If you’re seriously building an NFT project for the long term, ETH Mainnet is where you need to be. There will always be outliers, Claynos is a great example, but for the vast majority of projects, the message is simple: Build on Mainnet. Build for the long term. Stop fucking around. If you want to be taken seriously, build where the strongest ecosystem, liquidity, collectors and history already exist.

Abstract is winding down. Starting today, all of @IglooInc's focus will go towards taking Pudgy Penguins, Pudgy NFTs, and $PENGU to the next level. When we acquired Frame in the summer of 2024, the vision was to build the blockchain for consumer crypto. Pudgy Penguins had shown us what it meant to reach the masses, and we believed we could bring that same approach to building a chain. Abstract achieved a lot in a short period of time; we built the Portal and AGW, onboarded major global brands, amassed over 300 million transactions, and grew a vibrant onchain ecosystem.  The journey became stifled by the lack of a DeFi ecosystem, insufficient liquidity, minimal institutional cross-over, and prohibitively high costs that impeded growth in winning areas. Unknown to most, Igloo, Inc. had been funding Abstract over the last 18 months. After losing tens of millions of dollars over two years, building consumer products, assembling an all-star team, onboarding some of the biggest brands in the world, and building a community of millions, we still had not found product-market fit. In combination with the market's reduced appetite for what we had built and not being able to find a scalable path forward, we could no longer justify taking from the Pudgy Penguins business. Igloo, Inc. has always been a community-first company. Even after losing 8 figures, we could have launched a token or pursued an ICO. Ultimately we decided against this. A token only works if there is something driving demand to it, and launching a token that we don’t have conviction in would have been a disservice to our community. The entire team at Abstract has worked tirelessly with a tremendous amount of passion to make the consumer crypto vision come true. I cannot fault a single one of them for this outcome. To the Abstract community, I want to thank all of you for sticking by our side on this long journey and for continuing to champion us. You supported us through all of the ups and downs, and I wish the result could have been different. There will be many that will find satisfaction in seeing this shut down, and that is fine. I take a great amount of pride in having the ambition to venture into the chain business, notoriously one of the most difficult to make work, and the only regret I have is not being able to celebrate a win alongside the Abstract community. As we wind down Abstract, our full focus shifts to making Pudgy Penguins into the global & cultural phenomenon I know it can become.  Return to Pudgy Penguins.

Abstract pump soon. I can feel it.

Return to Pudgy Penguins.

Abstract shutting down, so far the biggest money and most importantly time loss I experienced in web3. The amount of disrespect we took from this team... Never touching anything from this guy ever again. Once a liar, always a liar.

Full focus back on Penguins… Love that this team swings big and experiments. Not everything is going to work out and that's just what building looks like. The alternative is a team too scared to try anything. But knowing when to call it and consolidate everything behind what's actually working takes discipline. Penguins are at an inflection point. Retail expanding, revenue scaling. Pointing every resource and every person at that is exactly what should be happening right now. Some prob won’t see it this way, but this is the right call 🐧

Last year, @LucaNetz confidently said during NFT Paris that by 2026, “Abstract is gonna be the biggest L2 by a Texas Mile” He even told everyone to hold him accountable for it Today, Abstract is winding down so here I am, trying to hold him accountable

Devoted to the muse 💀🚣

Many people in this space seem confused. They either forgot why they bought certain NFTs in the first place, or never had a reason beyond gambling. For example, why would people care that Pudgy Penguins has products on shelves worldwide in Target and dozens of other retailers? The old "what does this do for holders?" question. That entirely depends on what you think NFTs are, and more importantly what vision the team has for theirs. For Penguins it's been consistent for years: proliferate the Penguin to as many people as possible and turn the character and IP into a cultural phenomenon. That's not new. It's been repeated over and over. So whether you bought three years ago or last week, that's the expectation you should have been buying into. The NFT is the core collectible of the IP, and the vision is taking that IP to the masses. The team has stayed consistent, and that vision has never been closer to reality than right now. And through this process they have also stayed true to the mindset of returning this value to holders, which has also been consistent. So why are some in the space upset? Because fp is down. That's it. That's the whole reason. Floor price is a reflection of market conditions and attention cycles. It is not a scoreboard for whether a vision is working.

Discernment is the only real alpha left in this space.

"The silent majority will have the biggest impact." Agreed. I'd start by asking the ones who bought VeeFriends at the top. They've been pretty silent too. And the questions about how those floors were held up haven't gone anywhere either. 🫡

RETURN TO ART

GVC launched another coin. Ask Ronny. He will likely deny it’s his but he already told insiders privately that he launched it. Meanwhile, their NFTs are down only, their strategy token is down only, and hopefully so is their credibility after all of this. They still never gave away the CryptoPunk they dangled like a carrot to holders to prioritize “badges,” which in theory was always catering to whales. Now there’s a new project launching soon on Robinhood, all while Ronny quietly is operating a shitcoin with a company badge. They said this was the next BAYC. Great look for NFTs.

A lot of drama on the TL lately New accounts getting attention by attacking other IPs. People buying NFTs just to send them to the burn address. "Builders" spending more time trash talking other builders than talking about what they’re actually building. NFTs are still early. We are still a relatively small space. If all we do is fight each other, FUD other projects and try to destroy what others have built while claiming we’re building the future, this won’t end well. If you’re building a genuine new IP, you don’t need to tear down another one to prove your value. Build your product. Build your community. Create something new. Deliver. Let your work do the talking. Temporary attention is easy to get by attacking others. But eventually people figure out whether you were building something real or whether the drama was the product all along. And respect to the OG IPs that helped shape this space and made the road easier for every new IP, new idea and new innovation coming after them. You don’t have to own them. You don’t have to like them. But you should respect what they contributed. Compete by building better, not by trying to burn down what came before you. There’s enough room for everyone who is actually here to build.