Author: Zach Lorance

Posted on

Step By Step Beginner’s Guide: How to Acquire NFTs Through the OpenSea Platform

OpenSea is a global, digital marketplace in which users can exchange non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Founded in 2017, the platform has quickly grown to become the largest and most popular NFT marketplace, conducting an estimated $20 billion USD in volume through over half a million users and 2 million + NFT collections.

The following will be a step by step guide on how to open a wallet and acquire an NFT through the OpenSea platform.

Step 1: Creating a Crypto Wallet

OpenSea supports many different wallets in which to choose from. A crypto wallet allows you to buy and store an NFT.

Wallets that OpenSea supports are any of the following:

  • MetaMask
  • Coinbase Wallet
  • WalletConnect
  • Phantom (Solana)
  • Fortmatic
  • Kaikas
  • Bitski
  • Glow
  • Venly
  • Dapper
  • Authereum
  • Torus
  • Portis
  • Trust (mobile only)

For this guide, we will be using MetaMask. To download MetaMask for a browser or mobile extension, go to metamask.io and click on “Download”. Choose your preferred application and install the extension. 

Once MetaMask is downloaded, you can create a new wallet. This will require you to create a password and then generate a seed phrase.

Warning: Like all crypto wallets, if you lose your seed phrase, your wallet cannot be recovered and funds will be lost forever.

This is extremely important – write that entire seed phrase down word for word on a piece of paper and store it somewhere secure, like a safe.

Once you have successfully re-entered your seed phrase on MetaMask, you now have a wallet!

Step 2: Funding Your Crypto Wallet

To purchase NFTs on OpenSea, your new wallet will need some funds. The most common cryptocurrency on OpenSea is Ethereum (ETH). Ethereum can be purchased directly on MetaMask by selecting the “Buy” icon in the wallet:

After selecting Buy, two options appear to purchase ETH directly on MetaMask. One is through Wyre (debit card purchases) and the other is through Transak (credit, debit, bank transfers).

The more common approach is to use exchanges. ETH can be deposited directly into your crypto wallet by first purchasing it at a centralized exchange such as Coinbase, Kraken, or Crypto.com and sending it to your MetaMask wallet.

Once ETH is purchased, it will show in your wallet:

Step 3: Connecting Your Wallet to OpenSea

To connect a wallet to OpenSea and to see which wallets are available, go to the top right corner on OpenSea.io and click the wallet icon. A list will appear of supported wallets.

Click on MetaMask. Your MetaMask will open automatically with a request to connect to OpenSea. Choose your wallet and hit “Next”. After hitting “Next”, a prompt will appear to connect. Hit “Connect”.

Once you have hit Connect, your wallet is now connected to OpenSea!

Step 4: Purchasing an NFT

Now that we have a funded crypto wallet and have connected it to OpenSea, we are ready to buy our first NFT. On OpenSea.io, scrolling down on the main page will bring you to the ability to browse by category or you can just click “Explore” at the top of the page.

There are many different types of artists creating different NFTs, including art, photography, collectibles,etc. Once you find an NFT you would like to purchase and have enough ETH in your wallet for both the purchase price and gas fees, click on the NFT and then select “Buy Now”:

After selecting “Buy Now”, a pop up will appear that says Authentication required. This will trigger a Signature Request for your MetaMask wallet. When this appears, click “Sign”. After you sign the Signature Request, you will be able to now checkout and purchase your NFT!

Step 5: Viewing your NFT

You can view your new NFT by going to the top right on OpenSea, selecting your profile icon and selecting “Profile”:

This will take you to your OpenSea profile where you can view the NFTs you have collected, any you have favourited, NFTs you have created, and any other activity related to your profile. Remember, your NFT is stored on your MetaMask wallet.

You have now successfully created a wallet, funded it, and bought an NFT off OpenSea!

For the latest on the metaverse and web3, check out our content on gmw3.com

Posted on

Metaverse Weekly: Ape’s, Chikn’s & a Whiff of Meta

Over the past week, numerous announcements, partnerships, and developments have been announced that have the potential to impact the metaverse space. The market cap of the metaverse cryptocurrency sector ends the week hovering around ~$29 billion USD. Most of the sector was down in price over the past week, though recently released ApeCoin (APE) ended the week up on a 15% gain.

APECOIN
Price action of APE over past seven days. Image credit: CoinMarketCap

Among top mentions in the metaverse market this week include these key players:

  • Avalanche NFTs & DeFi Kingdoms
  • Meta
  • Fidelity
  • Coinbase

Chikn NFTs Arrive in DeFi Kingdoms

The popular gamified DEX DeFi Kingdoms (DFK) recently made a major expansionary move to the Avalanche network. On Avalanche, DFK is utilizing the Synapse bridge to create a brand new realm called Crystalvale. This new realm will come along with a new power token in CRYSTAL.

This expansion to Avalanche has opened up DFK to an additional partnership with Chikn, the young NFT project featuring chickens (and soon roosters) as yield-generating NFT mints.

Chikn has a unique economic structure, deploying three separate tokens to power its ecosystem.

Those three tokens are:

  • Chikn – an upgradeable chicken-inspired NFT that lays $EGG
  • EGG – the governance and utility token for the ecosystem
  • FEED – harvested via the chikn.farm app, FEED is eaten by chikn to entice upgrades and higher yields.

These three tokens provide functionality and a self-sustaining economic system. Now, with an added utility to Chikn NFTs with the coming integration to DFK, both projects can cross-pollinate their user bases to facilitate new growth in the metaverse sector.

Chikn NFTs
Chikn NFTs

Facebook-Rebrand Meta Reveals Hefty NFT Costs

The parent company of Facebook, Meta, recently announced an eye-opening 47.5% cut on NFT sales stemming from its virtual reality platform called Horizon Worlds. This cut makes Meta the most expensive in the entire industry and it isn’t even close.

The fee can be broken down into two different parts. The first part is an immediate 30% hardware platform fee which covers Meta Quest store sales while the remaining 17.5% fee comes from the Horizon Worlds platform.

A comparison between fees across NFT marketplaces is provided below by Twitter user @dustdust213

The massive platforms of Looksrare, Rarible, and OpenSea have substantially lower fees of only 2-2.5%, laughable in comparison to the massive cost pressure Meta is putting on its own creators.

Investment Giant Fidelity to Launch New Metaverse ETF

Fidelity Investments announced its intentions to launch a new metaverse-branded exchange traded fund (ETF). The ETF, called FMET, will enable interested investors the ability to invest in a metaverse-specific fund, providing exposure to the fast-growing asset class.

Assets that can be expected to receive consideration for the fund include the following stocks & cryptocurrencies:

  • Meta
  • Nvidia
  • Unity Software
  • Microsoft
  • Decentraland
  • Axie Infinity
  • The Sandbox

This opportunity provides a brand new on-ramp for metaverse projects to receive liquidity and investment assistance. With new buyers stemming from the Fidelity channel, growth can be more readily achieved moving forward.

This announcement also further solidifies the broader interest in metaverse applications from external investors.

Coinbase Developing a BAYC Movie Trilogy

The most interesting development over the past week was the major Coinbase announcement of a coming Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) trilogy. BAYC is one of the most prominent NFT collections in the world today, with a floor market cap of over 1 million ETH (~$3 billion USD).

Users have the opportunity to participate in the project. The call for the community to participate is essentially a casting call. Those holding BAYC NFTs can deposit them to a Coinbase Wallet and connect them to the degentrilogy.com website to participate, bringing any ideas for characters and storylines.

The very first instalment of this new trilogy is said to premiere in June 2022.

Posted on

The Ronin Bridge Hack: Recapping Crypto’s Largest Hack Ever

On March 29th, 2022, it was discovered that there had been a significant security breach on the Ronin network. Ronin runs the Ronin Bridge which connects major P2E title Axie Infinity to the Ethereum mainnet.

This breach resulted in the theft of 173,600 Ether and 25.5 million US Dollar Coin. At the time of the hack, this equated to over $600 million USD in value – making the Ronin Bridge hack the single largest hack in crypto history.

Ronin Tweet

How the Hack Occurred

The Ronin network is secured by validators, a set of nodes that verify the state of the blockchain perpetually. The hacker that exploited the network was able to compromise the node keys for four different validators, giving the hacker control over the network itself.

This is essentially a form of 51% attack. A 51% attack is any network attack that is carried out by taking over 51% of the validating nodes on a network, giving the attacker control over the state of the blockchain.

51% Attacks Image credit: Andrew Butler

The Ronin Bridge hacker utilized this concept and was able to verify the removal of over $600 million USD in ETH and USDC.

The funds themselves have largely remained undisturbed in the wallet that was originally used post-hack. A reported $7 million USD was moved through privacy tool Tornado Cash.

Market Effect and Aftermath for Axie Infinity

The cryptocurrency market largely brushed off the hack initially. Axie Infinity’s native token, AXS, did not decline in price substantially on the news. In fact, AXS actually saw a price increase prior to the latest market decline.

AXS Price Action

Axie Infinity delayed the release of Axie Infinity: Origin after the hack was discovered and has since been working diligently to restore the lost funds to the network to pay back initial users who had their money stolen.

As of April 11th, Axie Infinity appears to have successfully identified or already secured funds to replace the $600 million USD. Axie Infinity was able to raise $150 million USD through Binance and other supporting partners. 

Also, Sky Mavis (the company behind the development of Axie Infinity) announced that they would be paying $450 million USD out of pocket to replace funds lost in the hack. It is unclear as to how these funds will be used to restore lost value on the Axie Infinity chain.

Decline of Axie Infinity Player Count

The largest effect that the hack has had on Axie Infinity is related directly to its overall usage. The blockchain’s average daily player count has tanked spectacularly post-hack, declining by an estimated 45%.

Axie Infinity Player Count Source: Sky Mavis

Of course, it has been pointed out that the daily user count on Axie Infinity has been decreasing for an extended period of time, tracing back to the December 2021 peak. Since then, millions of users have failed to interact with the chain.

Summary

The Ronin Bridge hack was a big loss for the P2E and blockchain gaming sectors. Axie Infinity is a leading metaverse/gaming project, responsible for a large percentage of the sector’s overall growth.

The hack also depicts another prime example of the vulnerability that certain bridge networks have. Bridges connect blockchains together and facilitate the transfer of data and information between otherwise isolated networks.

Though bridges have a growing importance as infrastructure within the crypto-economy, major security faults have led to two of the biggest hacks ever: the Solana wormhole hack and now the Ronin bridge hack.

Posted on

Metaverse Weekly: The Expanding Tokenomics of GameFi Protocol DeFi Kingdoms

DeFi Kingdoms (DFK) is a young play-to-earn (P2E) gaming protocol built on the Harmony Network. The protocol is fueled by its native cryptocurrency JEWEL. The JEWEL token powers in-game purchases and rewards such as NFTs (Heroes), collectables, and more.

DFK launched in the summer of 2021 with the intention to develop a gaming-powered yield farm. By leveraging the smart contract applications of the Harmony blockchain combined with Uniswap’s V2 protocol, DFK has managed to attract a healthy usage for its JEWEL token.

DeFi Kingdoms: Serandale: https://game.defikingdoms.com/ 

Tokenomics of JEWEL

The JEWEL token essentially works to function entirely like a gamified DEX (decentralized exchange). JEWEL employs basic DEX tokenomics in that DFK users essentially participate in yield farming to earn JEWEL tokens.

The JEWEL token itself has two key functions to understand overall. They are:

  • Depositing at the DFK Bank
  • Delegating JEWEL to a liquidity pool in the Gardens

When JEWEL is deposited at the Bank, users can exchange it for xJEWEL governance tokens which come with a yield, incentivizing participation. The other option is to simply delegate tokens to a liquidity pool, meaning that the user exchanges their liquidity to the pool to generate higher returns.

At genesis, 10 million JEWEL tokens were pre-mined and distributed out to multiple channels, including:

  • 5 million towards game development
  • 2 million towards marketing
  • 2 million to form the original liquidity pool
  • 1 million to the founding time

While the initial distribution of tokens was highly centralized, JEWEL has a fixed supply of 500 million tokens, meaning that only a small percentage of tokens was pre-mined and airdropped in the original distribution.

JEWEL token is capped at a fixed supply of 500 million possible tokens. The remainder of those tokens will be introduced into DFK via the yield farming mechanisms and follow the following supply curve:

Source: Messari

An important note about DFK’s JEWEL token is that the max supply can be changed at any time through governance. Users participate through the DFK Bank (via xJEWEL governance tokens) in which they receive governance power and rewards in exchange for their liquidity.

Criticisms of DeFi Kingdoms

While the tokenomics of JEWEL function properly, the current development of DFK  has been a subject of criticism as the protocol lacks a true gaming experience. The label of being a “gamified DEX’ is something that developers have even acknowledged.

As Ismail Mert Tarihci of Admix stated: “DeFi Kingdoms has been thriving on the future implied development of an actual game being built on top of the current DEX (decentralized exchange) mechanics of DFK.”

A push forward in the DFK roadmap is the integration of new realms into DeFi Kingdoms. The first of these new realms is the integration of a new DFK token called CRYSTAL via the Avalanche network.

Integrating Avalanche (AVAX) and the CRYSTAL Token

Towards the end of Q4 2021, it was announced that DFK would be integrated into Avalanche (AVAX) as a new accessible realm powered by its own token CRYSTAL. 

The move allows DFK to take advantage of the low costs and fast transaction times typically associated with the Avalanche blockchain network. It also expands the overall use case of the DFK ecosystem as a whole. This new realm is called DeFi Kingdoms: Crystalvale and is bridged to the main realm of DFK.

DeFi Kingdoms: Crystalvale: https://defikingdoms.com/crystalvale/ 

The CRYSTAL token operates very similar to that of JEWEL. It can be used to purchase or mint new Heroes (NFTs), utilized as liquidity in the DEX or farms, and serves as the Crystavale realm native currency.

The value of both JEWEL and CRYSTAL are linked through shared utility since they power many of the same features (called Power Tokens). Additionally, JEWEL fuels the gas fees for the main DFK blockchain where CRYSTAL transactions are settled, meaning JEWEL literally powers CRYSTAL.

Because of this, the incentives for holding JEWEL have expanded substantially. Those holding JEWEL are now the beneficiaries of increased transaction volume due to CRYSTAL.

Summary

The expansion of the DeFi Kingdoms ecosystem to include Avalanche not only provides an improved use case for DFK but also directly incentives higher usage of both the JEWEL and CRYSTAL tokens simply through basic economics.

While the further development of a true game on DeFi Kingdoms remains a speculation of sorts, for now, the protocol experienced substantial growth over Q1 2022 and looks to expand on that growth over the rest of 2022. 

Posted on

Binance Hints at Coming Play-to-Earn Project Listing

As one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges and smart chains, Binance has substantial influence over the success of various crypto and blockchain projects. They have managed to establish some unique partnerships recently, including a Mike Tyson NFT drop that has already sold out.

The latest hype surrounding Binance is related to a recent tweet sent out by the Binance Twitter account hinting directly at a coming play-to-earn project listing. 

Binance Tweet

P2E Twitter Communities Collide

It did not take long for speculation to brew over on Twitter about which project Binance could be listing next. While little evidence has been released to confirm a specific project, the following two P2E projects had the most community support for a listing:

NFT Worlds (WRLD) – NFT Worlds is a play-to-earn metaverse build situated on the Polygon L2 blockchain that consists of thousands of worlds in which users can partake in. This includes an accessible world with one of the most popular gaming titles of all time, Minecraft.

Verasity (VRA) –  Verasity is a versatile protocol build that encompasses a media platform hosting esports, video entertainment, and digital content management. Verasity has a built-in advertising stack that offers rewards in the form of its native token VRA.

Example NFT Worlds Minecraft Server

While Binance has no confirmed project in mind at this time of this writing for what their marketing team is alluding to, there are many metaverse/blockchain gaming-related protocols within the space that have managed to establish worthwhile communities.

As an increased emphasis remains placed on metaverse-like titles in 2022, projects such as NFT Worlds could see elevated attention from major names in crypto like Binance. Keep your eyes on centralized exchanges for new coin listings month to month.

Stay up to date with the latest metaverse and gaming trends at gmw3.com

Posted on

Metaverse Weekly: How Did Top Projects Do During Q1 2022?

The first quarter of the 2022 year has served largely as a cool off following the substantial expansion the cryptocurrency market saw since 2020. Many assets, including that of Decentraland (MANA), Axie Infinity (AXS), and Sandbox (SAND), declined or consolidated for much of Q1 2022.

What hasn’t stopped since the beginning of the year is development within the metaverse space. Nearly every major play-to-earn (P2E) project has seen tremendous development, expansion, or fresh investment from both in and outside the cryptoeconomy.

Here is a wrap up of what the top three leading P2E projects did over the course of Q1 2022. 

Decentraland (MANA)

The use case and ability of Decentraland has continued expanding throughout Q1 2022 with the project adding a number of new features and incentives. Decentraland’s native cryptocurrency token MANA had an overall rocky Q1 in terms of price action.

The MANA token reached an all time high of ~$5.90 USD in November 2021. Since then, MANA has declined in price over 50%. Despite the decline, MANA will begin Q2 2022 up ~175% from its price at the end of Q1 last year in 2021.

MANA Circulating Marketcap
Image credit: Messari

MANA remains a top asset within the cryptoeconomy, ending Q1 2022 as the 32nd largest project by market capitalization. In addition, MANA is the leading project for both metaverse & NFT coins.

Decentraland has announced or integrated all of the following features so far in 2022:

  • Royalties – Decentraland kicked off the 2022 new year with a major announcement that royalty payments were going to be integrated into the protocol. This implementation into the Decentraland marketplace will allow creators to substantially increase their potential earnings, incentivizing further adoption.
  • My Store – Decentraland integrated a new feature to its marketplace called My Store. This upgrade allows creators to more easily manage assets, view data, and build personal branding.
  • Transparency OS – In February 2022, Decentraland announced the arrival of a new operating software geared towards improving community decision-making called Transparency OS.. In short, this serves to provide further transparency of data between the community and DAO.

Axie Infinity (AXS)

Following the market peak in November 2021, Axie Infinity’s had continued its decline for much of Q1 2022. Since the end of February, AXS has consolidated largely around a market capitalization of $2.8 billion USD.

AXS remains down over 50% from the all time high it hit in 2021 after the cryptocurrency market entered a consistent decline in Q4 of 2021. Despite this, Axie Infinity is up a staggering ~1,200% since the end of Q1 2022. That makes Axie Infinity one of the fastest-growing projects within the cryptoeconomy overall.

AXS Circulating Marketcap
Image credit: Messari

AXS isn’t far behind MANA, ending Q1 2022 within the top 40 largest cryptocurrencies by market cap. AXS also enjoys being the leading project in the subcategory of gaming as well as the second largest metaverse project only behind Decentraland.

Axie Infinity has benefited tremendously from the impressive (and growing) list of partnerships they have, including all of the following partners:

  • Samsung
  • Ubisoft
  • HTC
  • Binance

The Sandbox (SAND)

As far as virtual worlds go, The Sandbox remains one of the most popular projects within the sector. Pretty consistently trailing just behind both Axie Infinity and Decentraland, The Sandbox’s native token SAND is still holding an impressive $4 billion USD market cap.

The SAND token peaked like much of the cryptocurrency market in Q4 2021, down a comparable ~50% off the token’s all time high. The expansion of SAND over the past year has also been impressive, outperforming Decentraland and rising nearly 400% since Q1 2021.

SAND Circulating Marketcap
Image credit: Messari

With enthusiasm for the metaverse and Web3 growing, SAND has also minted some truly impressive partnerships. Some of the most impressive partners to join with The Sandbox include the following examples:

  • Snoop Dogg
  • Adidas
  • Atari
  • The Walking Dead
  • The Smurfs
  • Hell’s Kitchen
Snoop Dogg avatars. Image credit The SandBox

A recent Q1 2022 example is the partnership between The Sandbox and SM Brand Marketing which will be utilized to construct a Play-to-Create model. This will be centred around building within the metaverse and minting collectables like NFTs.

With a growing arsenal of opportunities for users to earn income, The Sandbox continues to see an adoption rate that rivals all other projects within the metaverse space. Address growth is continuing to increase which correlates with a higher number of daily transactions within Sandbox.

Summary

GameFi and P2E projects took a massive step forward in 2021. In spite of price action declining much of the past five months, there has been zero slow down in the development and expansion of many projects. Brands are moving into the metaverse and blockchain space with every passing week. 

Outside of the big three, a watchful eye should be kept on other gaming, metaverse, and NFT projects in the sector as the sector market cap grows. Other notable projects include:

Studies have already been released in Q1 2022 that demonstrate the potential growth of the metaverse overall, with estimates suggesting that by 2026 a quarter of people will spend at least one hour within the metaverse for work, shopping, education, and so on.

JP Morgan Chase even released a detailed study on the metaverse in Q1 2022 that outlines how their organization is expecting the space to develop and expand. They even went as far to say that the metaverse will reach “$1 trillion [USD] in yearly revenues” in the coming years.

As off-chain organizations move more towards the cryptoeconomy and attempt to integrate the metaverse – like Facebook rebranding to Meta – the legitimacy of projects like Decentraland, Axie Infinity, or Sandbox should continue to grow in 2022 and seemingly beyond.