Is Yuga Labs' New 'Mutant Hounds' project?

  Article:0xLaughing, rhythm BlockBeats   

Since the end of December last year, Yuga Labs has been doing a lot of things, first releasing the"The Trial of Jimmy the MonkeyOn January 12, it was announced that Dookey Dash, a Temple Running-like parkour game, would launch on January 18. In a short time, the NFT market ushered in a wave of "Jimmy monkey" market.

New games can combine BAYC, MAYC, and BAKC to get a PASS. Thanks to this, the BAKC series NFT floor price recently broke through 11 ETH, a nearly 9-month high on the currency standard.

Two series of "Mutant Hounds" topped OpenSea trading volumes

In this one-two punch, Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC), which has been sitting on the bench for so long, finally got a chance to play, which sparked discussion in the community. Under such circumstances, a corresponding "Mutant Hounds" also went online. On the one hand, the "mutant" attribute reminded people of the relationship between bored ape and mutant monkey. On the other hand, the two series also topped OpenSea's 24-hour trading list in a short time. People are talking about what this project is about. Is it a legitimate new project from Yuga Labs or a pirated spin-off? Let's break it down.

Mutant Hounds Program Brief introduction

Mutant Hounds on Sale

Mutant Hounds are self-built communities of MAYC holdersMutant CartelThe launch of the NFT project, a total of 10,000 units, was launched on December 14 last year, according to the December 5 snapshotGenesis Oath(The team released the Community PASS in March 2022), BAYC, MAYC, and BAKC holders released the Mutant Hound Collars series in sequence, which finally sold out before the general sale.

The Mutant Hound Collars are also sold at different stages at different prices: 0.11ETH for Genesis Oath holders and 0.25ETH or equivalent ApeCoin for others.

On January 12, Mutant Hound Collars ushered in its drawing phase. The official description is to "release your Mutated hound" and exchange the collar NFT for mutated dog NFT, which the owner of the collar can destroy and exchange at the appropriate time of his or her choice.The essence is the use of manual drawingAt the same time, 1 NFT series was expanded to 2 NFT series.

Introduction to the Mutant Cartel of the team and its mother community

A Sneak Peak prototype released in November 2021

"The Mutants are coming."

On September 29, 2021, Mutant Cartel released its first official tweet announcing its founding. On November 2nd of that year, Mutant Cartel released an initial sketch of "Mutant Dogs," along with a related story introduction. The Mutant Cartel only existed as a community of MAYC holders when the MAYC floor price was 3.6ETH, and the NFT market had just entered a bull market.

Later, in May 2022, the official Twitter account of Mutant Hound was officially established. Mutant Cartel continuously improved the planning of the project, committed to expanding the MAYC universe and improving the value of MAYC, and expanded into three aspects in the subsequent development:

•  通过创意项目、讲故事和社区运动来增加个人资产和集体知识产权的价值；

•  通过新系列、精选商品、品牌合作伙伴关系和协作生态系统扩展 MAYC 世界；

•  一个独立的会议场所，致力于确立 MAYC 持有者的身份、维护利益并进行投资。

The founders of the Mutant Cartel areLior Messika, who founded a blockchain venture capital firm in 2017Eden BlockHe became a partner and co-founder of the Seadragon Foundation, a social enterprise dedicated to environmental protection and social impact, and was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in Europe in 2021. Prior to that, Lior was CEO of Messika Holdings, the luxury jewelry group, where he was responsible for scaling and leading investments. After Lior Messika established the Mutant Cartel, through a series of initiatives by the team, the Mutant Cartel grew into one of the fastest growing communities in the BAYC universe.

It is worth mentioning that Lior currently holds mutant monkeysMega Trippy (Mutant Ape Yacht Club #30005)Was purchased in August 2022 for 2300 ETH (US $3.91 million), according toreportThis transaction set an all-time MAYC transaction record and is still unbroken.

Why does this "mutant dog" succeed when it is also a derivative of NFT?

High quality work and stories

  Mutant Hound creates high-quality comics, videos, text, and more.  

"Storytelling" has long been a passion of projects in the NFT space and even in the crypto world. In addition to the logic of narrative, the NFT field seems to focus more on user experience and emotion. Therefore, the project team tried various ways to deepen the emotional bond with users, such as the exquisite and highly interactive official website interface, the use of Meme to make topic discussion on Twitter, and so on, so as to establish a community of mutual help and trust, or even a big family that calls each other family.

  The Easter eggs on Mutant Hound's promo set off a discussion on Twitter.  

Mutant Hound's official tweet on December 6 puts it this way: "Mutant Hound is part of a legend-driven NFT legend that pushes the frontiers of decentralized and participatory storytelling." "Mutant Hound will be part of an expanding universe and will be related to your favorite world -- the other side is an important focal point. Characters, factions, events, and the ability to describe and guide the narrative process. We want to work with you to create Web3's Middle Earth without borders."

Whether it's comics, videos, websites, or text stories in Discord, Mutant Hound offers high-quality works that remain consistent in terms of format, content, and style. At the same time, eggs often appeared in the works, and people didn't know whether they were intentionally or inadvertently planted by the officials. When these "hints" appeared, enthusiastic community members would discuss and interpret them, realizing the purpose of the secondary dissemination of Mutant Hound.

The team has strong ties to Yuga Labs and is supported by the community

  BAYC's community media Boring Ape Bulletin    

Mutant Hound was supported by the holders of Yuga Labs Eco's NFT series, especially the MAYC series, when it was founded. After all, its parent Mutant Cartel is a community that's "dedicated to expanding the MAYC universe and enhancing the value of MAYC." In addition, BAYC's social mediaBored Ape Bulletin"Reported Mutant Cartel and Mutant Hound for 15 times, followed up the progress of its projects in real time and timely fed back to the whole monkey community, which all reflected the strong support of these communities for the" Mutant Dog "project.

Eden Block 曾参与过 Yuga Labs 的种子轮融资

Also mentioned above, Mutant Hound team has a strong background and founder Lior is a veteran investor.It is known that, a blockchain venture capital firm he foundedEden BlockParticipated in the seed round of Yuga Labs, which may explain why the two parties are so close. Mutant Hound backed up with Yuga Labs, a top NFT group, to further raise the visibility of its project.

The concept of "NFT Layer2" is showing off on the shoulders of giants, putting aside the controversy over the ownership of the copyright of NFT

  Mutant Hounds look similar to MAYC.  

At first glance, "Mutant Hounds" is just an NFT spin-off project based on the MAYC project, or a "copy plate." It was created using MAYC's unique art style, based on BAKC's "dog" element.

Is it plagiarism or infringement? Founder Lior gave a concept called "Layer2 NFT".

He once wrote in an article: "Mutant Hounds are defining a whole new category for the NFT industry, and it's only a matter of time before BAYC and other universes in Web3 look at the growth of these 'Layer2' projects built on top of the base layer, and we're excited to spearhead the movement and prove the concept. After all, this is the theme of Web3, decentralisation and true ownership, and they are in full force. We realise that this is a monumental undertaking and we want to be the guide to "Layer 3" and beyond."

So what is Layer2 NFT?

Quote KOL hereSVExplanation of it:Layer2 NFT is a collection built upon existing projects by leveraging intellectual property granted through the purchase of "originals".

This relates to the different copyright policies of each NFT project. There is a difference between the NFT creator/project granting copyright to the NFT holder of the relevant work, and the following three schemes are the most common:

1. No declaration, leaving NFT holders with a vague default license;

2. Grant explicit restrictions and licenses, usually for both commercial and non-commercial uses of the work;

3. Open the copyright of the work to the public domain, that is, adopt CC0 license.

China Li Ning x BAYC#4102China Li Ning)

Most well-known blue chips use the second option, which grants only "partial rights" such asBAYC,Meebits,CloneX,Azuki,DoodlesThere are clear, clear and strict instructions on copyright. BAYC and MAYC, for example, allow holders to use their NFT for commercial purposes.

Here, our original "plagiarism or infringement" question seems to have been answered: "Mutant Hound" Mutant Hounds are built on top of the Mutant Cartel, a self-built community of MAYC holders, who have a large number of MAYC holders within the community who can license their MAYC to the Mutant Cartel for commercial use.

Mutant Hound's holder distribution revealed that its holders were almost all blue chip holders as well

In addition, the launch of Mutant Hound was also targeted at the monkey community, and the advantages were obvious: the founders had a close relationship with Yuga Labs, there were a large number of MAYC holders in the community, and they received support from the monkey community and media. Even the launch benefited the monkey community, and they were all high-quality holders.

The Azuki founders recognize this approach of "community-driven IP and extending the boundaries of ecology.

It is always a difficult problem to start a project from 0 to 1 in the early stage of establishment. There are a large number of well-known Web2 enterprises in the field of NFT. When they establish a new NFT brand, on the one hand, they should consider whether the advantages of the original Web2 can be effectively transformed. On the other hand, consider how to combat the blue chip groups that have taken over the traffic plateau in the NFT space.

By contrast,Mutant Hound expanded on the brand and IP of the largest NFT group, Yuga Labs. It could be said that "join if you can't beat it" or "show loyalty" to Mutant Hound, creating a new category of NFT industry.As previously reported by Bored Ape Gazette, Mutant Hounds sees itself as trailblazers in the NFT space.

conclusion

Founder Lior has said: "Mutant Hound is the first of many" expansion packs "we have been developing for the BAYC universe, which is not just another PFP. While the project is an identity in itself, the goal is to create more value for our existing MAYC. Our project aims to bridge the gap between the abstract and the tangible. Through storytelling, creation and innovation, shared narrative, we are proving the BAYC model and thus the broader Web3 philosophy. This has inspired other incredible builders in our ecosystem. We hope this never stops. We couldn't be more excited to create the same fertile ground with Mutant Hound -- a place to share stories and tell multidimensional stories."

The concept of Layer2 NFT was inspired by "Mutant Hound", which on the one hand gave the creators new rights, and at the same time opened up a new understanding on the way to protect them.One may realize that in the previous copyright controversy and CC0 debate, the facts are not black and white, there are some overlooked areas, and NFT's art form may be much more innovative in the blockchain space than we think. It would be wrong to simply think of it as a "fake disk" or a "soil dog," as it says, welcome to Web3's Middle-earth.

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