GM

May your next jpeg bring you the everlasting peace that you seek.

Links for the Top 25 drops are HERE.

Where did this airdrop come from?

Meanwhile, on Bitcoin: 

Someone just spent ~$100k to surprise airdrop 21,000 hieroglyphic jpegs that look like this:

The project behind the airdrop, which was gifted to 9,211 wallets holding other popular Bitcoin collections, is called Runecoin.

No one knows who’s behind it, but we do know they’re fairly technical, and probably an OG (the wallet is linked to inscription #126). 

We also know a bit about the purpose behind the free airdrop, thanks to this handy litepaper that they inscribed. 

Here’s the TLDR: 

1. These inscriptions are called RSICs 

2. You can think of them as Factories in a game

3. Their purpose is to secure the first ever Bitcoin “Runes” (more on this later)

4. To play the game, you just need to transfer them once

5. Participants will then start accruing future rewards when Runes are launched

What are Runes? 

Runes are the latest invention from Ordinals founder and mad scientist Casey Rodarmor. 

He calls them “shitcoins for Bitcoin”. 

Technically we already have shitcoins on Bitcoin in the form of BRC-20 tokens. But it turns out BRC-20 is pretty inefficient and leads to chain congestion and annoyingly high network fees. 

So Casey wants to create better shitcoins, hence Runes. 

Now normally I don’t cover shitcoins on this Blessed Newsletter. It’s nothing personal, and I get how they can be fun in small doses, I just find the neverending zero-sum drama associated with them to be exhausting. 

Plus, they’re missing my favorite ingredient when buying digital objects: creator lore. 

Most shitcoins are launched anonymously, with an origin story that typically isn’t more profound than “i made 42 memecoins last week and this is the one that stuck for some reason”. 

It’s hard to get inspired by that. 

And apparently, Casey agrees – he’s building this almost as a necessary evil and doesn’t seem that pumped about it: 

Still, there’s something magical about watching a new class of digital objects get introduced to the world, especially when they come from the guy who previously brought us NFTs on L1 Bitcoin, which turned out to be kind-of-a-big-deal. 

But here’s the thing

Runes aren’t scheduled to launch until April, and everything is subject to change at any moment. 

So while Runecoin is promising that holders will be able to secure the “First Runes” when the protocol launches, which would potentially make them immensely valuable, there's no reason to believe that they can guarantee that. 

This has some people calling them out for false advertising, perhaps to pump up the 10% supply that they’re keeping for themselves, and that does seem to be the case unless there’s some yet-to-be-revealed technical implementation they’re cooking. 

But a little detail like that isn’t going to stop speculators, who have already spent ~$1 million trading these RSICs since yesterday’s airdrop. 

NOTE: These drops are lightly curated. Our only requirement is that they have recognizable founders. As usual, DYOR. To learn more go here.

Hitomebore by wren

This upcoming drop by pseudonymous artist wren might be perfect for those looking to proclaim their love for grass-touching.

It’s a 120-supply release following last month’s Edge, an fxhash sellout, and showcases peaceful flower-filled landscapes, a consistent theme in the artist’s work.

Made using a combination of Midjourney, Photoshop and CAD (this last one probably because wren is a working architect), the result is aesthetically pleasing and passes my wall test.

SHILLR S2 Burn Artist #7 - Batzdu

Before dropping his anticipated generative projects this quarter, popular artist batzdu will release an edition this week with SHILLR.

The simplest way to acquire one is by burning a SHILLR Core Pass or buying one of SHILLR’s other passes which get you a free airdrop (although none of those are listed for sale right now).

Do keep in mind that we don't have art sneak peeks for this drop yet, so you’d be going in blind. Risk it for the biscuit?

BitMON by Des Lucréce

There seems to be no stopping the Ordinals train, which might accelerate thanks to the upcoming BitMON collection by Des Lucréce.

Last week’s low-key announcement revealed the following limited details:

• The name suggests a continuation of the artist’s various Monsters series (check out Lucréce’s timeline for more sneak peeks)

• You’ll need a Defy Pass to mint, which you can buy on secondary or mint

• Defy Pass holders aren’t guaranteed a mint (details TBD)

• Some BitMON will be auctioned separately

Bidders have already blown past expectations for the artist’s ongoing Sotheby’s auction, and I doubt they’ll want to miss this.

✨ Added to Top 25 ✨