France’s top museum to display NFTs: Nifty Newsletter, Feb 8–14
In this week’s newsletter, read about how France’s top contemporary art museum will display nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Find out why a founder of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) copycat project, RR/BAYC, is opposing trademark applications from Yuga Labs. Check out how NFTs based on Ethereum lost 60% of their market capitalization, and learn how Bitcoin (BTC) non-zero addresses surged because of Bitcoin NFTs. And don’t forget this week’s Nifty News, featuring American socialite Paris Hilton launching a dating metaverse called Parisland.
France’s top modern art museum to display CryptoPunks, Autoglyphs NFTs
The Centre Pompidou, the leading modern art museum in Paris, France, announced a permanent exhibition of NFTs. The museum will showcase NFTs from various global digital artists, including CryptoPunk #110 and Autoglyph #25.
According to Xavier Rey, director of the French National Museum of Modern Art, the center is pursuing its interest in digital art in connection with blockchain. Rey pointed out that the collection reaffirms their support for artists in “their conquest of new means of expression.”
BAYC copycat files opposition to 10 Yuga Labs trademark applications
One of the founders of the copycat NFT collection, RR/BAYC, has opposed 10 trademark applications from Yuga Labs in a strange twist to the intellectual property dispute between the BAYC creators and RR/BAYC founders Jeremy Cahen and Ryder Ripps.
However, the Yuga Labs team seems to be unfazed by the efforts. In a mainstream media interview, a spokesperson from Yuga Labs said that the filing is simply an attempt to “distract” from the real issue.
Ethereum NFT collections lost nearly 60% of their market cap in 2022: Report
NFTs have not been immune to the effects of the crypto winter of 2022. A report from DappRadar surveyed 81 NFT collections based on the Ethereum network and showed a steep decline in overall market capitalization in 2022.
While the NFT market in Ethereum was worth $9.3 billion at the start of the year, data suggests that the valuation dropped to $3.7 billion by the end of 2022. According to the report, the market capitalization may be influenced by the declining value of Ether (ETH) in 2022.
Bitcoin hits record 44M non-zero addresses, thanks to Ordinals: Glassnode
The release of Bitcoin NFTs, Bitcoin Ordinals, has pushed the number of non-zero Bitcoin addresses to its new all-time high of 44 million. According to analytics platform Glassnode, this is the first time in BTC’s 14-year history that the platform is being used for other purposes.
Glassnode pointed out that the surge in Ordinals’ use led to an uptick in Bitcoin network usage. The platform also highlighted that this new functionality brought new active users with a non-zero balance to Bitcoin.
Nifty News: Find love in Paris Hilton’s metaverse, BTC CryptoPunks soar and more
American socialite Paris Hilton worked with metaverse platform The Sandbox to launch “Parisland,” a virtual reality dating experience where players can participate in a dating reality show inside the game.
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Thanks for reading this digest of the week’s most notable developments in the NFT space. Come again next Wednesday for more reports and insights into this actively evolving space.