Bieber Bull Market

What's Dropping, Video Game NFTs, Artist Spotlight

Welcome to The Drop NFT Newsletter. Subscribe and join the discord for breaking NFT news, project breakdowns, & artist spotlights. Thank you for following along on this journey!

🚨 This newsletter is sponsored by FTX:

FTX US is a regulated crypto exchange that hosts some of the highest amounts of trading volume and daily active users in the industry. 

On top of this, FTX US offers desktop and mobile trading of Ethereum + Solana NFTs with NO GAS FEES! Start your FTX journey today by getting set up here 🔥 

Additionally, FTX US is running an NFT giveaway until January 31st for users that sign up for FTX US (web or mobile)! Enter promo code NFTJAN22 and trade at least $50 worth of NFTs and you can win some insane prizes

What's Dropping

Bieber Bull Market?

Oh, the Biebs. From egging his neighbor’s house, to drag racing in Miami, he has made some erratic decisions during his relatively short time on Earth. With that said, Bieber recently decided to make a monumental purchase, but this time in the digital world. Similar to past actions taken by Bieber, the specific purchase he made has certainly raised eyebrows. On January 29th, he shelled out 500 ETH (valued at $1.3 million at the time of purchase) for a floor Bored Ape. Let that settle in for a second...

According to rarity.tools, the Ape that Justin Bieber purchased is ranked 9,777 out of the total 10,000 PFP collection. That means that he paid over 5 times the value of the floor when he made the purchase, for an Ape that has the rarity of a floor Ape (the floor was 104 ETH according to nftgo.io). He must have really liked this Ape to be willing to drop that much dough on a single NFT. Especially one that isn’t even that special, at least to NFT aficionados who took to Twitter to profess their opinion.

I wonder why he loves it so much. Is it the sad eyes? Is it the lack of complexity? Or is it just the fact that he is one of the few that has the ability to make a purchase as big as this one? Questions like these have been circulating through my brain. Not just about this specific NFT, but others as well. Some folks cling onto NFTs that are generally considered mundane, but that they themselves find attractive. While the majority of us look for pieces with rare and distinguishable attributes, as well as good ranking so that we are able to possibly flip them for a higher price. In the NFT space, I recognize that as The Great Divide. Impressive Art vs. Top Dollar Price. But, even so, WAGMI.

OpEd: Changing the (Video) Game

NFTs are a topic of heated debate within the gaming community. Although many NFT developers are making an effort to incorporate gaming into their projects, the gaming world is not so keen on the concept. Yes, we have seen multi-billion dollar acquisitions of gaming companies in an effort to build the “metaverse,” but we have also seen major gaming developers ban blockchain-based games entirely. And gamers aren’t holding back their opinions, either! In the midst of a recent controversy surrounding an NFT collection announced by Team17 (a British video game developer and publisher), one skeptic writes,

“NFTs are a very popular racket in which people “sell” infinitely reproducible jpegs of badly drawn cartoons to the rich and gullible, and use blockchain technology so they’re also ruinous for the environment!”

Now ours is certainly a biased perspective, but it seems there might be a misunderstanding concerning one of the major function of NFTs when it comes to gaming. To be quite frank, we agree that there are many “badly drawn cartoons” used in poorly developed blockchain-based games. Additionally, there is a good chance that the most talented gaming developers have not made a single footprint in the space yet. However, blockchain is arguably the most powerful and beneficial tool for gamers, and this concept is being wildly blurred in the current conversation.

(BYO Pills above is launching a full-on immersible gaming experience)

To put it as briefly as possible, NFTs give gamers real ownership of their gaming achievements. Think about it— even before blockchain, gamers were selling accounts! And people buying gaming accounts don't have to spend so much time “grinding for levels” or “farming gear,” giving them more time to enjoy the best parts of the game. NFTs and blockchain simply smooth out this entire process, creating an incredibly liquid marketplace for this type of gaming economy. And gamers don’t even have to sell their entire account! NFTs give gamers ownership of their achievements so they can isolate which specific gear, land, levels, tokens, etc., they want to sell, while still maintaining control of their account. So yes, even though there is bad art out there in the blockchain-based gaming world, there is an entire world of opportunity for gamers who take a deeper look into how NFTs are, quite literally— changing the game.

Artist Spotlight: @SophiaSoloo

The founder Sophia is a natural creator and artist at heart. She comes from an extensive background in design in the fashion industry. Sophia is a huge proponent for women in the NFT space and hopes to use her platform with Pixel Pussies to empower women/minorities and all others to follow their dreams and embrace their love for pets! She has big plans for the project's future.

She plans to develop a mini-game series where holders can connect their wallets and play with the NFT they own. She also plans to release a merchandise store, conduct mutations, and integrate with a pixel ecosystem. Donations will be made to ASPCA and the American Cancer Society.

Links to follow: Twitter, Mint Website, Discord

Meme Drop 💧

FTX US NFT Marketplace 🔥

The Drop is ecstatic that we are now a partner with FTX, one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world. Even more epic is how incredibly fast the team at FTX was able to create the ultimate NFT marketplace.

On the FTX desktop, you can buy and sell NFTs with gas-free NFT trading and keep everything in one spot with all things crypto. Buy your crypto and get busy trading right away with no hassle. To have your crypto and NFT trading all under one seamless platform click here.

INCYMI: The Drop Twitter Space 🎙

Yesterday we had an amazing Twitter space with the crew at FTX where we covered everything ranging from our NFT horror stories, the current market, and everything in between. Definitely worth giving a listen to! At one point there were 257 people in the space - thank you all who joined (we will be doing more soon)!

Recent Articles 📰

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.  

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