DeFi Arts Intelligencer - Apr. 4th, 2020

Welcome to the 12th issue of the DeFi Arts Intelligencer, your weekly source for key happenings around blockchain art, collectibles, and games. Subscribe here.

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For this dispatch:

🎨 Digital Art & Collectibles

• SuperRare enjoyed its 2nd birthday 🎈🎉 Job well done to their team, they’ve fostered a vibrant community in short order, and I’ve personally had a blast using their platform. Cheers to many more birthdays to come!

• “A Forever Feeling,” the first collaboration between cryptoartists Pak and Sarah Zucker, sold for 3.2 ETH on SuperRare.

• After a week of successful layer sales on “Choose the Man You Will Become,” Osinachi’s master work goes on sale on Async Art on Sunday, April 5th, at 9AM PST.

• Cryptovoxels has v.3.25.0 out.

• “Transitions” Master, the first collaboration between cryptoartists Giant Swan and Frenetik Void, sold for 25 ETH to Basileus. The layer pieces went to collectors Metakovan, Basileus, and cryptoartist Josie.

• TokenSmart has a new NFT art minting platform in the works. Down with the cause? Check out TokenSmart’s Gitcoin Grants page here.

• NonFungible.com listed art platform MakersPlace on its NFT marketplace tracker dashboard.

• Avastars highlighted a few giveaways this week, one of which led to an awesome meme competition around the signature Avastar #63 owned by collector and patron WhaleShark.

• Collector Basileus bought “The Bitcoin Angel” from artist Trevor Jones for 25 ETH …

  Trevor Jones 🎨 @trevorjonesart

  👀 I woke up to a divine 25 ETH bid on my Bitcoin Angel #NFT by @basileus_eth! I'll accept the final bid tomorrow, March 30th, 10 pm BST (PDT 2 pm). 👼 superrare.co/artwork-v2/the… Highest bid at time wins & must stand clear for 5 min. #getoutartshow #cryptoarYs

  

• Nifty Gateway’s Drop 2 of digital collectibles sold out in rapid fashion.

• The Brooklyn Collection is coming to BlockCities on April 13th.

• Bullionix, a mix of crypto, gold, and art, arrived on NFT marketplace OpenSea.

• XCOPY has an awesome new piece, WFH_DEATH, out on SuperRare:

  XCOPY 🏴 @XCOPYART

  WFH_Death @SuperRare_co 💎 superrare.co/artwork-v2/wfh…o

  

🕹️ Blockchain Games

• Axie Infinity further optimized its marketplace. The game’s Alpha Season 3 is live, too.

• How much moola can you make playing Axie Infinity for 8 hours straight? Cloudwhite Ventures has you covered.

• OpenSea just listed Gods Unchained collectibles.

• Gaming-centric virtual world The Sandbox quickly sold out its third LAND presale, raising $440,000.

• The Atari “theme park-like universe” coming to The Sandbox is looking like it’s going to be great fun …

  The Sandbox @TheSandboxGame

  The Sandbox metaverse will feature an @atari theme park-like universe with a variety of their game titles that you’ll be able to jump into and play with others! While our artists are working at it, what would you like to encounter in the Atari experiences? #Blockchain

  

♦️♦️ DeFi News

• The Maker Foundation, which guides DeFi’s leading dapp Maker as well as the popular Dai stablecoin, is moving toward its dissolution. In its stead, a community-run DAO is set to take over its responsibilities.

• Ethereum privacy tool Tornado.cash is on a fast track to being fully non-custodial.

• Coinbase keeps going in on DeFi: the top U.S. crypto exchange’s USDC Bootstrap Fund just invested $1 million USDC of liquidity into decentralized exchange Uniswap and another 100,000 USDC into the sponsored pool of no-loss Ethereum lotto game PoolTogether.

• The market cap of the USDC stablecoin hit $700 million for the first time.

• Augur, one of Ethereum’s premier predictions marketplaces, is getting ready to roll out its optimized V2 system soon.

• Ethereum real estate project RealT has now racked up more than $1 million in sales.

📰Fresh Content

• “Enabling Greater Liquidity For Limited Edition Goods (Digital & Physical)” - Andrew Steinwold

• “Cent WIP Virtual Meetups: A Short History” - matthew.cent.eth

• “How to Buy Land on Cryptovoxels” - Lenara Verle

• “Where I See NFT Space Going” - Jake Brukhman

• “The Future of Collectibles Is Digital” - Ryoma Ito

• “Prepare for Takeoff!” - MetaClan

🖌️Extra, Extra

• I bought “archaic principles” from artist sisirist on MakersPlace. I adore their work and think it’s sublime …

  

• I bought “Kangpin” from artist El Santero on SuperRare. I think it’s pretty transcendent …

  

• Upon hearing of my pup being sick, an unprompted El Santero sent me another piece on SuperRare, “Activity Creeper,” to cheer me up (shown below). The generosity totally blew me away, and I’ll never forget it. The good news is pup is doing great now, but I wanted to take this prime opportunity to highlight not only El Santero’s great talent but also their very kind spirit. Cheers friend …

  

• I bought the “8th Man” layer from Osinachi’s Async Art masterpiece, “Choose the Man You Will Become.” I was drawn to this particular layer because of the powerful symbolic implications of the figure facing away from the viewer …

  

Thanks for reading, and stay creative on- and off-chain!

Keep an 👁️ out for the 13th issue of the DeFi Arts Intelligencer this time next week, too. Cheers ✌️

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About DeFi Arts Intelligencer

The DeFi Arts Intelligencer is curated by me, William M. Peaster, a professional writer and editor who’s been tracking the Ethereum and Dai beats in recent years.

I’m passionate about art and a DeFi optimist, so putting together this newsletter is both fun and informative for me. I hope others may find the content helpful, too. But be mindful, the information herein should not be construed as investment advice. I’m not a financial adviser, and these are my opinions. Always take care to seriously consider the various layers of risk you face in participating in the still-maturing cryptoeconomy.

If you have a DeFi tip or lead, questions or comments, or would be interested in commissioning me for a writing gig, you can ping me at wmpeaster@gmail.com or on Telegram at @wmpeaster.

If you enjoy this newsletter and want to support it, feel free to subscribe or have a like-minded friend subscribe as well. Donations accepted at writer.gimmethe.eth, too. Thanks kindly!

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