GM

Today we do a little Thursday hopium.

In today’s edition:

• Why I'm excited

• The Lists

• 4 new drops

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 ☝️ ?

Why I'm excited

Be me:

This is an extremely common reaction these days.

And you can’t really blame them. When was the last time NFTs were mentioned in a mainstream news platform without a dramatically negative headline?

It really does seem like journalists are only legally allowed to talk about either:

1. Justin Bieber being down bad on his one Bored Ape

2. Someone getting their wallet drained for millions of dollars

And yet, despite the headlines, I’m excited. Here’s why:

Even in this low point of the bear market, when crypto Twitter has been reduced to a series of tumbleweeds floating across a ghost town, we’re seeing that people are still really into minting new NFTs.

According to Nansen, collectors have spent, on average, $1 million a day on mints so far in August.

That’s $1 million, every single day.

That’s incredible when you consider that most people have already dropped the expectation that any of these collections will be “going to the moon” overnight.

I mean, of course, we still have speculators – that will forever be a feature of any market with tradable assets.

But my guess is that enthusiasts, as in people who aren’t looking to instaflip their NFT for a $3 profit, make up a higher percentage of daily minters today than we’ve seen in years.

And even though this group has obviously declined in the last 18 months, they still have serious spending power:

Last week $9.5 million was spent minting NFTs – and this came from a group of just ~25,000 wallets, which means the average wallet spent $380 dollars on brand new projects.

Plus, the number of actual humans is probably way lower than that, meaning average spend was likely $500-1,000/person, if not more (btw I’m not even including secondary, which is still the majority of volume).

O Dearly Beloved, here’s a tip.

If you ever find a niche where

• enthusiasts are spending $1,000/week on average

• with several clear paths to scale

• and 99% of outsiders think it’s DEAD because of clickbait headlines

You’ve likely stumbled on an opportunity.

In fact, if you know of any other niche on earth that fits this description, please send it my way in the replies because I’d double down on that as well.

Here’s what this all means for us.

The next few months will be busy.

We’re getting a rebrand, an entirely new web experience, introducing a new form of media that we haven’t seen anyone try before, and a few other surprises.

Stay tuned ✨

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

Optimism × Onchain Summer

Another art drop is coming to Onchain Summer today as Base co-architects, Optimism, take to the stage at 1 PM ET.

While they haven’t revealed details yet, I expect this to be another low-cost/free open edition for the collectooor types out there.

Post Morphologies by Renderfuit

After recently selling out of its first two art experiences by Mad Dog Jones and Jarvinart, Fvckrender’s art platform, Lvcidia, has just announced a new drop by 3D artist Renderfruit.

Mint details are still unknown, however, so I’ll stay on the lookout.

Diary by Vinnie Hager

Popular American artist Vinnie Hager, best known for his 2021 collection, Letters, will release his next big project, Diary, a generative open edition.

These editions feature Hager’s signature doodles alongside many pop-culture references.

The works are based on a hundred physical drawings that chronicle his evolution as an artist over the last seven years. And some lucky holders will be able to claim the original physicals (through a raffle I’m guessing) shortly after the sale.

This one feels distinct in style and scope, while also appealing to Letters fans, so I’ve…

✨ Added to Watch List ✨

Mercedes-Benz NXT Icons

The Mercedes Benz web3 arm announced its second collection, Mercedes-Benz NXT Icons. And oh boy, it’s not looking gud bruv.

The collection consists of 18,860 3D art collectibles based on the brand’s car designs since inception. They’ll be released in 7 separate mints (each containing 2,694 pieces) through Dutch Auctions priced between 1 and 0.1 ETH.

Even after accounting for the freebies that are being given out to buyers of the company’s previous NFTs, they’ll still need around $2.9 to $29 million in primary sales to mint out… for what are basically no-strings-attached corporate collectibles. High expectations in this market.

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

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

5. Symbiogenesis. Square Enix's upcoming gaming NFT

6. Sugartown Oras. Zynga, Farmville creators, releasing free NFTs

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

8. Distance by Mapan. Cactoid Labs x LACMA x influential artist

9. Deafbeef x Bright Moments. OG onchain creator with a track record

10. Momentum by Rik Oostenbroek. Leading web3 artist x Red Bull