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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Axie Infinity

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

Brianna Beckford

In the latest episode of <a href="https://youtu.be/yohMbe03nzU">Empire</a>, Blockworks&#8217; co-founder Jason Yanowitz and co-host Santiago Roel Santos are joined by Andrew Steinwold Managing Partner at Sfermion &amp; John Crain CEO of SuperRare Labs. 



Andrew &amp; John saw the potential of NFTs years before most in 2018, just after Crypto Kitties broke the Ethereum blockchain. We decided to invite them to Empire to discuss the explosive growth in NFTs throughout 2020/21, how the industry has developed since their introduction around 2018 and what is the future for the NFT market. 



Plus, listen in to get their thoughts on:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Intellectual property laws in the NFT market</li><li>How 2020 sparked parabolic NFT adoption</li><li>and so much more!</li></ul>



Check out what they had to say in the video below. 👇



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Why Everything Will Become an NFT | Andrew Steinwold &amp; John Crain" width="1024" height="576" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yohMbe03nzU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">About the show</h3>



Empire is a twice-a-week show. On Thursdays, Jason interviews crypto industry movers and shakers to talk about their struggles, bold moves and tough decisions. Friday&#8217;s weekly round-up episodes feature <meta charset="utf-8">co-host, Santiago Roel Santos and cover the top news from the past week.



For any NPR or Guy Raz fans out there, you can think of Empire as a How I Built This for the bitcoin and crypto industry.



Subscribe to Empire today on&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/empire/id1554930038" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apple</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Spotify</a>. Watch episodes on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvER9nHSRN3wPkrDGTT5_8VC4Hjcq0f9U" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">YouTube</a>.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your inbox every evening.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.



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cryptocurrency

Podcast: Why Everything Will Become an NFT | Andrew Steinwold & John Crain

Morgan Chittum

<div id="highlights-block_61b386f78fbd6" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>A group of 1,320 crypto investors, who formed the FreeRossDAO, raised over $12 million to win the auction</li>
 <li>Proceeds from the NFT auction will go towards charity, according to Ulbricht</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Ross Ulbricht, a renowned bitcoin proponent who was sentenced to life in prison after founding controversial e-commerce website Silk Road, sold his first NFT at auction for $6.3 million worth of ether on Thursday.&nbsp;



&#8220;I am floored,&#8221; Ulbricht <a href="https://twitter.com/RealRossU/status/1469373599417053186?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a> on his account run by a loved one on Friday. &#8220;I feel like I have a new purpose now. The auction exceeded all expectations.&#8221;



Over a thousand crypto investors, dubbed the FreeRossDAO, galvanized to free Ulbricht, raising over $12 million to win the auction. The nascent DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization, used half the funds raised for the blockchain-based digital collectible.



“This is just the beginning,” the DAO said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/FreeRossDAO/status/1468902274256756740?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweet</a>. “Buying this NFT has not freed Ross. We still have a long way to go to seek justice and rectify his disproportionate sentence of double life imprisonment as a first-time, non-violent offender.”&nbsp;



The DAO, which formed on Dec. 2 after the NFT collection was <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/the-incarcerated-silk-road-founders-nft-collection-and-the-dao-trying-to-save-him/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a>, describes its mission as “[uniting] in solidarity for Ross, gathering funds to buy his <a href="https://superrare.com/artwork-v2/ross-ulbricht-genesis-collection-30841" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Genesis Collection</a> and protesting the injustices of the American prison system.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



The leftover funds that weren’t spent in the auction will stay in the group’s treasury and be managed by contributors of the DAO. Members received a $ROSS token to vote on how funds will be used — necessary for the “autonomous” component of a functioning DAO.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Perspective_Ross_Drawing_HD-1-1024x744-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-12426" width="839" height="609"/><figcaption>“Perspective” is a graphite pencil drawing created in prison; Source: <a href="https://superrare.com/artwork-v2/ross-ulbricht-genesis-collection-30841" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection</a></figcaption></figure>



“We really want to get this bootstrapped, started and get the community together to essentially fight for the freedom of Ross but also to fight for fixing this broken prison system,” a member of the DAO, who goes by <a href="https://twitter.com/_jamiis?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">“Jamis”</a>, said in a Twitter space on Dec. 1.&nbsp;



The Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection consists of artwork he has done as a child and later behind bars, which he described as a depiction of “his [life] story” in a <a href="https://rossulbricht.medium.com/my-nft-f2b4a9f1955c" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blog post.</a>&nbsp;



Proceeds from the collection are going to charity, according to Ulbricht&#8217;s mother, Lyn. “Ross wants to use his art to help people. And we’re starting out with helping the incarcerated [and their families with] the suffering they go through,” she said in the same Twitter space.



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
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<hr class="wp-block-separator">

FreeRossDAO

Imprisoned Silk Road Founder Sold His First NFT for $6.3M to the DAO Trying to Free Him

<div id="highlights-block_61a93e5a988e1" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection consists of artwork Ulbricht has done behind bars and throughout his childhood</li>
 <li>The collection will be minted on Ethereum</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Ross Ulbricht, a renowned bitcoin proponent who was sentenced to life in prison after founding e-commerce platform Silk Road, is creating and auctioning off non-fungible tokens (NFTs).



The Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection consists of artwork Ulbricht has done behind bars and throughout his childhood, which he described as a depiction of “his [life] story” in a <a href="https://rossulbricht.medium.com/my-nft-f2b4a9f1955c" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blog post.</a>&nbsp;



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“Suddenly, sitting in prison, I had time for drawing again. I reconnected with my artistic side, producing illustrations that told the story I was going through,” Ulbricht said. “I was able to connect to those of you in the free world through my art. The isolation I felt was tempered by it.”&nbsp;</blockquote>



The collection of 10 NFTs will be minted on Ethereum and sold on <a href="https://superrare.com/artwork-v2/ross-ulbricht-genesis-collection-30841" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SupeRare’s</a> platform until next Wednesday. The highest bid for the auction (which started today) is currently at over $1 million worth of ether.&nbsp;



Silk Road holds a momentous position in the history of cryptocurrency, making Ulbricht a bitcoin hero to some and controversial to many.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Starting in 2011 and until his arrest in 2013, Silk Road allowed anonymous shoppers to buy anything, as long as it didn’t harm a third party, using bitcoin. Goods offered ranged from drugs, Fake IDs, art and more.&nbsp;



Ulbricht, whose story became the subject of <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31920777-american-kingpin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road</a>, was eventually arrested in a San Francisco public library and later convicted of seven charges including conspiracy to traffic narcotics, conspiracy to computer hacking and money laundering by means of the internet.



Ross, a first-time offender, is serving a double life sentence plus 40 years, without the possibility of parole. This inordinately long sentence has galvanized supporters to find ways to help him and others like him who find themselves behind bars.



“In America, you&#8217;re not supposed to give a death in prison sentence in a situation where no one&#8217;s been prosecuted for inflicting any bodily harm,” his mother, Lyn Ulbricht, said in a Twitter space on Wednesday.&nbsp;



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="460" height="330" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/78994038-2B5D-4979-B8DB-BA331380CFA2_4_5005_c.jpeg" alt="Art by Ross Ulbricht" class="wp-image-12096" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/78994038-2B5D-4979-B8DB-BA331380CFA2_4_5005_c.jpeg?w=460 460w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/78994038-2B5D-4979-B8DB-BA331380CFA2_4_5005_c.jpeg?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/78994038-2B5D-4979-B8DB-BA331380CFA2_4_5005_c.jpeg?w=358 358w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/78994038-2B5D-4979-B8DB-BA331380CFA2_4_5005_c.jpeg?w=364 364w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/78994038-2B5D-4979-B8DB-BA331380CFA2_4_5005_c.jpeg?w=305 305w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/78994038-2B5D-4979-B8DB-BA331380CFA2_4_5005_c.jpeg?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px" /><figcaption>Source: Ross Ulbricht</figcaption></figure></div>



According to Ulbricht’s mother, proceeds from the NFT auction will be donated to charity, specifically for “helping the incarcerated.”



“Ross wants to use his art to help people. And we&#8217;re starting out with helping the incarcerated [and their families with] the suffering they go through,” Lyn said, adding that funds could go toward helping family members visit those who are in prison.



In response to the Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection, a group of crypto investors have banded together to form a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) called <a href="https://freerossdao.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FreeRossDAO.</a>



The DAO, which was announced on Wednesday, will use part of its funds to collectively bid on Ulbricht’s NFT collection. The organization has over $1.5 million worth of ether in its treasury balance, according to its <a href="https://freerossdao.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">website</a>. (PleasrDAO seeded the FreeRossDAO multisig with 240 ETH.)



Multisigners for FreeRossDAO include Trippy, Trippy Labs/Chief Freeing Officer; Nadya Tolokno, of Pussy Riot fame and PleasrDAO; Jamis also from PleasrDAO; Cobie from UpOnly; Path, Superhero; René, a lifelong friend of Ross; Elliot, another friend of Ross and program director for Musicambia, an organization building music schools in prisons across the US.



“We really want to get this bootstrapped, started and get the community together to essentially fight for the freedom of Ross but also to fight for fixing this broken prison system,” a member of the DAO, who goes by <a href="https://twitter.com/_jamiis?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">“Jamis”</a> online, said in the same Twitter space on Wednesday.



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