If you only read the headlines or social media, you might believe all the get-rich-quick hype about non-fungible token digital art projects. Slap together a cute animal, some silly accessories, maybe different facial expressions, and lots of colors, then sit back and watch the millions roll in.
Even easier, spend a little bit of Ethereum to buy an NFT and watch as it doubles, triples, or skyrockets in a matter of days. Retirement is right around the corner!
Or, you might believe they're just a scam. That’s okay. Markets need both sides of the equation.
No matter your impressions, NFTs are a market. And to access that market, you need information. That's why I'm going to dive into a particular NFT project and discuss what I like -- or don’t like -- based on my discussions with the project’s team and my own experience with the project. I hope to pen these columns regularly -- here and at my regular homes, Real Money/Real Money Pro, where I write each day about the markets, provide options trades and discuss cannabis, crypto and NFTs, among other things. (For a primer on NFT terminology please read my Real Money article here.)
Before we get into the name I will focus on this time -- GOATz -- I want to give a little context around NFTs. Building and maintaining an NFT project is incredibly tough. I’ve built three, so I speak from firsthand knowledge. Projects make them sound fun, but for many teams, their project is a full-time job. There is an unreal amount of marketing, media, and timeline delivery required. Teams need to continually engage while simultaneously innovating and growing their owner and user base.
When selecting an NFT to buy, you need to decide if you are going blue chip, chasing a hot theme, speculating on a mint, finding something you feel offers value or something with potentially big upside vs. the risk required.
Liquidity needs should play a major factor in your decision as it can dry up quickly if selling escalates in a particular project or the NFT market overall. This is truly “don’t risk what you can’t afford to lose” and don’t invest anything you need to get quickly.
For many people who are getting started, they are likely looking for something with a lower cost of entry, probably 0.25 ETH or below. The challenge is finding a low-risk project that still possesses strong long-term potential and has some legacy behind it.
Believe or not, there are several that fit that mold. One of my favorites is GOATz (https://maisondegoat.com/).
The idea for GOATz started after the founder, "Dez," was fortunate enough to mint (buy) a good number of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. You've probably heard of those. The thing is, when Dez looked at the Bored Ape NFTs, he didn't see many traits on the NFTs that represented him. The clothes on the apes, for example, weren't the type of clothing he wore. The hats or the glasses or the lifestyles they represented weren't anything he could relate to, either.
The GOATz NFT project
Following the realization that the NFT industry lacked the ability to personalize, and story tell with PFPs (Profile Picture or Picture For Proof), GOATz was born. The pop-culture term G.O.A.T. stands for "greatest of all time," but Dez believes GOATz represents more, a belief that we all have something inside of us that we are striving to be great at.
That spirit has carried over to the community, one that can be described as both passionate and fun. While I’ve visited dozens of discords, this one truly feels like a family with one thing missing… the fighting. And this comes despite a rocky start.
Shortly after minting, a once prominent, now disgraced influencer in the NFT space lobbed some cheap shots at GOATz, creating FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt). It would have been easy for the project to pack up shop and call it quits, but the commitment to a vision won out over FUD.
GOATz offers a unique deflationary mechanism for its NFTs. Rather than issuing more and more NFTs, owners can merge two GOATz together and select the traits they want to keep. This provides an opportunity to both personalize a GOATz to be more representative of the owner while decreasing supply. By decreasing supply, increasing demand will more quickly react with higher prices. This process reaches the heart of what Dez wanted. Create your vision of what your PFP should be.
Each time a person merges (technically, "forges"), she also receives a house that will be built in GOATzVille, a 6x6 Sandbox property. While holders don’t “own” that land, they do get to use that house. Sandbox land isn’t cheap, either, and here’s the opportunity. While Sandbox doesn’t currently allow a parcel to be subdivided, if it ever does, you, as a GOATz owner, will get the small piece of virtual land your house sits upon. Check out a snip of what they’ve done already.
And if the GOATz ever gets burned (destroyed), so does the house. The two are truly linked. Owning a GOATz also acts as a sort of option on Sandbox land.
I love this about the project. As you can see here, I am a GOATz owner:
With a floor below 0.20 ETH as of this writing, I can see this as a project that works its way up to 1 ETH over the next six to 12 months. They’ve done a ridiculously great job building out their plot in the metaverse via Sandbox, recently expanded their team, and continue to do all the right things for their community.
Tim Collins is a regular contributor to Real Money and Real Money Pro, TheStreet’s premium sites. Click here to learn more and get great columns, commentary and trade ideas from Paul Price, Doug Kass, Mark Sebastian and many others.
At the time of publication, Timothy Collins was long GOATz.
