On February 21st, the Friendsies team announced that they would be taking a “pause” on their roadmap, sparking speculation of a possible rug pull. The team cited market volatility and challenges as the reason for their decision, and thanked everyone who supported the project. The decision was met with criticism from the community, as many feared a rug pull.
Friendsies was launched in April 2022 through a Dutch auction, raising a total of $5.3 million from the minting of 10,000 NFTs. The team had promised to distribute 1.25% of all royalties back to holders, but this never happened. NFT investor Tmagled had previously warned against the possibility of a rug pull, and it seemed to be materializing.
Former NFT Exec of Mastercard, Satvik Sethi, then made a public offer to take over the project and move it forward with a new team. However, the Friendsies team has yet to respond. They later posted a tweet denying any intentions to rug-pull investors, but the community remains uncertain of the project’s future. Will Friendsies become the first NFT rug pull of 2023, will it move on, or will they accept Sethi’s offer? Only time will tell.
