Web3 Watch: Milady Maker Twitter Storm and GameStop’s Ethereum Wallet

Profile picture NFT project Milady Maker is causing a stir on Twitter after its ​​founder was called out for controversial tweets and a shady internet history. Anonymous online collective Remilia created the Y2K Tokyo street fashion-inspired avatars that sold for an average price of $6,000 in April.

The collection has seen consecutive losses in the past few days as Remilia’s CEO, Charlotte Fang, also known as Charlie, stepped down from the project. When crypto Twitter accused Fang of being tied to an account named “Miya,” associated with hate speech and cults, the founder initially denied it. On Saturday, however, Fang confessed to being Miya and apologized for trying to hide its “toxic baggage.”

It is unclear what the true story behind Remilia and Milady is, but one Twitter user, @0xngmi, claims to have “proof” of the allegations against Miya. The user posted a thread on Sunday night compiling their theories, which quickly spread over Twitter and caused a number of holders to dump their Miladys. 

Buterin vs. Bored Apes 

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently published a Twitter thread expressing his conflicted feelings about Web3 and Ethereum use cases that may “contradict” his values. 

Among those contradictions is a “dislike of many modern financial blockchain ‘applications’ ($3M monkeys etc), and my grudging appreciation for the fact that that stuff is a big part of what keeps the crypto economy running,” Vitalik wrote. 

His reference to Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs (non-fungible tokens) as “$3M monkeys” incited many users to respond. @just1n_eth called on Buterin to “respect” Bored Apes, “instead of consistently taking your shots.” Another user, @OGDeathBot, pointed out that digital collectibles are “fun” and “necessary for mainstream adoption.”

In other BAYC news, a Singaporean man has won a court injunction that froze his BAYC #2162 NFT, preventing any potential sale or ownership transfer. The NFT is currently pending the resolution of an ownership dispute after it was foreclosed on as collateral for an NFT loan that the owner had taken out against it. The leading counsel for the case, Shaun Leong, told Bloomberg: “It is the first decision in a commercial dispute where NFTs are recognized as valuable property worth protecting.” 

On Sunday night, the window to claim Otherdeed for Otherside land for BAYC and Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFT holders officially closed. According to the team, the first tech demo will happen on July 16. Yuga Labs opened the Otherdeed sale on April 30 and has since dropped trailers and teasers of its much-anticipated Otherside metaverse and RPG game.

GameStop and Loopring launch MetaMask-like wallet

Video game retailer GameStop announced its latest Web3 move, launching the beta version of a self-custodial Ethereum wallet. It uses Loopring, an Ethereum layer-2 solution, that is built to enable cheaper and faster transactions than with Ethereum layer-1 mainnet.

Wallet users can access their assets via a private key and can store and trade ETH, NFTs and ERC-20 tokens through their web browsers. The wallet comes as a browser extension, similar to MetaMask, and is available on Chrome’s web store. The wallet supports cryptocurrencies and NFT operability across multiple decentralized apps (Dapps), including GameStop’s beta NFT marketplace.

Recently, GameStop partnered with Immutable X, a layer-2 scaling platform built on Ethereum, to power its forthcoming blockchain-based marketplace that will reportedly launch in the second quarter of this year. The two companies also launched a $100 million joint fund to invest IMX tokens in NFT-focused gaming projects.

NFTs are used to combat censorship in China

A noteworthy use case for NFTs is becoming increasingly popular in China, where citizens are leveraging NFTs to secure images, videos, audio and social media posts on a blockchain before the Chinese government can get to it.

Since Shanghai mandated its 25 million residents back into lockdown, Chinese internet censors have been scrubbing content from social media that shows any negative images and experiences, according to the Wall Street Journal.

For example, one six-minute video clip dubbed “Voices of April” featuring audio recordings of conversations and cries for help from Shanghai residents struggling to access food and medical care went viral on April 22 but was deleted.

In response, internet users minted copies of the video into NFTs on OpenSea, not necessarily for profit but to preserve history.

OpenSea launches open-source Web3 marketplace protocol 

NFT marketplace OpenSea launched on May 20 a new protocol for buying and selling NFTs that will broaden the range of assets that can be traded as well as hand control over the marketplace to developers. 

According to the company, the new protocol, known as Seaport, is a “foundation to empower the developer community to work together” to unlock use cases that “keep the community safe.” The protocol is not controlled by OpenSea, and its core smart contract is open to all NFT builders, creators and collectors to optimize. 

Users of marketplaces built on the Seaport protocol will be able to offer a range of assets in exchange for an NFT, including ERC-20, ERC-721 and ERC-1155 tokens, in addition to ETH. OpenSea considers this system safer because a user can agree to barter with a combination of tokens as a method of payment.

Additionally, users can specify certain criteria, such as rarities or NFTs traits, that they would require to accept an offer. Seaport will even support “tipping,” so long as the amount does not exceed the original offer.