Dear Shreyas,
We would like to express our deep disappointment with the lack of support and attention from the NEAR Foundation towards the NFT ecosystem on their platform. Our team at 171 Studios has put in countless hours of work, delivering over 100 pages of research and four comprehensive proposals, all aimed at contributing to the growth and development of the NFT community on NEAR. Unfortunately, our efforts have been met with vague responses, constant redirection to different individuals, and no tangible outcomes to show for it.
The state of NFTs on NEAR is a clear indication of the Foundation’s neglect and disregard for the community. Despite the numerous potential benefits that NFTs bring to the ecosystem, the Foundation has focused its efforts on partnerships that have proven to be either a failure or a total scam. The Head of NFTs, Alex, was brought in to deliver results, but his role and the Foundation’s focus on NFTs have become increasingly unclear. Is anyone even responsible for the NFT Ecosystem anymore? In our opinion, this lack of direction and support will be fatal to the entire ecosystem.
The proposed solution to the NFT problem on NEAR by the Foundation - to pass the responsibility onto the NDC - is a gross mismanagement of the situation and undermines the efforts of the community to contribute and grow the NFT ecosystem on NEAR. Our last proposal to the Foundation, which asked for a mere 6-month runway to incubate projects, was a fraction of our initial ask and was intended to prove the viability of our proposal. The lack of response from the Foundation has been disheartening and discouraging for our team and the wider ecosystem.
We have spoken to key NFT stakeholders on NEAR, who share our sentiment that the current state of the NFT ecosystem is unacceptable and that it no longer makes sense to launch new projects without clarity from the leadership on their long-term vision for NFTs on the platform. We demand transparency and a clear plan from the Foundation for creating a thriving NFT ecosystem on NEAR, one that supports and empowers the NFT community to succeed.
In our last call with the Foundation, one of their employees even told us that the current NFT downturn on NEAR was due to general market conditions and is the same on every ecosystem. This statement is incredibly delusional and completely disregards the unique challenges and opportunities faced by the NFT ecosystem on NEAR. We advise this individual to have a look at our latest NFT project, @MACKS_NFT, and learn some lessons about the potential for NFTs on other Ecosystems as the community we have built there is already larger than the active NFT community on Near.
In conclusion, we would like to express our gratitude to you Sheryas for your efforts in bringing attention to our work and at least providing some semblance of closure, but we must also bring to light the shortcomings and neglect of the NEAR Foundation towards the NFT community on their platform. We hope that this letter serves as a wake-up call for the Foundation to take the necessary steps towards creating a thriving NFT ecosystem on NEAR.
Sincerely,
Illuminfti & @171_Studio