Beeple surged at prices this weekend, then plummeted after Nakamigos’ NFT portrayed an AI-based stunt at artist Cryptopunks Meetup as Larva Labs founders launching previous iterations of the collection.
In “Cryptopunkks Meetup 2.0,” the video showed the AI production of Matt Hall and John Watkinson, who launched “V-Zero Cryptopunks.”
The founder apparently discussed how the original, previous iterations of the crypto plant were created. 2 years ago for the actual Cryptopunks NFT collection.
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Both Hall and Beeple signed the Flyer, but these used photos from the Nakamuragos collection, another NFT project based on the crypto plant. These flyers started raining from the sky after the AI video was finished.
This led some to believe that Nakamigos was actually a “launched” V-0 crypto plant, and the trading volume and price of the ether (ETH) of the collection. Shot 1,782% and 127% respectively.
However, when news spread that it was a joke, prices fell 57%, returning to about Prepump 0.189 ETH.
Beeple then doubled his joke by releasing an apology video that ridiculed someone who had previously fallen for a stunt. He listed multiple Telltail signs that it was a joke and said he would make things at “I’mafuckingretard.com” at the URL.
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Someone has already purchased a similar domain and is using it to redirect people to another NFT collection. Beeple also shared a satirical post that implied that lawsuits have been filed accusing hundreds of Nakamigos NFTs of advance purchases.