Art, Utility, and the Current Market

This week has been quite a ‘rollercoaster’ in the NFT and Crypto spaces. Elon Musk continued to promote Dogecoin on social media, despite being sued for $258 billion by a shareholder who claimed he orchestrated a pyramid scheme to support the cryptocurrency. As the use of cryptocurrencies increases, so do the number of money-stealing scams that are tied to them. No website seems to be safe from their nefarious intentions, not even a well-established industry leader and employment-focused website like LinkedIn, which focuses on professional networking and career advancement. The FBI claimed scammers were luring customers to invest in cryptocurrencies in an effort to steal their money.

In other news, Binance.US stated it is reducing a number of Bitcoin trading fees, which caused several of its rivals’ stocks to decline, including Coinbase. The move, which comes in the midst of a crypto winter that resulted in significant layoffs at numerous cryptocurrency companies, may also portend the beginning of a pricing war and a potential sector consolidation.
A $130 million Series B investment round was completed by Magic Eden, the top non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace on Solana, with a $1.6 billion valuation. CEO Jack Lu spoke on Magic Eden’s user base, expansion strategies, and collaboration with Solana Labs on the first Web3 mobile phone. Additionally, Lu addressed issues with Solana’s network disruptions.

“Thanks to the BTC correction, now is a fantastic moment to create a portfolio without investing a lot of money: NFT collectibles are a deal at today’s pricing,” shared Slava Mikhalkin, co-founder of Liquidifty (one of the top marketplaces to acquire NFTs for gaming and the metaverse). He continued, “I’m convinced that NFT marketplace volumes will rebound faster than anyone expects, and those that delay too long will be left on the sidelines.” Sales on all NFT trading platforms increased by an astounding 220 times in the last year, from $100 million to $22 billion. The industry is anticipated to continue to expand at a 40 percent growth rate and reach $82 billion by 2026, according to a recent Non-Fungible analysis.

In the upcoming years, NFTs will define and revolutionize a variety of marketplaces, including those for art, music, film, but especially gaming and the developing Metaverse. By 2028, gaming NFTs are anticipated to reach at least $3.6 billion. Build your first collection by starting small and selecting a few NFTs from a reputable NFT marketplace like OpenSea. Although prices may fluctuate in the short term, the long-term trend is unquestionably higher.

NFT company, Lazy 8ight Yacht Club (L8YC), is celebrating the success of its first 1000 minted yachts by rolling out a brand new website, as well as procuring new partnerships. Art and utility are at the heart of L8YC. Many NFT projects are currently either very ‘art heavy,’ with very little utility, or, in the case of many alpha groups, very ‘utility heavy,’ with very little to no art. The days of the PFP (Profile Picture) NFTs are gone and many NFT companies find themselves hurriedly adding utility to their projects. L8YC was created with utility in mind, for both Web3 and Web0 (the real world). CEO, Arin Alesauskas, shared, “The space is making a huge shift to having utility and NFT owners are asking ‘What can I do with it? Why am I buying it?’ and they want longevity. It’s not just about making revenue quickly, because that’ll only benefit project founders, but instead providing a roadmap for growth in the long term.”

CMO, Oriana Schneps, asserted, “It’s two-fold, because the NFT space originated as a place where artists could make revenue and have perpetuity. Up and coming or established artists could create value because their art carried weight, and there are still valid art-based NFTs, but on the flipside, there are companies who are utility-heavy, and the lines have been blurred so that people are trying to find a place to build, grow, and generate profit…it becomes difficult to distinguish where the authenticity lies.” L8YC is very much a utility focused NFT with amazing realistic 3D art, which actually contributes to the utility of the project, due to its goal of building and growing the Metaverse. L8YC is created from a utility perspective. Current market conditions make it extremely difficult for an art-based NFT to generate revenue, unless it is a well-known project or artist. For example, Nickelodeon recently announced it will be releasing their first NFT collection based on Rugrats and Hey Arnold, both well known cartoons. These new NFTs will most likely do well, because they will be collectible NFTs centered on nostalgia from a well-known company.

It is interesting to note the pivot unfolding in the NFT space, due to oversaturation. Marketing is a battlefield in the bear market NFT space, and the perspective shifts when art is included as part of the actual utility. Whereas, Gary Vaynerchuk’s hand-drawn Productive Puffin collection offered a three-year admission into VeeCon, an annual super-conference, Lazy 8ight offers steep discounts on a vast array of experiences and services, such as $1500 yacht rentals for what would typically cost $7500 for nonmembers. L8YC CMO, Gunnar Dunbar added, “People bought into Gary V, rather than the art, due to all of the benefits that accompanied ownership- VeeCon tickets, future tickets, clothing, and utility gave the art value. He created validity in the space.”

There is a certain sense of pride that accompanies being part of a good project. The recent shift in the NFT space means L8YC created utility to be at the forefront of the project. Dunbar continued, “We took 7 months to build our art, creating 90 meter traversable yachts…hours of meetings to design tiny details, and consulting with Oriana (Schneps has 7 years’ experience working on actual mega-yachts) to make the features hyper-realistic, so that part of our utility is in our art.” Going forward, Lazy 8ight yacht holders will be able to display their NFT artwork (even from other collections aside from L8YC.) Alesauskas asserted “Yacht holders can have an art gallery and even sell art from their yacht…our goal is to make that possible…having utility built into art itself, is pretty unique to a select number of projects right now and there’s lots to come!” For more information and to stay up to date on the latest from Lazy 8ight Yacht Club, be sure to visit their website at l8yachtclub.com, or visit their Discord, Twitter, or Instagram sites.