Welcome to the OpenSea digest. Let’s look back through the biggest NFT and web3 news of the week.

Otherside launches AI builder as Quirkies and ApeCoin bring weekly games

Otherside, the metaverse platform built by Yuga Labs, launched OS Vibe Maker, a browser-based tool that lets creators build interactive spaces using plain-text prompts powered by AI with no coding required, per an announcement on X.

Early community builds already include a cinema, a club, a hotel, and several minigames, all constructed using Metaverse Markup Language, or MML, Otherside's custom markup language for multiplayer 3D environments. 

Meanwhile, Quirkies, a cartoon-style NFT collection, is partnering with Otherside and ApeCoin DAO, a decentralized community treasury that funds Yuga-related projects, to run weekly Quirky events every Friday at 4 p.m. ET starting this month.

ApeCoin DAO also launched Blackbeard's Bounty Season 2, a pirate-themed in-world scavenger event inside Otherside, running from March 4 to 15.

Beeple Studios to host Shepard Fairey: Obey and Resist event in Charleston

Beeple Studios, the physical art space run by NFT-famous digital artist Mike Winkelmann, is hosting a live event with Shepard Fairey, the street artist best known for the iconic Obama "Hope" poster, on March 21 in Charleston, S.C. 

The event, titled "Obey and Resist," includes live street art, screen printing, and art battles. 

RSVPs are open now.

CryptoPunks now accepts USDC

NODE, a nonprofit foundation focused on digital art preservation, announced March 3 that CryptoPunks can now be bought and sold using USDC, a stablecoin with a value fixed to the U.S. dollar. 

The update runs on EIP-7702, an Ethereum network upgrade that consolidates what used to be a three-step transaction process into a single wallet action. 

Because USDC holds a steady value, buyers can more easily evaluate a Punk's price without accounting for swings in ETH, the cryptocurrency historically used to trade them. According to NODE, the underlying CryptoPunks contract, which has recorded every sale since 2017, remains unchanged.

a.c.k. burns 111 NFTs from 3AC collapse to launch new ‘Starry Nights’ series

Digital artist Alpha Centauri Kid, known as a.c.k., has permanently burned 111 editions of his 2021 work La Nuit Étoilée, reducing its total supply and setting the stage for a new 111-piece series titled Starry Nights, according to a post on X.

The original 300-edition work was created as the Funders Token for Starry Night Capital, a digital art fund backed by Three Arrows Capital. After 3AC collapsed in 2022, 188 editions sold at Sotheby’s during liquidation proceedings. The remaining unsold works were later reacquired by the artist, who burned 111 of them.

Starry Nights, scheduled to launch later this year via a ranked public auction, will feature 111 one-of-one digital works minted as ultra-high-resolution 15k deep-zoom images. Auction winners will also be eligible to receive a physical print.

Solana Foundation launches payments.org to document how institutions are using stablecoins

The Solana Foundation, the nonprofit behind the Solana blockchain network, just launched payments.org, a reference hub for financial institutions researching how stablecoins are being used in live payment infrastructure.

The site organizes active use cases by category on the Solana blockchain, including remittances, payouts, card issuance, merchant transactions, corporate treasury, embedded finance, and AI agent payments. Live network data and named company examples are attached to each one.

Stablecoins are digital currencies with values pegged to traditional money like the U.S. dollar, designed to hold a stable price where most cryptocurrencies fluctuate.

‍Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial or trading advice. References to specific projects, products, services, or tokens do not constitute an endorsement, sponsorship, or recommendation by OpenSea. OpenSea does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information presented, and readers should independently verify any claims made herein before acting on them. Readers are solely responsible for conducting their own due diligence before making any decisions.‍