NFT God Newsletter 9/29: Apecoin Staking, Apple Allows NFT's, Azuki Pumps

The Daily Alpha 9/29- Happy Thursday everyone! I get a lot of questions in my DM’s around how to grow when you have very few followers. A lot of people DM and email me threads they’ve published that are really well written, but you’re confused as to why you get very little engagement. The truth is this: in order to be great you need to first put in an uncomfortable amount of time doing things with no recognition. On a daily basis you need to be creating things that get you little to no appreciation. This newsletter is turning 10 months old in a few days. For the first 6 months I was sending multiple newsletters a week to a subscription list of under 10 people. I wrote 3 threads a week from January to May that got at most 20 likes each. The question is this: what are you willing to do when nobody notices? How many times are you willing to swing that bat before you get your first hit?

Sidenote: this is my first newsletter being sent out on Substack. Previously I was sending these through Revue. I got a lot of DM’s telling me the newsletters were going to spam so I switched over. Let me know what you think of the new format. Questions? Complaints? Feel free to reply or email me [email protected]. I also have a comment section now on the newsletter which is kinda cool. Feel free to test that out (or the share button if you’re feeling ever so frisky). Anyway, onto the alpha-

Contents:

1️⃣ Latest Twitter Thread

2️⃣ Sponsored: Bush Baby Club

3️⃣ 1% Better Every Day

4️⃣ NFT Stories of the Week

5️⃣ Email of the Week

6️⃣ Favorite Tweets

Note: This week there is a sponsored column(marked as sponsored). Please DYOR before making any investment decisions.

Latest Twitter Thread:

SPONSORED: Bush Baby Club

Bush Baby Club

A collection of 7000+ adorable collectibles based on over 140 traits created by NFT OGs from East Africa, Laura and Natasha. Owning a BB gives you access to a diverse and friendly group that is exploring ownership, identity through storytelling and utility which will benefit the community.

A supply of 2083 BBs has been reserved for the OG community to claim for free+gas while the remaining 5694 BBs are currently minting at a cost of 0.03 ETH.

Enter the Bush: https://bushbabyclub.io/mint

1% Better Every Day: Show Your Work!

This week’s “1% Better Every Day” spotlight is on a fantastic book I just finished called “Show Your Work” by Justin Kleon. I get a lot of questions from people on what they should write about. Typically they go “Hey I’d really like to build an audience but I have no idea what I want to tweet or write about? What should I do?”. This book gives you that answer in the simplest way possible: The best way to find your voice online is to start learning something and then share it in front of others. You don’t need to be a professional in order to share learnings. People actually don’t want to hear the point of view from a professional. It’s not relatable. They want to hear the point of view from an amateur who is on their way to become a professional. This is a way more relatable point of view.

The minute you learn something, turn around and teach it to others. Post helpful resources. Create simple tutorials. In 2022 artists don’t just create art. They share their sketches, inspiration, studio, tools and process. The more you share your process, the more you’ll find your voice. You can’t find your voice if you don’t use it.

Here’s my challenge to you this weekend:

Learn something new. Anything. Tweet about your journey. Tweet every step. Tweet every little thing you learn. Start a Substack like I did. Write a blog. Get yourself out there.

Some recommendations:

• Read a book

• Start a coding tutorial

• Pick up photography

• Buy a 5 dollar course on Udemy

If you decide to take on this challenge or have already started this process yourself feel free to email me [email protected] or comment on the newsletter below. Would love to hear your thoughts and feature you in next week’s newsletter!

Today's News:

🔥 Apecoin Staking Starts in October

🔥 Apple Will Allow Apps to Sell NFT’s

🔥 Azuki Pumps on VC Rumors

APECOIN STAKING STARTS IN OCTOBER

Apecoin DAO announced this week that Apecoin staking will begin towards the end of October. In order to stake you need a Bored Ape or a Mutant Ape. A Kennel Club can boost the amount of APE you get in return for staking. Also, a certain amount of APE is required to start staking as well. Upon this news prices for the entire BAYC ecosystem started to pump, especially the prices for Mutants (15.85 ETH) and Kennels Club (7.5 ETH).

I’ve been pretty consistent with my stance on this- but it feels like a major buy the rumor sell the news situation. As a mutant holder myself I will not be participating in the staking. The concept around NFT staking just doesn’t make much sense to me. You lock up the NFT into a smart contract and in return a token is printed for free and given to you? Isn’t this the same system that has caused hyper inflation in the global economy? You can’t just print money for free and expect all the currency to keep its value. People are buying apes right now because they did the math and calculated how much money they’ll make from free Ape coin. The issue is people will dump the free coin they get. They’ll also sell their NFT’s when the value of the coin they’re getting isn’t as high as they were expecting. I’m not going to tell you how to manage your portfolio but I’ll just say this: there’s no such thing as free money. When you don’t know where the yield is coming from, YOU are the yield.

APPLE WILL ALLOW APPS TO SELL NFT’S

Apple clarified this week their position on apps selling NFT’s by announcing they’ll allow it in their app store. They also announced the standard Apple fee of 30% will be applied to NFT purchases. The sentiment on Twitter seemed to be mixed, as some applauded the update, and others thought it was ridiculous that Apple would apply a 30% fee to all NFT transactions.

I strongly believe this is fantastic news. There’s been a split lately from the gatekeepers in the digital space around NFT’s. Steam (the largest PC gaming marketplace in the world) has taken a hard stance against them. Banning any games that involve crypto or NFT’s. Microsoft said NFT’s have no place in video games. On the other hand, Epic Games has not only said they’ll welcome blockchain games, but they are actively working towards creating the metaverse. And now the largest company in the world, Apple, has taken a pro NFT stance. These technological gatekeepers have an outrageous amount of power over the landscape. They can single handedly decide which technologies we use and don’t use. Luckily, Apple is on our side for this. They might be taking a hefty fee (which is actually the standard amount for most marketplaces) but the fact that they are allowing blockchain technology, means other ecosystems might be soon to follow.

AZUKI PUMPS ON VC RUMORS

Azuki prices absolutely pumped this week as rumors started swirling around VC backing. Prices went from as low as 6 ETH to as high as 12 ETH. An absolutely astounding pump for the state of the current market. Since the pump started several days ago, prices have settled back down to the 9 ETH range.

I’ve actually always loved the Azuki art. I just never made the move in because of the Zagabond controversy. I don’t hold his actions against him as much as most people do, I just believe it’s a black eye that will always be a head wind for the project. On a separate note though, I’m still not convinced VC investments should automatically be viewed as a bullish event. Every project that has had any sort of long term sustained success in the space has had that success because they understand the Web 3 culture really well, not because they had a lot of money. Look at Doodles for instance. Has raised millions. Built out an entire corporate structure. Hired one of the largest pop stars in history to their team (Pharrell). But they didn’t tweet for a month. And because of that, their price cut in half. They didn’t understand Web 3 culture so the culture held it against them. On the other hand Frank and the DeGods team never raised money (until recently). But Frank spent time growing his personal brand and audience. He went into every Twitter Space. He became the most visible member of his project. He created champions. And because of that, DeGods became the number one project on the Solana blockchain.

Point of the story is this: money and business strategy don’t matter in Web 3. At the moment the only thing that determines the floor price is having an understanding of the culture. You can put together the greatest business in the world with awesome utility, but if you’re not in the trenches every day with the community nobody will care. Culture > business in web 3.

Email of the Week

Last week I talked about how a podcast I listened to with Tim Ferris and a famous Navy Seal named Jocko Willink. Jocko talked a lot about how you need to be observant of every second of every day. You’re either growing or decaying, make sure your seconds are spent growing. This week I got an email from @PaulTTran on Twitter about one of his favorite tidbits from Jocko. Coincidentally, it is from Tim Ferris’s book “Tools of Titans” (can’t recommend this book enough) and some advice Jocko gave in it. Here’s the interview snippet from Paul’s email:

Jocko is a retired Navy SEAL CommanderWhenever something bad happens - or something isn't going your way...say "GOOD."Why? Because there will always be some good in it. It's not being overly positive, or thinking that a positive attitude will solve problems. That's delusional and living a lie. But you can't dwell on the problem either. You just have to accept reality and see the good in it.• Mission got cancelled? Good - we can focus on another one.• Didn't get the new high-speed gear we wanted? Good - we can keep it simple.• Didn't get promoted? Good - more time to get better.• Didn't get funded? Good - we own more of the company.• Didn't get the job you wanted? Good - go out, gain more experience, and build a better resume.• Got injured? Good - needed a break from training.• Got tapped out? Good - better to tap out in training than tap out on the street.• Got beat? Good - we learned.• Unexpected problems? Good - we have the opportunity to figure out a solution.

Tweets of the Week

Thank you so much to everyone who’s replied to my tweets or emailed me this week! Look forward to hearing from more of you soon! Take care and have an excellent weekend!