>>> FOR DAILY UPDATES, FOLLOW LAZY.COM ON TWITTER, INSTAGRAM AND TIKTOK <<<

This week’s featured collector is MeezIsNotDead

MeezIsNotDead is a biker, photographer, graphic designer and entrepreneur. Their collection of photography is one of the most popular galleries on Lazy. Check it out at lazy.com/meezisnotdead

Welcome to a special celebration of the Lazy Newsletter’s 100th issue!

Lazy launched in early April, 2021. Founded by Mark Cuban, the idea behind Lazy was laser focused on simplicity: be the easiest way to display NFTs regardless of the blockchain.

Back then Bored Apes weren’t yet a thing and the world of Non-Fungible Tokens was just starting to experience a remarkable boom, with a growing number of artists, creators, and collectors engaging with this novel digital asset class. High-profile sales, such as the $69 million auction of Beeple’s artwork “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” at Christie’s, played a crucial role in driving interest in NFTs.

In the nearly two years since our launch, Lazy.com has played a key role in the NFT ecosystem by offering a user-friendly platform for artists, collectors, and enthusiasts to showcase and buy/sell their digital art collections with ease. By providing a simple, streamlined interface, Lazy.com lowered the barrier to entry for new users and helped foster a welcoming environment for the broader NFT community.

It has been a wild ride.

Thank you for being a part of the Lazy community!

🎉 What do you love about Lazy.com? 🎉

“It is a simple and uncluttered way to showcase the ART!” — bearbrains

🎉 What is your happiest NFT memory? 🎉

“One morning I was sitting in the garden painting, listening to a Podcast (Steve-O’s Wild Ride) which had Mark Cuban on as a guest talking about NFTs. This instantly sparked ideas and I went straight from there to mint all of the art I had created over the previous 18 months. I minted the 150 piece collection and that summer I jumped into the web3 space researching and learning, engaging with artist and collectors. One of my happiest NFT memories I have is 6 months after hearing Mark Cuban on the podcast, he messaged me and says he likes my Art and shares my Lazy.com/Bstract profile with his 9 Million followers. This gave life to my career as an artists and since then I’ve been lucky to have my work be displayed in the UK/US/Europe and Asia and I have collaborated with some of the most incredible artists in Web3.” — bstract

🎉 What’s next for Lazy.com? 🎉

“We will be agile and curious as the future comes our way!” — The Lazy.com Team

We ❤️ Feedback

We would love to hear from you as we continue to build out new features for Lazy! Love the site? Have an idea on how we can improve it? Drop us a line at info@lazy.com

>>> FOR DAILY UPDATES, FOLLOW LAZY.COM ON TWITTER, INSTAGRAM AND TIKTOK <<<

This week’s featured collector is ChainSurfer

ChainSurfer is “surfing the Blockchain daily” and their collection proves it. We love the mix of NFTs that ChainSurfer has curated: from Lazy Lions to OnChainBandits. Browse ChainSurfer’s gallery at lazy.com/chainsurfer

🎉 Next week marks a huge milestone for Lazy: the 100th issue of our newsletter! 🎉

To celebrate, we want to spotlight our users and their NFT stories.

For a chance to be featured in the 100th issue of Lazy’s newsletter, please fill out this brief survey:

Thank you for being a part of the Lazy community!

Fill out the survey

We ❤️ Feedback

We would love to hear from you as we continue to build out new features for Lazy! Love the site? Have an idea on how we can improve it? Drop us a line at info@lazy.com

>>> FOR DAILY UPDATES, FOLLOW LAZY.COM ON TWITTER, INSTAGRAM AND TIKTOK <<<

This week’s featured collector is nchalaris

Nchalaris’ collection caught our attention because it has been receiving above average traffic lately. We took a look and liked what we saw. Browse nchalaris’ gallery at lazy.com/nchalaris

It was an another exciting week for crypto:

A loss of confidence in banks has led to a spike in crypto prices. Arbitrum, a layer 2, announced their airdrop. Ethereum staking withdraws will begin around April 12. A duplicate was discovered in Yuga Lab’s TwelveFold collection (oops!). And another sneaky NFT hack has been spotted in the wild.

In last week’s poll, we asked you about your NFT strategy: buying, selling or holding. What we learned is that roughly 60% of readers are holding their NFTs, while the remaining 40% are split evenly between buyers and sellers. Since the majority of people are holding, we want to revisit strategies for keeping your NFTs safe.

Step 1: Securely Store Your NFTs

If you have some NFTs that you don’t plan on selling or trading anytime soon, it might be a good idea to put them into secure storage. That way you don’t have to worry about accidentally losing them: peace of mind is priceless.
Click here to learn about the three ways to create your own impenetrable storage system.

Step 2: Delegate Your NFTs

Learning to “Delegate” is an important skills for NFT collectors in 2023. Delegation is one of the best ways to protect against getting scammed. Click here to learn how to delegate your NFTs securely.

Step 3: Guard Against The Three Most Common Hacks

Once you’ve curated your collection of NFTs, put them in storage and delegated, it is crucial to be familiar with of the most common hacks. Click here to learn the three ways most hackers try to steal your NFTs.

Step 4: Beware Signature Requests

In January, the creator of Moonbirds lost over $1,000,000 worth of NFTs. This is a dramatic reminder that even highly knowledgeable NFT creators and collectors can fall for sophisticated hacks. And the most sophisticated hack going around are signature requests. Click here for a deep dive into how signature requests can steal your NFTs and how to stay safe.

This week’s poll: What’s your strategy for keeping your NFTs safe?

Shout-out to Lazy user @AlishaAnglinArt for mentioning Lazy in her recent talk at Muhlenberg College.

“In the NFT space we as artists have the creative freedom to do what we want. Much of this freedom arrives from how NFTs open up new ways for artists to reach a broader public of collectors. This occurs globally, unlike in traditional art spaces, where creators and collectors alike are typically limited by the presence (or lack) of brick-and-mortar galleries and other local factors.” — @AlishaAnglinArt

Alisha got her start in NFTs in March 2021 after hearing Mark Cuban talk about lazy.com. Immediately after minting her first Ethereum NFT, Alisha created her account and her first piece “Sublime Fields” sold to a collector on Lazy.

We’re happy to hear about Alisha’s success with Lazy & always appreciate sharing awareness. Thanks!

We ❤️ Feedback

We would love to hear from you as we continue to build out new features for Lazy! Love the site? Have an idea on how we can improve it? Drop us a line at info@lazy.com

>>> FOR DAILY UPDATES, FOLLOW LAZY.COM ON TWITTER, INSTAGRAM AND TIKTOK <<<

This week’s featured collector is TagachiStudio

TagachiStudio’s is a “creator, collector and contributor.” Their collection of Ethereum NFTs includes a Friendship Bracelet along with different kinds of community membership certificates. Browse TagachiStudio’s gallery at lazy.com/tagachistudio

Two recent NFT projects have attracted a lot of attention among collectors. Here’s a look into what can be learned by their success.

The Quadratic Funding Collection

On the first day of March, a collection of the foundational texts on Quadratic Funding were bundled together and sold as an NFT. Funds raised from the NFT sale were “split between the Gitcoin Grants Matching Pool and the Plurality Institute, both of which fund and support public goods.” It took several days for the NFT sale to get noticed, but once collectors realized that the collection included an essay by Vitalik Buterin, one of the creators of Ethereum, it quickly sold out and became one of this week’s most traded NFTs.

While many commentators have credited the success of this project to Buterin’s association, there are two other aspects worth noting: 1) The NFT is a collection of texts which makes this a success story for NFT books 2) The NFT funded charity, demonstrating the positive potential for NFTs in fundraising.

TwelveFold

This week the creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club released a generative NFT collection on the Bitcoin blockchain. Bitcoin NFTs are a relatively new invention and the quick adoption by Yuga Labs surprised collectors and inspired creators. TwelveFold was sold via auction and raised over $16m.

The success of TwelveFold suggests a continued hunger among NFT collectors for innovation. The success of TwelveFold wasn’t just because Yuga Labs created it—although that obviously played an important role. It was also because TwelveFold was released onto Bitcoin. This made it feel fresh and exciting. There was a joy to discovering the intricacies of a new blockchain’s NFT system.

This week’s poll: What is your NFT strategy? Are you buying, selling or holding?

We ❤️ Feedback

We would love to hear from you as we continue to build out new features for Lazy! Love the site? Have an idea on how we can improve it? Drop us a line at info@lazy.com

>>> FOR DAILY UPDATES, FOLLOW LAZY.COM ON TWITTER, INSTAGRAM AND TIKTOK <<<

This week’s featured collector is Ayeetoeknee

Ayeetoeknee is a collector of Ethereum NFTs with a focus on sneakers. They also collect artwork by Ron English, a prolific counter-culture street artist. Browse Ayeetoeknee’s full collection at lazy.com/ayeetoeknee

A court case with major implications for the future of NFTs is now underway. The case could decide whether NFTs are securities that require regulation.

In May 2021, the creator of Top Shot was sued by an individual who argued that the NFTs of NBA moments were securities. Now, almost two years later, the case has entered the courtroom and one of the first rulings does not bode well.

A briefing from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, a major multinational law firm, explains the situation:

Before the court was the question of whether Moments were investment contracts and therefore securities, which the court analyzed under the Howey test, which examines whether (i) there is an investment of money (ii) in a common enterprise (iii) with a reasonable expectation of profit derived solely by the promotional or managerial efforts of others.

Although the court has not made a decision on whether Top Shots are securities, the court did reject the motion to dismiss the case. This indicates that the court believes it is plausible that the NFTs are securities and, if the case continues, is willing to make a determination.

As an analysis from Blockworks points out: “It is unclear whether the case will proceed to trial or if a settlement may be reached.”

If the case does proceed to trial then there is the potential that a precedent could be set with wide-ranging implications for the NFT ecosystem. After all, if NFTs are securities then it would drastically limit the ability of artists to release them, marketplaces to sell them and individuals to collect them.

All eyes will be on the Top Shot case as it continues to move toward trial.

Learn more at Skadden and Blockworks.

This week’s poll: Will the courts rule NFTs are securities?

We ❤️ Feedback

We would love to hear from you as we continue to build out new features for Lazy! Love the site? Have an idea on how we can improve it? Drop us a line at info@lazy.com

>>> FOR DAILY UPDATES, FOLLOW LAZY.COM ON TWITTER, INSTAGRAM AND TIKTOK <<<

This week’s featured collector is Mortifiedmonke

Mortifiedmonke is a 22-year-old artist based in Upstate New York. Their artwork explores “concepts, styles, and mediums.” Browse Mortifiedmonke’s unique creations at lazy.com/mortifiedmonke

The Sudden Demise of NFT Royalties

We have been actively watching the NFT royalty debate for the last six months.

First, in Newsletter #70, we discussed the rise of SudoSwap, an NFT marketplace that does not pay royalties to creators.

Then in Newsletter #84, we discussed OpenSea’s strong defense of royalties, their declaration that “it’s an existential imperative for the space to preserve creator fees,” and their threat to blacklist marketplaces that did not respect royalties.

But none of that prepared us for this week’s dramatic culmination of the royalty debate: OpenSea has reversed course and no one remains to defend creator royalties.

The story of why OpenSea chose to reverse course is long and fascinating. It involves Blur, an upstart challenger that captured 70% of OpenSea’s marketplace volume, along with economic pressures from an NFT winter and a shift from platforms that earn profits from trading fees to platforms that earn profits from their native token.

For a deep dive into exactly what happened, we recommend reading The Royalty Wars.

With the royalty debate seemingly settled for now, creators are left wondering how they will earn an income from their NFT art. After all, for many artists the majority of their earnings came from royalties and not the initial mint. The lack of royalties could make things difficult for creators. Or perhaps it’ll instigate new approaches. Time will tell.

In any case, we are continuously amazed by the rapid changes happening within crypto and we look forward to seeing what will happen next!

This week’s poll: Do you support mandatory royalties for creators?

We ❤️ Feedback

We would love to hear from you as we continue to build out new features for Lazy! Love the site? Have an idea on how we can improve it? Drop us a line at info@lazy.com