Cool Cats Are Going Multi-Chain—And Adding Customizable NFTs

Cool Cats was one of many hottest profile picture initiatives to come back out of the late 2021 NFT market increase, however prices declined sharply last year as collectors’ gripes piled up. As we speak the founders behind the venture unveiled a brand new path ahead with refreshed branding—and future growth past Ethereum with customizable, full-body avatars.

“With our new strategic course and rebrand, we need to convey to the neighborhood and the broader Web3 house that Cool Cats is right here to remain,” Cool Cats Group CEO Stephen Teglas advised Decrypt. “We’re not simply constructing for the subsequent yr, or the subsequent 5 years—we’re planning for the long run.”

Cool Cats and Cool Pets NFT holders have been airdropped a free Fracture NFT right now, which co-founder and Head of Content material Robert Mehew described as “dynamic NFTs that allow a brand new storytelling expertise through digital collectibles.” The Fracture NFTs will evolve as holders full missions throughout the Cooltopia sport, and ultimately unveil potential rewards.

However the upcoming Explorers NFTs will symbolize a bigger growth of the Cool Cats venture later this yr, together with customizable full-body avatars that can be utilized throughout a number of blockchain networks and introduced into numerous supported apps and platforms.

Particulars are nonetheless scarce on the total extent of the Explorers performance, nevertheless it sounds just like what fellow Ethereum NFT venture Doodles just did with Doodles 2. That venture not solely bridges over to a distinct blockchain, Flow, however turns the acquainted profile photos into totally featured avatars that may be tweaked and outfitted with digital attire.

A Cool Cats consultant advised Decrypt that the Explorers NFTs will work throughout a number of layer-1 blockchains and layer-2 scaling networks, together with some that aren’t Ethereum Digital Machine (EVM) suitable. These platforms will likely be revealed within the coming months. Cool Cats has beforehand used Ethereum sidechain community Polygon for particular version NFT drops and a mobile game.

“Our purpose is to take away as a lot friction as potential,” a rep stated concerning the motion of Cool Cats avatars throughout blockchains. The workforce additionally plans to work with neighborhood members to develop belongings for use with the Explorers.

As we speak’s bulletins have been paired with a rebranding of the Cool Cats venture throughout social media and advertising supplies, which can correspond with new narrative content material centered on Blue Cat, the venture’s essential character.

“Our new emblem encompasses a forward-facing cat, a nod to our deal with constructing for the long run,” Cool Cats co-founder and Artistic Director Colin “Clon” Egan advised Decrypt.

Cool Cats costs surged in late 2021 as the broader NFT market surged, pushing the ground value—or the worth of the cheapest-listed NFT on a secondary market—leaping to just about 14 ETH (over $48,000) that October. The venture signed with main Hollywood company Artistic Artists Company (CAA) in March 2022 to discover media and licensing offers.

However Cool Cats costs crashed last year amid management departures, combined reactions to Cooltopia, and gripes that the founders weren’t doing sufficient to help the venture. As of this morning, forward of the bulletins, the ground value sat at simply 2 ETH in accordance with knowledge from NFT Price Floor. That’s lower than $3,200 value, given the depressed value of Ethereum.

Up to now, Cool Cats has generated about $377 million value of secondary market buying and selling quantity, per knowledge from CryptoSlam, whereas the Cool Pets spinoff assortment has added over $105 million to that tally. Cool Cats collaborated with Time magazine in 2021 for limited-edition NFTs, as effectively, and right now introduced a advertising cope with {hardware} pockets maker Ledger.

Will a refreshed look, gamified reward NFTs for present house owners, and a larger-scale avatar push throughout a number of chains assist Cool Cats reaffirm its “blue chip” standing after an up-and-down yr? Teglas believes that going greater and broader is vital to rising Cool Cats into an leisure model that may attain past the Web3 trustworthy.

“We finally imagine that scaling Cool Cats’ model consciousness and onboarding extra members into the model is without doubt one of the simplest methods for us to ship on the expectations of our neighborhood,” he advised Decrypt.