Shalini Nagarajan

<div id="highlights-block_6344051f1cd17" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The impacted Dapper accounts haven’t been closed but services are restricted</li>
 <li>Dapper’s move is in line with the EU’s tightening Russian crypto ban</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Dapper Labs, the Web3 startup behind <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/nba-top-shot-creator-raises-725m-fund-to-grow-flow-blockchain-usage/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NBA Top Shot</a>, has imposed a near-complete ban on Russian users in a bid to stay inline with fresh sanctions on the country.



“It is now prohibited to provide cryptoasset wallet, account, or custody services of any value to accounts with connections to Russia, irrespective of the amount of the wallet,” Dapper Labs said in a <a href="https://support.meetdapper.com/hc/en-us/articles/5486302427795-Restrictions-Affecting-Collectors-in-Russia" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a> last week.



The Vancouver-based blockchain company said the move was a result of a directive from its payment processing partner, which is subject to European Union regulations. 



On Oct. 6, the EU confirmed a <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_5989" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sweeping ban</a> on providing crypto services to Russia as part of its eighth round of sanctions against the country for its aggression in Ukraine. 



The Dapper wallet is a custodial wallet for digital assets on Dapper Labs’ Flow blockchain, originally launched in 2020 as a gaming-focused network but now underpins a raft of NFT-centric projects.



The wallet supports NFT offerings NBA Top Shot, Allday, UFC Strike, CryptoKittes, which implies they will all be affected by the ban.&nbsp;



Under new measures, the bloc tightened a previous rule that restricted crypto payments to and from Russian accounts up to 10,000 euros ($9,727). The threshold has now been removed, banning all cryptoasset wallets, accounts or custody services.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Dapper Labs NFTs still ‘belong’ to Russians — they just can’t move them</h3>



Despite Dapper Labs stating it could no longer offer custody services to Russia-based users, the firm says those affected can still view and access their NFTs via its wallet, as it has only suspended accounts — not deleted them.



Dapper Labs says this means any NFT previously purchased by an affected Russian user still belongs to them. 



Blockworks has reached out to Dapper Labs to confirm whether the Flow blockchain itself would actively censor Russia-based users and will update this piece as we hear back.



“Any Moments you own and any Dapper Balance continue to be your property,” the company said in its blog post, referring to the blockchain-based collections that users hold.



But they can’t buy, sell or gift any NFTs, even by using their existing account balances.



The EU believes its crypto clampdown is warranted as the previous 10,000 EUR cap wasn’t effective. Its sanctions are “imposing a direct cost on Russia for its war of aggression and damaging Russia&#8217;s industrial and economic ability to wage war, manufacture more weapons, and repair existing weapons systems.”



Although Western powers have adopted several rounds of sanctions since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow has not indicated a possible diplomatic solution. 



On Monday, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/10/explosions-rock-ukraine-capital-kyiv-in-apparent-missile-strikes" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">massive explosions</a> shook Ukraine&#8217;s capital Kyiv and other cities in apparent revenge attacks.



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Dapper Labs NFT Wallet Restricts Russian Users After EU Sanctions

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_61d7689c0f2ca" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The total trading volume across 14 NFT marketplaces rose close to 23,000% year-over-year, from $85.7 million 2020 to $19.6 billion in 2021</li>
 <li>The total market cap of NFTs is about $31.4 billion, making up 1.53% of the current $2.05 trillion total market cap for cryptocurrency</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



OpenSea overall monthly NFTs sales may be down from September 2021 all-time highs, but its Polygon-based NFT sales hit a peak of about $2 million during December, and are starting off the new year strong, according to <a href="https://dune.xyz/queries/130838/257589" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a> compiled by user niftytable on Dune Analytics.



As of Thursday, there were 426,565 non-fungible token (NFT) Polygon sales in January. If this number continues to grow at the same rate, there will be about 2.2 million Polygon NFT sales for the month of January, a 10% increase from the previous month and nearly 5,000% higher than six months ago.



Polygon’s <a href="https://www.coinbase.com/price/polygon#:~:text=The%20current%20price%20is%20%242.5787,circulating%20supply%20is%207%2C086%2C960%2C741.27%20MATIC." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MATIC</a> token spiked near all-time highs to $2.92 on Dec. 26, 2021, but was down 29.2% from that record level to $2.26 on Thursday.



In general, 2021 was an extremely strong year for NFTs. The total trading volume across 14 NFT marketplaces, including OpenSea, Rarible, Axie Infinity, SuperRare, NBA Topshot, rose from $85.7 million in 2020 to $19.6 billion in 2021, according to a <a href="https://www.1confirmation.com/2021-nft-annual-review?latest" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a> by cryptocurrency-focused investment firm 1confirmation.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/1Rpkt33hLzN1mVWkVMoGvJvLyrNqMj_DAsBLrG_EEko-t72k2l7aKx_cNh6qvG0tLUHkir9bYv_rxvs_QOtOF74csrJ4zTdIzDStExlOWicZUPaVkbop4P2PktpoHpyjspmMYBcu" alt=""/><figcaption>Source: 1confirmation</figcaption></figure>



“NFTs had a breakout year in 2021 but the asset class is still small relative to cryptocurrency broadly,” the 1confirmation report noted.



The total market capitalization of NFTs is about $31.4 billion, making up 1.53% of the current <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$2.05 trillion</a> total market cap for cryptocurrency, according to data from 1confirmation and CoinMarketCap, respectively.&nbsp;



However, the investment firm said it thinks NFTs will ultimately be larger than cryptocurrencies by the end of this decade and steps taken by NFT creators in 2022 will contribute to that growth. “2021 was crazy in NFT land, and 2022 is shaping up to be crazier,” 1confirmation stated.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">OpenSea sailing ahead</h3>



OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace by trading volume, is showing no sign of slowing down in 2022. This week, the company announced a <a href="https://opensea.io/blog/announcementops/announcing-openseas-new-funding/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$300 million Series C</a> funding round led by Paradigm and Coatue. The latest capital raise gives OpenSea a $13.3 billion post-money valuation.



<meta charset="utf-8">“In 2021, the world woke up to the potential of NFTs to unlock utility and economic empowerment across a vast set of industries, communities and creative categories,” Devin Finzer, CEO of OpenSea, told Blockworks. “Our vision is to be the destination for these new open digital economies to thrive. We’ll start this year by lowering the barriers to entry to the NFT space on OpenSea and investing in the ecosystem and the community that powers it,&#8221; Finzer added.



Today, OpenSea has over 1.26 million active users, 2 million collections and over 80 million NFTs. It offers cross-blockchain support across Ethereum, Polygon and Klatyn. OpenSea Polygon traders have increased to record levels from just 15 users in late June 2021 to over 846,433 users as of Thursday, niftytable’s <a href="https://dune.xyz/queries/130852/257620" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a> on Dune Analytics showed.&nbsp;



Total OpenSea Ethereum traders have also hit new all-time highs — from 36,540 on the year-ago date to 942,721 as of Jan. 5, <a href="https://dune.xyz/queries/2877/5680" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a> compiled by user rchen8 on Dune Analytics showed.&nbsp;



“We saw the NFT ecosystem explode last year, with OpenSea’s transaction volume increasing over 600x in 2021,” Finzer wrote in a blog <a href="https://opensea.io/blog/announcementops/announcing-openseas-new-funding/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">post</a> on Tuesday. “But we’re just getting started,” he added.&nbsp;



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OpenSea Polygon NFT Sales On Track to Hit 2.2M by End of January

<div id="highlights-block_614b795a9af08" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>“Dapper Labs will use the new funding to continue to scale and support major additional brand-driven sports, entertainment and music based products coming online and being developed on the Flow blockchain,” the company said</li>
 <li>Technological financial services crypto-based company Bit2Me closed its third phase of its initial coin offering (ICO) in just 38 seconds, the company said on Wednesday</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Dapper Labs, the creator of CryptoKitties, NBA Top Shot and the Flow blockchain, has closed a $250 million round in new funding led by Coatue, the company announced Wednesday.&nbsp;



The new round brings together established investors from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z,) GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Version One Ventures along with new investors including BOND and GIC.



“Dapper Labs will use the new funding to continue to scale and support major additional brand-driven sports, entertainment and music based products coming online and being developed on the Flow blockchain,” the company said.&nbsp;



The company’s Flow blockchain consists of over 500 developers and more than 100 known projects of decentralized applications for games, NFTs, DeFi and tools, according to its website. Flow also is launching UFC, or Ultimate Fighting Championship, digital collectibles for users to buy, sell, trade and collect on its blockchain, however a date for that was not disclosed.&nbsp;



This year has shown exponential growth for Dapper Labs. While beta testing its flagship product NBA Top Shop, it grew 30 times during the year, with over $780 million in collectibles bought and sold across 13 million transactions and over 1.1 accounts registered, the company said.







While Dapper Labs has grown quickly, its CEO Roham Gharegozlou said it has just scratched the surface of what the technology can do for users. The company will scale NBA Top Shot, launch new titles and improve the ecosystem building on its Flow blockchain, Gharegozlou said.&nbsp;



In March, Dapper Labs <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/dapper-labs-superrare-consensys-and-nifty-gateway-make-nft-news/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">raised $305 million</a> in funding, also led by Coatue. At the time, existing strategic investors included a16z, The Chernin Group, Union Square Ventures, Version One and Venrock also participated alongside Michael Jordan, Kevin Durant and other National Basketball Association players, Blockworks previously reported. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Spain-based Bit2Me closes initial coin offering</h3>



Technological financial services crypto-based company Bit2Me closed its third phase of its initial coin offering (ICO) in just 38 seconds, the company said on Wednesday. In total the Spain-based company raised about $23.4 million, or €20 million.



It raised about $20.5 million, or €17.5 million, in less than three minutes across three public sale phases that took place throughout September. The company also raised $2.9 million, or €2.5 million, from an earlier private sale, it said.



&#8220;As of November 1, our tokens will be available for purchase, like any other cryptocurrency, on Bit2Me, Bittrex, and increasingly on more platforms,” said Abel Peña, chief revenue officer at Bit2Me.&nbsp;



Bit2Me offers over 20 solutions to buy, sell and manage virtual currencies and euros from a single place. Since its inception in 2015, it has expanded to clients across 100 countries and manages operations worth about $1.2 billion.



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