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

Coachella and OpenSea Launch The VIP Pass Plus Oasis Lounge Keepsake

OpenSea and Coachella have partnered this year to offer VIP passes to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April 2024 combined with a special Oasis Lounge Keepsake. 

For $1,499, the Coachella VIP Pass + Oasis Lounge Package, which was announced on Tuesday, offers a Keepsake NFT that comes with a VIP festival pass for the Coachella weekend of choice, plus access to the private Oasis Lounge + Bar inside the festival’s VIP area. Lounge access will be exclusive to holders of this Keepsake. 

Holders of the pass will also receive complimentary food and drinks, NFTs from Grammy award-winning artist Dave Van Patten, and extra surprises.

Coachella and OpenSea will release the second collection, the Canvas Welcome Box Keepsake, on March 25. This collection will offer varying levels of utility, including unique merchandise, digital content, and access to the Rose Garden VIP area, among other benefits. Detailed information on cost and tiers will be announced mid-March. In mid-April, the third and final drop will introduce an artist collaboration, promising yet another layer of exclusive benefits for Coachella attendees. Details for this collection will be revealed in late March.

Powered by the Avalanche blockchain, this partnership exemplifies the range of NFT utility through tangible experiences and merchandise while broadening the appeal of NFTs beyond early adopters. 

Parallel Launches Open Beta

NFT trading card game Parallel has kicked off its open beta with Season One: Toxic, ushering in new rewards and playable cards for fans. Previously, Parallel was only available in a closed beta version, but now the free-to-play sci-fi game is open to the public. 

In response to the new beta, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is offering up to $5 in in-game credits and two free packs of non-NFT trading cards to new players accessing the game through Coinbase’s “explore” page, or through the social media posts of Coinbase’s Layer Two (L2) blockchain, Base.

Recognized as GG’s 2023 game of the year, Parallel blends traditional trading card strategy with blockchain technology to create intense matches that reward players with optional NFTs. Cards. Trading cards represent one of five total categories, or “factions,” that possess distinct advantages and philosophical approaches to gameplay.

For instance, the Earthen faction utilizes superior defense strategies as the lucky survivors of a major catastrophic event (who now manipulate nature to increase earth’s radiation). Meanwhile, the Marcolian faction is known for being fast and aggressive, and the Kathari faction uses cloning power to preserve their population. Augencore represents a group of curious cyborgs who discover resources within the solar system, while the Shroud faction is comprised of multigenerational survivors of a blackhole encounter.

CryptoPunks Book Launch Slated for Fall 2024

CryptoPunks are getting literary. In fall 2024, the PFP project will be releasing a meaty catalog covering all 10,000 of its NFT avatars. The project will be published by global creative arts publisher Phaidon, known for its books on culture, art, design, music, and architecture. Alongside the standard edition, special limited-edition books will be available. Pre-order details are set to drop this spring. 

Meanwhile, a CryptoPunk NFT — one of the rare alien variants — just fetched a staggering $16 million, the second-largest sale in the history’s collection. CryptoPunk 3100 has come a long way since its $2,127 sale in 2017.

Permissionless III Dates Announced

It’s official! Web3 news outlets Blockworks and Bankless are bringing together crypto natives for Permissionless III, the third rendition of its industry conference. Dates are set for October 9 to 11 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

For those interested in enjoying nature and networking with fellow crypto enthusiasts while soaking up insights from former Coinbase CTO and investor Balaji S. Srinivasan, Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz, and creator economy investor Li Jin, tickets begin at $199 and are on sale now. 

According to Blockworks, this year’s conference will focus on seven main topics: modularity, restaking, gaming, Bitcoin, AI and crypto, NFTs, and Layer Two solutions. 

Doodles Announces NFT NYC Gallery, ‘Doodles: Project Gray’

The colorful Doodles world is going gray — in a good way. This week, the brand announced “Project Gray,” an exclusive gallery event set for April 4 in New York City. 

Doodles is advertising the event as “an immersive behind-the-scenes experience for token holders,” with limited spots available. Registration kicked off by targeting OG holders first on March 6. 

Registrants will need to verify token ownership (of either a Doodles or Space Doodles NFT) to secure their place. Grab your spot here. 

Tapping Overtook Scanning QR Codes at ETH Denver This Year

If you’re used to scanning QR codes at conferences (whether for food menus, contact information sharing or event programs), you may soon be leaving it behind for tapping — think near-instantaneous transaction scans made possible with technology like IYK chips. 

And tapping was all the rage at last week’s ETH Denver 2024. According to web3 writer and personality, TPan of the Web3 with TPan newsletter, IYK chips were embedded in the badges of the conference’s 18,500 attendees. As he describes, the tech made networking smoother, especially through its collaboration with Ethereum Name Service (ENS) and Proof of Attendance Protocol (POAP) which led to the creation of personalized name cards.

NodeMonkes, Bitcoin-Native PFPs, Are Heating Up

NodeMonkes, a group of pixelated characters that calls itself “Bitcoin’s first 10,000-item profile picture (PFP) collection,” has captured the web3 world’s attention with a recent sale of over 17 BTC ($1.08 million) and a current floor price of over $40,000. 

Launched in December 2023, these characters are Bitcoin Ordinals, meaning they are inscribed on individual satoshis, the lowest denomination of the Bitcoin currency. The collection’s pixelated aesthetic and distorted traits reflect the web3 zeitgeist and connect to the imagination of crypto natives, particularly those with an affinity for the Bitcoin blockchain.

A public Dutch auction originally catapulted NodeMonkes to success, and the collection now has a roughly $500 million market cap at the time of writing, attracting notable collectors and solidifying its status as the “CryptoPunks” of Bitcoin.