Pixel Penguin accused of charity rug, Epic adds new NFT games and more in Nifty News.
The Pixel Penguin alleged ‘charity project rug’
A Non-fungible token (NFT) project called Pixel Penguin has recently been accused by blockchain investigator ZachXBT of being a “charity project rug.” The project was launched quietly in February but gained a lot of attention on May 31st, following a Twitter thread by Web3 influencer Andrew Wang.
Andrew Wang tweeted about a friend of his, @Hopeexist1, who had made a collection to help herself battle cancer. Some web3 influencers also highlighted the project. Wang claimed that 20% of the profits from Pixel Penguins would go to charity, while the other 80% would go to Hopeexist1’s supposed cancer treatment. He vouched for the authenticity of the project, despite the prevalence of scams in the space.
“I’ll put my rep on the line to say this is for real amidst all the scams in our space,” he said. “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 Wang’s tweet, Pixel Penguins NFTs sold out quickly, and the floor price rose from 0.0099 Ether (ETH) to around 0.0126 ETH, worth roughly $130. However, members of the NFT community did some investigating and discovered that the creator had allegedly profited from selling stolen art in the past, casting doubt on the authenticity of her cancer story.
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Within a few hours, the collection sold out and became the #1 trend on OpenSea. With this much attention, people started to investigate further into who the creator actually was. It turns out they had been selling stolen art and even lying about having cancer. (3/6)
— Arcanic (@ArcanicNFT) May 31, 2023
ZachXBT then found the Pixel Penguin smart contract containing more than $117,000 worth of ETH and followed the funds as they were siphoned to two new wallet addresses. In the aftermath, Hopeexist1 deleted their Twitter account, and 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 sell out. “I’ll put my rep on the line to say this is for real amidst all the scams in our space,” he said. It turns out she stole the art and deactivated her account.
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) May 31, 2023
Epic Games Store to add more blockchain games
The developers of Fortnite, Epic Games, will soon be releasing two new blockchain games on their store, adding to the five already live and available to play.
One upcoming game is Defimons, a free-to-play, Pokemon-inspired multiplayer role-playing game 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.
— Mani (@Mani_NFTz) May 27, 2023
Defimons is a free-to-play, Pokemon-inspired multiplayer role-playing game with turn-based combat. The game features an in-game currency and NFT battle monsters with the same name as the game title. The release date has not yet been announced.
Welcome to Defimons! Explore an ever-expanding world, battle and tame monsters, craft items and farm crops. This is a free-to-play MMORPG. Check out our trailer and join the journey! #PixelArt #Defimons #IndieDev
— Defimons (@TheDefimons) May 8, 2023
The other blockchain game is called Project Red and it seems to have open-world elements inspired by games like Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row. It also has a first-person-shooter game mode. Early glimpses of the game show that players will need to buy Mobster NFTs to navigate through higher levels and engage with play-to-earn elements of the game.
Epic Games initially listed Blankos Block Party as the first Web3 game on its store in September 2022. While these types of games still receive strong skepticism 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 throughout 2023 and early 2024.
Related: Japan’s largest airline launches NFT marketplace
Three Arrows NFT garage sale part two
Following 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. The NFT collection is dubbed the Grails and features a long list of tokens from top projects such as CryptoPunks, 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.”
Kellogg’s sifts into the metaverse
Kellogg’s has reportedly filed for a long list of trademarks for several of its food brands relating to the metaverse, NFTs, collectibles, and crypto tokens. Some of the brands include Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes, Special K, and Pop Tarts. According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office licensed trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis, the firm has indicated an interest in launching anything from NFT avatars to crypto collectibles, virtual environments, and virtual reality gaming revolving around crypto.
#Kelloggs is coming to the Metaverse! The food giant has filed 12 trademarks for some of its biggest snack + breakfast food brands, claiming plans for: ▶️Virtual Foods + Environments ▶️Crypto Tokens + Collectables ▶️NFT Backed Media ▶️VR Games #NFTs #Metaverse #Web3 #Crypto pic.twitter.com/JDvu28CHMH
— Mike Kondoudis (@KondoudisLaw) May 30, 2023
Other Nifty News
Some of the most sought-after NFTs collections of 2022 have taken a massive hit in value over the past year, with Investments in top projects such as Doodles, Invisible Friends, Moonbirds, and Goblintown all losing up to 95% of their value in ETH. On May 31, Web3 wallet-as-a-service provider Magic announced that it had successfully raised $52 million in a strategic funding round led by PayPal Ventures. The funding round also saw participation from venture firms Cherubic, Synchrony, KX, Northzone, and Volt Capital, bringing Magic’s total funds raised to over $80 million.
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