NFT Weekly News #11
26th June - 3rd July, 2023
NFT News Weekly Update #11
(06/26/2023-07/03/2023)
GM
Welcome to NFT Weekly News by Threekeyslab🗝️🗝️🗝️. Here you can find the latest curated news📰in the NFT world. Every week, we aim to provide a selection of the most interesting news and events that are fostering the development of the NFT world.
The NFT field is constantly evolving, and this article will review last week's Top🔝NFT news. Let's take a look👀together!
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Big News 🔝
📌AIGC|Midjourney V5.2: Uncover Hidden Details and Explore a Wider Perspective
Midjourney v5.2 has been released, featuring a groundbreaking AI feature that allows users to "Zoom Out" of any photo. This update empowers users to uncover hidden details and explore a wider perspective, enhancing landscapes, and capturing breathtaking vistas like never before.
📌NFT | Azuki's latest drop sold for 38 million. The community was split after the NFT reveal (June 28)
Note: As of the morning of July 3rd, the floor price of Azuki has dropped to 5.4 ETH
Chiru Labs, the company behind Azuki, launched a new NFT collection called Elementals, selling 20,000 pieces and making $38 million in 15 minutes. Half of the pieces were sold for 2 ETH each, while the other half were given to existing Azuki holders. However, once the artwork was revealed, it was criticized for being too similar to the Azuki collection, leading to a drop in value. This not only affected the Elementals collection but also brought down the value of the original Azuki collection by 40%. The launch was also marred by technical issues due to underestimating the server load. The creator behind Elementals has taken responsibility and promised an upcoming reveal experience.
📌NFT|ERC-6551: Revolutionizing NFTs with Self-Custody Wallets for Assets and Endless Possibilities (June 29)
ERC-6551 allows NFTs on Ethereum to have their own wallets, enabling them to hold and manage assets such as ETH and other tokens. This development simplifies processes like airdrops, enhances in-game characters by allowing them to own items, and opens up innovative possibilities such as combining NFTs with AI for autonomous trading and collections.
Market Update 📣
To find out more about the notable NFT sales for the week, please click on the link below.
Other News 👀
AIGC|Meta Unveils Voicebox
Meta has recently released Voicebox, an all-in-one generative speech model. Voicebox is a game-changer, offering support for six languages and the ability to perform tasks beyond its training. With features like noise removal, content editing, style conversion, and text-to-speech synthesis, Voicebox promises to revolutionize the world of AI-generated speech.
AIGC| Unlocking paywalled articles for ChatGPT Plus users
ChatGPT Plus users now have access to Browsing Mode, which enables them to navigate through paywalled articles. This feature allows users to bypass restrictions and access valuable content without being hindered by subscription barriers.
NFT| Doodling to earn? An NFT of a user's doodle sold for 0.36 Bitcoin (June 26)
Recursive Inscription, a new feature in the Ordinals Bitcoin protocol, allows for multi-element interconnected inscriptions. Leveraging this, Recursive Doodinals is a platform where users create complex art from these elements. Notably, a detailed recreation of "Girl with a Pearl Earring" made of 1,253 elements sold for 0.36 Bitcoin. The platform is growing rapidly with increasing quality in submissions.
Web3| Hong Kong's largest bank,HSBC HK is the region's first lender to offer digital asset ETFs (June 27)
HSBC Hong Kong has integrated Bitcoin and Ethereum futures Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) - CSOP Bitcoin Futures ETF, CSOP Ethereum Futures ETF, and Samsung Bitcoin Futures Active ETF, into its “Easy Invest” mobile app. This allows customers to gain exposure to digital assets through regulated channels, avoiding unregulated exchanges. These ETFs are based on futures contracts from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and offer investors a simplified and transparent way to invest in the performance of Bitcoin and Ethereum. This aligns with the growing acceptance of crypto derivatives in Hong Kong.
NFT| Whale Machi collects 394 Elemental Beans: 100ETH unrealised gains (June 28)
Machi quietly up to 394 Elemental Beans and is currently the 2nd largest holder.Purchased all on secondary and is sitting on close to 100e in unrealized gains.
NFT | Yuga Labs release Forge game details: build the best tiles; buy Gears with SAPE to purchase power-ups in shop (June 29)
The creators behind BAYC launched an arcade game called Dookey Dash, where players earned unique NFT characters called HVs based on their performance. Now, there's a new game called Forge where players can evolve their HVs. Forge combines pet simulation and world-building, and will later turn into a dungeon crawler. Like Dookey Dash, Forge will only be available for a limited time.
AIGC | Big Tech bets billions on machine learning tools (June 26)
In the past week, the following AI robotics investments headlined the news:
DeepMind’s RoboCat AI controls robots: which can perform a range of tasks across various models of robotic arms. RoboCat - inspired by Gato, a DeepMind AI model that can analyze and act on text, images and events - had been trained on images and actions data amassed from robotics in simulation and IRL.
Robots trained to learn from YouTube: where CMU Robotics Institute assistant professor Deepak Pathak showcased Vision-Robotics Bridge (VRB), an AI system designed to train robotic systems to perform chores by watching a recording of a human.
Trained to create synthetic voices: ElevenLabs, the viral AI-powered platform for producing synthetic voices, has raised $19M in a new funding round. ElevenLabs can turn text into speech using synthetic voices, cloned voices, or completely novel “artificial” voices mimicking the sounds of people of different genders, ages, and ethnicities.
NFT | Fortnite x LEGO could be bigger than you imagined (June 26)
Epic Games and LEGO representatives announced a collaboration called Digital Twin at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The partnership aims to integrate real-world LEGO creations into Fortnite through Unreal Engine. Fans speculate that there may be a crossover event involving building features, since both Fortnite and LEGO revolve around building, and this could lead to creative possibilities with characters from diverse worlds interacting.
NFT | Hermes secures further win against MetaBirkins (June 26)
A U.S. court has permanently banned Mason Rothschild from selling MetaBirkins NFTs after French luxury brand Hermés won a trademark violation case. Rothschild is barred from marketing, selling, or minting MetaBirkins NFTs and cannot provide benefits to incentivize NFT purchases. He must also inform current MetaBirkins holders of this court order.
AIGC | Meta’s new AI creates sex chatbots (June 26)
Allie, an AI chatbot created for sexual role-play, including graphic content, was built using open-source technology based on Meta's LLaMA model. While open-source AI is praised for democratizing technology and fostering innovation, it also raises concerns as it can be exploited for malicious purposes, such as fraud, propaganda, or creating inappropriate content involving minors.
AIGC | Gen Zs building a career in AI age: Stay nimble (June 26)
Gen Z workers entering an AI-driven economy have the tech-savviness to harness AI for automating mundane tasks and focusing on creativity. However, AI's rise has sparked concerns about job security and the risks of advanced AI. For Gen Z to stay competitive, acquiring AI skills and adapting to emerging technologies is essential. Those who fail to integrate AI and new technologies into their careers may fall behind. It's crucial to be proactive in learning and embracing technology to secure job opportunities.
Web3 | China Mobile forms metaverse alliance (June 28)
China Mobile has teamed up with 24 partners, including Huawei and Xiaomi, to form an alliance focused on advancing metaverse content, XR technology, and computing networks. Led by Liu Xin, the alliance will establish an investment fund to double support for metaverse projects over three years, reflecting China's growing commitment to competing in the metaverse space.