51
I learned what a Hungry Panda is yesterday. Thanks, CryptoStache. I came across the topic while perusing Odysee after my kid went to bed. The clickbait thumbnail "10x Avatar NFT Project" couldn't help but catch my eye. Before even clicking the video, my mouth was watering with anticipation. Not because I couldn't wait to find an avatar project to ape into indiscriminately. Rather, I couldn't wait to hate-watch the video. It did not disappoint. I'm pretty sure that NFT avatar projects have jumped the shark.
One thing I didn't describe in my "What is an NFT" article earlier this week is the process of creating the art for some of the most popular NFT projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club. An important detail is nearly all of these popular avatar projects are of the generative variety. What that means is they're computer generated images. Artists are providing the elements for the project. But the actual finished works are produced from code that randomizes the designation of artistic traits. The traits are of various uniqueness. This means the NFTs that get spit out of the minting code have varying rarity depending on how unique the assigned traits from the code are. When someone is minting one, they generally have no idea if they'll get lucky and mint a super rare, highly sought after NFT or a run of the mill pleb NFT.
Hungry Pandas are different
Now, there's a new option for avatar project investors. Instead of spending pedestrian sums of ETH on minting NFTs with the hopes of finding a rare, valuable avatar to sell during a project's surefire rise in popularity, NFT minters can just pay up for the rare avatars before the supply cap is hit and be sure they'll have an asset that will theoretically be highly sought after on the secondary market. How do they do this? Welcome to the wonderful world of Hungry Pandas. NFT avatar buyers can just build a Hungry Panda however they want provided they're willing to pay the necessary "bamboo" price. I went through the exercise and this is what I came up with.
This is my guy. I tried to make him look as similar to me as possible. A cheeseburger eating cigar aficionado with a dookie rope and some high tops. It's like looking in the mirror. I added the crown because it required so much bamboo. In total, it would cost 14,299 bamboo to mint this Hungry Panda NFT. Would you like to know what the conversion rate is for bamboo? It's .0001 ETH. That means this NFT would cost 1.4299 ETH to mint. Or, in more understandable currency for the non-crypto-fluent, about $4,600 dollars. For a picture. A picture that I actually already have because I could literally "right click, save as" when building my Hungry Panda. Here it is.
Now look. I get it. What I just did is against the NFT ethos. I understand that just right clicking and saving is almost certainly against an unwritten code (even written maybe) in the crypto space. You don't make your social identity an NFT avatar that isn't actually yours. Whoops. I'd love to make this my StockTwits avatar. I don't think I'm willing to spend $4,600 to do it with integrity though. I'd rather just make it my StockTwits avatar anyway and thumb my nose at a movement that I clearly don't really understand. The devil on my shoulder is ridiculously convincing. Shoot.
Is this the top?
In all seriousness, it feels like a top in the avatar NFT market has got to be close. There are now so many different assets and such a high possibility of fraud. I can't stress enough, I'm actually incredibly bullish NFTs long term. Members of my site can read about my approach and see specific assets I've purchased HERE. I'm 96% sure this Hungry Pandas project is going to fail. Why? Because now the developers are trying to score the big money upfront rather than allocating a percentage of the mint supply to developing the project. I also can't easily find out who is behind the project. Those are red flags to me. Just my opinion, anyone is free to disagree. But I think NFT avatar projects have jumped the shark. Hey, that gives me an idea for an NFT avatar project. Anyone know an artist?
Standard Disclaimer: I am not an investment advisor. Please do your own research when allocating your money. I just share what I am doing and why I think what I think. I do not own any Hungry Pandas, Bored Apes, CryptoPunks, GOATz, Fame Ladies, Lonely Aliens or Cool Cats.
Second Disclaimer: I could have bought a CryptoPunk when the average price was about $100 and I thought it was the dumbest thing ever. Yes, I'm wicked salty about it.
Third Disclaimer: if you would like to, you can check out more of my content at faybomb.com
