Grails’ lucky dip of famous NFT artists, new hope for PFP holders: NFT Collector
Grails by PROOF Season IV
Collecting art is historically not just about the art itself but who the artist is and the story behind the piece. The emergence of NFTs as a way to attribute provenance to digital objects has seen an explosion of interest in the past few years, even if that’s currently seeing something of a lull.
The work of artists like Alotta Money, Josie Bellini, Trevor Jones, Coldie, Snowfro, Beeple, and collections such as Fidenzas and Ringers, show that digital art is here to stay, even as many pockets of the NFT space are reportedly down 95% from all-time highs.
But with the artists playing such an important role in the market, it’s been intriguing to see Grails by PROOF flip this paradigm on its head by abstracting away who the artist is. A gamification mechanic reveals between 20–25 pieces of art to 1,000 whitelisted collectors prior to a minting window — but the catch is no one knows who the artists are behind each respective piece.
This creates a special dynamic that introduces a different type of speculation about who the artist could be behind each work. Some collectors mint a piece they like purely based on their assessment of the art itself, while others take a punt on their ability to guess who the artist might be behind.
Grails was the brainchild of PROOF co-founder Kevin Rose, with the inaugural season launched in February 2022 and the first-ever reveal on March 6, 2022. Eli Scheinman, head of art at PROOF, explains the concept aims:
“To engage collectors in a way that abstracted away some of the financialization of collecting NFTs that was, and still is, in many ways so rampant. By taking away an artist’s name, it really demanded or challenged all of the collectors to really go deep and spend a lot of time with each of these artworks.”
The three seasons so far have attracted some of the biggest names in NFT land, including Snowfro, Larva Labs, Tyler Hobbs, Claire Silver, Dmitri Cherniak, Deafbeef, Emily Xie, Justin Aversano, Alpha Centauri Kid, Josie Bellini and Matt Kane. Plus, names that are lesser known for their art but have celebrity status and are involved with the NFT space, like Gary Vaynerchuk, Alexis Ohanian and Tim Ferriss.
Curtain coming up on Season IV
Season IV (4) of Grails is set for reveal on Aug. 11, with Scheinman continuing to experiment with the mechanics and double down on the storytelling and production value of the reveal.
“We try to maintain that sense of it being special and unique, so that means we’re constantly trying to iterate and improve the experience in new ways,” Scheinman says, explaining that season three had introduced the notion of a series, enabling a single artist to contribute multiple unique pieces as part of a collection.
“In season four, we’re taking that a step further in that three of the five series that are in this exhibition are true long-form generative projects using the Art Blocks engine. Those outputs, when minted, are really generated live in that moment. Whereas in the past, these were pre-curated outputs, meaning an artist would provide us with the files ahead of time, and then we would distribute those on mint.”
“I think storytelling is fundamental to connecting through a piece of artwork, and the way that we do Grails, for example, is really this fun way of playing with that notion in that you go from zero context to 100% context.”
Watch previous Grails reveals: Season 1 / Season 2 / Season 3
Read also
What’s hot in NFT art markets
Notable sales came from Autoglyphs, Alpha Centauri Kid and Drifter Shoots.
We also saw Chinese contemporary artist Yue Minjun release his first NFT collection titled ‘Kingdom of the Laughing Man. The 999 pieces minted for between 0.35–0.39 ETH and now sit at a 0.55 ETH floor on OpenSea.
Read also
Luca Netz claps back at idea PFP holders are doomed
Deep into an NFT bear market where volumes have tested new 12-month lows, the question that persistently gets asked by PFP collections holders is, “How does this drive value back to holders?”
Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins, clapped back at a tweet suggesting PFP holders have no stake in the enterprise and outlined why he believes PFP holders are not doomed if they pick the right project. Netz explained that “building a globally recognized brand is the best path to accruing value for the NFT holder.”
Brands that are striving to build household IP, such as Pudgy Penguins, VeeFriends and Doodles, all are diversifying their brand offerings, including real-world offerings, ensuring their IP has many more touch points outside of the NFT ecosystem.
From VeeFriends physical collector cards and multiple collaborations, including their recent announcement with Reebok for physical sneakers, to Doodles last week announcing its partnership with Crocs, to Pudgy Penguins showing up at Comic Con in San Diego in July.
Having holders to appease can be both a gift and a curse, but some founders are navigating this terrain better than others; Netz is one of those. The serial entrepreneur, who has done over $500 million in consumer packaged goods sales, took over the Pudgy project after issues with the original founding team and has arguably threaded the needle better than others.
It still remains to be seen how Netz’s masterplan plays out, but this well-thought-out thread articulates a future that many NFT collectors could get behind, validated by the 1,000+ bookmarks the thread already has.
Amazon Prime dips its toe into the Web3 gaming waters with Mojo Melee
In a small preview of what is to come, Amazon Prime has partnered with Mojo Melee to give away NFTs for its Prime subscribers.
The auto battler game is built on Polygon and played via web browsers and Android devices. The offer for Prime subscribers is set to expire in just under three weeks.
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Politics
Sir Keir Starmer vows to defend budget decisions ‘all day long’ as farmers slam ‘disrespectful’ PM
Sir Keir Starmer has said he will defend the decisions made in the budget “all day long” amid anger from farmers over inheritance tax changes.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced last month in her key speech that from April 2026, farms worth more than £1m will face an inheritance tax rate of 20%, rather than the standard 40% applied to other land and property.
The announcement has sparked anger among farmers who argue this will mean higher food prices, lower food production and having to sell off land to pay for the tax.
Sir Keir defended the budget as he gave his first speech as prime minister at the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno, North Wales, where farmers have been holding a tractor protest outside.
Sir Keir admitted: “We’ve taken some extremely tough decisions on tax.”
He said: “I will defend facing up to the harsh light of fiscal reality. I will defend the tough decisions that were necessary to stabilise our economy.
“And I will defend protecting the payslips of working people, fixing the foundations of our economy, and investing in the future of Britain and the future of Wales. Finally, turning the page on austerity once and for all.”
He also said the budget allocation for Wales was a “record figure” – some £21bn for next year – an extra £1.7bn through the Barnett Formula, as he hailed a “path of change” with Labour governments in Wales and Westminster.
And he confirmed a £160m investment zone in Wrexham and Flintshire will be going live in 2025.
‘PM should have addressed the protesters’
Among the hundreds of farmers demonstrating was Gareth Wyn Jones, who told Sky News it was “disrespectful” that the prime minister did not mention farmers in his speech.
He said “so many people have come here to air their frustrations. He (Starmer) had an opportunity to address the crowd. Even if he was booed he should have been man enough to come out and talk to the people”.
He said farmers planned to deliver Sir Keir a letter which begins with “‘don’t bite the hand that feeds you”.
Farmers’ tractor protest outside the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno, North Wales
Mr Wyn Jones told Sky News the government was “destroying” an industry that was already struggling.
“They’re destroying an industry that’s already on its knees and struggling, absolutely struggling, mentally, emotionally and physically. We need government support not more hindrance so we can produce food to feed the nation.”
He said inheritance tax changes will result in farmers increasing the price of food: “The poorer people in society aren’t going to be able to afford good, healthy, nutritious British food, so we have to push this to government for them to understand that enough is enough, the farmers can’t take any more of what they’re throwing at us.”
Mr Wyn Jones disputed the government’s estimation that only 500 farming estates in the UK will be affected by the inheritance tax changes.
“Look, a lot of farmers in this country are in their 70s and 80s, they haven’t handed their farms down because that’s the way it’s always been, they’ve always known there was never going to be inheritance tax.”
On Friday, Sir Keir addressed farmers’ concerns, saying: “I know some farmers are anxious about the inheritance tax rules that we brought in two weeks ago.
“What I would say about that is, once you add the £1m for the farmland to the £1m that is exempt for your spouse, for most couples with a farm wanting to hand on to their children, it’s £3m before anybody pays a penny in inheritance tax.”
Read more:
Ex-Labour adviser suggests doing to farms ‘what Thatcher did to coal mines’
Farmers ‘could block ports and disrupt food supply’
Welsh farmer Gareth Wyn Jones
Ministers said the move will not affect small farms and is aimed at targeting wealthy landowners who buy up farmland to avoid paying inheritance tax.
But analysis this week said a typical family farm would have to put 159% of annual profits into paying the new inheritance tax every year for a decade and could have to sell 20% of their land.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The Country and Land Business Association (CLA), which represents owners of rural land, property and businesses in England and Wales, found a typical 200-acre farm owned by one person with an expected profit of £27,300 would face a £435,000 inheritance tax bill.
The plan says families can spread the inheritance tax payments over 10 years, but the CLA found this would require an average farm to allocate 159% of its profits each year for a decade.
To pay that, successors could be forced to sell 20% of their land, the analysis found.
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