ICYMI: Last Week In Crypto - Nike Launch First Digital Sneakers on .Swoosh & The Smurfs Enter Web3
🤾🏽♂️New Entries, New Beginnings✨
Last week, Nike announced the launch of its first digital sneakers on the .SWOOSH NFT marketplace. Market reports suggests that the Ethereum Shanghai Upgrade might have triggered institutional interest in staking and popular animated characters, The Smurfs makes their first stance in Web3.
Nike Set to Roll-out Its First Digital Sneakers on .Swoosh
The first non-fungible token (NFT) sneaker collection from international sportswear company Nike will soon be available on the recently launched.Swoosh platform.
The name of the virtual sneaker, Our Force 1 (OF1), is a play on the company's well-known Air Force 1 style. Nike will start airdropping "posters" to select .Swoosh users on April 18 in order to give them early access to the sale on May 8. The digital goods will be available for purchase through the .Swoosh marketplace on May 10.
Users will have the option of two digital boxes: the "Classic Remix" box or the "New Wave" box, each of which corresponds to a different set of potential designs, including one that four Nike fans collaborated on in January. Each box costs $19.82 in remembrance of the year the Air Force 1 sneaker debuted.
The OF1 boxes will eventually be opened by their owners. Each NFT will include a paired 3D file that owners can use to "express themselves in new ways," according to Nike. In the future, the company plans to add broader functionality, such as "exclusive physical products or experiences."
"We are exploring new ways to tell stories and create relationships while removing the barriers and limitations of physical products," said Ron Faris, general manager of Nike Virtual Studios, in a press release.
Nike teased that its .Swoosh platform, which it released in beta form in November, would be used as a tool for Web3 education and as a marketplace for trading digital collectibles. The company added that .Swoosh items can be worn in video games and other immersive experiences.
Additionally, .Swoosh members will be able to produce their own collections and receive royalties from sales. Nike held a contest in January with a $5,000 top prize. Members of the SWOOSH community are encouraged to create an Instagram visual storyboard showcasing their footwear design concepts.
Just a few days prior to Nike's announcement, global footwear brand Adidas released Chapter 1 of its ALTS dynamic NFT collection, giving owners access to the ALTS by Adidas ecosystem and interactive storylines.
Smurf Happens: Beloved Blue Characters Makes Debut in Web3
Popular animated series The Smurfs, famous for their appearances in comic books, cartoons, and movies, are embarking on a new adventure with the release of a new collection of non-fungible tokens (NFT) from the Smurf Society, which will extend the three-apple-tall characters' reach to Web3.
What's the deal with the Smurfs? One of the intellectual property (IP) attractions was its extensive Web2 reach and "94% recognition globally." According to co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer Arthur Salkin, Smurfs are well-known not only in Belgium, where the comics first appeared, but also widely in other parts of Europe, the United States, and China. These countries value the Smurfs' sense of community and cooperation.
Frédéric Montagnon, a second co-founder of the Smurfs Society who focuses on brand strategy, was particularly drawn to that spirit. Montagnon asserted that the Smurfs are the perfect team to help convert Web2 users to Web3 by creating a welcoming, inclusive community. The Smurfs' reputation as a warm, approachable brand that prioritizes helping others was a major selling point.
“We see NFTs as creating a community that doesn’t have borders,” Montagnon highlighted. “Web3 provides less hassle and all the freedom to connect with others and provide digital sovereignty, which is very important.”
The Smurf Society launched a bucket auction for 3,000 NFTs featuring the Smurfs' characters on April 18th. The Smurfs' Society Legendary Collection introduces Web3 characters like VR Smurf and Crypto Smurf to the village in addition to Smurfs avatars based on well-known legacy characters like Papa Smurf, Brainy Smurf, and Smurfette.
“You can identify yourself with Smurfs,” Salkin noted, teasing that future drops would be even more inclusive in character design. Salkin lauded the work done by Daft Punk creative director Cedric Hervet in enlisting notable 3D artists to bring the Smurf profile pictures (PFP) to life.
The collection will include 12,500 3D-rendered Smurf PFPs in total. According to the project's website, there will be 250 different Smurf characters, each with 50 distinctive variants and more than 350 distinct traits.
The Smurfs Society has been growing over the past year with a smaller, closed community that has been testing the gamified Smurfy world, built on Polygon. Crystals, which can be traded on secondary markets like OpenSea and will give access to a discounted allow-list sale after the public bucket auction, have been given to those early adopters as a reward.
Part of the gaming experience highlighted education as part of the quests. “Every day you had the opportunity to mint some ingredients and if you picked the right ingredients you could mint a potion and create a crystal,” Montagnon explained. “So there could be a quest that helped you understand what you needed to mint and how it worked with blockchain technology.”
The Smurfs are now available on Web3, joining other well-liked kids' TV programs that have just recently appeared there. NFTs were first introduced by "Fraggle Rock" by Jim Henson in January, and "Sesame Street" with VeVe in March.
Web3 Security Startup Shield Raises $2.1M in Pre-Seed Funding
Shield, a Web3 security company, announced on Thursday that it had raised $2.1 million in pre-seed funding to create an industry standard that protects consumers and businesses from potential dangers.
The company's funding round included participation from Kraken Ventures, Eterna Capital, Alchemy, MoonPay, and Rob Behnke, CEO of crypto security company Halborn. The company is also a participant in a16z's Crypto Startup School.
Shield's CEO and co-founder, Emmanuel Udotong, explained that the company's goal is to create an industry standard for businesses operating securely in the Web3 space.
Shield begins with a certification program that aids businesses in identifying their weaknesses before making product recommendations to protect users. Currently, Shield provides a Discord bot to track malicious activity in communities and an API to help identify potential scams within a protocol.
According to Isaiah Udotong, chief operating officer and co-founder of Shield, many of the security concerns for Web3 are related to issues that users had in the early days of the internet.
“In the early 2000s e-commerce scammers were stealing credit card details from people when they were entering credit cards to buy products online,” said Udotong. “That problem was solved with a secure sockets layer (SSL), and that's what we're doing in 2023 – we're building a scam-free layer for crypto.
Shield's chief technology officer, Luis Carchi, said in a press release that Web3 security has many facets and that the company must use a variety of products to guarantee Web3 businesses are safeguarded.
“We aren't trying to be ‘the Chrome extension,’ or ‘the Discord bot,’” said Carchi. “We're actually thinking about this from a full-stack point of view, and we’re being as holistic as possible.”
In addition to entertainment company Fox Sports, non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Rarible, and token-gated infrastructure platform Guild.xyz as clients, Shield has already accumulated over 350,000 users.
As Web3 technology - and con artists - advance, Shield plans to use the funding to expand its engineering team and allocate resources to research and development.
Marvel Studios Founder David Maisel Launches Ekos Genesis Art Collection
David Maisel, the original chairman of Marvel Studios and founder of Mythos Studios, announced the launch of the Ekos Genesis Art Collection, which is now on display in a virtual gallery at ekos.io.
A new digital art collection from Mythos Studios, led by David Maisel, the man behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will feature works by renowned comic book artist Michael Turner.
Original artwork by the late comic book artist Michael Turner and his frequent partner Peter Steigerwald, who are well-known for their work in Marvel and DC comics as well as for collaborating to illustrate series for Turner's Aspen Comics, is included in the non-fungible token (NFT) collection.
Aspen Comics is 50% owned by Mythos Studios, which also owns the underlying intellectual property. Characters from series like Fathom and the titular Ekos, Turner's last work that had not yet been published when he passed away, are the focus of The Ekos Collection.
Turner's art has long been a favorite of Maisel, who started collecting it in 2003. Each NFT is constructed using Michael Turner's original line art and then colored using hues that are inspired by various things like the Pop Art movement, black light posters, or neon lights.
“We’ve worked so hard to create this Ekos Genesis Art Collection and we’re now extremely excited to give people a chance to own this Ekos-inspired 1-of-1 original hand-crafted digital art. This wouldn’t be possible without Web3,” said David Maisel in a press release.
A two-part digital collection by Turner that included the published colored cover and original line art for the first issue of Fathom sold for $100,000 in 2021, as shown below:
The Ekos Genesis Art Collection will begin a Dutch auction of 995 1/1 NFTs on May 2 at 10 a.m. PT. Since "Iron Man," the film that launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has been in theaters for 15 years, the date has special significance for Maisel.
Bidding in the Dutch auction will begin at 10 ether (ETH) and decrease by 0.5 ETH every four minutes until it reaches 0.5 ETH. The auction will last 88 minutes. Finally, if the collection hasn't already sold out, it will drop to 0.2 ETH for the last eight minutes of the auction.
Deposits for the NFTs can be made prior to the Dutch auction starting on April 24 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. Before May 1, anyone who deposits 10 ETH can reserve a piece of Ekos Genesis art.
Additionally, the first 100 early deposits will get an Early Collector Bonus of an extra NFT from a different collection of "Ekos Genesis Art Portraits." The collectors who are eligible for one or more bonus NFTs may choose the specific works of art they desire in a priority order based on the earliest deposits (i.e., first to deposit gets first choice, etc.). Finally, one of six unique NFTs with artwork created from the same Fathom cover art from the 2021 sale will be given to the top six collectors overall at the conclusion of the auction period.
Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade Triggers Institutional Investment Into Staking
Early indications suggest that institutional investors' interest in staking has increased as a result of Ethereum's seamless Shanghai upgrade.
According to Michiel Milanovic, an analyst at Ethereum blockchain development company ConsenSys, top institutional-grade ETH (ETH) staking service providers have already seen about a threefold increase in inflows in April compared to the entire previous month. He added that after the Shanghai upgrade went live on April 12 approximately 80% of the inflows occurred.
Starting on April 12, the highly anticipated Shanghai or Shapella upgrade for Ethereum allowed for the withdrawal of some 18 million tokens, totaling $35 billion, that had previously been locked up in staking contracts. The price of ETH increased after the upgrade, reaching $2,100, its highest level in 11 months, dispelling earlier worries that the unlocking might trigger intense selling pressure and a price drop. The token recently fell below $1,900, moving in step with a general decline in the cryptocurrency market.
Allowing withdrawals also decreased the liquidity risk related to staking ETH, which in the past has deterred some investors. After the initial drawdown of ETH from long-term validators, "we anticipate this to naturally increase staking rates," Milanovic said.
In a survey conducted by Kiln, a provider of institutional-grade staking services, 68% of investors stated that they planned to start staking or increase the amount they were already staking after Shanghai. Before the Shanghai upgrade, the survey was conducted in February.
Kiln's co-founder and chief operating officer, Thomas de Phuoc, claimed that the company noticed a renewed interest in staking, even from traditional finance (TradFi) firms.
Since the Shanghai upgrade, Kiln has received $47 million (24,640 ETH) in new deposits, according to a Dune dashboard created by the analyst for crypto venture fund Dragonfly.
According to Dune data, rival platform Staked.us brought in $111 million (58,592 ETH), more than double the $51 million (26,667 ETH) in staking rewards that were withdrawn.
However, Milanovic cautioned that it is too soon to draw firm conclusions because not all staking providers have made withdrawals instantly possible.
Square Enix Teams With Elixir to Bring Web3 Games to Mainstream Audiences
Square Enix, the creator of the popular Final Fantasy series and a publisher of video games, announced that it is collaborating with PC gaming platform Elixir to increase the uptake of Web3 games.
Elixir's platform features both conventional and Web3 video games, and it recently added the well-known Epic Games Store library. Elixir hopes to further converge the now-separate Web2 and Web3 gaming worlds with Square Enix on board.
“This partnership with Elixir Games represents yet another step for Square Enix to explore the promise of Web3-decentralized gaming,” said Square Enix Director of Business Development Hidaki Uehera, in a statement.
Elixir CEO Carlos Roldan believes the partnership with Square Enix will help bring Web3 games to a wider audience, despite the fact that little is known about how they will work together.
“This partnership brings us closer to Web3 gaming mass adoption,” he said in a statement. “Our team is incredibly excited to bring our technology to work, and we foresee Elixir users playing Web2 and Web3 games alike without distinction.”
“2023 has already seen more industry leaders enter the space with impactful projects, and we anticipate to see more as the year progresses,” Roldan added. “We’ve put all efforts to ensure we are ready for scalability.”
Elixir CEO Carlos Roldan believes the partnership with Square Enix will help bring Web3 games to a wider audience, despite the fact that little is known about how they will work together.
For years, Square Enix has been vocal about the potential of Web3 gaming, even leading an investment round into the metaverse game The Sandbox in 2020.
Such crypto game economies, according to President Yosuke Matsuda's early 2022 letter, are a novel technology that is "here to stay." Matsuda previously stated that 2021 was the "Year One" for NFTs in the eyes of Square Enix. And in late 2022, Square Enix revealed Symbiogenesis, its first Web3 game, which will use Polygon, an Ethereum scaling network, for its NFT components.
A variety of Web3 games, including the MMORPG World Eternal Online, oddball card battlers like Raini: Lords of Light and Elemental Raiders, and RPGs like Chronos and Bornless, have been added to Elixir's launcher. These games are available on Solana, BNB Chain, Ethereum, and Polygon.