Waddling into Walmart
King Pudgy. Marfa Mania. And Gensler Gets Grilled.
👋🏽 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.
🍸 Join Raoul Pal & Carly Reilly for Cocktails + Conversation in NYC 🍸
Friendly reminder that OPJ and Real Vision NFT holders can use this link to snag your tickets to our final Happy Hour Tour event in New York on October 11. We also welcome any newsletter subscribers interested in attending to slide into the DMs. We look forward to seeing you!
And don’t forget to redeem your Overpriced Jin bottles before we drink them all 😉
Today’s OPJ newsletter is brought to you by Cryptoys!
Disney’s Mickey and Friends Cryptoys Drop is Live
Unbox and watch Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Pluto transform into cute collectibles with big personalities and adorable moves!
These 15 digital toys give fans a fun way to collect awesome skins across Common, Rare, Legendary, Grail and Ultra Grail rarities.
And each toy has an accessory: Mickey sports a fishing pole, Minnie carries a watering can, and Pluto won’t leave home without his bone.
Collectors can earn a Grail or Ultra Grail Sorcerer’s Apprentice Mickey by collecting all 12 (Common-Grail) or 15 (including Ultra Grail) rarities by 11/30/23.
🐧 Brand New(s)
Luca Netz led headlines this week with news that Pudgy Penguins are debuting in 2,000 Walmart stores across the country. This is a big deal, and in Carly’s interview with Luca, he explains why. These aren’t just dolls on a shelf, Luca secured a coveted spot in Walmart’s Pallet Program, which means custom Pudgy displays will be front + center in some of the most prime real estate available. And Walmart’s even tweeting about the partnership too. Catch it all here 👇🏾
Luca describes this as a huge win for both holders - who can expect more opportunities for licensing - and the space as a whole on both the micro + macro levels: The first being that every toy comes with a random trait from other NFT projects, and the latter being mass adoption.
Walmart’s not the only brand embracing web3 collabs in the bear. Buried under the Pudgy news, we learned that:
VeeFriends is joining forces with Mattel’s Masters of the Universe
Yuga’s dropping a collab with popular Japanese fashion brand BAPE; limited physical pieces will be available at ApeFest in Hong Kong
Red Bull’s Velocity Pass is mooning in what Brinkman is calling ‘the best web2 x web3 brand integration’ so far
Bonus 🍵: While we’re talking brands + web3 … we may actually have a real life Succession plot brewing. Bernard Arnault, head of LVMH, is currently deciding which of his 5 children will inherit the empire that includes Louis Vuitton, Dior, Dom Pérignon, TAG Heuer, and Tiffany & Co.
Two of his sons are very pro-crypto, including Alexandre Arnault, aka the brains behind the Punk x Tiffany collab and the guy called out by Forbes for insider trading NFTs
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🌵 We Left our 💜s in Marfa
In case it wasn’t clear on the timeline, the 3rd annual Art Blocks Weekend in Marfa was a spectacular celebration of digital art and just an absolute vibe. Marfa’s remoteness makes for far more meaningful interactions, and in the days after, several creators & collectors on X thoughtfully encapsulated just how special of a gathering it really is.
Some of my fave appreciation posts came from Dave Krugman, Derek Edwards, Ben Roy, and of course, the mastermind behind it all - Snowfro
Some of my personal highlights were:
Marfa Mesh: A Harvey Rayner x IYK collab that chronicled your connections with a unique piece of artwork. Scan a badge and take a pic to reveal your art, which evolves based on photo colors, location, and # of scans. Artwork will be minted to attendees next month. Brilliant.
Glitch Gallery: Derek, Madison, and the entire team at Glitch Gallery are building something special with their Every 30 Days project, a rotating month-long exhibition that’s on view IRL in Marfa and simultaneously via livestream. The art is mintable, and full set holders were surprised with signed prints from Snowfro. Oh, and their bar + restaurant ‘The Otherside’ is a true desert oasis.
Flea Market: diewiththemostlikes was the man of the hour in Marfa. Following a side-splitting live interview on PROOF 100, Die and Transient Labs hosted a raucous Pawn Stars-esque Flea Market where four lokos and wet wipes were bartered for custom artwork and various sex toys.
Amidst the chaos, he stealthily dropped a 666-piece collection, Beef Brothkos - and subsequently ratio’d Blur when they tried to slide into the DMs to trade the collection. Brothkos are nearing 300E in volume with a floor of .85
The most memorable thing though, is the connections forged. Live minting directly from artists like R4v3n while he explains the collection. PROOF house after parties 🤐. And eating burritos alongside some of digital art’s finest creators, collectors, and curators against the stunning small town backdrop. These are the things about Marfa that will permanently etch itself into your fondest memories. Hope to see ya there next year!
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👀 Trending + Notable
SBF’s about to take over the timeline when his trial kicks off next week. Here’s a cheat sheet so you can get prepped: Watch this. Read this. And listen to these.
There’s a new NFT fund that’s scooping high-value art NFTs; It’s run by Nick Tomaino, who explains his deep conviction in Beeple’s Politics is Bullshit in this tweet
You’ve probably already seen this clip of Gensler stumped for words when asked why physical Pokémon cards aren’t securities but digital ones are, but it’s so good it’s worth a repeat. Rep. McHenry’s opening remarks are quite the scorcher too.
NASA’s using the blockchain to protect and secure data it sends to the moon
Yuga effectively blocked OpenSea, Blur, LookRare, and SudoSwap from trading its latest collection, Otherside Mara, by barring Seaport. The move came after OpenSea announced the end of royalty enforcement on the platform.
BitBoy was arrested after live streaming himself *presumably high* with a weapon, drugs, and his mistress outside of his former business partner’s house, who he accused of stealing his lamborghini. This one you’ve gotta see to believe.
And because we can’t not talk about Friend Tech:
TVL reached an ATH again, even after airdrop points were stymied for folks buying their own keys; Self-buyers simply shifted funds to 3,3
Beeple shaded Friend Tech in a tweet that got 150k views
“Top Blur Farmer” CBB0FE announced two new 3,3 strategies: Central Bank Buyback program and Cartel Buyback program
Lastly, best of luck to the remainder of our bags …
SEC delays ARK and GlobalX Bitcoin ETFs even though it wasn’t due for decision until Nov. 11
Coinbase attorney says a token for its L2 Base isn’t entirely out of the question
US govt sanctioned an Ethereum wallet with ties to Mexican Sinaloa cartel
New Yorker profiled Sam Bankman-Fried and his parents, who are Stanford law graduates specializing in ethics and social fairness
Australian man faces theft charges after going on $6.7M shopping spree with crypto accidentally sent to his account by Crypto.com
Vitalik says CBDCs are moving in the wrong direction, will likely end up being even less private than traditional banking and government systems
Head of NY’s virtual currency division is leaving office this week
Investors are buying and selling FTX claims with an expectation of big returns
JPMorgan blocks crypto payments from Chase UK bank accounts, citing increase in scams and fraud
Nansen reveals a security breach where some users password hashes, emails, and blockchain addresses were exposed
Coinbase secures a license to offer a full range of crypto services to retail and institutional users in Spain
🌐 web3 + NFTs
Animoca Brands partners with Daehong Communications to promote Mocaverse and Daehong’s web3 ecosystem
Lagos-based startup Akowe developed a blockchain-based platform for issuing verifiable academic records
Farmville creator secures $33M in funding and builds an experienced team to develop Proof of Play, an onchain game studio focused on non P2E gaming
Web3 startup The Island wants to onboard trad art institutions to the blockchain and vice versa
Rollbit is shutting down its Degen EXchange, citing regulatory uncertainty and low adoption
Artist Takashi Murakami tells The Guardian, ‘Maybe I’m done releasing NFTs’
The SEC charges against Stoner Cats might have a trickle down effect on other projects
Korean entertainment + events firm Dreamus is offering NFT ticketing services on Avalanche for K-Pop concerts
📈 Brands + Biz
Samsung’s trying hard to sway kids away from iPhones, with pricy sponsorship as the ‘Official Vlog Cam of MrBeast’
Raoul Pal hosted leaders of global brands, including Starbucks and Lacoste, to learn how they’re capitalizing on Web3
MoonPay acquired ethpass, an ‘all-in-one solution’ for managing multiple crypto wallets on the go
Minecraft allegedly demanded a fan-run server kill the P2E functionality that allowed them to pay players in Bitcoin
Microsoft cleared the final hurdle in its acquisition of Activision, but lawyers are beefing over Tweets about the deal
Paris Saint-Germain FC is partnering with Crypto.com to launch AI-generated gameday posters as NFTs
Co:Create Ink offers tattoo artists a new way to monetize their talents with digital art royalties, auctions, and fixed-price sales
Walmart partners with POCLab to bring The Cultureverse, a 50th anniversary Hip Hop celebration available on Spatial
🤖 AI + Metaverse
New York mag attempts to answer the burning question: Who is OpenAI’s Sam Altman?
Chatbot wars are heating up:
In its latest update ChatGPT will begin to listen, process images, and have instant convos with users
Meta’s developing its own AI chatbot that will come in multiple personas with ‘more colorful behavior’ geared toward a younger audience
Amazon is investing $4B into Anthropic, which it bills its chatbot Claude as ‘safer’ than other AI services
Stock pic supplier Getty Images, launches AI-powered image generator
Microsoft’s latest update to SwiftKey lets you generate images with Bing, use AI-based camera lenses, and create stickers from your phone
Elon’s startup Neuralink isrecruiting patients to test its brain chips that will allow folks to control devices using thoughts alone
Tom Bilyeu from Impact Theory joins the pod to spill the deetz on what it’s like to be amongst the earliest NFT companies targeted by the SEC. Tom shares what the process was like, what he’d do over again, and where he thinks the SEC has some room for improvement. It’s a heater.
Carly welcomes Delphi Digital’s Teng Yan to the pod for another packed weekly recap! They’re talking: What’s going on with Blur, all things Friend Tech, and whether the team from Baobab rugged on their latest project, Momoguro. Catch it here.
Got something to share with our readers? Leave a comment below or connect with me @hawaiianft on Twitter or @sparkitysparkz on Threads 🤙🏾
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