Pixelmon

A Dutch artist has made a collection of NFTs numbered up to 7.9 billion — the same amount of people in the world — as a social experiment.

Dutch artist Dadara and digital rights management platform RAIRtech have developed a collection of 7.9 billion identical nonfungible tokens (NFTs).

The collection, named CryptoGreymen, is on the Polygon (MATIC) Ethereum scaling network. Although each NFT is identical, they will be assigned a serial number of up to 7.9 billion to reflect the number of humans currently estimated to be living on the Earth.

The collection is designed to be a social experiment that Dadara hopes “can rattle the cage of consensual reality and elevate conversation.” He said in an official announcement that the social experiment is simple,

“No one specific NFT is better than another, and because the minting price is widely accessible it will be interesting to see what value each individual CryptoGreyman holder brings.”

In addition to acting as a social experiment, 2,222 CryptoGreymen will be locked in a treasury to be used as educational devices by non-profit Movement on the Ground for refugees who need to learn how to set up a crypto wallet. Movement on the Ground seeks to dignify the acceptance of refugees around the world.

Each item is a pixelated copy of the Greyman which Dadara created in the 1990s.

Pixelmon stirs up controversy

Early minters of the Pixelmon NFT collection got hit with a collective case of buyer’s remorse when the project revealed the finalized art for the project over the weekend. 

Each NFT was minted for three Ether (ETH) worth about $2,900 today, but the floor price of the collection on the OpenSea NFT marketplace is currently 0.36 ETH ($1,051) at the time of writing. In total, the project raised about $70 million.

After the launch, there were immediate cries that the project had pulled the rug on investors due to the subpar artistic quality of the pieces in the collection.

So @Pixelmon raised over $70m at 3 ETH per mint just for them to reveal like this. I think it’s fair to say all the buyers were rugged.

Stop supporting cash grab NFT projects. pic.twitter.com/8VShQxNlgl

— zachxbt (@zachxbt) February 26, 2022

The roadmap revealed ahead of time displayed sharp, crisp art for each character in the collection which will become a game. Investors may have expected their NFTs to contain similar artistic qualities.

However, the actual art for the NFTs varied greatly in style. They are heavily pixelated versions of the characters depicted in the roadmap, with the Kevin character being so bad that it has become a meme in the NFT community.

so let me get this straight:

pixelmon pulled off one of the most insane heists ever, is currently selling for 0.4, and you mfs are buying "Kevin" which was named by the community for over 3+ ETH as a fuckin meme

AND THEN someone makes a Kevin mfer

what the fuck is happening pic.twitter.com/bS7IVFDNOe

— ashrobin.eth (@ashrobinqt) March 1, 2022

NFTs of future art on sale

SuperWorld Artist Gabrel Dean Roberts has put 120 original works of art on sale as an NFT collection. However, the catch is that the art has not yet been created.

$150 million Omega collection includes Roberts’s future work over the next decade, a custom-designed Rolls Royce Ghost which Roberts designed, one million trees planted, and $1 million to Doctors Without Borders.

The collection is being sold on the SuperWorld Metaverse and NFT marketplace.

Roberts said in the official Feb. 28 announcement that the collection has been designed to be “the highest value NFT ever sold or resold.”

“At 50,000 Ethereum, Omega will disrupt the art world and change the way people see smart contracts as a tool.”

Gemie raises $3.8M for entertainment Metaverse

Celebrity Metaverse platform Gemie has raised $3.8 million to fund partnerships and fill its NFT marketplace with more collections.

The round was led by Newman Capital, Soul Capital, Kenetic, Sparks Digital Capital, and others. Gemie is expected to announce its first celebrity to onboard to the project in Q2 2022.

CEO of Gemie John Fund said in an official statement on Feb. 28 that he hopes to bring the Asia entertainment industry into the Web3 world by embracing a “new virtual way of fan engagement.”

Other Nifty News

The South Korean government unveiled a new initiative on Feb. 27 to sponsor the construction and growth of a national Metaverse. The Ministry of ICT, Science, and Future Planning pledged $186.7 million for the expansion of technological, creative, industrial, and commercial efforts on the Metaverse to help stimulate global economic growth.

Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten will launch its own NFT marketplace called Rakuten NFT. The marketplace will host a platform where property owners can create their own websites made for issuing and selling their property as NFTs.