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DYOR 🥵

NFT.NYC came early this year, and so did New York’s summer, leading to plenty of sweaty degens at the innumerable panels, openings, parties, and scavenger hunts that unfolded.

As has been the case in recent years, most of the excitement and news came from satellite events rather than those under the auspices of the conference itself. Arguably, in an industry that prizes decentralization, that’s a good thing.

One such event was Web3-native luxury brand 9dcc’s treasure hunt, which took degens across lower Manhattan wearing the brand’s luxe baseball caps, collecting POAPs and enamel pins along the way, hoping to win the grand prize: the chance to mint a Chromie Squiggle.

We hosted the first stop at the iconic NYC bar Mother’s Ruin. Dubbed “Metaversal x 9dcc: The Happening,” we’re indebted to our sponsor BitGo for its generosity. The multi-talented Gossamer Rozen customized branded tote bags while Spottie WiFi and Static Selektah kept the crowds dancing, and we ushered degens into a vintage yellow cab to collect their most sordid crypto confessions (look out for the best of those on our Twitter soon).

Meanwhile, DeGods hosted a hunt of its own, along with a party featuring an ice sculpture/funnel of a Nike high-top, which, when you think about it, is incredible visual shorthand for its unique brand of youthful excess and unhinged exuberance. Plus, you know there was the whole drinking-from-a-shoe incident. DeGods really knows how to lean into its lore.

On Tuesday night, NFT Now hosted the second installment of its NFT 100 event — a gala dinner at The Rainbow Room at the Rockefeller Center. It wouldn’t be the NFT 100 without a modicum of controversy, and the team delivered by cutting influencer Nicole Behnam from the list after a tweet thread from her left many collectors crying, “Rugger!” (And, in some cases, actually crying we suspect).

Flavor-of-the-week NFT project Nakamigos took home the prize for the most extra event when it unveiled two barely-clad dancers, one of whom proceeded to use a paint-soaked cat ‘o nine tails on the other. It takes all sorts, anon.

Back in the classiest borough, Brooklyn, VerticalCrypto Art hosted its Proof of People event, complete with live-minting experiences, and Artmatr hosted the opening of Organic Matr, an exhibition of pieces from generative artist Zancan which Artmatr has rendered as physical works using its astounding proprietary technology that’s part 3D printer, part plotter, part robot artist, and all magic.

Attendance at NFT.NYC was noticeably down this year, and there wasn’t the sheer glut of events of previous iterations. But everyone we spoke to said they felt the quality of the events this year was higher, as was the quality of their interactions… which feels like a win in our books. See y’all again next year!

To the moon (AKA, things happening outside of NYC) 🌙

• Japanese camera-maker Canon has announced Cadabra, “a curated photography marketplace from Canon U.S.A., Inc. that offers a selection of digital art (NFTs) from innovative creators.”

• Goblintown creators, Truth Labs, raised hackles after it announced plans to upgrade contracts for all of the ERC-721 tokens in its ecosystem… and replaced the artwork on existing tokens in the interim:

• Solana’s made a *checks notes* Android smartphone called the Saga that costs $1,000 and comes with various Web3 features baked in. Decrypt has a review of the Saga, which is fairly comprehensive, but fails to mention that if it’s not an iPhone, it’s DOA in the U.S.

• The Bruce Lee Estate launched an open-edition NFT drawn by pplpleasr in partnership with Shibuya. Nearly 49,000 of the 0.008 ETH (~$16.50) NFTs were minted. It’s unclear what future utility they may unlock:

• Moonbirds announced a collection of NFT artworks, “Moonbirds: Diamond Exhibition,” that will see 10,000 digital artworks from 22 notable artists first offered to Moonbirds holders who’ve staked their Moonbird for long enough to achieve diamond status.

• Payments giant Mastercard has dropped a free NFT called a Music Pass, which it says will unlock exclusive music content and experience for holders. The whole thing sounds more like a brand-building-meets-reality TV exercise, with the promise of tales of five acts trying to make it in the world of Web3, and an AI-powered music tool for users to create their own tracks:

• Reddit, which arguably has done more to onboard skeptics to Web3 than any other brand thanks to its cunning deployment of NFT avatars to its millions of users, announced a third generation of its Reddit Collectible Avatars.

• HUG, a “social marketplace” that connects artists and collectors, closed a $5 million seed round. Randi Zuckerberg of cringy crypto video infamy (and sister of robot-disguised-as-Caesar-tribute-act Mark) founded the service in February last year.

• …and last, but by no means least, Own the Doge and PleasrDAO are making a Doge Documentary:

Connect for more 🔌

You can find Metaversal on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok.

Metaversal’s content director, Craig Wilson, compiled this week’s edition.

Patrick Lawler designed this week’s Badge commemorating “The Happening.” Don’t forget to claim one while you can!

Unlock the unexpected with Metaversal Badges. They’re free, but collecting them could grant you priceless experiences. Click, collect, and keep your ear to the ground, because great things are coming.

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