It looks like 2022 will be full of stories like this. Yet another big NFT project has gone dark and made off with the money, after it promised backers a Minecraft PvP game with play-to-earn mechanics.
Blockverse sold out in eight minutes, raising a reported $1.2 million. But just a day later, its social media hasn't had any activity, the website link is dead, and its Discord server has shut down. Its NFTs are still listed on auction site OpenSea, but there's no word on the game that was promised.
This latest NFT controversy was spotted by Web3 is going just great, a project dedicated to shining a light on the more insidious side of the industry (which just happens to be a whole lot of it).
The Twitter account for the project is still live at the time of writing, but there hasn't been an update since January 24. The last two posts announce the Discord server (which now appears to be shut, as it isn't possible to join), and celebrate the huge success in just the first few minutes of the project's launch. Blockverse continues to sell Minecraft NFTs on OpenSea despite this, and it's unknown if the site is aware of the radio silence from the creators (OpenSea has been contacted for comment).
Even the pro NFT crowd isn't happy about this development. Twitter account NFT Ethics commented on the case, saying, "The project sold out yesterday in less than 8 minutes (500 ETH) and had 792 ETH in secondary sales. Discord & website closed and the anon devs are gone. Do we need a federated entity that approves all NFT projects and its doxxed founders?"
It goes to show just how prominent these apparent rug pulling schemes have gotten, when you have those in the NFT community calling for a centralised agency that approves sales. This goes against the entire idea behind crypto, but I guess losing a bunch of money to a rando online will do that to you.