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I bought a single party hat in RuneScape 20 years ago and next thing I knew I was writing a daily newsletter about jpegs and digital trinkets.

In today’s edition:

• Yuga Labs vs OpenSea is insane

• The Top 25 upcoming NFTs

• 4 fresh 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.

Would you like to be featured in Mint or Skip like the above ☝️ ?

Yuga Labs vs OpenSea is insane

On the last episode of Royalty Wars…

OpenSea announced that they would stop enforcing royalties in 2024.

Then Yuga Labs, who is by far OpenSea’s biggest revenue driver, said they would simply block OS from all future collections in response.

We predicted three ways this could play out: 

1. OpenSea reverses its decision

2. Yuga launches an OpenSea competitor that enforces royalties

3. Yuga launches its own private marketplace and so does everyone else

This weekend we got our answer

And surprise – it wasn’t #1 (OpenSea’s only announcement was that they were actually downsizing their team yet again). 

Instead, the big news was Yuga announcing a partnership with Magic Eden to release a new ETH marketplace that is contractually obligated to honor royalties. ETA is 2023, so pretty soon. 

Why are they going so hard on this royalty thing again? 

I think this tweet is a perfect explanation.

Here you have BAYC trading 260 ETH in a single day back in September. 

And yet, despite having a 2.5% royalty rate, Yuga only made 0.002 ETH in royalty fees. 

They were supposed to make ~$12,000 (using today’s prices), but actually only made $4 because no one pays royalties anymore. 

I mean…what did people think was gonna happen? 

Remember they made over $100m from royalties in 2022 alone. That’s like an Ape Fest every single weekend if they bring it all back (on second thought…). 

Some more predictions

We still don’t have the details on how it’ll all work, but here’s one plausible path: 

1. Yuga announces a strict whitelist for future drops, possibly using ERC-721C, which we covered here, or something similar

2. They incentivize existing Yuga NFT holders (BAYC, etc) to wrap in the new standard

3. How? Possibly ApeCoin rewards or royalty sharing 

4. Other top collections follow (Azuki, Pudgy Penguins) 

5. Now OS really needs to reverse or they’re cooked 

6. (they don’t) 

7. Other marketplaces follow because they have no choice 

8. Royalties are back → Creators come back 

9. Decentralization maxis complain, for reasons covered here

10. Gamestop NFT marketplace continues to be in “beta”

Just one future out of 135 trillion possibilities, but I kinda like the chaos implied with this one. 

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

Limited Edition Drops by Irfaan

For appreciatooors of sleek digital art, Chicago-based artist Irfaan is dropping a 25-supply collection today, leading to a larger supply drop on Wednesday.

No sneak peeks yet, but I expect the release to have a similar look to the artist’s SuperRare and Foundation work, which has attracted renowned collectors in the past.

adidas X Crazyfast Bugatti

Following their successful BAPE collab last August, adidas is teaming up with luxury car maker Bugatti for a new physical + digital drop.

99 football boots (”soccer” for American Burgers) will be auctioned off as NFTs that can then be redeemed as physicals. The price will start at 0.2 ETH.

Now, I’d be lying if I said these didn’t look saucy. But I’d also be lying if I said I wouldn’t spend an entire match trying to slide tackle the pretentiousness out of anyone showing up with some Bugatti cleats to my Sunday League game.

money_clicc drop by artemis

A change of scenery for the exclusive money_clicc collective, which will follow up neurocolor’s vibrant vibes from their October sellout with some generative AI art by pseudonymous artist artemis.

artemis is running hot with a string of consistent 1/1 sales over the past few months and a collection sellout with Mirage Gallery back in May.

As always with the collective, this will be available only to money_clicc familia NFT holders.

Botto Secret Group Show

Speaking of artists running hot, there’s only a handful out there that can match Botto’s temperature right now, which might soar even higher with this upcoming drop.

BottoDAO still needs to approve the drop proposal. If they do we’ll have a 50-supply Botto at an exceptionally affordable price compared to the artist’s recent 1/1 sales. Plus, this will be the first release where it selects the final output. Pretty enticing.

Couple this with the recent fund investments, the attention on $BOTTO and the performance of the last edition and it’s not hard for me to have…

✨ Added to Top 25 ✨