Gopnikz NFT Ask-me-anything (AMA) with Bitcoin Troopers
The Gopnikz ask-me-anything session was run in the Bitcoin Troopers Telegram Group at 8PM UTC, October 10th, 2021.
Gopnikz is an up-and-coming NFT project on RelayX showcasing the rise of Gopnik culture after Western culture made its way to post-communist Eastern European countries.
“Welcome to Bitcoin Troopers’ first AMA with Gopnikz! We have the head Gopnik @MemeFaust here with us today to answer all of your questions…”
Answers below have been editorialized for print but the substance remains the same.
Introduction
Why did you decide to make a Gopnik themed NFT? Does this have some sort of cultural significance to you?
At its essence, the idea behind the Gopnik meme is something every culture and group has experienced or is able to conceive.
It’s about not being superficial in the face of silly modern cultural elements and going along with them like a child. The Gopnik aesthetic is a very easy to read embodiment of this intellectually honest, blunt attitude and the instinct to choose well rounded individuals around you rather than the horde.
Whether they are chavs in the UK, gopniks in Eastern Europe, etc., every place has this before. Just like the meme, the members of every culture of this kind are usually frowned upon by average day to day people, yet they don’t know just how happy and meaningful the lives of gopniks really are.
When you say “well rounded individuals” what do you mean?
Our community of squatters are more important than some people that are simply “near us”, even though gopniks aren’t the majority where they live, they associate with one another by creating their own support system, which is what the NFT aims to do within our community and it will soon show this with exiting mechanics later this year.
Team
More about you please… Who is the Gopnikz team? Is it just Gopnichad Lex or have you hired some assistants to help out?
It’s me, Babushka, the [anonymous] artist and a few close friends of theirs who know the meme well and have been living it themselves for years. Our real community of gopniks, if you will. Trust them with your lives but not with your alcohol or cigarettes…
Do you have any outsider gigabrains advising the project?
We value the community of BitCoin and Slavs above all else and we’ve consulted with relevant people in both since the beginning to make sure the series truly represents the Gopnik Vision for all.
We’ve found great support and advice from the people at Twetch and RelayX. Coinyeezy, Randy and Jack Liu are big on anything interesting on BitCoin and have gladly offered a helping hand and technical/creative feedback and support ❤️
The NFTs
How did you generate the NFTs? Are they hand-drawn or algorithmically generated, or both?
There are 3000 unique Gopnikz built from the traits and features of the Genesis Collection (which is too long to explain in one message). Every element is hand drawn, and we’ve made sure to add enough to properly represent all that squatting life is about.
Expand on this “Genesis Collection.” We’ve checked your Discord and it says there are multiple types of NFTs, can you explain more what this means?
Specifications
What platform are you choosing to release on?
The Gopnikz launch will use RelayX as a “Launchpad ‘’ for the series and be the first collection to mint directly on the platform.
We chose to go with this because Relay already has all the people in our community on it and makes it easy for interested people to join, on a familiar website and experience.
Honestly, launchpad type systems have seen success on other crypto platforms and blockchains. There’s no reason we can’t imitate that on BSV, so let’s go with what works…
Totally agree with this, there’s a “pad” for every blockchain, Relay can definitely fill in that gap for BSV. What token protocol are you using and why do you think this is the best choice?
We are using Run for this mint because it’s the most popular BitCoin token protocol among Western audiences and people in the community. Although all the BSV token protocols are great, we feel like Run is perfect for this kind of NFT series, and it’s compatible with Relay, so that’s a bonus for us…
Can you expand more on token economics and the rarity system for our NFT noobs? How many traits are there and how are you going to show people those traits?
There are more than 300 traits throughout the collection and a proper and accurate Gopnik distribution.
Although RelayX won’t index rarity initially, we will soon add a rarity table to our website and platforms like TokenPow will be able to display them by EOY if RelayX doesn’t add the feature. Since they use Run it’s very easy for them to travel across platforms and do lots of interesting interoperable Gopnik biznis moves.
OPINION: What are some unique challenges to your project presented by working on BSV?
The one and only challenge we face is the lack of a bigger community and the liquidity associated with such a community. We’re aiming to break some of that roof with this series and push the limits of BitCoin. Many gopniks are dedicated enough to get themselves one without silly crypto politics or tribalism (meaning: many people outside of Bitcoin that are into the meme/culture will support it).
Rapid fire questions about the mint
When is the mint?
The mint will happen on October 13th at 3 PM UTC; we will post a warm-up livestream on our Twitter to coordinate all the slavs for the drop.
What is the mint price?
The mint price will be 0.33 BSV per Gopnik.
What’s the minting process like, is it all in one go or presale then public sale?
The minting of the Gopnikz will happen in 12 Batches of 250 Gopnikz each.
How are you ensuring the “integrity” of the mints stay intact and you’re not rigging it?
Nobody knows which Gopnik is which until any given batch ends and the next begins. We’ve used hashes to make the distribution random and to encourage all buyers to appreciate their Gopniks and compete with other slavs until the end. They will be provably random and we will dive into the process in a Medium article post launch.
How many of the total will be available to the public?
All the 3000 generative Gopnikz will be sold in batches on RelayX, there will be no pre-allocation of Gopnikz and the team will also be buying at least a few dozen Gopnikz as part of our upcoming Metaverse storyline & treasury.
As for the Genesis Series at least 10/35 have been won by community squatters through various competitions; the rest will be auctioned off after the Generative series is sold.
What do you plan to do with ones that don’t sell out, if somehow it does not sell out?
We will continue to create interesting experiences and good times for the community; we strongly believe that people will come to the right project. There are many instances where the sale was non-instant and strong communities emerged at a steady rate after the fact.
Long term vision
What will the long term prospects of the project be? Will you build a community around it?
We plan on rewarding our initial, most loyal community members as much as providing a great offer to all Gopnik holders, we won’t make everything about this public just yet but it will have a DOA structure, treasury and liquid drops in various forms. We also have access to some of the largest slav squatting communities on the web and will soon be onboarding many other people to the experience, the first series are just the beginning of this universe.
Are you committed to staying on BSV or are you exploring a multi chain future?
We will be leveraging the BSV ecosystem and various token protocols to build up this project for the next few months, but we are willing to explore any alternatives or simply transition to a multi-chain project after we’ve really established ourselves.
Our hearts will always be with BSV…after all, this is a NFT project appropriate for its blockchain.
Participate in the Gopnikz community by:
Joining their Discord at https://discord.gg/BKtmX9Dcj3
Joining their Telegram at https://t.me/GopnikParty
Following them on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Gopnikz
None of the above text constitutes financial advice or an offering of services. We are not financial advisors nor recommend the buying or selling of any assets in the above text.
