Rare Club Nifty Newsletter #10
CryptoSkulls mania, token rewards and the importance of community
Welcome to the ‘Rare Club Nifty Newsletter’, a curated snapshot of what matters most. We provide informative and easily digestible content about the NFT space, with one publication a week. Subscribe for free at the bottom of the article.
Includes NFT news, info on trending narratives, educational info, tips, projects to watch, occasional deep dives and more.
HEADLINER - ‘CryptoSkulls Weekly Volume up 750,000%’
Yesterday saw an enormous influx of interest in the 2019 project CryptoSkulls. The catalyst for this was the buying activity of an influential figure in the historical NFT space. He started purchasing hundreds of CryptoSkulls. Once it was noticed on-chain, the crowds flooded in behind him, chasing the opportunity. Another hugely influential player in the NFT space followed suit, and before long, the word had spread like wildfire.
The floor price started off at around 0.05ETH having had very limited activity over the past year. Today, the floor price is fluctuating at around the 0.6ETH mark, and some NFTs within the collection have traded at 100ETH.
Once this unfolded, people were evidently on the lookout for other early NFT projects, and we saw floor prices on several collections get eaten up in the following hours.
We discussed the historical NFT space here in RCNN #3, published 24th November. This recent flurry of activity on CryptoSkulls and the resulting interest in early NFTs is just the beginning.
The assets in this period are limited, often rare and many hold historical significance. These are the antiques of the blockchain, and represent some of the best investment opportunities the space has to offer.
Historical NFTs, in some respects, have a higher barrier to entry when it comes to the technical knowledge required to safety verify and purchase them. I would certainly recommend doing plenty of research before “apeing in”. That said, here’s some collections (names are clickable with links to OpenSea) which are more easily accessible for newcomers:
Curio Cards - 1st NFT art collection on the Ethereum blockchain
Cryptocards - 2018 project that documents Bitcoin history
Mooncats - 1st generative art project on Ethereum
CryptoBots - Early P2E game on Ethereum
CryptoArte - Early generative art project on Ethereum
PixelMap - Considered 2nd oldest NFT on Ethereum
These should whet your appetite, and you can delve deeper should it interest you.
BUZZFEED - Curated news and hot topics
Lamborghini look to enter NFT market soon
OpenSea rival LooksRare tops $110mill in NFT sales in one day
@LoganPaul sells World of Women #6025 for 200ETH, to Sandbox
There’s now a bid of 1750 ETH on a Mega Mutant Serum
@cameronmoulene buys Pudgy Penguin for 750 ETH
@C_01_Project brings more world-class talent into the NFT space
TALKING POINT - ‘Community Rules All - Don’t overlook it’
When deciding what to purchase in the NFT space, the weighting given to the community aspect should not be overlooked.
People use numerous metrics to gauge the viability of an NFT investment. These include but are not limited to the following:
Entry Price
Sales Volumes
Unique Holders
Recent Floor Price Movement
Upcoming Events
Celebrity/Influencer Endorsement
Team
Community
These are some common ones, and there are more, but community is absolutely one to pay attention to if you’re looking for a long-term investment.
We’ve seen some really impressive moves in the market this past week in collections such as Alien Frens, Pudgy Penguins, Doodles and Phanta Bear. We’ve also seen some lacklustre performances, mentioning no names. But one thing that’s evident in all collections that succeed over time is that they have healthy, loyal and engaged communities.
To gauge the health of an NFT community, i’d recommend the following, which should be prerequisites to making any investment:
Follow on Twitter and look over recent engagements
Check if the project/community is visible across multiple social media channels
Go into the projects Discord and gauge community sentiment
These are all windows into the community vibe. The best indicator is Discord. This is because you can chat to other members and gauge how the community feels about the project. These are some red flags in Discord:
Community fixation on the floor price
Lack of constructive conversation/flooded with inane chat
Repetitive complaints about the team and devs
Generally toxic atmosphere
Obviously some people just like to complain, and some complaints may be well founded, but 30 minutes in most Discords will give you a good idea of whether the community is simply sat waiting for a pump to dump, or whether there’s a long-term interest in collectively driving the project forward.
Choose your tribes carefully, as if you’ve no conviction in your community, you’ll struggle to hold the asset through harsher downturns. But if you’ve picked well, the upside over time will be well worth it.
BIG MOVERS - Collections with impressive stats from the past week
CryptoSkulls - As mentioned in the Headline article, this collection has seen insane sales volumes due to influencers buying in and traction in older NFT collections.
PhantaBear - This collection went from sub 1 ETH floor to over 8 ETH in the space of about 24hrs. This was supposedly due to an East Asian contingent saying they will make this collection their version of BAYC.
The Heart Project - Up 12,000% in sales volumes in a week, this collection was also pumped by the East Asian market.
Doodles - This collection is sat at 3rd in the weekly sales volume chart and continues to impress with some high profile purchases in the past few days.
Pudgy Penguins - Up almost 1,600% in sales volumes on the news that there will be a new team in place to push the project forward. This news a few days ago saw the floor price double in a short period of time.
THE WATCHLIST - Projects we believe have long-term potential. DYOR
Mutant Ape Yacht Club (same as above, extension of BAYC, well established)
Meebits (same team as CryptoPunks, mass appeal, early 3D avatars)
Cool Cats NFT (very strong community, respected collection, mass appeal)
Lost Poets (created by famous artist ‘Pak’, strong community)
Parallel (gaming, TCG, strong team, incredible backers, big ambitions)
My Curio Cards (historical significance, early ETH NFT)
Prime Ape Planet (outstanding artwork, experienced team, good roadmap)
CryptoMories (unique artwork, good community, lowish entry price)
DeadFellaz (very strong community, established)
World Of Women (celebrity endorsed, one of 1st female avatar collections)
TIP OF THE WEEK - LooksRare Rewards OS Users
LooksRare, an OpenSea competitor, launched earlier this week. It offered OpenSea users the chance to claim their native $LOOKS tokens via their website. The amount claimable was directly related to your historical trading volume on OpenSea between fixed dates.
For more information and to see if you are eligible to claim $LOOKS, please click here.
RARE.NEWS - Updates regarding the Rare.club NFT DAO fund:
Discord is set up and will kick-off within a week or so
New website and logo are ready. Will be released very soon
Pitch deck is completed. Will be released soon
Twitter spaces will start soon
Next fundraise will happen in Jan/Feb 2022
Two projects lined up for incubation: a Solana project and a launchpad
Links to our socials and website coming soon,
Thanks for reading, and see you next time
Always DYOR (do your own research). Nothing in this or any other article in this series should be construed as financial or investment advice. We do our very best to provide useful information for our readers. What you do with that information is up to you.
Remember to exercise caution within the NFT space. The community is full of amazing people, but there are unscrupulous ones too. Keep your wits about you, and act responsibly. As always, good luck.