NFT Membership Passes & OpenSea Phishing
NYC social clubs are turning to NFTs, and OpenSea faces another hack
Cultured is a newsletter by Otis that gets readers up to speed on the most interesting things going on at the intersection of finance, art, collectibles, NFTs, and more.
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🗞 STORIES OF THE DAY
Our first story today is curated by our friends at NFT Art Source: The Newsletter, which brings readers the most current news and insights about NFT projects, creators, art sales, and future developments.
NFTs are the ticket to New York’s newest social clubs
Two new social clubs in New York are offering membership through NFTs. The NFTs give members access to the clubs, as well as a host of other perks. Both clubs also let members resell their memberships for a small fee.
NFT memberships at Maxwell Tribeca offer access to the club and a liquor locker. Memberships, which range from $1,000 to $8,000 depending on the size of the locker, will be sold (and resold) on a dedicated marketplace.
Flyfish Club, a luxury seafood club slated to open in early 2023, raised $14 million from its initial offering on OpenSea. The club has since brought in around $2 million in royalties from members who resold their NFTs.
Guest Take by NFT Art Source:
Is it too risky to spend that much money on NFT-based membership clubs that haven’t been tested? Maybe. On the other hand, Tribeca is swanky and exclusive, while Gary Vee’s at the helm of Flyfish Club, so maybe don’t bet against them!
The question remains: Why does this have to be an NFT, and not a regular protocol like every other membership system? Maxwell is using NFT memberships to help their clientele signal their social status, while Flyfish Club memberships will become “an asset to the token holder, which can later be sold, transferred or leased to others on the secondary market.”
We love that NFTs are finally forging a diverging path of utility-based models with real-world value. While having bragging rights to your own digital cartoon can be fun for some, we have a hunch that curated NFT memberships will be the next link in this evolutionary chain.
For more insights from NFT Art Source, follow them on social media, check out their website, and sign up for the newsletter! NFT Art Source also consults with companies to demonstrate how NFTs can be used in their marketing.
Hackers on OpenSea steal $1.7 million worth of NFTs in phishing attack
A phishing scam led users on OpenSea to lose more than 250 tokens worth around $1.7 million. The attacks, which targeted just 32 users, included tokens for Bored Apes and the Decentraland platform.
Hackers exploited a vulnerability in the protocol that runs NFT smart contracts. In effect, they made targets sign a blank check, which the hackers then filled out with their own details.
OpenSea, which is currently worth $13 billion, has been plagued with security issues. Recent problems include a bug that let hackers buy NFTs at a major discount or steal them using a gifting loophole.
Our Take: OpenSea is confronting the challenges of centralizing a decentralized system.
More than ever, NFT sales are concentrated on a single marketplace: OpenSea. While it’s lost some ground to competitors like LooksRare, OpenSea still processes around 90% of all NFT transactions. When so much of the market is in one place, it makes that platform particularly appealing to hackers. OpenSea’s responses to these challenges have also been subject to criticism. The transparency of the blockchain means that when OpenSea offers refunds for victims of fraud on the platform, which it has done in the past, the records of those transactions are visible to everyone — and some users aren’t happy with what they’re seeing.
✨ AROUND THE INTERNET
A second batch of works from the art collection of real estate developer Harry Macklowe and his ex-wife are going up for auction at Sotheby’s. It’s expected to fetch $200 million.
JP Morgan is the first bank to enter the metaverse with a branded lounge in Decentraland. Still not as weird as Capital One’s IRL cafes…
A “crypto coven” has made a witch-themed NFT project and it’s generated more than $20 million in sales.
The jersey worn by Mickey Mantle at his final game playing for the Yankees is up for grabs — it’s expected to go for upwards of $1 million.
A Minnesota man stole $250,000 worth of Pokémon cards from a local card game store. The store is unfortunately called Punch Out Gaming.
