The well-known NFT project under Nike's umbrella actually pulled a Rug Pull

Over the past 7 days, the NFT blue-chip collective has seen a resurgence. Whether it's former top PFP projects like CryptoPunks, BAYC, MAYC, Azuki, Doodles, or leading generative art NFTs like Chromie Squiggle, Fidenza, there has been a significant rebound.

One of the most relevant tokens to NFT infrastructure, $BLUR, has quietly surged nearly 90% in the past month. Following Andrew Kang's call for $BLUR at the end of last month, $BLUR has continued to rise, with an increase of almost 20%.

In a harmonious atmosphere of recovery, Clone X, a venerable blue-chip project with Nike roots, announced its cessation of operations at this time, shocking all NFT players as if declaring at a New Year's dinner to never eat again.

In this statement, the project behind Clone X, RTFKT Studio, acquired by Nike, announced the termination of RTFKT's operations. As a transition before closing, they will do the final act within the community in December—embracing the "BLADE DROP" of MNLTH X. MNLTH was introduced in 2022, probably mutating virtual shoes through NFTs.

As for the "BLADE DROP," after a quick search on Twitter, it seems that this "last dance" will not even allow holders to get the final pair of physical Nike shoes but rather 3D-printed shoes produced by Zellerfeld...

Impacted by the significant bearish news of the operational shutdown, CloneX's floor price plummeted by 50% instantly and currently sits at 0.3 ETH. Just 2 days ago, the collection's floor price had even rebounded to nearly 0.9 ETH.

NFT players have accused the RTFKT team of not just being a "Soft Rug" but a "Hard Rug" and have brought up past unkind remarks from RTFKT's co-founder @benitopagotto when the Pudgy Penguins CEO paid tribute to them last year.

Luca tweeted a tribute to RTFKT on September 17 last year

And 10 days later, @benitopagotto mocked the entry of Pudgy Penguins toys into Walmart, saying, "From Sotheby's to Walmart, the future of Web3 is truly bright!"

From the CloneX launch to RTFKT's acquisition by Nike, three years have passed in the blink of an eye. We finally welcomed a new bull market, but this Nike-backed NFT blue-chip suddenly collapsed at dawn.

Due to the sudden chaos, the $10 million acquisition offer from @JoeyMoose has caught the attention of many NFT players.

But most likely, he was joking, as just yesterday he said he was going to spend $5 million to buy MoonBirds from Kevin Rose. But buddy, MoonBirds have long been acquired by Yuga Labs...

So what will happen next with CloneX? For example, in this era where memes have become mainstream, will the community create meme tokens from the "CTO Nike" perspective?

I don't know, really don't know. After all, this world is always full of surprises.