The Pixel Penguin alleged ‘charity project rug’Nonfungible-token (NFT) project Pixel Penguin has caused a stir this week in what a blockchain investig
The Pixel Penguin alleged ‘charity project rug’
Nonfungible-token (NFT) project Pixel Penguin has caused a stir this week in what a blockchain investigator ZachXBT has alleged is a “charity project rug.”
The project quietly launched in February, but drew a lot of attention on May 31 following a Twitter thread from Web3 influencer Andrew Wang.
I woke up today to see one of my friends trending on twitter, @Hopeexist1. she made a collection to help herself battle cancer and some awesome web3 people spotlighted her today, so i’d like to add to it pic.twitter.com/Fr5Mcu26eR
— andrew wang (@andr3w) May 30, 2023
Wang claimed his friend Sarah, known as Hopeexist1 online, was the creator of Pixel Penguins, and noted that she had “made a collection to help herself battle cancer.”
At a $13 mint price, Wang claimed that 20% of the profits would go to charity, while the other 80% would go to Hopeexist1’s supposed cancer treatment.
“I’ll put my rep on the line to say this is for real amidst all the scams in our space,” said Wang, adding:“I speak with her art teacher often when she’s gone for treatment and he says she’s the best student he’s ever had, that her talent is too precious, that she must survive.”
Following this, Pixel Penguins NFTs promptly sold out, with the floor price shooting up from 0.0099 Ether (ETH) to around 0.0126 ETH worth roughly $130.However, members of the NFT community then did some digging and alleged that the creator had been profiting from selling stolen art in the past, and was potentially lying about having cancer.
Within a couple hours, the collection sold out and began trending #1 on OpenSea.
With this much attention, people started to dig deeper into who this person actually was.
Turns out, they had been selling stolen art and even lying about having cancer.
(3/6) pic.twitter.com/l8rbIcaiti
— Arcanic (@ArcanicNFT) May 31, 2023
ZachXBT then found the Pixel Penguin smart contract containing more than $117,000 worth of ETH, and followed that funds as it was siphoned off to two new wallet addresses.
In the aftermath, Hopeexist1 then deleted their Twitter account and went AWOL. The floor price of the NFTs has since plummeted to 0.004 ETH, or $7.
Today @andr3w supported a charity project rug by @hopeexist1 someone supposedly battling cancer causing the project to mint out.
“I’ll put my rep on the line to say this is for real amidst all the scams in our space”
It turns out she stole the art and deactivated her account. pic.twitter.com/q4HivGBLMY
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) May 31, 2023
Epic Games Store to add more blockchain games
Fortnite developers Epic Games will soon release two new blockchain-games on its store, adding to the five that are already up and available to play.
@Elrond_Mafia‘s “Project Red” is a mafia-themed FPS game with AAA graphics in a open world.
Free-to-play all the way.
Buying a Mobster(NFT) will level up your game.
(3/9)https://t.co/Au1ArcXh8n
— MANI (@Mani_NFTz) May 27, 2023
One of the upcoming games is called Defimons, a free-to-play Pokemon-inspired multiplayer RPG with turn-based combat.
The game will have an in-game currency and NFT battle monster characters bearing the same name as the title. The Epic Games Store doesn’t list a release date.
Welcome to Defimons,
️ Explore an ever expanding world
Battle and tame monsters
⚒️ Craft items and farm crops
Free to play MMORPGCheck out our trailer and join the journey!#PixelArt #Defimons #IndieDev pic.twitter.com/EYL9HWleiE
— Defimons (@TheDefimons) May 8, 2023
The other blockchain game is called Project Red, which appears to have open-world elements inspired by games such as Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row, alongside a first-person-shooter game mode as well.
The early snippets of the game reveal people will need to buy Mobster NFTs to navigate through the higher levels and engage with the play-to-earn elements of the game.
Epic Games initially listed Blankos Block Party as the first Web3 game on its store back in September 2022, and while these types of games still receive strong scepticism from many traditional gamers, the firm isn’t backing away from this space.
Epic Games recently indicated to Axios in March that it plans to add roughly 20 new blockchain games over the course of 2023 and early 2024.
Related: Japan’s largest airline launches NFT marketplace
Three Arrows NFT garage sale part two
Following on from the first $2.5 million auction of NFTs belonging to defunct crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), the second round is set to take place this month.
3AC’s collection of NFTs is dubbed the Grails, and features a long list of tokens from top projects such as CrytoPunks, Tyler Hobbs’ Fidenzas and Dmitri Cherniak’s Ringers.
In the second round set for June 15, Sotheby’s will auction off 37 of 3AC’s NFTs in what it describes as the “largest ever live auction of digital art.”
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