Moonpay Teams Up With Deadmau5 to Unlock Access to the Mau5verse

The head5 collection, available on the Polygon blockchain, is the metaverse-ready avatar collaboration between deadmau5 (Joel Zimmerman) and artist Nick denBoer. Today (March 3^rd), head5 - the foundation of the mau5verse – a collection of all that is deadmau5 across the digital space; music, video games, literature, NFTs, and more – has partnered with leading global crypto payments infrastructure provider MoonPay and Eth-Polygon bridging solution Umbria to make the collection accessible to a wider audience. Through the partnership, MoonPay is helping collectors of deadmau5’s head5 easily access the collection by creating an on-site widget that allows users to seamlessly purchase Eth on the Polygon blockchain (Eth-PoS, or wEth) using debit or credit, and sidestep any bridging fees. The new partnership makes accessing and purchasing a head5 NFT both fast and easy, providing a greater level of access to the community. The partnership comes shortly after the launch of MoonPay’s NFT Checkout, the world’s most advanced plug-and-play solution allowing any brand, creator, or marketplace to give their users a simpler, faster way to buy and sell NFTs with a credit card in minutes.    MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright says: “MoonPay is committed to bringing the next billion people into the world of crypto by making the process seamless. We’ve done that for crypto and now we’re doing it for NFTs too. We believe NFTs will radically change the way we think about art, fan engagement, and intellectual property. That’s what makes the mau5verse project so exciting. We’re proud to help Joel and the team continue to build an incredible and passionate community.” Meanwhile, Umbria has also been an integral part of the crypto-native community that has gravitated towards the head5 project. If a collector already has Eth on mainnet (L1) and would like to use it for minting a head, Umbria provides the fastest and cheapest way to bridge their Eth to the Polygon blockchain. The Umbria solution was suggested by the head5 holders - the community behind the success of the project. The head5 collection is a range of 5555 generative avatars created by deadmau5 and legendary director, animator and visual artist Smearballs. Nick denBoer, who is Smearballs, is to thank for many of deadmau5's insane tour visuals featuring dancing bug-eyed farm animals and the many characters in the music videos for “Monophobia,” “Pomegranate” and “Drama Free.” This project is an extension of those worlds and characters, where collectors will not only own an NFT but will benefit from additional token utility and rewards throughout the mau5verse.  The collection provides deadmau5’s most passionate fans and collectors entry into the next epoch of the mau5verse community. head5 is integrated in over 600 digital and metaverse spaces. Owners of NFTs in the head5 collection will get special access to a range of exclusive perks, including but not limited to;

• Guestlist to deadmau5 shows
• Early and exclusive access to VIP experiences and live show tickets
• Early access to deadmau5 music
• Community votes on future mau5verse roadmap
• Integration into Ready Player Me and The Sandbox
• NFT Airdrops
• Companion drops
• Whitelisting for future NFT projects
• Figurines, vinyl, and plush toys
• Prints and comics
• Merchandise
• NFT project collaboration perks + more.

The Art Inspiration, Smearballs head5 is a collection of 5555 avatars derived from 200 3D assets split into four categories: skulls, eyes, mouths and ears. A generative script was created to spawn the unique combinations with a layer of art direction to make dominant strains of matching designs. Collectors may get lucky and uncover a 'perfect match' of all four asset categories and obtain one of the full matching designs. There are subsequently many sub categories of dozens whereby an avatar has three of four or two of four matching traits of a certain strain. There are also five Jokers mixed in the population like in a deck of cards. These Jokers are amongst the rarest finds and have a hat that is not found anywhere else in the population. There are also two Goat lords, one of which belongs to deadmau5 and one that belongs to Nick Den Boer. “I've been collaborating with Joel for over six years on tour visuals and music videos. I've made many crazy iterations of his iconic mau5 head from dancing farm animals to 26-eyed aliens, but never at this scale. 5555 head5 is a real army of freaks that I hope his fans get a kick out of collecting and wearing in the metaverse.” - Nick denBoer The head5 collection made its debut this past October when it was unveiled during the Sandbox Miami Experience during the day of the deadmau5 multi-day event. The [literal] box in the sand featured five of the 5555 generative avatars in augmented reality (AR) as they will be seen in an upcoming metaverse game. (The integration is likely to go live by Q3 of 2022, making it the first Polygon avatar collection to be integrated in the Sandbox Game.)  Following Miami, head5 made their way to NFT.NYC, the world’s largest NFT conference where it was previewed at the Bright Moments Gallery for some of the biggest members in the NFT space.  Polygon, the chain where head5 lives, has continued to prove itself to be the L2 solution the crypto community has waited for; alleviating high gas fees and transaction speeds, without sacrificing security. With gaming at the forefront of the mau5verse, the upside Polygon brings to the table is undeniable. Polygon is a protocol and a framework for building and connecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks. This multi-chain system is akin to other ones such as Polkadot, Cosmos, Avalanche etc, but with at least three major upsides; It is able to fully benefit from Ethereum’s network effects, it is inherently more secure, and it is more open and powerful.