GM

Alexa, play Requiem in D Minor, and don’t ask me why.

Links for the Top 25 drops are HERE.

RIP Starbucks and Nike

O Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today in memory of the corporate brands that have abandoned us, are currently in the process of abandoning us, or are considering taking the next train the fuck outta here.

It seems that two of the last stalwart corporate NFT supporters – Starbucks and Nike – have had enough. 

On Friday, late in the afternoon, Starbucks quietly shut down its Stamps NFT program, which if we’re honest looked to be on its last legs for months anyway (and now we know why). 

Then, yesterday Nifty Alpha reported that Nike was shutting down their RTFKT division which they acquired back in 2021. The RTFKT team seemed to deny a full shutdown, although they didn’t specifically deny being impacted by Nike’s layoffs reported last month. 

I’d also note that we haven’t seen much from Nike’s other initiative Dot Swoosh lately, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this were on the cutting block as well. 

To be clear, this is no great loss.

In reality, these brands were committing bare minimum resources to these initiatives, and often quarantined them to their “metaverse” social media pages that were never intended to really cross-pollinate with their broader audiences. 

However, I will say that the timing of the announcements is amusing. I like to imagine someone at corporate HQ with the title of Senior Boomer VP taking a single glance at degens trading SLERF and jeo boden and deciding it was finally time to hit the eject button. 

But in reality, these decisions take time to go up the corporate ladder and probably originated last year, likely before the recent upswing in crypto prices and attention (still a fun image though). 

They’ll be back, of course, but all of this confirms my earlier point: 

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

ANTHROCINEMATICA by Chikai

The BrainDrops platform takes a digital world tour with this collection by Chikai Ohazama, renowned web3 art collector turned curator turned artist.

ANTHROCINEMATICA showcases photorealistic AI videos of people in different locations. Each collectible piece is displayed on a virtual wall of photos inside AI-crafted rooms in a perfect loop, zooming into the video from within the room.

It’s a mix of post-photography and synthetic nostalgia that might appeal to the growing AI art collector audience, especially after the recent uptick in attention for AI video due to Sora.

✨ Added to Top 25 ✨

Bright Moments Venice

A three-year journey finally comes to a close as Bright Moments bids arrivederci to their art world tour with one last mint in the floating city of Venezia.

As part of the event, 1,000 CryptoVenezians will be minted (part of Crypto Citizens collection), which will each grant a new art piece from one of 70 artists, some of whom are Mint or Skip favorites like 0xDEAFBEEF, Claire Silver and Zach Lieberman.

At this point, it’s not clear whether this new art collection will be accessible outside of CryptoVenezians. Regardless, the artists already named are enough for me to have…

✨ Added to Top 25 ✨

PS: There is a sale for 30 VIP-like Golden Tokens starting tomorrow, but we are tracking the public sale here.

Forbes Legacy Pass

As some brands exit web3 with their tails tucked between their legs, new ones dip their toes, like Forbes and its upcoming Legacy Pass.

While details are still limited, it looks like Forbes’s first major step toward creating a web3 community, offering holders access to exclusive experiences and benefits for whatever comes next in their ecosystem.

Trading maxis beware though, as the pass is a soulbound token.

The website lists a whole host of influencers, founders and other prominent crypto leaders as part of the project’s inner circle, but if past experience with similar projects is any indication, I doubt most of these people will be gm-ing in the discord every day.