CNN Accused of Rug Pull as It Abandons Its NFT Project (theverge.com) 30
CNN has ended its big Web3 project by announcing, "we have decided that it's time to say goodbye to the Vault by CNN." From a report: You may have already forgotten about it, but Vault by CNN launched in the summer of 2021 as a marketplace for its own NFTs (non-fungible tokens) that would "offer collectors the opportunity to own a piece of history." Sort of like NBA Top Shot except for media nerds instead of basketball nerds, it minted CNN reports of key events or artistic interpretations inspired by them, creating digital collectibles that owners could show off somehow or trade with others, like baseball cards. This idea apparently seemed more reasonable while cryptocurrency prices were sky-high, and headlines about NFTs didn't include phrases like "trading volumes collapse 97 percent since January peak." Things have obviously changed as the "crypto winter" settled in, although an April report by the Press Gazette said CNN had pulled in more than $300,000 from the sales. Reactions from the community included shock, disappointment, and a few posters saying they planned to contact their lawyers while accusing CNN of a "rug pull," which in crypto terms applies when a development team unexpectedly yanks support -- and funds -- from a project, leaving the people who bought in with nothing.
Re: Libtards (Score:1)
Butterface
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they bought nothing (Score:2)
how can you complain when you get nothing.....
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If it's in the block-chain then they still own what they bought.
They own a spot in the blockchain? WTF
Re:Rugpull is the new normal (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't think CNN really thought this through. Not at the start, nor at the end. Or maybe they did.
This is just more of CNN's new owners tearing down the current company and rebuilding it. They've been firing a bunch of on-air personalities (word is another major personality is getting the axe this weekend), as well as behind-the-scenes staff. There seems to be indications that the new owners want to go "back to basics"... think CNN circa the late 80's... and that they're in the process of chucking aside everything that gets in the way of that task. NFT's would certainly count here.
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That sounds sensible enough. Forcing everying who bought into your folly to take an 80% haircut isn't good PR, though.
That depends on who their target news audience is. It could turn out to be a good PR idea.
They bought a pointer (Score:4, Insightful)
And they're surprised when the pointer points to a null?
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And they're surprised when the pointer points to a null?
No, it should point to a custom 404 page like this. [youtube.com]
The last time I watched CNN much. (Score:2)
Re: The last time I watched CNN much. (Score:2)
They always had commercials
Re:The last time I watched CNN much. (Score:4, Insightful)
Ted Turner owned it, they did hard news and I don't think they showed any commercials.
When Ted Turner owned it most of the world thought they were a reasonably respectable news outlet.
Now CNN is a poor competitor to SNL...which is now quite a joke itself compared to it's famous founding performers.
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Who are they pulling the rug out from under? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2, Redundant)
Well TFS answers your question since CNN has made revenue off it. But more fundamentally to you point is that a traditional rug-pull is when crypto exchanges make off with your money leaving you with nothing.
You still have your NFTs. The NFT is the link, not the end product.
Educational (Score:4, Insightful)
People that lost money should just consider it "tuition". Hopefully they learned something...
I was definitely shocked (Score:2)
I was shocked to know that this existed in the first place. Like so many others before it, I only found out it existed when it was announced it was going away.
Don't get duped! Buy a boring monkey pic url! (Score:2)
I spent all my life savings on an ugly picture of a monkey picking his nose that the artist probably took 3 minutes to make.
I'm gonna be a millionaire!
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Three whole minutes?
From what I've seen of the Monkey NFTs, they created a generator that combines like the head with a teeth set, hair set, an eye set, glasses, arm set, hat, etc...
Basically, Mr. Potato art creation. Where YES, you can get a monkey that is a zombie with gold teeth wearing a cowboy hat and Geordie La Forge visor.
Of course, so can't anybody else if they can figure out the seed that spits out that combination.
"leaving the people who bought in with nothing." (Score:2)
Longer than CNN Plus (Score:2)
Nobody expects anything useful out of CNN anymore.
In retrospect, this may have extended back to Gulf War I. Lots of CIA propaganda being repeated then.
Hey, they got what they paid for (Score:1)
This is how NFTs are supposed to work (Score:2)
"leaving the people who bought in with nothing"
Now these people understand NFTs
NFT (Score:2)
Goodbye to NFT? How about goodbye to CNN? (Score:2)