The workforce behind nonfungible token assortment Friendsies has refuted claims they’re “abandoning” the NFT venture following a tsunami of “rug pull” accusations.
On Feb. 21, the founders behind the NFT venture advised their Twitter followers that they werputting 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 venture, was made non-public — sparking rumors that the founders had “rugged” for about $5 million.
With the $5.3m @friendsies_ai arduous rug earlier immediately it stays unclear how the funds may’ve probably been spent.
There have been no bulletins since September, no community treasury, and no P2E game.
The workforce blames “market volatility” as their rationale. pic.twitter.com/FM8ytum4Ur
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) February 21, 2023
The venture’s Twitter account has since been reinstated with the founders vehemently denying they’re “abandoning” the venture. The founders’ account continues to be non-public, nevertheless.
“It’s clear that we now have upset a lot of you with the character of our announcement, and maybe we didn’t deal with that in one of the simplest ways attainable,” 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 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 offer every holder a custom-built “digital companion” thatcould be used within the metaverse, real-life experiences, artwork installations, and eventually a “Tomogatchi-like” play-to-earn game.
There are presently 3,323 house owners of Friendsies NFTs. The gathering has 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 troublesome to maneuver this venture ahead in a approach we might be pleased with.”
˙ᵕ˙ – Hello associates! We wished to succeed in out on to the community with an necessary replace. Because the venture founders, we now have determined that it will be greatest to place a pause on @fRiENDSiES_Ai and all future digital items in the intervening time. We had the perfect intentions to make a
— fRiENDSiES (@fRiENDSiES_Ai) February 21, 2023
Within the follow-up Twitter thread some 17 hours after the pause announcement, the venture’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 immediately 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 workforce and take the venture ahead with a special imaginative and prescient
The IP has a lot potential and the holders deserve higher. We simply can’t hold 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 trend earlier this month, has even made a proposal to take over the Friendsies NFT venture.
“I’ll set up a brand new workforce and take the venture ahead with a special imaginative and prescient,” he mentioned.
“[Friendswithyou] if you happen to care in any respect about your holders such as you’ve at all times 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 focus on it.”
