Are the "old loyalists of the Qing Dynasty" issuing currency, presenting "revitalizing pills" or "new sickles"?

Author: flowie, ChainCatcher

As the crypto community wails in despair, many "remnants of the Qing Dynasty" born in the last two cycles are announcing their token launches one after another.

Last night, OpenSea announced the launch of the $SEA token, followed by Doodles, which also announced the launch of the $DOOD token on Solana. This comes after the likes of Pudgy Penguins and Azuki, as two more NFT leaders join the token issuance frenzy.

Not only in the NFT space, but privacy projects that were popular in the last cycle but have nearly disappeared in 2024 also seem to be seeking survival through token issuance. Last night, Aztec Network, an Ethereum privacy layer collectively backed by investment giants like a16z and Paradigm, established a foundation, possibly in preparation for an upcoming TGE.

"Late" Token Issuance, Will the Community Buy It?

Pudgy Penguins, which issued tokens when no one was paying attention, saw its NFT floor price rise dramatically from 11 ETH to 35 ETH due to high yield expectations from community players, with its token PENGU opening with an FDV exceeding $6 billion at its peak.

Following the demonstration effect of Pudgy Penguins' token issuance, many blue-chip NFTs have collectively announced their token launches. However, compared to Pudgy Penguins, other NFTs that followed suit seem to have not garnered as much attention, and their NFT and token popularity is far below that of Pudgy Penguins.

In mid-January, after another blue-chip NFT Azuki announced the launch of the ANIME token, the NFTs within the Azuki ecosystem saw some recovery, but the increases were generally modest, far less than Pudgy Penguins. The Azuki series NFTs saw a daily increase of 17.42%, while other related series NFTs did not show significant rises.

In December last year, after Doodles NFT founder Burnt Toast posted a tweet hinting at token issuance, the Doodles floor price surged in a short time, breaking 8 ETH at its peak before falling back to 6.7 ETH, marking a nearly 60% increase within 24 hours. After the official announcement of token issuance this morning, as of the time of writing, the Doodles NFT floor price remains at 4.449 ETH.

The once-leading NFT platform OpenSea received mixed reactions from the community after revealing its token issuance news.

During the NFT boom in 2021, OpenSea raised funds crazily, reaching a valuation of $13 billion. While the community was actively trading in anticipation of airdrops, OpenSea insisted on pursuing an IPO route, facing backlash from the community. Now that the NFT market has cooled down, OpenSea, without achieving its IPO, is following Pudgy Penguins in issuing tokens.

In response, crypto KOL @BroLenoAus criticized, "This is OpenSea's last harvest before it completely turns into a zombie, essentially a dying struggle," stating that after receiving the OpenSea airdrop, he would firmly choose to short it.

Earlier, OpenSea launched a new platform, OpenSea 2.0 (OS2), in preparation for the TGE, but access during the private testing phase was limited to Gemesis NFT holders for free, while other users had to join a waiting list, causing dissatisfaction among community members who felt it favored early users and ignored the existing user base.

However, @ElvisPoldark believes there is a positive side, suggesting that the new features of OpenSea 2.0, leveraging the token issuance hype, might provide a new experience and compete with rivals like Blur. For example, OpenSea 2.0 offers a one-stop service for NFTs and tokens, allowing users to purchase NFTs and tokens across multiple blockchains without manual bridging.

Currently, more details about the airdrops and TGE for Doodles and OpenSea have yet to be finalized, and whether they can gain user support remains uncertain.

From NFTs to Privacy Projects, "Token Issuance" Has Become a Lifeline for Old Projects

Learning from the examples of Pudgy Penguins and Trump tokens, rather than recreating narratives, "token issuance" may become a lifeline for old projects.

However, these former leaders backed by VC giants are facing significant bottlenecks and trust crises in their own businesses.

OpenSea, once the largest NFT trading platform, peaked at a monthly trading volume of $5 billion in early 2021. However, according to Dune Analytics, its NFT trading volume last month was about $190 million, less than 4% of its peak.

Facing challenges from competitors like Blur and Magic Eden, OpenSea's market share has dropped from 90% in 2022 to around 30%. OpenSea is also facing regulatory compliance challenges.

Meanwhile, Doodles' floor price has fallen from a high of 25 ETH to 4.449 ETH. During the previous bear market, Doodles attempted to save itself by selling IP and related products, but the results have been minimal.

As a star project in Ethereum privacy, Aztec Network raised over $100 million in four rounds of financing, with top investment teams like a16z, Paradigm, Coinbase Ventures, and HashKey Capital participating.

However, after raising $100 million, Aztec Network suddenly announced a business transformation in March 2023, shutting down its DeFi privacy bridge project Aztec Connect and focusing on two new main products: a general-purpose development language Noir that supports zero-knowledge proofs and a new privacy blockchain.

Facing this transformation and the delayed airdrop, community users expressed disappointment towards Aztec, and the project has not made significant progress since then.

Currently, in a market lacking liquidity and innovative models, where market attention is no longer easily captured by old narratives and VC tokens, old narratives and projects that have lost some trust are facing a huge challenge in trying to reverse their fortunes through token issuance.