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Cool Cats enters Japan 🐱

As the market recovers, many Blue Chip Projects from the last bull cycle have announced new exciting initiatives. Among them is Cool Cats, an NFT project well-known for their Blue Cat Character, forming the base of their 9,999 NFTs collection. They quickly gained success, with celebrities like Reese Witherspoon and Mike Shinoda purchasing them.

Most recently, Cool Cats announced their expansion to the Japanese market by teaming up with Animoca Brands Japan and SanFran Tokyo. Animoca Brands is a VC with countless investments in the Metaverse, Entertainment, and gaming. SanFran Tokyo is a decentralized city built on brand storytelling, and an Animoca subsidiary focused on media, gaming, fashion, and identities in the context of the anime culture.

Src: https://x.com/San_FranTokyo/status/1721689173844009259?s=20

Animoca has invested in Cool Cats as part of the partnership, while SanFran Tokyo has purchased Cool Cats on the secondary market. The collaboration will include the publication of a Cool Cats Manga, illustrated by a Japanese artist, and help embed Cool Cats IP in the Japanese market. Furthermore, Cool Cats will eventually appear in the city of San Fran Tokyo.

Takeaway: The Japanese market remains attractive for IP-based projects to expand to. Yet, it’s tough to tackle without understanding the culture. It is a smart move by Cool Cats to partner with companies on the ground.

Quickswap launches on Astar zkEVM testnet

On November 9th, Quickswap, the biggest DEX in the Polygon ecosystem by TVL according to DeFiLama, launched on zKatana, Astar’s zkEVM testnet.

The Astar zkEVm is an Ethereum Layer 2 solution developed using Polygon’s Chain Development Kit, which uses cutting-edge zero-knowledge technology to achieve large-scale and low fees for projects. During the testnet phase, Quickswap is ensuring that it’s ready for the Astar zkEVM mainnet coming in the near future.

Once on mainnet, Quickswap will be live on countless EVM networks, including Polygon, DogeChain, the Manta Pacific Rollup, and Kava. For Astar, this launch is a significant milestone toward attracting renowned DeFi players to its upcoming zkEVM mainnet.

Takeaway: L2s in testnet require rigorous testing to ensure that things run smoothly once launched. Onboarding various projects in this phase sets the stage for a vibrant ecosystem later.

Square Enix kicks off its NFT launch campaign.

Src: https://symbiogenesis.app/

Square Enix, the video game developer best known for its worldwide success launches, such as Final Fantasy, has launched a campaign to promote its upcoming NFT game: SYMBIOGENESIS.

Symbiogenesis was introduced last year in November, drawing attention from a worldwide audience as one of the first projects by an established game studio. It’s conceived as a new entertainment offering that combines storytelling, digital art, and game elements. The world of Symbiogenesis is that of a floating continent where players search for items based on hints and explore their surroundings. The experience will combine digital art and immersive worlds to bring something new to the space.

Ultimately, Square Enix hopes to create a new IP in the Web3 space and engage users in collaborative storytelling. With this first campaign, Square Enix will provide Allow List spots to users based on their Discord activity and ranking among other users. The higher one ranks, the higher the chance to win a free NFT mint.

NFTs will be available on Ethereum and Polygon mainnet, and the game is scheduled to launch in “winter 2023”.

Takeaway: It would seem that most of the world has moved away from the allow list NFT launch, yet Japan’s NFT scene, unlike the rest of the international projects, might have maintained its optimism and excitement thanks to regulation protecting investors from cataclysmic events such as the FTX and Luna collapse.

In other news

Japan Fact: We now consider big eyes a key feature of Manga Characters. This trend was started by Osamu Tezuka, the creator of Astro Boy, who drew inspiration from the 30s and 40s Disney films and their focus on expressive eyes. Thanks, Bambi!