Bear Market Hall Of Fame (Pt. 2)

Last month, some of the biggest blue-chip collections suffered major FUD events, with the Azuki ecosystem losing up to half of its resale value. Nevertheless, we promised to return with another issue, bringing you the finest founders in the industry.

Like J. Cole said, “There’s beauty in the struggle.” These stories showcase grit, passion, and a few strokes of genius. Here’s giving flowers to the deserving class of 2023 (H1).

AlexIsBuilding [Abnormal Studios]

One of the most vital secrets to Alex’s success is summed up in a bizarre quote: “Do things that don’t scale.” This means he is constantly in the trenches, interacting with his community on a daily basis, and being the poster boy for the Abnormal Studios brand.

Since 2021, Alex has also been building a reputation as a thought leader in Web3. In a sea of professional content creators, he rose to the #1 rank on the global Inspect leaderboard by banging out 100 high-quality threads in 100 days 🤯

Alex is behind one of the most exciting NFT brands, straddling the gap between blockchain technology and footwear. In this exclusive interview with us, he revealed that the core mission of the company is to build products that people actually want.

A vibrant community has formed around his Bricktopians collection, which arguably has the most unique art on the blockchain. Using supercomputers, LawDegree (Alex’s cofounder) animated 10,000 characters with unique physics based on the bricks that they are made from.

This incredible art is the pathway to Brain Boots, the company’s signature 3D-printed sneakers. Several iterations were created to achieve Abnormal Studios’ vision of stylish comfort. With a new product launch just over the horizon, we’re excited to see what the future holds for the Bricktopians.

Brain Boots

Armani Ferrante [MadLads]

"Mad Armani," as he's known, discovered Bitcoin and cryptocurrency while studying computer science at UC Berkeley. He went on to work for Apple, where he helped build some of the most popular iOS apps. Then he was introduced to Ethereum by coworkers, and everything changed.

He quit his cushy job at Apple and, within weeks, landed a role at (the ill-fated) Alameda Research. Six months later, Armani went full-time building open-source on Ethereum. He went on to work with Counterfactual and Oasis Labs.

Along the way, he learned about Ethereum’s sharding problem. He began researching other blockchains, fueled by his passion, and by 2020, he was coding for the Solana team. He immediately made an impact by building Coral, a platform for Web3 developers. This birthed Anchor, Solana’s biggest smart contract developer framework.

In 2022, Anchor raised $20 million in a seed round led by FTX and Jump Capital. This provided funding to build xNFT Backpack, a first-of-its-kind interactive crypto wallet. FTX crashed six weeks later, and Anchor lost $14.5 million in funding.

Undeterred, Mad Armani and Coral launched MadLads as the debut release for the xNFT Backpack platform. As the hype attracted botnet attacks, the team responded by programming its mint to honeypot bots. SOL bounties were redistributed to the project’s treasury.

The market reacted with wild price action that turned MadLads into a blue-chip NFT collection. Armani Ferrante symbolizes the thriving developer community in Web3, toiling diligently behind the scenes to build the technology we enjoy today.

ZAP, JOE BERK [SoDead]

SoDead is the best NFT project you haven’t heard about yet. They’ve been around since 2021, against incredible odds. Surviving two rugs and a single-digit Solana winter is no ordinary feat.

At the center of the action, Zap and Joe Berk are leading this vampire-loving community. After the original administration mismanaged the collection, they were left with a $400,000 hole in the treasury and disgruntled holders.

Their first move was to decentralize the fiscal control of the project with a multi-signature royalty wallet. Next, they pushed out a significant rollout of initiatives to capitalize on the brand's most valuable asset: the community.

They discovered new ways to rebuild the brand through community-driven campaigns. A native token (VAMP) was launched with Raydium support. It facilitates trait swapping and customization, art upgrades, and physical collectible purchases.

Patiently going to bat for the community in public, Zap and Joe Berk have dealt with recurrent waves of FUD. This has only deepened the tight-knit bonds that they share with the SoDead family. However, it’s the results of their labor of love that do the talking these days.

Justin Trimble, Gene Kogan, Punk #2513 [Braindrops]

2022 was the year of AI art. This nascent niche witnessed jaw-breaking strides in innovation and commercial success. But it’s also the subject of deep controversy. Through it all, Braindrops stood tall as an early champion for generative art.

Originally inspired by Art Blocks, Braindrops has evolved.

It is now a launchpad for some of the brightest stars on the scene. The Genesis collection was released in 2021. It showed early support for Pindar Van Arman, Claire Silver, and Gene Kogan himself. Today, it has expanded into 19 collections featuring 14 artists.

The platform enjoys patronage from prominent on-chain art collectors such as Cozomo Medici, Pranksy, and 2878, among others. All told, Braindrops is responsible for ~ 11,485 ETH (over $21 million) in generative art sales volume.

An open and transparent revenue-sharing model guides the platform’s collaborative efforts. Primary sales are split, with 85% going to the creator. Royalties are fixed at 7.5%, and the artists get the lion’s share of 5%.

In an industry where speculation fuels market value, it is incredible to observe how Braindrops has helped legitimize AI art as a bona fide category of digital valuables. Within the last two years, it has emerged from the fringes to mainstream success in Web3 and traditional art institutions.

Vibe Check

These founders remind us of everything Web3 should be, embodying the values upon which our ecosystems should be built. With top-notch brands like these emerging out of the fray, who are you most bullish on?

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.