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

SHL0MS tricks the internet into critiquing a real Monet as AI art

SHL0MS posted a cropped Claude Monet Water Lilies painting from his 1914-1917 Giverny series, framing it as an AI-generated image and asking followers to describe what made it inferior to real Monet work. Over 600 responses poured in, with confident takes citing missing impasto, unnatural reflections, and a lack of soul. The experiment went viral as a sharp illustration of how quickly bias shapes artistic judgment. SHL0MS minted the painting as an NFT titled "inferior image," which sold for just over $42,000 across 28 bids.

Art Basel taps Trevor Paglen to curate inaugural Zero 10 edition in Switzerland

Art Basel announced that artist Trevor Paglen will serve as curator of Zero 10, the inaugural edition of the fair’s new program debuting in Switzerland. Paglen will helm the project alongside co-curator Eli Scheinman.

Paglen is widely known for art that examines surveillance, artificial intelligence, and the unseen infrastructure of modern technology, themes that have made him a recurring point of reference for the web3 art community and a fitting choice to lead Zero 10's debut in Switzerland. The presentation is organized around the theme "The Condition," examining life in a world saturated by digital imagery, computational systems, and artificial intelligence, bringing together historical and contemporary voices across digital, generative, and media art.

Ronin completes migration to Ethereum

Ronin has completed its migration from a standalone Layer 1 blockchain to a Layer 2 on Ethereum, built on the OP Stack in partnership with Optimism and Conduit. The team describes it as the largest state migration in blockchain history, completed with minimal downtime and RON retained as the gas token. 

Alongside the move, Ronin slashed RON emissions from 45 million to 5 million per year, with rewards now flowing directly to builders through a new Proof of Distribution system. Known for games like Axie Infinity, Pixels, and Wild Forest, Ronin positions the migration as a major unlock for its gaming ecosystem and a significant addition to Ethereum's Layer 2 landscape.

Final Bosu migrates to Ethereum

Final Bosu announced its move to Ethereum this week, expanding the collection’s reach to the largest NFT ecosystem. The Abstract collection is now frozen, with all NFTs airdropped directly to EVM wallets and trading on Ethereum live. The team celebrated migration day with a livestream featuring guests, behind-the-scenes moments, and an auction of grails.

YGG Play partners with Ruyui to publish “Roots of Embervault”

YGG Play, the publishing arm of Yield Guild Games, announced a third-party publishing partnership with creative studio Ruyui to bring the soulslike pixel-art RPG Roots of Embervault into its ecosystem. The game will be featured on the YGG Play Launchpad starting May 14, with integrated quests that let players earn rewards.

Roots of Embervault, currently playable on Abstract Chain, has built a dedicated core audience of crypto-native players. Players can collect the main character, Bob, via Telegram to use in chats and unlock in-game loot boxes.

The partnership will support Ruyui’s expansion into Asia-Pacific, where YGG originated in 2020 and maintains a community of more than 100,000 players. “Roots of Embervault has a lot of potential as a breakout IP,” said Gabby Dizon, co-founder of YGG. “There’s a big opportunity to bring its story to our community in APAC, where players value games that reward actual skill.”

.ART Registry launches global award for the artistic process

The .ART Registry launched the .ART Award, a new global prize marking the registry’s 10th anniversary with more than $50,000 in prizes. Open to artists across all geographies, backgrounds, and mediums, the award shifts focus from finished works to the creative process itself — applicants share their practice through a .ART domain linked to a website, portfolio, or social profile, rather than submitting a single finished artwork.

Prizes include a $15,000 Grand Prize, residencies at Château du Fresne in France and Anfitrion in Marbella, Spain, an editorial feature in Whitewall Magazine, and a premium .ART domain valued at $10,000. Applications opened May 11 and will close November 1, 2026, with winners revealed December 3 during Art Basel Miami.

The international jury includes Pulitzer-winning art critic Jerry Saltz of New York Magazine, theVERSEverse co-founder, Sasha Stiles, senior director of business development at Artsy and Artnet, Akanksha Ballaney, and Irina Tarsis, founder of the Center for Art Law, among others.

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