Animoca Brands Leads $8M Fundraising Round for NFT Platform Built on Solana
“We are now looking to expand onto other chains such as Terra and Fantom while building out new functionalities that bridge the worlds of DeFi [decentralized finance] with NFTs,” the Burnt Finance team, which insists on anonymity, said in an emailed statement.
Solana Top Gainer Among Crypto Majors After BofA Endorsement, Rising NFT Activity
“Interesting how the NFT ecosystem on Solana is thriving now although it’s built with features that are optimized for finance use cases (quick block time, low cost, fast finality),” said Arthur Cheong, founder of Defiance Capital in a tweet on Wednesday. “In fact, I think most user growth lately actually come from NFT side instead of [decentralized finance]."
Solana emerged as an alternative NFT network …
The Kings were not willing to entertain the thought of trading De’Aaron Fox last summer when they started surveying the market for a transformational move to alter the course of the franchise, but the situation in Sacramento has changed. A league source told The Sacramento Bee the Kings have stepped up their pursuit of Indiana Pacers big man Domantas Sabonis and they are including Fox in those discussions. Fox was so far off the table he wasn’t discussed when the Kings approached the Philadelphia 76ers about Ben Simmons last summer, sources with knowledge of the talks told The Bee, but now Fox is reportedly part of those conversations as well.
Nifty News: Mike Tyson loves Solana, Aoki stops show to flaunt NFT, Apple and the ‘AR Verse’
Mike Tyson is living the $DREAM
Boxing icon Mike Tyson stepped into the ring this week after he shared his enthusiasm for Solana and unveiled a partnership with mental-health-focused crypto project TheDreamChain.
In the first round, Tyson — who launched an NFT project on Ethereum via OpenSea last year — tweeted on Thursday that he was a born-again Solana proponent while sharing a screenshot of a new nonfungible token (NFT) he had snapped up from the Catalina Whale Mixer project.
The Solana-based Catalina Whale Mixer NFTs currently have a floor price of 15 SOL ($2,200) each, and Tyson’s NFT depicts a whale version of himself wearing a world championship belt along with his famous face tattoo.
All in on Solana… Just copped a Catalina Whale… pow pow! pic.twitter.com/97voS15B8y — Mike Tyson (@MikeTyson) January 12, 2022
In round two later that day, the 55-year-old tweeted about what appears to be either a partnership or paid celebrity promotion with TheDreamChain. The token’s unusual selling point is that it’s just as difficult and limited to trade as a stock.
“It’s the first of its kind that can only be traded during US stock market hours. Could revolutionize the space and help the mental health of the crypto community.”
According to TheDreamChain’s website, its DREAM token is only available for trade between the standard stock exchange hours of 9:30 am to 4:00 pm, with the idea being that 24/7 trading is causing a mental health crisis among crypto traders.
The project states that it will divert 0.5% of all transaction fees to its own foundation, which will donate funds to mental health charities or use the capital to sign partnerships with non-profit organizations.
Apple looking at AR, not the Metaverse
Amid a flocking of tech giants to the Metaverse, Apple won’t be rushing in with its latest gadget, according to Bloomberg’s Apple tech reporter Mark Gurman.
Gurman shared snippets from the latest Q&A section of his paid consumer tech newsletter via Twitter on Monday regarding Apple’s upcoming virtual reality headset. He noted:
“Here’s one word I’d be shocked to hear on stage when Apple announced its headset: Metaverse.”
“I’ve been told pretty directly that the idea of a completely virtual world where users can escape to — like the can in Meta Platfroms/Facebook’s vision of the future — is off-limits from Apple,” he added.
According to Gurman’s understanding, current and former Apple executives such as Jony Ive have always envisioned the firm’s VR headset to be a device used in short “bursts” for gaming, content consumption and communication, and not as part of a full-blown Metaverse experience.
Instead, Apple is said to be eyeing the augmented-reality space in which the user’s physical experience is enhanced with digital or virtual features via devices such as eye lenses, as they can be worn all day and don’t distract from the immediate environment.
Lots of interest in my take on “Apple Reality” and the Metaverse https://t.co/ZmacFcOC9k pic.twitter.com/C4SNbFbULp — Mark Gurman (@markgurman) January 9, 2022
Artemis launches mobile-focused NFT social media platform
Hong Kong-based blockchain firm Artemis Market launched a new social media and NFT trading platform on Thursd.
According to an announcement, the Solana-based platform has initially launched a desktop and mobile web version with limited functionality and will be rolling out a mobile app complete with full social features in the near future.
Artemis is hoping to attract new users with 0% transaction fees on trading until the end of February.
We know all of you have been waiting for this day…
And we are finally LAUNCHING NOWhttps://t.co/OBLamZSR18
What’s more? ✨0% TRANSACTION FEE✨until end of Feb!
Join us and start trading on Artemis NOW!#Solana #NFT #NFTlaunch #NFTmarketplace #SocialFi #ListAndEarn #0TxnFee — Artemis Market (@Artemis_Market) January 13, 2022
The firm stated that it was focused on building a one-stop-shop, user-friendly mobile platform that can be accessed on the go, as it highlighted that the NFT sector currently lacks a “compelling user experience” despite its booming popularity.
“We want our users to be able to conduct their whole NFT experience all in one app. From discovering and hanging out with creators, to collecting NFTs, to interacting, sharing and commenting with friends.”
Related: China aims to separate NFTs from crypto via new blockchain infrastructure
Steve Aoki stops live show to flaunt NFT acquisition
Millionaire DJ Steve Aoki abruptly stopped one of his live music events this week to flaunt a freshly acquired NFT that many of his fans could only dream to afford.
Aoki tweeted a video on Wednesday sharing his glee at snapping an NFT from the Doodles collection accompanied by a caption that read:
“Had to stop my show to celebrate my excitement on my doodle! Nfts make me feel like a kid again.”
The Doodles project consists of 10,000 NFT avatars featuring art by popular Canadian artist Burnt Toast. The NFTs currently have a floor price of 11.75 Ether (ETH), worth roughly $38,300 at the time of writing.
Aoki is a major NFT proponent, with his fingers in multiple honey pots, and his latest behavior suggests early signs of a crippling NFT addiction.
Other Nifty News
A group of editors on Wikipedia voted against classifying NFTs as a form of art on Wednesday, opting to exclude NFT art sales from the list of top art sales of living artists. They have agreed to re-open discussions at a later date, however.
United States-based music streaming platform Lüm is slated to relaunch as an NFT platform later this quarter. It is shifting its focus to musician-focused fan NFTs that enable users to support an artist of their choosing.
Metaplex Raises $46M to Grow Solana NFT Ecosystem
Key Takeaways The Metaplex Foundation has closed a $46 million strategic funding round.
The foundation stated it would use the funds to provide grants, support ecosystem development, and empower creators.
Capital has been flooding into the Solana ecosystem in recent weeks.
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The Metaplex Foundation has raised $46 million from investors to expand support for NFT, gaming, and Metaverse applications.
Metaplex Completes Raise
Solana’s NFT ecosystem is about to get a boost thanks to Metaplex.
The Metaplex Foundation, an organization dedicated to developing the Metaplex Protocol, has closed a $46 million funding round co-led by Multicoin Capital and Jump Crypto. The raise also saw participation from Solana Ventures, Alameda Research, Animoca Brands, and more than 90 NFT aficionados, including basketball star Michael Jordan and the pseudonymous NFT collector Cozomo de’ Medici.
Metaplex is a permissionless protocol that helps users mint and deploy NFTs on Solana. So far, it has been used to create over 5.7 million NFTs for 85,000 projects. Innovations such as Metaplex’s Candy Machine allow users to upload images along with their metadata to the decentralized storage network Arweave then register them on the Solana blockchain. It aims to streamline the process of launching NFT collections and ensure that every mint is fair, meaning the distribution of NFTs from a collection is random and unpredictable. As a result of the NFT market boom in 2021, sought-after collections are frequently oversubscribed on launch. High demand for NFTs caused many issues and so-called “gas wars” on Solana and Ethereum last year.
Many of the most successful Solana NFT collections, such as Solana Monkey Business, used Metaplex Candy Machine to conduct their mints and store their NFTs’ images and metadata on Arweave.
The Metaplex Foundation has stated that it will use funds from the raise to provide grants, support ecosystem development, and empower creators from underrepresented communities. Additionally, the Foundation also plans to prioritize support for Metaverse and gaming applications in 2022. “Metaplex will serve as a common protocol and NFT standard to empower the next wave of decentralized commerce, social and gaming experiences,” says Metaplex Foundation director Sergey Vasylchuk.
While Solana has suffered from network issues and weak price action in recent months, funding for projects building on the blockchain is showing no signs of slowing. Earlier this month, Serum, the decentralized exchange that underpins Solana’s DeFi ecosystem, announced it had raised $70 million to grow the order book-based market and fund new projects.
Also worth noting is the Solana DeFi project Exotic Markets, which raised $5 million in the same week. Several firms that contributed to today’s Metaplex raise also took part in the funding for Exotic Markets, including Multicoin Capital, Alameda Research, and Animoca Brands. Despite the downward trend in the wider crypto market, it’s clear a small number of teams are betting big on Solana’s growth potential.
Disclosure: At the time of writing this feature, the author owned ETH, SOL, and several other cryptocurrencies.
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