The $70 Million Pixelmon NFT Scandal
Since the creation of the NFTs, NFT investors have made a lot of money, but at the same time, a lot of scams and scandals have also occurred in the industry. One of the latest NFT scandals to happen is the Pixelmon NFT scandal. Anyone who’s involved with NFTs knows the hype that comes alongside each project launch and the FOMO atmosphere that is created with each project.
This is the same thing that happened with the Pixelmon NFT scandal where the Pixelmon NFT creators successfully raised about $70 million for the NFT project and then released an NFT that is now a meme on the internet. The first generation of the NFTs was minted for approximately 3 Ether and it promised to create a blockchain gaming experience that is connected to the Pokemon franchise. Pixelmon NFT holders were promised that they will be able to train and battle with their Pixelmon.
https://twitter.com/OttoSuwenNFT/status/1503494516115836929?s=20&t=3qFK94tMWYA8v_toATNqmg
What is Pixelmon — the Pokemon Of NFT?
Pixelmon NFT was founded on Twitter by a person known as @syberer on the microblogging platform. Those who are experienced in NFTs shouldn’t have fallen for this scam as there was no detailed roadmap or even a strong reputation by the Pixelmon NFT creators.
What convinced a lot of people about the NFT was the hype by its community, with its first generation selling for a whooping 3 Ether. It was said to be revealed on February 16, but it was postponed to February 26 When it was revealed, the pokemon-style-NFT received an underwhelming response from the owners. An outrage started between the owners and those who didn’t join the said Pokemon of NFT project made fun of it.
What Made The Pokemon-Style-NFT a Scam?
https://twitter.com/bullishanon/status/1498358624678203396?s=20&t=myn2KW61QTr-bY0wG4zMzQ
Before the Pixelmon NFT scandal, Pixelmon was supposed to be an open-world role-playing game with Pixelmon creatures caught and traded as NFTs. The game was to be launched at the end of the year, and before then, Pixelmon NFT holders will be given living spaces and also in-game merchants with the shops that will be allocated to them. The Pixelmon NFT creators were able to raise about $70 million to fund this project and create a 10,000 NFT Collection in February.
What made a lot of people marvel at this project was the amount of money that was raised for it. $70 million is a type of money that is usually spent on blockbuster games from popular franchises such as Xbox and PlayStation. When the Pixelmon game NFTs was finally released, it was met with outrage on Twitter with a lot of mocking tweets coming from people like @zachxbt and many others.
https://twitter.com/Khalidawamleh/status/1497392000315772929?s=20&t=myn2KW61QTr-bY0wG4zMzQ
Red Flags Identified In The Pixelmon NFT Project
If not for the FOMO atmosphere and the hype that this NFT project received which bedazzled those that invested in it, there were so many red flags that were identified with the Pixelmon NFT project and it includes:
The website for the Pixelmon NFT project was low standard and was built with a basic web flow despite the amount of money that was raised for the project.
The demo gameplay that the project developers released was very suspicious and was said to be developed by a different game studio.
Conclusion
https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1499912505967132681?s=20&t=myn2KW61QTr-bY0wG4zMzQ
The Pixelmon NFT scandal has taught a lot of people hard lessons about the NFT space. You should always do thorough research before you start investing in an NFT project. Also, you should have in mind that NFT projects that are staying for a long time do not start with high mint prices such as the Pixelmon NFT project.
