Identity crisis: Cofounder of doodles says it’s not an NFT projectOne of the co-founders of nonfungible token (NFT) project doodles says it is going t
Identity crisis: Cofounder of doodles says it’s not an NFT project
One of the co-founders of nonfungible token (NFT) project doodles says it is going to pivot away from being an “NFT project” to becoming a “leading media franchise.”
In a March 18 post on the project’s Discord, one of the doodle’s founders, Jordan Castro — who goes by the pseudonym “poopie” online — said it wanted to move away from financial speculators.
“We’re trying to go from a startup to a leading media franchise. We are no longer an ‘NFT project,’” said Castro.
Doodles was launched in October 2021 and has grown to reach a $704 million valuation according to a September 2022 funding round. The collection also boasts iconic musician Pharrell Williams as its chief brand officer.
Going forward, Castro said doodles will focus on its “most loyal collectors” and it won’t spend resources “appeasing those with financial motivations.”
Many on Twitter took issue with the apparent shift in focus and pointed to other perceived problems with the project such as its recent lack of communication and a March 16 NFT sock drop.
And after millions and millions in funding and you clowns bring us socks!?
This space has become a joke
— Crypto Bitlord (@crypto_bitlord7) March 15, 2023
Some were, however, supportive of the move with NFT startup founder, Daniel Tenner tweeting “the quicker we get rid of the term ‘NFT project’ the better,” adding such projects “are all startups/businesses.”
Castro later tweeted a response to the criticism and doubled down on its new focus but said it “will continue to use NFT tech as the connective tissue between everything we do.”
hey web3, here are my comments on the feedback
“doodles isn’t an NFT project”
this is true. but what’s also true is i’ve dedicated my career to the blockchain. i’ll never abandon the pursuit of delivering the promises of this tech to the world. doodles started as an NFT… https://t.co/Eq9fZN3sx4
— poopie (@poopie) March 16, 2023
He added the aim was to “evolve beyond vicious speculative cycles” by “bringing in intrinsically motivated users,” solving real problems and releasing products with a market fit.
Playboy’s NFT endeavor strips down its crypto earnings
The parent company of famed porno magazine Playboy has disclosed significant losses on the Ether (ETH) holdings it earned from an NFT collection it launched in late 2021.
In a filing on March 18, PLBY Group said it took an impairment loss of $4.9 million in 2022 as crypto prices took a significant downturn over the year from the all-time highs seen the year before.
Playboy launched its Rabbitars NFTs in October 2021, just before the crypto market reached its peak. Since that time Ether’s price has dropped around 60% in line with the broader market decline.
As of Dec. 31, 2022, the value of Playboy’s crypto holdings sits at $327,000.
In the filing, it explained it counts the impairment losses as unrecoverable, even if the fair value of its digital asset holdings rises after recording the losses.
“The market price of one Ethereum in our principal market ranged from $964 – $3,813 during [2022],” the firm wrote. “But the carrying value of each Ethereum we held at the end of the reporting period reflects the lowest price of one Ethereum quoted on the active exchange at any time since its receipt.”
“Positive swings in the market price of Ethereum are not reflected in the carrying value of our digital assets and impact earnings only when the Ethereum is sold at a gain,” it explained.
Yuga Labs’ new collection mints over $10M
NFT conglomerate Yuga Labs has once again made millions on a new NFT collection it minted in the next step of its “Dookey Dash” web game.
On March 15 those who minted a “Sewer Pass” NFT which was originally needed to play Dookey Dash were invited to “The Summoning” to burn their passes in order to mint an NFT from a new collection titled HV-MTL, or Heavy Metal.
We’ve Dookey’d and we’ve dashed. Now the holder of the Key can begin to fulfill Gary the Dog Prophet’s prophecy by releasing the power from within the Box. The Summoning begins in one hour… pic.twitter.com/TmNAkuR5P8
— Bored Ape Yacht Club (@BoredApeYC) March 15, 2023
The new collection features 30,000 NFTs that resemble robotic-like cubes which will later reveal a “Mech” according to the collection’s OpenSea description.
The collection has rocketed on the secondary market since it dropped. OpenSea data shows the current floor price sitting at 2.3 ETH, around $4,000 and total trading volume has hit over 6,050 ETH, an equivalent of around $10.3 million.
With Yuga’s creator earnings set to 5%, the project has already earned the firm over $500,000.
Those who minted the collection early reported issues with the output of the…
cointelegraph.com