In 2017, Evan Keast and Jordan Castro launched the CryptoKitties NFT project, which featured some early NFT innovations including the ability to “breed” the CryptoKitties. Keast and Castro were joined by Scott Martin, an NFT artist in his own right to launch Doodles in 2021, an NFT project that has addressed collecting NFTs in some unique ways.
What Is A Doodles NFT?
The Doodles NFT project features artwork by Scott Martin, who generated a collection of unique character traits for the project before ultimately choosing to use the randomly generated trait combination approach preferred by other projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks. There are 10,000 Doodles NFTs.
Doodles has a bit of a wider creative arc than Bored Apes or CryptoPunks. The characters depicted on Doodles NFTs can be apes, people, aliens, skeletons, and many other options. Like other NFTs, there is some manufactured scarcity thanks to rare variants or traits.
Those variants are not publicized, adding to the sensation of perceived scarcity. On top of that, third-party ranking systems have begun unofficially ranking Doodles NFTs in terms of these variants and other levels of scarcity.
Launching Doodles
Keast, Castro, and Martin opened Doodles for business in October of 2017. Back then Doodles NFTs were priced at 0.123 ETH per mint. Some sources report that price point may have been a bit aspirational back then but over time, we now know that such pricing is supported by investors keen on NFT opportunities and likely enhanced by a bit of FOMO.
Doodles took an interesting approach in the runup to the launch, it closed membership once those numbers hit 1,000. No new members and a thousand collectors all vying for the same pool of unique NFTs? Not everyone liked the idea that there was no way to jump on the bandwagon once the project got underway in the minting stage.
Limited membership was, at least in this particular case, an indication of how the project creators viewed early adoption, rewarding those who signed on early with (potentially) a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get in on the ground floor of an NFT offering.
Doodles As A Collaborative Effort
This NFT project is basically a decentralized autonomous organization or DAO. Every Doodles owner has one vote per NFT or “One Doodle, One Vote”. Members get to vote on events, how the project’s treasury should function, and how it should scale.
One area the collective anticipated in the early days of its existence was how to deal with derivative projects, those who want to mimic the success of Doodles in their own way, etc.
This NFT project actually has a “derivative approval system” that invites developers to propose new projects inspired by past NFTs in the Doodle DAO. The proposals are voted upon and the projects either move forward or are killed. Two entire NFT collections were approved in this manner.
Pricing And Buying Doodles
The “floor” for Doodles was roughly between one and five ETH after the initial launch, but after a PR campaign teasing possible new projects there was renewed interest and the price spiked on the secondary market. At press time the floor was just over 10 ETH, an impressive increase in value. Why did interest grow?
Space Doodles
A project called Space Doodles enhanced the “buy now” numbers with a new NFT collection that, in typical Doodles fashion, features a twist that makes (some) collectors very happy.
Space Doodles is directly associated with the “main” NFT project in that it is only for members who already own a Doodles NFT. The owners must be willing to exchange their current NFT for a spaceship-themed replacement. The original NFT is put in a “vault” for “safekeeping”. Non-members are not included in this offering.
Doodles Entertainment?
Art Basel in Miami is a major art-world event that draws people from all over the globe to see and buy new contemporary art. Doodles teamed up with The Heart Project to host a significant live event at Art Basel featuring live music, a gallery, and other attractions.
It seems the NFT company might be branching out into the entertainment world, remarking in one interview that the ultimate goal was to serve as a connection between the “real world” and the world of NFTs. And that effort has not gone unnoticed–some sources report Doodles being approached by high-powered celebrity agents about future endeavors.
All Of This In Under A Year?
Everything you have read about the Doodles NFT project occurred before the company was even one year old. Since the launch, the NFT collection has been valued at approximately $250 million. That’s not as high-flying as the Bored Ape Yacht Club; that entire collection may be worth over a billion dollars.
Joe Wallace has covered real estate and financial topics, including crypto and NFTs since 1995. His work has appeared on Veteran.com, The Pentagon Channel, ABC and many print and online publications. Joe is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter for Air Force Television News.
