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1️⃣ Art Blocks welcomes its next chapter
Ethereum's generative art capital, Art Blocks, just formalized its first era.
That's because this week, the platform's team announced Art Blocks 500, a finite catalog of 500 projects across their Curated, Playground, Factory, and other main release series.
Currently, the project is at 495 collections, with five to go before November 2025: 2 final Curated drops and 3 community-focused Explorations. After this, the first 500 collections will get the "glass case” treatment, and the AB team will shift their focus from new launches to preservation and elevation efforts.
In the meantime, AB isn't going anywhere. Expect more Studio drops, Engine partnerships, and onchain experiments to come.
2️⃣ Huge Yuga buy-up
In collecting news, billionaire Adam Weitsman just swept +5,000 Yuga Labs NFTs, namely Otherdeeds and Kodas.
The batch purchase came via a direct sale from the Bored Ape creators, with Weitsman planning to make more open-market buys later.
It’s a rare primary sale bundle of massive size and a loud vote of confidence at a time when NFT volumes are warming and Yuga has been doubling down on its Otherside metaverse (and divesting peripheral holdings like CryptoPunks).
Net net, this move injects liquidity and attention into Yuga’s flagship worldbuilding effort, so let's see where things go from here.
3️⃣ Record cryptoart loan
This week, NFT lending platform GONDI facilitated a $1,000,000 USDC loan against XCOPY’s 1/1 When Airdrop?
Notably, this appears to be the largest single-edition digital art loan to date. As for the details, the terms started at 20% effective APR, with a 1-year duration across two tranches.
It's a clear sign that lenders on GONDI are getting more comfortable underwriting top-tier cryptoart with real size, so don't be surprised if we see more whopping loans here in the months ahead.
4️⃣ Big onchain NFT birthdays
Two hallmark projects in the fully onchain scene, 
Nouns and BasePaint, celebrated their birthdays this week. Nouns turned 4 years old, while 
BasePaint turned 2.
Both ventures are niche, to be sure. Nouns is an open brand that funds creative experiments, while BasePaint is a collaborative pixel art platform.
Yet both projects have come a long way, and they've consistently produced great work; plus their designs are onchain marvels, and their communities remain filled with incredibly talented people.
All that's to say, Nouns and BasePaint exemplify some of the best things that are possible in the 
Ethereum ecosystem, so cheers to them and what they've accomplished so far. Happy birthday, here's to many more!
