Ethereum NFTs & Opepen Mania

Hey there, and welcome to The Metadata - your one-stop-shop for all things NFT and Gaming. We're here to break down the latest trends for you, not once, but twice a week, every Tuesday and Thursday. No jargon, no fluff, just the good stuff.

This week, we're launching our data-driven Tuesdays. We're going to dive deep into the numbers, crunch some data, and get our hands dirty. Why? So we can figure out exactly where we are in this wild cycle and spot those early trends before they hit the mainstream.

Today we cover:

• ᛟ Data-driven insights: Ethereum NFTs

• 🙊 Notable NFT sales, including $3.5 million worth of Punks

• 👀 ThreadGuy incites a mania around Jack Butcher’s Opepens

• 🦁 Several generative art drops this week

Ethereum NFTs 🐸

The total NFT market cap today hovers at around $11 billion today, a noticeable 22% dip compared to the same period last year.

The NFT market cap is heavily weighted towards “blue-chip” collections, such as. CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, and Chromie Squiggles. This trend underscores a gradual yet persistent deflation in the value of top-tier NFT collections.

Weekly trading volumes on NFT marketplaces have been anaemic, with just about $26M weekly volume on Ethereum. Blur still dominates.

Apart from a minor surge in late June, attributed to the post-Elementals liquidations, the volumes are nearing their annual lows. This sluggish activity is indicative of diminishing interest in NFTs within the crypto-native community.

The number of daily NFT traders has remained largely unchanged over the past few months, showing no discernible trend. OpenSea has just under 10,000 daily active users, while Blur records slightly under 5,000.

Collectively, the data suggest a continued period of stagnation or potential decline for NFT collections, with no early signs of an upward trend or the formation of a new cycle.

This aligns with our hypothesis that NFTs are typically the last to experience a surge during a crypto bull run. The reasoning is simple: only once investors have reaped profits from other coins, they are more likely to indulge in the luxury of purchasing NFTs, which are often used as flex goods and come with vague valuations.

Right now, it seems like not many folks have the spare change or the appetite to dive into the NFT market. And it looks like this might be the vibe for a while.

Remember that markets are cyclical. It's crucial to stay informed, patient, and strategic.

(h/t to @hildobby for the Dune charts)

Today's News: Opepen Mania

The talk of the town this week is ThreadGuy finally changing his Twitter profile pic from a Mutant Ape to an Opepen Edition. ThreadGuy is a vocal NFT influencer with 130K+ followers.

Jack Butcher, the artist behind Opepens, picked up on the conversations and launched a custom-designed Opepen NFT for ThreadGuy. Priced at $2 each, over 36,000+ of these open-edition NFTs have been minted, with all proceeds ($72,000) going to ThreadGuy.

Since then, everyone has been making their own Opepens and posting their creations on Twitter. It’s such a feel-good story, much needed in dark times like this.

For the culture!

Also:

• Beanie sells 16 CryptoPunks to Punks OTC for 1,785 ETH ($3.5M)

• Notable NFT sales:

  • Azuki spirit for 110 ETH

  • A four-trait Bored Ape Yacht Club for 80 ETH

  • "Crowns of Flowers After Bouguereau" by Matt Kane for 37.8 ETH

Click Worthy Tweets

🐥 A reminder on why NFTs & digital property rights are the future

🐥 Top Ordinal collections that might mint soon

🐥 Christie’s & Gucci partner up to launch an NFT collection. Artists include Robbie Barrat, Tyler Hobbs, Claire Silver, Emily Xie, and William Mapan.

🐥 The right way to do factory NFTs

🐥 All you need to know about Beeple

Upcoming Mints

If you like generative art, there are a couple of drops to watch for this week.

#1: Prohibition, the Art blocks on Arbitrum, is launching this week (we covered this last week)

#2: Interference by Phaust

• 236 pieces via a Dutch Auction starting at 0.5 ETH. Begins on 21 July

#3: Feral File n=12, curated by Aaron Penne

• 12 artists across 7 timezones, creating works while in dialogue with each other

• 144 pieces via a Dutch Auction starting at 7.2 ETH. Begins on 20 July

That's it for today folks, see you tomorrow. If you want more, follow us on Twitter (@the_metadata). If you were forwarded this newsletter, you can subscribe with just one-click:

Disclaimer: This newsletter is for educational purposes only. None of this is financial or investment advice. It is not a solicitation to buy or sell any assets. Minting and buying NFTs is risky. Please do your own research.