Elon Seizes the Memes (Then Deletes)
An app update and a simple tweet caused temporary havoc in both the crypto and NFT markets. Is Elon just toying with the market or does he have deeper intentions?
TylerD's Market Summary
GM!
Today's top news includes:
Elon pumps Memes and Doge
Yuga and Gucci dropping Koda chains
Otherdeeds decoupling
Beeple doubles down on Nakamigos
Binance Interpol FUD squashed
🙈 Elon Pumps the Markets
Perhaps Elon was bored yesterday.
Now that Twitter is open-sourced, he doesn't have enough to do?
Whether his motives were boredom or something else entirely, he made 2 major actions yesterday that had swift and major impact on both the crypto and NFT markets.
Around 5:30 p.m. ET yesterday, Elon tweeted out a "Seize The Memes of Production" meme from the Memes by 6529 collection with no other context.
That tweet is now deleted, as is much of its impact on the Memes collection, but oh boy was it a roller coaster hour following the news.
Market Reaction
In the minutes that followed Elon's tweet:
The specific card he tweeted "SeizeJPGs" ran from 0.6 ETH as high as 8 ETH before settling at 1.4 ETH this morning (+133%), seeing several sales in the 4-5 ETH range
The Memes floor briefly ran from 0.08 ETH to 0.2 ETH (+150%) before mostly retracing to 0.1 ETH this morning
Of course, the Memes chats were on fire, talking about how this is a sign of things to come and praising the message being broadcast to such a large audience.
Which is hard to argue.
It seems the most likely explanation is Elon did not quite know what he was tweeting out and found a meme that fit his message, rather than a true endorsement of the Memes by 6529.
But I think 6529 would say that's a win anyway, as the meme messages are doing their job if they can be spread without awareness of the NFT aspect.
We will go ahead and call it a win, even if it did not ultimately impact the market that much.
🐶The Doge Pump
The Meme card pump described above came just hours after Elon changed the Twitter logo to a picture of the Doge meme.
He also tweeted out a meme referencing the change, using a "MetamorphosisAI" meme with the Doge and Twitter logo included.
Doge immediately sent when traders saw this, spiking 15% from $0.077 to $0.088 in a massive green candle.
It is now up a whopping 28% on the day to $0.10 perhaps showing early signs of an altcoin rally.
Elon did not release any official statements on the change and it's unclear how long-term or substantial the change is.
I'll guess we'll see how long it lasts.
🐵Yuga and Gucci Launch Koda Pendants
Looking for a new NFT-focused necklace as a spring fashion statement?
Yuga and Gucci have you covered.
In a major surprise announcement yesterday, Gucci and Yuga revealed that they will be selling silver physical pendant necklaces for Koda/Vessel owners.
The Details
What? Physical KodaPendant: 925 silver, antique finish, GG engraving, and unique edition number
How many? 3,333 limited edition KodaPendant NFTs
Who? Eligible participants must own a Koda or Vessel NFT
When? Sale starts April 6, 6:00 p.m. ET for 24 hours or until sold out
How much? 450 $APE (~$1,935)
The 3,333 supply collection is first-come, first-served, and based on early community chatter, it is expected to sell out and likely quickly.
I guess the BAYC community is just starving to spend their $APE reserves.
If this sells out, it will be a 1.5M $APE sink for Yuga (a brilliant move) and a $6.45M sale.
This team knows how to sell digital and physical products, that is a fact, so I am not fading a full sell-out.
On Kodas:
Kodas are holding at 13.3 ETH this morning after the news, directly in line with MAYC.
MAYC offers membership to the Yuga club along with periodic airdrops. The main Koda utility we have seen to date is the ability to buy a $2,000 necklace.
Which would you rather own?
The market is clearly favoring MAYC based on respective market caps, but the pending decoupling event and more advances in The Otherside could be a stimulus for the Kodas.
We will be watching.
🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?
Here is the list of the headlines from the day in NFTs:
Trading volume came in at 26k ETH on Monday, down about 15% from Sunday but well above last week's levels
Yuga announced a new decoupling for Kodas and a claim for Vessels coming soon; the event will require the burning of existing Otherdeeds and a new NFT collection will be spun up
Beeple followed up on his PRAY Nakamigos-themed piece by tweeting that he will add a "chapter 2" to the saga if the floor reaches 1 ETH (this caused a spike to 0.9 ETH before retracing to 0.6 overnight)
Several artists and influencers sold their Honorary Nakamigos yesterday around 10 ETH, leading to debate on the appropriate handling of Honoraries
Iron Paw Gang from RCC debuted its 0.15 ETH mint and reached an almost immediate 4x, sitting at 0.56 ETH
ZenAcademy announced a partnership with Little Atlas to create a token-gated interactive community map for global meetups and connections
Contemporary artist DotPigeon announced a break from NFTs expressing concerns over recent trends, although the artist engaged in several of those trends (including burn events) in their own personal sales
🌎 Around Crypto and Web3
A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:
The crypto market was mostly green yesterday; BTC even at $28,250; ETH +1.4% at $1,830
There was temporary concern about Interpol being after CZ Binance after a tweet from Cobie, though the concerns seem unfounded
Renga filed trademark applications for a suite of software and services tied to digital collectibles and tokens
🚀 NFT Total Volume
Wrapped CryptoPunks (7,977 ETH, 59.9 ETH Floor)
Nakamigos (3,947 ETH, 0.6 ETH)
Otherdeed (2,090 ETH, 1.79 ETH)
BAYC (1,386 ETH, 62.7 ETH)
MAYC (1,303 ETH, 13.3 ETH)
📈 NFT Floor Price Increase
Milady (29%, 1.85 ETH Floor)
OnChainMonkey (20%, 2.04 ETH)
Valhalla (16%, 0.66 ETH)
Opepen (13%, 0.47 ETH)
0n1 Force (11%, 0.82 ETH)
🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals
Today is filled with art, AI, and photography collection drops.
The most anticipated is likely the RarePass drop for Sarah Zucker (250 supply), followed by the Bright Moments Mint Pass drop for Emily Edelman (just 100 passes).
Then DraftKings begins to rev up for The Masters with its PGA Tour drop this afternoon ahead of the biggest tournament of the year.
DraftKings Reignmakers PGA TOUR - Approach Set (12:00 p.m. ET)
Agar by Emily Edelman Mint Pass (TBD); Dutch auction
Valley Girls (TBD)
RarePass Genesis: Sarah Zucker (TBD); airdrop
EDEN by Nadine Bauer (TBD); 0.08 ETH
Enjoy this write-up? Follow along with me on Twitter @tyler_did_it or reach out via email tyler.warner@luckytrader.com.
For all volume and floor price data, see Lucky Trader's Project Rankings page.
For all upcoming mints, see Lucky Trader's Project Schedule page.