1) Rugs
The gap between Pixelmonâs $70M haul and the NFTs the project produced will perhaps never be equaled. The characters are so incredibly bad itâs being labeled âhistoricâ. People paid 3 ETH for these. It hurts to even think about it. We often equate many projects to the lottery, and Pixelmon is no exception: literally almost everyone lost!! The randomized, secret nature of the minting process is now officially dangerous.Â
Oh, and shoutout to DeâAaron Fox for shutting down his NFT project after pulling in $1.5M.
Takeaway: The days of little to no information on new projects are over. Expect a higher standard from upcoming projects or forget about minting. Itâs time to raise the bar when it comes to due diligence. And btw, celebrity-endorsed NFT projects are usually a bad idea.Â
2) Hype
Invisible Friends achieved a 13 ETH floor pre-reveal. I begged my whitelisted friends to immediately sell (they didnât). Not only is this unsustainable, but itâs also bad for the industry. Listen, I think the art is fine and the animation is great, but itâs not THAT great. The IF hype is bad for the project and bad for the industry. Those poor suckers who bought at 13 ETH are down over 60% in a matter of days (floor under 6 ETH at time of writing). And if Iâm being totally honest (s/o cobie) I donât think they make great PFPsâŚtheyâre literally invisible.Â
*To be clear, Iâm not hating on Invisible Friends, Iâm hating on the amount of hype and the ridiculous price action that ensued.Â
Takeaway: We may never learn this lesson because humans canât help it. We want so badly to win that we ignore the odds. Why did I tell everyone to immediately sell their IF at 13 eth? Because there are exactly 0 projects that have held a floor that high in their first week. Start thinking in numbers, not in hope.Â
3) GaslightingÂ
Noobs are particularly vulnerable to gaslighting as they try to navigate the dark forest of crypto and NFT land. I was no exception, and I still find myself questioning my own thoughts at times after reading an over-confident take on âxyzâ project. Tubby Cats are the most recent example.Â
Here is my stream of consciousness from last week:
âEveryone loves these cats, so I should tooâŚDo I like cats? I should probably like cartoon cats because all the big crypto influencers love them. These big accounts are sweeping the floorâŚI shouldnât sell mine because this project is amazingâŚâ
Then I took a few moments and actually thought for myself:
âThe art is solid but I just donât like cartoon cats. I never have. These big CT accounts are supporting one of their own (nothing wrong with that) but itâs ok if Iâm not vibing with this project. Prices donât seem to be moving, especially since all these big accounts are apparently buying these things in bulk. Iâm going to sell my cat before they dip.â [Sold at .6 eth, floor currently at .4 eth]
Takeaway: Take the time to form your own thesis. Donât rely completely on othersâ opinions. Spend an inordinate amount of time curating your timeline to include only those who have established themselves as reputable long-term individuals. Even then, remember that their opinions are their opinions, not yours.