NFT News: Yuga Labs Breaks Silence, X2Y2 Outpaces OpenSea

Yuga Labs has, at last, addressed the rumor that the group allegedly used alt-right and Nazi memes and iconography in the artwork and branding for the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC). 

According to iexclusivenews, the BAYC conspiracy theory was once again in the news on June 20 when YouTuber Philion posted a video examining the purported proof that artist Ryder Ripps allegedly gathered at the beginning of this year. 

Yuga Labs co-founder Gordon Goner stated in a Medium blog post that was published through Twitter on June 25 that the team ultimately decided to put an end to the rumor after it became so popular that one of their favorite podcasters was discussing it. 

“We’ve not responded in further detail to these allegations because frankly, they are insanely far-fetched.” 

“That said, we woke up this morning to a podca///ster we respect talking about this conspiracy theory, and that was pretty surreal. Made us feel like it was time to come out and put an end to all this,” he added. 

Ryder Ripps said, in particular, that the BAYC NFT artwork had racist depictions of Black and Asian people and that the project’s branding and logo made several allusions to Nazi symbolism and terminology. As a parody and protest against Yuga Labs, the artist has created a BAYC derivative NFT collection named RR/BAYC. 

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The squad categorically disputed claims that their logo was inspired by the Nazi Totenkopf (skull and crossbones) insignia, even if it didn’t answer every criticism leveled against the BAYC. Additionally, it reaffirmed that employing apes in the BAYC is not a racist troll but rather an homage to crypto degens. Many issues were left unanswered, therefore not everyone was happy with their solution. 

https://twitter.com/h0listicrypto/status/1540361984012701697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1540361984012701697%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcointelegraph.com%2Fnews%2Fnifty-news-yuga-labs-breaks-silence-x2y2-outpaces-opensea-and-more

Later that day, the Yuga Labs team provided an update in which it also announced that it has taken legal action and filed a lawsuit to “stop the continued infringement, and other unlawful attempts to do harm” to the company and community. Ryder Ripps wasn’t specifically mentioned by name, though. 

(1/2) The outpouring of support from our community today has been overwhelming. We will continue to be transparent with our community as we fight these slanderous claims. In order to put a stop to the continuous infringement, and other illegal attempts to bring harm to…

— Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) June 25, 2022

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NFT marketplace X2Y2 surges past OpenSea 

The sales volume on the Ethereum-based NFT marketplace X2Y2 has now surpassed that of the leading platform in the industry, OpenSea.

DappRadar data shows that during the last week, just 11,534 traders on X2Y2 made $144.16 million in NFT sales, as opposed to 155,734 traders on OpenSea who generated $117.64 million. 

Seven day NFT marketplace sales volume: DappRadar 

Although it doesn’t appear to host the sale of any top-tier NFT projects, the X2YX platform was introduced in February of this year.

It does, however, provide an OpenSea Sniper function that lets customers combine NFT purchases made on both X2YX and OpenSea into a single transaction.

Daily volumes for X2YX have increased to record levels in June, with the largest volume day ever being on June 6 with $32.92 million.

The platform’s positive rise this month looks to be attributed in part to its promotion offering $0 trading costs from June 1 through June 30. Crawley Town to release soccer kits tied to NFTs 

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Crawley Town F.C., a professional English football (soccer) team, has introduced a new soccer kit (playing uniform) that is only available to supporters who buy the accompanying NFT.

Crawley Town was purchased by sports-focused cryptocurrency company WAGMI late last year. It presently competes in the fourth tier of the English professional league pyramid.

Each season, professional clubs often have three distinct uniforms: one for home games, one for away games, and a third alternate uniform.

In this case, the third kit will be made available to fans through the purchase of NFTs. On June 25, Crowley Town co-owner Preston Johnson emphasized that the club is not attempting to introduce NFTs in order to make a fast profit but is instead seeking more sustainable revenue streams. 

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“Our NFTs are more like virtual season tickets. They’re not items we’re trying to sell to local fans.” 

BCware launches NFT app in Shopify App Store  

A new multi-chain NFT app that enables merchants to provide NFT buying and selling services from different blockchains in their stores has been released by California-based Web3 tech company BCware in the Shopify App Store.

Customers may pay with fiat money or cryptocurrencies using the app, which is now connected with Ethereum, Polygon, Flow, and Solana. The company added that “wallet onboarding for purchasers who are new to cryptocurrency” will be supported via the app.

The change was made the same week that Shopify released a product called NFT-gated storefronts that enables brands and merchants to increase the exclusivity of their online shops.