CNN’s NFT Market Shutdown Sparks Accusations of Carpet Pulling
CNN’s NFT marketplace “Vault By CNN” took to Twitter to announce it is shut down, and provokes a backlash from society.
Some accused CNN of pulling the rug, while others said they would take legal action against the new company.
Vault CNN’s promising start faded as crypto winter set in
The marketplace launched in the summer of 2021 amid the NFT boom, with the promise that it would “give collectors the opportunity to own a piece of history.”
Buyers were able to purchase collectible “moments” related to major news events, historical moments, and artistic renderings of archival media. The NFTs came with tools like exclusive Discord conversations, and Vault artist chat archive access and collector-only articles.
The marketplace also promised collectors exclusive CNN perks, Vault merchandise, and discounts on future Vault releases.
The sudden shutdown of the marketplace means that the promised features will not be offered to users who have already spent thousands of dollars on the NFTs. Before the shutdown, CNN had made $328,700 from its first NFT sale in June 2021, according to a Press Gazette report.
The most expensive NFT sold through the Vault was a $500 video clip of the moment CNN predicted various presidential election victories.
Society reacts
The community members expressed their surprise and disappointment at CNN’s decision via Vault’s Discord channel, where a message informing holders that the Vault website will “undergo changes” but will still allow holders to view their NFTs and use the marketplace.
This means that the actual media for the NFTs is stored in an IPFS, a distributed file system that allows the NFTs to remain accessible even if CNN’s website goes down.
Holders accused CNN of a “pull pull,” with one member pointing out that many holders participated in the NFT release expecting to “complete the challenges and benefit.”
He added that CNN teased various tools like future IRL a month before, discount tokens for the Vault of CNN NFTs, and Probably Nothing before “pulling the curtain on a moment’s notice.”
A CNN employee named “Jason” said Vault of CNN holders can expect to be compensated for joining their “experiment” with roughly 20% of distributions based on the purchase price of each wallet’s NFTs captured on October 6 , 2022.
Details of the compensation are still being worked out, but CNN has confirmed that the distribution will be in FLOW tokens or stablecoins.
