GM Scoop Family. You've been missed. Now let's dive in.

🍦STATE OF THE MARKET

• NFT Total Market Cap - $21.9B - 7 day chance  +3.21%

• Volume Traded Prev 7 Days - $214M + 30.1%

Good news!

We have seen a slight uptick in market sentiment this week. The NFT Gods haven't quite graced us with the warm zone, but excitability has certainly picked up across NFT Twitter. Notable collections have been making some major gains in trading volume & floor price, especially NFTs from Yuga labs due to the upcoming mint for holders.

🍯 THE MELTING POT

Last week, we kicked off The Melting Pot. A virtual basket of NFTs with a starting balance of 5.01ETH.

But what we really want to know is, how did our selection fair? Are we down and out or on a moon mission? Let's dive in.

Below are the individual % changes in Floor price for each of our selections

The Plague OG - Current 1.24 ETH - (-14.48%)

Lil Pudgy - 0.68 - Current 0.68 ETH (-15%)

WonkyStonks x2 - Current 0.35 ETH (0.7ETH total) (+20.7%)

Sappy Seal - Current 1.46 ETH (-12.57%)

Friendship Bracelets - Current 0.57 ETH  (+11.67%)

Total Melting Pot value since the 5th of Jan is currently - 4.65 ETH

Melting Pot Performance (-7.2%)

Market Performance - +3.21%

Our strongest performers are in the 'Generative 'Art' category with WonkyStonks & Friendship Bracelets. Leader of WonkyStonks 'CryptoKaleo' remains highly active on Twitter, building a strong community. Secondly, Friendship bracelets had a free mint for holders of Art Block NFTs yesterday which has made them a trending collection on Opensea & put them in the spotlight.

At this stage, we hold our position, whilst it may be tempting to take the gains on Wonkys & Bracelets we believe they have some more upside.

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On to the news..

🔥 HOT THIS WEEK

Yuga Mint Details update - This week on the 11th of January more information will be released on Yuga Labs' upcoming holder-free mint. Based on what combination you hold of the Kennel Club, BAYC, Mutant, or all 3 will determine the outcome of what you can mint.

We last made a wild prediction they would be "Yuga Horses'. A wild prediction indeed but let's see.

Azuki Anniversary - The 13th of January marks Azuki's anniversary! Will holders be graced with an airdrop? Speculation for sure, but we would like to think so.

Mutant Hounds Collar reveal - The Mutant Hounds are due to reveal this week with their burn-to-reveal mechanism - Depending on the quality of artwork released & how many people choose to reveal their hounds you can expect some turbulence in Floor price. There may be some good picks ups on the Floor post reveal. On the flip side, unrevealed hounds could rally in price.

Rumour has it, their next mint/drop will require '1 x revealed hound + 1 x 'Genesis Oath'

🍦SCOOPS OF THE WEEK

🍦NFT Game Contains a Hack

🍦Proof Collective Sign New Partnership

🍦SuperRare Cuts 30% of Their Staff

🍦NFTs Positive Start to 2023

NFT Game Contains a Hack

The first full week of 2023 is done, but unfortunately, this was a week that contained another hack.

As previously warned, hacks are getting more sophisticated and in this case the hack came in the form of a game.

The website was portrayed to offer a Pokemon-branded NFT card game but turned out to be spreading viruses to bewildered gamers.

The website featured a section that offered an NFT Marketplace with a link to purchase tokens as well as an area to stake NFTs.

South Korean cybersecurity firm, AhnLab, released a statement advising users that instead of downloading the game, users were downloading a remote access tool that gave hackers control of their devices.

The tool used by the hackers is called, NetSupport Manager and it allows hackers to remotely control the user's keyboard and mouse accessing all files within the device. The tool also allowed for commands to be undertaken so the hackers could install additional software.

The damage from the hack is not yet known but as always, please only download from official sources.

Proof Collective Sign New Partnership

The Blue-Chip Project news this week came from a project we were not expecting, maybe that is just a testament to Yuga Labs who can't keep out the headlines...usually.

Proof Collective has signed a partnership deal with United Talent Agency (UTA), which is one of the big three Hollywood talent agencies.

One of the main aims of the partnership is to "extend Moonbirds far beyond the existing Web3 audience, transforming Moonbirds into a global brand"

The partnership will see an increase in brand partnerships, merchandising, licensing, and sponsorships, and create opportunities in television, film and publishing.

This is not the first partnership UTA has entered in terms of NFT projects. The company has previously signed on CryptoPunks and Deadfellaz.

We have always felt the Proof Collective brand is a lucrative one and they were the closest thing to Yuga Labs in terms of the space.

In terms of entry points into the Proof ecosystem the current prices are:

Proof Collective - 37 ETH

Moonbirds - 9.2 ETH

Moonbirds Oddities 1.47 ETH

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SuperRare Cuts 30% of Their Staff

At the beginning of November 2022, Layoffs.fyi released statistics which showed that there was a large streamlining process which led to more than 700 technology companies laying off staff.

As a result of this, we saw a large influx of talent making its way over to Web3-based companies.

Some high profile placings have taken place with Magic Eden, Sushi Swap, Napster and Yuga Labs all obtaining new CEOs.

Unfortunately in this situation, SuperRare employed just too many staff and as a result, has had to cut 30% of the current workforce.

SuperRare is a Marketplace with a unique twist. They differ from competitors in that they focus primarily on working closely with artists and so in effect were left behind in the PFP bull run.

The layoffs come as a result of the CEO acknowledging that the aggressive growth strategy was unsustainable and accepting that the over-hiring of staff was a mistake.

NFTs Positive Start to 2023

Even though the first full week of 2023 contained a hack, there are plenty of positives to take out of the week regarding NFTs.

Based on stats, the first week of the year has witnessed a mini bull run.

7-day volume for the week is up 26% with total volume being upwards of $200m.

In terms of Opensea, there has been a 40% upsurge in terms of trade volumes with over 1.2m transactions.

The most popular blockchain for NFTs, Ethereum, saw sales rise by 14.84% with a 24% increase in buyers, totalling 160,241 buyers.

With Ethereum having a very strong week we are starting to see the builders playing the markets which is extremely healthy for the future of the ecosystem.

🏆SCOOP'S WEEKLY WINNER

They were a weekly winner just before Christmas but they can't stop battering down the doors.

At the time we first shared the project with you all, the floor sat at 0.63 ETH and we highlighted why we were bullish on them.

We then took a deeper take on them in our Projects you can't ignore in 2023 where we concluded that the plans set out by the team let us believe this project has a strong bright future.

This time last week, you could have picked one up for 1.2 ETH, a distant memory now as the floor sits at 1.94 ETH. The last 7 days have brought in 1.9k ETH with 1179 sales.

With 23 sales until a 2 ETH floor, this may be unachievable with the upcoming reveal but a 0.75 ETH profit over the last week is remarkable. Your profit would be 1.7 ETH had you minted and held on.

Congratulations to Mutant Hound Collars

THE REKT SECTION 😡

We are taking one from our news section for this week's REKT.

At a time when all you see on the news is inflation and the cost of living crisis, having an income is vital at these times.

We appreciate growth is a vital part of a company but taking such an aggressive approach where 1/3 of the staff need to be laid off is one hell of a mistake.

As a result of this...SuperRare WELCOME TO REKT.

🤡 WHOEVER CONTROLS THE MEME CONTROLS THE UNIVERSE

Disclaimer

The NFT Scoop newsletter or podcast is not financial advice, it is provided for educational, informational, and entertainment purposes only.

NFT’s can be highly illiquid markets, causing sharp drops in prices due to changes in narratives and trends.