CPI came in today at 4.9% vs 5% expectations which spells out yet another move lower, all around positive for markets. Stocks are up about 1-1.5% move higher with interest rates also moving a bit on the news.

Crypto is doing ok, BTC is back in the 28k range and ETH is in the 18's which seems to be its stability level these days.

The headlines are stirring things up by pointing to the central bank's goal of 2% for CPI not being reached. The reality is that it's a win to come in below expectations and that should be the focus, but the media will push a narrative that stirs the pot.

NFTs are still not doing well, trading volumes are down around 60% from their levels a few months ago; this has directly affected floor prices and most projects are bleeding. The trend to sell NFTs to buy Memecoins continues for people chasing bags, although Pudgies actually saw some positive movement with the news of their raise. Degods are at 8.69 after their Binance news, and Mutants are at 10 eth, it's been a long time since they were down at these levels.

Michael @saylor talked about Ordinals and stirred up the timeline, with the most famous clip making a bullish thesis on having the blockchain verify a last will & testament worth $1bn and how much that would be worth to someone. #Bullish

ACK's auction The broken keys is doing very well. We featured him yesterday and got some insight into his process and inspirations behind the work. 'Serendipty' is already sitting at 15 eth. Listen back to his segment for the juicy deets.

@theog__ popped in to talk Pepe and memetics. He is a Rare Pepe scientist and has done some amazing cards in the rare Pepe collection, including the first community card PEPENATION (S1C4) and as the 2nd artist to make a card.. if you got rarepepewallet.com you can check out his work, PEPENATION has music attached to it!

Do you know who Lord kek is anon? Do some research already and get to know the memetic history that we are living out daily.

@johnkarp joined us to talk about the upcoming conference in Lisbon! There is an 80% of promo code available ‘Rugradio30’ for any listeners/readers that want to attend the conference.

There will be a huge beach party to close the conference out so be prepared and get your tickets asap!

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Not a ton to report on traditional markets, starting the day a bit lower with .05% dip on the S&P. Interest rates selling off in preparation for tomorrows Data point. OSF imagines the risk is skewed towards the downside with the CPI number, no matter where it comes in at. Crypto has had some difficulty holding onto local levels. Some of the alts like $MATIC and $MAGIC are in a slump and being majorly outperformed by ETH itself which is up nearly 55% on the year. 

The concept of digital gold is a strong narrative being bought into versus utility based tokens that offer something. Mando thought we might sustain this last bounce and seeing the major coins slip is quite concerning. IF BTC continues to lose, then the shitcoins will suffer as well. 

The Bitcoin halving is approaching and stirring up many different perspectives and predictions around the future of BTC. People have speculated on major things like bitcoin forks and modifying the ultimate supply. No major change is set to happen but the speculation alone is enough to raise hairs about its future.

Binance put a tweet out that Ordinals are going coming to their NFT marketplace. The Bitcoin network was clogged yesterday due to the introduction and excessive exploration of BRC-20 tokens. IT has set the maxis into an uproar and caused both a wave of panic and wake of FUD in the BTC universe. Mando points out that this makes the future of Ethereum seem even clearer. 

People who don't want the application layer do not have a clear solution for what's going on and seem to want to delay the big decisions being made until much further in the future. 

NFTs

The main thing happening in NFTs is also surrounding the ordinals protocol on Bitcoin. The NFT community should start paying attention to the BRC-20 tech now. Go try it out and get to understand it while it’s new and relatively slow…. Clogged even.

Pudgy Penguins announce they did a raise for $9 mil, with an undisclosed valuation, the stage speculates that it could be around $30-50 mil. 

Degods made an announcement that they will be available on the BLEND lending platform from BLUR. The news didn't seem to force the floor one way or another. 

Snowfro and Gary V both purchased a rektguy! Unfortunately this is not 2021 and this floor also remained fairly unchanged. Remember when buying some land in sandbox was enough to set a project on a run? the good ol’ days.. 

RTFKT sneaker forging deadline is here, don't forget to forge or you are basically burning a physical. 

The Broken Keys w/ ACK

@lphaCentauriKid joined us to go though his latest drop 'The Broken Keys'. The piano to ACK is a gateway to the muse. He really pushed himself to make as many different stories as possible using the piano. He had over 100 pieces and curated it down to 48. All 1/1s going live at the same time within an hour of writing this. 

He saw a larger collection as a challenge. ACK is a self taught pianist and the instrument is a piece of art within itself. He wanted discovery to be a part of the work, so he tried different subjects and situations to tell unique stories with a piano theme. Check his official Twitter for links to the work.

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Traditional markets are trading relatively firm; we had a decent close on Friday with things unchanged on today's open. Crypto closed well going into the weekend but has sold off since along with $hitcoins, and it seems like the season is reaching a lull, but we likely haven't seen the end just yet. One of the major talking points has been the amount of Ethereum burned during all of the trading; It has been deflationary for a while now with all of this activity, and there are now concerns and speculation around the long term effects.

We have the CPI number coming in this week. If the number misses then we could see a sell off, but if the number is lower than expectation it could be a less notable event. 

We are still in a tepid state with NFTs; some major sales have still happened with things like Azuki, and Cryptopunks are hanging out around 50 eth with Apes in the 47-48 range. There was a major headline going around where 14 apes were sold and immediately swapped for $PEPE, which is not doing well currently.

@punk9059 talked about a difference from NFTs vs Stocks/bond trading, where the former plays into momentum and the trend of the moment. The strategy and practice may be similar but the foundation and influence are very different. 

Something like 80% of the loans that have gone out through BLEND have been recalled back already, take that as you will. 

If you are trading the $hitcoins, it's best to try and find something with a story at the very least. The action of these coins is rapid and unforgiving. Protect your funds and as always do not deploy capital that you cannot afford to lose. 

We were joined by @dannygreene & @meebstew to talk about everything @MeebitsNFTs. Turnon.meebits.app is the new site and has been one of the latest initiatives since they were assimilated into the Yuga ecosystem. The living PFP is the result of adding different expressions and emotes by animating the 3d characters. Giving life to the Meebs and making the animation accessible to users who aren't Blender experts is the mission.

Today we announced our STUBS artist #7 @YAGAMIIIARTS to go over his singing in the rain piece that he is sharing with the GM Web3 listeners. He has done art for the past 10 years, and describes himself as "just an artist" and a late starter, although you might disagree looking at his beautiful work. 

The Rug Radio Membership Pass was one of his first mints ever, and now he is minting a piece for the Rug Radio audience. That is what we love to see and the type of story we hope to replicate.

His style is NeoFauvism, which was also our code today for stubs and rewards. Fauvism was an early artistic movement that started in France and is attributed to the larger modern art category. Around the early 20th century people started experimenting by taking the realism out of the art and creating from their own views and perspectives with colors and livery. Fauvism sparked other movements like cubism and other really colorful styles; It broke the tendency of art to be naturalistic and represented in a true to life lens. Yagamii intends to combine modern contemporary art style with an appreciation for art history through his work. 

Yagami is also putting together a team to promote and contribute to the NeoFauvism style. It is set to be a curation in collaboration with Foundation that will highlight the style and the group of the artists that are creating using it!

GM!

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It's been a tough 48 hours for equities, we are down another percent on the S&P. The FOMC concluded yesterday and we did in fact get a hike of 25 bps as expected. The commentary from Powell didn't communicate that they will raise them further or that they will be cutting them lower. There is 0 way that the FED can raise rates further from OSF's perspective.

Mando points out that they danced between a dovish and hawkish narrative, and while this didn't initially move crypto prices, Crypto saw a small pump with futures opening and bank stocks slipping lower. Stocks themselves have gone lower with the banking crisis looming and potential recession on the horizon.

Tomorrow we have payrolls and the expectation is around 170k. If we hit that number it will communicate that the market is doing better than the FED narrative is saying.

The $hitcoinery continues! Beeple made a very explicit everyday yesterday pointing to the crazy environment we are in, view it at your own risk. $PEPE continues to rise at time of writing this, and the stage imagines that this coin could be around for a while and make it past the typical pump/dump lifecycle of these types of coins.

Volumes have massively decreased since the BLEND news lit the market up. Things are trending back towards low volume days, and it's just a slower period right now. Forgotten Runes made an announcement about some upcoming things in their ecosystem.

In other news, Nate Chastain, former manager at Opensea was convicted by a jury for NFT fraud and money laundering. The date for sentencing is set for August; our pros imagine a 10-18 month sentence, although it will likely be appealed; factors like using multiple wallets were connected to the laundering charge, yet we all know that multiple wallets is a standard practice for safety in the space. The headlines paint a certain picture but the appeal process means none of it is cemented.

Today, one of our top shows at Rug Radio @audiogalleries is on the front page of Opensea with an awesome generative collection aptly named Flowers Flowers Flowers! @TheNFT101 is hosting @lobsteropolis and his first exploration with this type of digital art.

Sorare

We were joined by @ni2las co-founder and CEO of @Sorare! He explained that the partners of Sorare have equity in the brand and are here for the long run. The fantasy leagues have been catching like wildfire and have amassed over 300 partners since we had him on the show last Summer!

Nicolas has bet his career on crypto and has been on the scene for many years now. Late 2017 is when he found NFTs and felt the potential for massive change using the technology; People have been collecting things in the physical world for centuries and NFTs open this up to the masses to collect things in a new, secure way.

It started with a vision to unite sports fans across the world and is now selling globally, succeeding in these efforts. @sobylife is an active player in Sorare fantasy leagues and points to the fact that it is a fun fantasy game but is also very collectible. You get to play but just holding the cards themselves is a valuable experience.

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Not much to write home regarding traditional markets, equities are basically unchanged. Interest rates are rallying with the news of the bank fiasco. Today the FOMC will conclude with the expectation of a 25 bps hike and the press meeting set to happen at 1:30pm EST. We will see if there is commentary around the banking situation, but things are still wobbly.

Crypto is still doing ok, with BTC and ETH staying in the same range it has been for a while. The alts aren't doing well with $APE down in the $3 price range. BTC dominance is up with all of the banking headlines; Mando imagines some volatility on the back of the FOMC commentary.

NFTs & Crypto

It feels like a reverse of the BLUR impact, Azuki is number 1. The floor is around 16-17 ETH but both Miladys and Cryptopunk’s floor has dropped off a bit. BLUR volume has dominated the markets with the new loan dynamic offered by BLEND. Stories are all over the timeline of people taking loans on assets for "deals" and betting long using BLEND for wins.

Lebron James wore some @RTFKT sneakers on his way to the stadium yesterday during the NBA playoffs for game 1 of the Lakers vs Warriors series, and they took the win in Golden State's house. LFG!

The NFT landscape is rough for people looking to buy into some of their favorite projects; floors are low for many of what has been considered the top projects, but the market manipulation is still very present and the risk to entry is very high from an investment standpoint. It is tough to be a small-time or even average participant in this environment.

Since the Ethereum merge event we have burned over 142k ETH, maintaining a deflationary status. Thinking about ETH over the long term, it is a really aggressive metric. Mando spoke about the potential of having to change the dynamic of the burn if the bull returns, this type of action could make our favorite chain too expensive to use and drive everyone to L2s.

Ordinals have been making waves and BRC-20 is in the headlines. Bitcoiners have basically built the infrastructure to have $hitcoins on Bitcoin! The maxi narrative is there is no longer any need for any chain other than Bitcoin. gg

H3NSY

We were joined by @boillotlaurent the CEO of @Hennessy to talk about everything @H3nsy. He has been with LVMH for 22 years! Joined Hennessy and has been immersed in the cognac brand and the community around it before embarking on this web3 journey along with @BarichDanielle.

Hennessy came into web3 via intuition and genuine curiosity; it started as an experiment, making connections in the space and even a DAO experience. Laurent found that there is culture present in web3 and understood the massive value of getting involved in this culture and building a community as early as possible.

When was the last time you did something for the first time? @BoillotLaurent urges you to answer this question via action and pursue innovation!

GM!

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GM Web3 ☀️ Recap -May 2, 2023

Degenz Market Report by @osf_rekt and @rektmando

Tough day in equities the S&P moved down slightly more than the Nasdaq, which is uncommon. Yesterday, First Republic bank was bought by JP Morgan; It looks like banking is still under massive stress, and any sustained rate hike from the FED will have a huge impact on regional banking. The FOMC is currently going on and set to conclude tomorrow with expectation for a 25 bps hike. At the last FOMC, they didn't say anything about banking but it is still unclear if the commentary will mention it this time around. 

Crypto is rallying in line with the chaos of the banking sector. First Republic and Silicon Valley were both large enough for the FED to do something about and intervene. A smaller regional bank that doesn't get the favor of the FED like PacWest, could end up not getting the assistance needed and causing a huge ripple in the system. JP Morgan is not going to bail out all of the regional banks, it just isn't possible. OSF points out that $PEPE has a larger market cap than some of the banks in question!

"There is no way in Hell that the FED has this under control" - Mando

The narrative that things are under control is just plain false. Commercial real estate is a very problematic sector that has yet to be realized. Massive devaluation is expected across the board with properties being devalued that were initially financed through banking loans, and the contagion of this potential banking crisis could be devastating. High yield debt and illiquid private credit will follow commercial real estate and giant holes in the balance sheets are bound to show up. 

NFTs

It's been a strong day over the past 24hrs in NFTs. It seems to have been initially led by the news of the BLEND loan platform from @blur_io. Cryptopunks, Azuki and Milady are the 3 collections launching through the platform, and the action through these collections has lent to some green across the board in other collections. This initial pump may seem good, but Mando is certain this will lead to higher volatility in floor prices. In a market where things are already pretty unstable, this could be a fan to the flame as things play out. 

BLUR, BLEND & News

We had @gmoneyNFT on stage and he imagines Blur taking NFT projects as proof of concept examples in order to eventually incorporate real world assets to their platform and tech giving potential investors more than ideas to work with.

Overall blur has increased volatility and incentivized degeneracy, which is not great for the space as a whole. The loan-to-value is incredibly high on the BLEND platform, although there is some sort of protection on the lending side as lenders basically have a call option on their NFT. If floors go up, they benefit and if the floors go down they have up to 95% of the assets value to lose before going belly up. 

Sotheby's announces their metaverse marketplace, a royalty enforced platform that claims to be “Art 1st” with a 2.5% platform fee. @Sothebysverse

Are you aware of the initiatives by Coinbase and Brian Armstrong in the fight for crypto? Shields up! A free mint is available for all to stand up for the cause! look into what is being discussed and hold up your shields for the benefit and longevity of the space! 

Big congrats to @DeeZe who joined the Sam Spratt Skulls council last night. 💀

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We are SO BACK! 

On Friday, the market closed strong; today, however, equities have remained mostly unchanged. Looking ahead, the FOMC begins tomorrow and will conclude on Wednesday with the announcement of the interest rate hike decision and their plans in light of recent data. Given the Fed's priority of maintaining stability, it's unlikely that any major drama will unfold.

Crypto is heavy with BTC down to $28k and ETH down in the $1800's. The $hitcoin market is booming, $PEPE has been on absolute tear over the weekend without any Monday sell-off. Stay cautious as always and don't spend anything you cannot lose. (Monday dump has ensued since writing this, I love crypto)

To those with a bag, don’t be afraid to realize profits and take some off the table. It always feels good to profit.

The number of holders is up big and the data points to a lot of holders that are holding a profitable bag. This usually means that there is a consolidation period set to happen, but..... this is Pepe! The strongest meme in the world, and the strength could push the market cap to unheard of highs. If this was a different coin it would likely be dumping by now. The longer it is sustained, the less you can fade it but you still need to time your entries. Huge swings can and will happen, brace yourselves!

Blur & Venmo Announcement

Blur announces Blend, a peer-to-peer perpetual lending protocol for NFTs. The platform will allow levered long positions while still earning yield? The perpetual factor means there is no expiry to the loans which is definitely a new approach to lending in NFTs. 

Venmo announces they will support crypto transfers within the app which is a progressive move in the right direction. You could previously purchase crypto on the platform but not move it in or out, a much needed upgrade to the platform. 

Consensus in Austin

Last week was Consensus 2023 in Austin, Texas! Rug Radio held an event that was a huge success. GM Web3 went live on the Consensus stage on Friday, check the replay to get the IRL show vibe. @SamEwen, Head of Coindesk joined the stage today and threw some flowers back at Farokh and the crew.

Stubs Artist #6, Victoria West

Today we announced the 6th STUBS artist, @vwestphoto_nb! Victoria shared her story of trying to get on Foundation with early struggles of having two early pieces banned on the platform. She is a photographer but also a digital artist! She describes her art as her diary, and a personal form of expression. She combines photos she takes and modifies them to create beautiful works of art that tend to have a statement reinforcing them.

The Pepe and the Princess is the piece she chose for the STUBS mint which just happens to be totally in the META given the crazy $PEPE pump. The piece was set to be a STUBS mint weeks ago, it just happens to be that a frog coin has taken over the timeline, LFG!

GM!

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Things are not looking too rosy, equities are down across both Nasdaq and the S&P with 10yr and 2yr treasuries seeing a decent rally in interest rates. Crypto is also not doing well, ETH has moved roughly 15% lower over the course of a week which is not great. $ARB is back to $1.30 and most other coins are not doing well.

OSF has a hunch that the FOMC next week could be a constructive event. The banking crisis wasn't quite as bad people feared and has moved out of the headlines. With data points like payrolls coming in positive, we could see some good rhetoric come from Powell at the FOMC meeting.

Mando imagines the banking crisis is still looming and things like commercial real estate will still reveal that they are a part of the banking contagion. The raise in rates is not ideal and it isn't clear as to what the Feds master plan is given this start to the year.

Most traditional assets had a decent entry into 2023, including crypto. @punk9059points out how loose the Fed kept things during COVID and now we are possibly seeing a reverse strategy with things constricting.

This was the lowest day of the year in terms of NFT volumes. Blur incentives have decreased and things are falling very flat. Realized daily losses are up above 1k ETH in the NFT space which is not great by any means. The end of the double $BLUR rewards is approaching which will certainly shift the landscape in some way or another.

Peak Bull the space was profiting something like 30k ETH daily, a hand over fist scenario. It hasn't been down only for floor prices but the big sales lately have been for a loss which we hate to see. After BLUR started in Q4 we actually saw a rally upwards, a lot of liquidity entered the market. We are at a place now where things are just unwinding from some of the hype and farm chasing.

@indigo_herz joined us to talk about their initiatives and ALTS by Adidas. There are ALT[er] Ego traits that are linked to different genres. Adidas as a brand has made waves and respects the culture of the space and sees it as more than just a technology.@heyerikaws spoke on how important it is to build and nurture a proper community in web3 and not just exploit like many of the large brands have done. They have an ‘into the metaverse’ taskforce that created a strategy to integrate the stripes into the blockchain and culture. Erika shared the story of not knowing who Gordon and Garga were from the Bored Apes as they weren't doxxed, but due to some key allies and advice, Adidas still did business with the Apes. Shoutout to the open-minded lawyers who enabled all of this to happen.

They have integrated @tokenproof with their ALTS initiative to allow users to access exclusive products that are only available to the web3 community.

Web2 was all about leveraging social media and other peoples platforms to get to the top, but in web3 Culture credibility, Community & Collaboration are the 3 C's that Erika believes are key to success in. ///

Adidas team on @: 32:13

GM

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Not a ton to report on traditional markets, we closed unchanged and are opening basically the same. Last week was a boring macro week, but this week brings corporate earnings with META and a couple other big tech companies reporting, which should stir things up leading into the monthly macro events. Next week we have the highly anticipated payrolls report followed by the FOMC.

Crypto has seen a dip with BTC diving to $27k and ETH dropping to the $1800 range. A lot of the alt coins have been crushed over the weekend. The $hitcoins are holding but still undergoing losses. We definitely had some heightened euphoria this past month, so use this time to reassess and make a proper plan for your next trades.

Apes and Punks as they both dipped below 50 ETH going into the weekend, but have seemed to rebound, likely due to thin floors. Looks like we get to stay away from 0 for a bit longer.

Degods got a lot of focus over the weekend with some FUD and a slight dip in the FP, due to the typical growing pains in the space.

Guttercats is set to finally announce a community token and Killacubz mint is upcoming with 8 phases of incubation!

YugaLabs vs Ryder Ripps

The Yugalabs vs Ryder Ripps case seems to have gone in favor of the Bored Apes, much to the rejoice of those who care for the space. There was a 22 page summary on the case and @GencoLaw came on stage to share some of his findings.

NFTs apparently get the statute of copyright laws which is a net positive for projects. In regards to a ‘right-click save’ the Judge did not see enough artistic expression to grant those rights to Ryder. Yuga got many things granted in their favor but they did not get everything. It does not mean that NFTs are not securities, although this case was actually silent to this issue according to our on stage counsel.

Provenance and IP matter, and this is the direction that artists and founders wanted this to go. This isn't a cemented judgment as there could be an appeal, and a trial is still pending.

New Stubs Artist - AD_AD

We had our new STUBS artist this week, @adam_disbrow! He is a traditional artist coming from contemporary fine art who got into NFTs in 2021 by overhearing FUD from a traditional art gatekeeper, signaling he should look into it. Expressionist painter by trade, he paints pieces that are then professionally photographed and then brought into procreate/photoshop to create the amazing works he is known for.

"Crypto art as a whole and a culture is stronger than ever, and I'm all in" - AD_AD

Metaversal & Rug Radio Event in Austin, TX

We also had @balon_art and @yossihasson on to talk about @HelloMetaversal, their badges, and the upcoming event in Austin, TX during Consensus in collaboration with Rug Radio.Metaversal looks at different projects and founders that are disrupting their respective space by using the Blockchain and NFTs. They also have their own production studio responsible for creating things like their latest @omegaxrunner

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Traditional markets don't have a lot to write home about, most things are basically unchanged. Interest rates are hovering in the same range they have been for the past few days. Tech earnings will be coming out next week, which could have an effect on the macro.Crypto is slipping, ETH is down to the low 1900's and the meme coin rallies have seemed to slow down with most falling into the red after the past few days of hype.

It seems that the market may have expected more of a sell off with the banking crisis, and since they didn't see a massive dip, the markets are slowly working upwards.

Separately, a thread went out talking about the security of the Bitcoin network becoming more vulnerable as time goes on, and the number of coins being reduced through the token mechanics. This could be one of the reasons it has been underperforming lately, but who is to say?

Not pretty out there in the world of NFTs, if anything there has been a bit of accelerated bleeding going on. A bloodbath across the board with collections like Doodles approaching the single ETH range.

The number of active wallets as well as floor prices have been declining, which is a terrible correlation to see. This all still feels like it will continue with the BLUR farming going on. @rektmando speculates that things could get even worse and to be prepared to see more blood. However, this is nothing new for the crypto and NFT world, we have lived through a thousand bull/bear cycles with major pullbacks. This one does have a different feel because of the major collections diving along with the overall sentiment.

Last week there was euphoria everywhere and this week the vibes have shifted significantly. The IRL meetups always help to reaffirm the path and give confidence in everything that people are building. If you are feeling rekt, try to go to an irl event. It will help 1000%!

This period of time will likely shape and shift the landscape of NFTs. The magic that exists in these different communities is not going anywhere, and the people showing up everyday are not chasing .001 eth flips, but rather building long lasting relationships and helping to advance the tech.

@DegenzNFT announced Degenz Code! It requires burning either the Degenz gold pass or the Degenz access pass to redeem the new Degenz Code asset with pixelated art that was created by @TimpersHD! There will be codes hidden throughout the Degenz universe, and holders will be able to use these codes to redeem art.

We had @cemhah on to talk about the STUBS burn today featuring his work. There are two amazing pieces available. This week's mint is available for 2 days with an open amount of supply. If you have a STUBS mint pass you will be able to burn without any FOMO

The RugDAO has 4 proposals open for voting right now, and voting is live for 3 more days!. The DAO is essential to advancing our decentralized efforts so please take part, go look at the proposals, vote, and maybe even think about submitting your own proposal

GM!

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