Pixel Penguin accused of ‘charity rug,’ Epic adds new NFT games and more…

The Pixel Penguin alleged ‘charity project rug’

Nonfungible-token (NFT) project Pixel Penguin has caused a stir this week in what a blockchain investigator ZachXBT has alleged is a “charity project rug.”

The project quietly launched in February, but drew a lot of attention on May 31 following a Twitter thread from Web3 influencer Andrew Wang.

Wang claimed his friend Sarah, known as Hopeexist1 online, was the creator of Pixel Penguins, and noted that she had “made a collection to help herself battle cancer.”

At a $13 mint price, Wang claimed that 20% of the profits would go to charity, while the other 80% would go to Hopeexist1’s supposed cancer treatment.

“I’ll put my rep on the line to say this is for real amidst all the scams in our space,” said Wang, adding:“I speak with her art teacher often when she’s gone for treatment and he says she’s the best student he’s ever had, that her talent is too precious, that she must survive.”

Following this, Pixel Penguins NFTs promptly sold out, with the floor price shooting up from 0.0099 Ether (ETH) to around 0.0126 ETH worth roughly $130.However, members of the NFT community then did some digging and alleged that the creator had been profiting from selling stolen art in the past, and was potentially lying about having cancer.

ZachXBT then found the Pixel Penguin smart contract containing more than $117,000 worth of ETH, and followed that funds as it was siphoned off to two new wallet addresses.

In the aftermath, Hopeexist1 then deleted their Twitter account and went AWOL. The floor price of the NFTs has since plummeted to 0.004 ETH, or $7.

Epic Games Store to add more blockchain games

Fortnite developers Epic Games will soon release two new blockchain-games on its store, adding to the five that are already up and available to play.

One of the upcoming games is called Defimons, a free-to-play Pokemon-inspired multiplayer RPG with turn-based combat.

The game will have an in-game currency and NFT battle monster characters bearing the same name as the title. The Epic Games Store doesn’t list a release date.

The other blockchain game is called Project Red, which appears to have open-world elements inspired by games such as Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row, alongside a first-person-shooter game mode as well.

The early snippets of the game reveal people will need to buy Mobster NFTs to navigate through the higher levels and engage with the play-to-earn elements of the game.

Epic Games initially listed Blankos Block Party as the first Web3 game on its store back in September 2022, and while these types of games still receive strong scepticism from many traditional gamers, the firm isn’t backing away from this space.

Epic Games recently indicated to Axios in March that it plans to add roughly 20 new blockchain games over the course of 2023 and early 2024.

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Three Arrows NFT garage sale part two

Following on from the first $2.5 million auction of NFTs belonging to defunct crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), the second round is set to take place this month.

3AC’s collection of NFTs is dubbed the Grails, and features a long list of tokens from top projects such as CrytoPunks, Tyler Hobbs’ Fidenzas and Dmitri Cherniak’s Ringers.

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In the second round set for June 15, Sotheby’s will auction off 37 of 3AC’s NFTs in what it describes as the “largest ever live auction of digital art.”

Kellogg’s sifts into the Metaverse

Kellogg’s has reportedly filed for a long list of trademarks for a number of its food brands relating to the Metaverse, NFTs, collectibles and crypto tokens.

Some of the brands include Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes, Special K and Pop-Tarts.

According to United States Patent and Trademark Office licensed trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis, the firm has indicated an interest in launching anything from NFT avatars to crypto collectibles, virtual environments and VR-gaming revolving around crypto.

Other Nifty News

Some of the most sought-after NFTs collections of 2022 have taken a massive hit in value over the past year, with Investments in top projects such as Doodles, Invisible Friends, Moonbirds and Goblintown all losing up to 95% of their value in ETH.

On May 31, Web3 wallet-as-a-service provider Magic announced that it had successfully raised $52 million in a strategic funding round led by PayPal Ventures. The funding round also saw participation from venture firms Cherubic, Synchrony, KX, Northzone and Volt Capital, bringing Magic’s total funds raised to over $80 million.

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