Morning Minute: Beeple Goes Mega-Viral with Robot Dogs – Decrypt

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. Subscribe to the Morning Minute on Substack.

GM!

Today’s top news:

• Crypto majors jump 2-4% into weekly open; BTC at $91,800
• Beeple’s robot dogs go mega-viral at Art Basel; free NFTs now $35,000
• Coinbase re-opens in India after 2-year pause
• National Bank of Canada discloses $273M BTC position via MSTR
• Doodles announce companion mint with doopie cubes, 25k supply

🎨 Beeple’s Robot Dogs Go Mega-Viral at Art Basel

Beeple was the winner of Art Basel this past week.

And now the question is – will he kick off another digital art renaissance like he did in 2021?

📌 What Happened

Inside a large industrial-style space at Art Basel, Beeple unveiled an interactive installation built around a set of Boston Dynamics-style robot dogs.

The kicker? Each robot dog was wearing an oversized celebrity head featuring Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Andy Warhol, and more (and of course, Beeple himself).

Robot dogs with celebrity and billionaire faces.

But it gets better.

The robots moved through a choreographed routine and then “pooped” unique physical art prints onto the ground.

Each print was a fully designed Beeple artwork that paired with a corresponding NFT, effectively turning the robots into physical art (and NFT) minting machines.

The art itself was selected via AI algorithms within each dog and then run through various filters tied to famous artists before creating the final piece, which makes the collection a generative art collection in theory.

Visitors could trigger the prints, collect them, and later claim the linked digital version.

The installation blended robotics, satire, physical art, digital art and NFTs in a way only Beeple really attempts.

And it instantly went viral.

Crowds gathered nonstop, videos exploded across social platforms, and coverage from major art, tech, and culture publications made it one of Basel’s headline attractions.

🗣️ What They’re Saying

“Few works have sparked wonder like REGULAR ANIMALS by Beeple. These autonomous sculptures challenge all we think about perception, culture & influence.” – Cozomo de Medici, on X

“The analogy here is that in the past, our worldview has been influenced by artists. I mean, the way Picasso painted changed the way we looked at the world, and Warhol, through his artworks, changed the way we looked at capitalism. Now, increasingly our worldview is being reshaped by tech giants, specifically Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, who control powerful algorithms. They decide what we see and what we don’t see. I also wanted to put the idea forward that we are increasingly seeing the world through the lens of AI.” – Beeple, in an interview with the WSJ

🧠 Why It Matters

Beeple put NFTs and digital art on the map back in 2021 when his “Everdays: The First 5,000 Days” sold for $69M.

And he may have just done it again.

Word on the ground was that the Beeple exhibit stole the show at Basel.

Rightfully so, as the robot dogs with the NFT poop was just a brilliant concept.

It doesn’t hit home until one sees the outputs from the dogs, with captures of the audience run through various filters and then turned into the Regular Animals NFTs.

And the market has responded, with those NFTs now at a $35,000 floor.

Regular Animals highlights just how different digital (and generative) art can be, and its power when used smartly.

It’s an iconic collection and may very well go down as his most important NFT collection.

Perhaps, it will even go down as a pivotal point in digital art history.

Time will tell…

🌎 Macro Crypto and Memes

A few Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:

• Crypto majors are green and up 7-10% on the week; BTC +3% at $91,800; ETH +3% at $3,130, BNB +2% at $907, SOL +4% at $138
• CC (+17%), ZEC (+11%), Fartcoin (+10%) and SPX (+9%) led top movers
• SEC chair Paul Atkins commented that he believes all US markets will be onchain in 2 years
• Coinbase reopened in India after a 2-year pause, will allow cash deposits in 2026
• The National Bank of Canada disclosed a $273M indirect Bitcoin position through Saylor’s Strategy, holding 1.47 million shares of MSTR
• French banking group BPCE moved to offer BTC, ETH, SOL and USDC trading to roughly 2M retail clients
• Terra Classic (LUNC) surged more than 160% in a week, with traders front-running Do Kwon’s upcoming sentencing

In Corporate Treasuries / ETFs

In Memes / Onchain Movers

• Memecoin leaders are mostly green with Fartcoin leading; DOGE +2%, Shiba +1%, PEPE +5%, PENGU -1%, BONK +1%, TRUMP +1%, SPX +9%, and FARTCOIN +10%
• Franklin (+100%), Whitewhale (+60%) and WOJAK (+27%) were notable movers

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Here’s a rundown of major token, protocol and airdrop news from the day:

🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:

• NFT leaders were mostly flat; Punks even at 30 ETH, Pudgy +1% at 5.39, BAYC +2% at 5.69 ETH; Hypurr’s -1% at 510 HYPE
• Infinex Patrons (+3% to 1.92 ETH) led notable movers
• Beeple’s Regular Animals have settled at a 10.9 ETH floor after their opening weekend of trading
• XCOPY’s bubbles finished minting with a 2.39M supply, now at $0.30 floor
• Doodles announced a new companion mint “doopie cubes,” 25,000 in supply, priced at 1 SOL for the collector cube and 3 sol for the hyper cubes