Weekly Wrap: 7th August - 14th August

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With 245 days left until the next Bitcoin halving and a lack of news on the Blackrock ETF front, it feels like we are in for a somewhat sleepy summer in terms of price action. However, as always, crypto remains ready to surprise at a moments notice.

This week has seen the launch of onchainsummer.xyz, Coinbase's launch program for their new Base blockchain. I've bridged over and picked up a few NFTs from the campaign, including the Open Edition mint from DeeKay Motion.

The controversial character Beanie suggest these kind of mints are value extractive and only serve to enrich artists. I tend to feel they are true collectibles. You shouldn't expect a profit but you might pick one up to remind you of a moment in time. Something akin to picking up something from the gift store at a tourist destination.

Outside the activity on Base, things have been very quiet on the NFT front as well with new lows in volume. It seems that many in the space are currently entertaining themselves with memecoins instead. Although even there growth is muted this week and it's a true case of traders going against each other in a mostly flat market.

Onwards and upwards.

- @nuconomist

Crypto Market Cap: 1.22 Trillion Dollars 🔽 -1.66% (Was 1.21 T)

Bitcoin: $29,285 🔼 0.85%

Ethereum: $1,839 🔼 0.66%

Bitcoin Dominance: 46.9% 🔼 +0.21% (Was 46.8%)

Ethereum Dominance: 18.2% ↔️ (Was 18.2%)

Other Crypto (excl. BTC & ETH): 34.9% 🔽 -0.29% (Was 35.0%)

NFT Market Cap (ETH): Ξ 8.3 Million 🔼 | $15.38 Billion 🔽 (-8.3%)

30 Day NFT Volume (ETH): 234k 🔽 -14.45% (Was 296k)

Weekly NFT Traders: 49,722 🔼 +6.66%

1. OpenSea: 36,235 🔽 -4.25%

2. Blur: 14,456 🔽 -3.73%

3. Gem: 4498 🔽 -16.29%

Milady: 251 Sellers profited a combined 418 ETH 📈

DeGods: 681 Sellers lost a combined 1008 ETH 😬

In recent history, the kind of stability that we have seen in the crypto majors would have resulted in increased NFT trading, however, the volume there keeps sliding down. NFTs are definitely experiencing their first bear market and it will be interesting to see what it will take to get higher numbers excited about them again. Considering the only time I've heard NFTs being discussed in the mainstream recently is in relation to a lawsuit against celebrity holders of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, it could be some time.

With that said, Coinbase are finally doubling down on their commitment to NFTs with daily mints available at OnChainSummer.xyz throughout August on their newly launched Base chain. Coca Cola are one of the biggest partners this month and if they can keep bringing in recognisable partners with low gas fees and improved usability then the next wave of NFTs could be brand driven and low cost, but it still needs that spark, and it isn't clear what that is yet.

Another company with a new launch that is no stranger to NFTs is Yuga Labs, (creators of the aforementioned BAYC). They have begun to release a new game season called Wreck League in co-ordination with Animoca. Their bet is that gaming will lead the next evolution of NFT collecting.

Neal Stephenson's Metaverse Vision is One Step Closer - CoinDesk

The author that coined the term "Metaverse" is working on his own Blockchain "Lamina1" that is designed to empower metaverse creators.

CBDCs are the ultimate corruption of money - Bitcoin Magazine

This opinion piece highlights some of the risks of introducing central bank digital currencies and argues that they might be closer than we think.

Crypto Sleuth ZachXBT avoids lawsuit - Decrypt

A recent lawsuit brought against @ZachXBT, a well-known blockchain investigator has been dropped by one of his accused.

Anonymous Crypto User burns 8 Million USD - NFT Now

The TwitterX-sphere was ablaze with speculation about the motives of this bizarre set of transactions where millions of dollars worth of liquid tokens and NFTs were sent to a burn address.

Is Friend.tech a Friend of Foe? - CoinDesk

The latest viral trend in decentralised social is buying shares in influencers. For at least a few days this week, the timeline was buzzing with this app and it claims over 100k transactions in a day. I haven't jumped on this train, but some are swearing it could be a thing.

As a CloneX holder, I'm going a little self-indulgent with the highlight this week. This is a short-film from one of the CloneX community which introduces the various DNAs from the collection and features many of the most well-known community members Clones. At times, it seems all that people care about in NFTs is the financialisation, but at it's core there is a large culture element.

This piece is a great testament to the power of community and empowering creators with access to 3D assets, even in a collection that has seen maximum FUD and lost several ETH from it's floor price in the past months. When you enable creators, you unlock new possibilities.

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