Nifty News: The rise of environmentally-focused NFT collections

Published at: Oct. 25, 2021

HapeBeast hitting the headlines

Three-dimensional nonfungible token (NFT) project HapeBeast is garnering notable attention on social media following the release of a highly-professional teaser video for their upcoming ape-themed profile picture project.

Created by the founder of Digimental Studio London, Digimental, the project encompasses 8,000 unique aesthetic depictions of digital ape avatars. Having operated for a number of years, the studio has amassed an illustrious list of clientele including Chelsea FC, Nike, MTV and Jordan Air, among others.

APEFLUENCERS NEEDED. ™️8K positions available. Join us on Discord.https://t.co/nIIBqe5Dl7#hapebeast #apedemption pic.twitter.com/lHFZx6t8f4

— HAPEBEAST (@HAPEBEASTGANG) October 19, 2021

A number of notable Youtube NFT commentators and researchers, most notably NFT Nate, have identified the project as demonstrating the early characteristics and social awareness necessary to become the next blue-chip investment in the space.

The release date for the NFTs is expected to be sometime in December 2021, with the mint price currently undisclosed. Alongside this, the official website is expected to launch on Friday.

Crystallized ocean NFT’s

The environmentally-focused NFT collection, "Organic Growth, Crystal Reef," recently launched a collaborative project on Snark.art led by artists Michael Joo and Danil Krivoruchko in a bid to support ecological sustainability of the world’s ocean coral reefs.

In a first-of-its-kind, each artwork will transform and grow through each sale by algorithmically observing the owner’s wallet identification and history, and combining the data with a multitude of coral patterns and shapes. The niche feature was introduced to mirror the evolution of ocean reefs amid environmental developments and changes.

“Like the living architecture formed by the exoskeletons of coral polyps, past, present and future coexist, offering a new take on NFTs, value and the creative process.”

This evolutionary process will conclude two months after the launch date, or after seven sales of an artwork, whichever comes first. At this point, the rarity traits, visual structures and shapes of the artworks will become static.

In addition, the project has outlined ambitions to create a single mosaic-type artwork that can be pitched to leading physical art galleries and institutions for real-world display.

The project creators will allocate 3% of all funds from primary sales to advancing the development of oceanographic research and conservation efforts at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.

All 10,301 crystal seeds were sold at a minting price of 0.1 Ether (ETH) on Oct. 15, amassing $4 million dollars. Since its release, the project has traded 1.8K ETH on OpenSea and currently records a floor price of 0.138 ETH. The all-time sale was for artwork #9136 two days ago for a price of 3 ETH.

Elephant painting set for NFT sale

An NFT artwork titled, "The Tree of Life," will become the world's first artwork created by an elephant to be minted as an NFT asset this week by BitTrunks, the digital asset side of Elephant Art Online.

Tunwa, a 15-year-old 14,000-pound female elephant, has been practicing her painting with a passion for the last decade at the Maetaeng Elephant Park & Clinic in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The elephant has been a core symbol of the nation's iconography and cultural appreciation for over 800 years.

The project's website added more details on the environment which these animals inhabit:

“Elephant painting is a beautiful collaboration between an elephant and their mahout (the elephant’s life-long caretaker). It showcases the extraordinary bond between them, but even then it takes great time and effort. At our park, we have over 80 elephants, but only four of them choose to paint.”

On October 28th, we will drop a series of elephant-made NFTs that will make your jaw drop. Here's a sneak peak of The World's First Elephant-made NFT. Mark your calendar! Join the herd. More info: https://t.co/8BMdzgjjPN#Bittrunks #NFTCommunity #nftart #NFTdrop pic.twitter.com/DpYfjS8IX0

— BitTrunks (@BitTrunks) October 18, 2021

Earlier this month, podcast pioneer Joe Rogan expressed his amazement at the drawings, speculating on the vast capabilities that the world’s largest land mammal holds.

The debut piece, "The Tree of Life," which was painted by Tunwa, will be auctioned off as an NFT asset on Thursday at 9:30 AM EST on leading marketplace OpenSea.

The successful bidder will receive the NFT asset, a physical painting, a certificate of authenticity (QR Code), and photograph and video documentation of the creation process to complement the piece.

WWF Germany to launch NFT series

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Germany is set to launch a new environmental initiative titled NFAs: Non-fungible animals in a bid to protect the existence and habitat of ten of the planet’s most endangered species.

The environmental organization expressed interest in utilizing crypto and blockchain technologies in the past but also raised appropriate concerns about the high-energy demand of mining operations of assets such as Bitcoin.

Tagelang twitterten wir viel davon, was alles #NichtVerhandelbar ist. Zur Abwechslung etwas, dass schon ganz bald handelbar ist: Unsere NFAs zum Schutz bedrohter Tierarten. Von jedem Kunstwerk gibt es genau soviel, wie noch in RL existieren:https://t.co/eNc7pYuQEd #NFA

— WWF Deutschland (@WWF_Deutschland) October 23, 2021

The artwork series will depict 10 animals in a variety of artistic themes, including coloured sketches, pop art, PFP-styled art, as well as digital renders, among others. The announcement reveals a sobering numerical connection between the supply of assets and the number of animals in existence:

“The number of the respective works is limited to the exact number of still living specimens of the respective animal species depicted. Thus, each of the NFA crypto artworks reflects a living but threatened animal that can be protected by purchasing it.”

For example, 1,063 mountain gorillas NFTs will be available to mint as this represents the species' total population. Likewise, only 22 NFTs depicting the Vaquita whale will be available to mint as there are only 22 Vaquitas left in the world.

WWF Germany has revealed that the funds will be fairly distributed to the organization's global network of 1,300 projects, which are inherently focused on preserving and rejuvenating our ecosystem’s biological diversity

The sale will commence on Nov. 2 and those participating will be required to create a Torus digital wallet. Assets can be purchased with the stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) between a price valuation range of 79 to 799 USDC.

Other NFT news

Amid Facebook’s plans to deviate to metaverse operations, other social media platforms are pursuing advancements in the NFT space, with Jack Dorsey’s Twitter currently leading the charge, unveiling plans for NFT integration on its platform.

Tech blogger Jane Manchun Wong recently shared visuals on the platform’s development testing for a new collectibles tab, which will enable users to showcase their profile picture (PFP) avatars to the public.