Opepen to Offers
Opepen Mania. Builders Be Building. And a Hot Pengu Summer.
👋🏽 Hello everyone, gm gm, WELCOME BACK to another edition of the Overpriced JPEGs newsletter, where we’re catching you up on web3, NFTs, and the greater world of emerging tech.
A couple of quick updates before we dive in:
🎙 Yesterday on the pod, Carly had the Reddit team on to chat about their ambitious Collectible Avatars program. They give a behind-the-scenes look at the entire process, from ideation to where they’re headed next. It’s a must-watch for any brand builders in web3. Catch it here and be sure to share your thoughts in the comments!
🎙 Thanks to everyone who’s registered for our LA event with the Cool Cats team next week. We’ve reserved a handful of tickets for OPJ subscribers that would like to join us live, so if you’re around and able to make it, register here.
🌟 As always, thank you to our generous event sponsors, OpenSea, Web3Sense, and Nouns Builder 🌟
We’re excited and grateful that today’s Overpriced newsletter is brought to you by Stickies!
At the heart of NFTs are - let's be honest - memes & identity. That's why we're excited to partner with Stickies, who bring your Bored Ape, Pudgy Penguin, Doodle, or other favorite JPEG to life as a GIF that can emote, speak, and truly become your digital alter ego.
Stickies animates your NFTs into over 400+ dynamic GIFs, blending magic, simplicity, and fun within a free mobile app. Our Stickies partnership lets our OPJ community bypass the usual waitlist and dive right into the action so you can start flexing your Overpriced JPEGs on all your social platforms!
Download the Stickies app here and start communicating as your PFP. With weekly content drops and surprise artist features, we believe Stickies is redefining NFT utility. Let's add a dash of playfulness to our NFT experience together.
🎭 He is His Opepen & His Opepen is Everyone
We may as well dive head first into NFT Twitter’s biggest story this week … Yeah, we’re looking at you ThreadGuy. If you’re in the 1% of folks who missed it, TG swapped out his prized Mutant PFP for a $2 OE Opepen custom-made by Jack Butcher himself. Here’s how it all went down, along with a TLDR:
TG semi-entertained a series of seemingly no-brainer offers to trade his MAYC for other *much* higher value PFPs (including the initial offer from Bored Elon for an Opepen 001 and another for one of Franklin’s own grail gold apes 😲) before ultimately turning them all down … and lighting up CT
Never one to let a good marketing opp go by, Jack himself designed an OE Opepen Threadition, with all proceeds going to Thread Guy. At which point, TG finally changed his PFP. Mints of the Opepen Threadition currently stand at >47k, which is a cool ~$90k and counting for web3’s man of the culture
Our take? Well, even Beeple got in on the action, so it was by all measures an obvious W for TG and the Opepen community. But also part of a larger narrative about the future of content monetization and a sneak peek into where the creator economy is headed.
Minting these were the NFT equivalent of feeding the Gang Gang Ice Cream Machine. We feed ThreadGuy, he drops the bangers. We can’t help ourselves, It’s So Good.
Content creators are already making millions letting voyeurs watch them do odd and mundane things like sleeping, studying, and turning food into pets. Mounting competition for users on social media platforms is creating the perfect storm for: 1) The proliferation of increasingly crappy content; and 2) More money and fame for those who manage to stand out from the crowd
To sweeten the pot for creators, we’re starting to see real value awarded in the form of social tokens like Reddit’s community coins-turned-crypto and Twitter’s new create-to-earn program where the most prolific threadooors are making cold hard cash
If you’re new here, we welcome you to join 140,434 bright + avid readers by subscribing here:
👷🏾 Pudgies go Prime Time
Shout out to Luca Netz and the Pudgies, who are off to a sizzling Hot Pengu Summer
For starters, Luca’s NounsDAO proposal requesting a Nouns x Pudgy collab on a high-end toy collection, passed by a vote of 205 to 100. This in and of itself is incredible, but here at Overpriced JPEGs we have a special fondness for this partnership since, according to The Nounish Professor, we played a small part in making it happen. Just call us The Matchmaker 😉
I digress. As the Prof points out, this partnership just makes a ton of sense to expand the reach of both brands beyond the bounds of project holders and the larger NFT community. With 615k followers + millions of monthly impressions on its catchy content, Pudgy Penguins are the most-followed web3 native brand on IG in addition to boasting 5 billion views on its GIFs. And Nouns are, well, they’re Nouns. Need we say more?
Recent back-to-back sellouts of high-end Pudgy collectibles (the fastest in NTWRK history, according to Luca) make the timing on this collab extra ripe
The team also announced Pudgy Swap, a simple - and safe - solution for OTC trading that the community’s already taken a liking to
Known to be an inclusive community (and not to be outdone by the Apes), Pudgies are also expanding in Asia, with the formation of 3 new huddles in Japan, Vietnam, and the Phillipines
The bottom line is, Pudgies are the Builders’ PFP. And Luca’s proving himself to be worthy of the helm, whether it’s making real products that transcend NFTs, supporting other builders at the Pudgy House in Miami, or piecing it all together brilliantly on the floor at Comic Con.
📢 Over 140,000 crypto natives, web2 business leaders, and web3 builders rely on Overpriced JPEGs for the latest insights and trends in NFT technology.
If you’d like to showcase your brand in front of a well-educated, high income audience, complete this form and we’ll get in touch.
🦉 Builders in the Bear
Pudgies aren’t the only ones making boss moves in the bear. In fact, now that the NFT market has whittled down to only the truest of believers, a lot of the larger PFP projects have gone back to the drawing board to deliver products and holder value that are looking increasingly fun and innovative
Moonbirds has taken its fair share of heat since launching a little over a year ago, but it’s finally starting to feel like the tide is turning.
Akutars are simply on fire this year. They’re the first project selected by Starbucks to collab on an exclusive stamp for Odyssey members. They secured a high-profile partnership with Beats by Dre. And they’re about to drop the newest OnCyber world, Aku World 3. All while making the world a brighter, happier place.
Doodles isn’t doing anything it hasn’t said it’s going to do - but therein lies the innovation. While other teams tinker with their roadmaps, making adjustments on the fly, Doodles is laser-focused on its long-term vision of building a massive IP company. And we’re now starting to see the fruits of its labor come to life, beginning with the launch of its inaugural Doodles x CAMP experience.
Beginning Aug. 19, the windy city opens its doors to The Stoodio, a shop + play hybrid adventure where visitors will weave their way through a curated Doodles set full of unique experiences and co-branded merch. OG holders are welcome to the grand opening and get a handful of perks and benefits
Truth Labs are among the pioneers pushing to create experiences for their holders that blur the lines between online and IRL interactions. They’re going all out with their latest season, Big Inc., awarding pretty juicy prizes [iPads, Apple watches, and good ‘ole fashioned airdrops] to outstanding employees for completing unorthodox tasks
Join our crew of bright, informed web3 enthusiasts by subscribing to OPJ Pro today!
Reddit Moons, the ERC-20 tokens on Arbitrum Nova used as part of their community points program, are mooning after Crypto.com listing
Gnosis introduced 2 products aimed at normalizing the payment of regular goods with crypto: Gnosis Card + Gnosis Pay
Chainlink launches standard that could connect ‘all of the blockchains to all of the banks’
Gensler’s boarding the Crypto-to-AI pivot train, says AI could destabilize the global economy and heighten financial fragility
Wall Street suits are starting to care about the tokenization of real world assets that create liquidity for things that aren’t currently very liquid
The SEC formally accepted BlackRock’s Spot Bitcoin ETF application for review
Coinbase Wallet is launching a direct messaging feature so users can interact with one another in-platform
China’s municipal government in Beijing is training 10k engineers on blockchain, AI, and big data
After a WSJ report came out suggesting Binance laid 1,000 employees, additional reports followed that the firm was cutting off certain employee perks like cellphone, WFH, and fitness benefits
Polygon proposed upgrading its MATIC tokens into POL to ensure scalability
Dox-to-Earn firm Arkham dropped their token this week, with 47k+ addresses claiming $15M worth of tokens already
Vitalik is headlining the upcoming Ethcon Korea, running Sept. 4 - 10Donald
Someone found a wallet they believe to be Trump’s containing $250 - $500k worth of ETH
🌐 web3 + NFTs
Cryptoys is integrating a kid-friendly AI chatbot with parental controls into their NFTs
All the Art: Christie’s Art & Tech Summit + Gen Art platform Prohibition launched on Arbitrum using the ArtBlocks Engine + Sotheby’s Grail III Auction
Knights of Degen is dropping $DGEN token; a snapshot was taken and claims are expected to open on July 31
Spanish Thyssen National Museum partners with Olyverse to create NFTs of Van Gogh’s artworks
Smart contracts whiz / onchain sleuth 0xquit landed a gig at Yuga Labs
Avastars introduced a new 3D VRM avatar collection
Bored Brewing Co. releases new beer flavors featuring Ape IP
Zeneca announced that Zen Academy holders will have full IP rights to their upcoming PFPs
A college friend of Frank DeGods wrote about their experience founding the delivery startup together and joining Y Combinator
Nearly 650,000 new Bitcoin Ordinals were inscribed over the weekend; the total # of Inscriptions to date are about to top 20M
Ethereum users can now buy .ETH domains directly on Unstoppable Domains
OpenSea’s up to something … and no, it’s not a token
Fingerprints DAO is moving to an NFT membership format with artwork created by Larva Labs, who will also be joining the DAO
NFT persona and DJ Seedphrase signed with talent agency WME
📈 Brands + Biz
Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes is dropping another NFT collection with 15k new additions to the Museum of Mahomes; some NFTs include real-world perks + physicals
Co:Create rolls out e-commerce app enabling 4M+ Shopify businesses to kick start blockchain loyalty & rewards programs
Jay-Z’s RocNation and Puma collab on the RS-XL Mixtape sneaker collection with proprietary LGT Tag technology
Futureverse - a startup consisting of 11 different companies using AI, metaverse, and blockchain technologies - just raised $54M from investors that included Ripple Labs
French bank Crédit Agricle launches exclusive Le Clu3 membership club for its high-end clientele of private bankers
Louis Vuitton dropped the first collectors-only exclusive for VIA Treasure Trunk holders
Ryancsmith.eth gives us his take on the Pharrell x Doodles pack physicals
🤖 AI + Metaverse
Bank of America conducted training for 200k+ employees in the metaverse, using VR headsets to mirror real-world experiences
Hollywood actors strike in response to studio proposal that would grant free use of their AI replicas for all of eternity
Consumer adoption of ChatGPT and metaverse initiatives are fueling demand for AR- and AI-powered chatbots
The FAA is testing VR headsets for flight simulators in helicopter pilot training
Will.i.am launches FYI (Focus Your Idea) app to help creators communicate and manage around their digital assets
Meta & Microsoft are teaming up to introduce Llama 2, an open-source LLM available for free for research and commercial use
Meta’s new CM3leon does both text-to-image and image-to-text generation
AI resurrected a Brazilian singer who died in 1982 for a modern-day duet with her daughter
Onchain Monkey’s Danny Yang and Amanda Terry are steep in Ordinals. They join Carly to share what they think the excitement around this nascent tech is all about and what they feel are the best use cases for NFTs on Bitcoin. They also go deep on their latest project, OCM Dimensions, which introduced a few technological firsts in the budding Ordinals ecosystem.
Carly and Gavin are back with your fave weekly recap! They’ve got hot takes on the relevance of Threads, Arkham’s dox-to-earn business model, and the latest SEC shenanigans. Sprinkled with a dose of Fatzuki, ofc. Catch it all here!
Thanks again to our generous sponsor, Stickies!
Got something to share with our readers? Leave a comment below or connect with me @hawaiianft on Twitter or @sparkitysparkz on Threads 🤙🏾
Subscribe to Overpriced JPEGs!
🍎 Apple Podcasts 🟢 Spotify 🎥 YouTube 🎙 RSS Feed
(Don’t see your podcast player of choice? Find it here.)