Good morning fellow degens,

It’s a new week, a new newsletter, and we are ready to get into it. This week’s metaverse round-up is as varied as my OpenSea ‘hidden’ folder, as we touch on everything from the Otherside, to Elvis, and even virtual therapy.

Let’s make some magic.

TL;DR:
Old To The Moon - daily recap of the previous day’s top stories
New To The Moon - Five curated edits focusing on all the Metaverse, NFT, Digital Fashion, Web3 AI, and Blockchain Gaming news of the week.

📈📉Weekly Metaverse Moves

Metaverse Markets: What in the Metaverse is happening with Yield Guild Games!? The live Yield Guild Games price today is $0.584721 USD with a 24-hour trading volume of $518,348,698 USD. In the past 7 days they have continued to go up - on August 1st, token price was 0.17. Today, it’s 0.58. YGG kicked off GAP Season 4 on August 4th, and boy has it pumped those prices.

🌑Full Moons - Apes, Elvis, and Health

A Roaring Success?

Last week, Yuga Labs announced that it has acquired Roar Studios. 

Roar Studios is a tech company specializing in immersive social gaming experiences and AI technology.

Together, the dynamic duo aims to supercharge Yuga Labs' metaverse plans.

• Roar Studios brings its proprietary platform, "ROAR," to the partnership, allowing artists and fans to connect and collaborate in real-time virtual spaces.

• This platform combines audio, gaming, and AI technology to create experiential, user-driven entertainment worlds, blurring the lines between virtual and reality.

Basically, as Yuga Labs continues to develop the Otherside metaverse, Roar Studios will lend their expertise and cutting-edge tech.

As Yuga Labs develops its highly anticipated Otherside metaverse, the expertise and cutting-edge technology from Roar Studios will play a significant role. The goal is to create an interoperable metaverse environment. A place for Apes, Punks, Doggos, et all.

Yuga Labs is the GOAT of the Web3 space, and they prove this time and time again. Are they going to take the metaverse to the next level?

All Hail the King

From Roar to Rock and Roll - Elvis Presley, the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll is making his metaverse debut in The Sandbox.

These officially licensed Elvis Presley avatars serve to preserve the legacy of the iconic musician.

• The collection will consist of 3000 avatars, with recognizable outfits and hairstyles from various stages of Presley's legendary career. Each avatar will also come with a unique set of emotes, inspired by his iconic dance moves, capturing the essence of his electrifying stage presence.

• The NFT-based avatars will be minted on Polygon and fully playable in all future multiplayer experiences within The Sandbox metaverse.

• A limited 24-hour presale will be available to lucky holders on August 8th, including The Sandbox land owners, those with allowlist spots, and holders of specific collections. The public sale will commence on August 9th, with all avatars being revealed on August 11th. The avatars will be offered in four different rarity levels, with one level priced at 100 SAND (approximately $41).

In the metaverse we can be anyone and anything, Elvis included.

This development from The Sandbox comes with extra special treats, and holders also gain governance and voting rights for the Elvis Legacy Council DAO.

So, by holding an Elvis NFT, you can shape the future of Elvis Presley in the metaverse.

Happier in the Metaverse

A leading healthcare platform in spatial computing has conducted a study revealing the potential of virtual reality therapy in treating mental health issues.

The research focused VR therapy provided only in the metaverse. In the study, patients could plug in from the comfort of their own homes for their therapy session!

• The study involved 61 participants, spanning various age groups and gender identities, who experienced a 34% reduction in anxiety and a 32% decrease in stress levels after the therapy.

• Particularly noteworthy was a significant 73% reduction in stress levels among participants aged 18 to 24.

In case you were wondering about the legitimacy of it all, the study used licensed clinicians, together with advanced data, to deliver the solutions.

This is not the first time we have seen mental health in Web3, but it is definitely a step forward for the metaverse as a whole.

Getting out the door and travelling to therapy can be a huge step for some - perhaps this solution could break down the access barrier.

🔭The Scope

The metaverse does not slow down, and this week’s news brings three very different key takeaways. Firstly, Yuga Labs’ acquisition of Roar shows that it is not playing around when it comes to the Otherside. The brand just keeps on building, and we can’t wait to see what comes next (hopefully not outrageous gas fees!).

Then, Elvis Presley’s entrance to The Sandbox signals a growing number of creatives using their IP in virtual worlds. From AI being used to recreate deceased artist’s work, to avatar twins in virtual worlds, the metaverse could be the world where we continue to live after we have left this earth.

Finally, the integration of metaverse in mental health studies shows that the space is more than fun and games - its the future of, well, everything.

🌓Half Moons

If you want to stake in The Sandbox Metaverse, you will have to KYC. Fearing regulatory scrutiny faced by cryptocurrencies (cc. Gary Gensler) The Sandbox has implemented KYC verification for its staking processes.

According to the Japanese PM, a “large Japanese company will announce to the world a big, ambitious project that aims to create a valuable economic system in the metaverse.”

Metaverse fashion has hit Scandinavia, as Copenhagen Fashion Week collaborates with Drest for metaverse fashion challenges.

🔭The Scope

“They tried to bury us, but they didn’t know that we were seeds.” Despite the naysayers, everyone from fashion execs to PMs are recognising the importance and value of the metaverse.

⚪Total Eclipse

A fun fact to brighten your Monday morning

Did you know that in the popular virtual world "Second Life," there is a virtual island called "Wales." Interestingly, the country of Wales in the real world (aka Editor Koko’s hometown, represent!) is smaller than the virtual island! The virtual representation of Wales in "Second Life" is larger than the actual country it is based on.

💫Shooting Star

This week’s shooting star is TAYLOR.WTF

TAYLOR.WTF is a digital art visionary and NFT trailblazer, who continues to create innovative masterpieces despite a recent spinal tumor diagnosis. Seamlessly integrating AI-generated elements into his works, he pushes the boundaries of digital art, inspiring and innovating in Web3 since 2017.

JPEG.LAND V.069 - #000 is a metaverse space on Monaverse. The description reads: ‘JPEGLAND used to be a beautiful place where everyone could be whatever they wanted but evil AI has come and the war to take back the metaverse has begun!’

🌚Dark Side of the Meme