1 real sign of the NFT bull market is on: Wale, the NFT collector
2 days ago Benito Santiago
NFT influencer and content creator Wale, aka Wale Swoosh or Wale Moka as he's known to many, started in 2018 with an insatiable curiosity about NFTs. Threads jump into NFTs, especially on the PFP and collectible side of the market.
Weil is a researcher and resident researcher for the famous NFT project Azuki, who proudly describes his collection as PFP. Recently, he was appointed as Mokaverse Consultant by Animoka Brands.
Wale remembers making his first NFT and flipping it for a few hundred dollars in early 2021 and being “immediately hooked.”
“Before I joined the NFT space, I bought some Bitcoin and ETH, but that was more about buying and you forget about it. I didn't really check the price every day. I generally didn't pay much attention to what was going on in crypto,” says Wale.
“Then I saw this NFT thing pop up. None of my IRL friends or family liked it, but I started paying attention. I just got my ETH and thought I'd give it a try, das setting up new NFTs and buying secondary. I flipped some early NFTs for a couple hundred bucks. It was crazy money to me at the time and they were flipped the same day or in less time.
At the time, Wale was studying at a German university and had not yet graduated. He was hesitant to jump into Web3 full-time because he had an existing job at a German car manufacturer, despite making a profit on the NFT business.
“I had this decision, there was this new NFT thing that I thought was fun and I made a lot of money. More money than I've ever made in my life at the time. But I also realized that it sounded very unreal, all over the place. If people were around 2021 and 2022 and you're not just on the sidelines, If it's the kind of cycle you're involved in, it felt unrealistic, so I wasn't sure I wanted to go into it here in Germany. I continued to work in marketing for an automobile company.
Even though the money was good at the time and I was making more money than I had in any of my previous jobs, I wasn't confident enough to leave everything behind in 2021.
“I made that decision later in 2022 because not only was the market a bit shaky, but I started to get more serious about the creative angle. It was a slow start for me when it came to committing to go all in on NFTs.
Table of Contents
ToggleAre NFTs back?
Over the past month, NFTs have seen a huge surge led by CryptoPunks, Pudgy Penguins – who dropped the PENGU coin – as well as many 2021-22 projects following the previous cycle of Doodles and Whale.
But are NFTs really back? Well believes the signs are good, but we are yet to see anything close to the Mania from 2021-22, which has traditionally been run by the Board Up Yacht Club.
“So I think we've come back to the feeling that people are starting to pay attention again. I saw it on X's timeline. I'm just focused on NFTs and the NFT space, and my engagement has been like crazy over the past two to three weeks. I think it's a good indication that people are starting to pay more attention,” says Wale.
NFTs are about to enter a silly season.
— wale.moca 🐳 (@waleswoosh) December 11, 2024
“CryptoPunks was around $50K or a bit higher not too long ago, and now they've broken $150K. We see a lot of activity from other older projects and Pudgy Penguins in this Penguin Weather ad. Azuki Doodles, Boro Bore Monkeys are also on the move. While the upheaval in NFTs has spread across the ecosystem, even dead clusters are up 50% or more.
Weil believes new collections that are not yet available will be key to driving interest from new entrants.
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“Honestly, I think it's something that's missing now to come back. Excitement not only in established projects, but also in emerging micro and new projects. We don't see this yet. I always wondered how this memecoins work. Many of the memecoins that have done so well in this cycle are not the same memecoins that were here four years ago.
“Some of them are, but if you look at it more broadly, I think a lot of well-performing memecoins have actually introduced new people and new blood into the space. Many of them come from new microcosms with NFTs. When you can generate something for 0.01 ETH or 0.05 ETH and it goes to 4 ETH. We don't really see it right now so I don't think we're 100% back yet, but I think we're definitely starting to see signs of excitement and signs of interest in NFTs coming back.
The Bored Monkeys are entering a real collecting phase.
In the recent NFT run over the past four to six weeks, CryptoPunks have shown the first sign of strength, but what surprised many collectors, including Wale, is that Bored Up Yacht Club (BAYC) has doubled in floor price. That's the horizon Pudgy Penguin As PENGU announced, Pudgy owners will get a healthy allocation of coins in the same way that APE will start in March 2022 for owners of the BAYC ecosystem.
“Less external dependencies,“Created by Flamingo DAO member Derek Edwards, it's a frame for thinking about some kind of NFTs. A lot of art collections and punks fall into this bucket. Basically, there are no promises other than NFT and it just sits there, no catalysts, no airdrops, no roadmaps.” Speculation is still there, but it's not built on the external dependency that strong IP architecture or gaming-focused NFT projects can have.
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In the last bull cycle, BAYC will eventually fall into this less foreign dependent category and it is said that not only because people anticipate future benefits, but because they want to own it is more collectible. Weal believes we're seeing early signs that apes may be heading in that direction.
“I was surprised that Bored Monkeys did well in this race. Before Pudgy Penguin announced PENGU, they outnumbered Penguin by a lot, even though everyone knew the abstract token was coming. “What surprised me was that the entire BAYC ecosystem performed so well despite the absence of the catalysts coming in,” Wall says.
“They already have APE; they can't drop more, and their NFT ecosystem is full. They can't drop another NFT set that makes sense. Compare this to other ecosystems that might have incentives like Doodles, and they can still drop a companion set, Azuki and Pudgy.” “But penguins can throw tokens. All these motivators are lost for monkeys,” he said.
Weil cites two key reasons and believes that while other projects such as Doodles and Pudgy Penguins have been crushed by IP and awareness plays, the brand that BAYC was able to establish in 2021-22 was huge and such a major crossover was more “normal” than any other project launched by The Monkey. Find out what ended up happening.
“I think for two reasons. One is the launch of the ApeChain ecosystem, which has been great. Once introduced, I think they've got something really interesting for their core community and NFT traders, collectors and people who love NFTs.
“The second reason is that I see monkeys moving into more of a status symbol, maybe not at the punk level in Web3 yet, but when it comes to mainstream attention, I think nine out of 10 people still know about Bored Monkeys. The brand more than Pudgy Penguins or Doodles. A. I think it has a lot to do with the main focus back in 2021 and 2022 when NFTs will be very heavy.
Projects that continue to be built during the bear season
In the year Roadmaps with many empty promises and a large percentage of failed NFT projects in 2021-22, stuck around and continuing to build, are beginning to gain traction again.
An example is Doodles' recent mega-collaboration with McDonald's, which saw 110 million cups of coffee served with the Doodles IP. Pudgy Penguins introduced PENGU this week, their partnerships with Walmart and other major retailers, and their ability to sell cool toys and garner billions of impressions on all major social media platforms.
“I was surprised by the collaboration between McDonald's and Doodles, this is the holy grail of partnership. I remember seeing on Twitter that there was a big partnership coming up, I didn't expect it to be McDonald's, so that was cool. I love how the campaign was executed, how they integrated the Doodles IP and even the collectable side was very clever. I think they've already crushed it with other ads and partnerships, but McDonald's is definitely the biggest by far,” Wall says.
“From Pudgy at Walmart to Azuki at anime.com, we're seeing a lot of green lights in the space. Projects are actually starting to deliver something. While we are in an NFT bear market for large parts of 2024, memecoins and broader crypto have done very well. I think in terms of the projects presented this year, we've done really well and who knows, maybe we're seeing the start of the market in a way that it hasn't in the last few months. “
A quick fire Q&A with NFT collector Well
What is your favorite NFT?
My Azuki PFP for the profound impact joining Azuki has had on my career.
Do you collect a lot of art NFTs or are you on the PFP and collector side with your personal collection?
I think my personal collection is, definitely, more on the PFP side. I collect art. I think it's another interesting area for NFTs. Popular projects like Art Blocks, Chromie Squiggles and XCOPY.
I'm not a huge art collector, but for these blue chips, I'm trying to get some exposure to them, because from an NFT point of view, this is a place that makes a lot of sense. But I always like the community aspect, so I definitely lean more on the PFP NFT side.
Who is your favorite NFT artist?
I think the Doodles artist is burnt toast. It's not just PFPs, but the whole universe built around that. His art style is extremely expressive and I'm a big fan of that.
What do you think is an underappreciated NFT project?
Instead of naming one NFT project, I'm going to go with a slightly different answer. I think the whole ordinal area is still undervalued. We do not have a top five ordinals project in the PFP market. I think some are wrong like Bitcoin Puppets, NodeMonkes, Quantum Cats. On ETH, you have a million different sets but on ordinals, I'd argue you have at most 10 related sets.
I'm surprised today, especially during this Bitcoin rally that they haven't made a better floor price, but I'd say the Ordinals ecosystem is still worthless compared to NFTs on ETH or Solana.
Who are your top three followers for NFTs on X?
1. Stats (Formerly NFTStats) is definitely one of them as it always has great content.
2. I don't think TMA has 100k followers but it has a lot of good insights. He's already into narratives and collections, so I enjoy following him.
3. NFTboi. There isn't much content about NFTs, but it's in the mainstream. He is spread out in many areas so that I can go with him.
If money is no problem and you can now buy three NFTs from three different sets, which one would you choose?
I used to go rapid fire Azuki and Pudgy Penguins. The last one is tricky: either because I like Doodles' direction or because I think Bitcoin Puppets are too undervalued.
In the year Which project do you think will be most successful in 2034, 10 years down the track? Doodles, VeeFriends or Pudgy Penguins?
I think Pudgy Penguins will have a huge edge over VeeFriends and Doodles in terms of attention to how many people know the brand. I think Doodles are great but maybe a little Gen Z savvy. With VeeFriends, I don't pay much attention. They're out of the day-to-day conversations on NFT Twitter, so I don't really know what they're up to content-wise.
To rank them, I'd go with Pudgy Penguins, Doodles and then Vee Friends.
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Greg Oxford
Greg Oakford is the CEO of Upside DAO, Australia's leading crypto and web3 collaboration hub and investment fund. He is an avid NFT collector and founder of NFT Fest Australia. Prior to crypto, Greg was a marketing and sponsorship specialist in the sports industry working on professional events.
Follow the author @GregOakford
