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How an SEC Investigation Could Be Good For NFTs
John Meyer & Austin Miller
October 14, 2022
GM! This is The Mint - the NFT newsletter that keeps on giving.
Today's Agenda
An Ongoing SEC Investigation Could be Good for NFTs 🕵
NFT Startup Gives Pro Athletes Another Way to Make $ and Involve Fans 💵
Mattel and Cryptoys Release NFT Collection of Legendary Characters 🚀
Musician Uses Web3/NFTs to Strengthen Album Release 🎶
ABCs of NFTs - N is for NFT ✨
How an SEC Investigation Could Be Good for the NFT Industry
Recently, the SEC announced an investigation into Yuga Labs, the creators of the famous Bored Ape Yacht Club collection.
The Basics →
Essentially, the SEC is conducting initial steps to decide if BAYC and other NFT collections should be treated as securities and disclosed similarly. Back in 1940, the SEC made a landmark decision that made any investments that had the expectation of profit subject to governance. In addition, the SEC is also looking into ApeCoin, a token used by BAYC holders for various activities within the club.
“It’s well-known that policymakers and regulators have sought to learn more about the novel world of web3. We hope to partner with the rest of the industry and regulators to define and shape the burgeoning ecosystem... As a leader in the space, Yuga is committed to fully cooperating with any inquiries along the way.”
Why This Might Actually Be Good →
Usually, investigations are pretty bad, but sometimes they're good! In the case of the SEC and Yuga Labs, this could be a transformative investigation for the industry.
With all the fraud, theft, and lack of regulation in the industry, NFT buyers need all the help they can get. Although Web3 and NFTs pride themselves on being decentralized, it's evident that they need some help from a central agency. Some may not like the capital gains tax that would most likely follow a decision to classify NFTs as securities, but it might be better for the industry in the long run.
Startup Gives Athletes and Fans New Revenue Opportunity
If there was a way to invest in a young athlete and get paid if they perform well, would you be interested?
Fantium, an NFT startup, is promising to do just that.
Once the athlete is accepted into the program, Fantium creates an NFT to be sold to the public. A large percentage of the initial offering goes to the athlete to help them with the upfront costs of being a pro. The NFT is engrained with a feature that gives the NFT owner access to a certain percentage of the athlete's future earnings. The percentage is determined by the athlete.
Fantium will start to democratize athlete financing, allowing fans to invest in athletes and participate in their real-world financial success. Fans can invest in their seasonal earnings, as well as in the career earnings of up-and-coming younger talents. Invested fans are entitled to a share of the athlete's real-world earnings in the form of prize money and sponsorship deals. On top of the financial benefit, fans can unlock emotional value by becoming part of the athlete's close community with access to unique fan perks - connecting them with the athlete in a whole new way. [via Fantium]
Austin here. As a professional runner, this technology is really intriguing. Being a professional athlete in an individual sport like track and field is incredibly costly, and there isn't much money in the sport unless you are an Olympic-medalist-type athlete. Sometimes it's hard to get access to everything I need to be successful. Fantium would give me a much-needed immediate income stream to help pay for costs like travel, meet entry, and more. Sharing my race winnings with holders of my NFT would be a price that I would be willing to pay for that support.
The Mint loves this idea and hopes that it hits the mainstream. If it does, Austin might actually apply.
He-Man Meets NFT
Let's think about some of the best collabs ever - peanut butter and jelly, surf and turf, Simon and Garfunkel - and now the one you weren't expecting but if you're over 40-year-old you can't wait for - He-Man and NFTs!
He-Man's realm, The Masters of the Universe, is celebrating its 40th anniversary by announcing the launch of an official digital toy collection. Mattel (owners of the MOTU franchise) are partnering with Cryptoys to drop 10,000 characters with unique skins and seven different rarity levels. The partnership is a great use of nostalgia meets new blockchain technology.
Is He-Man the next big NFT? He-NO! But Gen-Xers who owned the 5-inch toy can now own the 500-pixel version on their phone. Smart brand play by Mattel.
Kid Cudi's New Album To Use NFT Tech
Last week, Kid Cudi released his 8th studio album Entergalactic, which works in tandem with a Netflix series bearing the same name. The project is an immersive, first-of-its-kind project for Kid Cudi.
In addition to the Netflix series, Kid Cudi is also working with Secret Garden to create NFTs for each song. The NFTs act as visualizers for the songs and are generated completely by AI. The NFTs will include sound bytes for the buyers to create completely unique songs of their own. If you want to see what we mean, go here and play with the free one on their site (click the circles in the graphic for different sounds).
“We would love to do it as a proof of concept for other artists, and maybe either continue this story or do it for other artists. We think that it's a really interesting way to sort of introduce music along with the story and to bring the magic of animation together. Animation, especially when you put music... it lasts forever."
It's cool to see artists as well-known as Kid Cudi experiment with NFTs to get fans more involved in their projects. Hopefully, more of this is on the horizon.
ABCs of NFTs
N is for NFT
Well, gang, it's time for us to discuss NFTs, the lifeblood of this newsletter.
What is an NFT? At this point, we hope you know, but if not, let John give you a brief rundown in this Instagram video.
Today we see NFTs most often as jpegs, mp3s, and mp4s, but tomorrow they could be tickets, keys, deeds, games, licenses, or contracts. The future is unknown but the possibilities are literally endless. If you'd like to learn more about this topic, check out this article.
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That concludes this week's version of The Mint! Thanks for reading, and make sure to share your freshly-minted knowledge with your friends and coworkers.