Yuga Labs co-founder Greg Solana, or Garga, has dropped rumors that the creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) have plans to launch a non-fungible token set (NFT) called Mecha Apes by the end of the year.
The rumors started circulating after Brutus claimed it had obtained leaked documents detailing that Yuga Labs was looking to raise about $50 million from the sale of 100,000 token plots.
After the news was reported via several online outlets, Garga.eth noted that it was all “fake news” via Twitter on Friday.
While the rumors have been quashed, since Yuga Labs has hit the ball out of the park with every project launched thus far, and has set a broad vision for Metaverse, another NFT project from them in the future doesn’t seem like such a stretch.
Ultimately, Yuga Labs hopes to create an interoperable metaverse ecosystem on the other side that includes a virtual place for people to socialize, a set of game modes with aspects of play for earning and a hub for users to receive basic education on blockchain, NFTs, and metaverses.
Yuga Labs is valued at around $4 billion, and to date, BAYC NFTs have generated more than $2.4 billion in sales, while Otherdeed NFTs for the Otherside metaverse have brought in more than $1 billion.
Budweiser shares a toast to fusion
Beer maker Budweiser has offered a limited range of beer cans displaying the post-merger Beer.eth Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domain name.
Sharing a photo of a Budweiser box showing “Beer.eth, the king of the NFTs” in the middle on Friday, the company tweeted that “This Bud’s for the Merge.”
While the company didn’t provide any further details on the cans, it did initially establish a specific number for the NFT Beer Fest event in March.
When asking people how to get their hands on special cans, the brewer quipped that they “might appear again.”
The company initially bought the Beer.eth domain for nearly $100,000 in August 2021 and has continued to be involved in the sector ever since, teaming up with horse racing game NFT Zed Run earlier this year to create Budweiser-branded racetracks and horses.
NFT minted in the last Ethereum PoW . block
According to data from Etherscan, someone managed to issue an NFT in the final Ethereum Proof of Work (PoW) block before the network switched to Proof of Stake (PoS).
The NFT in question was the VanityBlock token in which the user paid 30.2 Ether (ETH) and 1.3 ETH gas fees to the mint, worth approximately $46,500 at the time of writing.
NFT has since been up for sale on OpenSea, and currently has a highest bid of 10 encapsulated ether (wETH), valued at around $14,700.
VanityBlocks offers buyers an opportunity to own an entire token block on Ethereum, as it publishes transaction data on the entire block. There are only 18 of these NFTs listed on OpenSea, with prices starting at around 1.1 ETH.
Despite the current bear market, the lack of bidding seems surprising given the dearth of specific NFTs that expire at the end of Ethereum’s Proof of Work date.
Related Topics: The Ethereum community wastes no time releasing PoS NFTs right after the merge
Funko uses NFTs to generate significant revenue: CEO
Andrew Perlmutter, CEO of the mega collectible Funko, explained that the company is behind NFTs to meet the demand from younger collectors who value digital goods and assets.
To date, the company has released several Funko Pop NFT drops featuring beloved characters from franchises such as Avatar, Hey Arnold, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
While Perlmutter admitted to Investors.com on Thursday that he is not well versed in NFTs and blockchain, he does realize that young people are completely overwhelmed by the digital sphere.
“My kids always want the latest look or gun of a Fortnite avatar,” he said, adding that “the way they view digital assets is different from the way we dinosaurs view them.”
“We knew it made sense for our brand to be in the NFT business…they’re the people who amass the digital assets,” Perlmutter concluded.
Other Nifty News
On Tuesday, popular NFT Doodles project announced that it has raised $54 million at a valuation of $704 million in a funding round led by Seven Seven Six, with the participation of 10T Holdings, Acrew Capital and FTX Ventures.
Solana-based NFT Marketplace Magic Eden fended off some backlash from the community after launching MetaShield, a new enforcement tool intended to deter NFT buyers infringing on creators’ property rights.
