Notable Upcoming
Please note that this is purely for informational purposes only. This is not investment advice and does not represent an endorsement of any particular project. Minting of new projects is high-risk. The projects chosen below are subjective and determined by the author based on the ones they find most interesting and/or have sparked early interest from other NFT participants. We do stress to DYOR given the risk associated with any new NFT drop.
- Akutars is a collection that we mentioned in last week’s NFT insights, but we are dropping a reminder here because the snapshot for the Akutars airdrop closes on 7 Apr at 10 am ET. If you own an Aku Chapter or certain other Aku NFTs at the snapshot time, you will receive airdrop passes based on the number of Aku related NFTs held in your wallet. At Delphi, we love Aku because it shows what is possible when visionaries and communities unite. The founder, Micah Johnson, is building one of the first web3-native media companies centered around community, inclusion and empowerment. In the future, this can serve as a web3 gateway for many non-crypto natives.
- MOAR by Joan Cornellà is a collection by the popular Spanish cartoonist who is known for using powerful black humor and satire in his artwork and comics. Holders get access to Joan’s exhibitions, exclusive purchasing rights to future digital and physical artworks, and can enter a raffle to win a 3D avatar. The drop is managed by FWENCLUB. 40% of the public distribution will be sold at 0.5E each and locked up until reveal. The remaining will be sold via a Dutch Auction. You need to register your wallet on the website to participate in the sale.
- froyoverse is a collection of generative chonky froyo cats by Jessie Morii, artist and creative lead for Crabada (a P2E game on Avalanche). This collection of big-eyed kittens in a yogurt bowl will appeal to people who love cuteness. They are doubling down on the cuteness factor by collaborating with other animal PFP projects including Cupcats, Tubby cats and Sappy seals. There will be 10 unique 1/1s for lucky minters.
- Moonbirds is the official PFP collection by PROOF Collective, a private membership of NFT collectors and artists helmed by prolific investor & collector Kevin Rose. PROOF is one of the most coveted memberships in the NFT space, with the floor price for entry at 60E+ (>$200,000) now. There will be a nesting mechanic where the longer you hold the NFT, the higher the status you accrue which will have future benefits. Holders will also have access to PROOF discord’s Moonbirds channel. The Dutch Auction starts at 2.5E and there is a good chance this will sell out extremely quickly, given the interest we have been seeing. A raffle for 3 free Moonbirds is currently happening on the website.
- Drift’s First Day Out is the first open edition drop by Drift, an NFT urban photographer famous for his breathtaking photography from very high places in cities. The drop date has special meaning – it was the same day he was released from prison a year ago. His collection “Where My Vans Go” has a floor price of 50E so this drop will provide an opportunity for many more people to own a Drift. The sale will be conducted on his custom contract and 15% of the proceeds will be donated to the bail project in Cincinnati.
- Everseed is a Farm-to-Tabletop MMO game that is in development by Amihan Entertainment, a game studio formed by a group of former Riot Games developers. The genesis NFT will be reproduced as 3D avatars that holders will be able to use in the game once the open beta is live. Players will be able to customize the personal details of their avatar, like facial features, hair and skin tone. The mint will be happening on Solana (Magic Eden) via an allowlist, which you can apply for on the discord (#apply-to-chat).
Weekly Highlight – PFPs & the “next BAYC”
In the previous NFT boom, BAYC was the big winner. Anyone who purchased and held a BAYC from last year would have received at least 60E worth of free drops (Mutant Apes, Bored Ape Kennel Club, $APE airdrop etc.), not to mention the heavy price appreciation of their ape — now at 100+E floor. With regards to branding building, Yuga Labs played the perfect game.
Given such success, it’s natural for everyone to start looking for what could be the “next BAYC”, especially now that majority of people have been priced out of a Bored Ape. Any such successor will need to be an NFT project that delivers immense value over time while growing a solid, engaged community.
There are a few key contenders here – Azuki, Doodles, and RTKFK’s CloneX. I’ve highlighted these 3 because they have already built a strong community around their brands, and can maintain a floor price of >10E, indicating a strong level of demand.
Let me summarize some key developments for each of these projects.
- Collaboration with artist Takashi Murakami: Clones with Murakami Drip trait (15%) get on the Flowers whitelist.
- RTFKT x Murakami x Gagosian event on 11 May, where Murakami will be presenting paintings and sculptures based on CloneX in his exhibition in NYC. Open to holders.
- MNLTH was airdropped to CloneX holders and is the first Nike-RTFKT NFT drop since the acquisition. It is a 20K collection with an inbuilt reveal mechanism, that will trigger upon a secret date.
- According to the team, MNLTHs will reveal after the successful completion of the community quests, which have been ongoing since mid-Feb. The final quest (Quest 4) was supposed to be in the last week of March but was delayed. Interestingly, the collective experience of doing and completing the quests has brought the community together in a positive way.
- There is speculation that the MNLTHs could be Nike-branded “sentient shoes” — animated digital sneakers with utility. No one knows at this time.
- Roadmap: unspecific. The team has mentioned broadly that they are working on a wearable pipeline for the Clones as well as future NFT drops and building out the Pod ecosystem.
CloneX holders have received ~9.66E in free drops so far:
Upcoming drops: None officially announced. The team does have a history of giving airdrops to CloneX holders, so we could expect more to come later this year.
- Doodles has been focused on community growth through IRL events: “We are showing the world by example what we believe the future of brands to be: communities becoming stakeholders.”
- They hosted a well-received showcase event at SXSW in March. Doodle owners were able to unlock token-gated experiences, including skipping the queue, having your Doodle painted on your nails, coffee with Doodle art, and limited-edition merch such as figurines and shirts (via a Shopify integration). There were over 6,000 visitors.
- While the focus of events has been on the US thus far, there will be other IRL global brand appearances this year: NFTNYC, Hong Kong, Vancouver, and Miami
- On the product side, building out the Space Doodles universe is their primary development goal. When the game is built out, owners will be able to climb the ranks, earn new NFTs based on the Doodle world, and also receive an extended license to commercialize their Doodles in Doodles’ future experiences.
- One doodle = 1 vote. It operates as a DAO, and the community can submit proposals. The Doodlebank (treasury) currently has 1500+ ETH.
Doodles holders have received no free airdrops so far. Although, we were introduced to Space Doodles: where you could wrap your Doodle and turn it into a spacecraft with a random set of traits. You can unwrap it back to a normal Doodle any time, but it is the same NFT.
Upcoming drops: None officially announced.
- Azuki conducted their first major IRL event, the Garden Party, on 31 Mar at NFT LA. Wiz Kalifa performed.
- The team’s flair for showmanship was apparent when they announced and initiated an airdrop of 2 BEANZ NFTs to every Azuki holder during the Garden Party.
- BEANZ has not been revealed yet, so far we have only seen a teaser: a strange blue bean-like figure with a spray can.
- Bobu the Farmer (Azuki #40) was fractionalized by the team as part of an experiment in decentralized IP and governance. The team holds 30K out of 50K Bobu Fractions but has said they will abstain from voting on proposals that are within the scope of the experiment.
- The team intends to open up new revenue streams beyond royalties and their vision includes a clothing line, an animated series, and possibly a game. Merch is already being designed, including this bomber jacket.
Azuki holders have received ~10E in free drops so far:
Upcoming drops: None officially confirmed. On their mindmap, the team states that there are exploring a $BEAN token that could be used in the Azuki-verse
- All 3 projects are taking unique and thoughtful approaches to build out a web3-native global brand.
- CloneX is focused on co-creating cool digital products for the metaverse together with their community. They will continue to leverage their partnership with Nike to grow their brand presence.
- Doodles has decided to take a grounds-up, community-building approach through in-person events, and by providing unique experiences & utility to its members. The founding team has also been the most public among the 3, appearing at many events, fireside chats, and media articles.
- Azuki has garnered a lot of support from crypto OGs and influencers, particularly Asian investors. Their creative & artistic abilities are fantastic, as shown by the detailed aesthetics of their anime artwork. It remains to be seen how they intend to reach out to mainstream, non-crypto audiences.
- In my opinion, Doodles seems to have the clearest direction among the 3 projects. Also, they have yet to launch a dilutive airdrop, which could be something to speculate on. The team posted in their Discord on 5 Apr: “in short, we will make the f*cking biggest announcement of an announcement soon. give us the time to deliver.“
- Just for fun, I conducted a quick poll on Twitter and these were the results:
- It will be fascinating to watch all 3 projects progress through the year. As they each carve their own paths, their successes and failures will provide future NFT founders with a solid playbook on community & brand building.
Top NFT Collections This Week
Azuki has been blazing hot, with floor prices jumping up another 50% after last week’s already meteoric rise. BEANZ Official is the mysterious item that was airdropped to Azuki holders on 31 Mar and has seen heavy demand ever since — it already has more unique owners than Azuki. This has also re-ignited the anime art narrative, with attention spilling into projects with a similar art style like KIWAMI and Akuma, propelling them into the top 10 for this week.
CyberBrokers, a fully on-chain NFT by Josie & team, did well for the week. It is a collection I like a lot and has the potential to be culturally significant in the future. One reason for the increased interest may be the launch of their community quests, where everyone works together to solve a series of cryptic puzzles. It is reminiscent of the CloneX’s MNLTH drop, and has served as a centerpiece to bring the community together.