Try Quests to earn cryptoNouns DAO
Let's take a deep dive into Nouns DAO, an NFT project where a new Noun NFT is auctioned every 24 hours, with proceeds from the auction being sent to the Noun Treasury.
The star of Nouns DAO are the Nouns NFTs, digital pixel art characters with one sold at auction daily to the highest bidder. As you may know, DAOs are crypto organisations which individuals can contribute to, in Nouns DAO in order to take part and vote you need a Noun.
The NFTs are highly sought after with some of the Nouns daily auctions having ended upwards of 200 ETH. The funds from each NFT sale get sent into the Nouns DAO Treasury, which currently has 34 million dollars accumulated from sales so far!
While the generative art of Nouns DAO may be small in terms of pixels they are truly one of the juggernauts of NFT collections. No longer does your NFT need to sit in your wallet collecting virtual dust, you can take part in governance and vote with your Nouns. With the settlement transaction to settle auctions, minting a new NFT, sending it to auction and sending the winning NFT to the auction winner; we see how innovative the Nouns DAO team are. Each auction attracts investors daily through the use of its 24-hour auctions, every day. The result of all of this work from the DAO, NFTs which attract bids in the hundreds of thousands on average at auction, with a few unique traits fetching over a million on average. With hundreds of unique bids for a number of desired Accessory traits, body traits and glasses traits. Investors are also willing to fork out on a number of marketplaces with NFTs selling for upwards of 100k. Would you pay nearly 800k for glasses irl? You might pay the price on the Opensea for a Noun with cool-looking glasses.
Ultimately Nouns DAO have created an NFT project that shows that NFTs can be more than just an image/speculative art hosted on the blockchain and hopefully with the inspiration they have taken from Ethereum can have a similar impact on the NFT space.
• For the chart Sales At Auction Of Nouns NFTs the data is taken from ethereum.core database, using the table fact_event_logs to find the info associated with each Noun, using tokenflow_eth.hextoint to convert Hex data to find the TokenID. Using the contract address for NounsNFTs : '0x9c8ff314c9bc7f6e59a9d9225fb22946427edc03' and using the topic associated with minting '0x1106ee9d020bfbb5ee34cf5535a5fbf024a011bd130078088cbf124ab3092478'. I then joined this data with Auctions Settled from the ez_nft_transfers table returning results with the NFT address for Nouns and transactions originating from the Nouns NFT Auction Address: '0x830bd73e4184cef73443c15111a1df14e495c706'. This is to associate the TokenID with the correct bid. I then created a further join statement, inclusive of relevant data above represented by the with as statement Nouns_auction_settled_attributes to limit results to the number of nouns settled at auction due to some limitations of SQL joining null figures from hex converted data. I then joined this data with the ETH price and transactions sent from the mint address to the Nouns Dao Treasury: '0x0bc3807ec262cb779b38d65b38158acc3bfede10' from the table fact_traces to present the correct eth_value of the transaction on the day, multiplying eth_value by price_eth to get the amount of transactions in USD, represented by amount_usd.
• For the table Average Price Of Nouns at Auction I used the same method as above, with a with as statement: nouns_mint_price containing the eth_value, amount_usd and tokenid. I selected the avg_price_eth and avg_usd using average on price_eth and amount_usd and counted the tokenid as number_sold_auction to represent each noun sold at auction and to figure out the average price per noun.
• For the chart Who Settles Nouns at Auctions the data is taken from ethereum.core database, using the table ez_nft_transfers to find the NFTs sent to winners of an auction, selecting results with the contract address for NounsNFTs : '0x9c8ff314c9bc7f6e59a9d9225fb22946427edc03' and from the address associated with the '0x830bd73e4184cef73443c15111a1df14e495c706' Nouns Auction house represented by the with as statement NFT_sent. I then selected the tokenID and origin_from_address from the mint subtransaction using the contract address for NounsNFTs and using the topic associated with minting '0x1106ee9d020bfbb5ee34cf5535a5fbf024a011bd130078088cbf124ab3092478'; represented by the with as statement Nouns_minted. I then joined the data from the with as statements NFT_sent and Nouns_Minted in the table Nouns Auctioned. Lastly, I selected the data in a query counting the TX_Hash of each NFT Mint and using a case statement to see if the From_Address of the transaction was the same as the auction winner.
• For the charts Average Price of Nouns 'Insert Trait' Trait At Auction as above the data is taken from ethereum.core database, using the table fact_event_logs to find the traits of a Noun, using tokenflow_eth.hextoint to convert Hex data to find the TokenID, Background, Body, Accessory, Head and Glasses. Using the contract address for NounsNFTs : '0x9c8ff314c9bc7f6e59a9d9225fb22946427edc03' and using the topic associated with minting '0x1106ee9d020bfbb5ee34cf5535a5fbf024a011bd130078088cbf124ab3092478'. I then joined this data with Auctions Settled from the ez_nft_transfers table returning results with the NFT address for Nouns and transactions originating from the Nouns NFT Auction Address: '0x830bd73e4184cef73443c15111a1df14e495c706'. This is to associate the TokenID with the correct bid. I then created a further join statement, inclusive of relevant data above represented by the with as statement Nouns_auction_settled_attributes to limit results to the number of nouns settled at auction due to some limitations of SQL joining null figures from hex converted data. I then joined this data with the ETH price and transactions sent from the mint address to the Nouns Dao Treasury: '0x0bc3807ec262cb779b38d65b38158acc3bfede10' from the table fact_traces to present the correct eth_value and price of the transaction on the day. Finally completing a further join, to collate the data into the avg_amount_usd and avg_eth_price, selecting the relevant trait associated with the chart.
• For the scatter graph Sales of Nouns on Marketplaces(Opensea, Looksrare etc) the data is taken from ethereum.core database, using the table fact_event_logs info associated with each Noun, using tokenflow_eth.hextoint to convert Hex data to find the TokenID. Using the contract address for NounsNFTs : '0x9c8ff314c9bc7f6e59a9d9225fb22946427edc03' and using the topic associated with minting '0x1106ee9d020bfbb5ee34cf5535a5fbf024a011bd130078088cbf124ab3092478'. I joined this data with the price of ETH selecting 'WETH' from fact_hourly_token_prices and the NFT sales of nouns in the ez_nft_sales table. Using the data to present the price in ETH and price in USD of each sale.
• For the table Average Price Of Nouns at Market I used the same method as above, with a with as statement: nouns_marketplaces containing the eth_value, amount_usd and tokenid. I selected the avg_price_eth and avg_usd using average on price_eth and amount_usd and counted the tx_hash as sales to represent each noun sold on a marketplace and to figure out the average price per noun.
• For the charts Average Price Of Nouns 'Insert Trait' Trait at Market the data is taken from ethereum.core database, using the table fact_event_logs to find the traits of a Noun, using tokenflow_eth.hextoint to convert Hex data to find the TokenID, Background, Body, Accessory, Head and Glasses. Using the contract address for NounsNFTs : '0x9c8ff314c9bc7f6e59a9d9225fb22946427edc03' and using the topic associated with minting '0x1106ee9d020bfbb5ee34cf5535a5fbf024a011bd130078088cbf124ab3092478'. I joined this data with the price of ETH selecting 'WETH' from fact_hourly_token_prices and the NFT sales of nouns in the ez_nft_sales table. Using the data to present the average price in ETH and average price in USD of each sale in the charts associated with each trait type. I used HAVING avg_price_eth > 50 to remove incorrect ETH Price Data from the charts related to Accessory, Body and Head.
Nouns DAO is an exciting NFT Decentralised Autonomous Organisation(DAO) on the Ethereum(ETH) Blockchain. Let's explore how the Nouns DAO auction feature functions, and who is settling Nouns auctions, as well as the relationship different traits have to mint and sell price on different markets. NFT enthusiasts often look for rare traits or desirable traits in NFTs, using tools such as rarity tools to find them.
There will be a number of charts and tables used throughout this, for the data/research enthusiasts out there, there is additional insight into these in the Methodology at the end.
Here are some examples of Nouns currently available on Opensea, each Noun gives holders a vote on governance proposals. These proposals are related to the use of the Nouns treasury and the future of the DAO.
Before we jump into the data let's talk a little about an important idea that drives the DAO. The Nouns DAO believes that it's the sum of the parts that make up the DAO, which creates an enticing project. With its NFTs, associated treasury and Team being a part of the cycle they describe as the 'Nouns Virtuous Cycle'. Importantly much like Ethereum the technology behind the DAO is open-source, meaning anyone can build on the technology and art.
The Nouns Virtuous Cycle draws much of its inspiration from the culture created by Ethereum, a culture which didn't just encourage Ethereum to grow, it encouraged crypto as a whole highlighted by the many blockchains built with Ethereum source code. The hope is by Nouns DAO taking inspiration from that culture, they can attract the builders, participants and capital to drive the DAO, contributing to a self-sustaining virtuous cycle.
The majority of Nouns are sent to auction, where people can bid an amount of their choosing in order to win the auction and claim ownership of the NFT. With Nouns being a generative project each NFT is a unique 32 x 32 pixel image, with a randomised set of features. Each one is crafted from a selection of backgrounds(2), heads(234), bodies(30), accessories(137) and glasses(21).
Let's take a look at the data on these auctions and what have been the most sort after features. It's worth noting that the accessory types use zero-based indexing, which means 0 is the number of a trait; I.e number 0 in glasses represents a type of glasses.
Let's take a look at the average cost paid per trait in ETH and USD and the number of bids on these traits at auction.
Sales on marketplaces average 82.34 ETH or 238k, lower than sales at Auction although only 71 NFT sales have taken place on marketplaces compared to 304 at Auction. The highest price of an NFT sold on a marketplace was the first one on record on OCT 27 2021 for 200 ETH or 798K. The sales in the 1eth - 2eth range look to be incorrect data as the sale on April 11th is valued at 241k and the sales on April 13th were valued at 237k each. While the sales on Opensea are genuinely lower than auction sales, the lowest sale of 51Eth on Dec 3rd, is 110.74% higher than Dec 3rd 24.2 ETH on the same day at auction.
There are a number of different Head types with higher auction sales, with head 117 going for nearly 956 thousand dollars or 252.7 ETH. Remembering that the auction of the first Noun was 613 ETH, we see that head 88 has the highest average ETH and USD price. It's common for 1st mints to be more expensive. The Head trait with the highest number of bids 163 was sold for on average 99.7 ETH or 307k USD. With head trait 150 having just 1 bid and selling for only 51 ETH or 133 thousand dollars! Head trait 231 has the lowest average price in ETH of 34.6 ETH, costing 123k USD.
There are a number of Nouns Accessory traits associated with higher bids at auction, with 23 leading to an average sale of over 1.1 Million, with only 9 bids implying that while the bids are fewer investors that may like the trait are willing to bid higher. Trait 95, the trait held by the 1st mint is on average 1.93 million the same as the first winning bid. Trait 45 has the most number of bids seeing 106 bids, and 382k USD average sale price for NFT(s) with the trait.
With only 21 glasses types they have a higher number of bids due to their wider use on the generative art of the NFT Nouns collection as a result of there being less to choose from randomly. Trait number 4 sees the highest number of bids 273, with trait 1 seeing the lowest number of bids 43. Glasses type 14 is the most valued, selling for 441k USD or 135.21 ETH on average at auction.
0 = 101.05 ETH, 1 = 96.61 ETH
Notably above we see 2 average head traits above 500k with head trait 176 worth 529k on average or 125 ETH and head trait 216 worth 789k on average or 200 ETH. The lowest Head trait in dollar value is head trait 53 being worth 91k, with its associated NFT sale(s) ironically going for an average of 53 ETH on the marketplace when sold.
The average price of the majority of Nouns Body traits is relatively close in price with the majority sitting within a dollar range of 180k to 240k, however, the difference between the smallest and largest value traits is quite large. With trait 11 being valued at 91k and trait 29 being valued at 529k, that is a 477.19% difference between the two values.
There are 137 accessories that can be generated for an NFT in the Nouns NFT collection, interestingly the highest valued one is the last 136 which was valued at 200ETH or 798k USD. Many of the Accessory traits that have been minted have not been sold on the market yet and as a result, do not show on the chart. This could show an intent by investors not to sell the nouns they have bought at auction.
0 = 82.37 ETH, 1 = 82.17 ETH
With only 2 backgrounds the difference seen on the market are negligible when it comes to the value of a NFT, with investors buying habits likely being based on other traits.
Let's simplify a Etherscan transaction to see how this works visually. in one transaction:
- The Auction Settler initiates a transaction
- The NFT from the auction that has most recently finished is sent to the Auction Winner
- An NFT is minted and sent to the Treasury
- The NFT is then sent to the auction contract to begin a new auction.
When an Auction is finished in order to transfer the NFT from the Auction house to the winning bidder a settlement fee needs to be paid, this is a gas-only transaction with anyone being able to settle the auction.
There are only 2 background types, 0 which is cool and 1 which is warm. 0 is worth marginally more than 1 at 101.05 ETH, there are also more bids on 0 at 1984 a possible indication that the background type could be more attractive to investors.
NFT sales at auction have had price fluctuations over time notably within the first 3 months, with the first noun going for 1.93 million dollars or 613.37 ETH. The auction price suffered a short dip following the first auction in August 2021 where a Noun went for 36.69 ETH on Aug 11th. From the end of that dip on August 14th until November 6th it was commonplace to see Nouns sell for 100+ ETH. Until more recently in May 2022 the price has remained in a price range of 40 - 90 eth with a few sales reaching over 100 ETH. In a little over a month, we have seen an uptrend in the number of 100+ ETH buys with 10 since May 1st, more 100 ETH+ buys than in the previous 5 months combined, we also see a 200 ETH auction buy for the first time since October 2021! The average price of a Noun in USD is 323k showing how highly valued the NFTs are.
Notice how the wallet address of the Auction settler is different to the address of the auction winner.
If the NFT being minted is the 10th NFT(Noun ids #0, #10, #20, #30 etc), two NFTs are minted with the NFT with the 10th id being sent to a gnosis multisig contract and the other NFT being sent to auction to begin a new auction, insuring no interruption in daily auctions. Every 10th NFT is sent to this safe to be vested and shared between the founding members of Nouns. I've linked a transaction of this in action for those curious: 10th Mint.
Nouns DAO describes the settlement feature on their website: "While settlement is most heavily incentivized for the winning bidder, it can be triggered by anyone". Surprisingly 97.4% of settles are eager new auction buyers, meaning that only 8 auction winners have settled their own auctions to collect their NFTs!
What are the most desirable traits of Nouns NFTs when bought from an NFT marketplace, in relationship to the average ETH price and average USD price paid for the associated NFT?
With Nouns glasses having fewer traits they are likely to be spread across a large number of sales, this means the averages of each trait are much closer in value than most of the other trait charts. With that being said the lowest value Glasses trait is 15 at 173k USD or 98 ETH, with the highest value glass trait being 18 at 473k being valued at 100 ETH.
Noun image created using the playgrounds tool, which allows you to generate your own custom noun. Contains a number of high-value traits from the data below.
‣ Background(0) - Cool(101.05 ETH/325k USD)
‣ Body(20) - Peachy-B(165 ETH/545k USD)
‣ Accessory(23) - Body-gradient-sunset(313.69 ETH/1.12 Mil USD)
‣ Head(7) - Baseball-Gameball(200 ETH/720k USD)
‣ Glasses(1) - Square-black-eyes-red(115.64 ETH/405k USD)
Noun image created using the playgrounds tool. Contains a number of high-value traits from the data below.
‣ Background(0) - Warm(82.37 ETH/237k USD)
‣ Body(29) - Teal(125 ETH/529k USD)
‣ Accessory(136) - Ice Cold(200 ETH/798k USD)
‣ Head(216) - Void(200 ETH/798k USD)
‣ Glasses(18) - Square-watermelon(100 ETH/473k USD)
The highest average price of a Nouns NFT body trait is 554k or 165.18 ETH for body trait 20, with the lowest cost on average being 249k or 77.25 ETH. Body trait 12 which is 282k and 86.89 ETH has seen the most bids, with 256 auction bids on Nouns NFTs with the trait.