VeeCon on Twitter.
MEGA GMs! Some thoughts about #VeeCon2023
NFTNYC is the Woodstock of NFTs. VeeCon is the State of the Union of NFTs, and after interacting with so many people at VeeCon, it’s safe to say that the state of NFTs is strong.
The community is now battle tested after some pretty low downs… pic.twitter.com/OVD5H1JLVo
— hudah.eth|tez (@Hudah_Idiot) 22 May 2023
Perhaps the most notable takeaway from VeeCon was that the term “NFT” was rarely mentioned. Instead, it felt like the supposed topic at hand. And that, my friends, means the NFT space is maturing.
What was discussed was the importance of empathy, focus, networking and building strong products. These messages were delivered by true titans such as Daymond John, Scooter Braun, Drew Barrymore, Timbaland, Jessica Alba and countless NFT influencers, top traders and project managers on panels over the three-day conference. Most of these panel speakers already share their insights frequently on Twitter Spaces, so for some there wasn’t much to learn. But if you’re not tuned into the NFT scene 24/7, the wisdom shared was invaluable.
Gary Vaynerchuk closed VeeCon with his keynote address where he asked the audience to remove fear from their lives, embrace micro losses if they want to win macro, and reinforced his lifelong commitment to building his ever-growing VeeFriends community.
Love him or hate him, Gary’s words touch a legion of fans around the world, and now with VeeCon 2023 coming to an end, we get to see who and what his words inspire.
Notable events
While much of the NFT space attended VeeCon, the market itself had some interesting events that cannot be ignored.
The Bitcoin ecosystem reached another milestone this past week, with a BTC project reaching the top of the NFT Collection Rankings by Sales leaderboard within a 24-hour period. That project was Bitcoin frogswhich on Friday sold out all other NFT projects, including Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), with over $2.3 million in sales volume.
Another Bitcoin project has held the top position in the NFT collection ranking by sales for the past seven days, which Space Pepe has traded almost USD 7.5 million in secondary sales.
Three Arrows Capital, the now-defunct crypto hedge fund, had some of its valuable NFT assets auctioned off at Sotheby’s, beating expectations. USD 2.5 million in sale has been completed so far, with Fidenza #725, which sold for over $1 million.
The Pudgy Penguins have released a collection of physical action figures, complete with accessories to customize your new adorable companion. Over 20,000 figures were sold in just two days, generating around US$500,000 in sales. The NFT collections’ sales have benefited from the new exposure, increasing by over 30% in the last seven days.
Yuga Labs’ HV-MTL collection revealed that it caused a brief spike in sales, followed by disappointment with the art, but optimism for the future.
Peep the Charts
The past seven days in NFTs have been all about Bitcoin Ordinals, which now represent three of the top 10 collections. BAYC has been dethroned for now, with two Ordinals projects and Mythos Chain’s DMarket all outselling the NFT community’s favorite monkeys.
Speaking of Bitcoin, the original blockchain continues to do serious numbers, now firmly holding the number two spot on the blockchain NFT leaderboard for sales volume each day. The three to 10 spots are where we see a lot of jockeying for positions as NFT-heavy gaming chains like Solana, Mythos, Immutable X and Polygon continue to increase their respective market shares.
Wash trading, while down 7%, still represents nearly 50% of all NFT sales on Ethereum.
NFT Discard
The Discard 500 NFT Index is up 0.1%, trading close to flat, primarily thanks to the Ethereum NFT ecosystem supporting the global ecosystem. While Solana, Cardano and Polygon are down, the Forkast ETH NFT Composite is up over 2% from the hype of VeeCon, large individual NFT sales and blue chip projects like Pudgy Penguins having green weeks.
The NFT community is now back in the grind after VeeCon 2023, and so is the CryptoSlam crew. Keep your eyes on cryptoslam.io and Dump the NFT Indices to see how the NFT market is affected by the return of some fired-up traders.
