The crew behind non-fungible token assortment Friendsies has refuted claims that they’re “abandoning” the NFT mission following a tsunami of “trug pull” allegations.
On February 21, the founders of the NFT mission advised their Twitter followers that they had been taking a “pause” on Friendsies and “all future digital items” for the time being, citing the challenges available in the market.
About 40 minutes later, the Twitter account was deleted, whereas the account of Friendswithyou, who developed the mission, was privatized – sparking rumors that the founders had “stolen” about $5 million.
With the $5.3 million @friendsies_ai Exhausting Rug immediately, it is nonetheless unclear how the funds might need been spent.
There have been no bulletins, no neighborhood field workplace, and no P2E play since September.
The crew blames “market volatility” as the explanation. pic.twitter.com/FM8ytum4Ur
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) February 21, 2023
The mission’s Twitter account has since been restored, with the founders vehemently denying that they’re “abandoning” the mission. Nevertheless, the founder’s account remains to be non-public.
“It is clear we upset lots of you with the character of our announcement and maybe we did not deal with that in the absolute best means,” they mentioned, including:
“To place it bluntly: we can’t let FREUNDSIES down.”
The founders mentioned the unique announcement was aimed extra at pausing social engagement “till additional discover.”
“This could not imply that we’re pausing building and on the lookout for alternatives, these efforts are ongoing,” it added.
Friendsies is a set of 10,000 Ethereum-based NFTs launched final March. It purported to present every holder a custom-made “digital companion” to make use of within the metaverse, real-world experiences, artwork installations, and ultimately a “Tomogatchi-like” sport to earn.
Itemizing of the Friendsies NFT assortment on OpenSea. Supply: OpenSea
There are at present 3,323 homeowners of Friendsies NFTs. The gathering has a minimal worth of 0.012 Ether (ETH) (about $20) and a trading quantity of three,775 ETH, in keeping with knowledge from OpenSea.
Within the preliminary announcement, Friendsies mentioned that “market volatility and challenges have made it very tough to maneuver this mission ahead in a means that we will be happy with.”
˙ᵕ˙ – Hey buddies! We wished to go straight to the neighborhood with an essential replace. As creators, we determined it will be greatest to pause @fRiENDSiES_Ai and all future digital belongings for now. We had the most effective of intentions to make one
— fRiENDSiES (@fRiENDSiES_Ai) February 21, 2023
Within the subsequent Twitter thread about 17 hours after the announcement of the hiatus, the mission’s founders admitted they had been “overwhelmed” by the announcement of hate and threats:
“We had been overwhelmed with hate and threats and each our Twitter and website had been underneath assault […] We’re sorry to allow you to down with our communications immediately, however we’re not going anyplace,” she wrote.
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Making a public supply to amass Friendsies. I am assembling a brand new crew and transferring the mission ahead with a distinct imaginative and prescient
The IP has a lot potential and the holders deserve higher. We simply cannot let issues like this drag on as a result of it actually hurts the house.
— Satvik Sethi (@sxtvik) February 21, 2023
Former Mastercard NFT product head Satvik Sethi, who spectacularly resigned earlier this month, has even made a suggestion to take over NFT mission Friendsies.
“I’ll put in a brand new crew and transfer the mission ahead with a distinct imaginative and prescient,” he mentioned.
“[Friendswithyou] When you care about your homeowners in any respect, as you will have at all times claimed, you might be doing the correct factor. Do not let down individuals who belief you regardless of all of the noise. Hit me up, let’s speak about it.”