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, trending narratives, educational info, tips, projects to watch, occasional deep dives and more.
HEADLINER - ‘OpenSea investigate as hackers target contract migration’
Several days ago OpenSea asked its users to migrate listings over to a new contract. It gave them a week to carry this out. Failure to do so would result in these listings becoming inactive.
It’s important to note here that nothing would have happened to a users NFTs. It simply means that if you had an NFT for sale, it would no longer be listed as such if you did not take action and migrate to the new smart contract.
However, the migration did not go to plan. Within hours of the emails being sent to customers, there was a barrage of phishing attacks. Some sources state these phishing emails had been sent prior to the OpenSea email, but either way, the outcome was undesirable.
Hackers gained control over NFTs by tricking users into signing wallet permissions under false pretences. It seems the hackers used the OpenSea migration as a smoke screen to cast doubt over the source of the vulnerabilities.
People initially blamed OpenSea as well as X2Y2 (a new OS competitor), before experts worked out it was not an exploit of their contracts but instead an external phishing scam.
Lots of high-value NFTs, including leading blue-chips such as BAYC, were stolen from unsuspecting victims.
This once again highlights the risks of not fully adhering to all safety protocols when managing your NFT portfolio.
It cannot be overstated how important it is that you know with absolute certainty what it is you are signing for in your wallet.
As a general rule, I never connect my wallet via a link from an email. Absolutely never. This one golden rule essentially makes me bullet-proof with regards to email phishing attacks.
To read the full story, please click here. And if you’re unsure how to safeguard your own assets, have a look at the ‘Talking Points’ section below.
BUZZFEED - Curated news. Click to read
Bored Ape owner files $1mill USD lawsuit against OpenSea for stolen NFT
OpenSea Competitor X2Y2 launched last week, with incentives for new users
Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine x WoW NFT Partner For Education
Gem.xyz introduced a sweeping mechanic usable based on ETH budget
MAYBE SOMETHING - Upcoming drops or projects that interest us
Parallel Pack Drop 3 (PDIII) is this weekend at 5pm EST. Only 0.075ETH
Snoop Dogg launched his Doggies avatar NFT yesterday
New talent: ‘Hazy Reflections’ by TabuNFT drops today
Adam B. Levine’s 2016 music NFTs from ‘MTM Series’ are getting traction
3Landers - A strong reveal saw healthy price action. Watching closely
TALKING POINT - ‘Don’t learn the hard way - Safety First’
In light of the recent hacks mentioned above, and with more and more people pouring into the space daily, I don’t think we can emphasise enough the importance of safeguarding your assets.
Let’s explore ten basic safety tips that can help prevent 99% of wallet exploits.
DO NOT keep your seed phrase/s stored anywhere that connects online. Not on your laptop, desktop, tablet or smartphone. Keep them stored offline only.
DO NOT sign anything in your wallet that originates from an email.
DO NOT sign anything in your wallet that originates from a Discord DM (Direct Message).
DO NOT connect your wallet to websites unless you are 100% sure they are legitimate and safe.
USE A HARD WALLET like Ledger or Trezor to add an additional layer of security to your assets.
NEVER share your seed phrase or private keys with anyone, ever. Nobody should ever ask you for this.
CREATE additional “hot wallets” in Metamask, and use these to connect to anything that you have concerns about. And don’t keep much of value in it.
DISCONNECT your wallet from websites after use.
REVOKE WALLET PERMISSIONS by using revoke.cash or debank.com.
SPREAD YOUR ASSETS across several wallets. This way, if one is compromised, at least you don’t lose everything.
By following these simple steps, you and your assets will be considerably safer. As you can see, most safety measures don’t require adding layers of additional steps into everything. It’s about exercising caution, and questioning what you’re doing.
If you have further questions regarding asset security, feel free to jump into our Discord and ask questions. You can also take a look at Ledgers website here. They are leaders in digital asset security, and their website is an excellent resource on the topic.
BIG MOVERS - Collections with impressive stats from the past week
NFT Worlds - This collection has seen great price action. Holding a floor price of 15ETH at the moment having had a recent surge, and currently on a pullback.
Dooggies - This collection saw an enormous surge in sales (up almost 200,000%) due to it being pumped by members of the historical NFT space. A community quickly developed around it.
Gray Boys - This collection has some very interesting utility ambitions. Go check out their discord for the lowdown: http://discord.gg/grayboys
The Orbs by BT - Up over 1,000% on weekly volume, this innovative music NFT seems to be hitting a chord with collectors.
CryptoDickButts - This popular collection saw some nice sales volume, up over 150% on the weekly charts. If you’ve not heard of it, go check it out here.
THE WATCHLIST - Projects we believe have long-term potential. DYOR
Mutant Ape Yacht Club (same as above, extension of BAYC, well established)
V1 Cryptopunks (original Cryptopunks contract, historically significant)
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)
Spells Of Genesis (First TCG on the XCP blockchain, 2015, huge significance)
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)
Boss Beauties (impressive marketing and immense IRL collabs)
TIP OF THE WEEK - Rainbow Wallet great for NFTs
Having recently closed an $18 million fundraising round led by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, this hip Ethereum wallet is worth a closer look.
If you’re after a fun, simple, and secure way to interact with the web3 world through your smartphone, this is a great option. It has one of the best UI’s for NFTs we’ve come across, and it’s already available on both Android and iPhone.
If you want to know more, visit them on Twitter here.
If you’re keen to dive deeper, visit their ‘Rainbow knowledge base’ 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
Website coming soon
Three projects lined up for incubation: a Solana project, a launchpad and a generative art platform
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.