GM

Welcome to the 31 people who joined yesterday.

It’s Friday, which means that instead of sitting in your room looking at a screen with falling JPEG prices, you should be out somewhere on a beach looking at a screen with falling JPEG prices.

Meet back here Monday?

In today’s edition:

• The first of its kind

• Updated NFT rankings

• Newly found drops

More info on Mint/Watch lists HERE.

Opepen: The first of its kind

Context

Jack Butcher, the popular web3 artist behind Checks and Opepen, announced that the next phase for his ecosystem will begin today, April 21st.

This marks a major transition into a more AI-centric ecosystem (OpepenAI), and also touches on some big changes we think are coming to NFTs.

Some facts:

• Opepen will be split into 200 sub-collections.

• A tiered reveal will change the metadata on 80 Opepens at a time.

• Snapshot for rarity assignment at 7 PM EDT today.

• Holding Checks Originals = higher rarity reveal.

Our Take

One of my favorite dynamics from Game of Thrones is how, on one hand, you have these really personal, petty interactions between characters that are trying to take over some position of power.

And then, in the background, you have this looming threat of, basically, an army of zombies and societal collapse.

Like yes, some Lord backstabbed you in that random turf war, and you should probably get revenge, so go off King. But also – Winter Is Coming, and the scale is incomparable.

The NFT space is currently Game of Thrones. You have projects fighting over whatever scraps of attention they can get. There’s bickering, there’s arguments over some minutia about how roadmaps should work, and how founders should act, and all that.

But also – AI is coming, and the scale is incomparable. The number of ways AI is about to change NFTs and internet content is too many to list, and frankly too complex to accurately predict.

Jack Butcher sees this coming. And as a result he’s turning Opepen into OpepenAI, a project on the cutting edge of a trend that’s about to reshape the entire space.

For those that aren’t super familiar with Jack, he’s an artist and online marketer that has honed an uncanny ability to take the Current Thing and distill it into an engaging and minimalistic visual concept.

He gained popularity over the years with Visualize Value (his web2 marketing company) and more recently has catapulted himself into the upper echelon of Web3 creators as well.

First there was Checks, which was inspired by the controversy and importance of social media verification.

Then, there was Opepen. Originally inspired by the open edition meta in web3, and then evolving into Jack’s version of the traditional PFP.

But Jack quickly noticed something early on with Opepen. People kept using the latest AI tools to manipulate the core Opepen shape into something that best suited their taste. And some of these were, actually, really good.

So then the project evolved again – Jack turned Opepen into OpepenAI. It’s a play on the company OpenAI but also a shift into a trend that he thinks will change everything.

So what is OpepenAI?

The core idea is this: AI is making it far easier for the average person to create high quality visuals through prompting. The lines between creator and collector will blur, and this will happen faster than most people think.

So Opepen will lean into this and let people have a hand in the creation.

All you need for this is a solid template, a recognizable symbol. And Opepen at its core is just that – a symbol.

What if Jack is right? Here’s what he thinks we’re about to see:

In that case, Opepen could be looked at as a collection birthing a new genre. Some sort of identity meme layer where collectors and creators flow together in an AI-assisted economy.

I’m just brainstorming here, we all are. It’s all highly experimental and nothing is finalized.

All we know is that the internet is about to get really weird, and Opepen is diving head-first into that weirdness.

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

ChainCards Season 1

Greeting Cards x NFTs

Tomorrow marks the launch of a new platform created by pseudonymous founder Vee. Season 1 will feature a series of NFT greeting cards designed in collaboration with five notable artists in the space. Edition sizes and prices will vary.

The platform will also launch with an additional special collection called the GM series, a 1,000-supply edition priced at $20.

Still Moving by Nathaniel Stern and Sasha Stiles

The upcoming Art Blocks Curated, Still Moving, is touting itself as the first of its kind - an interactive poem about humanity’s visceral engagement with the virtual. It uses AI to generate verses and camera-based motion tracking for real-time user interaction.

The innovative project will launch next Wednesday through a Dutch auction, selling 400 pieces at prices ranging from 10 to 2 ETH.

WHISPERS IN THE SNOW by iDerech

Allowlist platform PREMINT has announced their first art exclusive drop for their Collector Pass holders.

The drop will feature a photography edition from PROOF artist iDerech, and is set to mint this coming Thursday.

The total supply will consist of 133 NFTs, priced at 0.133 ETH each. The entire supply will be allocated to Collector Pass holders who win the allowlist raffle.

AURAS by Jeremy Cowart

IRL minting is gaining momentum.

On May 2nd, artist Jeremy Cowart will be doing a live event in Nashville, TN where he will produce 10,000 unique NFTs in a span of 20 minutes, without the use of generative code or AI, for his collection AURAS.

How exactly this will be done isn’t 100% clear, but his announcement thread mentions the use of robotics and a giant LED volume screen, among other things.

After the live event, 8,700 unique pieces will be sold through a public mint on OpenSea the following week. Price is TBD.

Star Symphony

Star Symphony is an anime-styled rhythm game with gacha features, like a cross between Guitar Hero and Genshin Impact.

Sometime soon, the project will mint Elder Passes, PFPs with airdrop benefits leading to the game's end-of-year launch. This follows a presale in early March, where 888 passes sold out at 0.15 ETH each.

The game comes in as the first title from Malasya-based Isekai Studio, a new company founded by Shas Fung and Stephanie Wong. They’re joined by a group of interesting advisors, including Guitar Hero co-founder Kai Huang, and Team Secret CEO John Yao.

THE MINT LIST

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

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

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

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

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

6. 10KFT PFP. Drop from a team that includes Yuga and Beeple.

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

8. Proof Diamond. Curated drop with art from Beeple and other artists.

9. Garbage Friends. New PFP from the creator of Invisible Friends.

10. Bright Moments Tokyo Contemporary. Next drop from BM.