It's PRIME time for Parallel's game

GM. In today's edition, the spotlight is on gaming. Unlike other newsletters that cover events AFTER they have happened, we highlight the most important things to pay attention to BEFORE they happen. And so we're focusing on Parallel's token launch later today, something we're very excited about. Why? Let's get right into it.

Today we cover:

• Bitcoin Punks hit ATH in daily volume

• Parallel launches its closed alpha and PRIME token today

• Lots of gaming news today

• New Projects Corner

Market Update: Bitcoin Punks

The top traded collections yesterday were Bored Ape Kennel Club (3570 ETH 24-hour volume), Bored Ape Yacht Club (3400 ETH), and Doodles (3080 ETH). Still, most of this volume is likely related to Blur bid farming.

One collection that has been breaking through the noise: Bitcoin Punks. These are a 10K derivative collection on Bitcoin Ordinals, and it just hit an all-time high of >1000 ETH in daily volume traded. The floor price for a Bitcoin Punk is around 1.5 ETH.

Its PRIME time for Parallel's Game

💲 What to know: Parallel, a trading card game using NFTs, launched its Closed Alpha on 28 February. Its main token, PRIME, will begin trading on 1 March at 12 noon EST (about 8 hours from now)

Parallel has been one of the most anticipated Web3 games and it's finally coming to life.

☘️ In the weeds: Parallel is a trading card game, similar to Magic: The Gathering. Except that it is set in a Sci-Fi universe, all of the cards are NFTs and tradable on OpenSea, and you can earn PRIME tokens for winning games when the game launches.

It's a big week for Parallel, as it is the first time that the game is open for testing, albeit in a limited group. If you were not selected for the testing group, you can purchase an Alpha Access Pass to try out the game. It's expensive though, over $600.

You can see some gameplay footage of the alpha here:

Secondly, PRIME will be unlocked and transferrable. It is estimated that the circulating supply at launch will be 20M, out of a total of 100M tokens. Other allocations (investors, founding team, reserves) will be unlocked at a later date according to a linear vesting schedule over 2 years.

The Parallel team has made sure to plan out a number of token sinks, to ensure that PRIME will have utility. Examples in the graphic here:

A few more notes:

• ParagonsDAO owns the largest collection of Parallel cards (18,000+) and some see it as a proxy bet on the Parallel ecosystem

• Prime Keys will continue to emit PRIME. Each Prime Key will receive ~3000 PRIME over the next 4 months.

🤑 Why it matters: Parallel previously raised $50M at a $500M valuation in October 2021, led by Paradigm. It's likely that valuations have fallen since then, which was at the peak of the NFT bull market.

All eyes will be on the PRIME token when it starts trading today: a range of opening prices have been touted, from $2 ($200M FDV) to $20 ($2B FDV). One thing we know for sure — there will be lots of volatility.

And, we're dying to see a Web3 game actually become successful. Parallel has a reasonable shot at this.

Today's News & Coolest Tweets

• Pixel Vault's flagship auto-battler game will be launched on new gaming protocol Reboot.gg

• Unity introduces new "Decentralised" category page in its asset store, signalling expansion into Web3

• "Pepe Chairs" get delisted on OpenSea after a DMCA was filed by another artist

🐥 Video games can be huge. Harry Potter games >> Harry Potter movies

🐥 How effective are free mints, really?

🐥 Games are recession-proof

🐥 Dookey Dash Key eventually sells for 1,000 ETH. This will draw the attention of professional gamers

🐥 Doodles's announcement of an announcement

New Projects Corner

🍿 (Art) Yuga Labs gets into Ordinals. Auction begins this week

🍿 (PFP) Momoguro is getting a lot of attention. Launches on 2 March

🍿 (Collectible) Creature World's Open Edition: 2 March, open for 24 hours

That's it for today folks, see you tomorrow. If you want more, follow us on Twitter (@the_metadata). And if you aren't already a subscriber, join us now to get all the daily alpha you need.

We're looking to improve the newsletter and make it as relevant as possible for you. If you have any feedback to share — please just reply to this email and let us know. Or even to just say 'Hi'.

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.