If El Prof can eat his own words, I can, too. A month ago, I directed my patented brand of irreverent assholery at the latest NFT craze of the time, Goblintown, a meme PFP which in its initial run could be minted for free and proudly boasted no utility. In other words, an easy, if painfully obvious, target. 

Now, they have proven themselves to be more than just a trend, with a floor price sitting comfortably above 3eth, even as the bear market continues to roar. Also, they have proven themselves not to be, as I posited, the ‘brainchild of some coordinated VC-funded guerilla marketing campaign […] designed to tap the wallets of a bunch of deprived gambling addicts desperate for another fix while hodling more rapidly deflating fake money than they know what to do with.’ The entire Goblintown team self-doxxed this morning, revealing themselves to be… some people. 

Yes, the big reveal, delivered via tweet, was that there was no one of note behind the Goblintown project. No a16z plants, no famous rugpullers ducking behind anonymity, not Yuga Labs as was widely rumored initially. Just a collective of creatives, building an immersive experience, not just for hodlers, but for anyone and everyone.

Per the doxx video, the ‘no utility’ thing turns out to be less of a meme and more of a mission statement. They are also opposed to roadmaps — because they are transparently building as they go — or Discords — because ‘Goblintown is open to all’. In fact, they are focused on creating something more akin to performance art and/or group therapy than any sort of NFT-powered community or investment opp. Their stated goal is simply to ‘spread happiness in the face of adversity’ and ’cause mischief on the blockchain’, at which it’s safe to say they’ve already succeeded in spades. (And, serendipitously, as of today, it happens to align perfectly with our own.)

Unlike a similar twist in a Star Wars movie that shall not be named, degens received this news with open, non-sexist, non-racist arms. Goblintown, already hailed as a milestone of marketing in the NFT space, is now for many the gold standard in terms of transparency and authenticity. Even I am inclined to agree. If blue chip NFT projects are going to be light on utility anyway, they may as well make a thing of it. And one more immersive, inclusive community spreading humor and good vibes on the internet is worth cheering on no matter what. Now let’s just pray they don’t roll out the mystery box airdrops and retcon the whole thing.