Friendsies NFT creators deny ‘abandoning’ project amid rug pull allegations
Nonfungible token (NFT) assortment Friendsies has refuted claims it’s “abandoning” its NFT undertaking following a tsunami of “rug pull” accusations aimed toward its founders.
On Feb. 21, the founders behind the NFT undertaking instructed its Twitter followers that it was placing a “pause” on Friendsies and “all future digital items” in the intervening time, 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 onerous rug earlier as we speak 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 crew 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 it’s “abandoning” the undertaking. The founders’ account remains to be personal, nonetheless.
“It’s clear that we now have upset lots of you with the character of our announcement, and maybe we didn’t deal with that in the easiest way doable,” they mentioned, including:
“To be very clear, we aren’t abandoning fRiENDSiES.”
The founders mentioned the preliminary announcement was extra about pausing social engagement “till additional discover.”
“That was not meant to imply we’re pausing constructing and looking for alternatives, these efforts stay on-going,” it added.
Friendsies is a set of 10,000 Ethereum-based NFTs that launched in March 2022. It purported to offer every holder a custom-built “digital companion” which might be used within the Metaverse, real-life experiences, artwork installations, and eventually a “Tomogatchi-like” play-to-earn sport.
There are at the moment 3,323 homeowners of Friendsies NFTs, with a ground worth of 0.012 Ether (ETH) (roughly $20) and a buying and selling quantity of three,775 ETH, in accordance with information from OpenSea.
Within the preliminary announcement, Friendsies mentioned the “volatility and challenges of the market have made it very tough to maneuver this undertaking ahead in a manner we could be pleased with.”
˙ᵕ˙ – Hello buddies! We needed to succeed in out on to the group with an essential replace. Because the undertaking founders, we now have determined that it could be greatest to place a pause on @fRiENDSiES_Ai and all future digital items in the intervening time. We had the most effective 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 have been “overwhelmed” with hate and threats over the announcement:
“We have been overwhelmed with hate and threats & each our Twitter and web site have been attacked […] We’re sorry if we allow you to down as we speak with our communication, however we aren’t going wherever,” it wrote.
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Making a public provide to take over Friendsies. I’ll set up a brand new crew and take the undertaking ahead with a distinct imaginative and prescient
The IP has a lot potential and the holders deserve higher. We simply can not preserve letting stuff like this slide as a result of it truly is hurting the house.
— Satvik Sethi (@sxtvik) February 21, 2023
Mastercard’s former NFT product lead, Satvik Sethi, who resigned in spectacular style earlier this month, has even made a suggestion to take over the Friendsies NFT undertaking.
“I’ll set up a brand new crew and take the undertaking ahead with a distinct imaginative and prescient,” he mentioned.
“[Friendswithyou] should you care in any respect about your holders such as you’ve all the time claimed, do the proper factor. Don’t abandon individuals who put their belief in you regardless of all of the noise. Hit me up, let’s talk about it.”
