M6 Labs NFT Weekly

Ordinals Airdrops, Ronin is Back, Crypto Gaming Steams Ahead

Author

Aurelian
January 25, 2024

GM, Anon! While the market has been ranging and experienced some concerning lows, dipping below $40K, it appears that this has had no significant impact on the NFT market in terms of activity. Developments continue to progress, and the statistics for gaming across various blockchain networks are quite impressive. Let's dive in!

Project Updates

The Musée d’Orsay in Paris is set to host its first-ever NFT exhibition, titled "Le Code d’Orsay," featuring original artworks incorporating blockchain technology. 

  • This groundbreaking exhibition by artist and DJ Agoria seeks to bridge the digital and physical worlds through "biological generative art." 

  • One artwork, "Sigma Lumina," involves a steel sculpture casting a QR code shadow, leading viewers to Tezos blockchain-powered art inspired by Impressionist masters. 

  • The second piece employs yeast culture and biochemistry to represent phases in the life of Gustave Courbet, a French painter, in conjunction with one of his iconic works. The museum's partnership with the Tezos Foundation aims to integrate blockchain-backed art into its collections. 

Blue Chip and Market Overview

Traditional NFTs have experienced a recent decline in value, though Pudgy Penguins did briefly surpass 20 ETH in value. 

  • Surprisingly, the volume of transactions for the once-dominant NFT collection from the previous bull cycle, Bored Ape Yacht Club, has fallen to tenth place. 

  • Interest in BAYC appears to be momentarily waning, although the MAYC derivative collection witnessed impressive trading volumes this week, securing the second position.

Despite a decrease in the number of active traders on most major NFT marketplaces, Blur remains a leader in the space, as volumes have experienced a slight increase. The OKX NFT Marketplace, in particular, has witnessed a significant rise in trading volume.

Despite the recent decrease in user numbers within the crypto gaming sector, games like motoDEX, Sweat Economy, Pixels, and others have still managed to maintain impressive player counts. 

  • Considering the current early stage of the market cycle, it is evident that crypto games continue to attract substantial user engagement.

Crypto gambling platforms have seen a substantial increase in user volume over the last 7 days. Wax Casino, Doge Casino and Trade Signal are standouts. 

Apart from specialized blockchains like WAX and Ronin, it appears that Polygon and BNB have emerged as the preferred choices for general crypto game launches. 

  • Ethereum has notably fallen behind, primarily due to high gas fees and the impracticality of building games with such cost constraints. 

  • Interestingly, both Optimism and Arbitrum have yet to witness substantial gaming activity, with Arbitrum, in particular, positioning itself for the gaming sector. 

  • However, this situation is likely to change in the future with the development of Arbitrum Nova and the recent introduction of Arbitrum Orbit.

Top 5 hot games on Ethereum. Source: Footprint Analytics.

Top 5 hot games on Polygon. Source: Footprint Analytics.

Trending games on BNB. Source: Footprint Analytics.

Recently NFT Price Floor released their latest report recapping 2023. Let’s take a look at the main takeaways. 

  • Focus on Floor Prices: The report emphasizes the importance of floor prices as a key indicator of a collection's market value, offering insights into the minimum ask price for items from specific NFT collections.

  • Market Capitalization Trends: The report explores the evolution of the total market cap of the top 250 NFT collections, providing year-over-year comparisons.

  • Top Collections' Performance: The report provides an in-depth look at the top 30 NFT collections, including their floor price performance, top gainers and losers, and year-over-year variations.

  • Sales Analysis: Significant sales of top collections are highlighted, showcasing the highest-selling NFTs and their impact on the overall market.

  • Market Share and Trends: It discusses the market share of top NFT collections and analyses general market trends, including shifts in popularity and value.

Degen Corner

  • Ronin - (RON) has continued its recent upward trend, thanks to the hype surrounding the Pixels game and other gaming tokens. The token has registered an increase of 28.7% over the past two weeks and is currently trading at $2.28.  

  • IMX - The Immutable (IMX) token had done quite well in December 2023, reaching a peak price of $2.57. However, the price has continued to drop since. With the linear unlock of IMX tokens set to begin from the 25th of January, we could see the price drop further. The unlock event will continue for 28 days, and 1.22M IMX tokens worth $2.19 million will be unlocked daily.

  • Axie - Axie (AXS) is currently trading at $7.14. The token dropped by 29.7% over the past 30 days. However, the past 24 hours have seen an increase of just under 5%.

  • Beam - (BEAM) is the native token of the BEAM Network, and has been highly volatile since it reached its all-time high in December 2023. The price reached a January peak of $0.022 on the 17th of January. Since then, the token has been on a downward trend, dropping to $0.015 before moving to its current level of $0.017.

  • Mocaverse has introduced Anichess, a chess-based puzzle game with magic elements, allowing players to earn game NFTs for Anichess and Realm Points for the Mocaverse. Moca ID holders can complete quests in Anichess, while the game offers daily puzzles and bonus challenges. 

  • Apeiron, a god-simulation game on the Ronin network, offers players a chance to play and earn ANIMA tokens through a battle demo. Players can earn airdrop points in various ways, including social interactions and owning NFTs. ANIMA token allocations will be vested over time, and players must complete tasks to unlock them. 

  • Nyan Heroes, a team-based shooter featuring cat-piloted mechs, is hosting a playtest in February where players can earn NYN tokens. The playtest will be available on Epic Games and is open to everyone, with extra rewards for NFT holders. Nyan Heroes and Guardians NFTs are available on Magic Eden. 

Oasys Gaming Blockchain: Oasys is a gaming-focused crypto network that aims to attract both game developers and players.

  • Oasys consists of two layers: the "Hub layer" (layer-1 blockchain) and the "Verse layer" (Ethereum-compatible layer-2 scaling solution).

  • It is EVM compatible, allowing assets like crypto tokens from other EVM chains to be transferred into its ecosystem.

  • The Hub layer uses proof-of-stake but does not accept new smart contracts without approval from the Oasys development team.

  • The Verse layer employs a modified version of Optimistic rollups to enable instant transaction approval.

  • Oasys plans to support zero-knowledge rollups in the future.

  • Transaction fees on the Verse layer are borne by developers, not users.

  • The Oasys Passport is a beginner-friendly crypto wallet for the Oasys blockchains.

  • Games like Ubisoft's Champions Tactics, My Crypto Heroes, Ryuzo, Battle of Three Kingdoms, and Summoners War: Chronicles are using Oasys for blockchain integration.

  • Oasys competes with other gaming-focused blockchains like Immutable and Sui, with notable publishers already adopting it.

  • Follow developments and play games on Oasys here.

What Are Recursive Bitcoin Inscriptions?

  • These are inscriptions represent a significant advancement within the realm of Bitcoin-based NFTs. In contrast to Ethereum NFTs, which rely on smart contracts for composability and dynamism, Ordinals, lack native smart contract functionality. 

  • However, the concept of recursive inscriptions has allowed Bitcoin NFT projects to introduce their own versions of composability and dynamism.

  • In the context of Ordinals, recursion refers to the capability of one inscription to access and utilize the content of other inscriptions. 

  • This is made possible through specific "recursive endpoints," such as r/sat, which can retrieve the initial 100 inscription IDs on a particular satoshi. 

  • By employing recursive inscriptions, Bitcoin NFT projects have effectively overcome Bitcoin's inherent 4 MB block size limit, enabling the creation of more extensive and intricate digital works on the Bitcoin blockchain.

  • An early adopter of recursion was the OnChainMonkey (OCM) project, which utilized recursive inscriptions to develop its OCM Dimensions collection. 

  • The proliferation of recursion prompted the developers of the ord protocol, the underlying system of Ordinals, to officially integrate recursive inscriptions into the protocol with updates like ord 0.11.0. 

  • Consequently, numerous projects have embraced recursive inscriptions to explore new possibilities. 

  • Noteworthy projects currently pushing the boundaries of recursive inscriptions include Bitcoin Pizza Ninjas, which utilizes recursive inscriptions for art generation and upgradeable traits. 

  • The project even deployed a Super Nintendo emulator on the Bitcoin blockchain, allowing its ninja characters to interact with it through recursive inscriptions. 

  • Another project of interest is Quantum Cats, developed by the Taproots Wizard team, which employs recursive inscriptions and other innovative techniques to construct the project openly without revealing the completed artwork prior to its official release.

In recent developments, there has been an interesting airdrop event orchestrated by @rune_coin. This airdrop introduced the RSIC Metaprotocol. 

  • Those who were fortunate enough to receive this airdrop have found themselves rewarded handsomely

  • Remarkably, this event might signify the start of a new trend, with the potential for fresh protocols and innovative distribution methods to emerge in the aftermath of this successful airdrop. 

  • The beneficiaries of the RSIC Metaprotocol airdrop mainly consisted of holders of Bitcoin Puppets, Bitcoin Frogs, Node Monkes, or OMB. 

  • These fortunate recipients now possess RSIC inscriptions, each currently valued at a floor price of nearly 0.06 BTC. 

  • However, there is still some ambiguity and uncertainty regarding the precise purpose of these inscriptions.

  • Recipients must transfer the RSIC inscriptions to activate them for mining rune coins. This activation is tied to the recipient's wallet, offering flexibility in terms of when and how they opt to utilize their inscriptions.

  • Additionally, the community is eagerly anticipating the announcement of an upcoming boost feature, which is expected to be shared through this inscription.

  • Checkout the collection here on Magic Eden: https://magiceden.io/ordinals/marketplace/rsic

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