Mainstream hype for the nonfungible token (NFT) market cooled down considerably in 2022, however that didn’t cease a number of well-liked and rich figures from stinking up the house with dreadful collections final yr.
Within the 2022 version of the worst influencer and celeb NFT money grabs, Cointelegraph takes a take a look at 4 tasks seemingly designed to take advantage of capital out of their followers pockets, whereas delivering little or no.
Tai Lopez — OG (Unique Storage) Social Membership
First on the record is the oddball entrepreneur Tai Lopez, finest recognized 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 exhibits off his Lambo earlier than switching gears and noting that he’s extra happy with the 1000’s of books he owns due to the “data” they offer him.
Paying homage to the video, Lopez launched a group dubbed the “OG (Unique Storage) Social Membership” in March.
The NFTs got here in three tiers of rarity, going from anyplace between $150 on the decrease finish to $50,000 for the premium tokens that provided unique advantages equivalent 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 provides you the CHANCE to win $10,000 should you 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 worth for all of the NFTs no matter rarity, sitting at 0.08 Ether (ETH) or $97 on the time of writing.
Wanting 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 offered 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 an odd 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 varied types equivalent to a superhero, hunter, cowboy and golfer. The NFTs provided patrons an opportunity to win a number of one-on-one experiences with the forty fifth president by way of sweepstakes.
The NFTs initially offered for $99 apiece shortly promoting out on Dec. 16 with the ground worth 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 more likely 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 by way of gross sales on secondary markets.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. — Mayweverse
Boxing icon Floyd Mayweather Jr. additionally makes the 2022 record for an NFT mission that appears to have been fully deserted on the time of writing.
Tweeting on Mar. 22, Mayweather introduced the “Mayweverse” consisting of 5,000 NFT collectibles.
“If you’re 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 gradual rugs. Don’t you’ve a status of selling scams? pic.twitter.com/szJQmwqTkT
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) March 21, 2022
The NFTs initially went for a mint worth of roughly $900 on Apr. 13 offering hodlers the prospect to win money prizes starting from $5,000 to $30,000 and unique experiences equivalent to becoming a member of Mayweather in an upcoming Metaverse referred to as “Floyd’s Fitness center.”
For the reason that 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 arduous to establish what is going on with the mission.
One Maywevere assortment listed on {the marketplace} accommodates 73 tokens that aren’t on the market with no worth historical past. One other accommodates 5 NFTs which all final offered for much less 0.050 Wrapped ETH ($60) however have a ground worth of 0.1 ETH ($121).
Lana Rhoades — CryptoSis.
Final on the record 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 as a result of a scarcity of demand.
The NFTs went for a mint worth of roughly $261 however the worth now primarily 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 group was too destructive.
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 number of utilities equivalent to whitelist entry to future drops, inclusion right into a Metaverse group, signed merch and digital meet and greets.
Rhoades claimed she was working arduous to make the mission a “profitable funding for holders that they’ll promote for greater than they paid to mint.”
Nevertheless, none of that has come to fruition, resulting in folks 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.