When Mocaverse debuted in March 2023, it was a game-changer. Now, Web3 titan Animoca Brands has raised $20 million to expand the brand and interlink its massive 450+ portfolio projects into its own metaverse.
- Animoca Brands raises $20 million for Mocaverse and makes the metaverse cool again
- Polygon NFTs removed from Binance, traders will have to find other marketplaces
- Justin Bieber, Rihanna & The Weeknd moving silent rise of Music NFTs
Animoca Brands raises $20 million for Mocaverse and makes the metaverse cool again
Web3 giant Animoca Brands announced today that it has raised over $20 million for its Mocaverse project. First minted in March 2023, the PFP collection is part of the Mocaverse ecosystem that, according to Animoca’s press release, works as a membership for its family of projects, investments, and partners in NFTs, virtual worlds, and gaming.
Trading volume for the Mocaverse collection increased by 200% and the number of sales rose by 131% in the past 7 days. At the time of writing, the average price for one of these NFTs was 0.73 ETH (around $1,160).
The collection’s floor price rose slightly, but the PFP collection won’t be the only NFT project in the Mocaverse ecosystem for much longer. Animoca Brands announced that soon, Mocaverse will launch a non-transferable NFT collection called Moca ID.
This way, Mocaverse ecosystem participants will be able to craft their on-chain identities in order to access the experiences within the metaverse and collaborate in its own DAO.
“The ongoing evolution of the internet involves a shift from hierarchical power structures to autonomous ones, and the DAO-based approach of Mocaverse ensures that its community will be focused on driving innovation and collaboration across the broader Animoca Brands ecosystem.“
Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands
While this successful fundraising reflects the company’s innovative metaverse plans, there’s still much to be clarified about how exactly Animoca Brands will integrate so many projects into one single ecosystem.
Metaverse projects saw a steep decline in interest in 2023, as shown by DappRadar’s Q2 Industry Report.
Around the same time as the March decline, Disney reportedly laid off its entire metaverse division – showing that the industry sentiment isn’t unilateral when it comes to the future of this area. ()
However, Animoca Brands has time and time again proven to be a force to be reckoned with when it comes to growing Web3 communities. Mocaverse NFTs were already well established before the fundraiser and the metaverse promise is still highly anticipated.
Other NFT gaming metaverse worlds backed by Animoca Brands include:
- The Sandbox
- Life Beyond
- Phantom Galaxies
Polygon NFTs removed from Binance, traders will have to find other marketplaces
Speaking of metaverse worlds facing the news that might impact their NFT sales, The Sandbox is losing its staking program with leading centralized crypto and NFT marketplace Binance.
Binance decided to drop support for all Polygon-based NFTs on its exchange, and that includes discontinuing The Sandbox NFT Staking Program. While it will only take place on 26 September 2023, traders are recommended to seek alternatives as soon as possible.
Once again, decentralized marketplaces such as OpenSea and Rarible interest Polygon NFT traders.
Justin Bieber, Rihanna & The Weeknd moving silent rise of Music NFTs
Aside from PFPs and jpegs, a silent NFT wave is taking place in the music industry. This week, Justin Bieber’s hit song “Company” was announced to be turning into 2,000 Ethereum NFTs. Each collectible represents a 0.0005% ownership of the music streaming rights.
The initiative, led by Bieber’s co-producer Andreas Schuller, allows fans to connect with the singer’s music through the blockchain. It was enabled by the blockchain-based music rights platform AnotherBlock – which had already done similar NFT drops from names such The Weeknd and David Guetta.
Rihanna’s hit Bitch Better Have My Money was also offered as NFTs with royalty sharing through the same platform back in February and raised $290,130 so far.
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The NFT space is ever-evolving and continues to evolve in its various forms despite mass adoption. You never know when a trend will pop up, when a celebrity will decide to drop a new collection, or when $20 million will be injected into an NFT metaverse project. But you can certainly keep track of it in the DappRadar NFT Rankings.
Useful links
- Discover Top NFT Sales
- Top 10 Animoca Brands Games
- All About Music NFTs: How It Works & Pioneering Artists
