Chromie Squiggle: A revolutionary generative NFT project from Snowfro

The NFT world is full of unique collections that are highly valued among NFT collectors and ordinary users. A special category includes projects that appeared at the very birth of the industry. They establish trends, set the pace for the market, make celebrities and influencers out of their creators. One such collection is Chromie Squiggle by Eric Calderon Snowfro, who is the founder of ArtBlocks.

Chromie Squiggle is one of the best known collections in the curatorial blocks at Art Blocks, the generative art website, and is the only author’s collection hosted there. In addition, the collection has rightfully become the face of Art Blocks, having generated over 60,000 ETH in secondary sales (over $100 million as for today’s rate).

Chromie Squiggle Official Links

• Official site https://chromie-squiggles.com
• OpenSea https://opensea.io/collection/chromie-squiggle-by-snowfro

What is Chromie Squiggle?

Chromie Squiggle is an NFT collection created on November 27, 2020. It’s built on the Ethereum blockchain, and has the ERC-721 standard. There are 10,000 NFTs in the entire collection, of which 9,734 NFTs are in circulation on the secondary market. The rest are not minted and are at the disposal of the project’s author.

Each token in the collection is unique and is generated using initial input as a hash string. The script uses this initial value to control many different variables such as the initial color, the rate at which the gradient changes, the number of points in the squiggly line, and more. The result is a collection of squiggles that are not only visually striking, but also unique and deterministic, which can be verified.

The collection was originally intended as showing of the concept of an approach to generative art. However, the project’s success was far beyond the expectations of Eric Calderon. Depicting a kaleidoscopic snake in digital form, Chromie Squiggle is a psychedelically twisting motif whose variations are completely unique and original.

The project became revolutionary in the NFT market. It quickly gained popularity and recognition. This is confirmed by the sale of 10 NFTs at Sotheby’s in December 2021 for $478,000.

Chromie Squiggle in numbers

• A collection of 10,000 tokens was created on November 27, 2020 on the most famous generative art platform Art Blocks, thus becoming the first project on the site. It is noteworthy that the author of the collection and the owner of the site, Eric Calderon, simply wanted to show the possibilities of algorithmic art in that way.
• Chromie Squiggle #7515 became ArtBlocks logo, and that token was previously sold for 922.5 ETH (about $2.6 million at the time of sale),
• The project is ranked 24th among the best NFT collections in terms of sales of all time on the largest NFT marketplace OpenSea.
• The total volume of secondary sales exceeded 60k ETH (more than 100 million dollars at the current exchange rate),
• Floor price is 14.6 ETH (about $23k),
• Average sales range from 14 ETH to 20 ETH,
• The most expensive Chromie Squiggle #4697 was sold on September 26, 2021 for 945 ETH (about $2.9 million),
• A total of 2,808 unique holders (29%), which means that each holder owns nearly three tokens from the collection. Given the high entry threshold, this fact is a clear example of the community’s confidence in the project.
• Only about 2% of the collection (182 pieces out of 9,734) are for sale, among them the range of offers is from 14.6 ETH to 700 ETH. This shows that almost all holders see the project as a great investment prospect and are not in a hurry to part with their assets at a lower price.

Data (including exchange rates) are given at the time of publication of the article

Who created Chromie Squiggle?

The collection was created by Eric Calderon, who was a ceramic tile manufacturer until 2020. At the same time he was learning the crypto market and since 2017 he was one of the first collectors of CryptoPunks. At that point, he also kept an eye on generative art and sold historical NFTs for $200 each to launch a profile project. Eric used the revenue to create Art Blocks, a platform offering generative content on demand. The first collection hosted on the site was Chromie Squiggle. This is how Eric became one of the most successful generative artists on the market.

Chromie Squiggle Idea

The main idea of Chromie Squiggle was to demonstrate the potential of generative art. The NFTs of this collection can also be resized without quality loss. And the system by which the images are generated was designed to produce as many unique results as possible.

The NFTs of the collection are minted with an element of randomness. Each user mints his own NFT. No one knows what color and shape the future squiggle will have.

Calderon claims that every single Chromie Squiggle NFT is some kind of his signature. In his opinion, the collection had to make a breakthrough in generative art.

Why is Chromie Squiggle popular?

To date, there are several reasons for high popularity, market recognition and the success of the Chromie Squiggle project:

• Chromie Squiggles was the project by ArtBlocks. ArtBlocks got a logo when the zero token of the collection was minted. In part, the popularity of the collection was influenced by the platform, which quickly became popular with collectors and artists.
• NFTs from the collection provide access to the SquiggleDAO that coordinates actions using the $SQUIG token. Those who joined the private Discord channel before 04/11/2021 received a 1000 $SQUIG airdrop. The ecosystem is well organized and affects the promotion of the collection, for its participants can get airdrops, vote for the development of the project, and much more.
• The collection is part of the story of the generative art’s digital development. It will continue to thrive, and the cost of participating in the DAO will only rise. More and more people will want to join the history by participating in such a large project and gaining a special status in the crypto community.
• The uniqueness of each squiggle. The technical parameters built into the smart contract create truly exclusive works of generative art that are world-known.
• The simplicity of squiggles makes it easy to identify and evaluate them. Some squiggles are rarer than others. Thanks to this, the owners of these rare tokens get a feeling of exclusivity.

Chromie Squiggle Roadmap

The collection was created as brand face of ArtBlocks, and at the same time, it’s a solo project of the creator. Therefore, neither global roadmap development nor subsidiary projects are expected.

Thus, a private club of generative art connoisseurs, who own truly unique artworks, was formed.

Chromie Squiggle Ecosystem Projects

The collection has a small ecosystem that is primarily aimed at distributing information about the project. One of its core goals is generative art popularization.

The collection has a DAO known as SquiggleDAO. The actions in the system are coordinated by means of the $SQUIG token.

To join SquiggleDAO, you need to be NFT holder or have 1,000 $SQUIG tokens.

The DAO has two long-term goals:

1. Promoting Chromie Squiggles NFTs and showcasing it in culture;
2. Minting or buying as many NFTs as possible for the DAO Treasury.

How much does Chromie Squiggle cost?

In November 2020, minting Chromie Squiggle tokens on the platform cost 0.035 ETH (about $19 at the time). Back then, all the works were sold almost instantly. And from that moment on, the value of these tokens only grew.

To visualize the price dynamics, we made a cut at the average price for 1 NFT:

• in March 2021 – 1.1 ETH,
• in September 2021 – 21 ETH,
• in January 2022 – 8 ETH,
• in June 2022 – 11 ETH,
• in September 2022 – 14 ETH.
• in December 2022 – 15 ETH.

Now (January 2023) the minimum price is 14.6 ETH. On average, the latest sales are in the range of 14-20 ETH. And the total volume of secondary sales amounted to more than 60k ETH (about $100 million).

Most Expensive Sales of Chromie Squiggle

The most expensive sales are led by the following NFTs from the Chromie Squiggle collection:

1. Chromie Squiggle #4697: sold on September 26, 2021 for 945 ETH ($2.9 million at the time of sale). By the way, it is owned by the famous NFT collector 6529.
2. Chromie Squiggle #7583: sold on September 21, 2021 for 922.5 ETH ($2.6 million at the time of sale).
3. Chromie Squiggle #3784: sold on August 15, 2021 for 750 ETH ($2.5 million at the time of sale).
4. Chromie Squiggle #6339: sold on September 19, 2021 for 485 ETH ($1.7 million at the time of sale). It is also owned by NFT influencer 6529.

Where to buy Chromie Squiggle?

The Chromie Squiggle collection is currently only available on the OpenSea secondary market.

How to buy Chromie Squiggle?

1. Remember that initially you need to connect your crypto wallet with self-storage to the marketplace of your choice.
2. Next, find the official collection using the search bar on the marketplace,
3. Analyze and choose the NFT you want to buy; click on it and then on the “Buy” button.
4. Or you can bet on the token you like. Make sure you have enough ETH for gas or transaction fees. If the seller approves your bid, the deal goes through.

Should you invest in Chromie Squiggle?

The growth potential in the NFT market, combined with the unique and historically significant nature of Squiggles Chromie, makes this project worthy of investment.

The collection enjoys a huge interest, which is confirmed by trading volumes on OpenSea amounting to more than 60,000 ETH. However, it is worth considering a rather high entry threshold as for this collection. The minimum price of an NFT from the collection is 15.65 ETH. At the same time, Eric holds some of the NFTs, which may affect the sales of artworks from the collection.

Another reason of investing in Chromie Squiggle is the DAO, where token holders can get bonuses and airdrops, as well as manage communities. Thus, you can become a full community member with exclusive rights and opportunities of the crypto community.

Moreover, the rarity of some Squiggles and the growing demand for them can lead to a potential increase in their prices.

In any case, do your own in-depth analysis and research when investing in NFTs, and then make your own decision.

Opinion of NFTMetria

Chromie Squiggles is a pioneering project that pushes the boundaries of what is possible in the art world. Using blockchain technology and smart contracts, the collection creates a new art form that is not only unique, but also deterministic, which can be verified.

The Chromie Squiggle collection has become brand face of ArtBlocks, the largest generative art platform. The sales volumes in the secondary markets are quite impressive and prove that generative art has found its own place in the NFT industry. The Chromie Squiggle collection is one of the most popular in this field. In addition, the privileges of the DAO contribute to development and popularization of the collection in the real world in the form of art on physical media.