Sup, nerds!

Here’s what you’re getting in today’s edition:

• 💅 This is cool: Bored Apes dethroned

• 🔎 This seems important: Yuga Labs just bought Moonbirds

• 🤝 Partner: Unlock your startup's potential with Raze 🚀​

• 🔪 Let's dissect this: Coinbase is the canary in the ‘crypto market coal mine’

Terms used in this edition (click for an explanation, or ​ask Web(GPT)3!​):
NFT, Bear Market, Web3, Metaverse, Market Cap.

💅 This is cool:

Bored Apes Just Got Dethroned

In one sentence: Pudgy Penguins have gone from 4 ETH ($6.6k at the time), to 21.5 ETH ($60.6k today) in the past 6 months, briefly flipping BAYC in price this weekend.

You know that trope in films?

The one where the nerd shows up to their high school reunion, having all of a sudden become successful/attractive — and all their classmates kick themselves for not paying more attention to them?

Yeah, well this is kinda like that.

In this case, we are the ignorant classmates and the ugly-duckling-turned-hot-and-successful-giga-Chad is the Pudgy Penguins NFT collection.

ICYMI: Pudgy Penguins launched amidst the NFT mania of 2021, and did OK while markets were up, but shed most of its value as everything started to weaken.

And for whatever reason — in the depths of the bear market — some kid called Luca Netz made an offer to the creators of Pudgy Penguins to buy the collection’s rights for $2.5M.

His plan? Grow the brand by creating a series of plush toys based on the Pudgy characters.

“Ok, no one’s gonna care about that”
— us, when we first heard this plan.

And today, we stand before you proven abso-lutely wrong.

Because Luca promptly went on to:

1. Make said plush toys

2. Get people excited about them

3. Win retail placements in Walmarts across America

4. Grow the Pudgy brand consistently throughout the bear market

5. Flip Bored Ape Yacht Club in price

That last point isn’t a typo ☝️

As of this weekend, Pudgy Penguins, briefly became more valuable than BAYC.

Going from 4 ETH ($6.6k at the time), to 21.5 ETH ($60.6k today) in the past 6 months.

Bravo, Luca, bravo.

🥇 Want the news before anyone else?

🔎 This seems important:

Yuga Labs Just Bought Moonbirds (But Was It a Good Idea?)

In one sentence: Yuga Labs (the company behind NFT projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club) just acquired Proof Collective (who created the Moonbirds NFT project).

Speaking of BAYC…remember back in 2012 when Facebook acquired Instagram?

Something similar just happened in the NFT space. 

(Sounds weird, but hear us out.)

Yuga Labs (the company behind NFT projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club) just acquired Proof Collective (who created the Moonbirds NFT project).

“So what? Acquisitions happen all the time!”

Which is true, but this is a big acquisition. Not necessarily in financial terms (it might be, we don’t know), but in terms of what it could mean for the NFT industry as a whole. 

See, Yuga Labs is kind of like ‘the Facebook of NFT companies.’ There are tons of NFT projects, just like there were tons of social networks vying for the top spot (shoutout to Tom from MySpace) — but Yuga has created the most successful one to date, with Bored Ape Yacht Club.

Then they started the acquisitions…

First with Meebits and CryptoPunks, now with Moonbirds.

Here’s our take:

It’s not the acquisitions that matter, but what you do with them that counts. And we get it — starting a native Web3 company is hard! It takes time.

Yuga Labs have been working on their ‘Otherside’ metaverse for the past few years, and are soon releasing the Otherside metaverse game (which will include characters from all of their portfolio NFT collections).

This release will be the deciding moment on whether or not all of this time, money, and hard work has been worth it.

We have our fingers, toes, and eyes crossed, hoping it is!

🤝 Partner:

Unlock Your Startup's Potential with Raze 🚀

We get it. Raising funding for your startup is hard!

You have a killer idea for an epic new product…all you need is a bit of funding to build out the team and market the damn thing!

Problem is, you're probably stuck in a maze of paperwork, investor meetings, and legal complexities.

That’s where Raze comes in.

Whether you're a budding entrepreneur or a seasoned Web3 innovator, Raze is designed with you in mind. They understand the struggles of finding the right investors and navigating the intricate web of regulations, especially in the U.S.

The Raze platform streamlines the entire capital-raising process and helps you put your investor networking on autopilot - connecting you with the perfect investors and providing expert guidance every step of the way.

(It’s basically a cheat code for raising funding).

So, if you have no lawyer, no investors, or you’re stuck trying to raise capital without gaining much traction, check out Raze – the ultimate solution for seamless capital raising!

Click the big red button below to learn more 👇

🔪 Let's dissect this:

Coinbase Is the Canary in the ‘Crypto Market Coal Mine’ — And It’s Indicating VERY Good Things

In one sentence: This week Coinbase hit its highest share price in nearly two years, after it posted an earnings report for Q4 ‘23 with $273M of net income. 

More good news in crypto: 

This week Coinbase hit its highest share price in nearly two years.

Which may not feel like big news, but it’s a positive indication for the crypto industry as a whole.

Here’s what happened:

Coinbase posted their earnings report for Q4 2023, and for the first time in 7 quarters, they…they had net income…$273M of net income. 

Okay, so why is this a crypto-wide indicator?

Coinbase’s main source of income comes from transaction fees. 

I.e. People are buying and selling more crypto on the platform than they had been — and this was all during the last three months of 2023…

Which means we’re just getting started: 

Coinbase’s Q4 earnings report doesn't even account for the custodian fees for the 8 spot bitcoin ETFs they host, or the 20% rise in crypto market cap since the start of 2024!

This is looking like it could be a stellar Q1 for crypto, and for Coinbase. 

Yeehaw!!

Coinbase Q4 2023 Earnings Call And Chart Analysis (start at 15 mins)