Key Takeaways
- Founders noted the demand for digital, tradable video NFTs was insufficient to sustain the project.
- Glass NFTs will continue to exist alongside the website and protocol
Glass, a crypto startup that aimed to capitalize on the NFT video trend, is calling it quits due to the bear market, with its co-founders announcing their departure from the project. Sam Sendelbach and Varun Iyer, the co-founders, took to X (formerly Twitter) to reveal that they are discontinuing active development of Glass Protocol after determining that the demand for digital, tradable video NFTs was insufficient to sustain the project.
Iyer stated, “The market for video NFTs can no longer sustain Glass’ development,” echoing Sendelbach’s sentiment that “there is not sustainable demand for video NFTs.” This decision effectively puts an end to Glass Protocol’s future growth prospects, as its founders have chosen to move on.
Glass, a startup with a two-and-a-half-year history, has fallen victim to the ongoing downturn in the cryptocurrency market, which has been particularly harsh on the NFT sector. Trading volumes for on-chain collectibles, including well-known NFT projects like Bored Apes, have seen a significant decline. Smaller projects like Glass have been hit even harder, struggling to gain traction.
Glass was initially conceived as a platform for online content creators to mint and sell their videos directly to their fans as NFTs, potentially offering them greater earnings than platforms like YouTube. The founders believed that blockchain technology could introduce transparency and permanence to this process by storing videos in a decentralized manner.
Although Glass NFTs will continue to exist alongside the website and protocol, the decision to discontinue active development has cast a shadow over its future prospects.
In September 2022, Glass received an investment from TCG Crypto, making it the first video-led NFT startup to secure funding from the firm, which had raised $120 million to support the web3 creator ecosystem. Last September, Glass had previously raised $5 million from investors, including TCG Crypto and 1kx.
Founded in 2021 by University of Chicago alumni Varun Iyer, Sam Sendelbach, and Dayo Adeosun, Glass experienced substantial growth in 2021, generating around $1 million in revenue for content creators and accruing about $100,000 in revenue from NFT revenue splits.
