Binance CEO NFT ‘Mr. CZ Punks’ Sold for Almost $10K (24 BNB) By CoinQuora
Binance CEO NFT ‘Mr. CZ Punks’ Sold for Almost $10K (24 BNB)
Cryptocurrency Aug 13, 2021 04:00AM ET
Binance CEO NFT ‘Mr. CZ Punks’ Sold for Almost $10K (24 BNB) Binance started the auction for ‘Mr. CZ Punks’ NFT on August 11.
‘Mr. CZ Punks’ is designed with Binance CEO’s face.
The NFT was sold at $ 9802.43 (24.53 BNB) On Wednesday, Binance started the auction for ‘Mr. CZ Punks’ NFT with the animated face of Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. The auction has finally ended today with a surprising final bid 24.53 $BNB which equates to $9802.43. CZ shared his opinion on this NFT via Twitter saying, it’s ‘not bad either’ following some fan-made NFT designs with his face. Not bad either. #NFThttps://t.co/40fN5B5cO7 pic.twitter.com/3h0vpgwQcH — CZ Continue reading on CoinQuora
Binance CEO NFT ‘Mr. CZ Punks’ Sold for Almost $10K (24 BNB)
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Punks, Apes, and Penguins: A New Cultural Paradigm
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People have been likening the past few weeks to 2020’s DeFi Summer; except this time, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are the new hot thang. We have seen many sectors within the NFT space blow up. At the top, we have Axie Infinity leading the gaming/Play-to-Earn revolution. Closely following suit is a barrage of NFT Art (sometimes affectionately/maliciously referred to as JPEGs) that mirrors CryptoPunk’s iconic avatar-based style.
You might be wondering: what is going on here? Are people actually spending thousands of dollars on a profile picture (PFP)? Well, if you are talking about CryptoPunks (Punks), that’s not quite accurate. People are spending millions of dollars.
Source: Larva Labs
The top 2 sales occurred in March 2021 for a whopping $7.6M each, but over the last month, many other Punks were bought for millions as well - this does not even account for the public auction sale of a Punk for $11.8M in June 2021. The question then becomes, why are people throwing life-changing money into JPEGs?
Answering this is no easy task as it touches on many different areas. Basic assumptions like ‘quick flips’ do not adequately encapsulate the wider NFT phenomenon. We can try and elucidate some of the things at play, but pretending we have all the answers is delusional at best. Instead, we will try and share the observations we’ve had, both as an observer and an active participant.
We will start by documenting the journey of three projects: CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, and Pudgy Penguins. We will then discuss the cultural impact these projects have had in the crypto space. Finally, we will explore why they have taken off and what they mean for this new digital age.
CryptoPunks (Punks)
Punks have a long and illustrious history. In 2017, co-creators John Watkinson and Matt Hall, issued 10,000 punks, all of which were procedurally generated and claimed for free (claimers merely had to pay a small minting gas fee).
Based on the creators’ curated elements, traits were randomized and funneled through a generator. Different traits sprung up, some rarer than others. Some were aliens (only 9 such Punks) and apes (only 24 such Punks), while most were plain old humanoids.
Despite being one of the first NFT projects on Ethereum (even predating CryptoKitties by months), there was little activity; according to Hall, less than 30 Punks were claimed in the days following launch. Over time, as more people started to learn about the project, especially with Mashable’s article, all Punks were eventually minted.
The community was small but passionate. Slowly but surely, however, Punk owners became a status symbol. Provenance has always carried value for any collectibles market, and blockchain technology is no different. Holding a Punk conveyed two (2) things; you were either an NFT/Ethereum OG or derived value from being part of history. Owners recognized the social status it confers and began changing their profile pictures on social media platforms (e.g. Twitter, Discord, etc.) to Punks.
Fast forward a few years, and the Punk scene still flew under the radar. Meanwhile, the NFT hype was already building momentum in 2020. Virtual worlds (often referred to as Metaverses) like Decentraland and The Sandbox increased attention to NFTs. However, the true catalyst came when the Top Shot NFT marketplace was launched in October 2020.
Top Shot is a partnership between Dapper Labs (the team behind CryptoKitties) and the NBA. Video highlights of basketball plays that are packaged into collectible ‘Moments’ were the product and saw massive demand. NFTs officially licensed by the NBA commanded huge recognition and marked one of the first successful forays of sports organizations into NFTs.
As the NFT hype grew, we saw big sales of other Art NFTs. Christie’s, a premier auction house founded in 1766, further legitimized the movement by auctioning off NFT artwork, including Beeple’s historic $69M sale. While crypto natives already started accumulating, real attention shifted towards Punks when celebrities, venture capitalists, and business personalities joined the hype train.
Even Three Arrows Capital, one of the most successful crypto venture firms in the space, started acquiring Punks over the last few weeks, catapulting the average price sold to new highs - it now has an average sale price of $180k.
Source: CryptoSlam
Punks have become a symbol of prestige and digital culture, a cross between NFT history and art. Many projects have tried to imitate their success, but there are few and far between. One project, however, stands out, which has successfully developed its following. We are, of course, talking about BAYC.
Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC)
For an extended period, avatar projects tended to rely on Punks’ old-school vibe, pixelated and low resolution. However, BAYC was a refreshing change as the founders wanted to create something with a larger story arc.
Imagine the year 2031, and 10,000 apes who are extremely rich and bored; what do they do? In BAYC’s lore, these Apes hang out in a swamp club and ‘get weird’. Each Ape’s traits/designs were heavily inspired by the ’80s and ’90s, drawing inspiration from punk rock and hip hop genres.
Being an Ape holder also granted member privileges, such as access to a graffiti board and exclusive commercial usage rights over their NFT.
Although the initial minting price was 0.08 ETH, the average sale price has since skyrocketed - the current average sale is around $50k.
Source: CryptoSlam
So why has BAYC succeeded? Aside from the novel internet-club perks, it is worth noting that a strong community formed right at the beginning. According to OG Ape, Joshua Ong:
“I was there from day one. There was a magic in the community where everyone was just connecting,” he says. “As Apes, we started changing our profile pics. We started following each other [on social media], like ‘Ape follow Ape.’”
Most of the initial buyers were also Top Shot collectors who had already formed their own groups prior to BAYC - this led to quick camaraderie. On top of that, there were also passionate members of the community. One member launched a publication called the Bored Ape Gazette, while another named their ape “Jenkins the Valet,” with a whole backstory. There is even baseball merchandise, and a crowdfund for an ape-themed novel.
Since its launch in April 2021, the project has achieved many milestones, including airdropping a dog-based NFT to all Apes and donating over $850,000 to an orang-utan charity.
With an interactive community, good chemistry, and openness, a strong culture developed organically. The overall vibe attracted many others who wanted to be a part of the brand i.e. a family of Apes. As the community grew, BAYC eventually became regarded as the 2nd Punks.
Pudgy Penguins
We have already seen the impact of strong NFT communities from the start. But what happens when there is none to begin with? Enter the Pudgy Penguins.
Pudgy Penguins was only launched less than a month ago, in July 2021. There were 8,888 Penguins up for grabs with a minting price of 0.03 ETH each. Like most NFTs, each Penguin had different traits/rarities such as skins, clothing wear, and hairstyle. A roadmap did not really exist, which presumably only attracted buyers who liked the art style.
Source: Nansen
All Penguins were fully minted within the first 20 minutes, which suggested that there would be more widespread interest. The average sale price stagnated for the next two weeks, even dropping to the mint price of 0.03 ETH. In the 3rd week, however, both volume and the average sale price rapidly ramped up.
Average daily sale prices hit a 3.8 ETH all-time-high while weekly trading volume surpassed incumbents like Punks, and BAYC during the peak. The Pudgy Penguin mania even ended up in the New York Times and on a billboard. Since then, however, interest appears to have slowed down.
So what happened? Why did Pudgy Penguin take off despite a lack of ‘social fundamentals’?
Although there have been public allegations that the project might have been manipulated, including claims that both CoinGecko and the New York Times were bribed to market them (Editor note - CoinGecko was not sponsored), we believe there is something else at play.
From the outset, the Penguins had an arsenal of memes led by Crypto Twitter (CT) influencers, Jebus and 0xElm0. According to CL from eGirl Capital:
“Memes are hard to define, they are like… very memorable units, usually associated with humor or other message, an imitation, with social cues, with wide reach, and mobility, and an element of culture that may be considered to be passed on by non-genetic means, a global language that connects generations.”
When you gather a community through memes, you offer global appeal. Many people wanted to be part of the ‘meme movement’ because it provides a medium of relatability through a sense of humor. We have already seen this take place elsewhere through meme coins and stocks.
The GameStop/AMC saga showcased the power of a virtual community driven by a singular ‘memetic’ purpose. Despite the lack of business fundamentals, both companies' stock prices were pumped by an anonymous group of individuals on Reddit because they wanted to punish hedge funds heavily shorting the companies. The strength of memes even warrants regular market reports by business news sites and a detailed retail strategy breakdown by Barclays for Options trading.
Pudgy Penguins appear to have followed the same trajectory. While it is impossible to definitively prove/disprove the existence of a shadowy cabal of Penguin schemers, we can look at specific data metrics to help justify its organic growth.
Source: Nansen
Based on the distribution of holders (as of 18 August 2021), we can see that there is close to a 50% threshold of unique wallet addresses - this suggests that whale accumulation is limited and is driven by real demand instead.
Source: Nansen
Moreover, let’s consider the number of diamond hands (total number of NFTs belonging to addresses who have not sold any NFTs from this collection). As of 18 August 2021, the market appears to have stabilized as 4.7k Penguins belong to holders who have not sold any at all. Since the average price sale has dropped by more than 60% from the peak, this suggests that there are fewer traders and more holders.
Despite all this data, though, some might be wondering, will Pudgy Penguins survive? Unlike Punks and BAYC, the Penguins have yet to establish their lindiness. The project is only less than a month old, and it is still too soon to tell. Community strength is crucial, and it would be up to the founders to execute their planned roadmap well. Regardless, if there is anything we have learned in 2021, it is never to underestimate the power of memes.
Skimming the Canvas
Certain things come to mind when observing the developments of these projects.
We explored some of the social dynamics in our earlier article and found that humans have always had an innate desire to collect things; what we latch onto, however, is entirely based on taste. For some context, just look at the traditional collectibles market and see how big the industry is.
More importantly, it is clear that collecting has evolved from the tangible to the intangible. Everest Ventures Group (EVG) first highlighted this with gamers and virtual avatar clothes.
According to EVG, more prolonged periods spent in-game correspond with greater emotional attachment – this applies to all aspects of the game, especially the community. Many players grow attached to their virtual possessions and respective communities. Some even prefer their virtual communities over reality, which makes in-game appearances and good community perception essential.
Over the past month, this point was further validated in the Metaverse. In June 2021, Decentraland allowed users to customize and sell their own virtual clothing (wearables) for avatars to wear in-game. Reuters interviewed a kimono designer, Hiroto Kai who sold kimonos for around $140 each and ultimately made $15,000-$20,000 in just three weeks. According to Kai:
“It was a new way to express yourself and it’s walking art, that’s what’s so cool about it… When you have a piece of clothing, you can go to a party in it, you can dance in it, you can show off and it’s a status symbol.”
In short, people are willing to spend $140 on ‘fake’ clothes, which cost as much or more than actual garments. Not only that, people are willing to pay for all sorts of things, including memes like the Overly Attached GF, Doge, and overpriced Unisocks
As the NFT world expands, we see the exact same phenomenon occur. The only difference this time is that it is happening on social media platforms. Rather than acquiring in-game skins, people are changing their PFPs to signify the acquisition of their respective NFTs.
However, the critical difference is that not everyone plays the same game, but almost everyone is on Twitter, Facebook, etc. PFPs, thus, have the most significant audience reach in the digital space.
With greater reach, a PFP becomes a better tool to advertise your digital identity. People are spending more and more time online; a digital identity is (if not) more relevant than our physical counterpart. For many, a PFP confers greater status than a Rolex. On the Internet, our digital identities are on display to the world 24/7. In contrast, in the material world, our diamond-laden watches can only be seen by a small fraction of society at any one time.
Basing a PFP after your NFT signifies that you have decided to identify as a member of an exclusive NFT tribe, similar to how some people identify themselves based on their preferred religious or political beliefs.
Exclusivity and like-mindedness are what follow. Social signaling manifests in the form of community approval, where community members will start socializing with you and publicize their support (e.g. follow on Twitter). Members even start role-playing or change how they speak. For example, Penguins will #HUDL instead of #HODL.
The Bigger Picture
Aside from collectability traits (e.g. scarcity and aesthetics), it is clear that NFT projects are highly dependent on social fundamentals. But what constitutes social fundamentals may vary from person to person; we believe there are three main types:
Capitalism Community Culture
The capitalistic aspect is the most obvious one. Many in the space will buy NFTs, hoping to make a quick flip. Just take a look at Nansen’s profit leaderboard, and you will see how profitable it can be for NFT flippers.
Source: Nansen
Speculative value is prevalent in just about any type of collectible (e.g. sneakers market), which is hardly surprising. The more interesting observation, however, is the communion and cultural aspect.
Punks reaffirmed the value of provenance - as the project matured and earned its clout, its perceived value and thus price skyrocketed. This led to an exclusive group - the crème de la crème and the NFT elites. People who bought a Punk are buying themselves into this community. In other words, exclusivity begets desirability.
BAYC has long been perceived as a community that was initially priced out of Punks. However, the project blossomed over time with strong interactive social features (e.g. graffiti board), a passionate/tight-knit community, and other novel features (e.g. merchandising rights).
Penguins challenged our preconceived notions about what is required to form a community. Rather than having any roadmap or plan at all, the project grew based on the internet’s biggest commodity, our attention through memes. Unlike most projects, the community formed after the culture of memeing was established. Whether or not this community will last, however, remains to be seen.
If we consider the entire sequence of events, we can extrapolate some fascinating social insights.
Firstly, there are no boundaries or logic when it comes to value. We have already seen this in the diamond industry, where natural diamonds are functionally similar to artificial diamonds yet average a 30% premium.
Since the 18th century, the diamond industry has been propped up by De Beers, who just so happens to control 80% of the market. By influencing the masses through marketing and advertising, it has now been culturally accepted that diamonds (ideally natural) make valuable gifts as engagement rings. And if De Beers can convince the entire world that diamonds are essential for an engagement ring, it seems plausible that the same principles can apply to NFTs too.
People are already ascribing value to NFTs through shared consensus. For example, NFTs are replacing engagement rings. Moreover, unlike De Beers, both Punks and Apes show that the community can build a brand, where culture and value follow suit. Even memes can generate value if you are Penguin enough.
If we take a step back and analyze this further, we are witnessing the tokenization of communities, culture, and even ourselves. However, whether this is a good thing or not is difficult to say.
On the one hand, NFTs allow us to break down abstract social constructs into dollars and cents - this offers all sorts of exciting opportunities to develop decentralized brands and communities.
On the other hand, some might argue that we are approaching a digital dystopia and might end up like Bing from Black Mirror.
Regardless, we here at CoinGecko have long believed that almost everything will eventually be tokenized - the cat is already out of the bag, and there is nothing we can do to stop it.
So the next time you ask yourselves why people are willing to throw millions of dollars into an NFT, remember this; the lines between the virtual world and reality are becoming increasingly blurred, and there might be a swath of identities, cultures, and communities behind it who provide intangible social value. Su Zhu, the co-founder of Three Arrows Capital, summarizes this thesis beautifully:
(Disclosure: the Author has purchased Pudgy Penguins for its memeability and cute aesthetics.)
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The Bronx on their “big, badass new rock record” and the return of Mariachi El Bronx
The Bronx have spoken to NME about what to expect from their “big, badass new rock record” ‘VI’, and the return of their side project Mariachi El Bronx.
The Los Angeles hardcore band’s last album, 2017’s ‘V’, saw the Californian five-piece raging against political turmoil, social unrest and personal uncertainty and stood up as a big musical middle finger to the world at large.
“We had to make that record,” vocalist Matt Caughthran told NME. “We had to prove to ourselves that we could do it. A lot of people tripped out on the nastiness of the recording, but it captured that moment in time perfectly. However, this new album was more about making a big, badass rock record and having fun.”
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Released today (August 27), ‘VI’ is a far more playful collection of songs. “It’s very much a return to style,” said Caughthran. “It feels heavy when it needs to be, but nothing feels forced. It’s got a lot of sarcasm to it, it’s got a lot of aggression but it also feels big.”
Written and recorded over a four-month span in 2019, the direction for the album became clear when they wrote the song ‘Curb Feelers’ and it started to feel “instantly felt great”. “It’s one of the best classic The Bronx songs we’ve ever written,” Caughthran explained. “Lyrically, it’s very tongue-in-cheek about being a burnt-out old punk and it’s just a real hard-hitting, groove-laced rock song.
He continued: “Then you’ve got ‘White Shadow’ which is a classic, anxiety-ridden The Bronx tune. ‘Superbloom’ is a true story about me reconnecting with an old friend in the wildflowers of Californian and just tripping out on everything we had been through on our separate paths. ‘Watering The Well’ is a classic AC/DC bar song. It’s the sort of track where you wonder if it’s too cheesy when you’re writing it but fuck it.
“Whatever I was feeling, I just rolled with it. I trust the guys to tell me if something sucks.”
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The Bronx have always had a touch of classic rock to their hardcore thrash sound, but ‘VI’ boasts plenty of nods to the likes of Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. “It’s a big part of what we do,” said Caughthran. “We’ve always been a blend of punk and rock’n’roll and it’s cool to tap into that. We don’t make records with one specific sound but we’re definitely getting closer and closer to making an entire AC/DC style record. Maybe it’ll be an album, maybe it’ll be an EP, but it’s in us somewhere and it’s going to come out because it feels too good not to pursue it.”
Elsewhere on the record, the song ‘Breaking News’ is “a classic punk tune about overstimulation, police brutality and government bullshit,” but despite some curveballs Caughthran said that the album ultimately has “good balance to it, creatively and sonically. It feels worthy.”
To any critics unhappy that The Bronx are chasing fun over fury, the frontman said: “You can’t deprive yourself of experiencing happiness within your art. You can’t block the joy out. People say positivity is death to a punk rocker but the only thing that’s death to an artist is doing the same thing over and over again. If you keep yourself miserable or feel like you must have a certain attitude to make every single record, eventually it’s going to sound fake, watered down and people are going to be sick of it.
“If you’re going to make music for the span of your lifetime, you’re going to feel a lot of different emotions. You have to reflect that in your work. It’s what gives each The Bronx record its own identity and its own feel.”
Working with a variety of artists on limited-edition vinyl, NFTs, lager and skateboards, The Bronx have also opened themselves up to the idea of collaboration on this record. “We’re always been the odd band out,” the singer told us. “We’ve always been some weirdos off to the side doing our own thing, and that’s been good for us. It’s who we are.
“But at the same time, it feels good to be a part of something. There was a moment between our fourth album ‘IV’ and ‘V’ where we realised we had stopped communicating with other bands because we were so wrapped up in our own little world. When we first started the band, that community was such a big part of the band that we’ve been trying to re-join it ever since. This has been a cool way to do that.”
Having formed in 2002, The Bronx celebrate their 20th anniversary next year – and they have big plans in store. “We’re going to try and put a tour together but there’s a lot of great records coming out, a lot of important conversations and interesting shit happening around the world right now and we’re going to let that breath,” Caughthran said. “We want to let people do what they need to do to get back to their lives. When it comes around though, next year or perhaps the year after that, we’ll celebrate for sure. You can’t not celebrate turning 20 as a punk rock band who never thought they’d do something cool.”
The Bronx put the secret to their longevity down to “the fact we love it”. Caughthran went on: “We’re not doing this band because we feel like we have to. We’re doing it because we want to. There’ll be no stopping anytime soon either because honestly, life just makes a lot more sense to me now I’m a little older. It absolutely feels like the best is still to come.”
After a run of shows supporting Dropkick Murphys and Rancid around the US and ahead of their UK co-headline tour with Every Time I Die, The Bronx have a little time off. That’s when they say that they’ll “start the writing process for the big Mariachi El Bronx comeback record. It’s going to be amazing.”
Elaborating on the next move for their mariachi side project, Caughthran said: “It’s good to know the energy you put into one band inspires the creativity in the other. We’re not going to settle for anything less than a great fucking record because that band is super important to us. If anyones going to have a magical comeback record, it’s El Bronx.”
After 20 years of party-starting punk rock, Caughthran told NME that ultimately he wants The Bronx to remind people that “there’s no need to be boring, there’s no need to be flat and there’s no need to be grey. You can do what you want in this world, you truly can, if you’re not afraid to work and not afraid to think creatively.”
He added: “For us, doing our own thing has been super rewarding. It’s been hard at times but you reach moments like we’re at right now, and it just feels really good. I’d like people to view The Bronx as an example of hard work, DIY ethics and kick ass rock’n’roll. It feels like we’ve got a lot of good times ahead.”
‘Bronx VI’ is out now via Cooking vinyl.