Cool cats land on their feet and do it in style
Does Cool Cats still have Blue Chip status? Fundraising fell on hard times recently, but so has every other NFT project out there. After all, we are in a bear market. A Hollywood agency manages the Cool Cats project, they had coolest exhibition in NFT NYC, and partnered with TIME magazine in a strange NFT drop. The collection’s floor price is nevertheless down to levels not seen since the project’s inception.
The Cool Cats started spreading good vibes in July 2021. It is a PFP collection consisting of 9,999 unique cats composed of different characteristics that can add up to 300,000 possibilities in total. The ecosystem expanded in two major ways a while ago. They launched their secondary collection, Cool Pets, and their own token, $MILK. The new coin is the lifeblood that powers the gamified experience that the collection’s creators have released.
— Mike Tyson (@MikeTyson) 9 July 2021
Speaking of these, the core team is: the smart contract programmer Tom Williamsonweb developer Rob Mehewcreative director Evan Luza, and illustrator Colin Egan AKA The cartoonist. The unofficial fifth member of the band is Mike Tyson. A few days after the launch, the perennial heavyweight champion changed his Twitter profile picture to a Cool Cats, and it fueled the rally when it needed it most.
The relationship between cool cats and CAA
The Cool Cats headed to Hollywood in March 2021. In an unprecedented move at the time, the creators signed with leading talent agency CAA. IN a press release from the timethe partners explained the agreement in detail:
“Leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) has signed Cool Cats, makers of the iconic Cool Cats and Cool Pets NFT collections. Working with the gamified NFT company, the agency will identify and create opportunities for Cool Cats characters across a range of areas, including licensing and merchandising, animated content, brand partnerships, live events, publishing and more.”
So there is serious money and interests behind the cats. Why do they disappear into the background then? Is it just an effect of the bear market?
ETH price chart for 09/24/2022 on OkCoin | Source: ETH/USD on TradingView.com
Cool Cats benefit
First of all, Cool Cats holders get NFT’s property rights. This means that they can produce commercial projects with NFT’s images. Cool Cat owners also get access to the project’s Discord server, and priority access to all the exclusive Cool Cats events and coins. Holders can stack their NFTs and get returns in $MILK.
Another benefit is access to Cooltopia, a project they define as “a gamified ecosystem built on interactivity and utility, community rewards and growth, collaboration with brands and much more.” Another self-definition features Cooltopia as a “place where having a Cool Cats NFT gives you evolving access to games, tokens, community events, collaborations, and more.”
Plus there’s the Cool Pets side project. A reward for NFT holders and a way for newcomers to enter the ecosystem at a lower price point. The Cool Pets collection has 19,999 units. Each owner got a pet for free, and the general public bought the other half. The Cool Pets first arrive as an egg image that hatches and reveals the final NFT. The pets are divided into four elements: Fire, Water, Air and Grass.
The $MILK token
$MILK is an ERC20 token on the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains. It is the oil that lubricates Cooltopia’s gamified economy. In accordance the documentation:
- “$MILK is the key to all functionality and fun in the Cool Cats ecosystem, from buying Battle or Housing chests to going on quests.”
- “$MILK is also how you will improve and evolve your cool pets.”
- This describes NFT’s staking-like mechanism: “Your cool cat earns $MILK just by being cool ($MILK claims the clock starts as soon as the contract is deployed), and that $MILK will accumulate over time.”
Controversy and suspicion
There may be something strange going on with this project. In April, the newly appointed CEO resigned after just three months. A credible explanation was never given. The collection just tweeted, “Chris Hassett has stepped down as CEO. We thank him and wish him the best of luck.” Having trouble brewing at Cool Cat HQ?
And then there is the price. At its peak, in October 2021, Cool Cat’s floor price was around 26 ETH. Almost a year later, the floor Cool Cats traded for 2.9 ETH. That’s not all, the cool pets‘ The floor price is currently at 0.18 ETH. Are they the Blue Chip numbers? Even though we’re actually in the middle of a crypto winter, the collection seems to be falling off a cliff…
Will the Cool Cats land on their feet?
Featured Image: screen shot from the collection's site | Charts by TradingView
