GM

Ask not what Mint or Skip can do for you, but what you can do for Mint or Skip.

(nothing crazy, just telling friends about us is cool thx)

In today’s edition:

• These free NFTs are a bigger deal than you think

• Updated rankings

• 4 new drops (including 1 that made the Watch List)

Links for the Mint/Watch list drops are HERE.

Did you know?

We have a premium pass that gives you access to a directory of every drop we cover, complete with detailed information on how to get on every whitelist (including those underrated ones that aren’t already full).

And for those curatooors out there, you can get free NFTs just by finding drops that end up on the Mint or Watch list.

Lastly, hang with me and the MoS team in a private discord with weekly voice chats. The vibes are great.

Would you like to be featured in Mint or Skip like the above ☝️ ?

These free NFTs are a bigger deal than you think

Context

Reddit launched a new free NFT system yesterday beginning with a limited number of Android users.

The collection is called Level Up and is built around in-app engagement quests like voting on polls or creating posts.

Daily challenges give you opportunities to “level up” through a tier system that comes with increasingly rare avatars.

An early leak revealed that this is a limited collection, meaning that challenges act as a race to get higher tiers and claim rare avatars while supplies last.

Our Take

My X feed (Twitter) this morning is full of creators getting paid for simply posting on the app.

The Engagement Farmer, surely the most noble among us, now earns more than your family doctor who spent 20 years earning their degrees (I made this up - lying for views has never been a more viable career path).

Until now these payouts have mostly been limited to video content sites like YouTube and Twitch.

But now X has joined the club, and if we know anything about Zuck it’s likely we’ll see him porting this model over to Threads sooner than later.

In fact, we may be entering a new phase where all social media companies feel the need to start rewarding engagement as the attention economy gets increasingly cutthroat.

Now obviously receiving US dollars for tweeting is about as good as it gets – but how sustainable is it, and how many other apps have the treasuries to pull it off?

Reddit is trying another path

They said, “if we can’t afford to pay millions of dollars to creators every month, then why don’t we just, like, make digital action figures out of thin air and hand those out instead?”

As a result, the Reddit experience could soon be filled with bounties, engagement races, daily rewards, anything that gets people to keep coming back in exchange for Highly Desirable JPEGs.

This idea isn’t new of course. Take a look at any Fortnite Battle Pass from the last decade and you’ll see a glimpse of where we might be heading:

Plus in crypto, we’ve seen time and time again that one of the best use cases for NFTs (and tokens in general) has been incentivizing engagement.

But now we’re starting to see this expand to the broader internet, and it’s part of a larger gamification trend alongside digital stickers on Twitter and ice cream so good livestreams.

And honestly, Reddit could be very incentivized to make this work. They’re currently in a battle with their own users as a result of their attempts to stop losing money, so my guess is that matching Elon’s heavy creator payouts is out of the question for now.

By the way, I know it sounds ridiculous to suggest that NFTs could ever be a substitute for actually paying creators, but keep in mind we’re extremely early.

The same human drive that gets people to believe:

• CSGO knives are valuable

• this rare LOTR Magic Card is worth millions (at least to Post Malone)

• Doge at a $10 billion market cap makes sense

May one day accept Reddit avatars as something worth spending time on.

Not saying this is easy (at all) but I am Once Again Asking You To Let Them Cook.

Bottom line

Expect to see more of the engage-to-earn meta across large consumer apps.

For a select few companies, this might mean having to share revenue with users.

For all other apps that can’t afford it, NFTs could offer a creative alternative if they can pull off a belief structure around them.

Reddit has a head start (more than 15 million users now own at least 1 Reddit avatar), but there’s still a lot more they can do to get people to care about this stuff.

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

Oneirism (Daydream) by Rick Crane

The mobile app Floor continues its ICONS program with the third drop, Oneirism (Daydream) by UK-based artist Rick Crane, a.k.a. ThePaperCrane, who’s known for his colorful minimalistic work.

Rick, an experienced illustrator & designer with over two decades in the field, has a notable NFT track record, including a collaborative piece with Rich Poole, Acequia, ranked #8 for all-time volume on fxhash.

Oneirism (Daydream) showcases Rick's signature fusion of geometry and vibrant architecture, and like previous ICONS, will be sold via an open edition (no duration specified) exclusively on the Floor app.

BasePaint

BasePaint is a collaborative and seemingly experimental project launching on Base, made by developer duo w1nt3r (a former Meta engineer and creator of various on-chain projects) and Zach Herring (a previous ConsenSys design advisor and NiftyApes co-founder).

They’re presenting it as a pixel art project where various artists will be able to work together and get rewards from minted artworks, but details are very scarce right now.

However, with Coinbase’s Onchain Summer just around the corner, this might be one to keep your eye on.

Rhythm & the Machine by Lars Wander

Tonic, a rising generative art platform, aims to continue its streak of sell-outs with the upcoming drop: Rhythm & the Machine by German artist Lars Wander.

Wander is a former Google engineer who started publishing his generative art in 2020. Since then he has amassed a notable collector base thanks to his differentiated style showcased in successful releases on platforms like Bright Moments, fxhash and Plottables, to name a few.

I’m still waiting on the full supply and pricing details, but the sneak peeks so far are intriguing, especially for those with an abstract art inclination.

✨ Added to Watch List ✨

Untitled Verse Drop by Rich Poole

The other half of Acequia also seems to have a drop on the way. Verse dropped a sneaky preview just a couple of days ago which indicates a coming release from generative artist Rich Poole.

Poole boasts an extensive portfolio on Ethereum (including collaborations with gm.studio and gen.art) and Tezos (where he just sold out of another collection today).

But for now, we’ll have to wait and see what Verse is cooking up with him.

The Mint List

1. Taproot Wizards. OG Bitcoin meme inscribed as ordinals

2. 10KTF PFP. Drop from a team that includes Yuga and Beeple

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

4. Shadow Hats. Ordinals drop from the creators of Forgotten Runes

5. Genesis SFT Pass. Digital anime collectibles from a notable team

6. LUCI: Chapter 5. Follow-up from artist with esteemed collector base

7. Symbiogenesis. Square Enix's upcoming gaming NFT

8. Quasi Dragons. Innovative drop from an Art Blocks veteran

9. Studies in Color…. Art drop from a pioneer and museum exhibitor

10. Memeland [TBC]. High-value treasure MVPs minting on BTC