Art Basel 21 Editions Strong, Pudgy Penguins Flying, GameFi, Tokens Keep Pumping, Degens Making Bank....

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👀 WHAT’S THE META.. 👀

GM, GA, or GN wherever you may be.

Want to stay ahead of the curve? Don't worry we got you. The market has been brewing, here's what's currently happening:

French bank Société Générale set to launch its very own stablecoin on a crypto exchange.

Animoca flagship Mocaverse raises an additional US$11.88 million in their second funding round.

Jack Dorsey’s Bitkey, a self custodial Bitcoin wallet set to hit the market soon covering 95 countries.

Bitcoin mining firm Riot purchases $290M worth of BTC miners.

🔮 NFT EVENTS & DROPS 🔮

So many mints, so little time. Don't worry Mani's got you covered. Gems to keep an eye on this coming week.

1. RTFKT SKIN VIAL EVO X Forging Event. December 14th - 18th. ⚒

2. The most hyped NFT mint of December, Overworld incarna genesis PFP, December 15th, 20:00 UTC. Mint price: 0.15 Eth / Supply:6000 (2100 for public sale)

3. The highly anticipated game by Walletwars is finally here, December 15th

🪙 CRYPTO DIGEST 🪙

Crypto Market Volatility and Emerging Economic Challenges

In the current cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin's stance at the $42,000 mark is pivotal. This level's stability as support is critical for trend continuation, while a failure to hold could lead to a downturn and retest of lower prices. Amidst this, Bitcoin has shown notable resilience, outperforming Ethereum, and holding strong against the majority of Alts.

Ethereum has encountered a significant resistance level at $2,300. This price point is crucial for determining whether it can sustain its upward momentum or if it will continue to lag behind Bitcoin.

Amidst the focus on these major players, several altcoins have demonstrated remarkable performance. Notably, a meme coin named BONK surged by an impressive 135% over the week, highlighting the volatile yet potentially rewarding nature of such investments. In addition, Avalanche (AVAX) saw a significant increase of 69%, demonstrating robust growth potential in the current market. BitTorrent Token (BTT) also made headlines with a striking 171% gain, underscoring the diverse and high-reward opportunities present in the altcoin sector.

The broader market sentiment remains cautious, with investors closely watching key economic indicators such as interest rates, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and unemployment figures. These indicators are particularly influential in the current climate of economic uncertainty, impacting investor sentiment and shaping market dynamics for both Bitcoin and Ethereum.

As the market navigates through these uncertain times, the intertwining of economic factors with cryptocurrency trends continues to present both challenges and opportunities for investors. The current period remains crucial for shaping the future trajectory of major cryptocurrencies and the broader digital asset market.

🚀 DEGEN HIGHLIGHTS (DYOR/NFA) 🚀

Notable Degen Mints

This is the segment where I will be keeping you all updated on the most notable releases throughout the upcoming week!

Nodemonkes: This is a more controversial play this week as they were initially a free mint that attracted everyone with many groups willing to pay $5-600 per monkes for whitelist allocation!

Overworld: Undoubtedly one of the most hyped releases this month. With guaranteed whitelist spots selling upwards to $800-1,000 per, this is a project you don’t want to miss out on!

🌟SPECIAL GUEST WRITER: SHAWNA 🌟

What are Ordinals?

Ordinal Theory was introduced by Casey Rodarmor as a way to inscribe content onto individual satoshis and have a method to identify them. Satoshis are the smallest unit of bitcoin, and one bitcoin can be divided into 100 million satoshis.

Ordinals allowed bitcoin to become something more than a store of value and digital currency. It introduced trading and collecting of digital artifacts on the bitcoin network. Inscriptions are immutable, with content inscribed on-chain, and assigned ordinal numbers to be used as stable identifiers.

This protocol allows 1 sat to be sold for more than the current value of 1 sat, depending on what has been inscribed on it. The success and fascination with ordinals has brought on a whole new wave in crypto where inscription protocols are spreading to other chains like Ethereum, Solana, Dogecoin, Polygon, and more.

Shortly after ordinal theory, the BRC-20 token standard was introduced by Domo, which make fungible tokens possible on bitcoin. The first BRC-20 token launched was $ORDI and countless others have been deployed and traded since.

Some collectible metas on ordinals include rare sats and sub X inscriptions. Today we are up to 45 million inscriptions. And sub 10k inscriptions are selling for at least 0.063 BTC as of Nov 29.

• common: Any sat that is not the first sat of its block

• uncommon: The first sat of each block

• rare: The first sat of each difficulty adjustment period

• epic: The first sat of each halving epoch

• legendary: The first sat of each cycle

• mythic: The first sat of the genesis block

Ordinals have been in high demand and the fees to transact on bitcoin are getting to be at similar levels as Ethereum. Many builders are entering the bitcoin ecosystem and the level of innovation and creativity is increasing exponentially. The world of ordinals warrants attention and there’s a lot to be learned, enjoyed, and created.

🕵️ UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT: 10KTF

Searching for inspiration in Web3 can be tireless. The projects that get the most attention can often be the least inspirational. However through their consistency 10KTF has released hit after hit.

The company behind 10ktf is WeNew Labs, founded by Figge, Beeple, and Guy Osheary. With these minds behind the vision it's no wonder 10KTF was so innovative, engaging and entertaining to witness. They built a world, a main character, and a struggle for holders to take part in.

This would be an insanely long write up if I listed out their accomplishments but I will highlight the Timeline page on their website which allows you to follow the entire storyline, and all releases since mint.

Holding a piece of the ecosystem allowed you to participate in weekly challenges, defeating the Kaiju in New Tokyo with your friends, and earning rewards for it. Simply said, the way they allowed communities to join, represent themselves on the NFTs and craft their identity in the 10ktf shop was remarkable and looking back now perhaps VERY ahead of its time.

Their Gucci collab, their ability to enthral their audience, and the insane dedication to the world and experience they built obviously earned this team a reputation in the space. Most recently they were acquired by Yuga labs and it is rumoured that New Tokyo would be the first place you see when entering the Otherside.

I hope everyone will take the time to deep dive into their website timeline, their world, and their content on twitter/discord to truly understand what has been built here. Whether you see it or not, they are the pinnacle of storytelling and experiential NFTs, they are also a precursor to web3 gaming and P2E as they did airdrop their holders Ape Coin as rewards for participating in the weekly challenges.

It is important to understand what has been built, and how. For builders, traders, and collectors in the space the foundations of web3 are right in front of us. All we have to do is pay attention.

📜 FOR THE CULTURE 📜

Art Basel: Uniting Art and Tech

Celebrating its 21st edition last week, Miami Art Basel stands as North America's premier art fair, attracting artists and collectors alike. The event made headlines back in 2021 with the disruptive entry of NFTs, a significant improvement after the 2020 edition was postponed.

The introduction of NFTs at Miami Art Basel in 2021 initially raised skepticism among many, but showcasing a powerful impact quickly dispelled suspicions, proving how extraordinarily beneficial these digital assets are in reshaping the relationship between technology and art. Many participants even got to mint their first NFT, notably with the Tezos blockchain, showcasing the event's embrace of blockchain technology as a medium for artistic expression.

The epic parties and events hosted by several well-known NFT communities, platforms, and creators—like Foundation, Pudgy Penguin, The Rug Radio Haus event, the DeGods' secret party, and so many more—are what make people travel across the world and want to hang out.

These gatherings have become integral to the Art Basel experience, offering attendees a space to network, engage with creators, and immerse themselves in the evolving landscape of art and NFTs. The fusion of art, technology, and culture at these events has elevated Miami Art Basel into a cultural phenomenon not to be missed.

Miami Art Basel's adoption of NFTs and digital art is a major step toward promoting the development of Web3 culture as well as a revolution in conventional art exhibitions. It's opening doors for a new era in the art world, where creativity and technology continue to redefine our understanding of and engagement with the arts.