Goblintown.wtf: Bizarre goblins sold for more than $82 million

On May 20, 2022, a strange collection with an intriguing name appeared on the NFT market – Goblintown.wtf. Think they have a roadmap, famous creators, official launch, utility, and community? No, the most interesting thing is that none of this happened. Call it marketing genius or market frenzy, but in just a few days, all the NFTs went bust. Shortly after this sale, the minimum price for 1 goblin token reached over 2 ETH ($2,500). The hype was immediately picked up by crypto enthusiasts, and derivatives from the Goblintown.wtf project flooded the OpenSea.

Eventually, the floor price rose to 4 ETH per token ($4,800), and some NFTs were sold for tens of thousands of dollars. One of the most valuable collectibles, Goblintown #6485, was purchased for $141k. What was the impetus for the growth in popularity of goblin tokens and what is the future of the defiant project? Let’s find out in today’s review.

Goblintown.wtf Official Links

• Official site https://goblintown.wtf
• Twitter @goblintown – over 118k followers

What is Goblintown.wtf?

The Goblintown.wtf collection represents 10,000 unique digital goblins created according to the ERC-721 standard on the Ethereum blockchain. All images are professional. You may see the hand of the master in depicting the nature of the freakish characters, and in the choice of appropriate artistic means.

No roadmap. No Discord. No utility. CC0. The motto of the project is succinctly expressed in a few phrases on the official website

Particular attention should be paid to the final part of this declaration. Each Goblintown NFT is released under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license, allowing collectors to use their assets for any purpose, including commercial one.

The authors of Goblintown.wtf do not hesitate to shock the NFT community with the absurdity of their project. The apogee of this behavior was the meeting of fans of digital goblins on Twitter Space on May 26, 2022. The project team used uterine “goblin” sounds for 2 hours instead of the usual speech, and several thousand people listened to it.

Goblintown.wtf in numbers

• A collection of 10,000 goblins was released on May 20, 2022
• The project is ranked 31st among the best collections in terms of sales of all time on the largest NFT marketplace OpenSea.
• Total secondary sales exceeded 51k (over $82m at current exchange rates),
• Floor price is 0.74 ETH (about $1180),
• Sales on average range from 0.7 ETH to 1.2 ETH,
• The most expensive Goblintown #6485 was sold on June 1, 2022 for 77.75 ETH (about $141k),
• Total 4791 unique holders (48%),
• Only about 5% of the collection (499 pieces out of 10,000) are for sale, among them the range of offers is from 0.74 ETH to 10 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 Goblintown.wtf?

When launching Goblintown.wtf, its founders chose to remain anonymous. The uncertainty gave rise to rumors. Many fans of NFT creativity believed that crypto-artist Michael Winkelman (known under the nickname Beeple) became the inspiration for the project. But Winckelmann denied this.

insane I have to say this, but i have not joined any shockingly low effort pump and dump projects that will remain nameless.

look at the charts of similar projects, you know in your heart how this story ends. 🙄 #NFA

— beeple (@beeple) May 27, 2022

There were rumours that Mike Judge, the creator of the popular animated sitcom King of the Hill, or the famous DJ Steve Aoki could be behind the strange NFT collection. Meticulous crypto-fans even tried to decipher the meaning of the posts on the official Twitter account of Goblintown.wtf that were written in a specific “goblin” language.

Finally, the authors of Goblintown.wtf decided to lift the veil of secrecy. On June 15, 2022, they posted an official tweet identifying themselves as Truth Labs.

According to the information posted on their website, the missions of this creative team are as follows:

• sharing delightful blockchain mischief;
• creative exploring;
• development of rich, interesting worlds and experiences (both in the real world and in the digital realm);
• providing a platform for new voices and visions.

According to Truth Labs representatives, the Goblintown.wtf collection is their first attempt to “play mischief” on the blockchain.

Goblintown.wtf Idea

The idea of Goblintown.wtf is expressed in the very name of the project, more precisely in the last three letters. The abbreviation “WTF” stands for What the fuck? This question was asked by many NFT collectors during the devastating fall of the crypto market in 2022. They were totally confused and experienced anger and embarassment. Thus, the Goblintown.wtf NFT project has become an ironic symbol of bearish trends in the global market.

The team is clearly poking fun at the failed ideas in the field of crypto business:

• many goblins are tattooed with the image of the Luna cryptocurrency, which crashed in early May 2022;
• one character from the goblin collection represents a direct reference to the freak “Kevin”, the mascot of the PixelMon NFT collection, which later became the personification of its fiasco;
• goblins are obsessed with hamburgers: that’s a sure symbol of some greedy start-ups.

Open trolling of brothers in trade is a distinctive feature of this NFT project from the Truth Labs team. No wonder goblins were taken as symbols of the project, for these characters are known in the fantasy world for their penchant for dirty tricks.

Goblintown is where all the goblins live. They love to be themselves and enjoy their talents. They also like to eat hamburgers and scream. Everyone has a little goblin inside. It just needs to be let out. This is how Truth Labs interprets the idea of their project (in correspondence with one of the bloggers)

Why is the Goblintown.wtf collection popular?

Despite the lack of a comprehensive marketing plan and a clear strategy for further development, the Goblintown.wtf project made a huge impression on the crypto community. The secret of the popularity of digital goblins rests on three pillars:

• Free minting. The Goblintown.wtf project has gained recognition since its launch, thanks in large part to the free minting of NFTs. This allowed to open the doors of the community for ambitious newcomers.
• Possible collaboration with Yuga Labs. The Goblintown team is believed to be affiliated with Yuga Labs, the creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club. The supposed tandem of two advanced projects is inspiring to many in the community.
• Focus on shocking the community. The concept of the Goblintown.wtf project is based on opposing itself to a thriving culture of NFT aesthetics. While the authors of most collections strive for beauty and sophistication, unsightly goblins suddenly burst into the crypto space, creating a serious hype around themselves.

Goblintown.wtf Roadmap

The Goblintown.wtf project does not have a roadmap. And it looks like the creators of Truth Labs are proud of it. In fact, there is indeed a reason to be proud – amazing sales and community interest in the absence of such a basic document for any NFT project as a Roadmap. In fact, all fans and holders are in complete ignorance. But it is rather pleasantly intriguing and demonstrates the complete trust of the community in the team of creators.

All in all, it can be called one of the largest and most successful PR stunts and marketing campaigns, which impressed and at the same time attracted tens of thousands of people.

Goblintown.wtf ecosystem projects

During the successful development of the NFT universe, the Goblintown.wtf project managed to acquire several spin-offs and derivatives:

• HumansTown.wtf. A collection of 10,000 token soldiers designed to defeat the army of goblins and elves.
• Ogre Town. A spin-off project that is a collection of cannibal giants who have teamed up with goblins to fight humanity.
• xyz. A collection of stylized owls that vaguely resemble the original NFT goblins.
• True Plebs in Goblin Town. A project that uses the story of the transformation of the Plebs people into goblins as a legend. In memory of this terrible event, each collector can take a souvenir from the NFT collection that consists of 1,669 tokens.
• Zen Goblins. A collection of 5,000 goblins in search of inner zen.
• Elftown.wtf. An NFT set of Dark and High Elves called upon to fight the goblins.
• Goblin Grlz. Goblintown.wtf derivative, which is a collection of digital goblin girls.
• Baby goblins. A collection of little NFT goblins.

Despite the creativity of the authors of these collections, none of them have yet managed to replicate the success of the original Goblintown.wtf series.

How much is Goblintown.wtf worth?

In May 2022, the minting of tokens was free. Then all the works were sold almost instantly. And from that moment on, the value of these works only grew.

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

• in June 2022 – 4 ETH,
• in September 2022 – 1.1 ETH.
• in December 2022 – 0.8 ETH.

Now (January 2023) the minimum price is 0.74 ETH. On average, the latest sales are in the range of 0.7-1.2 ETH. And the total volume of secondary sales amounted to more than 51k ETH (about $82 million).

Most Expensive Sales of Goblintown.wtf

The most expensive sales are led by the following NFTs from the Goblintown.wtf collection:

1. goblintown #6485 sold on June 1, 2022 for 77.75 ETH ($141k at the time of sale).
2. goblintown #8995 sold on May 25, 2022 for 69.42 ETH ($134k at the time of sale).
3. goblintown #2625 sold on June 2, 2022 for 56 ETH ($102k at the time of sale).
4. goblintown #9249 sold on June 1, 2022 for 31.04 ETH ($56k at the time of sale).

Where to buy Goblintown.wtf?

Goblintown.wtf is currently only available on the OpenSea and LooksRare aftermarket.

How to buy Goblintown.wtf?

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 leave enough ETH for gas or transaction fees. If the seller approves your bid, the deal goes through.

Should you invest in Goblintown.wtf?

Goblintown.wtf handles the complexities of market promotion quite well. The collection was launched at a time when such well-known NFT projects as Azuki and BAYC have plummeted in price.

In just the first week of trading, Goblintown managed to raise about $37 million. This is a significant result for a project that started in the midst of a bearish trend in the market. So, investors should consider betting on digital freaks.

The following considerations speak well for investing in Goblinstown.wtf:

• unrelenting hype raised by the creepy nature of the project;
• popularity of meme culture in the NFT market;
• high safety standards followed by the Truth Labs team.

Despite the fantastic sales volumes that the project has managed to achieve, its development strategy is still unclear. But we have to admit that the investments of Goblintown.wtf fans have fully paid off.

Opinion of NFTMetria

The Goblintown space is either a completely new “bottom” or a brilliant idea. Tweeted by Christy Tillman, director of product design at Netflix

Haters of the collection adhere to the first opinion, fans of the fantasy world and lovers of hype novelties – the second.

The digital goblins have not escaped the barrage of criticism they still face today. Nevertheless, the Goblintown.wtf project managed to give a life-giving impetus to the crypto market and return it to its former dynamics.

The authors of the collection not only attracted the attention of the audience with an original idea, but also showed the reverse side of the NFT culture. Therefore, fans of virtual monsters are not stopped by the lack of a roadmap and clear goals. They are sure that the project has a grand future ahead of it.