NFTs Weekly News #55 - Ecosystem: OpenSea facilitates secure NFT peer-to-peer transactions directly on the platform

Are you ready for some NFTs news?

We've prepared a new article that covers the latest news and updates in the world of Web3 and NFTs. Read them below!

🗞️ Last week's news - OpenSea, Central Saint Martins, The Sandbox, Solana Labs, Magic Eden;
💰Investments/Funding - Crunchbase report, Futureverse;
📣 Projects news/Updates - Doodles, Neopets, Pudgy Penguins, Chimpers, PROOF;
⚖️ Legal - Metaverse Lawyer writes about the divided views on the European Commission's Web4.0 strategy;
⚒️Tools- Inspect.xyz;
🐈 Veefriends - Squishmallows;
⚙️NFTility, by Mtk - The Sandbox;
📚 Dictionary - DYOR, YOLO, Hubris;
💸 Sale of the week - CryptoPunk #2464;

🗞️ News from last week

OpenSea introduces "Deals" facilitating secure NFT peer-to-peer transactions directly on the platform.

Leading fashion schools, including Parsons and Central Saint Martins, are introducing digital fashion, AI and Web3 courses into the curriculum to prepare students for a new digital age.
The Sandbox will allow users to create and host their own experiences in the metaverse by the end of 2023.
Solana Labs launches GameShift, an API for Web3 game development, offering solutions for curation, NFT creation and more.
Magic Eden and Elixir NFT have partnered to launch CreatorX, a self-service platform for artists that enables the creation and distribution of NFTs with low fees, airdrops and more.

💰 Investments / Financing

The Crunchbase report shows a significant drop in Web3 funding from VC funds in the first half of 2023, with only $3.6 billion raised compared to $16 billion in 2022 - a 78% drop.

However, Futureverse, a metaverse startup, bucks the trend with a $54M funding round led by 10T Holdings and Ripple.

📣 Projects News / Updates

Doodles reveals details of their immersive IRL playground in partnership with Camp, extending the NFT project into the real world with co-branded apparel and accessories.

Less than a year after announcing a metaverse project, Neopets has decided to abandon Web3 and return to developing a game without crypto and NFT integration.
The Pudgy Penguins were a real hit at Comic Con, selling thousands of toys to audiences unfamiliar with NFTs.
Chimpers has launched the "Inferno Escape" arcade game with NFT prizes that players can win.
PROOF is launching a new website for its IRL Foundry location, showcasing upcoming events and how people can get involved.

⚖️ Legal

The EU has adopted a new strategy for Web4. Opinions are divided.

The European Commission has recently published a document adopting a new Web4 strategy. Wait, wait, wait. A handful of people barely know what Web3 is.

The European Commission's Web4 strategy is an ambitious initiative, but opinions are divided. In one view, they point to shortcomings of the Web4 strategy, including a lack of clear vision, fragmented efforts, and limited impact on the blockchain ecosystem. Critics believe the lack of stakeholder and industry expert involvement and inadequate regulation contributed to the initiative's failure. At the same time, this perspective emphasizes the need for a comprehensive reassessment of the approach, collaboration with industry experts and allocation of substantial resources to boost the development of decentralized technologies in Europe.

A second view, on the other hand, emphasizes that the strategy for Web4 is focused on interconnectedness and immersive worlds, anticipating the impact that virtual worlds will have on society. The EU's pre-emptive approach to innovation is highlighted as a positive element, suggesting that early adoption of new technologies can provide the necessary control to avoid negative consequences. However, the criticism of the lack of mention of blockchain technology in the document may be a valid point to consider.

What I think would be important to point out:

The European Commission's Web4 strategy is an initiative with potential, but it has been criticized and deemed a failure due to a number of factors, such as a lack of clear vision, fragmented efforts and inadequate regulation.
Despite criticism, the EU is taking a precautionary approach to innovation, concerned to ensure that European values are respected and that the Web4 approach is decentralized and based on global standards.
A balanced approach requires collaboration with industry experts, a reassessment of strategy and allocation of resources to support the growth of decentralized technologies in the region.

It is important to consider both the strengths and weaknesses of the Web4 strategy in order to identify solutions and future directions for the development of technology in Europe.

⚒️ Tools: Inspect.xyz

As an enthusiast of the digital world, I had the opportunity to explore a web app and browser extension called NFT Inspect, a tool that analyzes the growth and health of NFT communities. In a world where NFTs are gaining more and more ground, such an app is extremely useful.

NFT Inspect is a Chrome extension that lets you learn more about NFTs and their communities without leaving Twitter. In an age where information is just a click away, this app makes learning even easier and more efficient.

The app automatically detects NFTs in your Twitter feed. Once an NFT is detected, a button is superimposed on the image. Clicking this button opens a pop-up window to learn more about that NFT. The app's database has indexed over 16 million Ethereum and Solana NFTs and continues to add more.

Another interesting aspect of NFT Inspect is that it allows you to connect with members of your NFT community. You can interact with the team and top holders of your favorite collections. Inspect displays Twitter profiles using PFPs from the same NFT collections and allows you to easily follow other community members.

In addition, NFT Inspect also offers a number of advanced features, such as calculating the rarity of an NFT using a method called Jaccard Distance. This measures the overlap between two finite sets of features. The greater the overlap, the smaller the Jaccard distance, so the NFT is rarer.

All in all, NFT Inspect is an extremely useful tool for anyone interested in the world of NFTs. It allows you to connect with communities, learn more about NFTs and enrich your digital experience. In a world where technology and digitization are constantly evolving, it is essential to have tools available to help us navigate this environment with ease.

🐈‍⬛ Veefriends

VeeFriends and Squishmallows team up for an exclusive collection of plush toys, bringing VeeFriends characters to life - tangibly. Four unique Squishmallows will feature different VeeFriends characters, diversifying the VeeFriends product range. Together, these brands have the potential to create unique experiences and promote self-discovery and positivity through their characters.

Holders of Series 1 NFTs of the four characters are eligible to receive one free plush for each token held by accessing the specific links between 26 July and 3 August.

On August 7 they will also go on sale in limited edition, including international shipping, priced at $24.99 + tax! Link, in the next issue!

⚙️ NFTility

In last week's issue, I wrote about how The Wild Ones - DanceFight collection developed in The Sandbox, helps creators generate revenue whenever avatars they create are used by players.

As in any field infrastructure is important, today I want to talk a bit about how TSB fulfills this role and how it makes it available to creators to create virtual characters, products, games and experiences.

The ecosystem is powered by the ERC-20 SAND token, used by players to gain access to different in-game experiences, purchase goods or customize their avatars. Players also have the opportunity to accumulate the SAND token from the virtual experiences they participate in. At the same time, creators use the token to accumulate virtual assets and terrain, which they then use to create monetizable experiences.

SAND is also used within the ecosystem as a governance token or for staking (the method by which GEM and CATALYST tokens can be obtained separately, necessary for the creation of NFTs).

The second important token in the game is LAND (ERC 721). This represents plots of virtual terrain 408*408 pixels in size that are used by the creators to build the experiences in the game. Like the IRL real estate market, the value of plots is influenced by the economic dynamics in the area.

Through the tools they provide to creators (Voxel Editor, Marketplace and Game Maker), The Sandbox aims to create a virtual environment whose economic model can bring direct, IRL value to all participants.

Until next time, I wish you to be creative.

📚 Dictionary

DYOR - Do Your Own Research. It's hard enough to understand what that means. But in short, be careful. Read 2-3-4-5 times before you click once. And from multiple sources. Get on the thread. It can be like when you get a boyfriend/girlfriend. Even if everything looks nice at first glance, there's definitely something hidden. If not him/her, it's definitely something with the family.
YOLO - You only live once. Not much to do with NFTs. But if you also do FOMO at the same time you think YOLO, it might come out with sparks. DYOR.
Hubris - Hubris Syndrome (or the danger of power), is a personality trait that involves pride, excessive self-confidence and self-importance, total disregard for others. As a result, these people tend to overestimate such things as abilities, knowledge, importance and likelihood of success. "For example, a person with this syndrome might believe that they are never wrong, that they are guaranteed to succeed in all their endeavours or that they deserve to be above the law. People suffering from Hubris syndrome change their personality when they find themselves in leadership positions. This can happen in business, politics or any other field where there are hierarchies.

💸 Sale of the week

Another week, another CryptoPunk. #2464 was sold for 220 ETH ~ $421k.

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