Sartoshi, the pseudonymous creator and leader of the Mfers NFT project, has stepped away and yielded its control to the community. He also ended his run as master artist of the project.
In a surprising move, Sartoshi, the creator of the Mfers NFT project, has stepped away and yielded its control to the community. He also ended his run as the project’s artist and commemorated this with a final NFT offering dubbed “end of Sartoshi.”
Some are worried that the pseudonymous creator’s move is tantamount to rugging. Rugging is another term for rug pulling, wherein an NFT project is suddenly shut down by its creator, who makes away with the project’s funds.
Clever Rug Pull in Plain Sight?
A Twitter user with the handle @mineeervas created a Twitter thread to explain why he thinks Sartoshi’s move wasn’t a case of rug pulling.
According to @mineeervas, Sartoshi never promised anything to those who purchased his art. The Mfers collection doesn’t come with utilities; when you spend on the project, you’re simply buying art. The community that Mfers brought together are like-minded people who bonded over art appreciation, nothing more and nothing less.
Moreover, Sartoshi, whose pseudonym is an uncanny homage to Satoshi Nakamoto, the “mythical” creator of Bitcoin, did write a farewell blog post. He titled the blog post, “mfers next era & end of sartoshi.”
There, he outlined the steps he would be taking to transfer the Mfers smart contract ownership to its community of holders. He even included screenshots of tweets from people who predicted the end of the project, mirroring what Satoshi did.
In the blog post, Sartoshi implied that he is transferring the smart contract’s ownership to the unofficial Mfers multi-sig wallet. This wallet was created to operate as an unofficial project treasury immediately after Mfers was launched in late 2021. Sartoshi, in effect, is giving the original Mfers holders control of the project.
He also refashioned the royalty payments. Currently, there is a 5% royalty on every Mfers NFT sold on the secondary market. Here is what would happen after the new royalty split:
1. 50% goes to the unofficial Mfers multi-sig wallet;
2. 25% will go to Sartoshi’s creator royalty wallet;
3. 15% will go to WestCoastNFT, the main development team of Mfers (they are obligated to receive said percentage);
4. 10% goes to other Mfers developers and consultants
The Beginning
Launched in November 2021, the collection comprises 10,021 stick figure NFTs. Ten thousand of these are randomly generated NFTs, while the 21 are one of one NFTs in the collection. Sartoshi was already using his iconic “mfer” memes on Twitter before deciding to offer the generative collection.
The Mfer NFTs had a floor price of Ξ 0.069 each (about $120). As of this time of writing, its floor price is Ξ 1.80, or roughly $3180.
The End of Sartoshi
As mentioned in the get-go, Sartoshi decided to bid the NFT space farewell with a final NFT called “end of Sartoshi” (cover picture), aptly bidding everyone a “gn.” This is an open edition and companion to “gm mfers,” which inspired the Mfers NFT project.
Minting started at noon on June 9, and the new collection can be minted until 11:59 pm for Ξ 0.069 each—its original mint price at launch. The minting is taking place at a special address commemorating Sartoshi’s farewell.
At the time of writing, the 17,000-piece open edition collection already has 7,300 owners and a trading volume of Ξ 174, or about $307,400.
NFT Community’s Reaction to All These
Members of the NFT community who loved the Mfers project for what it is actually believe Sartoshi’s move was an act of genius. It mirrors Satoshi Nakamoto’s story and ensures a separate existence for Mfers from its creator.
While some are worried about the possibility of a rug pull, others are just plain angry because the dropping of the open edition rubbed them in the wrong way.
Whatever the reason is for his sudden “disappearance,” one thing holds: Sartoshi is already a legend in the NFT space who will be remembered for a long time.
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