The group behind nonfungible token assortment Friendsies has refuted claims they’re “abandoning” the NFT undertaking following a tsunami of “rug pull” accusations.
On Feb. 21, the founders behind the NFT undertaking instructed their Twitter followers that they werputting a “pause” on Friendsies and “all future digital items” in the interim, citing market challenges.
Round 40 minutes later, the Twitter account was deleted, whereas the account of Friendswithyou, who developed the undertaking, was made personal — sparking rumors that the founders had “rugged” for about $5 million.
With the $5.3m @friendsies_ai arduous rug earlier right this moment it stays unclear how the funds may’ve probably been spent.
There have been no bulletins since September, no group treasury, and no P2E sport.
The group blames “market volatility” as their rationale. pic.twitter.com/FM8ytum4Ur
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) February 21, 2023
The undertaking’s Twitter account has since been reinstated with the founders vehemently denying they’re “abandoning” the undertaking. The founders’ account continues to be personal, nonetheless.
“It’s clear that now we have upset lots of you with the character of our announcement, and maybe we didn’t deal with that in one of the best ways attainable,” they stated, including:
“To be very clear, we’re not abandoning fRiENDSiES.”
The founders stated the preliminary announcement was extra about pausing social engagement “till additional discover.”
“That was not meant to imply we’re pausing constructing and in search of alternatives, these efforts stay on-going,” it added.
Friendsies is a group of 10,000 Ethereum-based NFTs that launched final March. It purported to provide every holder a custom-built “digital companion” thatcould be used within the metaverse, real-life experiences, artwork installations, and ultimately a “Tomogatchi-like” play-to-earn sport.
There are presently 3,323 homeowners of Friendsies NFTs. The gathering has a ground value of 0.012 Ether (ETH) (roughly $20) and a buying and selling quantity of three,775 ETH, in keeping with knowledge from OpenSea.
Within the preliminary announcement, Friendsies stated the “volatility and challenges of the market have made it very troublesome to maneuver this undertaking ahead in a method we might be pleased with.”
˙ᵕ˙ – Hello associates! We wished to succeed in out on to the group with an essential replace. Because the undertaking founders, now we have determined that it will be finest to place a pause on @fRiENDSiES_Ai and all future digital items in the interim. We had the very best intentions to make a
— fRiENDSiES (@fRiENDSiES_Ai) February 21, 2023
Within the follow-up Twitter thread some 17 hours after the pause announcement, the undertaking’s founders admitted they had been “overwhelmed” with hate and threats over the announcement:
“We had been overwhelmed with hate and threats & each our Twitter and web site had been attacked […] We’re sorry if we allow you to down right this moment with our communication, however we’re not going wherever,” it wrote.
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Making a public provide to take over Friendsies. I’ll set up a brand new group and take the undertaking ahead with a special imaginative and prescient
The IP has a lot potential and the holders deserve higher. We simply can’t preserve letting stuff like this slide as a result of it truly is hurting the area.
— Satvik Sethi (@sxtvik) February 21, 2023
Mastercard’s former NFT product lead, Satvik Sethi, who resigned in spectacular trend earlier this month, has even made a suggestion to take over the Friendsies NFT undertaking.
“I’ll set up a brand new group and take the undertaking ahead with a special imaginative and prescient,” he stated.
“[Friendswithyou] if you happen to care in any respect about your holders such as you’ve at all times claimed, do the correct factor. Don’t abandon individuals who put their belief in you regardless of all of the noise. Hit me up, let’s focus on it.”
