This week was another wild ride in the metaverse. William Shatner is diving deep with a new NFT collection and data showed that Yuga Labs collections account for more than a third of NFT sale volume. Also, there’s a national Romanian NFT marketplace on the horizon. Here’s what’s going on:

William Shatner Dives In

William Shatner, the original Star Trek captain and longtime crypto fan has officially dropped his own NFT collections, known as Infinite collections. Infinite Collections include two themes:

    • Cosmic Explorer: The Cosmic Explorer collection features 2,500 NFTs depicting a 3D avatar of William Shatner himself. This is paird with artwork that explores sonic vibrations, quantum physics, and other scientific themes. Each purchase of a Cosmic Explorer NFT comes with a Captain James T. Kirk action figure, and a signed quote from the character. 
  • Timeless Voyager: The second collection is the Timeless Voyager collection. This includes 1,000 NFTs of 2D work featuring future tech and the cosmos. This collection doesn’t feature an action figure, but some holders will have access to IRL opportunities. 

In a statement, William Shatner had the following to offer:

“NFTs are slowly becoming more artistic. These, developed by Orange Comet, are among the most artistic I’ve ever seen.”

Uga Labs Dominates the Metaverse

If you’re wondering whether the metaverse has any dominant players, the answer is yes, and the most dominant player is Yuga labs. In fact, from October 2022 through March 2023, Yuga Labs collections accounted for almost 35% of all NFT trading volume. 

That’s no surprise. Yuga Labs is the creator of the Board Ape Yacht Club. But that’s not the only collection that’s selling like wildfire. 

Aside from BAYC, Yuga Labs is also the creator of the Mutant Ape Yacht Club and Otherside metaverse game land deeds. The company also acquired CryptoPunks and Meebits NFT IP from Larva Labs in 2022. Between all of these collections, Yuga labs now dominates the metaverse – there’s no question about it! 

Romanian National NFT Marketplace is On the Way

As the metaverse continues to expand, more and more national parties are getting involved. So, it’s not surprising to find out that another national NFT marketplace is coming down the line. 

According to recent press, a Romanian national NFT marketplace is on the horizon. 

The news comes from Romania’s National Institute for Research and Development in informatics, known as ICI Bucharest. ICI Bucharest announced that it plans to launch an institutional NFT platform to drive Web3 adoption in Romania. 

Paul Niculescu-Mizil Gheorghe, blockchain laboratory coordinator at ICI Bucharest, said that NFTs have become a valuable asset for institutions. In particular, this value comes from an innate capability of creating unique and scarce assets. 

We’ll See You Next Week

That’s all for this week my friends. We’ll see you next week for the latest and greatest in the NFT industry!