XCOPY Holding Strong, NFT Marketplace Tokens Heating Up
A look at how XCOPY holds up in a shaky market, why NFT marketplace tokens matter, and what’s next if OpenSea or Zora join the party. Plus: Worldcoin, Kaloh’s Podcast, and more.
Hello friends,
Welcome to another edition of Hidden Gems — your weekly rundown of onchain things that caught my eye lately.
Before we dive in, a quick ask:
I’m planning some surprises over the next few months... and for it to actually be a surprise, I’ll need your wallet address.
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Alright, let’s jump into this week’s gems.
💎 Gem of the Week
Max Pain and Frens by XCOPY
If you’ve been around crypto art or NFTs for a while, XCOPY is a name you’ve definitely come across. One of the earliest artists to use NFTs as a medium for distributing his work, he’s built one of the strongest communities in the space. Over the years, he’s released countless pieces — from iconic 1/1s to multi-editions — and continues to stay relevant by designing interactive burn-and-claim mechanics.
This week, I’m highlighting Max Pain and Frens — not just because it's a classic, but because it serves as a great benchmark for understanding XCOPY’s market and the broader crypto art ecosystem.
Even in these hyper-volatile times, XCOPY is holding strong — in some cases, even gaining value.
Why this collection stands out for collectors looking for exposure to crypto art:
Accessible floor: Sitting around 0.9 ETH
Cultural icon: Arguably the most popular XCOPY work in existence
High liquidity: Active demand and offers across years
Burn mechanics: You can trade your Max Pain and Frens for other XCOPY editioned works (1/50, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500, etc.)
Deflationary: Supply keeps shrinking as people burn for new drops
I’ve written about XCOPY several times over the years — most recently on March 6th, 2025, when I featured Max Pain and Frens in What Would I Collect with 2 ETH Today? It’s a pick that’s aged well.
📊 Chart of the Week
NFT Marketplaces Index
This week’s chart tracks the short-term movement of NFT marketplace tokens like Blur, Magic Eden, WAX, and LooksRare — giving us a clear snapshot of how this niche is behaving in real time. Over the past 7 days, the total market cap has hovered around $430M–$450M, with Blur making up more than half of the index. Magic Eden holds a strong second spot, while WAX and LooksRare trail behind.
This group is a useful barometer for where the NFT market might be heading — and what kind of confidence traders have in the infra layer of NFTs. It also sets the stage for the future: if long-rumored tokens from OpenSea, fxhash, or Zora ever drop, they could instantly reshape this landscape. Worth keeping an eye on.
✍️ Kaloh’s Newsletter
Scanning Eyes, Dropping Tokens: A Deep Dive into Worldcoin
In case you missed it, last week I shared a deep dive into one of the most talked-about projects in the “proof of humanity” space — Worldcoin — led by none other than Sam Altman (a hero to some, a villain to others).
If you’re a Farcaster user, you might enjoy the parallels with SocialFi protocols. Here’s a quick snippet from the piece:
While exploring Worldcoin, I couldn’t help but notice some strong similarities with Farcaster—the social protocol I’m more familiar with.
Mini Apps, In-House Wallets, Airdrop Growth Strategy, Investing in their own blockchains… There were some differences, which I think might be addressed by both projects becoming quite similar. In fact, competitors.
Read the full deep dive below — it’s available to premium members only. A premium subscription gives you access to all future deep dives, the full archive of premium content, and helps support the time and energy I put into Kaloh’s Newsletter.
If you’ve been enjoying the free posts, consider upgrading here.
📺 Content of the Week
Empire Podcast ft. With Santiago Roel Santos and Jason Yanowitz
First time I tuned into Empire — and it was worth it. Solid takes on investing, becoming a founder, and what crypto really needs to go mainstream.
Not for crypto tourists.
Topics: market crashes, altcoins, portfolio building, crypto M&A, Ripple moves.
🎙️ Kaloh’s Podcast
Next Episode… Wait.
Speaking of podcasts — a quick update on Kaloh’s Podcast.
You might’ve noticed I haven’t dropped a new episode in a few weeks. I decided to take a short break to focus properly on Indexy (you can try the Beta [here] and read more about it [here]).
Building Indexy solo has been pure joy — but also super demanding. Context switching between writing code, publishing a newsletter, and recording a podcast? It’s a recipe for three average outputs. And that’s not what I’m here for.
That said, I love having deep conversations with some of the smartest people in crypto — so the podcast will definitely be back. I can’t say exactly when, but it’s not going away.
In the meantime, here are a few favorite episodes in case you missed them:
That’s it for today…
If you found this useful, give it a like and share it with your onchain crew — it helps more than you think.
Until next time,
- Kaloh
PS: Don’t forget to check in with your wallet address if you like surprises.