Nike Rises .SWOOSH Launches, Bitcoin NFTs Soar and NFT Lending Grows

This week, Bitcoin NFTs are having their moment, placing them just behind Ethereum NFTs in terms of sales. Meanwhile, NFT lending platforms and loan services are also gaining momentum. Blur’s Blend dominates with 82% of the NFT lending market share, while Binance has released its own NFT lending service that allows holders to use their blue-chip NFTs as collateral to secure ETH loans.

Nike’s .SWOOSH platform also released its first digital sneaker collection, which has racked up over $1 million in sales so far, though the mint process wasn’t a walk in the park for eager buyers who faced numerous delays and technical difficulties.

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Get off, Bitcoin NFTs: NFTs on Bitcoin have continued to grow in popularity, jumping to second place in terms of sales per blockchain, coming in just behind Ethereum, according to data from CryptoSlam. Bitcoin NFTs are a relatively new phenomenon, as they did not effectively exist until the activation of inscriptions on the Bitcoin network in January 2023.

Nike’s bumpy road to $1M: .SWOOSH, Nike’s Web3 collectibles platform, released its first NFT sneaker collection called Our Force 1 and has surpassed $1 million in sales despite a bumpy mint. The sale, which started with “First Access” on May 15 after many delays, faced several technical issues that hindered the user experience. The “General Access” sale began on May 24 – two weeks after the originally proposed date – and also experienced traffic and technology issues that prevented many from marking. The sale is ongoing, but Nike has already deemed it a success on Twitter, despite many NFTs not selling.

NFT lending is on trend: NFT lending platforms and lending services are having a moment, as buyers seek new ways to enter the NFT market without shelling out thousands of dollars:

What: Pixelgeist, a 2136-edition NFT collection, blends fashion, art and technology through vibrant and colorful artworks created with the help of artificial intelligence. The collection consists of new artwork from Silver that varies in edition sizes, with each piece depicting a “Pixelgeist,” described as “a digital entity that embodies the essence of an AI soul captured in a portrait.” Each purchase came with an NFT, a digital and physical wearable with the artwork and a digital avatar wearing the specialized garment.

How: During the embossing process, collectors were asked two questions that dictated what combination of artwork and clothing they received together. The collection sold out, although many are available for purchase on the secondary marketplace OpenSea.

Doge umentary: Columnist Jeff Wilser checks in with TriDog, a member of the Own the Doge DAO, who is working on a wild documentary to tell the memecoin’s story.

The Divine Way: Gods Unchained, Ethereum’s highest-grossing trading card game, revamped the project’s roadmap, laying out plans to launch a mobile version for both Android and Apple devices by the end of 2023.

Metaverse Champion: China’s Web3-friendly city of Nanjing, which previously launched a $1 billion blockchain fund, has launched a state-backed organization that aims to promote metaverse studies across the country.

Approximate murder: Decentraland is hosting a three-day Pride event featuring virtual art installations and live musical performances.

The NFT lending market has seen a huge boom in interest following NFT marketplace Blur’s launch of Blend, which already has hundreds of millions in trading volume. Two more companies entered the market this week, Binance and Astaria, with their own unique offerings, and they won’t be the last.

But before you put your NFT into one of these lending protocols, you should know how they work and all the options available to monetize your NFT without selling it. We’ve got you covered in this guide.