February 24, 2023
By Anjali Kochhar
The core team behind nonfungible token (NFT) collection Friendsies has refuted claims they are “abandoning” the NFT project following a tsunami of “rug pull” accusations.
The founders behind the NFT project took to Twitter on Tuesday to say that they were putting a “pause” on Friendsies and “all future digital goods” for the time being, citing market challenges.
A short while later, the Twitter account was deleted, while the account of Friendswithyou, who developed the project, was made private — sparking rumors that the founders had “rugged” for about $5 million.
The project’s Twitter account has since been reinstated with the founders vehemently denying they are “abandoning” the project. The founders’ account is still private, however.
“It is clear that we have upset many of you with the nature of our announcement, and perhaps we did not handle that in the best way possible,” they said, adding, “To be very clear, we are not abandoning fRiENDSiES.”
The founders said the initial announcement was more about pausing social engagement “until further notice.”
“That was not intended to mean we are pausing building and seeking opportunities, those efforts remain on-going,” it added.
Friendsies is a collection of 10,000 Ethereum-based NFTs that launched last March. It purported to give each holder a custom-built “digital companion” that could be used in the metaverse, real-life experiences, art installations, and eventually a “Tomogatchi-like” play-to-earn game.
In a follow-up Twitter thread some 17 hours after the pause announcement, the project’s founders admitted they were “overwhelmed” with hate and threats over the announcement:
“We were overwhelmed with hate and threats & both our Twitter and website were attacked […] We are sorry if we let you down today with our communication, but we are not going anywhere,” it wrote.
About the author
Anjali Kochhar covers cryptocurrency stories in India as well as globally. Having been in the field of media and journalism for over three years now, she has developed a sharp news sense and works hard to present information that goes beyond the obvious. She is an avid reader and loves writing on a wide range of subjects.
