Some users called the sudden end of CNN’s crypto project a “rug pull,” since the cable network had promised more NFT drops.
According to a statement released by the company on Monday evening, the cable news network CNN has decided to end the web3 experiment it has been conducting.
Vault by CNN announced in a tweet that the choice had been decided to “say goodbye” to the initiative.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) commemorating significant news events were made available to customers through Vault by CNN, which was launched last year.
“Vault was originally launched as a six-week experiment, but the support and engagement from our community let us expand this project into something much larger,” the Vault team said in the statement.
News of our own to share pic.twitter.com/qcxaDXNRYO
— Vault by CNN (@vaultbycnn) October 10, 2022
But when CNN first announced it last year, they made it clear that they wanted it to go beyond the first six weekly drops. They said that “future drops” would cover a wider range of topics and formats “as Vault by CNN grows and adapts to its community of collectors.”
After the announcement, people in that community were shocked by how quickly the project was shut down. Some even called the move a “rug pull.”
Users brought to users’ attention the fact that Vault had been hinting at forthcoming features and drops as recently as the previous month.
On the project’s website, there are documents that say that exclusive CNN perks and merchandise are “coming soon.”
In response to questions from angry collectors, a CNN employee named “Jason” on Discord confirmed that there would be some kind of “distribution” to make up for those who bought NFTs.
“The distribution will be either FLOW tokens or stablecoin deposited into each collector’s wallet,” he wrote. “We are currently working out the details, but expect the distribution amount to be roughly 20% of the original mint price for each Vault NFT owned.”
He also said that the collections would be around for a long time and that the Vault Marketplace would stay open.
Vault by CNN history
CNN said that when Vault launched in the summer of 2021, collectors would have an opportunity to acquire a piece of history.
It also worked with the startup Infinite Objects to give some buyers display cases that let them show off their purchases both in their homes and on their Vault user pages.
Consumers didn’t require crypto to purchase an NFT because payments were made through Stripe, but they did need to create a digital wallet with Blocto in order to make transactions. The Flow blockchain was used to build the project.
The NFTs showed everything from presidential elections to launches into space. In a recent project with Jeremy Fall’s Probably Nothing, they paid tribute to Nelson Mandela’s freedom from prison.
It’s not clear how much CNN made from the project, but the initial auction prices of the NFTs that sold out suggest that it was probably hundreds of thousands of dollars.
in April, the cable network’s director of emerging products Jason Novack said: “NFTs are unlocking entirely new possibilities that have not existed until very recently – including being a strong source of revenue.”
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