Las Vegas-based glass pipe maker to the stars Jerome Baker Designs will launch a series of bong-related NFTs tied to corresponding physical assets early next month. The NFTs, on FDCTech’s Ethereum-based platform, depict the unique glassblowing process for each bong and come with additional unique benefits. They are due to drop on Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 13) and the corresponding physical bongs will be auctioned off at Superchief Gallery. Jerome Baker Designs Founder and President Jason Harris is considered to be one of the top ten glassblowers in the world, according to smoking products marketplace SLX. He founded the business …

Brewers and farmers from Belgian Barrels Alliance (BBA) have partnered with Zeromint to offer nonfungible tokens (NFTs) aimed at preserving the UNESCO recognized Belgian beer culture and heritage. As a part of the partnership, Zeromint will mint and offer exclusive NFTs on the GoChain blockchain, which will be made available for international beer fans via BBA. Starting today, the organization will run several BBA NFT collection projects around sustainability and the preservation of Belgian beer heritage for the next 14 days. According to the official statement, the first Belgian Barrels NFT auction will be used to recruit 11 participants for …

Three embroidery artists — Russia’s Katerina Marchenko, Brazil's Aline Brant, and Ninni Luhtasaari of Finland — announced Thursday that they will be auctioning their nonfungible token (NFT) art pieces to support Hope for the Future, a registered charity based in Austria. Proceeds from the auction will help victims of human trafficking find entry-level work positions after their harrowing experiences. The NFT sale will take place on Orica between Dec. 27-30, with each piece having a floor price of $500. The auction's goal is to raise $10,000 for the employment program. "Even when one offers survivors the possibility to get out, …

British telco giant Vodafone has reportedly plans to auction the world’s first Short Message Service (SMS) in the form of a nonfungible token (NFT) on Dec. 21. The SMS, that reads “Merry Christmas”, was sent 29 years ago over the Vodafone network on Dec 3, 1992, and was received by Richard Jarvis, an employee at the time. The historic 15 character-long SMS will be auctioned off as an NFT in a one-off sale conducted by the Aguttes Auction House in France, according to Romanian news outlet Ziarul Financiar. By auctioning off the world’s first SMS in the form of NFT, …

After celebrating its 20th anniversary in January, the free Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia continues making history by selling its first nonfungible token (NFT) via auction giant Christie’s. On Dec. 15, Christie’s completed an auction of two Wikipedia-related objects directly from Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales. Titled The Birth of Wikipedia, the online sale included two lots, an NFT of Wikipedia’s first edit, which sold for $750,000, and a Strawberry iMac used by Wales to create Wikipedia, sold for $187,500. The NFT lot features the first message posted on Wikipedia by the site’s co-founder back in 2001, marking a unique moment in the …

After announcing the launch of his "Genesis Collection" NFT auction, Ross Ulbricht, alleged founder of dark web marketplace Silk Road, has sold his first NFT for $6.2 million or 1,446 ETH at auction. The auction kicked off at Art Basel Miami via the SuperRare platform. FreeRossDAO, the decentralized autonomous organization set up to help free Ulbricht from imprisonment, placed the winning bid. The FreeRossDAO website states that the DAO aims to “advance prison reform” and to “share Ross's work with the world and give everyone a unique opportunity to own a piece of it.” The first NFT sold, called "Perspective," …

A virtual anime version of Sophia, the world-famous humanoid artificial intelligence (AI) robot, is set to be tokenized and auctioned off as part of an up-and-coming Metaverse project dubbed “Noah’s Ark.” Sophia was developed by Hong Kong-based firm Hansen Robotics in 2016 and is known across the globe for her conversation skills and articulate speaking ability. In her first 5 years, Sophia has addressed the United Nations and obtained Saudi citizenship. Earlier this month, former Hansen Robotics CEO and Sophia co-creator Jeanne Lim launched a virtual anime version of the robot dubbed “Sophia beingAI” at her new company beingAI under …

Silk Roads lead to nonfungile tokens Bidding for a 1/1 NFT auction created by imprisoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht has surpassed 261 Ether (ETH), $1.17 million at the time of writing. The NFT depicts a hand-drawn illustration from Ulbricht of a psychedelic eye, and is part of a collection of writings and nine other artworks he created, some while in prison, that are included as part of the NFT sale. The auction kicked off on day one of the Art Basil Miami art fair on Dec. 2 and is being hosted by SuperRare. The auction is set to conclude …

The Matrix’s NFT revelations Soaring demand for the Warner Bros.’ Matrix NFT avatar drop on Nifty’s this week caused the website's purchasing page to crash. Earlier this month, the film studio announced it would be dropping 100,000 unique Matrix-inspired avatar NFTs for $50 each as part of a promotional campaign for the new Matrix Resurrections film set to hit cinemas in the U.S. on Dec. 22. After more than 300,000 Matrix fans queued up for the drop on Nov. 30, Nifty’s was forced to start and stop the queue multiple times due to max capacity-induced “infrastructure issues.” Hello again everyone. …

Nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, are certificates of ownership representing digital artwork, music, videos, audio, memorabilia, and more. They have rapidly gained in popularity over the past year for their ability to enable everyday artists to create and sell content. In fact, OpenSea, the world's biggest NFT marketplace, recently surpassed $1.6 billion in monthly trading volume alone. Like physical artwork, NFTs can also be auctioned for charity purposes or donated to non-profit groups with generous tax deductions. From funding the construction of a school in Uganda, to helping frontline healthcare workers, non-profit NFTs drops can play a decisive role in making …

A crowd loan is a Polkadot (DOT) crowdsourcing event in Polkadot that allows the community to support project bids in upcoming parachain slot auctions. Users contribute DOT, receive rewards in project tokens and get their DOT back in two years (a standard slot lease duration). This mechanic helps projects raise substantial capital in DOT tokens that may even exceed a few hundred million in dollar notion value. The obvious downside for users is the need to lock their DOT for two years where they don’t have access to their liquidity during this lockup period. In mainstream finance, there are private …

On Thursday morning, Acala, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol operating on the Polkadot (DOT) network, announced it had won the first-ever Polkadot parachain auction. Acala raised a total of 32.5 million DOT, worth roughly $1.28 billion, from 24,934 contributors via an initial coin offering (ICO) structured as a crowdloan. As the proceeds are classified as 'crypto debt,' Acala would eventually need to pay back the DOT it had solicited from investors. Users' DOTs are locked for the duration of the rental agreement for Polkadot's parallel chains up for sale. It’s a testament to the strength of @Polkadot that so many …