Welcome to the 16th 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

• Cryptoart platform SuperRare released a big update that makes its marketplace system even more user-friendly. The platform’s “Artist Stimulus Package” campaign also concluded with 25 ETH raised.

• Collector WhaleShark is launching a social currency, $WHALE, with help from the Roll and NonFungible.com teams. The token will be underpinned by the rare cryptoart and digital collectibles held in “The Vault.”

• Avastars is running a meme competition through May 3rd. The generative art project’s also now on Product Hunt.

• Virtual world Cryptovoxels has islands incoming.

• NFT maestro Pranksy is turning their 35 Cryptovoxels plots, dubbed Pranksyland, into a cryptoart hub in collaboration with artists in the ecosystem.

• Artist Alotta Money is auctioning “The Voxel Hotel” on OpenSea.

• Artist Osinachi listed a new piece, “Tennis Player,” on MakersPlace ...

  Osinachi 🎨 @Prince_Jacon

  'Tennis Player'. Fun fact about this piece on @makersplaceco: I was my own model. So, it's kind of a self-portrait. Current bid is 3.2Ξ from #codeinecups @temo_ka. Reserve price is 5.8Ξ at which point the 24-hour countdown starts. makersplace.com/osinachi/tenni…

  May 2nd 2020

  1 Retweet6 Likes

• In a new update, NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway noted around 70 percent of its buyers to date have been “new to the NFT space.”

• Check out InfiNFT, a new token minting platform aimed at securing NFTs in perpetuity.

• Artist Twisted Vacancy’s piece “Motel for Cosmic Debris” saw a secondary sale on SuperRare for 7.4 ETH …

  powerSurge⚡️ @SergueiV

  Top #cryptoart sale of the day is “Motel for cosmic debris” by @twistedvacancy Sold for $1500 (7.4 eth) on @SuperRare_co

  May 2nd 2020

  3 Likes

• The upstart PixelChain project is approaching the milestone of 2,000 mints.

• Decentralized fashion label MetaFactory held a sudden death 24-hour auction for its final two membership slots.

🕹️ Blockchain Games

• MetaClan DAO launched on the Ethereum mainnet.

• The Gods Unchained team analyzed recent top-selling GU cards across the Genesis and Core sets.

• Axie Infinity’s Season 4 concluded on May 2nd.

♦️♦️ DeFi News

• Bitcoin-pegged Ethereum token tBTC started its public roll out.

• The LAO, a decentralized venture fund that’s a combination of a DAO and a Delaware-based LLC, went live. 

• Meet Gnosis Safe apps, an easy way for Gnosis Safe multi-sig users to interact with Ethereum dapps.

• The Decentraland community has applied to have the MANA token approved as collateral within MakerDAO’s Multi-Collateral Dai (MCD) system. Separately, Maker stakeholders voted to add the bitcoin-pegged WBTC token to MCD on May 1st.

• DeFi synthetic assets project UMA Protocol listed 2% of the total supply of its $UMA token on the Uniswap decentralized exchange. The token’s early price action caused some controversy.

• DeFi lending dapp Compound now supports the Tether (USDT) stablecoin.

• Ethereum privacy project Tornado.cash began its Trusted Setup Ceremony.

• The ENS name crypto.eth sold for 60 ETH on OpenSea.

📰Fresh Content

• “Thoughts on Virtual Events” - matthew.cent.eth

• “NFT Art - Secondary Sale Valuation” - Andrew Steinwold

• “Async Artist Spotlight: Osinachi” - Async Art

• “rhyolight gallery” - Alan Smale a.k.a. Puffin

• “Can Machine Learning Predict the Price of Art at Auction?” - Jason Bailey

• “Building on Ethereum in 2020” - Austin Griffith

• “How to Make Your Own DeFi Protocol Without Writing a Smart Contract” - Authereum

🖌️Extra, Extra

• I have a couple new pieces up on OpenSea ✌️

  

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

Keep an 👁️ out for the 17th 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. I have NFT pieces available on OpenSea, too. Thanks kindly!

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