Spyhopping
Blubber Notes #4 - Alpha for Future NFT Whales
Dear Future Whales,
In light of the still persistently low NFT trading volume, let’s change course for this week’s note. Many of my colleagues are familiar with the NFT projects that I’m genuinely interested in, so in an effort to bring all of my new readers up to speed, I want to share them with you! Lift your heads above the water and take a peek at what really excites me across a few featured projects. We’ll also cover our usual Alpha leaks and a new NFT game that brings out the true “degen” within.
Summary of today's notes:
Featured Projects!
Alpha Leaks
For Fun Only: A game for true degens!
Featured Projects:
Altered State Machine - This is the project that firmly netted me into the NTF space. I’ve made mention of them tied to ATEM Car Club in earlier notes, but just what is ASM?
The short answer is that the team at ASM, led by Founder David McDonald, has crafted a way to democratize AI (Artificial Intelligence) in the form of an NFT (A Brain). What I find most exciting about this project are the potential use cases for these particular brain assets.
Examples of potential use cases include generative art, music, sports and driving games. For instance, I’ve already shared that owners of the ATEM Car Club will be able to use a Brain NFT to train for and drive a digital race car, but other protocols have been announced as well. There is the original AIFA, or Artificial Intelligence Football Association, game due out later this year. This game allows users to field teams of 4 AIFA characters who play a football-like game to earn ASTO, ASMs native token, and other prizes. The project has also partnered with the Muhammed Ali Family on an upcoming boxing game called The Next Legends. I’ll share more details to come on this in the future! Don’t be surprised if someday you’re able to place one of these brains inside familiar assets such as a Fluf, Bored Ape or some other future full body avatar.
I’ve been fascinated by this project since first hearing about it in February this year. Brandverse is an NFT project working to connect physical and digital wearables. In contrast, some of my readers may be familiar with Nike’s acquisition of RTFKT, dedicated on making the next generation of collectibles and wearables. The key difference is that Brandverse is brand agnostic and possibly more community centric. They facilitate true ownership through NFT-backed physical products, support direct incentive reward mechanics between brands and consumers, and are working towards personalized interactive shopping experiences.
Brandverse’s first mint was tied to a wearable Z3NA brand watch. The design elements, logo and name were all driven by community ideas and votes. The best part? Each Z3NA NFT comes with its physical watch! If you’d like to learn more about Brandverse, take a look at this blog I wrote back in April.
Alpha leaks:
ASM/AIFA - For those who have been following the project, it’s been known that at some point owners of AIFA characters will be able to claim an amount of ASTO token. What is still sparsely known is that rarity does matter. If you are looking to get into the game by picking up a few characters, keep in mind that traits like “family” and “hobby” may come into play for a future token claim.
Some additional resources tied to ASM:
AlphaFarm.io - Community member operated site showing the “IQ” for ASM Brains by token ID.
ASM Brain Sniper - Another community member created tool. Shows active listings of ASM Brains with IQ and whether there has been an ASTO token claim for each asset.
Brandverse -
Brandverse has created a Play-2-Earn Hunt with their partner OVER (Over the Reality) lasting from July 30th to August 30th. It’s an opportunity to explore a metaverse ecosystem while searching for Disruptor watches. The top 10 players who find the most will win a Z3NA watch! Learn more about this contest here.
For Fun Only: A game for true degens!
I’m telling you upfront, this game is quite addicting. I can’t even convince you that it has good graphics or that owning one of these NFTs gives you access to anything in the future. What it does have is an element of fun, nostalgia, but bottom line, may be gambling in the purest sense. The game is called Dungeon Miners (DM).
The DM team puts it best by describing it as a mix of Oregon Trail and Dungeons & Dragons that lives on the Ethereum Blockchain. It reminds me of Atari’s version of Final Fantasy with even less control. That said, the graphics take me back to my childhood. You do have some control of Miner class such as Warrior or Mage, and can even pay a bit extra for an additional health portion or soldier training.
Unlike most NFT projects where the gambling aspect comes in the form of purchasing an NFT with the hope of getting a rare edition, this project is centered around mining “Dungeon Miners” via proof-of-work mechanics, who attempt to navigate their way out of a dungeon. The players who accomplish this feat win ETH from an ongoing prize pool. The Alpha here is that the majority of winners have had the “Assassin” class so far. Enter at your own risk!
Authored by Matt Bartlett, CAIA
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