Rare Club Nifty Newsletter #11
Accessibility as a growth driver, onboarding tactics and getting an edge as a buyer
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 - ‘Coinbase partners with Mastercard for NFT purchases’
It was announced last night that Coinbase are to partner with Mastercard for NFT purchases. This comes as no surprise having witnessed the phenomenal success of the Veve platform, which was able to make a huge impact in the NFT space by offering user-friendly payment options.
CoinbaseNFT clearly understand the advantage of creating an environment that caters for those who are not crypto-literate. And this will likely translate into hugely impressive sales volumes. For more on this story, please click here.
Meanwhile, in China, amongst a rising demand for NFTs, the government has outlined plans to launch a state-backed, crypto-less ‘digital collectibles’ platform. It will be known as the Blockchain Services Network (BSN).
China has repeatedly voiced its opposition to cryptocurrencies and very publicly cracked down on Bitcoin mining. Now they are looking to implement an infrastructure that facilitates ‘digital collectible’ ownership, have suggested they are not keen on secondary sales marketplaces and it’s reported BSN will be incompatible with external NFTs. So what’s at play here? If you’d like to read more, please find an extended article here.
BUZZFEED - Curated news and hot topics
Andreessen-Backed Mythical Games Buys Game Streaming Startup to Build in the Metaverse
@dt_chain has offered 2000Ξ for a Mega Mutant Serum
Microsoft buy Activision Blizzard for +/-$70B to accelerate Metaverse ambitions
@Konami releases Castlevania 35th Anniversary NFTs
Solana NFT firm completes $46mill USD fundraising round with big backers
@ParallelNFT Pack Drop III scheduled for 2/26
TALKING POINT - ‘Accessibility as a key factor in NFT success stories’
The Ecomi/Veve ecosystem has been on our radar since early 2021. It’s an NFT marketplace featuring global brands such as Disney, Coca-Cola, Marvel, Cartoon Network and Dreamworks. In recent weeks, it’s seen an explosion in numbers and trading volumes. But why?
Aside from the obvious benefits of global brand partnerships, key factors have been accessibility and ease of use. The company also have an excellent marketing team, giants in the licensing game and a stellar product. But accessibility and ease of use have played a huge role in the companies ability to onboard customers at such an astonishing rate.
When I mention accessibility, I’m referring to these three factors:
Everything is conducted via a mobile app
Setting up an account requires just an email address and phone number
Customers can pay for the in-app currency (Gems) with a credit/debit card
This setup completely bypasses some of the larger barriers to entry in the wider NFT landscape. These would include:
Setting up a cryptocurrency account or wallet
Buying cryptocurrency to make NFT purchases
Paying (potentially) high gas fees
Learning the basics of crypto
In bypassing all these entry-level hurdles, Veve has managed to attract a large, thriving community in a short space of time. And this has led to huge price appreciation across all its collections.
As an example, one collectible, the ‘Ghostbusters | Logo - Platinum’, currently has a floor price of $40,000 USD. Its original listing price on 28th January 2021 was just $89 USD. This serves to highlight the enormous appetite for such NFT collectibles. And we can expect demand to increase.
Since the announcement of Disney as a partner, the platform has been onboarding users at a rate of between 20,000-30,000 a day. This would unlikely have been the case if every member had to set themselves up with crypto wallets to get involved.
I expect other platforms with NFT marketplaces, such as Crypto.com, which also allow users to onboard using familiar payment options, to thrive in the coming months.
It will be some time until the public at large are crypto-literate, but these platforms are doing an excellent job at showcasing the NFT world via easy to use platforms. And the sales volumes appear to suggest that people not only understand it, they love it.
BIG MOVERS - Collections with impressive stats from the past week
Azuki - As of yet unrevealed, Azuki has managed the highest volume of sales in the past 7 days. It’s a collection of 10,000 avatars that give you membership access to The Garden. It starts with exclusive streetwear collabs, NFT drops, live events, and much more that will be revealed over time. A brand for the metaverse. By the community.
Bored Ape Yacht Club - BAYC continues its run of impressive sales volume, sitting second in the weekly charts, and achieving a floor price of 83 ETH.
World Of Women - One of our long-term collections to watch has had a surge in popularity as celebs onboard into the collection. Currently sitting 3rd in overall volume of sales over the past 7 days, with a floor price of 7.5 ETH.
Parallel Alpha - Up over 600% in the past week, this blue chip collection has benefited from the news of its Prime Proposal release on January 25th. The Prime Proposal is a whitepaper of sorts outlining the game mechanics and economy.
Mooncats - Also up over 600% in the past week, this 2017 NFT project has garnered huge interest amidst the recent historical NFT craze.
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 Alpha (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 - How to check Rarity traits
As discussed last week, people will look at certain metrics when judging whether an NFT project is a viable investment. But once you’ve picked the project you like, you still need to choose your unique NFT carefully. Why? Rarity traits.
In a large proportion of NFT collections, the uniqueness of an individual NFT is based upon certain traits. It can be a hard task, especially for newcomers, to gauge which items are undervalued or overvalued. Luckily, there are tools to help you work it all out.
One of the more recent additions to the array of websites offering information on rarity traits and NFT rankings is Raritysniffer.com.
You can use their site to get an edge when it comes to making informed purchases, and follow their socials to get notified of the most recent collections added to their platform.
Follow them on Twitter here.
Visit their website and explore collections here.
RARE.NEWS - Updates regarding the Rare.club NFT DAO fund:
This coming month will be big for Rare Club. Watch this space!
Discord is set up and you’re welcome to join
New website and logo to go live within a week
Pitch deck is completed. Will be released soon
Next fundraise will happen in 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.