Sega Corp., a renowned gaming studio famous for titles like ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ and ‘Yakuza,’ is scaling back its involvement in blockchain gaming as the industry continues to grapple with the effects of the global crypto meltdown. Co-Chief Operating Officer Shuji Utsumi shared with Bloomberg News that Sega will refrain from participating in third-party blockchain gaming projects with its major franchises to preserve their value. Furthermore, the company has temporarily halted the development of its own blockchain games.

This strategic shift marks a notable departure for the 60-year-old firm, which previously joined the ranks of Square Enix Holdings Co. and Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. in advocating for the use of blockchain technology to enhance the appeal of its games. At the time, platforms such as Axie Infinity, where players earned tokens by playing, were gaining traction. However, the collapse of the digital currency market severely diminished the allure of such projects.

While Sega has decided to withhold its prominent characters, like those from ‘Three Kingdoms’ and ‘Virtua Fighter,’ from the blockchain space, it does plan to allow external partners to utilize them for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). NFTs act as digital asset certificates, confirming ownership. Sega initially received criticism from gamers when it announced its intention to join the NFT community in 2021, as many viewed crypto technology as environmentally detrimental.

“What’s the point if games are no fun?”

In an interview with Bloomberg News, Utsumi expressed his dissatisfaction with play-to-earn games, stating, “What’s the point if games are no fun?” He also expressed uncertainty about incorporating Web 3.0 technology into Sega’s upcoming “super game” initiative—a series of high-budget online multiplayer games set to launch in 2026. Utsumi mentioned that Sega is currently assessing whether this technology will truly gain traction within the industry.

Sega’s cautious approach aligns with the broader industry sentiment towards web3, an internet architecture built on blockchain technology. Once a topic that attracted significant investments from companies like Andreessen Horowitz, web3 has experienced a cooling-off period due to low interest and criticism. Ubisoft Entertainment SA and other peers have also scaled back their investments in NFT games.

However, Sega does intend to collaborate with various blockchain games later this year, allowing its lesser-known franchises to participate. The company will continue to invest substantial amounts in related projects, seeing the technology’s value in enabling the transfer of characters and items between different games. Sega remains open to further involvement as blockchain technology matures.

Out Take

In line with Sega’s cautious approach to blockchain gaming, NFTCulture agrees that the absence of joy in games represents a significant gap in the web3 and NFT gaming ecosystem. Without a focus on delivering fun and engaging experiences, the industry risks falling short of its potential for success.

The success of blockchain gaming depends on striking the delicate balance between novel technology and the age-old desire for entertainment. While the integration of blockchain and NFTs brings unique opportunities for ownership and tokenization, these elements should serve as enhancers to the overall gaming experience rather than becoming the primary focus.

NFTCulture recognizes Sega’s decision to withhold its major franchises from third-party blockchain gaming projects as a wise move to protect the value and integrity of their beloved IPs. This decision demonstrates a commitment to preserving the quality and enjoyment associated with these iconic games. It serves as a reminder that developers should prioritize delivering exceptional experiences and avoiding actions that may dilute the essence of their games.

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Immerse yourself in the captivating universe of Retro Hunters, an enthralling auto-battler strategy game set in a haunted arcade. Players engage in thrilling 1vs1 battles across five intense rounds, where malevolent forces manipulate the animatronics to wreak havoc, all orchestrated by the sinister JoJo the Clown​.

At the heart of Retro Hunters is a collection of Genesis NFTs, each representing a distinct character with their unique storyline and backstory. These NFTs come to life as playable heroes in the game, each possessing unique abilities and strengths that can sway the battle outcome. The NFTs are evenly divided into two factions – Humans and Animatronics, comprising 50% of the supply each. The side you choose determines your character pool, gameplay strategy, and the alliances you forge​​.

Retro Hunters NFTs are more than just collectibles. They come alive as your heroes during fierce combat. As you confront the twisted animatronics in the haunted arcade, the visual representation of your NFTs takes on new significance, potentially offering even more customization for your heroes in the future​.

All base characters share the same rarity, but their randomized traits add a touch of individuality and exclusivity to each NFT. The character you own as an NFT serves as the hero leading your team in the game, enabling a profound sense of ownership and immersion​​.

MINTING IN: 2 DAYS///

Prepare to test your luck in our SKILL-BASED REVEAL starting DAY ONE. pic.twitter.com/eReA2HjwjM

— Retro Hunters (@RetroHunters) June 26, 2023

Retro Hunters also introduces an innovative on-chain Hero upgrade system that reflects in-game through API integration. By accumulating in-game currency and reaching certain thresholds, players can initiate on-chain upgrades for their NFTs, actively increasing their Metadata level. This pioneering approach fosters a play-to-own mentality, strengthening the connection between NFT ownership and in-game accomplishments. The more you progress, the more desirable your on-chain asset becomes​¹​.

Transcending traditional gaming experiences, Retro Hunters offers opportunities for social activation through mini-games, contests, and community-driven events. Expand your social presence by participating in these events, using your initial NFT collection as a foundation to grow your influence within the Retro Hunters community​¹​.

The game’s captivating playability is further heightened by the seamless interoperability between the NFTs, characters, and the progression of the game itself. This interconnectedness ensures that every strategic decision you make in-game directly impacts the value and utility of your NFTs, creating a symbiotic relationship between asset ownership and gameplay​¹​.

Dive into the darkest corners of the arcade, where the boundaries of illusion and reality blur. The future of the haunted arcade depends on your actions. Confront the sinister powers manipulating the animatronics, decipher the lore, and etch your name in the Retro Hunters’ leaderboard history​.

Retro Hunters Mini-Games

Introducing Retro Brawl, a fast-paced and exhilarating arcade-style fighting experience that brings the vibrant world of Retro Hunters to life. This captivating mini-game serves as a gateway into the expansive Retro Hunters ecosystem, drawing in new players and generating excitement for the flagship game. Retro Brawl is one of two mini-games in the ecosystem and features engaging gameplay. It is available for competition for a limited time of just five days, adding an air of exclusivity to the experience. The development of Retro Brawl has been carefully managed to ensure it does not detract from the progress of Retro Hunters, thereby delivering a high-quality gaming experience across both platforms.

The second mini-game, Don’t Look Back, is the latest exhilarating chapter in the Retro Hunters saga! Prepare to embark on a high-stakes RPG adventure where you’ll aid Raven, a skilled hacker, in evading the malevolent entities that haunt the Arcade’s depths. Distinct from the combative style of Retro Brawl, Don’t Look Back presents a novel and engaging defense-focused RPG experience. Players have two difficulties to choose from: Casual mode, which tests your skills with a challenging five-round cap, and the unrelenting Ape Mode, where endless rounds push your limits as you accumulate tokens for survival.

Both Retro Brawl and Don’t Look Back provide unique experiences that supplement and enhance the main Retro Hunters game, offering players a more diverse and engaging gaming ecosystem to explore.

The post Retro Hunters: NFT Project Overview appeared first on NFT CULTURE.

The world of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) has seen a swift rise in popularity, with the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Yuga Labs being at the forefront of this revolution. These digital assets have not only transformed the art world but also evolved into a new form of social and cultural expression. One recent development that perfectly encapsulates this evolution is ApeFest, a massive event by BAYC and Yuga Labs.

Following the success of the Azuki event in Las Vegas, the anticipation for the announcement of ApeFest is palpable. The community has been eagerly awaiting this event, especially given the recent decline in the value of the collection to near 30 ETH from all-time highs. An exciting announcement would certainly serve to reinvigorate interest and draw back the attention of the community.

ApeFest 2023 TL;DR:

• The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Yuga Labs are expected an imminent announcement of  announce ApeFest 2023.
• The move from NFT NYC to Miami is predicted to be beneficial, giving BAYC and Yuga Labs the opportunity to stand out.
• ApeFest is anticipated to evolve from a three-evening concert to a multi-day convention, incorporating games like Legends of Mara and Dookie Dash, akin to BlizzCon.
• A rumored Miami-based Social house akin to Soho House may serve as a hub for BAYC and Yuga Labs enthusiasts.
• Speculated dates for ApeFest 2023 are October 25th-30th or November 30th to December 3rd, aligning with Halloween or serving as a lead-up to Art Basel.

The Move to Miami

Interestingly, the decision to move the event to Miami and decouple from NFT NYC seems to be a strategic move. This relocation will give Yuga Labs and BAYC the separation they need to really shine, allowing them to step out of the shadows and create a unique identity for themselves.

The choice of Miami as the new venue is an intriguing one. Known for its vibrant art scene and dynamic nightlife, the city offers the perfect backdrop for a groundbreaking event like ApeFest. Moreover, the city’s burgeoning tech scene and reputation as a hub for cryptocurrency and blockchain technology make it an ideal choice.

ApeFest: From Concerts to Convention

Looking ahead, ApeFest is expected to evolve significantly over the next few years. What began as a three-evening concert event is anticipated to transform into a full-fledged convention. The plan is for ApeFest to incorporate ApeCon concepts, extending over three to four days of all-day content, booths, and, of course, amazing parties in the evening.

This evolution is set to take ApeFest beyond just BAYC and MAYC. With the integration of games like Legends of Mara and Dookie Dash, the scope of the festival is set to expand dramatically. Inspired by the annual gaming event BlizzCon, the leadership at Activision is expected to pivot towards creating a similar event for the BAYC community.

So(Ho)cial House in Miami

Another exciting development for BAYC and Yuga Labs is the rumored opening of a Miami-based Social House. For those not familiar, SoHo House is a private members’ club and hospitality group that originated in London. It provides a unique blend of services, combining elements of a social club, hotel, restaurant, and workspace. Over the years, it has expanded its presence to cities around the world, fostering a community of like-minded individuals from the arts, media, and entertainment industries.

The idea of a Social House in Miami aligns perfectly with the ethos of BAYC and Yuga Labs. Such a space would provide a central hub for fans and holders to connect, collaborate, and innovate, further cementing the sense of community within the BAYC ecosystem.

The Otherside SDK and Epic Games

Looking ahead, BAYC and Yuga Labs are expected to strengthen their alliance with Epic Games. The Otherside SDK, based on Unreal Engine 5, is anticipated to transform the Otherside into a sandbox reminiscent of Minecraft and Roblox. This will allow creators to offer mini-games and provide opportunities for $APE sinks.

ApeFest 2023: The Anticipated Dates

With the year already more than halfway over, it’s time to start looking towards ApeFest 2023. Given the need for holdersto plan their travel arrangements, we expect ApeFest to most likely occur during two potential periods. The first period could be between October 25th-30th, 2023. This timing would ride the hype of Halloween and leverage the excitement of bringing the Ape Community to South Beach.

The second potential timing would be from November 30th to December 3rd, serving as a lead-up to Art Basel, which begins on December 8th. While there’s a possibility that Art Basel and ApeFest might overlap, the congestion from two significant events happening simultaneously could be overwhelming. However, it could be the final option for this year if other plans don’t pan out.

It’s unlikely that Yuga Labs would delay ApeFest until next year, especially given the negative sentiment they’ve been receiving in recent weeks and months. The announcement of ApeFest, therefore, is not only crucial for Yuga Labs and BAYC but also eagerly awaited by their community of enthusiasts.

Conclusion

The world of NFTs is evolving rapidly, and BAYC and Yuga Labs are leading this transformation. ApeFest, with its move to Miami, the shift from a concert to a convention format, and the incorporation of games and other activities, is a perfect example of this evolution.

Moreover, the rumored opening of a SoHo House in Miami and the strengthening of alliances with companies like Epic Games further solidify BAYC and Yuga Labs’ position in the NFT and gaming world.

As we anticipate the official dates for ApeFest 2023, there is a palpable sense of excitement. This event promises to be a significant milestone for BAYC, Yuga Labs, and the broader NFT community. The future, indeed, looks bright for ApeFest and the evolution of NFT-based events.

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The NFT space is moving fast and there is a lot of confusion for collectors trying to find value.  Sometimes the value is in the artist, sometimes it is purely in the utility. Sometimes, it’s a combination of both.  Over the last few months we have been lucky enough to interview the top business minds like Mark Cuban to the top artists on across NFT platforms like Dot Pigeon, toomuchlag, Sam Madhu, NoCreativeAbode, Tina Eisen, and many more. We are late to the game, but the LaMelo Ball Dynamic NFT project may be the most promising Athlete or Celebrity NFT project to date.

Our recent video caught his attention and we were granted a few moments to ask The NBA Rookie of the Year a few details about this drop and why he decided to lead the way for Super Stars creating utility based NFTs.

Full disclosure: We are incredibly bullish on this project and the way he has designed his community.  In our opinion LaMelo is a way ahead of the curve and we suspect that by the start of next season there will be 20+ NBA players trying to do the same thing, which will make this even more exciting.  The NFT space is still in it’s infancy and by the time the majority of his fans learn about how to collect these very limited NFTs, the only option will be on the secondary market.  Add in exclusive merchandise for these collectors, etc. and this will be a very sought after NFT.

You can pick up your LaMelo NFT here 

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HEN is currently down. You can still buy Tezos NFTs on a new website inspired by the original HEN here or you can go to objkt.com.

What is the hic et nunc (HEN) NFT Marketplace?

This post is the HEN overview and buyers guide.  We will publish a HEN Creators Guide in the near Future.

Possibly the greatest and most fun surprise over the last 90 days of NFT growth is the Tezos based NFT platform hic et nunc (Commonly referred to on Social media and disord platforms as HEN NFT platform).

hic et nunc is latin for for “Here and now” and is described as the imperiative motto for satisfaction of desire: “I need it, Here and Now.”

One of the things that makes HEN so exciting is that it’s an incredibly accessible marketplace for many NFT collectors.  Much of the art is priced at very affordable prices with consistent gas fees. Additionally, it’s very easy for anyone familiar with blockchain technologies and wallets to mint their art. Over the last 90 days, Tezos or XTZ has fluctuated between $2.40 and $7.20 USD. while that variance seems like a lot, the fact that it’s cheap to mint (between $.09 and $.15) and to use the network means that collectors are more comfortable spending crypto currency on the platform.

HEN Giveaways

Additionally, many artists are minting anywhere from 100 to 500 edition drops on HEN at .01 or even completely free (Besides Gas Fees) allowing collectors to purchase many NFTs to fill their collections vs the much more expensive ETH based alternatives.  What is interesting about HEN is that many collectors are picking up art that looks cool, is inexpensive and would show well on a myriad of NFT displays.  The initial prices have drawn many collectors who just want to find cool diamonds in the rough, but the lately many successful artists across other mediums including Makersplace and more have started putting their art on HEN and finding many collectors for their art.

Is HEN a Gimmick or does it have staying power?

Originally, we were having fun with HEN because it allowed us to feel like 888. We started buying up art left and right because it was so cheap and accessible, but what we found is that the community aspect was incredibly compelling.  Buying on HEN felt like the old days of crypto art.  It lacks, polish but within the raw UX it feels inherently artistic.  It feels yeezy-esque in that if Kanye West were to have made an NFT marketplace, it would have likely looked and felt like HEN.

Is it a Feature or a Bug?

To double click down into the HEN NFT marketplace.  Art takes centerstage. Instead of finding the artist you like and then picking art within their collections, the pieces come to the forefront. To explore HEN is to explore the art.  We love that this removes the curated experience of other marketplaces (and what initially drew so many collectors to NFT platforms like OpenSea and more.)  With HEN the art is what matters, the creator comes second.

That being said, how long will the lack of features and the focus on art stay a primary feature and can the lack of elegant interface and user experience stay endearing?  Will the lack of functionality become a headache for collectors as the marketplace continues to mature.  There are already a number of projects that are trying to organize the HEN NFT marketplace into a more digestible interfaces.  Our favorite right now is objkts.xyz that shows free NFTs as well as recently sold items for collectors to find.

Counterfeit NFTs

One challenge runs rampant on less regulated NFT marketplaces is counterfeit NFTs.  On ETH based marketplaces its usually easier for artists to identify an artist they like and find out if their art is authentic, a counterfeit, or a derivative of original NFT art from the creator.  In the case of HEN, it’s more complex.  Since most art is incredibly inexpensive, it probably doesnt matter for collectors.  If you are buying art on the platform for real money, it is important to go back to the artists profile on twitter or social media and check their HEN link. From there you can compare the issuer ID (also their wallet address) to confirm that the HEN NFT they’ve published is from the same issuer and therefore authentic.

Buying NFTs on HEN

The first thing you need to buy NFT art on HEN is Tezos.  Right now, Tezos is the #34 Ranked Altcoin on most marketplaces.  It’s growing and becoming popular due to its accessibility, relative impact on the environment, and accessibility via HEN and other growing marketplaces.  We will watch this currency closely to see how it grows over time and see if it can break through into the top 20 or 25.

For this example, first you need to buy Tezos (available on Coinbase).  If you are familiar with ETH based wallets, Tezos follows a very similar pattern.  Instead of using Metamask, you can down a browser based wallet called Temple. Temple is a Cryptocurrency wallet for Tezos blockchain and essentially mimicks the functionally you’d find in a metamask wallet.  You will have to create a seedphrase (for wallet recovery) and a password.  From there you will initiate a transfer from your coinbase (or other marketplace) to your wallet.

Once you’ve transferred funds into your account, all you need to do is connect your wallet to the HEN marketplace and you’re ready to start collecting!

1. visit hicetnunc.xyz on the tip right of the website you’ll see an option to connect your wallet
2. a Confirmation Connection will pop up for you. Press Connect
3. Start browsing for art. Within HEN they are described as OBJKTs
4. Click on an objkt you want to collect
5. On the right hand side you’ll see “collect for XX tez)
6. Click that link to pop up Temple tezos wallet
7. Select if you want to increase your gas or storage price (to increase likelihood of successful transaction and usually $.01 more expensive)
8. Click confirm
9. Wait for Objkt to appear

You can then decide if you want to put the art up for sale or collect forever.

HEN final thoughts

We hope this HEN overview was useful.  We’re having a ton of fun collecting various artists.  What do you think we’d love to learn more from the awesome community!

The post hic et nunc (HEN) NFT Buyers Guide appeared first on NFT CULTURE.

Mark Cuban is a technologist, entrepreneur, and futurist well known for focusing on cutting edge technologies and their impact on society as a whole. From the early days of the PC, to the commoditization of the internet, and now the newest revolution of web 3.0 — the decentralization of the internet — Mark has always had his finger on the pulse of technology.

Enter the newest era of smart contract technologies: Tokenization, DeFi and NFTs. Though Mark has compared this period with the internet boom of the 1990’s, we think our interview reveals a strong sense of optimism and opportunity. Mark’s actions support this revelation: in addition to investing in blockchain-based tech last year, he has significantly ramped up his investment and communication around these new technologies during the first quarter of 2021.

NFT Culture staff have been long time fans of his technology efforts as well as their impact to the Dallas Fort-Worth Metroplex community, so we reached out to Mark to discuss some of the incredibly fast moving topics that have been making waves in the blockchain world. Mark graciously agreed to do a Q&A for our readers.

The Rise of NFTs

Malachi: The excitement around NFTs feels parabolic, but many are describing this as the early days. In fact, (paraphrasing) you have compared NFTs to the early days of the internet becoming accessible in most homes (early to mid-90s).

Can you explain what in particular excites you about NFTs as a massive paradigm shift? 

Mark: The ability to monetize any and all intellectual property.  The excitement right now is for art and collectibles, but I think it will extend to so much more across the business universe.  Smart contracts have unlimited possibilities in the future.

The Early Majority and Late Majority still don’t get “NFTs”

Malachi: Hoping not to sound off-color, many digital natives want to scream “OK boomer” at much of the media as they mock the recent phenomena around NFT culture in general. The common examples we tend to use to translate how NFTs work revolves around buying digital skins in FTP video games, micro-transactions in mobile games, etc. Once skeptics understand that, it becomes easier to compare the non-fungible and tradeable aspect of traditional trading cards to NFTs.

In your opinion are there easier and more succinct examples to explain NFTs to non-believers and / or do you believe that a percentage of people just won’t get it?

Mark: Yes.  They are just digital collectibles.  People collected MP3s, they just never had the ability to resell them and creators never had a chance to earn royalties.  I think some people just look for reasons to say no.  Others realize that digital collectibles, no matter the category, are a much more efficient marketplace than any physical collectibles marketplace.

Mike: In our opinion, the generational acceptance of NFTs may have a larger impact than any individual cultural collectable in history. The fact that every generation from now on will exist in and collect digital first goods implies profound value for early-adopters.

Are there any red flags or warning signs these collectors should worry about or be cognizant of?

Mark: Yes.  In any new market of unique assets, the valuations are dependent on supply and demand.  The supply often overwhelms the demand and pushes down pricing in the short term.  But in the long term the most valuable collectibles always increase in value and can be a great store of value.

The rise of Beeple

Mike: Beeple and Christie’s. It speaks for itself… Beeple’s Christie’s auction ranks 3rd in history by a living artist. (Full disclosure: NFT Culture co-founder owns Politics is B*llshit #1)

Do you have any thoughts you’d be willing to share about the excitement? How long do you think it will be before someone beats him?

Mark: There is a very important difference between individual or group collectors who buy to own vs what we are seeing at the highest end of buyers, who buy for funds.  It will be interesting to see how both elements evolve.

 

NFTs going Mainstream

Malachi: NFTs “work” with digital assets even though most of the time, the token and the artwork aren’t directly linked other than by virtue of marketplaces saying they are linked, there is an element of trust in the system. The primary argument against NFTs functioning for tangible assets or real property is that a direct link doesn’t exist, but that isn’t actually a difference, in our opinion.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you foresee real world adoption occurring, or if NFTs will remain confined to digital assets? 

Mark: I’m not a fan of connecting physical assets to NFTs.  There are exceptions, but I think that negatively impacts the efficiency of the market.  The physical asset always has to be qualified for condition and other issues depending on what it is.  Plus first sale, there are always questions about what has happened to the asset between the current and last sale.  With digital-only those issues don’t exist.  The only real issue is ownership as it relates to the rights.

 

Mintable and NFT Marketplaces

Mike: Mintable: First, congratulations on your investment in Mintable. There has been some confusion around your total role and investment in Mintable. It is described on twitter that they are now one of your companies. They have also described additional seed round details that will become available at a later date. There have also been recent announcements of funds investing in other marketplaces including rarible.

Can you describe what excited you about Mintable enough to invest?

Mark: Mintable is the best on-ramp for people wanting to learn how to create and sell NFTs.  With Mintable.app it’s super easy for anyone to go on, mint an NFT that is hosted on their store and not pay any gas fees until it’s sold.  This free approach to minting is the best way available to start in the NFT space.

 

Malachi: Continuing on the marketplace conundrum—  Are there currently too many marketplaces? There is already quite a bit of confusion around where to publish art, where to buy, which wallets to use and how to connect them. The market seems to be self-tiering and even NFTCulture is guilty of trying to tier marketplaces based on candidly arbitrary data and a little bit of hype.

Can you provide insight or thoughts around the number of marketplaces that exist? Do you believe this is good or bad? Will there be massive consolidation, expansion, and how does Mintable differentiate to find their own space vs. NiftyGateway (heavily curated but presents its own challenges) or Foundation (Crowd-sourced invites) and OpenSea / Rarible (anyone can publish)?

Mark: It’s way too early to pick any winners or come to conclusions about the benefits or problems of each.  Everything changes every day.  I would say the two challenges are fees for Ethereum-based markets and for trying to bridge between chains as some NFTs are minted on other chains.  As well as mixing and matching NFTs across chains in wallets and personal galleries like Lazy.com.

NFTCulture has documented the ease of use collectors have with lazy.com, you can learn more about Lazy.com here

Publishers protecting their Intellectual Property

Mike: DC Comics (subsidiary of Warner Bros.) recently notified their freelance artists against publishing NFTs depicting their IP. This creates a lot of confusion as many of these artists have been allowed to publish small prints of their art and sell them at events like comic-con etc. We understand both sides, but it gets murky quickly. We see scenarios in which IP and Copyright holders will hold the marketplace accountable in similar ways the DMCA has been used with YouTube and other websites.

How do you see this being resolved? We see entities like Nintendo (who have been notoriously litigious with their IP) coming hard into this space. How does this affect the market, the collector, and the artist?

Mark: The same things happened in the early days of the net, and as mobile phones and social media became ubiquitous.  Rights holders are going to want to protect the IP they own.  I don’t see a problem with that at all.  There will be some challenges early as people learn the rules and hopefully the rights holders will be forgiving rather than litigious, but over time, there will be “burn notices” where people not respecting copyright will be forced to burn items that they should have not been allowed to buy.  It will upset buyers to no end, but it will end up happening.

NBA Topshot

Malachi: NBA Top Shot is arguably the hottest thing in the NFT space right now. They’re first to market in-terms of a massively collectable NFT enterprise and there is incredible excitement from the fans, players, and league. There have also been scale issues and blunders with Dapper and $FLOW. This is a common growing frustration with many of the blockchain technologies that suggest network demand cripples the ability for items like Top Shot to fulfill demand which results in frustration and a marginalized product.

Can you provide any insight into the issues around the cancelled and delayed releases or anything else related to NBA TopShot from a technology perspective? 

Mark: I have no idea, but it’s annoying to all of us.

Ethereum and NFT Gas Fees

Mike: This July, Ethereum will attempt to take a step to eliminate much of the hesitation created by soaring gas fees.  Additionally, the mythical Ethereum 2.0 platform is on the horizon.

Assuming it comes to fruition, what impact will that have on the NFT space as a whole?

Mark: I think once Eth2.0 hits and layer 2 solutions are updated to grow with it, Eth will have a far better chance than people are giving it today.  There is this incredible race between Eth2, layer 2 on Eth1, layer 2 on Eth1 with organic compatibility with Eth2, and all the competing blockchains that are using the lack of scalability of Eth1 as a selling point.

It’s going to be interesting to see who is left standing in the long run and how they differentiate and how bridges are implemented.  Right now it looks like standstill bridges will work, but it’s going to get more and more competitive for all the facets of the ecosystem.

Corporate Investment in Cryptocurrency and Beyond

Mike: Tesla recently announced via SEC filing that it invested $1.5 Billion USD in Bitcoin, and plans to start accepting it as a payment method. Separately, speculation and musings on the fringes of the crypto community have revolved around the viability of cryptocurrency as a payment mechanism and store of value for a future interplanetary economy.

Do you have a gut feel on whether the ability for crypto technology, such as shard chains, to transcend a single planetary economy, is likely to be a growth driver for crypto in the long term (say 10-25 years in the future)?

Mark: Let’s see how bits are transmitted between mars, the moon, earth and underwater at speeds that enable transactions first.  Then we can speculate on the rest.  But, Mars does need people!

Final Thoughts

After our Q&A it was announced that Mark and the former SVP of New Media for teh NBA combined forces to create the first social network for NFTs. You can read about that drop here: niftys.com. 

We want to extend a massive thank you to Mark Cuban for taking the time to do our Q&A and provide the NFT Culture community with such thoughtful insights. We look forward to watching Mark’s continued stewardship of much of the NFT space in the future. 

You can follow Mark Cuban on twitter.

Add your NFTs across various wallets to one display platform Lazy.com.

Mint your own NFTs on Mintable.

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