Culture / 400 posts found
Next Up: Five Ones to Watch in October 2022
In 2021, a new creator economy was born on the blockchain. Since NFTs took center stage, artists have achieved NFT superstardom, billion-dollar brands have been forged in just a few months, and many lives have been utterly transformed time and again. Yet, the most inspiring thing about the NFT space is the number of artists of all creeds and mediums who have found community and support by embracing this technology. In keeping with our mission to empower creators, we present Next Up — our monthly franchise dedicated to showcasing rising artists. In our October edition, we’ve curated a list of […]
Linagee Name Registrar: The Oldest Ethereum NFT Contract Rediscovered
When it comes to historic NFT projects, the general rule is: older means better. Although legacy collections like CryptoPunks, CryptoKitties, and Curio Cards have gained newfound popularity in the last few years, the fact that we can trace their provenance back through the annals of the blockchain contributes a wealth of historical and cultural value to these projects. Yet, while many collectors pride themselves on obtaining relic tokens of old, it seems a single, classic NFT collection has eluded even those who purport to be NFT historians. With the resurgence of Linagee Name Registrar, the collective NFT community has found itself […]
In Web3, Ownership Could Eclipse the Popularity of Play-to-Earn
If you’ve paid even the slightest bit of attention to the blockchain gaming space, you’re already familiar with a three-letter word that’s come to define this growing gaming sector in the past years: play-to-earn. The world first heard about play-to-earn (P2E) games thanks to Axie Infinity, the massive blockchain gaming juggernaut that aimed to reward players with real money in return for their time and effort. But it’s been a long five years since Axie first showed up on the radars of the terminally online. Today, the game is still reeling from a massive $615 million dollar hack, and the […]
Sex Workers Are Using NFTs to Take Control of Their Content
Two things are true about sex work: it’s popular, and the people who power the industry are still stigmatized, just like the work itself. While more than half the population of the United States says they’ve watched porn, for example, and traffic to websites like PornHub tally more than 40 billion visitors annually (with the U.S. firmly leading the pack), 56 percent of Americans think that porn is “morally wrong.” Sentiments regarding off-camera sex work are similarly divided, though recent years have seen increasing support for the idea of decriminalizing it. The idea of regulating sex work leads to messy […]
Gala: A Platform Spending Billions to Build a Web3 Powerhouse
For Web3 companies in the entertainment industry, it’s crucial to understand how flexible NFT minting can be, especially when the goal is to onboard as many people to Web3 as possible. This is why diversifying platforms still under construction is so common among firms making their ascent in the space. And Gala is attempting to do just this. Perhaps best known for its Gala Games and Gala Music platforms, it took steps to expand its lead within Web3 via the August reveal of Gala Film, a platform that offers users the opportunity to enjoy “watch-to-earn” mechanics. Calling Gala “ambitious” may […]
How The Cool Kids’ New NFT Project Is Elevating Hip-Hop
Since starting in Chicago’s hyper-competitive hip-hop scene 15 years ago, The Cool Kids carved out a singular niche for themselves in the larger music industry by consistently being ahead of the curve. When the duo, comprised of Chuck Inglish and Sir Michael Rocks, dropped their first video Black Mags in 2007, the world witnessed a novel kind of alternative hip-hop that later topped the charts in the following decade. Now, The Cool Kids have kicked off yet another forward-looking initiative — a generative NFT art collection. Following the success of their membership token, they felt like they could go deeper […]
A Muhammad Ali-Inspired Web3 Game Is Lacing Up Its Gloves
The Alpha: The celebration of the 47th anniversary of Muhammad Ali’s career-defining Thrilla in Manila pay-per-view bout will go down on the metaverse, according to a press release shared with nft now. Muhammad Ali Enterprises and Non-Fungible Labs have partnered up with Altered State Machine to provide the Greatest’s loyal fanbase a truly unique AI metaverse boxing experience. This AI-driven metaverse game, called Muhammad Ali — The Next Legends, will feature digital boxing avatars equipped with Altered State Machine’s AI NFT brains. The mint for these AI boxers will go live on October 1 via a Pro-Pack bundle that features […]
Christie’s Is Going On-Chain With a New NFT Marketplace
The Alpha: Following the hosting of several successful high-ticket NFT auctions, esteemed auction house Christie’s just announced in a press release shared with nft now the launch of Christie’s 3.0. This new platform will enable the legacy auction house to conduct fully on-chain NFT sales — ensuring that “all transactions — including post-sale processing — will be automated and on-chain,” said Christie’s Director of Digital Art Sales Nicole Sales Giles in an interview with nft now. This announcement comes in the wake of the Ethereum Merge, which cut down the Ethereum blockchain’s energy usage by more than 99 percent. Manifold, […]
Pixelmon Has New Leadership. Can It Overcome the Rug Pull Allegations?
The Alpha: When Pixelmon first launched in February 2022 with a 10,005-piece collection of pixellated character NFTs, the NFT community quickly grew excited at the prospect of what seemed like a Web3-focused competitor to Pokémon. All that excitement swiftly turned into scorn the moment the Pixelmon team revealed what the game they were building would look like. Due to each NFT’s hefty 3 ETH price tag, the NFT community went on to call Pixelmon a “$70 million rug pull.” Pixelmon has announced the hiring of a new leadership team to help correct its course, according to an announcement initially reported […]
How WhIsBe United 24 Leading Artists for His Next Drop
When New York-based artist WhIsBe — short for “What is beauty?” — first reignited the then-dormant flames of his creative fire in 2011, he was mostly concerned with following in the footsteps of his heroes in the traditional art world. Through graffiti, he thought, he could iterate on the works of Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The result was commercial imagery intent on the disruption of public spaces — WhIsBe’s take on graffiti art. But amidst all of WhIsBe’s subversive iconography, one recurring character in his works sticks out in its biting critique of the US criminal justice system: the […]