Introduction
The global NFT market seems to have started rebounding in 2023 from its lows seen in 2022. The early signs of that are evident from the sales and trading volume data for January. The encouraging data is led by some of the prominent collectors and creators in the NFT space.
The sales point to continuing momentum for the NFT industry, following a significant rise in activity since late 2022. Incidentally, the market started last year with record-breaking trading volume, only to see prices as well as sales plunging over the following summer and into the autumn season, as prices of crypto currencies crashed and industry contagion took hold.
The total month-over-month organic NFT trading volume rose slightly in December and surged in January. Expectedly, the rebound in NFT market sentiments is also leading to many new project launches as well as announcement of new partnerships.
To begin with, Shopify, one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms, has launched new features that are aimed at enhancing the user experience of their Web 3.0-focussed stores hosted by the platform.
Improved abilities to connect crypto wallet and tokengating application programming interface (API) tools have received special focus this time. Tokegating allows Shopify merchants to govern which token holders have access to exclusive products, NFT drops and benefits.
It is not just e-commerce platforms that are gearing themselves up for the Web 3.0 environment. Walmart, one of the world’s largest physical retailers, has filed for new crypto and NFT trademarks. The trademarks reveal plans for the launch of a wallet, and perhaps offer software aimed at organizing digital asset portfolios.
Then, file-sharing platform WeTransfer has announced its foray into the NFT world by partnering with MInima, which is a blockchain project that is slated to launch in March. The partnership will enable users to generate NFT directly from their phones or other devices, thereby giving them freedom over how and whom they share their digital assets with and receive remuneration.
Read on to find out more.
Shopify launches new tools for NFT merchants
Shopify, one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms, has launched a suite of tools based on blockchain to help users navigate through its Web 3.0 stores. Besides, merchants on the platform will be able to leverage the tools to create tokengating applications.
For the uninitiated, tokengating allows an entity to grant access to a community or content exclusively to token holders. It also allows communities to benefit from controlling who has access to their content.
With the tokengating feature on Shopify, merchants can choose the type of customers they prefer via the tokens they hold, along with the ability to open or close access to their products and services to users. The tool uses a wallet connection for verification.
In a separate development, Shopify has teamed up with SIWE protocol on Ethereum to support its sign-in feature. SIWE, a product of the Ethereum NS and Foundation, allows users to sign in without compromising their privacy and opening up sensitive details to other applications.
Merchants can enable the feature from SIWE, which will allow users on their end to log in using their Ethereum address. Users, meanwhile, can sign in through some of the supported partners in the project.
Walmart files new crypto and NFT trademarks
Global retail giant Walmart has filed for new crypto and NFT trademarks via Sam’s Club, an American chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs that is owned and operated by Walmart Inc.
Sam’s Club, founded by Walmart’s founder Sam Walton himself, has filed for several blockchain-related patents and the trademarks are all related to crypto currencies, NFT and virtual reality.
The patent filings make mention of a digital currency and NFT, as well as virtual reality and augmented reality healthcare and education. The trademarks reveal plans for the launch of a wallet, and perhaps offer software aimed at organizing digital asset portfolios. Earlier, Walmart filed a couple of trademarks that would allow it to manage NFT, offer digital goods and also provide crypto-based software.
Hermes wins NFT trademark infringement lawsuit
French luxury brand Hermes has won an NFT trademark infringement lawsuit against an artist who depicted its famous Birkin bags in an NFT collection. The jury disagreed with the artist’s contention that NFT should be covered under the US Constitution’s First Amendment and awarded Hermes with US $133,000 in damages, US $111,000 for trademark infringement and US $23,000 for cybersquatting. .
Hermes’ lawyers accused the artist, Mason Rothschild, of stealing the goodwill in Hermes’ intellectual property to create and sell his line of products. Mason Rothschild, launched the “Metabirkins” NFT collection two years ago, featuring digital depictions of Hermes’ popular Birkin bags without their permission.
He described them as a collection of 100 unique NFT made with faux fur in various contemporary colors and graphic executions. The collection has generated sales of more than 200 ETH so far. However, Hermes’ lawyers argued that customers would likely confuse Metabirkins NFT with genuine Hermes products. They also said the Metabirkins URL is too similar to the one used by the luxury brands.
Meanwhile, Mason Rothschild plans to appeal the jury’s verdict, as he has posted on social media that “the fight is far from over”. According to his attorney, there was no evidence that any consumer, of the NFT or the bags, mixed up Hermes with Rothschild, in part because Rothschild clearly presented them as drawings he had made, and provided disclaimers that they are not affiliated with Hermes.
WeTransfer partners with Minima on mobile NFT solution
File-sharing platform WeTransfer has announced its entry into the NFT space by partnering with distributed communications network MInima, which is a blockchain project that is slated to launch in March.
Using the Minima cooperative technology, users will be able to mint NFT for peer-to-peer sharing, and creators will be able to collect royalties for their NFT inventions. Minima is a Layer 1 blockchain and peer-to-peer network designed for mobile usage. The collaboration with WeTransfer would allow blockchain users to transfer their digital assets and collect revenues efficiently, according to a statement issued by the company. Users will be able to generate NFT directly from their phones or other devices, thereby allowing them freedom over how and whom they share their digital assets and receive remuneration.
Rihanna’s most famous song sold as NFT ahead of Super Bowl
As Rihanna is set to make a six-year performance comeback during the 2023 Super Bowl event, a popular song by Rihanna was made available as an NFT by Web 3.0 music start-up AnotherBlock. The NFT enables holders to collect a percentage of streaming royalties.
Jamil “Deputy” Pierre, who co-produced Rihanna’s 2015 single with Kayne West, collaborated with AnotherBlock to sell the NFT royalties and the profits of the NFT will be disbursed twice a year.
A tiny portion of earnings from Rihanna’s blockbuster song “Bitch Better Had My Money” have been recently allocated to 205 individuals via 300 Ethereum NFT in a collection that was sold out recently. Around 0.99 percent of his streaming royalty rights to the song has been offered in exchange for 300 NFT.
The above-mentioned song has accumulated nearly one billion streams across music-sharing platforms since its first release in the US. The collectors of the NFT will also receive one-of-a-kind artwork made by an NFT artist, a special music track and a real-world legal contract defining the terms of the streaming royalties and assuring the NFT holder’s real-world ownership. In addition, the NFT holders will have exclusive access to a gated Discord community, real-world events and upcoming NFT releases.
Shemaroo Entertainment launches NFT marketplace
Indian content aggregator and distributor, Shemarooo Entertainment has launched a Polygon-based NFT marketplace that is powered by Seracle’s Web 3.0 infrastructure. Virtasy.io, as the new marketplace is called, will enable users to buy, sell and interact with intellectual property (IP- backed entertainment NFT. The integration of Polygon blockchain will enable users to access licensed images, videos and 3D avatars that are Metaverse-ready as NFT.
Reddit’s Super Bowl LVII NFT avatars crosses more than one million
More than 1.3 million official Super Bowl LVII NFT avatars have been minted since its launch last week, with over 500,000 created in one day alone. According to publicly accessible blockchain data on Dune, users have already minted more than 9.7 million of Reddit’s Collectible Avatar NFT.
All users of the Reddit platform may get one of four different Super Bowl avatar designs including those for the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles without spending anything.
However, Reddit’s Super Bowl NFTs are not seeing a lot of trading activity since users can get the avatars for free.
Conclusion
While new launches and partnerships in the NFT and Web 3.0 spaces indicate optimism for the overall industry, there are other indicators as well that corroborate this trend. One of the popular songs of Rihanna has been made available as NFT, which points to more real-life use cases of NFT.
A small portion of earnings from Rihanna’s blockbuster song “Bitch Better Had My Money” have been recently allocated to 205 individuals via 300 Ethereum NFT in a collection that was sold out recently.
The collectors of the NFT will also receive a unique artwork made by an NFT artist, a special music track and a real-world legal contract defining the terms of the streaming royalties and assuring the NFT holder’s real-world ownership. In addition, the NFT holders will have exclusive access to a gated Discord community, real-world events and upcoming NFT releases.
However, like with any burgeoning industry, the NFT space also comes up with its own share of controversies and even counterfeits. French luxury brand Hermes has won an NFT trademark infringement lawsuit against an artist who depicted its famous Birkin bags in an NFT collection.
However, the artist, Mason Rothschild plans to appeal the jury’s verdict, as he posted on social media that “the fight is far from over”. Follow this space for updates on this and much more. Hope you enjoyed reading it. Thank you.
