This week, a whirlwind of activity has unfolded across the NFT market, underscoring the dynamic and ever-changing nature of the digital asset space. In this weekly roundup, we delve into the latest news and emerging trends that are shaping the future of the industry. Here’s a comprehensive update on the latest developments:
Sotheby’s holds a sealed auction for the Ether Rock NFT, one of the earliest known collections tokenized on the Ethereum blockchain. Launched in 2017 shortly after CryptoPunks, but before the ERC-1155 and ERC-721 token standards, EtherRocks have remained part of the digital art conversation since they became popular during the last bull market.
Notably, EtherRock 19 and EtherRock 46 fetched impressive sums of 279 ETH (approximately $739,015) and 200 ETH (around $497,479), respectively. These sales reignited conversations about the historical significance of Ether Rocks in the NFT movement, with the community taking to Twitter to debate just how historic the series is. As one community member put it: “Don’t push false narratives like “EtherRocks shaped NFTs.” EtherRocks are a 2021 meme, happened to mint in 2017.”
In a landmark deal, a distinguished private collector 'Artudito' acquired a complete set of 10 Autoglyphs for 5,000 ETH (over $14.6 million), marking the highest NFT sale in the past two years and the fifth-largest purchase on-chain. Released in 2019 by Larva Labs, Autoglyphs is recognized as the first "on-chain" generative art on the Ethereum blockchain and the set of 512 unique outputs has become one of the most coveted collections for generative art collectors.
Venturing into the realm of blockchain-based romance, crypto-native streaming platform Unlonely has been making waves recently with their new channel “Love on Leverage.” The show invites crypto singles to participate in live-streamed virtual first dates. But unlike traditional dating shows, viewers become active participants in the matchmaking process by using ether to wager on whether contestants will agree to a second date with their suitor. As the world pivots increasingly towards interactive entertainment and live streaming, this seems like an apt fit for romance in a digital age.
Starknet, an Ethereum layer-2 scaling network, has dominated headlines recently with the launch of its highly anticipated token airdrop. Nearly 1.3 million wallets are poised to receive complimentary tokens during this airdrop, extending benefits to Starknet users, developers, and users of affiliated decentralized applications (dapps). But despite the hype, Starknet's airdrop policy has been met with backlash from the crypto community, with widespread dissatisfaction about the eligibility criteria for the airdrop and its token distribution schedule.
The sudden hype over ERC-404 tokens has spurred millions of dollars in trading volumes since its start in early February. Pioneered by a group of pseudonymous developers, this "semi-fungible token" standard seeks to amalgamate features from ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens, enabling fractional ownership of digital items. While the Pandora project's experimentation with "Replicants" and corresponding Pandora tokens showcases the innovative potential of ERC-404, it remains in an experimental phase and is currently under review as an Ethereum Improvement Proposal.