Mainstream hype for the nonfungible token (NFT) market cooled down considerably in 2022, however that didn’t cease a bunch of fashionable and rich figures from stinking up the house with dreadful collections final yr.
Within the 2022 version of the worst influencer and superstar NFT money grabs, Cointelegraph takes a take a look at 4 initiatives seemingly designed to exploit capital out of their followers pockets, whereas delivering little or no.
Tai Lopez — OG (Unique Storage) Social Membership
First on the listing is the oddball entrepreneur Tai Lopez, finest identified for his tacky advertising campaigns that used to plague YouTube not so way back.
Lopez’s most well-known video is his “right here in my storage” enterprise course promo from 2015 the place he first reveals off his Lambo earlier than switching gears and noting that he’s extra pleased with the 1000’s of books he owns due to the “information” they provide him.
Paying homage to the video, Lopez launched a set dubbed the “OG (Unique Storage) Social Membership” in March.
The NFTs got here in three tiers of rarity, going from wherever between $150 on the decrease finish to $50,000 for the premium tokens that provided unique advantages corresponding to a one-on-one basketball sport with Lopez, watching a film, or consuming dinner collectively and personal mentorship classes.
Tai Lopez is promoting an NFT that offers you the CHANCE to win $10,000 if you happen to beat him at 1 on 1 basketball.
The worth? $50,000. pic.twitter.com/ySJc52PItu— Coffeezilla (@coffeebreak_YT) March 5, 2022
The present knowledge on OpenSea now paints a grim image nevertheless, with the ground value for all of the NFTs no matter rarity, sitting at 0.08 Ether (ETH) or $97 on the time of writing.
Trying on the premium NFTs, the basketball-related token is on sale for as little as 0.880 ETH ($1069), whereas an NFT granting entry to a one-on-one dinner with Lopez is now on sale for 1 ETH ($1214) regardless of first being bought for round $30,000.
Donald Trump — Trump Digital Buying and selling Playing cards
Regardless of traditionally being a vocal crypto-hater, former president Donald Trump introduced a wierd licensed NFT mission in December that consisted of 45,000 self-themed buying and selling playing cards.
The shoddy and doubtlessly plagiarized paintings of the NFTs depicted Trump in numerous kinds corresponding to a superhero, hunter, cowboy and golfer. The NFTs provided patrons an opportunity to win a bunch of one-on-one experiences with the forty fifth president through sweepstakes.
The NFTs initially bought for $99 apiece rapidly promoting out on Dec. 16 with the ground value quickly rising to 0.83 ETH ($1,008) on OpenSea inside two days. Since then, nevertheless, the value has considerably tanked to 0.164 ETH ($199).
Whereas individuals who first purchased in are prone to nonetheless be within the inexperienced, the Trump NFT mission is nice both means because it pocketed round $4.5 million from the preliminary gross sales, with an ongoing 10% creator price additionally coming again to it through gross sales on secondary markets.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. — Mayweverse
Boxing icon Floyd Mayweather Jr. additionally makes the 2022 listing for an NFT mission that appears to have been utterly deserted on the time of writing.
Tweeting on Mar. 22, Mayweather introduced the “Mayweverse” consisting of 5,000 NFT collectibles.
“In case you are within the NFT world and also you’re betting on me, you’ll by no means lose,” he mentioned.
Right here earlier than the mission sluggish rugs. Don’t you will have a status of selling scams? pic.twitter.com/szJQmwqTkT
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) March 21, 2022
The NFTs initially went for a mint value of roughly $900 on Apr. 13 offering hodlers the possibility to win money prizes starting from $5,000 to $30,000 and unique experiences corresponding to becoming a member of Mayweather in an upcoming Metaverse referred to as “Floyd’s Gymnasium.”
Because the mint, the Mayweverse Twitter account has remained dormant with not a single follow-up tweet all through 2022. It’s unclear if anybody obtained prizes or when the Metaverse shall be shipped.
The web site’s roadmap additionally stays undated regardless of initially stating different “future advantages” can be introduced quickly.
OpenSea knowledge additionally makes it exhausting to determine what is occurring with the mission.
One Maywevere assortment listed on {the marketplace} accommodates 73 tokens that aren’t on the market with no value historical past. One other accommodates 5 NFTs which all final bought for much less 0.050 Wrapped ETH ($60) however have a flooring value of 0.1 ETH ($121).
Lana Rhoades — CryptoSis.
Final on the listing is the favored influencer and former grownup movie star Lana Rhoades launched the now-abandoned Crypto Sis NFT mission in February 2022.
Crypto Sis consists of 6,069 Rhoades-themed cartoon avatar NFTs with the quantity initially meant to be 6,969 which it didn’t attain attributable to a scarcity of demand.
The NFTs went for a mint value of roughly $261 however the worth now basically sits at $0 on OpenSea as there was lower than 1 ETH value of total buying and selling exercise since its Feb. 2022 launch. The mission’s Twitter web page can be currently suspended.
Rhoades reportedly pocketed $1.5 million from the gross sales, then promptly withdrew the funds from her Ethereum pockets earlier than strolling away from the mission altogether stating her neighborhood was too unfavourable.
Associated: Crypto adoption in 2022: What occasions moved the trade ahead?
In now-deleted social media posts, Rhoades initially touted the avatars can be usable within the Metaverse together with providing a bunch of utilities corresponding to whitelist entry to future drops, inclusion right into a Metaverse neighborhood, signed merch and digital meet and greets.
Rhoades claimed she was working exhausting to make the mission a “profitable funding for holders that they will promote for greater than they paid to mint.”
Nevertheless, none of that has come to fruition, resulting in individuals in the neighborhood to accuse her of working a rug pull. Rhoades counter-argued the mission flopped and there was nothing she may do to repair it.
