Welcome to the OpenSea newsletter, let's recap the most important NFT and web3 news of the week.
Photographer Justin Aversano's global portrait project, which took two years to complete, concluded with 366 NFT images.
Photographer Justin Aversano completed a 366-day portrait series this week, auctioning each 10-second analog film portrait as an NFT to 135 buyers.
In this project starting from April 2025, Aversano traveled across seven continents, photographing strangers including Antarctic explorers and Zambian families, then minting each portrait daily on the Ethereum blockchain.
Every day, he also hosts live audio conversations on X, introducing his audience to other artists, community members, and thought leaders.
Morgan Stanley will launch the first Bitcoin ETF issued by a Wall Street bank.
Morgan Stanley launched a Bitcoin ETF, an investment fund traded on the stock exchange that tracks the price of Bitcoin, making it the first major Wall Street bank to offer such a product, allowing investors to invest through regular brokerage accounts without needing to buy or store Bitcoin themselves.
The fund is named Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust and will trade on the NYSE Arca under the ticker symbol MSBT.
The Ethereum Foundation supports new frameworks connecting its ecosystem.
Blockchain companies Gnosis and Zisk are building an 'Ethereum Economic Zone' that will serve as shared technical infrastructure, allowing Layer 2 (L2) networks to process transactions together.
The Ethereum Foundation supports this project because L2 aims to handle more transactions at a lower cost, but historically they have operated as independent systems, drawing fees and activity away from the Ethereum mainnet.
The proposed framework will require participating networks to accept ETH as the default transaction currency and share the same underlying infrastructure, theoretically reducing duplicate technical work.
According to reports, Gnosis and Zisk plan to release technical specifications in the coming weeks.
Since February, nearly 70,000 ETH have been staked, bringing the Ethereum Foundation closer to its goal.
The Ethereum Foundation staked approximately 45,000 ETH on Friday, bringing its total staked to 69,500 ETH, slightly below its self-imposed target of 70,000 ETH.
Staking, which locks up cryptocurrency to help verify transactions on the network, allows stakers to earn a certain percentage of returns over time. The foundation stated that it plans to use these returns for protocol research, development, and ecosystem grants, rather than directly selling the held Ethereum (ETH). This shift was driven by community pressure to stop using liquidated tokens to cover expenses.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin pointed out a trade-off: if a significant controversy arises in the community and a vote is ultimately held, the foundation holding staked tokens may have too much influence over the direction of the network.
SoFi has launched a commercial banking platform that supports both fiat and cryptocurrency.
According to the company's press release, the financial services platform SoFi has launched a commercial banking platform that allows companies to hold, transfer, and settle funds in traditional or cryptocurrency within a regulated system.
The platform is called 'Big Business Banking', and it also supports SoFi's stablecoin SoFiUSD. Additionally, the platform is expected to connect with Solana and other blockchain networks.
According to the press release, the first participants include Cumberland, Bullish, BitGo, B2C2, Fireblocks, Wintermute, Galaxy, Jupiter, Mesh Payments, and Mastercard.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial or trading advice. Mentioning specific projects, products, services, or tokens does not constitute endorsement, sponsorship, or recommendation by OpenSea. OpenSea does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided, and readers should verify any statements in this article before taking any action. Readers are responsible for conducting due diligence before making any decisions.
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