X2Y2 Space: What NFT opportunities are still available in the bear market?

Author: X2Y2

Host (X2Y2): @alex_pengfei

Guests:

coffee - Metaverse Explorer - @coffeer13

Seven - Web3 Advisor for RNG Esports Club - @S7venslow

LΞO - Web3 Designer - @leonftdefi

Alex: Thank you all very much. Today our topic is to discuss some good NFT projects during the bear market. The 10KTF project has performed quite well, has a good amount of attention, and is in collaboration with the official BAYC, so I invited the guests to discuss and learn from each other. Let's welcome our guests.

Seven: I was previously a director at an asset management institution, and now I have come out to start my own business as an advisor for RNG Web3.

Alex: Seven's RNG project is currently running activities, so everyone can pay attention to it.

Coffee: Hello everyone, I am Coffee, a freelancer. I officially entered the Web3 space at the beginning of this year. I started as an early supporter at X2Y2, doing volunteer work, and I am still doing it now. I am also a Mod for 137 Club, mainly helping newcomers in the community with guidance, providing entry services for Web3. I focus on the Sandbox metaverse project, playing its games, doing some modeling in the game, participating in competitions, and conducting evaluations. Playing games can also earn some SAN tokens.

LEO: Hello everyone, I am LEO. I work in a blockchain company in China and have been in the space for many years, roughly since 2014. I have played with tokens, DeFi, and started with NFTs last year. The first NFT I played with was TopShot. I got involved with KTF around September 20 last year, participated in the Free Mint, and I am very happy to join this Space today. I was also an early Mod for X2Y2.

Alex: Thank you very much, LEO, for being our supporter. Let's get straight to the point. Today's main topic is 10KTF. The first question is directed to LEO, as I learned about this project through you. Now that we see the second phase, could you briefly introduce the background when you got involved with this project or the specifics of the second phase? What attracted you to it, and why do you think it can attract attention during a bear market?

LEO: I got involved with 10KTF for two reasons: on one hand, I opened a Twitter account and posted my first storyline, and surprisingly, Beeple commented on it. As everyone knows, Beeple was the one who exploded the NFT market last year with a $69 million auction. Their conversation on Twitter was quite interesting.

Before, I was more focused on NFTs from a PFP logic perspective, but the old man from 10KTF was interacting with Beeple on Twitter, and people were trying to rescue him. At that moment, I found the project particularly interesting, so I followed it and participated in their first Free Mint. Although it was called Free Mint, it actually cost 0.05 ETH. At that time, there seemed to be only backpacks and shoes, and I used my OmniForce Mint. The first batch included OmniForce, WW, CoolCat, and a few others I can't quite remember.

On one hand, it was because of Beeple, and on the other hand, the first batch's parent was OmniForce, which led me to 10KTF. As I gradually got involved, I followed the entire NFT bull market and then the recent cooling off. I found that 10KTF is a very stable project. I didn't feel like it had huge ups and downs; I just followed my own storyline step by step. Later, there was a surge, and as everyone knows, it was backed by Beeple's Labs, and they also airdropped equipment items like Graph. At that time, I was airdropped a pair of scissors, which was priced at four ETH and peaked at eight ETH.

Alex: Yes, I entered at eight ETH; what a big head, haha.

LEO: I found it quite amazing. This project is one of those that flows steadily but can suddenly explode. The floor price is currently around 0.5 to 0.6 ETH, while it was previously reported to be over one ETH. That's how I got involved with 10KTF. Recently, there has been an airdrop box and equipment box, and some of the storylines we released earlier actually hinted at this. Because (08:30) we have been interacting, the shop was burned at first, and later a car was attacked by a giant toad monster. So we were wondering if weapons would be released this time. As it turns out, this time they introduced not only guns and long swords but also helmets, bulletproof vests, and military boots, which should be included in this airdrop box.

Today I checked the data, and now the 0.5 ETH Mint has ended. The circulating supply on OpenSea is about 11,200, which is about 10,000 less than the previous level one. So I think that on one hand, the reduced quantity will increase the sense of value recognition, and on the other hand, although there are over 10,000, you might think that some of them were absorbed by the official, but basically, there are still several thousand ETH in revenue.

Even during the NFT winter, having such a large income shows the appeal of 10KTF or the recognition people have for it. Currently, there are only one or two hundred listings in the market, which is very few. Personally, I am still very optimistic about it, because behind it is WeNewLabs. I don't know if everyone is aware, but the founder is Beeple, and the other co-founder is (10:30) a very important partner of YogaLabs. Previously, in a BP document from YogaLabs, they were listed among the core eight people.

After seeing that BP, I firmly believe that the future reality of 10KTF will overlap with BAYC. As expected, in the previous storylines, there were intentionally released clues, such as when the shop was destroyed and rebuilt, a demon potion appeared in the 10KTF shop, and the subsequent interaction with OneMood was actually related to BAYC. Plus, this time they directly used Ape Coin for Mint, and they launched a fund called 10K Frame, which is equivalent to mutual empowerment between 10KTF and Ape. So I think the correlation between them will become stronger and stronger.

In addition, there is one more point: there are currently many PFP projects, but there may be only one project like KTF that focuses on equipment. If Artifact might make some trendy shoes, 10KTF is about making this kind of equipment. The upcoming airdrop box will release combat equipment, and the future imagination space, if integrated into the metaverse, is actually very interesting.

Alex: I think LEO shared very detailed insights. Taking this topic, I want to ask Seven if you have been following 10KTF? Since you are from the project side, I also want to ask how you view the current market sentiment? The 10KTF project actually launched its second wave during the bear market, and from the data, it looks good. Including the recent projects with names starting with something, they have been quite popular. These projects have led a wave of counter-trend growth during the bear market. As a project side, do you think these projects can bring back the NFT trend and create an upward momentum?

Seven: Since I come from an institutional background, I am now helping RNG incubate this project. Compared to LEO, I haven't followed it as deeply, but my personal understanding is that first, the announcement of cooperation with YogaLabs makes me feel that YogaLabs' acceptance of KTF for collaboration is mainly due to the team's capability and the payment method being ApeCoin, which is somewhat beneficial for the ecosystem. Regarding leading trends, I personally think it is still hard to say, because currently KTF relies heavily on the brand influence of YogaLabs, and most of the focus may still be on this brand's impact.

If we look at the future progress of this project, I think we need to pay attention to the Builders' situation. This time, choosing NFT Coin for Mint and airdrop feels like a way to align with the APP ecosystem, equivalent to standing in the APP team. We all know that the main competition among major supply chains is to compete for ecosystem builders, which are developers and project teams. I previously learned about Gucci and LV's acceptance of Ape Coin payments, but I don't know if the news released now is true or false, so it may need confirmation. They also opened a channel between Web3 and the real world, allowing the APP to become a practical token for offline consumption.

I believe YogaLabs will leverage the brand value of building the monkey ecosystem more effectively, and they may want to use their ecosystem to attract more Web3 builders and Web2 brands. This is something that many ecosystem tokens or platforms do not possess.

Alex: It seems that the perspective from the brand token side and the ecosystem itself is quite different. Coffee, actually, 10KTF has another unique point, which is using Ape Coin for Mint, and they airdropped some Ape Coin to the first phase participants. Does this mean that YogaLabs is actually extending its reach to exchanges, not just limited to its own game, but trying to empower its influence to other NFT projects, or even strong enough to have exchanges specifically open an Ape Coin payment method for them?

Coffee: Actually, my general view is quite similar to Seven's, because I have been deeply rooted in the Sandbox ecosystem for a long time, and their gameplay also has a similar feeling. Alex, is your question about exchanges?

Alex: Yes, about exchanges or other projects, do you think they are more willing to form an ecosystem? Do you think other projects have the potential to form one? We all know that Memeland also wants to issue a token. Do you think that projects that draw circles around ecosystems can achieve widespread use? Can they force exchanges to adopt their tokens as a payment method, allowing users to purchase NFTs or even other NFTs with Ape Coin?

Coffee: Yes, I think this should be a trend now. The ecosystem map of YogaLabs is essentially a game of monkey coins because I have been paying attention to their territory, mainly focusing on games. In the future, they will gradually empower these NFTs, which should directly relate to the Ape Coin token. As for how it will develop, it will definitely be related to the overall market's bull and bear trends. The ecosystem is similar to Sandbox and DCL tokens, and they should follow a similar path. But overall, my feeling is that the Ape ecosystem feels very cool, including the visual experience of the games and various aspects that give people high expectations. The previous tests were also particularly good.

The quality of the Token NFT map is also particularly good. It is essentially different styles of ecosystems. In the future, 10KTF and possibly other ecosystems that may emerge will gradually converge on Ape, forming a trend similar to that of exchanges.

Alex: By the way, I want to ask Coffee, because for exchanges, this is actually a neutral piece of news. Exchanges like X2Y2 have their own tokens, but they cannot force users to use their tokens as a settlement tool. However, project parties like Ape Coin are essentially using their influence to promote this currency forcibly and have painted a big picture that this coin will definitely be the token for future games, so it should be used.

Do you think that this kind of painting a big picture will give YogaLabs enough appeal in this world? Because I know you also play NFTs, will this appeal gradually weaken during the bear market? At the beginning of the airdrop, everyone rushed in, and many people thought Ape Coin would definitely be great, but now it is a bear market, and it feels like the price of Ape Coin has been dropping continuously, and it also follows ETH. What do you think about the decline in YogaLabs' influence?

Coffee: Yes, the price of Ape Coin will be affected by the overall market sentiment. YogaLabs did particularly well in marketing at the beginning, and Sandbox also performed well, but they were somewhat lucky because they coincided with a very bullish market. Ape's team is strong, and even when the market was about to decline, it still showed a remarkable counter-trend growth. The rise and fall of token prices will increasingly fade from human attention.

I have many friends in the 137 Club community who play Sandbox. As they play more, they may not care much about the price of the Sandbox token but focus more on how the entire ecosystem is constructed, including the value exchange between communities using the Sand token. This means how the entire ecosystem is built. Ape Coin is not just about 10KTF; I have also followed many games that use Ape Coin for payments and Mint, and playing their games can also earn Ape Coin. In fact, there are already many ecosystems, big and small, branching out.

Waiting is indeed a long process, and with the rise and fall of the market, people's focus should also be more on token prices, which directly reflects people's perception of YogaLabs' influence, appeal, and even marketing power, including the ability to drive prices. Everyone has their own judgment and understanding. When games truly become popular and everyone starts paying attention to games, unless the market crashes sharply, people will be particularly anxious. Otherwise, if it is a smooth range, people will pay more attention to how the games and ecosystems are built.

Alex: Understood, so it is still related to the construction of the ecosystem and its appeal. I want to ask LEO, do you think this ecosystem construction is useful? Because you have played many NFTs, have you been looking at other projects during the recent bear market? Does 10KTF have such appeal? Or with the power of YogaLabs, is there a possibility of a price surge later? Because the map will be opened tomorrow, I remember the price is not particularly stable, but it still hasn't broken even. Now it seems to have risen above 0.6. Will there be such appeal, or does it have to rely on the power of YogaLabs to paint a big picture for everyone?

LEO: I think the popularity of 100KTF among NFT players was not that high before, and a large part of the reason is that it doesn't have its own PFP. It relies on other projects' PSPs to create related items. For example, it previously collaborated with Gucci to promote a wave of avatars wearing Gucci clothing. We believe that the reason NFTs became popular is mainly due to the concept of avatars having a community identity, but 10KTF actually lacks this aspect. Some NFT players may not have even heard of 10KTF, but instead, there was a surge recently, and many people began to pay attention to this project.

I feel that its influence in the traditional NFT circle is not as great as imagined, and its value is more dependent on the empowerment from the founding team Beeple and BAYC. The future appeal may still rely on the empowerment of the Ape ecosystem and real-world applications, such as truly integrating their equipment into the metaverse, becoming social or combat gear for every BAYC member, increasing exposure in the community. Besides Beeple, there may be more KOLs promoting it. There has even been discussion in the community about whether 10KTF will release its own PFP, but we feel the probability is not that high because its positioning is quite different from other PFP projects.

Earlier, everyone talked about the connection between Ape Coin and the supply chain. When the token was issued, the contract was deliberately not optimized much, leading to the entire Ethereum chain being congested. They specifically tweeted about it, which had a somewhat mocking tone. From that situation, it is clear that Ape Coin has ambitions to issue its own supply chain, whether it is to issue its own Layer 1 or Layer 2 supply chain. They definitely have such ideas. Later, due to the sharp decline in the market, there may have been some slowdown, including a Layer 2 chain specifically aimed at GameFi that extended an olive branch to interact with Ape Coin, but it seems they did not choose to switch to Layer 2.

I will pay close attention to the future direction of Ape Coin, whether it will issue a supply chain or whether it will continue to grow alongside Ethereum after the merge, whether it will still follow Ethereum to develop in the metaverse based on Ethereum's underlying supply chain. From my understanding of supply chains or Layer 2, it is likely that they will either create a Layer 2, like those mainstream Layer 2s that can be applied on those chains, or they will create their own Layer 2 or supply chain, similar to Crypto's Flow. This is a point I will pay close attention to.

If Ape Coin can truly establish its ecosystem and metaverse, because the demonstration effects were actually very good, acquiring this company means they have a relatively mature game plan, so it is essentially about integration. The demonstration effects were quite impressive, so I am really looking forward to the actual effects under the 3D Unreal Engine. If they can get this part going, 10KTF can be considered a child or some kind of role, and 10KTF itself is positioned in the equipment item track, so there are definitely many points of intersection, as they are complementary rather than competitive.

The performance of 10KTF this year has actually improved; last year it may have only released a picture, and the storylines were very scattered. This year, they have released more and more videos, including the previous promotional video of the giant toad destroying the city, which had very high quality. Recently, they have also been frequently releasing videos, and there was also a demo of a game interaction, which may have just been a small demo, but the overall effect is still very good.

Therefore, from my understanding of NFT teams, the background of the team is very strong, including Beeple and BAYC, and their design capabilities are also very strong. Last year, it may have felt more like a model texture, but this year, you can see that the things they produce are getting better and better. The overall substitutability of the track is actually not replaceable by other projects, and the overall planning is also very interesting and original. It is not like other PFP projects that just create a roadmap and enter other metaverses; they have many original ideas. Considering these factors, I am personally very optimistic. This time, I minted seven projects and decided to hold them as much as possible to see the effects after opening the boxes.

Alex: Thank you very much, LEO, for your insights and reflections. The reason why the 10KTF project is worth paying attention to is that, based on the data, it is actually one of the higher-selling and consensus projects during the bear market. It has minted many, but currently, there are only over a hundred listings. The guests have also mentioned the deep binding with BAYC. Currently, in the crypto or NFT circles, there are not many NFTs that still have faith, including many NFTs that have encountered black swan events or various negative news to some extent. Although BAYC has also had some issues, it is particularly stable, with average performance better than many other NFTs. So I think this serves as a kind of endorsement, which is why I believe 10KTF is a project worth paying attention to. Finally, I want to throw out an open-ended question: Seven, besides focusing on 10KTF, which is currently quite popular, what other NFT-related projects or interesting opportunities are you paying attention to during this bear market?

Seven: I personally am looking at projects like Memeland, which has expectations of issuing tokens. I am also looking at Cyber Broker, which has its own narrative rhythm and worldview. In terms of art, I am paying attention to the artist Outland, and for land-related and GameFi metaverse projects, I might focus on (34:50). These are a few projects I am keeping an eye on.

Alex: I see you have quite a variety of interests. Have you bought a little of each project?

Seven: Yes, I may not have bought as much as everyone else, but I believe that I will record some good projects and keep them there because the prices are relatively low during this bear market, and ETH is also low.

Alex: ETH has been rising.

Seven: Because I am quite optimistic about art projects, I attended a course by teacher Fang Lijun recently and talked for almost four hours, which greatly changed my perspective on art projects. I come from an investment background and had little exposure to art, but after talking with teacher Fang for a long time until 2 AM, I changed my views a lot. So I started paying attention to some well-known artists' projects. Previously, I bought many of Damikster's works, and I also bought a lot of Fang Lijun's works. For land-related projects, I have also bought a lot, and the one I bought the most is CT-DAO, as I am also a major holder of CT-DAO, and I am quite optimistic about this project.

Alex: I think CT-DAO is indeed doing well among DAOs and is worth looking into.

Seven: I was also quite frustrated with CT-DAO. I bought about forty of them at first, and at the highest point last November, the price approached four ETH. At that time, I had just entered the NFT space and didn't understand it very well, so I didn't sell, thinking it was quite profitable. Later, when I took a serious look at the project, the price never rose again.

Alex: I think many projects are like that; good projects may not necessarily make money, but in the long run, the chances of losing money on good projects are much lower than on bad projects. Making money is a difficult thing; you might think something is good and it has value, but even a good project can be overvalued, and entering at a high valuation can easily lead to losses. Even a bad project, if entered when undervalued, can still make money. I think making money still requires considering the timing of entry.

Seven: Because I am a gamer, I enjoy playing games and board games, so I have learned a lot about GameFi. I found that many paradigms are actually very Ponzi-like, where players buy NFTs, and then players sell the tokens for profit, which greatly affects other players. For example, if I interact with a player, the interaction between A and B makes the system's non-linearity very low, and players can easily find fixed spending patterns.

For instance, if I think this set of equipment is the best for making money, many people will keep using this configuration to earn money, which doesn't require any game skill. Everyone knows that game design has several major principles, such as Money, Time, Luck, and Skill, but most GameFi projects currently ignore the Skill aspect, making it difficult for players to exert their subjective initiative. GameFi emphasizes continuity in time, and later players can easily come in and take over the previous players' positions, leading to a death spiral.

I believe the next breakthrough point for GameFi should not be large AAA games doing chain modifications. As I mentioned earlier, players find a rigid spending pattern through their own experiences. I think the next wave of hotspots in GameFi may be 100% on-chain games, because this way, there is no Ponzi structure involved. If there are teams developing or working on such projects, it is highly likely that the next bull market in GameFi will have a place for them.

Alex: Your views on GameFi are interesting. I want to add a little, as I also do investments. I talked to a friend whose views are very similar to yours, and I can introduce you to him later or discuss it privately. This perspective is quite interesting, as on-chain games are indeed worth paying attention to, and interactivity is also a trend for the future. This is also why I think 10KTF, which is closely aligned with GameFi, is a more certain opportunity for empowering NFTs. Thank you very much for your sharing, Seven.

Seven: Earlier, when talking about on-chain games, I understand it to be quite similar to board games, but there are still some differences. Whether in the NFT or crypto circles, everyone is very interested in Texas Hold'em, and the enjoyment during the game is about competing for first place. As I am a member of RNG, I communicate a lot with the internal staff, and many psychologists and mathematicians set functions when designing games.

For an average player, for example, if I play League of Legends or Honor of Kings for thirty minutes, I might spend fifty cents or one yuan, and there will be a very precise calculation. Such games tend to have a long lifespan, and rounds of games can last a long time. If everyone continues down the previous path, the lifecycle will be very short. The game cycle itself is not long, and adding the Fi attribute makes the game cycle even shorter. I am quite optimistic about on-chain games.

Alex: Thank you very much for your sharing. Everyone can pay attention to this direction. I wonder if Coffee has noticed any interesting projects or directions?

Coffee: Seven's perspective just now really taught me a lot and changed my views significantly. Now, regarding Alex's question about what projects I might focus on now or in the future.

Alex: Yes, which interesting or good projects and directions are you paying attention to?

Coffee: I have roughly two directions: the NFT space has gone through many formal events, including the previous bull market. Now it feels like the domestic community is becoming increasingly calm, and everyone is approaching it with a more playful mindset. Although they are playing, everyone still wants to make money. There is also a core circle in the domestic community, such as BAYC holders, and there are many people in China; we just haven't learned about or interacted with them. I will pay attention to the domestic projects that these forces gather to create.

Of course, I have certain standards for these. I will definitely participate in Free Mints and will consider how much ETH to spend on Mint. Recently, I learned that there will be a Free Mint for a project called (45:45) next week, which is a trial project created by many BAYC holders in the Chinese community. From this point, I can feel that everyone is genuinely building the domestic community, which feels like a very interesting project and also a public welfare project, where the income will do some charitable work.

Another point I will focus on is related to today's topic, 10KTF. I will pay attention to some ecological NFTs, such as those from YogaLabs and Sandbox. I will keep an eye on projects that are like the first and second sons. Based on my experience, as Alex mentioned, the probability of losing money in these projects is relatively low, and their ecosystems are large. I can clearly see that they will empower their own projects and quickly see benefits, such as earning Ape Coin or Sand tokens, which are still quite normalized. Of course, YogaLabs' roadmap still has a way to go, but this is my belief.

Alex: Indeed, the NFT market is still in its early stages, so there are still many things worth looking forward to and exploring. Finally, I want to ask LEO to pick a few projects you find interesting, as I am afraid we will run out of time.

LEO: I have been out of the circle for a long time recently. A while ago, I was playing Free Mint and just playing with dog-themed NFTs. Back to the point, let me talk about a few projects I might pay attention to currently. The first is a very interesting team, which is the team behind ChooseLabs Goblin. As everyone knows, a super big golden dog called Goblin appeared during Free Mint, and its style is quite ugly. At that time, the floor price couldn't break seven, but everyone was hyping it up.

Through the Goblin project, I learned about the team behind it called ChooseLabs, which was announced to the public last month. In fact, before Goblin, they issued a project called (49:00) with the image of the Illuminati's triangle eye. So when I saw this project, I was particularly interested and researched it. The designer of this project is someone I really like because I am a designer myself and have previously done sand painting. This design style and color scheme have very distinctive features, so I have been following it. They also have their own NFT DAO, not using ERC tokens to create a DAO but using 1105. I feel that the only concern is that they are launching a bit too many projects, which is something I worry about, but I will continue to follow this team and have also bought their NFTs.

Earlier, Seven mentioned NFT art, which is also a point I am very interested in. You talked a lot with teacher Fang Lijun, who is indeed a very powerful artist. Recently, I have also been following NFT related to art, and I am particularly interested in AI art and generative art. A few months ago, I bought a generative art project called MG Genesis, which creates mech avatars through generative art. Recently, I have also been playing with AI creations, including the recently popular Nothing project, which everyone thought was created by Beeple. Recently, Beeple also released a project on his Twitter based on his previous works for AI secondary creation called Beeble. So I will focus on the innovation and development of AI art in the NFT field.

Of course, there isn't a very specific project out yet, except for the previously mentioned MGXS, which I haven't paid much attention to, but I am playing with it. For NFT games, I also agree with Seven's view on on-chain games. A few months ago, there was a project (51:55) that I briefly played with. Those NFTs were all on-chain, as they were pixel-style and directly existed on the chain through code, and the entire interaction was also done on-chain. So I think on-chain games are a very interesting point.

Earlier this year, I participated in an NFT project called Revity issued by AC, which was built on the model of Dungeons and Dragons as an on-chain game model. In the end, the project was half-finished and ran away like a scumbag, but I am still very interested in this track and hope that good projects will emerge so I can participate. The metaverse that everyone talks about, similar to what Ape Coin is doing, is a truly meaningful 3A game-like metaverse chain game. I had been following such a project before, but recently I haven't been playing much, so I haven't been paying much attention.

Earlier, Coffee mentioned that there are many communities in mainland China, including BAYC, and everyone wants to do things in compliance domestically. Recently, I have been working on a domestic digital platform, exploring some ideas for doing NFT tracks in compliance in China. So I haven't been focusing much on NFT-related things lately. Previously, I might have stayed up late every day to look for projects, but now I have become more laid-back and am focusing on the 10KTF project.

Alex: I believe everyone has taken notes, but the guests' sharing is not investment advice. I suggest everyone do their own research. However, I think this is a very good direction. Thank you very much to the three guests for sharing.