⚓️ pour one out for proof (of conference)

...and OpenSea goes to 0 (royalties)

gm.

as you may have heard in my newsletter last week, I got laid off from my normie job.

but as everyone keeps telling me…apparently when one door closes, another one opens. well, I’m going to make sure that door is in Web3 this time around.

getting canned affords me some runway and some opportunity to go hard (for the time being) to try and make it work here.

so that’s what I’m going to do. today I’ve launched my first project! scroll down to the DELTA section for more info…

ALPHA ⚓️

Proof of Conference canceled 🥃

PROOF of Conference @PROOF_CONF

We've made the difficult decision to cancel PROOF of Conference this year. We didn’t take this decision lightly, nor did we make it quickly. We have spent considerable time pouring over all the alternatives, but ultimately canceling the conference this year was the best choice.

Proof of Conference…the event held for Moonbirds fanatics and Oddities heads…was surprisingly canceled yesterday (in an announcement from the official Proof team).

the reasons for pulling the plug on it remain a bit unclear…but it seems they wanted to provide value elsewhere and not sink money into an IRL event.

the reaction was predictable. I’ve never held a conference (FWIW I’m not opposed to BivFest 2024), but I can’t imagine canceling one on short notice would *ever* go well.

the refunds are the bare minimum they could do, as many had booked their flights and planned their lives around the event already. for it to get canceled like this has to be tough…my anxiety can barely handle it when my flight is delayed even a few minutes.

(travel stress is the worst)

on the heels of this decision, it feels primed to be *particularly* bad 2023 for Proof and their genesis collection Moonbirds.

in combination with their missteps of 2022…including CC0’ing and having some disappointing staking rewards…people were already starting to ask if Kevin Rose is running Digg 2.0 (or should I say, Digg Web3) here.

now, whether it’s fair or not, they’re definitely in the FUD crosshairs again for canceling their event. and being there usually doesn’t end well…

BETA ⚓️

OS goes to 0 (royalties) 📉

OpenSea @opensea

We’re making some big changes today: 1) OpenSea fee → 0% for a limited time 2) Moving to optional creator earnings (0.5% min) for all collections without on-chain enforcement (old & new) 3) Marketplaces with the same policies will not be blocked by the operator filter

are you done discussing royalties and how they should be enforced on NFT marketplaces?

too bad!

because on OpenSea brought that conversation *back* to your timeline this weekend.

I hope you are prepared for lots of discussions and threads on royalties…because that’s exactly what you’re going to get on the heels of OpenSea’s decision.

and the decision was this: scared by Blur taking a big ol’ chunk of their market share in the past few months, OpenSea decided to drop their fee (for a limited time), but more importantly, make creator royalties *optional*.

FWIW they tried this once before when MagicEden made it cool…but quickly walked it back when they got pushback.

well now, that pushback doesn’t matter…because Blur has apparently been eating their lunch and making royalties a thing of the past in the process. it does feel that we are at the point of no return with royalties…which would drastically change the NFT landscape as we know it.

for that reason, your favorite project is probably concerned, and for your sake, I hope they prepared for this day.

GAMMA ⚓️

dookey dash winner 🏆

Bored Ape Yacht Club @BoredApeYC

Many have dashed, more have dookey’d, but one person arrived. Congratulations to @Mongraal, the Key is yours!

while I am scrounging to find a single postive NFT flip, a mfer named Mongraal just won (probably) a million-dollar NFT.

we are not the same.

Yuga formerly announced the winner of the Dookey Dash challenge, and that means Mongraal has against all odds gamed his way to generational wealth.

#goals

the key prize has already seen $300K offers, and I imagine there is already substantial backchanneling and DM bidding going down behind the scenes for the 1/1.

so I’ll be sure to follow up when that big sale *inevitably* happens.

DELTA ⚓️

cheeks is live 🍑

biv.eth 🍑 cheeks minting now! @bivnft

it all started with a joke tweet. instead of 'checks' it was 'cheeks' 🍑🧵

biv.eth 🍑 cheeks minting now! @bivnft

how has no one done a checks derivative called 'cheeks' that is just the 🍑 emoji?

what I love about Checks (not to be confused with my new project Cheeks) is its malleability. with a simple update to the metadata, it can be *anything* and can tell a story with its grid.

and I think there’s something there for my newsletter.

as you know, I cover all this NFT news on Tuesdays and Thursdays. but usually, *one topic* predominantly dominates the overall NFT narrative over the rest.

for the past few weeks, it’s ironically been all about Jack Butcher’s Checks VV (the project I’m biting here). but before that, it was the aforementioned Dookey Dash. and then before that, it was the y00ts list.

it’s always *something*, and what I plan on accomplishing with Cheeks is keeping you up to date on what that big conversation is…with a little bit of artistic flair.

the idea is that I’ll be updating the peaches grid and Cheeks metadata to reflect the *big* story of the moment…much like when Checks was updated to a CryptoPunk or Pepe.

Cheeks will tell a story (but not in the corny “storytelling NFT” way.

so if you are interested in hearing that story, the mint will be open until 4PM Pacific on 2/22. I’ve airdropped holders of the BivNFT Lifetime Pass their Cheeks already, but the rest of you can snag up to 10 for .0069 ETH here:

https://app.manifold.xyz/c/cheeksart

thanks and see you Thursday for an update on how this all went.