NFT God Newsletter - The Daily Alpha 6/25

The Daily Alpha 6/25- Happy Saturday everyone! As we prepare for a post NFT NYC world I think my biggest takeaway this week is the bear market had absolutely no impact on the NFT community. The enthusiasm for the space and technology at all events this week seemed completely devoid of any kind of FUD. Was an awesome week for anyone who was able to fly out to my home city. Let's get to the Alpha-

Today's News:

🔥CryptoPunks hires major art influencer

🔥Custom traits are the new meta

🔥Market has most positive week in months

👀Project I'm Watching: Gossamer Seed

CRYPTOPUNKS HIRES CHRISTIE'S VET

The OG 10k generative collection was the talk of the town this week, announcing that they've hired Noah Davis to join the team. Noah Davis comes from legendary art auction house Christie's where he famously organized the $69.3 million dollar sale of Beeple's Everydays. In classic NFT fashion, Punk prices skyrocketed days leading up to the news, an obvious leak from within.

While many people are hoping this leads to a Bored Ape Yacht Club type roadmap, I strongly believe this has less to do with product, and more with marketing. As I talk about in my Punks Vs Apes article, Crypto Punks are incredibly important simply because of their historical significance. They don't need a roadmap, they don't need a ponzi coin, they don't need air drops. They are very much in the same category of a classical piece of art, much like the ones you see auctioned off at Christie's. Noah is probably the perfect fit for the project, as he'll be able to use his connections to put Punks in the same conversations as other pieces of fine art. This is probably the best way to increase the perceived value of the project. Consider me incredibly bullish on Punks, moreso than probably any other project in this bear market.

CUSTOM TRAITS ARE THE NEW META

Over the past couple of weeks several projects have announced custom NFT trait marketplaces for their projects. Announcements from Doodles, Psychedelic's Anonymous, and CloneX have shifted the focus from static PFP's to dynamic customizable avatars. Trait marketplaces, powered by project specific tokens are the main focal point of these announcements. What's interesting is reactions have been incredibly polarized.

On one end holders are excited to create a closer bond with their PFP by being able to put their own personal touches on them. On the other end, collectors are upset that rarity systems and rankings are about to go out the window. Imagine this- you buy a rarity rank 10 PFP in a 10k collection. A week later it's now all of a sudden rank 80 because a bunch of people purchased rare traits in a marketplace with their own money (that they converted to a token). Rarity no longer means anything.

While some reactions have been sour up to this point, as floors for some of these projects have actually moved downwards on these announcements, I do believe this type of customization is the future of the space. There will be many different models of customization that projects will use. The most popular at the moment is the marketplace paradigm filled with pre built traits. I actually believe this will not be the long term way to do this. The model I'm most excited for is the "Creator's Economy". In this model a vast minority of the available traits are pre built by the project. Most traits will be handmade by the community. Instead of the traits being centralized and controlled by a single artist, community members will be able to leverage their artistic and technical skills to create attributes and sell them to others. It'll become a full economy controlled by the holders. What we've seen over the last week is simply step 1 in that direction. My recommendation for you: if you want to get ahead of this trend start learning 3D modeling skills now, for example Blendr. These skills will be incredibly profitable in the future.

MARKET HAS MOST POSITIVE WEEK IN MONTHS

The NFT and crpyto markets exploded this week, as prices consistently moved up for the first time in a while. ETH moved up over 30% and many project bounced up nicely from their lows. While many suspect this might be a result of enthusiasm from NFT NYC, I believe the move up is just in line with all other risk on assets in the global markets. I'd be careful to do anything other than sit pat or slowly DCA in here.

As for NFT strategy- it does not change. At the moment royalty revenue is gone. You can no longer count on ponzinomics like airdrops and coins. The real utility is storytelling and art. I'm making small plays here on art I've always wanted to collect from artists like XCopy and Fvckrender. I'm also looking for a good entry into CryptoPunks. I believe blue chip art will hold the most value in a bear market where utility can no longer be just free money.

Project I’m Watching: Gossamer Seed

Famous multimedia studio BRON has released their first NFT collection "Gossamer Seed". While there is still a ton of mystery behind the exact purpose and utility of the collection, hints across social media indicate this is closely tied into an upcoming MMORPG. The narrative and world building by the company has been on point so far, so it's a project I'm watching closely. Although I've written many times I typically stray away from NFTs whose main utility is a video game or TV show, BRON certainly has the resources to create an immersive experience. I'm a watcher at this point, not a buyer though, as typically quality MMORPG's take years to build. If I start to see the beginnings of an experience I'm confident will captivate the market, I'll consider making a move.