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🍦STATE OF THE MARKET

NFT Market Sentiment:

• NFT total market cap - $21 Billion dollars - No movement this last week

• Trading volume last - 7 days - Down 16%

• Trading volume last - 30 days - Up 12%

• Whales are scooping up: 1st place - MNTGE Pass, 2nd Place - Bored Ape Yacht Club, 3rd place - Valhalla

Crypto

• Crypto total market cap - $864Billion - No movement this last week.

• ETH is down 4.8 % in the last 7 days.

• BTC is up 2.1 % in the last 7 days.

• Trends & Narratives to watch: Interoperability Solutions, L2 Scaling solution for Ethereum.

🍦SCOOPS OF THE WEEK

🍦Yuga Labs Hire New CEO

🍦Aston Martin Launch NFT

🍦Scam Sees 14 Bored Apes Stolen

🍦OneCoin Founder Pleads Guilty

Yuga Labs Hire New CEO

NFTs have had a tough end to the year but the pioneers of the space don't stop making major advances to push the space forward for the better.

As the famous saying goes, if you are standing still you are going backward and as we have learned in this space, Yuga Labs do not stand still.

Their latest acquisition comes in the form of hiring a new CEO, Daniel Alegre, who was previously the President and COO of Activision and Blizzard a AAA gaming studio.

Alegre is swapping running World of Warcraft for his new role which will be running the Otherside Metaverse and expediting the company's ambitious plans for blockchain gaming, metaverse development & community building.

Alegre boasts an impressive CV as his position prior to Activision was the President of Global Retail at Google. He will succeed Nicole Muniz, who will stay on as a partner & strategic advisor to the company.

The usual rule of thumb is that you don't swap jobs before Christmas, which also applies to those at the top as Alegre will be undertaking his new role until early 2023.

You can read the press release here

Aston Martin Launch NFT

If it's good enough for James Bond, then it's certainly good enough for us.

British luxury car maker, Aston Martin, has announced that they have launched their first NFT collection in partnership with The Tiny Digital Factory.

The 3000-item collection launched on the 18th of December with the whitelist up first and the public sale launching on the 19th.

The blockchain of choice is Polygon, which we are seeing a lot lately as the chain continues to onboard major brands into web3. What's cool is that should you mint or buy an NFT from the collection you will also be able to use it in a racing game on the Infinite Drive mobile metaverse.

NFT holders will be able to view their collections as well as racing against each other with the game launching in early 2023 and will be free to play on iOS and Android.

It's a strong line-up for the motorsports NFT trophy with this addition, there is however stiff competition from Porsche, Lamborghini and BMW.

THIS NEWSLETTER WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY: THE HYHU NETWORK 🎲

Let's Play! The HyHu Network is a Web3 Pay to Play raffle site that allows you the chance to win Blue Chip NFTs for less than the cost of Gas! Sounds Fun & Fair to us!

The HyHu Network is a sustainably funded Pay2Play ecosystem and is pushing boundaries in the NFT space! You can buy $HYHU tokens for just a fraction of an ETH (0.007) save them on your account and enter the Prize draws whenever you like 😎

Scam Sees 14 Bored Apes Stolen

We made the unfortunate prediction of more calculated thefts occurring as the space grew and that is exactly what has happened here.

A scammer has managed to steal 14 Bored Apes worth over 852 ETH ($1.07m) following a month-long ploy.

What started as a simple licensing deal for the owner, turned into a hell beyond the realms of possibility for Sevenseason.

The scammer, Jason Brubeck, who doesn't actually exist claimed to be a casting director for an award-winning company whilst pretending to be creating an NFT film called "The Return of Time" in collaboration with "Unemployed" which was an AI-powered social IP platform for NFTs.

Over a sustained period, fake BAYC/MAYC accounts were created that interacted with people every day pretending that several licensing deals were signed for "Unemployed" when in fact these were all just a ploy to trick the victim into believing the license was legitimate.

Sevenseason was directed to a website to sign off on the licensing deal, however, the website turned out to be where the wallet drain would occur. What the signature actually did was trigger a private bundle listing of all of Sevenseason's Bored Apes for a total of 0.00000001 ETH.

The scammer then accepted the offers and quickly sold the 852 ETH and transferred it to a new wallet where the funds currently lie.

When we predicted more callous thefts, we did not envisage month-long thought-out plans leaving individuals over $1m out of pocket.

Please always remember to take time and process anything that requires you to sign as well as only using platforms you truly trust.

OneCoin Founder Pleads Guilty

Remember the Crypto Queen who is on the run? Well, she may have to up her hiding capabilities as her ex-colleague and co-founder of OneCoin has pleaded guilty to multiple charges of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy.

As a result of the guilty plea, Karl Sebastian Greenwood faces a maximum of 60 years behind bars for his involvement in the Ponzi scheme which defrauded victims out of more than $4bn.

Things are certainly heating up in the courts just now, SBF is no longer contesting his extradition to the U.S. and faces a jury trial on his return to America.

It may be freezing outside, but the blaze from the courts won't be put out anytime soon.

🏆SCOOP'S WEEKLY WINNER

Their mint took place on the 12th of December and came in at a cool 0.125 ETH for the few who held Mutant Cartel Genesis. For the many i.e everyone else the price was 0.25 ETH.

Quite steep for the market conditions you may ask? Not for us, especially if the rumours suggesting this project will become part of the Yuga Labs eco-system.

The launch was a huge success with the 10,000 collection quickly selling out.

Only 4% are listed so there is certainly a bullish element within the holders of this one which intensified with the potential Yuga link.

Currently, pre-reveal, the floor sits at 0.63 ETH so a tidy profit if you were planning to flip. Remember, this one may retrace a little following reveal but it could certainly be your cheapest way into the Yuga eco-system if those rumors are true so it's certainly one to DYOR on.

Launching a successful mint in these conditions is a terrific credit to the space so well done to Mutant Hound Collars.

THE REKT SECTION 😡

Mistakes are a feature of everyday life, we all make them however when that mistake is a 50 ETH mistake then you are unfortunately REKT.

An investor accidentally placed a 64.94 ETH bid on a Mutant Ape instead of a Bored Ape when trying to farm Blur Rewards.

The transaction was a success which will only drive the pain up for the investor who could have purchased 4 Mutant Apes for this price and have 5 ETH left over.

💧WHAT'S DROPPIN'

Scottie Pippin Sp33 by Orange Comet.

Basketball Legend Scottie Pippin is slam-dunking his way into Web3 with his first NFT drop. You may remember Scottie Pippin from being a major feature in the Netflix series 'The Last Dance'. He is best known for winning 6 NBA championships with the Chicago bulls.

The Hall of Famer has teamed up with Orange Comet a web3 development firm that is known for its exceptional 3D design and motion graphics. They are dropping 1000 dynamic limited edition virtual wearable NFTs. Each NFT Sneaker is set to metaverse-ready and able to be worn across multiple ecosystems.

What else is involved with the collection?

Lucky 33 Physical Sneakers: On December 9, 2005 during the halftime of Chicago's game against the L.A. Lakers, Scottie's number “33” was the fourth jersey ever to be retired by Chicago. In honor of this number that carried Scottie through the thick and thin of his career, 33 lucky NFT holders will be randomly selected to receive a physical pair of Scottie Pippen autographed sneakers too!

Mystery Box: Accompanying each pair of sneakers, is an OC Designer Mystery Box. The mystery box is intended to be a work-of-art, all on its own. However, it doesn't stop there because the Mystery Box will reveal something special down the road if you HODL!

As far as celebrities hitting up the NFT space go a lot of them normally fail, some don't sell out, some floors dump, and the project is abandoned, however, from the initial outset the collection does look of high quality, the artwork is slick and Scottie himself has a large cult following.

The collection launches in about 6 hours at the time of writing and the mint price is 0.2 ETH.

If you are a big Pippin fan this could be a nice piece to own as fan memorabilia. Will it achieve a huge floor price, we are not so sure.

🤡 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.