A new non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace LooksRare launched with a bang last week, transacting over $1 billion in sales after debuting only on January 10. Total sales figures are now more than 40 percent of leading NFT platform OpenSea’s entire sales volume for the past week, according to DappRadar. Interestingly, the latest NFT platform LooksRare achieved such a large sales volume with only a fraction of the users of OpenSea. For instance, on January 13, LooksRare’s sales volumes were more than five times higher than OpenSea, yet it did so with less than 3,000 users, compared to OpenSea’s 70,000. The platform’s incentive structure reveals how this has been possible. As part of the launch, LooksRare offered a free airdrop of LOOKS tokens to OpenSea users who transacted at least 3 ETH worth about $9,630 on the marketplace between June 16 and December 16, 2021. This tactic is known as a ‘vampire attack’ when one platform uses incentives to lure their top customers. LooksRare is the second platform to have utilized this tactic against OpenSea, the first being Infinity in October last year. The latest NFT platform arrives at a time of OpenSea’s continual success, but also frustration across the NFT community. For instance, OpenSea has been facing technical issues lately, including a period of extended downtime which CEO Devin Finzer described as ‘unacceptable.’ He further assured that the NFT platform will ramp up the hiring of engineers and customer service employees. I know how impactful outages are to the creators and communities who rely on OpenSea, and this morning’s extended outage was unacceptable. Here’s what happened, and what we’re doing to improve – fast: https://t.co/zo2eCLEBrU — Devin Finzer (dfinzer.eth) (@dfinzer) January 10, 2022 Despite this, OpenSea is currently on track for its best month to date in Ethereum trading volume. Currently, the platform’s ETH trading volume sits at $2.27 billion already, only one-third of the way into the month. Meanwhile, the best month to date was August 2021 with nearly $3.43 billion in ETH trading volume. The NFT market overall surged to more than $22 billion worth of trading volume in 2021, according to data from DappRadar. OpenSea led the market share with more than $15 billion of trading volume in 2021, according to data from Dune Analytics.

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Grammy nominee Akon plans to release his next album through a non-fungible token, or NFTs. In an exclusive interview with Esquire magazine, the singer discussed the potential of digital assets and how NFTs could help artists in the music industry. He pointed out that artists in recent years have often complained that music streaming services don’t pay them enough for their songs. “Throughout my career, I have always believed that artists never really got their fair share of the profits for the work they produced and people listen to,” he began. “My next album is going to be an NFT album. What that means is that it opens the door to full transparency where your music is being played, who’s playing it, where they’re playing, and how many times it is played. Financially, you get the royalty every time someone shares it, so it makes sense to me, and that’s the route I want to go for all my future music releases.” Akon says that NFTs or digital representations of music and other collectibles offer full transparency about where a piece of music is being played, who’s playing it, and how many times it’s been played. “With that, I’ll be able to monetize it from the day it drops on every platform that exists,” he added. 2021 was a blockbuster year for NFTs with blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis estimating that the market has surpassed a $41 billion valuation.

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Crocs, the leading footwear brand is stepping into the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), according to a trademark application filed on January 11 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The trademark filing requests the right to use the Crocs name on NFTs of ‘footwear, clothing, bags, accessories, and charms for decorating’ as well as the software needed to create and sell them. In fact, the application is marked for ‘Downloadable computer software for creating, managing, storing, accessing, sending, receiving, exchanging, validating and selling digital assets, digital collectibles, digital tokens and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).’ The filing indicates that the footwear brand is preparing to issue NFTs, according to a well-known crypto-intellectual property lawyer. Its counsel, WilmerHale, filed on an ‘intent-to-use’ basis, meaning Crocs has a bona fide intention to use it in commerce. This is not the first time a show brand is moving into digital wearables. In December 2021, Nike bought NFT collectibles startup RTFKT, a virtual shoe company that makes NFTs. Even Adidas scooped up $23 million in sales after its first NFT drop. NFTs could spell a lucrative new business for the publicly traded Crocs, which posted 67 percent revenue growth year over year in 2021. Executives initially spoke of the company’s digital focus in its Jan. 11 earnings call but made no mention of the metaverse. Founded in 1999, Crocs has a market cap of $7.4 billion. The shoe company sells its products in approximately 80 countries through wholesalers, retail stores, e-commerce sites, and third-party marketplaces.

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A group of Wikipedia editors has voted against categorizing non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a form of art-at least for now. A debate started on the platform last month on ‘the most expensive art sales by living artists’ and whether NFT art sales should be deemed as ‘art sales’ or ‘NFT sales.’ The discussion involved whether an NFT represented the art or was just a token that was separate from the underlying art. “Wikipedia really can’t be in the business of deciding what counts as art or not, which is why putting NFTs, art or not, in their own list makes things a lot simpler. NFTs have their own list, which should be linked in the article, and entries generally shouldn’t be listed in both,” editor “jonas” wrote. Out of the six editors, five voted against classifying NFTs as art. For the time being, the discussion has been shelved until a later date. Since anybody can write on Wikipedia, perhaps members of the NFT community could contribute to the classification debate. According to Wikipedia’s guidelines, neither unanimity nor a vote is required to form a consensus. Instead, the group must confirm that the participating editor’s legitimate concerns fall within the platform’s policies. Meanwhile, the lone editor who voted otherwise pointed out that even large publications, including the New York Times, had referred to Beeple as the ‘third-highest selling artist alive’ following his record-breaking NFT sale. In fact, Griffin Cock Foster, the co-founder of NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway took to Twitter to say: “Wikipedia is a global source of truth. Having NFTs categorized as ‘not art’ would be a disaster!” 🚨 Art Emergency!! 🚨 There is a debate happening rn on @Wikipedia that has the potential to * officially categorize NFTs as ‘not art’ on all of Wikipedia. * Wikipedia is a global source of truth. Having NFTs categorized as ‘not art’ would be a disaster! 🧵: — Duncan Cock Foster (@DCCockFoster) January 12, 2022 Responding to Griffin, Everipedia, a decentralized equivalent of Wikipedia stated that it’s time to move towards decentralized alternatives which supports art and innovation: “Everipedia editors have created over 100 pages on #NFT collections while Wikipedia is moving to mark NFTs as ‘not art’ across their platform. It’s time for NFT projects to move to Everipedia $IQ, a Web 3.0 encyclopedia which supports art and innovation.” Everipedia editors have created over 100 pages on #NFT collections while Wikipedia is moving to mark NFTs as "not art" across their platform. It's time for NFT projects to move to Everipedia $IQ, a Web 3.0 encyclopedia which supports art and innovation.https://t.co/tL5beVDCN9 https://t.co/SsNFoQmyBd — Everipedia (@Everipedia) January 12, 2022

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Clothing retailer Gap is launching its first NFT collaboration with a limited-edition, gamified digital experience built on the Tezos blockchain. For this, the fashion retailer collaborated with Brandon Sines, the artist behind the NYC-based Frank Ape project, to create digital art featuring Gap’s iconic hoodies. Beginning Thursday at 9 a.m. PT, Gap’s digital collectibles will feature four levels- Common, Rare, Epic, and One-of-a-Kind, with Common being the first release. Each NFT from this initial drop will be priced at 2 tez (XTZ), or about $8.30. Additional drops will take place over the next two weeks, including the Rare drop on January 15 at 6 tez each ($25), the Epic drop on January 19 at 100 tez ($415) each and the One-of-a-Kind NFT to be auctioned on January 24. The collection will be available to shop exclusively on gap.com/nft and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. “Gap has always been at the intersection of music, art and culture, so we are excited about this growth opportunity in the digital space with artists like Brandon Sines,” said Chris Goble, Chief Product Officer and General Manager of Gap North America. “With this partnership with Gap, the creative cycle has come full circle as it allows me to express the beautiful messages of Frank Ape while collaborating with one of the most classic brands in history. I cannot wait to share the physical and digital pieces we’ve been working on with Gap and Frank fans worldwide.”  The company is leveraging Tezos, a proof-of-stake blockchain network that uses a more energy-efficient approach to secure its network with a low carbon footprint. The company is one of many fashion labels to enter the world of NFTs and metaverse. For instance, major fashion brands including Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Ralph Lauren too have dabbled in the nascent industry last year in an effort to promote their brands.

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