$4.5 Million Punk Sale

Welcome to The Drop NFT Newsletter. Breaking NFT news, project breakdowns, & artist spotlights - We do the heavy lifting so you don't have to! Join our Discord to win raffles and allow list spots!

gm, you've been waiting a long time for this and so have we.

FINALLY - our merch store just dropped! Check it out here.

This is a limited drop with our OG logo. Once it's sold it's gone. A lot of time was put into making sure all materials were of utmost quality and not "throw-away" brand merch.

• OpenSea integrates Optimism blockchain into their marketplace. (@opensea)

• Battle Royale style game PUBG created by @PLAYERUNKNOWN is thinking about stepping into blockchain technology and hints at the development of an "Earth-Sized" metaverse. (RaritySniperNFT)

• Crypto Punk #2924 sold yesterday for an incredible 3300 $ETH! (@seedphrase)

• FTX acquires yet another failed crypto firm along with all of its assets in an auction over the weekend. We've seen consistently big moves from FTX over the last few months. (newswire)

• Techcrunch spends half an hour discussing how crypto can benefit the world as a whole. (techcrunch)

• El Ninja is the first UFC fighter to be paid in cryptocurrency. (cointelegraph)

• Solana Clears 100 Billion Transaction Count As NFTs Gain Prominence. (NewsBTC)

• Primates defines Toxification, says it’s not an art upgrade but an experience. Partners with Blocksmith Labs to build a one-of-a-kind experience utilizing the new SHIFT technology. (@primatesnft)

$4.5 Million Cyrptopunk Sale 🔥

Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen some banger sales in collections that have remained dormant for the most part, including but not limited to, Fidenza, Autoglyphs, and now Cryptopunks.

Just yesterday, we saw a 3,300 ETH ($4.45 million) of @seedphrase’s Punk #2924. What makes this Punk special is the fact that it’s an ape with a hoodie. There are only 24 Ape Punks, of which only 1 has a hoodie, and according to many people on crypto Twitter, this Punk may be the best-looking and most desirable in the entire collection. It was purchased back on November 13, 2020, for 150 ETH, which at the time was $71,000. Yes… Ethereum was that cheap. Now keep in mind, this was when NFTs weren’t in their prime. This was when people were speculating and buying before the pump, including Gary Vee and @DeezeFi, both of whom are legends in the NFT arena. And we have all come to realize, their speculation turned out to be one of the biggest risk-reward factors in history.

When the market takes a downward shift in terms of engagement and prices, people look for deals. This not only happens in the NFT market but also in any financial market: downturn = discount. While this sale was way out of the spectrum for something that would occur in a bear market cycle, if you look at the potential growth of the CryptoPunks and their desirability in the future, this Punk might turn out to be the steal of a century. The collection has approximately 7,600 ETH in volume in just the last week. Keep an eye out for other sales popping off. Because once the pump starts, it probably won’t end for a while. WAGMI.

Our Favorite NFT Meme Kevin is BACK 🙌

For many, the figure of a pixelated googly-eye green creature with strange body proportions will be permanently linked to the NFT bull run of early 2022. But the beloved green monster Kevin is making a comeback after what seemed like the inevitable demise of one of the most widely publicized rugs in recent NFT history. It would appear that the lengthy apologies and subsequent promises to redeem Pixelmon by the team were not empty after all. LiquidX, a Web3 VC studio began commandeering Pixelmon’s development earlier this year and now has a 60% stake in the MMORPG gaming company.

The refreshed release of the game’s avatars looks sleek and well designed and the animations for them are also well thought out. The current roadmap indicates that NFT holders will have a first-hand test riding the MMORPG in Q1 of 2023. Public access will be available soon after in Q4. The original founder will be taking a backseat while retaining a stake in the company and LiquidX’s Giulio Xiloyannis and Kendrick Wong will be running the Pixelmon enterprise. Pixelmon’s story is a testament to what re-positioning and resilience can result in even when the odds are against you.

Coral raises $20M to build Backpack 🎒

To you, it might just be another random day in a bear market. To Coral, the company building Backpack, it's another day to take another huge step towards building the Web3 version of the Apple app store. Founded by Armani Ferrante, Coral announced that it's raised $20 million in a strategic round co-led by FTX Ventures, Jump Crypto, and other investors through a blog post on Fortune. With the intention of building out its Backpack team with the funds, Coral also wants to invest in security as this has been a general threat in Web3 since inception.

“Backpack is a lot of things, but, fundamentally, I view it as a portal into Web3." Armani Ferrante, the founder of Coral, tells Fortune.

Imagine if you could manage your Mango margin accounts, stake your DeGods, or view your Magic Eden listings not in a web view, but natively in a single interface. Developers will also get to utilize this xNFT protocol to develop decentralized applications (dApps). It is an open, programmable system built for Web3. it has a set of developer frameworks and APIs associated with it which allows anyone to build their own xNFT apps for any protocol on any blockchain

Having launched yesterday in Beta with projects and protocols mainly from the Solana, Backpack is a home for all xNFTs (eXecutable NFTs) and there are plans of expanding Backpack to include other chains' applications.

Sponsored Content: There was no sponsored content in this newsletter.

• Magic Eden & Hyperspace Marketplace Beef'n

• Bullish: A Sappy Seals Breakdown

• Cool Cats' New CEO

• MultiBeasts Sells Out: The Haas Brothers

• Autograph Signs With The PGA Tour

Disclaimer: The Drop DOES NOT provide financial advice. All content is for informational purposes only. The Drop is not a registered investment, legal, or tax advisor or a broker/dealer. Trading any crypto-related asset is extremely risky and could result in significant capital losses.

Follow the team:

Gannon Breslin, Kayla Kilbride, CryptoVonDoom, Naveed Lalani, Alex Reed, Naman Patel, Big Tuna

Want to advertise your brand to 25,000+ readers?

Submit a form here.

Want to get your project featured?

Submit a form here.