A wild two weeks that’s turning a side project into a global movement…
It’s getting on for 2am in London so I airplane my phone as the West Coast starts lighting up our Discord.
I wake up a few hours later to hundreds of messages, 40+ recruits taking the Pledge, some serious projects incubating, Twitter blowing up, and multiple messages from friends asking to help fund the project’s growth.
The baton will pass to Singapore and Australia before circling back to Europe because this Cartel never sleeps and neither does Blaksoot, I swear that guy travels time zones to cheat sleep.
Ten days after launching publicly and we’ve just passed 600 members (around 7.5% of the TAM of unique Mutant holders), with some seismic plays being made within the community.
The breakneck speed at which we’re scaling made me think of the 2001 film Evolution (give it a watch). With that in mind, this piece is intended as an anchor and a lighthouse for where the Cartel’s moving.
[Roadmap further down]
What is the Cartel?
The Mutant Cartel is a movement inspired by community, decentralization, social capital, and artistic innovation that opens its doors to all owners of Mutant NFTs.
We’re more than a dedicated meeting-ground for Mutants, we’re a mobilized and structured organization seeking to enrich the MAYC universe and our value as Mutants within it.
This is a world created beside the great efforts of the MAYC, but entirely independent and autonomous of its involvement. We always give a nod to the brilliance of the BAYC, and our intention is to spin a narrative universe that complements its existence.
A rising tide lifts all ships.
I won’t retread ground on the context and economics of the Cartel’s existence as that’s already been covered in such detail and candor by my Royal Brother, DoctorC, so will encourage you to dig into that here!
The long and short of it is that we’re here to enrich the MAYC universe, our value as Mutants within it, and work collectively to generate additional value in several innovative ways.
Our short-term goal is to transition to a Decentralized Autonomous Organization with a well-funded treasury to create, evolve, and launch our numerous projects.
Our longer-term goal is to become an amalgam of an innovation studio, Mutant curator, and media production engine within the MAYC universe. And in doing so, to cultivate some serious creativity and collateralized profits for Mutants.
The borders really are limitless with this.
How does it work for you?
Not everybody has to be active in the DAO… you can enjoy the community for what communities are good for and there’s plenty of stuff going on that gives free value.
Meetups, merch, shilling, raising the roof and lifting the floor!
We want everyone to feel free to drive as much creativity collectively within the community without our involvement. Do your own thing Mutants, and cultivate what you can.
For those of you that want to work for the Cartel and earn with the Cartel, then here’s how it works:
There is a ranking system anchored to activity and value. You can climb the ranks and be rewarded by the structured economics of the DAO [more on this when we transition].
Climbing the ranks can be done independently in the community by being active, a social ambassador, a project starter… and generally by doing anything that enriches the Cartel.
However, being affiliated to a Clan, taking on duties, and completing missions for them, is the best way to do this. Some Mutants will be headhunted, but anyone can apply through the Rules channel as and when the clans are rollled out.
There are five founding Clans, but any Mutant can bring the proposition of a new Clan to the roundtable for the bosses to decide on:
The Royals: The Cartel’s creative arm and custodians of its artwork and narrative. [Live]
The Mob: The largest of the Clans and the Cartel’s enforcers, organizers, earners, and introducers. Overseeing the community, real-life events, merch, and independent money-making projects. [Live]
The Ethereal Knights: These Mutants are the engine room and infrastructural glue where the devs, smart contract operations, tech stack, and technical wise guys operate. [Soon to release]
Broken Fangs: These guys work closely with The Mob in creating our culture, partnerships, and connecting major collaborations for the Cartel. [Soon to release]
Twisted Skulls: The bootlegging operation that manages the Fund, DeFi, and other financial flows like treasury management. [Soon to release]
We are actively recruiting for a few positions. Some posts are full-time and compensated accordingly. For the Clans that are yet to be released, you can make an advanced application by letting me know.
What’s the roadmap look like?
It’s been under a fortnight and we’ve a soundtrack, a podcast, the first Clan up and running, a dinner scheduled in New York, and several Made Mutants on their first missions for the Cartel.
We’ve a growing engine room of illustrators and designers churning out elite and original artwork and some exclusive NFTs in the works to release.
Major collaborations are forming, Cartel swag is being prepped for sale, and the infrastructure to transition to a web3 interface is well underway.
Most importantly, we’re all having the craic and raising the value for Mutants, the MAYC, and in the future, the BAYC DAO.
Over the next few months we intend to:
- Roll out the initial Clan system, bed the first Officers in, and assign the Cartel’s first vital missions. Those that sweat for the Cartel will be rewarded by the Cartel.
- Release an NFT to the first 500 Cartel Acolytes. OGs and those flying the flag highest receive special favour from Blaksoot.
- Host our first meetup in New York and schedule the second for London.
- Launch our comic series documenting The Cartel and immortalizing Mutants from within it.
- Release the Hounds (exclusive NFT beasts for the Cartel).
- Introduce the first of our Merch.
- Host our first art exhibition at one of London’s big houses.
Medium-term:
With how quickly the landscape is moving around us we wanted to avoid committing to timelines. As things are going, I’ll likely wake up one day to see it’s all become an overnight reality anyway:
- Secure the building of the Cartel’s headquarters in Decentraland with an active auction house attached.
- Mobilize into a DAO with a fund attached and introduce our token.
- Roll out some serious merch (if its production has already started, you know we’re talking serious swag)
We’re building one of the most ambitious community projects in the NFT world, and we’re delighted to be working with all those already involved.
For the Mutants out there that aren’t riding with the Cartel yet, we cordially extend the invitation to unite under our banner.
