This week’s featured collector is Smartboe

Smartboe is sharing beautiful futuristic and naturalistic images. Take a look at their collection at lazy.com/smartboe

Last week we asked: What trend from the 2025 Art Basel x UBS report will shape the future of collecting most? The majority of respondents (40%) chose the rise of Gen Z digital collectors, signaling a clear belief that the next generation’s approach to technology, identity, and ownership will drive the art market’s evolution. The remaining votes were evenly split among women leading art spending, digital art going mainstream, and values-driven collecting — all trends pointing toward a more diverse, inclusive, and purpose-led market.

For NFT and digital art communities, these results reinforce a powerful insight: the future of collecting won’t just be digital — it will be generational, values-based, and shaped by voices that were once at the margins of the traditional art world.

A meme, a mini app, and 36,000 mints later — Farcaster just had its first real NFT moment

Sometimes, all it takes to wake up a blockchain is a good meme.

Over the past week, Farcaster — the decentralized social network built for crypto-native communities — saw an explosion of activity thanks to an unexpected catalyst: The Warplets, a playful NFT mini app that turned profile pictures into onchain collectibles. What began as a lighthearted meme has quickly turned into one of the biggest viral moments Farcaster has seen yet.

The name “Warplet” started as an inside joke — a nickname for Farcaster’s in-app wallet, left over from the Warpcast era. Earlier this year, Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero posted a sketch of a friendly alien mascot he’d created for the wallet. The character, shared alongside an announcement about free signups, went viral across both Farcaster and X.

That moment of nostalgia caught the attention of Angel Say, co-founder of the Resolve VR app and creator of several Farcaster mini apps, including Livecaster and Harmonybot. Say saw an opportunity to merge meme culture, identity, and onchain participation — and from that spark, The Warplets NFT collection was born.

The drop works like this: using Harmonybot, Say’s mini app takes your Farcaster ID (FID) and your profile picture, then blends them with the Warplet mascot into a unique NFT.

The mint isn’t just about art; it’s tied into Farcaster’s token economy. A portion of every mint fee goes toward buying and burning community tokens — originally CHAOS, later redirected to WARP. The mint also includes built-in sharing features, allowing users to post their new Warplet directly to their Farcaster feed.

This simple, social-first mechanic — mint, share, and flex — fueled the frenzy. Within days, over 26,000 Warplets had been minted, and secondary trading took off immediately on OpenSea.

The ripple effects were massive. On October 27, Farcaster hit a new all-time high in daily active users. More than 20,000 people bought Farcaster Pro subscriptions in 24 hours — generating roughly $400,000 in new revenue — just to become eligible to mint.

Meanwhile, The Warplets collection saw over 36,000 sales and more than 566 ETH in trading volume within its first days. For a social protocol still defining its NFT strategy, this was a breakthrough moment — proof that the network’s mini app ecosystem could deliver real cultural and economic traction.

Why It Matters

The Warplet moment feels like a time warp back to 2021’s NFT mania — but with smarter infrastructure and deeper community roots. Unlike the speculative rushes of the past, this boom was built on organic participation: a meme, a mini app, and a sense of shared play.

It also hints at what’s next for onchain culture. As Farcaster continues to blur the lines between social media, identity, and ownership, moments like this suggest how easily participation itself can become collectible.

For NFT collectors, the takeaway is clear: the next wave of digital culture might not be about expensive 1-of-1s or high-end auctions — it’s about social objects that live, breathe, and evolve inside the platforms we already use.

The Future of the Warplets

As of now, The Warplets mint remains open, though technical hiccups have temporarily paused and reopened access for Pro subscribers. Developer Angel Say has hinted that new features — like rerolls or mini-games — could extend the project into new directions.

Whether or not The Warplets becomes a lasting collection or simply a cultural flashpoint, it’s already proven one thing: the Farcaster community can generate viral, value-creating energy out of thin air — or, in this case, out of one small, wide-eyed alien.

Learn more at Bankless and Warplet.

What’s the biggest takeaway from the Warplet NFT boom on Farcaster?

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This week’s featured collector is Nabu

Nabu’s motto is “True wisdom lies within ourselves.” Take a look at their collection at lazy.com/nabu

Last week’s poll asked: How do you feel about OpenSea shifting from NFTs to all-token trading? Half of respondents said the platform is “losing its soul,” while nearly a third took a “wait and see” stance. Only a small minority backed the move or felt indifferent.

The results highlight a real divide in the NFT community — between those who see OpenSea’s pivot as a betrayal of digital art’s cultural foundations and those who view it as a pragmatic evolution in a memecoin crypto environment. Collectors, it seems, still want marketplaces that stand for more than just trading volume. The message to OpenSea and others chasing the next token trend is clear: innovation is welcome, but not at the expense of identity.

What NFT Collectors Can Learn from the 2025 Art Basel and UBS Global Collecting Survey

Each year, the Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting offers one of the clearest snapshots of how the world’s wealthiest collectors are thinking — what they’re buying, how they’re spending, and what motivates them. This year’s 2025 report, authored by Dr. Clare McAndrew of Arts Economics, is especially relevant for anyone in the digital collecting space, including NFT enthusiasts who see themselves as part of a broader cultural movement around ownership, technology, and value.

And the big takeaway? Despite economic headwinds, collecting is alive and well — just more diversified, younger, and more digital than ever before.

Younger Collectors Are Reshaping Taste

Millennial and Gen Z high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) made up 74% of the survey sample, and they’re clearly changing what counts as “collectible.” While Boomers still lead in total spending on fine art and antiques, younger collectors are outspending older peers in lifestyle-driven categories — from design and jewelry to sneakers and digital art.

In fact, digital art saw the sharpest year-on-year growth, with more than half of surveyed collectors purchasing at least one digital artwork in 2025. It now accounts for nearly as much spending as sculpture — a signal that tokenized creativity and digital ownership are moving from speculative bubbles to mainstream asset classes.

For NFT collectors, this is validation. Even if the NFT market itself has cooled, the cultural impulse behind it — owning unique digital expressions — is now embedded in how a new generation defines art.

The Rise of the Female Collector

One of the most striking findings is the surge in female participation and spending. In 2024, women outspent men by 46% on average, especially among Millennial and Gen Z segments. These women aren’t just collecting more — they’re collecting differently. They’re taking more risks, exploring new mediums, and buying from emerging and unknown artists at higher rates than men.

Interestingly, female collectors also prioritize representation, with nearly half of the works in their collections created by women artists (and over half in the U.S. and Japan).

For the NFT world — which has faced ongoing criticism for gender imbalance among creators and investors — this trend offers both a warning and an opportunity. As wealth and influence shift toward female and younger collectors, platforms and projects that champion inclusivity and cultural depth may capture the next wave of serious attention.

Digital Art as a Bridge Between Traditions

The study also shows that cross-collecting is now the norm. Younger HNW collectors aren’t siloed — they mix fine art, design objects, digital art, and even collectibles like sneakers or sports assets in one portfolio.

For NFT collectors, that mindset feels familiar. It’s the same impulse that sees one wallet holding a Beeple and a memecoin. The line between collecting and investing is blurring, but so too is the line between art object and cultural artifact.

Digital art — NFTs included — may not replace painting or sculpture, but it’s becoming a shared language between the art world and Web3.

Values, Risk, and the Future of Collecting

Despite the macroeconomic uncertainty of the past year, collectors are still allocating more wealth to art — an average of 20% of their portfolios in 2025, up from 15% in 2024. Gen Z collectors lead the way, committing 26% on average, showing both confidence and long-term belief in art as an asset and an identity marker.

What’s more, the survey reveals a subtle but meaningful shift: collecting isn’t just about returns — it’s about values. UBS Chief Economist Paul Donovan notes that many next-gen collectors are motivated by art that “speaks to identity, community, and purpose.”

For NFT collectors, this resonates deeply. The early days of NFTs were fueled by community identity — owning a piece of the culture. What the Art Basel survey makes clear is that this impulse isn’t fading; it’s expanding across the broader art ecosystem.

The Takeaway for NFT Collectors

If the traditional art market is catching up to the digital one, the lesson for NFT collectors may be this: stay patient, stay curious, and stay cross-disciplinary. The trends shaping tomorrow’s art landscape — youth, risk tolerance, digital engagement, and cultural meaning — are all areas where NFT collectors have already led the way.

The art world is evolving, and for once, it’s not leaving digital creators and collectors behind. Instead, it’s starting to look a lot more like them.

Learn more at Art Basel.

What trend from the 2025 Art Basel x UBS report will shape the future of collecting most?

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‘This week’s featured collector is LessDaStress

LessDaStress is “a noob trying to wrap his head around this crypto and blockchain.” Take a look at their collection at lazy.com/lessdastress

Last week’s poll asked: Which best describes your NFT collector energy right now? The results show a community that’s still diverse — and very much alive. Diamond Hands OGs, Floor Sweeper Supremes, and Former Degenerates each claimed 23% of the vote, suggesting that while some collectors are still holding strong (or sweeping floors), just as many are taking a step back. Meanwhile, Curated Connoisseurs and DeFi Dabblers tied at 15%, representing a smaller but steady group still engaging thoughtfully or branching into broader crypto plays.

In short, the NFT space might have cooled, but the collector psyche remains split between conviction, curiosity, and cautious withdrawal — proof that even in a bear market, identity runs deep in Web3 culture.

OpenSea’s Reinvention: From NFT Marketplace to All-Token Trading Hub

For long-time NFT collectors, OpenSea has been more than a platform — it’s been the beating heart of the digital art boom. From early drops of CryptoPunks and Bored Apes to independent artists experimenting with blockchain as a medium, the marketplace defined an era NFTs felt revolutionary.

But as the NFT market collapsed and volumes fell more than 90% from 2021 highs, OpenSea’s dominance faded almost as quickly as it rose. Now, after sweeping layoffs and years of restructuring, the company is staging a comeback — not as an NFT marketplace, but as a multi-chain trading platform where users can buy and sell any token, from NFTs to memecoins.

For collectors who came to OpenSea for art, this shift raises a question: is the company abandoning its cultural roots in favor of speculation?

A Pivot Born From Survival

The numbers behind the fall were staggering. OpenSea’s monthly revenue plunged from $125 million at its 2022 peak to just $3 million by late 2023. Competing platform Blur siphoned off traders with zero fees and no royalties, forcing OpenSea to slash its own creator rewards — a move that alienated many of the artists who helped build its brand.

By the end of 2023, CEO Devin Finzer told employees the company needed to “reset.” More than half of OpenSea’s 175 staff were let go. Those who remained were tasked with reimagining the company’s future. The result of that pivot — dubbed OpenSea 2.0 — is a full-scale expansion beyond NFTs into multi-chain crypto trading.

From Digital Art to Digital Everything

Today, OpenSea supports trading across 22 blockchains, integrating liquidity from decentralized exchanges like Uniswap and Meteora. It now aggregates buy and sell orders for all types of crypto tokens — NFTs, memecoins, governance coins — without holding customer funds. The company earns a modest 0.9% transaction fee while remaining non-custodial, meaning users retain full control of their wallets.

This pivot appears to be working — at least on paper. In the first two weeks of October 2025, OpenSea handled $1.6 billion in crypto trades and $230 million in NFT transactions, marking its most active month in over three years.

Yet for NFT collectors, that ratio — 90% of activity now coming from token trading — tells its own story. The focus that once defined OpenSea as a cultural platform for digital creators has shifted squarely toward the financial side of crypto.

“Don’t Fight the Tape”

Finzer says the decision was pragmatic, not philosophical. “You can’t fight the macro trend,” he explained in a recent interview. “If traders are moving toward tokens and memecoins, we need to be where the activity is.”

That philosophy echoes an age-old trading maxim — don’t fight the tape. As Bitcoin and Ethereum surge, and speculative markets like Polymarket and Kalshi attract fresh attention, OpenSea is betting that the next growth cycle will revolve around liquidity, not collectibility.

But that realism can sound like resignation to some collectors. The same company that once promised to champion artists is now embracing the token casino — and in doing so, risks diluting the artistic identity that made NFTs culturally meaningful in the first place.

A Lighter Structure, a Heavier Question

OpenSea today operates with roughly 60 employees out of a small co-working space with a remote global team. The company has scrapped the layers of management that once slowed its engineering output. Finzer’s wife, Yu-Chi Lyra Kuo — an early crypto investor and academic — is credited with shaping OpenSea’s new architecture, from aggregating liquidity across blockchains to building the next version of its app.

Still, for NFT collectors, the questions remain: If OpenSea becomes just another crypto trading platform, where does that leave the artists and communities that defined its first act?

The New OpenSea — and What It Means for Collectors

To its credit, OpenSea isn’t abandoning NFTs entirely. The platform still facilitates hundreds of millions in NFT trades monthly and remains one of the largest marketplaces in existence. But in the context of OpenSea’s new direction — and its forthcoming OpenSea token and mobile app — NFTs now seem to be one product line among many, rather than the heart of the brand.

Finzer insists that art, memes, and tokens can coexist. “We want OpenSea to be the place where everything on-chain lives together — from digital art to the next memecoin,” he said. That vision appeals to some who see the NFT ecosystem evolving beyond collectibles, but to others, it feels like the final blurring of the line between art and speculation.

The challenge for OpenSea is not whether it can regain trading volume but whether it can rebuild trust and identity among the collectors, artists, and creators who once made it a cultural institution.

For now, the marketplace that helped define NFT culture is still afloat, but its compass is pointed somewhere new. For collectors, that means deciding whether OpenSea’s next chapter represents evolution — or departure.

Learn more at Forbes and TheBlock

How do you feel about OpenSea shifting from NFTs to all-token trading?

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This week’s featured collector is secretmsgcol

secretmsgcol is a handmade NFT collection on WAX. Check it out at lazy.com/secretmsgcol

Last week’s poll asked whether the SEC should regulate NFTs as securities—and the verdict was clear: half of you said “never.” Another 30% opted for “sometimes,” suggesting a belief that not all tokens are created equal, while only 20% favored consistent oversight. No one said “I don’t know,” which may be the most telling result of all. The NFT community, it seems, knows exactly how it feels about government regulation. The takeaway? Even as courts and regulators struggle to define what NFTs are, creators and collectors have already made up their minds: digital art may live on the blockchain, but it doesn’t belong in a securities filing.

NFTs, Crypto, and the Psychology of Giving: How Digital Assets Are Reshaping Charity

When cryptocurrency first went mainstream, it promised to disrupt finance. Now, it’s quietly transforming something far more human: generosity. A new peer-reviewed study in Computers in Human Behavior explores how cryptocurrency and NFTs are influencing charitable behavior—and what it reveals about how we mentally account for digital value.

The study, led by Claudio Schapsis, Dorin Micu, and Nikki Wingate, applies Mental Accounting Theory—a behavioral economics framework developed by Nobel laureate Richard Thaler—to the blockchain era. Mental accounting describes how people categorize and track money in “mental ledgers.” We might have one mental account for groceries, another for entertainment, and a separate one for charitable giving.

But what happens when money itself becomes intangible, decentralized, and volatile?

According to the study, people often manage their cryptocurrencies and NFTs in the same mental account. That is, they perceive both as part of a single pool of digital value—even though one is fungible (Bitcoin, Ethereum) and the other is unique (NFTs representing digital art or collectibles). This finding matters because it changes how we understand the psychology of crypto donations.

Here’s where things get interesting: when nonprofits offer NFTs as incentives for cryptocurrency donations, people give more.

In experiments conducted by the researchers, participants were more likely to donate higher amounts of cryptocurrency when the charity offered an NFT in return—especially when the NFT was framed as a purchase rather than a thank-you gift. That framing shifted the donor’s mindset. Instead of thinking “I’m spending money,” they thought “I’m exchanging one asset for another.”

This subtle psychological shift—treating a donation as an exchange within the same mental account—reduces the perceived “cost” of giving. In other words, donors feel like they’re not losing value, they’re simply transferring it.

The result? NFT incentives drive higher crypto donations than physical rewards.

NFTs may cost little to create, but their perceived value is often much higher. That discrepancy—between production cost and perceived worth—makes them powerful tools for fundraising. Like limited-edition posters or event tickets, NFTs can serve as symbolic tokens of participation and belonging. But because they live on the blockchain, they also carry a sense of permanence, authenticity, and community identity.

In this sense, NFTs tap into both economic and emotional value. They’re not just rewards; they’re receipts of identity and proof of participation in something meaningful.

The study’s broader insight is that philanthropy in the digital era isn’t just about generosity—it’s about mental framing. When giving is framed as a trade within the same ecosystem of assets, people are more willing to part with their digital wealth. For nonprofits, that means understanding not only blockchain technology but also donor psychology.

By issuing NFTs as incentives, charities can appeal to both altruistic motives (“I’m helping a cause”) and investment-driven mindsets (“I’m gaining a digital asset”). That dual framing could help bridge the gap between financial speculation and social good.

The paper ultimately reframes NFTs not just as speculative assets but as psychological tools that reveal how humans adapt age-old behaviors to new technologies. Charitable giving has entered the blockchain era—and our mental accounting is following close behind.

Learn more here.

Which best describes your NFT collector energy right now?

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This week’s featured collector is pjartbasel

Pjartbasel is an artist who uses their Lazy profile to showcase some of their creations. Check it out at lazy.com/pjartbasel

Last week we asked: How should NFTs be safeguarded to last 100 years? The majority of respondents (60%) put their trust in on-chain provenance and metadata, signaling that the blockchain itself is seen as the strongest guarantor of long-term authenticity. Meanwhile, decentralized storage and artist-led preservation co-ops each drew 20%, showing recognition that off-chain solutions and community stewardship also matter. Notably, museums and institutional archives received no votes, underscoring a broader skepticism that traditional cultural institutions can—or will—take responsibility for the digital future. Together, the results highlight a clear belief that the durability of NFTs will depend on blockchain-native strategies, while also leaving space for hybrid models of care and preservation.

U.S. Judge Dismisses NFT Artists’ Challenge to SEC Oversight

On September 30, 2025, a federal judge in New Orleans dismissed a lawsuit brought by two creators of musical NFTs who had sought to prevent the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from regulating their work. The decision underscores how unsettled the regulatory landscape for NFTs remains—and how uncertain artists and creators still feel about the future of this medium.

The Case

Singer-songwriter Jonathan Mann and law professor and conceptual artist Bryan Frye—both of whom have sold NFTs since 2018—filed suit against the SEC last year. Their argument was straightforward: the threat of having their NFT sales deemed “unregistered securities” posed a chilling risk to artists experimenting with digital assets as a creative medium.

They claimed the SEC’s approach endangered livelihoods, framing NFTs not just as speculative assets but as tools for artistic expression. Frye, who teaches intellectual property law at the University of Kentucky, positioned the issue as one of artistic freedom as much as regulation.

The Ruling

U.S. District Judge Greg Guidry dismissed the lawsuit, stating that the artists’ fears were hypothetical. “The SEC’s future regulation of NFTs is far from resolved,” Guidry wrote, noting the lack of clear guidance to date. Because the SEC had not taken direct action against Mann or Frye, the court ruled there was no case to decide.

The ruling echoed arguments the SEC made in urging dismissal: that its prior NFT-related enforcement actions imposed “no consequences or obligations” on the plaintiffs.

The Bigger Picture

The case follows earlier high-profile actions, such as the 2023 settlement with the creators of Stoner Cats, who paid a $1 million fine after the SEC said their NFT sales constituted an unregistered securities offering. That case, while unrelated to Mann and Frye, rattled many creators. Two SEC commissioners even urged the agency at the time to offer clearer guidelines for artists exploring NFTs.

The lack of regulatory clarity remains the key tension point. On one hand, the SEC has pursued “discrete” enforcement actions against certain NFT offerings. On the other, there is no established framework that spells out when NFTs are considered art versus when they cross into securities territory.

Why It Matters

For artists, the decision means the question of NFT regulation remains unresolved. The court’s dismissal doesn’t settle whether or how the SEC might act in the future—it only states that without a direct action against specific artists, the courts won’t intervene preemptively.

For the NFT market, the ruling reinforces a climate of uncertainty. Without clear rules, artists and collectors are left to navigate a gray zone where enforcement could hinge on interpretations that vary case by case. This ambiguity continues to weigh on the market, particularly as interest in NFTs has shifted from speculative frenzy to questions of permanence, value, and long-term integration into the broader art world.

Looking Ahead

Until clearer guidance emerges, artists working with NFTs will likely continue to operate under the shadow of regulatory risk. Whether future cases force the SEC to articulate firm rules—or whether Congress steps in with new legislation—remains to be seen.

Should the SEC regulate NFTs as securities?

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