Ornella Hernandez

<div id="highlights-block_62fe10b98bab9" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>“Nine out of 10 celebrities, if they were to do an NFT release today, would fail,” said co-founder of ArtGrails, Avery Andon, brother of Graffiti artist Alec Monopoly</li>
 <li>Celebs should ask themselves if they’re getting paid to promote NFTs, marketing exec warns</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Moonpay, a crypto payments provider, runs a celebrity crypto concierge service to help the rich and famous acquire NFTs and other digital assets without getting their hands dirty.



But when public figures endorse crypto projects with tokens whose prices pump and tank, it not only seems shady, it’s potentially illegal.



MoonPay’s client roster includes Hilton, actress <a href="https://twitter.com/GwynethPaltrow/status/1486482496883625984?s=20&amp;t=UvZMjFLBQkPe_ZeztYveNw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gwyneth Paltrow</a>, artist <a href="https://www.moonpay.com/blog/post-malone" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Post Malone</a>, Madonna and others. Essentially, the company is working with the idea that NFTs are the “future of consumer engagement,” said Moonpay spokesperson Justin Hamilton.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“For major holders of intellectual property — celebrities, musicians, entertainers and athletes — the way that they are going to use this technology will be disconnected from market trading realities,” he said.</blockquote>



That may be true in theory, but there’s a reason crypto companies and projects seek to tie their brands to familiar and popular faces.



As bitcoin was retreating from dizzying record highs last December, Actor Matt Damon <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-com-cmo-on-how-company-went-from-app-to-global-brand/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">appeared</a> in a buzzy Crypto.com advertisement during the Super Bowl and said, “fortune favors the brave.”



A few months earlier, with the crypto bull market in full swing, film star Reese Witherspoon in a now-deleted <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210903001403/https://twitter.com/reesew/status/1433524984723349507" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">post</a> tweeted: &#8220;Just bought my first ETH! Let’s do this<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210903012125/https://twitter.com/hashtag/cryptotwitter?src=hash" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> #cryptotwitter</a>.&#8221; ETH was worth almost $3,900 at the time and now trades for half that. Witherspoon also touted a World of Women NFT.



Earlier still, NFL legend Tom Brady founded his own NFT (non-fungible token) marketplace, Autograph. And like Damon, Brady also marketed a crypto exchange, FTX, alongside his wife, model Giselle Bündchen.&nbsp;



Heiress Paris Hilton then <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zi12wrh5So" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dubbed</a> herself “The Queen of the Metaverse” in January after hosting DJ events in Roblox, bagging blue chip NFTs such as Bored Ape Yacht Club, and even creating her own.



The same thing happened during the mania of the last cycle, when Katy Perry <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BeXchJzFkhJ/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">debuted</a> her “crypto claws” on Instagram — nails emblazoned with digital asset logos including bitcoin, ether and litecoin.



Despite the unfortunate timing of these endorsements, and whether the celebrities truly believe in — or even understand — crypto, their clout helped lend mainstream legitimacy to the industry.



“They know that they&#8217;re constantly going to have to push the envelope to invent new ways to create community, to create buy-in, to create loyalty,” said Hamilton. “Many of them think that NFT technologies will be the way to do that.”&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Effects of the bear market&nbsp;</h3>



Despite the market downturn, rapper Snoop Dogg <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/28/snoop-dogg-on-crypto-winter-and-the-future-of-nfts.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a> CNBC that the crypto winter &#8220;weeded out all the people who weren&#8217;t supposed to be in the space and who were abusing the opportunities that were there,&#8221; during the NFT.NYC conference in June.



MoonPay <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/moonpay-primes-nft-minting-service-hypermint/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">launched</a> HyperMint during the same event, an NFT distribution platform that’s already worked with Universal Pictures and street artist Alec Monopoly.



Monopoly — born Alec Andon — and his brother and manager, Avery Andon, are planning their own concierge-like platform for high-profiles and celebrities who want to foster NFT communities. When asked what he thinks about celebrities jumping in during crypto winter, Andon said:



“There was that moment in the beginning when a couple of celebrities got lucky and made big bucks off of cash grab releases. But I genuinely think those days are done,” he said, pointing to singer Chris Brown’s recent attempt.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“Nine out of 10 celebrities, if they were to do an NFT release today, would fail,” Andon said.</blockquote>



Brown released the Breezyverse collection of 3D animated Brown avatars at the start of July. Only 350 people have bought into the set of 10,000, as seen on OpenSea at the time of publication. Less than 13 ETH ($23,600) has been spent in total.



Web3 enthusiasts “really expect you to be an active member of their community and to really give a part of yourself for the project,” for example through weekly AMA chats or Instagram live chats, according to Andon.



“I think that it&#8217;s just such an in depth, exhaustive [process] that a real, true NFT project requires that most celebrities are not willing to make that commitment,” he added.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Marketing crypto tastefully is still possible</h3>



Geoff Renaud, chief marketing officer of the marketing agency Invisible North, echoed that sentiment.&nbsp;



“You see a lot of love and support from the Web3 community when people come for the right reasons, and the claws come out when endorsements are insincere, [Damon’s] Crypto.com ad being probably the most famous example,” Renaud said.



Still, he pointed to FTX’s “great job partnering with talent in creative and authentic ways. FTX “brilliantly cast” Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David in its own Super Bowl commercial.



FTX leveraged David’s trademark indifference to undersell crypto, unlike Crypto.com’s bullish narrative, and practically the opposite of Kim Karashian’s basic Instagram <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2021/10/ben-mckenzie-crypto-celebrities-kardashian-brady-lohan.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">advertisement</a> for SafeMoon rip-off EthereumMAX, which is now almost worthless.



“[FTX] made their athlete partners like Tom Brady and Steph Curry stakeholders in the company. The partnerships are always ‘on,’ and the athletes seem personally engaged, which is really rare,” Renaud said.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Celebs must ask themselves if they’re getting paid to promote NFTs</h3>



In any case, Renaud advised public figures to stay cautious about what they&#8217;re promoting. Referencing the ICO (initial coin offering) “craze” of 2017 and 2018, Renaud noted there’s still ongoing litigation over “empty celebrity promotions” from that era.



Most recently, the law firm Scott+Scott claimed that Bored Ape Yacht Club creators Yuga Labs used celebrity promoters and endorsements to inflate the price of its NFTs by overpromising high returns. Yuga Labs <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/yuga-labs-faces-potential-class-action-lawsuit-over-inflated-bayc-nfts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">could face</a> a class action lawsuit.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“It&#8217;s a real shame that you can be dragged into a lawsuit just because you&#8217;re excited about a piece of digital art that you own,” Renaud said.</blockquote>



Kayvan Ghaffari, head of legal at NFT art marketplace MakersPlace, reasoned that it’s too soon to tell the exact regulatory implications, but public figures must ask themselves: “Am I receiving any sort of financial benefit from this NFT?”&nbsp;



“If the answer is yes, the FTC [Federal Trade Commission] will start to enforce the law,” Ghaffari said.&nbsp;&nbsp;



He added that federal agencies such as the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will emerge as primary NFT watchdogs.



19 celebrities have been warned by consumer watchdog group Truth in Advertising against shilling NFTs, Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton, Tom Brady and many others <a href="https://truthinadvertising.org/industries/celebrities-promoting-nfts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">were called out</a> for “a failure to clearly and conspicuously disclose the promoter’s material connection to the endorsed NFT company.”



There has been no official involvement from the FTC, yet.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



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Celebrities Shilled Crypto at the Top. Can They Learn for Next Cycle?

<div id="highlights-block_62b9f5c9929a0" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The top 10 collections went up by about 25% over the last week during New York&#8217;s premiere NFT summit</li>
 <li>The future of the Open Metaverse and crypto-based gaming were topics of discussion</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



From Snoop Dogg <a href="https://twitter.com/fairxyz/status/1539582644110999553?s=20&amp;t=Q1GgqXVsK5FsHEZ63LQ2RA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">impersonators</a> walking around Times Square to staged <a href="https://twitter.com/Loopifyyy/status/1538913675054047232?s=20&amp;t=zzoQrXimIXNCFzDExdOmXA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">anti-NFT protests</a>, the NFT.NYC conference was designed to market Web3 brands and convene as many people as possible in the Big Apple. 



Members from top-tier communities such as Bored Ape Yacht Club and Doodles showed up in full force to one of the largest NFT (non-fungible token) events.&nbsp;



Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) hosted the members-only ApeFest jamboree at Pier 17 with appearances from comedian Amy Schumer and performances from rappers Eminem and Snoop Dogg, who also <a href="https://twitter.com/SnoopDogg/status/1540189746877632514?s=20&amp;t=CR8ER6yaTFaO0uYkCuL3mg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">premiered</a> a music video featuring their BAYC avatars.



The founders of BAYC-creator Yuga Labs on Friday <a href="https://medium.com/@team_69582/a-letter-from-the-founders-678e5a3431e7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">published</a> a letter on Medium in response to the backlash from a recent investigative video on YouTube called the Bored Ape Nazi Club that made conspiracy claims and accused the team of having cult associations.



Doodles further permeated pop culture with a <a href="https://twitter.com/gmstudiosgg/status/1540378558509375488?s=20&amp;t=d-ra4uC4HGk0mcsjhf3_Tg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">real-life setup</a> of the Doodles world and a number of announcements, including <a href="https://twitter.com/doodles/status/1539444678642352129?s=20&amp;t=Gi43A_iI8-P5YB4OluanfQ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Doodles 2</a>, an upcoming collection of animated profile picture NFTs. Pharrel Williams was also announced as the company’s new chief brand officer. The Doodles Dooplicator project, which was airdropped to holders in May, became the most traded project on OpenSea during the 48 hours following the news.



Title sponsors for NFT.NYC 2022 included blockchain network Polygon and crypto payments provider MoonPay, which debuted its own <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/moonpay-primes-nft-minting-service-hypermint/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NFT minting service called HyperMint</a>.



Throughout the event, Blockworks interviewed developers, collectors, founders and analysts. Here are some of the notable themes from the week.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">The promise of an Open Metaverse&nbsp;</h3>



Various companies are working to make the metaverse a reality, specifically a 3D interoperable open metaverse — this means bridging virtual worlds that serve as gamified social networks, and merging our physical and digital identities.



“The future we are fighting for involves breaking virtual walls and connecting the world,” said Timmu Toke, the chief executive officer of Ready Player Me, a platform that creates metaverse-ready avatars with a selfie that are compatible across apps and games.&nbsp;



Interoperability in the metaverse is comparable to an open free trade market “that isn’t controlled by anyone,” Toke said. And an open system is simply “better business.”



Avatars are the most important element to an open and scalable metaverse, according to Toke, and interoperable avatars will generate more sales of digital assets “because people will place more value on avatars that can be used everywhere, not just in one game.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



When it comes to digital identity, Danny Greene, the general manager of the MeebitsDAO, believes that identity is “not monolithic,” but rather fluid. “Expressing ourselves in the metaverse is distinctly different from the experience [in real life] where ingrained prejudices have a direct impact on how one is perceived,” he said.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“The avatar you choose, the wearables that you wear, the spaces you occupy are a signal about what is important to you, what you stand for,” Greene added. </blockquote>



Last week over 30 tech giants including Meta, Microsoft and Epic Games <a href="https://metaverse-standards.org/news/press-releases/leading-standards-organizations-and-companies-unite-to-drive-open-metaverse-interoperability/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">formed</a> a standards organization called the Metaverse Standards Forum (MSF) to define the priorities and principles behind technologies created for the metaverse, including virtual reality and augmented reality.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Gamers will keep on gaming</h3>



When it comes to play-to-earn gaming, Grant Haseley, founder of play-to-earn crypto game Undead Blocks, said the future of play-to-earn games will depend on “shifting the paradigm from pointing and clicking and being able to earn decentralized yield farming.”



Esports tournaments and NFTs may give players the opportunity to win big, he said, but rewards should go to those who really want to be a member of the community.



“If you&#8217;re a top player, and you&#8217;re committed, driven and driving value back to those games and those ecosystems, then you should earn some rare assets.”



Dylan Bushnell, the vice president of game design for publisher Atmos Labs, spoke about the need for horizontal integration and the value of customization in blockchain gaming.



Blockchain games have done well when it comes to replicating collector mechanics, but they continue to attract only niche audiences, according to Bushnell, adding that gamers want to play in a universe that reflects whoever they want to be.&nbsp;



“Your identity within a game is only as meaningful as the amount of variation, as how much we empower you with customization” from performance to skins, Bushnell said.



He added that publishers need to give people the choice to make their characters or avatars that they’ve spent time building and competing with a part of their identity, without limiting performance.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">NFT lending stays strong</h3>



There are multiple motivations to take out a collateralized NFT loan, from gaining leverage to be able to buy more NFTs to obtaining liquidity needed for some other purpose.



A big use case now during a bear market, according to Gabe Frank, the CEO at peer-to-peer NFT lending platform Arcade, is for NFT borrowers to hedge their NFT exposure.&nbsp;



Comparing taking out a loan on an NFT to buying a put option, Gabe explained that if the collateral value drops below the market value, “the borrower doesn&#8217;t need to pay back the loan. So you basically have the right to sell it. It&#8217;s a way to hedge downside risk.”



He also expects to see more defaults in the coming months and stated that lenders are steering clear of artwork NFTs, as opposed to PFPs or collectibles because they are less liquid. However, Frank is bullish on CryptoPunks: “The floor is going to be 10 million in 10 years.”&nbsp;



CryptoPunks’ floor is up from the low 50s in terms of ether during the week of the TerraUSD crash, to 66 ETH at the time of publication, although that represents a decline of around $10,000 in US dollars as the price of ether has fallen from $1,700 to $1,100 in the same period.



On the other hand, Stephen Young, CEO at rival peer-to-peer lending platform NFTfi, considers CryptoPunks to be artwork.&nbsp;



“The 10 million PFP projects that all launched at the same time are all just kind of falling through the floor. And people are rushing to the assets that are showing real value and staying power.”



Young believes CryptoPunks, as well as on-chain generative art such as Autoglyphs or Art Blocks collections such as Squiggles, Fidenza and Ringers, may appeal now more than ever to traditional art collectors given the adverse market conditions. $60,000 for a Punk is “all of a sudden actually affordable” to fine art collectors, Young said.



“First prices fall all the way along with [ether] until we get to the bottom, and then you&#8217;ll see quality projects start to rise in terms of ether prices again,” he added. “Because, at some point, they&#8217;re cheap.”



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NFT.NYC Recap: Bored Apes and Doodles and Snoop Dogg, Oh My!

Shalini Nagarajan

<div id="highlights-block_62a1aa8ae050e" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>&#8220;Silence of the Lambs&#8221; actor changes his Twitter handle to ENS name ‘AHopkins.eth’</li>
 <li>Critics suggest NFT interest has been shrinking, but data shows 183% jump in NFT marketplace collections from last year</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins is the latest celebrity to drop his Ethereum domain name on social media, joining a number of other public figures using their <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/what-is-the-ethereum-name-service-ens/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ethereum Name Service</a> as Twitter usernames.



On Wednesday, the 84-year-old Welsh actor changed <a href="https://twitter.com/AnthonyHopkins" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">his verified Twitter name</a> to a crypto wallet address, similar to a website URL or email address.



This naming system, based on the Ethereum blockchain, is similar to the Domain Name Service that matches IP addresses to simple website names. In Hopkins’ case, it turns his complex wallet address “0x5b4b7f43140e79a4452408ce10dd64fd17d8a2e5” into the easily readable “<a href="https://app.zerion.io/0x5b4b7f43140e79a4452408ce10dd64fd17d8a2e5/overview" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AHopkins.eth</a>.”



It isn’t the first time Hopkins has displayed an interest in Web3. His latest sci-fi movie “Zero Contact” was the first feature film to be distributed as a NFT late last year, skipping the traditional theater release route.



In addition to his Twitter handle update, Hopkins <a href="https://twitter.com/AnthonyHopkins/status/1534576219458375680" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">asked</a> fellow celebrities Snoop Dogg, Jimmy Fallon and Reese Witherspoon for recommendations on which NFT (non-fungible token) he should snap up.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">I’m astonished by all the great NFT artists. Jumping in to acquire my first piece, any recommendations? <a href="https://twitter.com/SnoopDogg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SnoopDogg</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/jimmyfallon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JimmyFallon</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ReeseW?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ReeseW</a> <a href="https://t.co/pjeP8dVNfD">pic.twitter.com/pjeP8dVNfD</a>&mdash; AHopkins.eth (@AnthonyHopkins) <a href="https://twitter.com/AnthonyHopkins/status/1534576219458375680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 8, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Fallon responded: “There [are] a bunch of great artists out there, and it’s a fun community in general. But, as the great Aaron Neville once said, ‘I don’t know much — but I know I love you.’ And that may be all you need to know. DM me.”



The TV host and comedian is an NFT owner in popular collections including the <a href="https://twitter.com/jimmyfallon/status/1459164143626424321?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bored Ape Yacht Club</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/jimmyfallon/status/1522723486778679296" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Moonbirds</a>. Rapper Snoop Dogg is <a href="https://twitter.com/Blockworks_/status/1533397830718697473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">opening</a> a Bored Ape NFT-themed dessert restaurant in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Witherspoon is a Web3 champion whose media company Hello Sunshine is <a href="https://www.protocol.com/bulletins/reese-witherspoon-nfts" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">partnering</a> with NFT collective World of Women for films and TV shows.



An NFT is a unique cryptoasset with a digital fingerprint that cannot be replicated, meaning that it can’t be replaced by another such token. Just like the authentic &#8220;Starry Night&#8221; painting by Van Gogh can’t be swapped with a duplicate, you can’t clone an NFT.



Suggestions have been floating that the NFT space is waning following a record-breaking growth in 2021, but recent data dispels that notion.



According to <a href="https://cryptomonday.de/news/2022/05/23/the-daily-average-amount-collectors-sent-to-nft-marketplaces-has-grown-by-183percent-in-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CryptoMonday.de</a>, collectors sent $37 billion to NFT marketplaces in the first quarter of 2022 — that’s a 183% jump from 2021, or nearly $308 million in daily remittances. In 2021, collectors sent $40 billion, or roughly $109 million in average daily payments, to NFT marketplaces.



Another study by <a href="https://www.los-muertos.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Los Muertos</a> found California nabbed the top spot as the most NFT-obsessed state, with data showing the term “NFT” was the most searched there than in any other state in the past year. This high ranking could be attributed to the number of celebrity endorsements of NFTs, experts said.



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Sir Anthony Hopkins Claims Ethereum Name, Seeks First NFT Purchase

Sebastian Sinclair

Morgan Chittum

<div id="highlights-block_6201f17d77026" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Gala Games confirmed Monday it will allocate $5 billion to further its NFT ambitions in the coming year, split between gaming, music, movies and theme park NFTs</li>
 <li>The Gala Games token, GALA, has a fully diluted valuation of $16.73 billion with about 15% of its supply currently circulating</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Blockchain gaming studio Gala Games confirmed Monday it will allocate $5 billion within the next year to expand its NFT offerings.



The startup will begin pouring capital into music, movies and theme park NFTs (non-fungible tokens), a source told Blockworks on Monday. The figure was later confirmed by Gala Games&#8217; President of Blockchain Jason Brink.



Out of the $5 billion allocated to Gala Games&#8217; NFT expansion, $2 billion is expected to go to gaming. A further $1 billion will be allocated for the studio&#8217;s music ambitions, as well as $1 billion for movies. Gala theme park NFTs will pick up the remaining $1 billion.



NFTs are unique crypto assets providing proof of authenticity and ownership. They are tradable on marketplaces including OpenSea and LooksRare. The marketplace value for NFTs hit a staggering $41 billion by the end of 2021.



When asked about the developments, Brink said:



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">&#8220;Those were some of the numbers shared with the Gala Gold community, and we certainly look forward to helping that unfold with the community in the future.&#8221;</blockquote>



Brink declined to comment further on the future plans, saying his studio needed to save &#8220;some stuff for the Gala Gold community.&#8221;



Blockworks&#8217; anonymous source also said rapper Snoop Dogg may release an &#8220;NFT album&#8221; on the platform shortly before the album is released elsewhere as part of the effort.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">When you have an awesome photo opportunity with <a href="https://twitter.com/SnoopDogg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SnoopDogg</a> but the newscast in the background just doesn&#39;t want to behave. <a href="https://t.co/6lpjnaDweH">pic.twitter.com/6lpjnaDweH</a>&mdash; Jason Brink aka BitBender (@BitBenderBrink) <a href="https://twitter.com/BitBenderBrink/status/1490847722487705600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Snoop, who is no stranger to crypto, reportedly began collecting NFTs last year under the pseudonym Cozomo de&#8217; Medici. The artist also posted a <a href="https://twitter.com/SnoopDogg/status/1358141965930426368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1358141965930426368%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.coindesk.com%2Fmarkets%2F2021%2F02%2F07%2Fdogecoin-smokes-its-all-time-high-after-snoop-dogg-becomes-snoop-doge%2F" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweet</a> in February 2021 featuring the head of a Shibu Inu superimposed on his body from his album R&amp;G (Rhythm &amp; Gangsta): The Masterpiece.



&#8220;As for Snoop, keep watching and make sure to pick up his album when it comes out, whether it&#8217;s as an NFT or otherwise,&#8221; said Brink.



Gala Games recently launched a $100 million <a href="https://www.gameinformer.com/2021/12/13/gala-games-announces-100-million-blockchain-fund-alongside-new-play-to-earn-games-from" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blockchain gaming fund</a> with crypto investment firm C2 Ventures focusing on investment in game developers and projects building atop the blockchain.



The platform&#8217;s token, GALA, currently carries a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, and a fully diluted valuation of $16.73 billion, trading at a price of $0.33 per token, <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/gala" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to CoinGecko</a>, down about 60% from its all-time high set on Nov. 26, 2021.



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