Nifty News: Pixel Penguin accused of ‘charity rag’, Epic adds new NFT games and more…

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Pixel penguins accused of ‘charity project rug’

Non-fungible-token (NFT) project Pixel Penguin has caused a stir this week, with blockchain investigator ZachXBT alleging it is a “charity project rug”.

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

Wang claimed that her friend Sarah, known as Hopexist1 online, was the creator of the pixel penguins, and that she “made the collection to help herself fight cancer.”

Priced at $13 a mint, Wang claimed that 20% of the profits would go to charity, while the other 80% would go to Hopexist1’s purported cancer treatment.

Wang said, “I will put my representative on the line to say that this is among all the scams in our space.” He had ever, that his talent is too precious, that he must live.

Following this, the Pixel Penguins NFTs sold off immediately, rising from a minimum of 0.0099 Ether (ETH) to a high of around 0.0126 ETH, which was worth around $130. However, members of the NFT community then did some digging and alleged that the creator was profiting from it. Was selling stolen art in the past, and possibly lying about having cancer.

ZachXBT then found a Pixel Penguin smart contract that held over $117,000 worth of ETH, and followed that fund as it was moved to two new wallet addresses.

After this, Hopexist1 deleted his Twitter account and went AWOL. The minimum value of NFTs has since dropped 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 its store, which are already up and available to play.

One of the upcoming games is called Defymons, a free-to-play Pokémon-inspired multiplayer RPG with turn-based combat.

The game will feature an in-game currency and NFT battle monster characters with the same name as the title. The Epic Games Store doesn’t list a release date.

Another blockchain game, called Project Red, featured open-world elements inspired by games like Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row, as well as a first-person-shooter game mode.

Early snippets of the game suggest that people will need to purchase Mobster NFTs in order to navigate through higher levels and engage with the game’s play-to-earn elements.

Epic Games initially listed Blancos Block Party as the first Web3 game on its store in September 2022, and games of this type are still available. Get Strong skepticism from many traditional gamers, the firm is not backing down from this space.

Epic Games indicated to Axios as recently as March that it Plan of About 20 new blockchain games to be added in 2023 and early 2024.

Connected: Japan’s largest airline launches NFT marketplace

three arrows nft garage sale part two

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

3AC has a collection of NFTs relaxed me The Grails, and features a long list of tokens from top projects such as Crytopunks, Tyler Hobbs’s Fidanzas, and Dmitri Chernyak’s Ringers.

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

NFTs sold in Auction Part One. Source: Sotheby’s

Kellogg’s Enters the Metaverse

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

Some brands include Fruit Loops, Frosted Flakes, Special K, and Pop-Tarts.

According to Mike Kondoudis, a licensed trademark attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the firm has shown interest in launching anything from NFT avatars to crypto collectibles, virtual environments and VR-gaming revolving around crypto.

Other Nifty News

Some of the most sought-after NFT collectibles of 2022 have seen a significant decline in 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 successfully 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 funding to over $80 million.

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