The Matrix NFT Avatars

Welcome to newsletter #1

For those who don't know what this is, or why you're here, let me outline what this newsletter is alllll about.

Like many of us, you've probably heard of things like NFTs, Metaverse, Crypto and Web 3.0 but haven't dipped your toe in the water quite yet.

Well, I've dipped my toe into a couple of these - literally just a toe! I'm not a millionaire so not going to be buying any 100k NFTs any time soon.

I'm still learning but thought people might like to learn with me.

In future newsletters, I will go through the basics of some of these, but this week is a VERY exciting week for owners of The Matrix NFT Avatars ??

Background

These NFTs were commissioned to help publicise the release of the new The Matrix Resurrections film. According to the team behind them, this will be a multi-year project where the owner of one of these can complete "missions" to become 'The One'.

What does this mean? Who knows! ??♂?

But it sounded quite exciting and at around ￡45 to purchase it seemed worth a gamble. They were released on a platform called Niftys (niftys.com) who previously did something similar for the latest Space Jam movie.

Niftys is a nice platform for beginners, you don't need to mess with cryptocurrency, you could buy with a credit card, plus because they are teamed up with big brands (Warner Brothers) so you have some comfort knowing they are unlikely to screw you over.

There are two drawbacks:

1. ?They only have two collections currently (The Matrix & Space Jam) they did have a collection from Damien Hurst and one other, but these only seem to be available now by purchasing privately from the owners.
2. ?Mostly a closed marketplace - by this, I mean people are unlikely to stumble upon your NFT and want to purchase unless they go to the Niftys website. Unlike on something like OpenSea* which is a bit like the eBay of NFT sites (more on this in a future newsletter!)

*You can transfer your NFT to OpenSea but that's a whole other can of worms

Purchasing

As with all NFTs, you can buy The Matrix Avatars 'New' or second hand, let's start with new or the initial mint as it's called.

When an NFT is initially created it's 'minted', a bit like with a brand new physical coin, many NFT projects will release their NFTs first in a 'Blind Box' format. This is basically like a lottery, where the NFT you get is random and each one has a different level of uniqueness and therefore rarity.

It's this rarity that generally determines it's value.

In the case of the Matrix avatars, the uniqueness comes from the different clothing and accessories ??

This blind box format is good because usually, everyone pays the same price regardless of the rarity of their NFT (this is a generalisation and not always the case). So if you're lucky you get a really rare one and make a bit of money - or a lot of money in some cases.

So to purchase my avatar I had to wait in a website queue to be in with a chance of purchasing one of the 100,000 available.

The launch was a nightmare, there were numerous bugs and I ended up waiting in that queue for 28 hours ??

But...I got one! I paid my ￡45 and went to sleep happy and here she is, I call her Becky:

Again we'll go more into blind boxes and purchasing more in a future newsletter, let's get back to why this is an exciting week for Matix NFT holders.

Red Pill / Blue Pill

So on the 5th Jan owners are able to decide whether their avatar takes a red pill or a blue pill.

If you're not familiar with The Matrix films, Neo (Keanu Reeves), is given the choice of taking a blue pill and staying inside the Matrix simulation or taking a red pill and exiting the Matrix.

The avatars are given the same choice, take the blue pill and your avatar stays looking the same way, but is giving stats like job, salary, mundane stuff...

orrrr

Take the red pill, leave the Matrix and your avatar becomes a badass robot-fighting ninja!

Once you choose you can't go back, and if you choose the badass ninja route the rarity of your avatar changes. So could get better, but could get worse. Once the pill is taken each avatar type (red or blue pill) will have different missions so you don't miss out on the fun - you just might have a boring looking NFT.

I think you can guess which route I'm going to take ??

If you're familiar with one of the most famous NFT projects, The Bored Ape Yacht Club, this is similar to one of the apes taking the mutant serum. Once the serum is taken it can't change back.

Before/After a Bored Ape takes the serum

Can I still join in?

You sure can!

Currently, the cheapest Matrix avatars on the secondary market are around $100. You need to pay using DAI* coin, so not as easy as the initial purchase, you'll need a crypto wallet, to purchase some DAI, then make an offer to the owner on Niftys.

*Note: DAI is what's called a stablecoin and tries to maintain a value of 1 dollar so 1 DAI = 1 Dollar (It's currently at 0.74cents)

If interested head here and have a look:

Summary

I realise I've touched upon several different concepts around NFTs here and I promise to cover them in more depth in future newsletters.

But for now, here is some homework for you:

1. Follow Niftys on Twitter to get updates on future NFT drops
2. Download the VeVe app - this is where the Disney & Marvel NFTs are released and I'll do a deep dive into this app soon and is great for those wishing to dip in a toe.

I'll update you on the red pill taking!

??Let me know in the comments any topics you want me to cover ??