Key Takeaways:
- NeoNexus, a Solana-based NFT project, has announced that the team would no longer be developing the project, citing a decline in (SOL) pricing as the reason for the decision.
- The project’s founder, Jack Shi, took to the official NeoNexus Twitter account on March 21 at 2 p.m. UTC, announcing that the project’s “healthy development” would no longer be continued, and that they would like to pass it over to the community to develop.
The crew behind NeoNexus, a Solana ecosystem NFT challenge, has asked the group to take over the challenge since it “may no longer advance the wholesome growth of the NEONEXUS challenge.”
NeoNexus is a Metaverse challenge that includes both a purposeful utility and governance coin. It has already distributed over 4,000 “property NFTs,” with an added 6,000 property NFTs planned in the future, as well as character, car, and accent tokens. The challenge’s Discord channel currently has over 13,000 users.
The founder of NeoNexus, a Solana-based NFT challenge, has admitted that the group is not growing the challenge, blaming the decision on the decline in Solana (SOL) pricing.
The challenge’s creator, Jack Shi, took to NeoNexus’ official Twitter account on March 21 at 2 p.m. UTC, tweeting that the company was not continuing with the challenge’s “wholesome growth,” and that they wanted to hand it over to the group to develop.
“I’m deeply sorry”
According to estimates, the challenge raised around 25,000 SOL for its NFT mints, which might be worth $2.2 million at today’s prices. With SOL costs rising to above $150 over the token minting period, the challenge might have brought in between $3.5 and $4.5 million.
Shi said on Discord that “the overall activity, volume, and interest in the Solana NFT space has diminished,” and that the team has had difficulty gathering new funds. He claimed that the team had run out of money and that the “entire staff” of over 20 individuals would be laid off by the end of the month.
“So this challenge raised $4m through a number of NFT dumps and somehow runs out of cash after only a few months?” wrote the prolific “zachxbt,” who is known for exposing suspicious behaviour in the crypto space. He also posted a November photo of Jack Shi “flexing” in a high-end vehicle. According to CoinGecko, market conditions have been unequal over the last few months, with the value of SOL plummeting by 50% in three months. It reached a 90-day high of well over $200 in late December and has since progressively declined to trade around the $80 mark.
Shi also mentioned that the parent company, Unlock Defi, had laid off over 20 employees as of the end of March, and asked if a collective acquisition was possible.
Many users have accused the challenge of engaging in a “slow-rug,” which involves building up the challenge merely to depart and withdraw the funds months later.
Several non-fungible token projects chimed in, ostensibly attempting to mitigate the harm done to some users while simultaneously promoting their own product. Pirate Catz, for example, tweeted that they were with “everyone who got slow beaten” by NeoNexus, and that the first 15 people who sent the phrase “NEONEXUS” on the Discord would receive a free mint.
