Doodles Shifts Focus: Not Just an NFT Project, Playboy Reveals NFT Losses, and More in 2024

Id disaster: Cofounder of doodles says it’s now not an

NFT challenge

One of the key co-founders of the non-fungible token (NFT) project Doodles says it will pivot from being an “NFT project” to becoming a “major media franchise.”

In a March 18 post on the project’s Discord, one of Doodles’ founders, Jordan Castro—who goes by the pseudonym “poopie” online—stated the initiative aims to shift away from financial speculators.

“We’re looking to transition from a startup to a major media franchise. We’re not an ‘NFT project,’” said Castro.

Castro’s Discord post outlines Doodles’ shift to becoming a media franchise. Source: Discord. Doodles, launched in October 2021, has reached a $704 million valuation according to a September 2022 funding round and features iconic musician Pharrell Williams as its Chief Brand Officer.

Moving forward, Castro stated that Doodles will focus on its “most loyal collectors” and will not allocate resources to “appease those with financial motivations.”

Many on Twitter have criticized the apparent shift in focus and highlighted other perceived issues with the project, such as its recent lack of communication and the March 16 NFT sock drop.

“And after thousands and thousands in investment, you clowns deliver us socks!?

This situation has become a joke.”

Crypto Bitlord (@crypto_bitlord7) March 15, 2023

Some have, however, supported the shift, with NFT startup founder Daniel Tenner tweeting, “The sooner we move away from the term ‘NFT project,’ the better,” adding that such initiatives “are all startups/companies.”

Castro later responded to the criticism on Twitter, reaffirming the new focus but stating that Doodles “will continue to use NFT tech as the connective tissue between everything we do.”

Howdy, Web3! Here are my thoughts on the comments:

“Doodles is not an NFT project.”

That’s true. But what’s also true is that I have dedicated my career to blockchain. I will never abandon the pursuit of delivering the promises of this technology to the world. Doodles started as an NFT… https://t.co/Eq9fZN3sx4

— poopie (@poopie) March 16, 2023

He added that the goal was to “evolve beyond vicious speculative cycles” by “bringing in intrinsically motivated users,” solving real problems, and launching products with market fit.

Playboy’s NFT enterprise strips down its crypto income

The parent company of the renowned magazine Playboy has reported significant losses on its Ether (ETH) holdings from an NFT collection launched in late 2021.

In a filing on March 18, PLBY Group revealed it incurred an impairment loss of $4.9 million in 2022 as cryptocurrency prices fell sharply from the record highs seen the previous year.

Playboy launched its Rabbitars NFTs in October 2021, just before the cryptocurrency market reached its peak. Since then, Ether’s value has declined by approximately 60% in line with the broader market downturn.

As of December 31, 2022, the value of Playboy’s crypto holdings stands at $327,000.

In the filing, the company noted that it considers the impairment losses unrecoverable, even if the fair value of its digital asset holdings increases after recording these losses.

“The market value of one Ethereum in our primary market ranged from $964 to $3,813 throughout 2022,” the company stated. “However, the carrying value of each Ethereum we held at the end of the reporting period reflects the lowest price of one Ethereum quoted on the active exchange at any time since its receipt.”

“Significant swings in the market value of Ethereum are not reflected in the carrying value of our digital assets and impact earnings only when the Ethereum is sold at a gain,” it added.

Yuga Labs’ new assortment mints over $10M

NFT conglomerate Yuga Labs has once again made millions with a new NFT collection minted as part of its “Dookey Dash” online game.

On March 15, those who minted a “Sewer Pass” NFT—initially required to play Dookey Dash—were invited to “The Summoning,” where they could burn their passes to mint an NFT from the new collection titled HV-MTL, or Heavy Metal.

“We’ve Dookey’d and we’ve dashed. Now the holder of the Key can begin to fulfill Gary the Dog Prophet’s prophecy by unlocking the power within the Box. The Summoning starts in one hour…” pic.twitter.com/TmNAkuR5P8

Bored Ape Yacht Membership (@BoredApeYC) March 15,

2023

The new collection features 30,000 NFTs that resemble robotic-like cubes, which will later reveal a “Mech” according to the collection’s OpenSea description.

The collection has surged on the secondary market since its release. OpenSea data shows the current floor price at 2.3 ETH, approximately $4,000, with total trading volume exceeding 6,050 ETH, or around $10.3 million.

With Yuga Labs’ creator fee set at 5%, the project has already earned the company over $500,000.

Some early minters reported issues with the output of the process, but Yuga Labs identified and fixed the problem within a few hours by updating the collection.

Additionally, some early minters experienced problems with “trait characteristics” not initially appearing on their HV-MTL NFTs, but Yuga Labs addressed and resolved the issue promptly.

Coinbase has launched a new “Creator Hub,” a comprehensive platform for NFT creators to launch and market their collections.

Coinbase NFT announced the new hub on March 16, branding it as a “one-stop shop” and providing an overview of the various tools available to creators.

Introducing the Writer Hub

Discover our one-stop shop for all creator tools that make launching an NFT collection and building your community easy. Learn more about the full range of tools available in the Creator Hub. pic.twitter.com/T5a7cuRLRM

Coinbase NFT (@Coinbase_NFT) March 16, 2023

The tools in the Creator Hub reportedly allow users to launch an NFT collection in three steps, track sales on Discord, and embed an NFT collection on their website.

Additional features include the ability to create gated experiences exclusively for NFT holders and tools for analyzing holder wallets.

This is reportedly the first significant update to the Coinbase NFT platform in some time.

“Glad to see you’re still alive and kicking,” one user responded to the announcement. “For a moment, we thought you were dead.”

The Metadata (@the_metadata) March 16, 2023
Different Nifty Information

NFT creator tools are clearly in high demand, as software-as-a-service giant Salesforce has also introduced a platform called Salesforce Web3 to help companies sustainably create, manage, and deploy NFTs.

In related news, Form, a Solana-native NFT marketplace, has announced it will be shutting down by the end of March after just over a year of operation. This closure coincides with a decline in the price of Solana (SOL) and a drop in NFT trading volumes during the same period.