GM

Feels good to be back after taking off for July 4th.

9/10 doctors agree: touching keyboards is healthier than touching grass.

Who am I to disagree with science?

In today’s edition:

• NFT NPCs are blowing my mind

• Two new drops added to Watch List

• More new drops to check out

More info on Mint/Watch lists 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.

NFT NPCs are blowing my mind

June 30th was an atrocious day for NFTs. Azuki-gate was fresh on everyone’s minds, prices were collapsing across the board, and crypto Twitter was trying its best to convince me that NFTs were Actually Dead This Time.

But in the middle of all this chaos, I saw this interesting tweet by Benny Giang:

This came across like someone whispering some groundbreaking prediction in the back row of a UFC main event and being ignored by a crowd of bloodthirsty fans.

But, sure enough, it’s starting to look like this could actually be true. And this NPC season might officially launch tomorrow.

First, some context

Benny Giang is the developer behind ERC-6551, which gave every NFT its own wallet that could contain other NFTs or fungible tokens.

We covered this back in May, but here’s a quick refresher on ERC-6551 use cases (for readers that, for some reason, don’t review our entire back catalog on a weekly basis):

• Equipping digital outfits and items

• ERC-20 token earning/airdrop models

• POAPS or badges earned by participation

• Trading entire collections as a single unit

• NFTs as onchain identities with the ability to layer on social network models

Specifically, today I want to talk about 6551’s role in creating NPCs, which Benny defines as Network Playable Characters.

As the name suggests, the idea here is that every NFT can now turn into a character. And because NFTs can represent basically anything in the digital world, it must mean that anything and everything in the metaverse has the potential of being an agent.

Imagine, if you will, a piece of fine art – let’s say CryptoDickButt #69, better known as Dixty Nine.

Now imagine giving Dixty Nine:

1. Some defined tasks, like playing an onchain game and winning resources.

2. An initial ETH balance to go about its tasks.

3. Monthly allowances through an app like Superfluid in case it doesn’t make enough from the game to sustain itself.

4. Access to Twitter so that it can shitpost after winning.

5. Prompts to send messages like “GG EZ PZ ” to other NFTs after beating them (as outlined by Benny here).

And then imagine that, over time…

These agents build onchain identities that go well beyond the original NFT

For example, Dixty Nine might start earning soulbound NFTs that a game creator gives out to anyone that beats a boss in their game.

And perhaps these soulbound NFTs give you access to a rare dungeon with high-end loot, which would accrue value to Dixty Nine because other players might want to own it as a way to enter this dungeon.

Now, all of a sudden, you have a Cryptodickbutt gaining reputation and assets across different apps, and this could turn it into the most valuable NFT in the collection.

This all sounds very weird

But it’s something that Benny believes isn’t just possible, soon it’ll actually be the most common type of NFT we have.

In other words, we’re all going to be sending out NFT agents that will sign DAO votes for us, buy and sell assets, make offers, log into apps etc.

Still sound too theoretical?

Well, tomorrow we get to see the first big experiment with Parallel’s Avatar mint.

Parallel is a web3 trading card game, but more recently they’ve been working on a side experiment called Colony.

What is Colony? Well, we don’t know a ton yet, although they’re set to explain a lot more tomorrow ahead of the mint.

But what we do know is that the Avatars minted tomorrow will be NFTs that you can eventually drop into this multiplayer game and that they’ll have to outmaneuver each other to gain a position of power and win.

Everything in the game will be governed by AI, using OpenAI, including:

• Avatars adapting to different strategies

• NFTs that create other NFTs

• NFTs that gather resources and swap them into ETH (using 6551)

• AIs that can change their own code, including new actions not originally built by the game creators

Now, we don’t have a date yet for when the game launches, and we’re going on too little info to make a guess on whether it’ll be successful, but the ideas here seem profound.

And if Benny is right, we’re about to see A LOT more projects launching similar experiments.

My advice, Dear Readers, is to spend less time reading doomer threads on Twitter and more time paying attention to this.

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

ClickCreate July Drops

Digital art platform ClickCreate continues its string of artist-curated drops, partnering with renowned minimalist artist Grant Yun for this month's curation which focuses on the theme of "Neighborhood", a recurring motif in Grant's work.

The artist roster includes recognizable names to emerging art appreciatooors: Nathan A. Bauman, CMPLX, Tex, Palette Box, SIGMA-X, WILLARD.

Weekly drops start today with SubPass holders, as usual, getting first dibs and reduced mint pricing.

Dior B33 Sneaker

I’ve talked about sneaker NFTs before and it seems like the train’s not stopping anytime soon, as now we have Dior entering the game with a 470-supply physical sneaker that will go up for sale tomorrow.

Each comes equipped with an NFC chip that provides a digital certificate of authenticity and a digital twin NFT (ERC-721), the latter of which provides early access and exclusive perks starting with the Dior Spring 2024 collection.

Although I’m not one for luxury sneakers, the numbers here make sense for a fashion brand of Dior’s size, and with this being the very first access token for the Dior web3 ecosystem we’ve…

✨ Added to Watch List ✨

Typical Friends Mystery Drop

Riding the momentum of their upcoming Garbage Friends mint, Markus Magnusson’s Typical Friends is unveiling a mystery drop this Monday which will provide whitelist access to the aforementioned rubbish-adjacent collection.

This mystery drop will have 50 pieces, which I infer have been made in collaboration with an undisclosed artist, and is only mintable by holders of their Limited Designer Editions.

It’s a bold move by Typical Friends, as not many art ecosystems can successfully pull off this hidden artist approach. Curious to see how it pans out.

Open Eyes (Flower) by Jake Fried

The first artist release from the Avant Arte x Cozomo de’ Medici partnership is looking pretty appealing as Jake Fried’s museum-grade, psychedelic B&W animations take physical form on Open Eyes (Flower), a 20-supply physical accompanied by an NFT twin.

The artist is renowned by commercial brands and esteemed curators alike. Also, Avant Arte’s physical + digital sales model has been hit among collectors thus far, so we’ve…

✨ Added to Watch List ✨

Etihad 787 Mission Impossible

Almost one full year since their first NFT release (which has performed astonishingly well market-wise), Emirati airline Etihad is following up with a 300-supply Mission Impossible-themed collection.

I’m as confounded as you are, but it could be interesting in the off-chance that this turns out to have compelling features that open up doors for better movie collectible NFTs down the line. Emphasis on off-chance.

The Mint List

1. Taproot Wizards. OG Bitcoin meme inscribed as ordinals

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

3. Symbiogenesis. Square Enix's upcoming gaming NFT

4. Themes and Variations. Sotheby’s showcases pioneer gen artist

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

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

7. 10KTF PFP. Drop from a team that includes Yuga and Beeple

8. Acceptable Realities. Fellowship’s 2nd AI photography drop

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

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