Features / 303 posts found
Fine Art NFTs: How a Breakdancing Med Student Broke Into Web3
Getting a degree can be daunting. Between managing a school/life balance, memorizing course material, and potentially learning that landing a job isn’t the post-collegiate guarantee it used to be, it’s no wonder that, on average, roughly 33 percent of undergraduates do not complete their degree program. Some even describe college and its associating costs as soul-crushing. And if the day-to-day university life isn’t enough, consider throwing one of your passions into the mix. Unless they make money, hobbies are often the first to fall by the wayside when life gets tough and time becomes limited. Do you think you could […]
NFTs Free Us From Web2 Hierarchies. Forcing Utility Erodes Progress
If the NFT community were an extended family that met on occasion for holiday dinners and special events, utility would be the topical equivalent of politics and religion that people might try to avoid to keep things civil. The word has sparked countless discussions in the space in recent months, and the outcomes of those conversations are likely to answer a crucial question facing the Web3 world: what does an artist who sells NFTs owe the people who buy their work? The answer to what utility means is more straightforward and interesting than you might think. But to get to […]
Street Art NFTs: How Graffiti Can Embrace the Blockchain
For more than half a century, graffiti has spread across urban areas’ walls, streets, and billboards. Proliferated throughout the world first as a method of storytelling and turf claiming, what once began as a criminalized pastime has grown into a global phenomenon of cultural expression. Anecdotally, street art exists solely as public art. That is to say that street art and graffiti live in the physical realm and, similar to paintings and sculptures, are unmoving and unchanging. But now, as with other forms of “permanent” works, street art is making its way onto the blockchain. NFTs primarily exist as digital […]
OpenSea’s Stolen Item Policy Reveals a Stubborn Problem
The Web3 world is doing its best to come up with solutions to one of the crypto ecosystem’s biggest problems: theft. More than 46,000 people have reported losing more than $1 billion in crypto scams since 2021, according to a recent report released by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The problem has gotten so bad that the regulatory agencies and lawmaking bodies in the U.S. are now playing a game of hot potato by asking each other for help to find new solutions. NFT marketplaces are also grappling with ways to address theft on their platforms. OpenSea recently updated its […]
A New CryptoPunks License Is Finally Live. Here’s Why It Matters
CryptoPunks, one of the most prominent legacy collections in the NFT space, recently released a new IP rights agreement for its collection. The new IP rights agreement will offer IP licenses to all CryptoPunks holders, a move that the CryptoPunks Twitter account hopes will “open the door to endless creativity and possibilities for Punks.,” according to a tweet from the Yuga Labs-owned NFT collection. CryptoPunks could inspire a new generation With several notable figures in the entertainment industry like Jay-Z, Steve Aoki, and Heidi Klum among the highest-profile CryptoPunks owners, it’s only a matter of time until future projects barrage […]
Surprise! Gaming Is the Most Likely Candidate to Onboard People to Web3
Depending on who you ask, blockchain gaming is either the next big thing in Web3 or a detestable trend that companies should avoid indulging. The space is divided, and taking an objective temperature on the matter can be challenging. Minecraft banned NFTs from their iconic title, GameStop opened an NFT marketplace, the WAX blockchain has become a hub for Web3 gaming, and Axie Infinity is doing its best to bounce back from a comically painful $615-million hack that took place earlier this year. Even two of the most popular NFT-based games, Decentraland, and The Sandbox, struggle to break 1,000 active […]
Web3 Companies on How to Bounce Back From the Crypto Winter
Let’s face it: If the crypto winter has a temperature, it could plunge past sub-zero. While countless NFT communities continue to build and work to add value to their projects, they do so against a backdrop of harsh realities that are just too big to ignore. In July, OpenSea announced it was laying off 20 percent of its staff to curtail the winter’s future effects. A month prior, Coinbase announced a hiring freeze that would last “for the foreseeable future” and rescinded several accepted job offers. Other exchanges, like Gemini, have likewise announced staff reductions in recent weeks. Web3-wide, the […]
Here’s Why Filmmakers are Abandoning Crowdfunding Platforms in Favor of NFTs
For years, independent filmmakers have turned to Kickstarter, Indiegogo, GoFundMe, and the like to secure funds for their passion projects. From critically acclaimed action comedies like King Fury to award-winning horror flicks like The Babadook, crowdfunding has helped many cult classics come to fruition. Yet, times are changing in the entertainment industry. The COVID-19 pandemic transformed the in-person reliant sectors of television, music, and film into a semblance of what they once were, forcing creators to think outside the box when launching new endeavors. Enter NFTs — a new, robust, growing ecosystem that lives at the intersection of art, tech, […]
Krista Kim: Building a Metaverse Around Tokens, Techism, and Wellness
You wake up in the winter of 2045. It’s midnight, and a 3D hologram of the sun hovers above. Prescribed by your AI physician, you remember that it’s supposed to boost your vitamin D levels, and ease you into another day of life lived online. Anticipation sets in, so it must be working. After scarfing down a nutrient-dense pack of pink goo for breakfast, you mount your omnidirectional treadmill, don your full-body haptic suit and VR helmet, and clock in to your job as education director at one of the world’s largest metaverse art museums. Although this reality is still […]
The 20 Most Expensive NFT Sales of All Time
We’ve come a long way since the first NFT, Quantum, was minted in 2014. Since then, projects like CryptoKitties, Rare Pepes, and CryptoPunks have revolutionized the industry — both creatively and financially. NFT sales have skyrocketed, and many of the most famous NFTs have brought in millions of dollars. But when it comes to expensive NFTs, just how high can the numbers get? It’s difficult to say, since the NFT ecosystem is growing and evolving rapidly. And as time goes on, many new artists are becoming millionaires, with progressively more celebrities spending seven figures on Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs […]