Behind the NFT curtain
This is a peek into the ever growing and controversial NFT community, where I will shed light on my minting experiences to date and where I think this is all going…
I will cover off 4 NFT projects I am in, my learnings and my key takeaways:
- Spooky Boys Country Club
This was the first NFT project I got into as it was backed by Crypto Whale — Holy Ghost. It had a massive discord community (100k+ active members), unbelievable engagement and energy pre-mint. The hype was palpable and you really felt like this NFT project was destined for a blue chip level of success.
Sadly since the mint, we have seen the floor price decrease dramatically, there was a failed in-person event (Country Club) and despite an attempt to revive the community with another mint (Mansion Party), this just damaged the value of the original NFTs and ultimately both have stayed well below mint price. More recently the community has banded together and are attempting to remove Holy Ghost as project lead and there was a recent successful event with will.i.am so it may be turning a corner.
Learnings
Minting NFTs on ETH is expensive due to the gas fees so I decided to focus on SOL mints. Upon reflection, it feels like a slow rug pull but lawyers are involved now and the community is rallying behind it. I hope this can work out for everyone as there is huge potential still here. Disclaimer: I still hold multiple Spooky Boys NFTs.
2. Dronies
My second series of NFT purchases are Dronies from the Unfold team. Taking learnings from my first NFTs, I did a lot of DD (due diligence) on the team behind Dronies and they are an established digital design agency with an impressive track record.
They have a very engaged Discord and Socials community and the pre-mint, mint and roadmap plans were flawlessly executed so far! However the community spirit has slightly dampened since mint due to the FP (floor price) dropping and the delays in a concrete staking utilisation. I am hoping the FP will rebound once more of the roadmap has been delivered.
Learnings
Minting NFTs on SOL is great, the fees are next to nothing and the usability of Magic Eden as a secondary marketplace is much better than OpenSea in my opinion. Disclaimer: I still hold one rare Dronie and will not sell as I believe in the project.
3. Age of Sam
My third series of NFTs has been with Age of Sam (AOS). I went big on them for two reasons; firstly the Dronie community recommended them in their Alpha channel, secondly you earn more holding a Dronie and an AOS Dronie and thirdly AOS has a clear staking element to their NFTs and tokenomics.
The AOS Discord community has been strong since pre-mint, they maintain regular communications with their holders and have actively promoted their NFT across socials with great success for new buyers. Unlike the other two NFTs aforementioned, they have managed to maintain value above FP since minting despite not launching their staking programme yet. This is in part due to incentivising holders to delist their NFTs to gain relevant tokens ($SOLARIUM) that will improving their staking capabilities — a clever strategy.
Learnings: I have learnt that patience is needed with NFTs and unless you want to get pulled into a pump & dump hype, you need to understand the roadmap and be willing to wait for the team to execute against it. Disclaimer: I own multiple AOS NFTs.
4. Time Pixies
My most recent new NFT purchases have been Time Pixies. I like the agile nature of the team and their focus on P2E and general concept (battles, duels and quests).
The questing concept with your NFTs here ensures you have a 1 in 3 chance of earning SOL every week. Having 2–3 NFTS in a winning tribe guarantees around 1 SOL pay-out per week right now, so it’s a no brainer and has next to no cost to the holders.
I am excited to see where this project goes as they have struggled to sell out since mint date but with new partnerships being announced, I am confident this won’t take too much longer now. Disclaimer: I own several Time Pixies and plan to mint 1 a week each week to multiply my tribe pay-outs.
Observation on all NFT Discord groups: I am in a lot of NFT groups and they all encourage members to ‘raid’ Twitter posts where someone is claiming they have a lot of SOL to sweep the floor of a project. I am yet to see the fruits of everyone’s labour here and I am sceptical of its success, I'd go as far as saying it actually undermines the value of project.
Key takeaways
- SOL is my favourite network to use for minting, buying and selling NFTs.
- Passive income from P2E and/or staking is what most people in the NFT community are looking for and until there is an official SEC stance on this, people will opt to take advantage of it.
- Long-term pre-mint planning with a concrete doxxed team, a clear roadmap and a quality social media strategy is what seems to make the best NFT project to get involved in.
If you have found what I am saying insightful and would like to hear more about the progress of these and the new projects I am about to mint, please give this article a clap, a share on Twitter and I’ll keep them coming!
Thanks,
Charlie SOL
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