GM

Welcome to the 25 new people who joined yesterday.

Banks are failing left and right, so we just want to say don’t worry about us, our money is safe and split across a diversified portfolio of 3-day-old meme coins.

In today’s edition:

• Amazon NFTs are around the corner

• Updated rankings

• New drops

More info on Mint/Watch lists HERE.

Amazon’s NFT platform: What we know

Amazon is entering the NFT space, and it’s got crypto Twitter feeling some kind of way.

First, the facts:

• Amazon is launching an NFT marketplace

• Amazon is also launching its own blockchain

• It’s expected to release within 30 days (possibly May 11)

• Some NFTs will partner with them, including Big Inc.

• Bezos continues to get more jacked by the day

Now, Dear Reader, I wouldn’t blame you if your initial reaction to this news was one of joy, optimism, and hope.

After all, Amazon has 300 million customers, 200 million prime subscribers, they’re amongst the largest companies in the world, and they were one of the first to jump into the last major tech revolution (the internet).

And we’ll get into what this bullish scenario could look like in a minute.

But hold up, not so fast. I’ve seen the Big Brand NFT Marketplace narrative before and it rarely ends well.

Let’s go down memory lane:

• Coinbase NFT– Complete flop. Only 42 NFT buyers in the last 7 days.

• Gamestop NFT – Complete flop. Barely providing any revenue.

• Instagram NFTs – Complete flop. Had a couple of OK drops then shut down.

• Reddit NFTs – Good early signs. 8m wallets, but no crossover into other projects.

• Robinhood NFTs – Not really a marketplace, but their wallet barely moved the needle.

Overall not great, we’ll give the group a 3/10 rating.

There’s a common reason most of these failed. They focused on making it easier for people to buy existing NFTs instead of giving them an entirely new category of collectibles.

The problem is most existing NFTs are terrible. The majority of them have no appeal to anyone outside of crypto twitter. And even CT is getting sick of them.

Reddit is an exception. They actually created a new category (Reddit avatars) that lined up with their target audience. And then they gave them all away for free instead of asking people to buy pixelated owls for thousands of dollars on day one.

So if you were to tell me that Amazon’s strategy was to simply make it easier for midwestern moms to buy Cryptodickbutts then I’d say lose my number. They need more.

Luckily it seems like something bigger is coming. Apparently, Amazon is planning to let people buy digital collectibles tied to physical items. The example given is being able to purchase a fashion NFT tied to a pair of jeans.

Fair enough – Levi NFTs are probably a better match for your average Prime member compared to meme PFPs. We still don’t know what the utility is, or how they’ll market it, but at least it’s something different.

If they learned from Reddit then they’ll give away a ton of these digital collectibles for free at first. And optimistically, this could create millions of new wallets practically overnight.

One concern: this might all happen on a private blockchain. An inside source described it as a “very walled garden”. Yikes, sounds like something in between Ethereum and Fortnite V-bucks, but we’ll wait until all the details are out.

Hopefully, there are crossover plans between Amazon’s wonderful world of collectibles and the rest of web3, and I think the fact that they’re working with teams like Truth Labs makes that likely.

A man can dream.

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

code.lawless – Phase 2

I first highlighted the cryptic launch of code.lawless here, which ended up doing well (over 20,000 transponders minted during the open edition).

Now ponderware is back with the second phase of the project, an 8,192 supply, 0.08192 ETH mint for lawless characters, with priority access going to those who have participated in the ecosystem. Right now it’s unclear whether you’ll need a transponder to get in on phase 2.

Moving past the lore, there are still a lot of unanswered questions: How do the two phases tie together? What exactly is the purpose of transponders? So I’m hoping the team enlightens us before the mint.

BASIIC – Genesis Drop

Yesterday, Kevin Rose nonchalantly tweeted about a mysterious artist named BASIIC.

Five minutes later, BASIIC revealed their genesis drop: 100 free AI works with all secondary royalties divided equally among NFT holders.

What’s going on here? The Twitter account is new and has less than 1,000 followers and 15 tweets. Is it possible this is someone’s alternate account? Time will tell.

qubitGANs by Pindar Van Arman

Pindar Van Arman's upcoming art drop, featuring his well-known bitGANs characters, is set for the second half of this year. This follows his highly successful byteGANs series.

That small series of tweets linked above is all I got for now, but I’ll be watching this one for updates 🔎

THE MINT LIST

1. Nike Our Force 1. Digital shoe drop from the global consumer brand.

2. Project Animus. RTFKT's biggest launch since Clone-X.

3. FewoWorld. New PFP by Fewocious, a rising star in the art world.

4. Symbiogenesis. Square Enix's upcoming gaming NFT.

5. 10KFT PFP. Drop from a team that includes Yuga and Beeple.

6. Ether. Anime PFP collection by viii, an artist with a cult following.

7. BIG INC. New free mint from the goblintown team.

8. 0xDEAFBEEF. Gen art from OxDEAFBEEF x Cactoid Labs x LACMA.

9. ZOGZ by Matt Furie. Open Editions from the creator of Pepe.

10. Adidas Golden Ticket. Free access pass for Adidas Hype Products.