Two unrelated stories this morning are highly correlated to the very cold crypto winter. First, CNN is pulling the plug on its Vault by CNN NFT project. The OG hodlers are calling it a “rug pull.” (It kind of is, actually.) CNN never should have entered the NFT business without a real plan to create value for its community. DiscoBros is smart to rip the Band-Aid off; this was never going anywhere without a big pivot and redesign. Better to start over after they think it through.
Then, Cointelegraph is reporting that both Decentraland and The Sandbox (the two big decentralized virtual worlds, aka “metaverses”) are not happy with the way their daily active users are being reported in the media. For example, @0x_shake tweeted, “Decentraland ($MANA) has 30 Daily Active Users and a $1.2 Billion Market Cap.” This isn’t true, says Decentraland. According to its September data, the virtual world had 56,700 Monthly Active Users, but only 1,074 (1.89%) of those users interacted with Decentraland’s smart contracts.
We’re learning about the value of value creation and utility. When you create value or utility for your community, your business will thrive. Are Decentraland and The Sandbox doomed? Does CNN’s rug pull tell us anything about the value of NFTs?