For the Love of the Game

(Market Commentary)

Aftershocks from Blur’s V-day 360M $BLUR token distribution shook markets this past Tuesday as Blur’s founder, who was mostly anonymous and known as Pacman on Twitter, doxed himself by using the web2 vs web3 meme.

Here’s the thread of him coming out of the shadows (doxing):

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It’s usually seen as a positive sign for founders to reveal their identity publicly. Why? Because most web3 founders are anonymous and hide behind code and “trustless” smart contracts.

His reasoning for staying anonymous until now was that it gave him more options, as he could always reveal himself at a later time. 

However, I guess he was being inundated by people wanting to know what sort of trickery he’s using, and who this degen whisperer is that is taking market share from the once impenetrable Opensea.

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In hindsight what Blur did seemed logical, appeal to “pro traders” who are the only ones left in the bear market, and voila, there’s your product-market fit. 

Fresh off the doxing, Mando and OSF, two web3 celebs and part of the Rug Radio ecosystem liquidated (or as some like to say, dumped) 72 Bored Apes and scored over $9m USD without affecting the BAYC floor. They were able to do this because traders had open offers on Blur that were incentivized by $Blur rewards farming. 

Source

Beeple immortalized the trade by creating an Everyday piece seen below.

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Interestingly, Pacman wants Blur to be the Binance of NFTs, and really, he could get there if the type of order book that can easily accommodate $9m in trades can be facilitated by a sustainable token farming situation. Ok, that’s a stretch, and a web3 oxymoron, these schemes usually don’t last long. 

There will be more to come on how CryptoSlam will handle and report on these “farming” sales that are artificially pumping sales volume on $ETH, so keep your eyes peeled for that development. 

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On the brighter side, Bitcoin’s Ordinals continue to make headway with new wallets, and marketplaces coming out every day. 

Thanks for reading NFTs On Deck.

Cheers, and touch grass this weekend if you can! 

— Yohann Calpu

News Headlines

Coinbase is going on-chain, launching a new layer-2 blockchain for building (and bridging), called Base.

Dapper Labs misses their shot, as a US judge refuses to dismiss their “unregistered security” lawsuit.

Ethereum's OnChainMonkey NFT project becomes the first 10k PFP collectible on Bitcoin

Banking on the future of the Metaverse, BlackRock launches a new ETF that has exposure to virtual platforms, digital assets. 

Curated, token-gated playlists arrive on Spotify with Creepz NFTs ushering in a new era of streaming audio. 

LinksDAO looks to hit a hole in one with their purchase of the Spey Bay Golf Club in Fochabers Scotland

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