Pixel Penguin Accused of ‘Charity Blanket’, Epic Adds New NFT Games and More

by · June 6, 2023

Pixel Penguin alleged “charity project blanket”

Nonfungible token (NFT) project Pixel Penguin has caused a stir this week in what blockchain researcher ZachXBT has claimed is a “charity project blanket”.

The project started quietly in February, but attracted a lot of attention on May 31 following a Twitter thread from Web3 influencer Andrew Wang.

Wang claimed that his friend Sarah – known online as Hopeexist1 – was the creator of Pixel Penguins and said she had “created a collection to help herself fight cancer.”

At a mint price of $13, Wang claimed that 20% of the profits would go to charity, while the other 80% would go towards Hopeexist1’s supposed cancer treatment.

“I will put my representative on the line to say this is real, amidst all the frauds in our room,” Wang said, adding: “I often talk to her art teacher when she has gone for treatment and he says she is the best student he ever had, that her talent is too valuable, that she must survive.”

Following this, Pixel Penguin’s NFTs immediately sold out, with the floor price increasing from 0.0099 Ether (ETH) to around 0.0126 ETH, worth approximately $130. However, members of the NFT community did some digging, alleging that the creator had profited from selling stolen art in the past, and cast doubt on the veracity of her cancer story.

ZachXBT then found the Pixel Penguin smart contract containing more than $117,000 worth of ETH and tracked the funds as they were transferred to two new wallet addresses.

In the aftermath, Hopeexist1 deleted their Twitter account. The floor price of the NFTs has since fallen to 0.004 ETH, or $7.

Epic Games Store to add more blockchain games

Fortnite developers Epic Games will soon release two new blockchain games on their store, adding to the five that are already live and available to play.

An upcoming game is Defimons, a free-to-play Pokemon-inspired multiplayer RPG with turn-based combat.

The game will have an in-game currency and NFT battle monster figures bearing the same name as the title. The Epic Games store shows no release date.

The other blockchain game is called Project Red, which appears to have open-world elements inspired by games like Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row, along with a first-person shooter mode as well.

The early snippets of the game reveal that people must purchase Mobster NFTs to navigate through the higher levels and engage in the play-to-earn elements of the game.

Epic Games originally listed Blanko’s Block Party as the first Web3 game in its store in September 2022, and although these types of games still receive strong skepticism from many traditional gamers, the company is not backing down from this space.

Epic Games recently indicated to Axios in March that it plans to add approximately 20 new blockchain games through 2023 and early 2024.

Related: Japan’s largest airline launches NFT marketplace

Three Arrows NFT garage sale part two

Following the first $2.5 million auction of NFTs belonging to defunct crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), the second round is set to take place this month.

The NFT collection is called Grails and has a long list of tokens from top projects like CryptoPunks, Tyler Hobbs’ Fidenzas and Dmitri Cherniak’s Ringers.

In the second round set for June 15, Sotheby’s will auction off 37 of 3AC’s NFTs in what they describe as the “largest ever live auction of digital art.”

NFTs sold in the first auction. Source: Sotheby’s

Kellogg’s is seeping into the metaverse

Kellogg’s has reportedly applied for a long list of trademarks for several of its food brands related to the metaverse, NFTs, collectibles and crypto-tokens.

Some of the brands include Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes, Special K and Pop Tarts.

According to US Patent and Trademark Office licensed trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis, the firm has indicated interest in launching everything from NFT avatars to crypto collectibles, virtual environments and virtual reality games centered around crypto.

Other good news

Some of the most sought-after NFT collections in 2022 have seen tremendous value over the past year, with investments in top projects such as Doodles, Invisible Friends, Moonbirds, and Goblintown all losing up to 95% of their value in ETH.

On May 31, Web3 wallet-as-a-service provider Magic announced that it had raised $52 million in a strategic funding round led by PayPal Ventures. The funding round also saw participation from venture firms Cherubic, Synchrony, KX, Northzone and Volt Capital, bringing Magic’s total funds raised to over $80 million.

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