GM

Welcome to the 8 new subs who joined yesterday.

Today we talk about magic orbs, Louis Vuitton NFTs, hats with chips in them, and mobile games. You know, the essentials.

In today’s edition:

• Making $1,000/week with NFTs

• The Mint and Watch Lists

• Freshly found drops

More info on Mint/Watch lists HERE.

Making $1,000/week with NFTs

Some of us pay $20 per month for Chat GPT. That’s about 5 coffees where I live, in exchange for being able to talk to the greatest brain that humanity has ever invented – honestly, that’s not bad (ChatGPT pricing that is, the coffees are a scam).

Crypto nerds, on the other hand, would rather pay $1,000 per week to ask a single question to a human thought leadooor they know from Twitter.

I’m talking about Eric’s Orb. This is a single NFT that grants its holder the ability to ask Eric Wall – a popular intellectual from the Bitcoin community – any single question they want, once per week as long as they hold it.

Go check it out after reading this segment. Stare deeply into the orb, ponder its existence, ponder your existence, look at the price of the orb (8 ETH), ponder your existence again, look at the ownership tax that the holder has to pay just to continue holding this orb (24 ETH/year), and ask yourself if maybe the internet was a mistake.

Ok – sounds crazy at first glance but there’s actually a cool idea in here, and if this experiment works you might be seeing a whole lot more of it soon.

Let me explain

Back in 2021, there was a lot of talk about social tokens. “Get ready”, people would say, “because we’re about to enter a world where trad creators will use tokens to max-monetize their reach, in a way where their fans will also share in the upside.”

Part of this pitch was the ability for creators to collect royalties on secondary trades.

We now know that this relied on marketplaces playing nice and enforcing royalties at the social level, which was all good in theory, but it didn’t last long in practice.

And so now we live in a world where royalties are largely ignored. That’s a bummer for creators and makes it less likely they’ll choose NFTs over web 2 subscription platforms.

But wait – Eric’s Orb is doing something different

Instead of relying purely on royalties, it’s using a mechanic called a Harberger Tax. This is something people have talked about quite a bit as an alternative to royalties, and even Vitalik himself has simped for it.

And look, it’s working! Eric is actually making money, something that has become increasingly rare in the world of non-fungible tokens. As stated, he’s currently earning nearly $1,000/week to answer a single question.

Here’s how the Orb tax works:

1. When you buy the Orb, you have to set a price that you’re willing to sell it at.

2. You then pay a % of that price as long as you hold it.

3. If you stop paying the tax, the NFT goes back to the creator.

So if you buy the Orb and you want to be a troll and list it at 1,000 ETH because you don’t want anyone to buy it, then you’re going to have to pay a 250 ETH tax every single month to keep it (Eric’s Orb is set to a 25% monthly tax).

In the meantime, you can ask one question per week.

How valuable is that? Well, right now the current holder believes it’s worth about 2 ETH/month. If at some point they don’t feel like they’re getting enough value, then they’ll just lower the price.

This ensures that the Orb is always up for sale at a reasonable price.

Why is this cool?

As Eric states in the FAQ:

Plus, the holders can still share in any upside. The original buyer acquired the Orb from Eric for 5 ETH two months ago and later flipped it for 10 ETH, even after getting value by asking questions.

So the dream of OG fans buying NFTs for cheap from some unknown artist and then benefitting as they rise to stardom is still real.

Beyond that, the creator benefits because the tax is actually enforceable. The NFTs use a modified ERC-721 contract that forces people to buy/sell through the Harberger system. In other words, Opensea and other marketplaces are taken out of the picture completely, so there’s no middleman that a creator needs to rely on to collect taxes.

What’s next?

Eric wants to let creators launch their own Orbs. They’re setting up a DIY platform called orb.land which will let people customize their own offering and tax rate.

Now if I’m honest, paying a holding tax on something you own is a weird concept, and most people don’t like it at first glance. I personally don’t think this works for many categories, including digital art.

But I can see it working when you’re dealing with continuous utility like Eric’s Orb. This one was a Forever Q+A token, but you can imagine it being used for other purposes that overlap with Patreon, OnlyFans, etc.

Sticking with ChatGPT for now, but I’m loving the experimentation.

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

The VIA Treasure Trunk by Louis Vuitton

Luxury fashion giant Louis Vuitton is making perhaps their biggest web3 play yet with VIA, a drop of non-tradeable, soulbound tokens coming in at a whopping $39,000 each (~21 ETH).

Featuring the iconic 160-year-old LV trunk, the token is not for the faint of heart. Most, if not all, of the value is in the forthcoming drops for holders, which include phygital & digital products and exclusive experiences.

The company has “endeavored to propose” (their wording, not mine) 2 to 3 exclusive holder drops per year, for a minimum of 3 years. Waitlist for the June 16th mint is open for applications on the project’s website.

9dcc x Jeff Staple: Limited Edition Caps

Gmoney’s luxury fashion brand, 9dcc, is partnering with iconic streetwear designer Jeff Staple for this collection dropping June 21st.

The main drop is for 250 real-world caps. You know, those things you put on your head back when you used to go outside?

However, these clothing items will feature various gamification aspects, including an NFT twin that holders can use to customize Stapleverse’s Sapienz. If this means ERC-6551 integration (you can read about that here), then that’s pretty cool.

Fall by Grant Riven Yun

The popular artist Grant Yun is back with a new limited edition drop, Fall, depicting a sleek minimalistic view of everyday suburban life.

Launching on June 27th, the mint consists of 35 pieces that include both a print and an NFT of the artwork priced at €6,050 (~3.28 ETH) each on Avant Arte.

The last time Yun did a drop like this, it ended up doing pretty well.

✨ Added to Watch List ✨

CyberKongz Genkai

One of the most iconic projects of the 2021 NFT bull run, CyberKongz, is plotting a comeback with Genkai.

Whitelist spots for the mint are already open for applications on the project’s website, but we don’t know much about the project’s focus, apart from a clear anime influence in the art department.

Jungle Seed

Jungle Seed marks the genesis mint from Jungle, a debutant web3 gaming company funded by some of the biggest names in the space.

Dropping via a limited supply free mint, this collection will function as a “factory” that grants holders additional mints as the company's mobile shooter game nears completion.

Although I do have some questions as to the team’s game development experience, I do love me a doxxed games company with good funding, and will be keeping a lookout for the game’s upcoming teaser trailer.

✨ Added to Watch List ✨

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

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

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

7. Dimensionals - EVE. Free gaming PFP from doxxed studio

8. Tony Babel x Typical Friends. Limited edition from the popular artist

9. Glacier Dreams by Refik Anadol. AI art from the MoMA exhibitor

10. Illuvium x GameStop D1SK. 1st brand collab for the AAA web3 game