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Just think: We're going to be the last generation that wasn't able to mint Pepe NFTs using telepathic neuro chips. Jealous!

In today’s edition:

• This seems bullish – so why is no one buying?

• The Top 25

• 4 new drops

Links for the Top 25 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.

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This seems bullish – so why is no one buying?

Yesterday we got some pretty historic news in the world of Non Fungible Tokens.

But there was something strange that caught my eye...

First, the news:

The Museum of Modern Art, one of the most prestigious art institutions in the world, now owns NFTs.

Specifically, they announced this week that, for the first time ever, they acquired two NFT artworks that were donated to their private collection (I guess they’re ignoring all the Pepe memes that people are also sending to their wallet).

The first NFT, Unsupervised – Machine Hallucinations by Refik Anadol, is capturing all the headlines, as you can see here:

The second NFT comes from a collection called 3FACE, by Ian Cheng.

And, for some reason, almost no one is talking about it.

Not only that, the collection that this NFT comes from is still not getting any serious volume.

The spike after the news looks more like a minor blip than what you’d expect from a collection that’s now part of the MoMA’s first-ever NFT acquisition.

I mean, this is the kind of news that 99% of NFT artists would dream of, and something that collectors have considered to be a holy grail signal of bullishness and institutional adoption (or so I thought?).

Which begs the question – why aren’t more people buying this?

Possible answer #1: Refik Anadol stole the spotlight

As you saw above, googling “MoMA NFTs” shows us a bunch of headlines that single out Refik’s collection while leaving out Ian Cheng.

And the stories themselves are just as one-sided. This Artnews article really doesn’t get into 3FACE until the end, almost as a footnote, and this article by NFT Now doesn’t even mention it at all.

This makes sense to some degree. In addition to being one of the best-selling NFT artists to date, Refik is also one of the darlings of the Trad Art world and has already had a major MoMA exhibit in the past (this NFT was in it).

So he simply has a much larger public profile than Ian.

Is it possible that collectors have just…missed that part of the announcement? Not everyone reads every word of every article (except us of course).

Possible answer #2: NFT collectors care less about being in the MoMA than they do about headlines and attention

For example, the biggest winner so far seems to be Refik’s Winds of Yawanawa, which received over 100 ETH of volume since the announcement, even though the MoMA’s Refik acquisition came from an unrelated 1/1 NFT.

Meanwhile, 3FACE received far less volume despite theoretically having stronger provenance given that the second MoMA acquisition came directly from that same collection on OS.

Something to think about when the next juicy narrative pops up.

Possible answer #3: No one gives a shit about NFTs right now 

Maybe people are distracted by more serious global events.

Maybe collectors are out of dry powder (technically the MoMA got these for free).

Maybe there’s just no one left.

~ no, that’s a lie! ~ I yell while staring directly into my floor-to-ceiling mirror.

Bottom line

As we predicted many moons ago, museums are coming for NFTs.

The question now for NFT collectors is: Does it matter?

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

Materia Moda by Ira Greenberg

Ladies in fancy Victorian dresses and server racks grace the page in this upcoming Ira Greenberg drop for Bright Moments London, which sees European Renaissance art get an AI makeover.

The creative computation professor reflects on the role of technology in society in this 100-supply drop which will mint live on-location (RSVP here). Online sale times have yet to be revealed.

NFT Paris ID

Leading up to their 2024 event bringing together some of the biggest names in NFTs (speakers include Snowfro, Yat Siu and Devin Finzer among others), NFT Paris introduces the $NFTPARIS token, a non-tradeable currency for event-related activities like merch and partner items.

They’re going to airdrop this token to those who mint a free NFT Paris ID and own enough NFTs from “major” collections (here’s to hoping the criteria make sense for where the market is).

This is a freebie that can provide some utility down the line, tied to an event that is co-signed by some of the most influential people in NFTs, so I’ve…

✨ Added to Top 25 ✨

Zien Pass

If you want to get your hands on contemporary art faster than the crowd, this one might be for you.

The platform is introducing a new membership plan with three passes. Each grants a different level of early access to drops and rewards, like the new $AURA token (whitepaper coming soon™️).

This change will also streamline the physical redemptions for their Expanded NFTs, one of the platform’s main priorities (interesting, seeing as physicals have gotten more popular this year).

Notes from a Neutron Star

Joy Division’s iconic 70’s album cover for Unknown Pleasures sees further remixes with this upcoming PROOF collaboration featuring artists Aaron Penne, Luke Shannon and Jesse Woolston.

Bright Moments London will exhibit the works this week before they’re sold. Existing Proof and Pace collectors will get first dibs and discounts.