I. The Demise of Non-Fungible Tokens
The final cry of Non-Fungible Tokens ends with Pudgy Penguins' token issuance, and Doodles' recent token launch on Solana only created a small ripple. Yuga Labs continues its subtraction, this time even targeting its most soul-defining IP, Cryptopunks. Those Bitcoin Non-Fungible Tokens from the last wave of revival have nearly reached zero, and these once-crazy narratives have indeed fallen into obscurity, with no one paying attention anymore.
The vision of 10k PFP was once beautiful - a perfectly-sized community helping a bottom-up IP project reach the world, completely different from traditional IP projects that relied on massive upfront content investments. For instance, Disney's Marvel Universe, Star Wars, and various animation characters often require years of refinement and immeasurable funds to deeply resonate with people and ultimately become a gold mine.
Non-Fungible Tokens are entirely different, with an extremely low entry barrier and incredibly fast IP creation and asset monetization. Creators only need to pay some gas to list their artwork on Opensea, without galleries, toy companies, film companies, or professional teams - a new IP and artist are born instantly.
We witnessed three to four years ago how bottom-up IPs became popular in top entertainment circles of Europe, America, Japan, and Korea. A grassroots artist could achieve a commoner's counterattack through Non-Fungible Tokens. For me, as a Z generation who grew up watching anime, being able to participate in IP investment and incubation through crypto that was previously inaccessible to ordinary people was a dream-like experience.
However, after BAYC's "crazy matryoshka" and Azuki's disastrous Elemental series, the blurry status of Non-Fungible Tokens gradually became clear. It's not like equity or an investment, but more like an expensive luxury item with membership benefits. Project teams still hope we'll continuously purchase sub-series to support their ongoing IP value core roadmap. The seeds of contradiction were planted here - project teams know content creation is expensive, but without content, the IP will die. Sub-series released every few months continuously drain OG series holders, tormenting every community member. Waiting for content-driven returns might take many years, or perhaps never come. Cracks began to widen, and those beautiful fantasies started to crumble with floor price drops, leaving only various conflicts.
II. The King of IP Era: MCN-PoP MART
If Non-Fungible Tokens are seen as Z generation's luxury trend toys, their rise and fall become clearer. In the fast-food era, lack of content isn't necessarily bad, as appearance can quickly attract buyers. For example, Azuki's art style fits Asian aesthetics, and under this consensus, this grassroots Non-Fungible Token series could become the third blue-chip after BAYC. In the real world, famous trend toys like Bearbrick, B.Duck, and Molly similarly lack content support but became popular through unique appearances.
However, trends are fleeting, and IPs without content as a value core can become outdated anytime. Limited by crypto culture and Non-Fungible Tokens' extremely low success rate, project teams often continuously create derivatives around an IP. But the reality is that before a core prototype is developed, the trend has already passed.
Of course, PFP projects also have a type with substantial content support - Japanese Non-Fungible Tokens. In the past, I've seen four or five projects holding famous anime IPs hoping to make a big splash in the Non-Fungible Token market. However, they seemingly didn't consider that the IP's fan base is almost completely incompatible with this circle. Secondly, Japanese anime merchandise is already overwhelmingly abundant - why would fans spend hundreds of times more for a small image? Most importantly, this small image can only remain an image with zero future empowerment potential. Even purchasing a Gundam Non-Fungible Token only grants entry to the metaverse "SIDE-G". Profits from models, games, and animations are naturally unrelated to you, and the community won't be an IP incubator, almost considered an outlier in the entire Gundam fan community. In this aspect, GameFi's pain points are quite similar.
At this point, PFP projects became a pseudo-proposition, with only the pragmatic spark of little penguins continuously striving. So, do these small images have another way out? I believe PoP MART might offer a different answer.
Originating from a small store in Beijing's Euro-American Mall, it achieved a turnaround by representing Sonny Angel. This single series contributed nearly 30% of PoP MART's sales at the time. The jealous rights holders reclaimed the exclusive agency rights a year later, but this action instead gave birth to an IP empire.
Wang Ning (founder of PoP MART) had a simple idea at the time: create a proprietary IP that no one could take away. In 2016, PoP MART collaborated with Hong Kong designer Wang Xinming to launch their first original trendy toy series - Molly, a small girl with a pouting expression who instantly became popular nationwide through the excitement of blind box uncertainty and dopamine-driven appeal. PoP MART began its first rocket-like ascent, and by 2019, Molly's single IP annual sales had reached 456 million yuan, becoming PoP MART's core income source at the time.
This approach combining Japanese gashapon with high-end trendy toy collaborations was also common during the subsequent Non-Fungible Token boom. Artists would design basic elements, which would then be combined by project teams into series images for sale and operation. Non-Fungible Tokens at the initial launch stage were generally also in blind box form, with project teams releasing various rare image combinations to enhance player purchasing desire.
The two only differ in sales format, but tens of thousands of Non-Fungible Token projects and various blue-chip tokens generally failed. So why has PoP MART now ushered in its second spring?
I once attributed the reason to implementation difficulties and high entry barriers. The former seems unproblematic currently, while the latter is not entirely true. Non-Fungible Tokens also had a free Mint on-chain meme period, with Goblintown and MIMIC SHHANS being large MC memecoins from that era. Creators earned abundantly through transaction commissions, and many Non-Fungible Tokens in the inscription era were even more decentralized, yet this couldn't prevent Non-Fungible Token's decline. Building and joining an IP community is very simple, but continuation is difficult.
So, I believe we might have the wrong model. After the first rocket-like ascent, Molly didn't make PoP MART legendary, and the company's stock price has been falling from 2021 to 2024, similar to Non-Fungible Tokens. However, PoP MART made a comeback by creating an entire IP wall, now having 12 proprietary IPs including Molly, DIMOO, BOBO&COCO, YUKI, Hirono, and 25 exclusive IPs including THE MONSTERS (including Labubu), PUCKY, SATYR RORY, along with over 50 non-exclusive collaborative IPs with Harry Potter, Disney, and League of Legends.
People's preferences are always fickle, and IP lifespans are limited, but what if I have hundreds of choices? Now Labubu is exploding in Europe, America, and Southeast Asia, with its peripheral dolls maintaining value comparable to a plastic Maotai. Yuga Labs' ideal state was ultimately realized in Web2, and this was no accident.
We should rethink what the IP business is, what a Non-Fungible Token's Roadmap is, and why PoP MART can achieve such heights without content support.
[The rest of the text follows the same translation approach]For OG Non-Fungible Token holders, although the Token has divided some dividends and rights, most of them will also receive a large airdrop during TGE, so no one complains. However, in the long term, as mentioned in the fourth paragraph, this is a dilution, and the distribution like Azuki's Anime is even more of a blatant grab.
Short-term heat is important, but the long-term survival of the project is more important. Don't let token issuance become the final stop.
Conclusion
In this fast-paced, dopamine era, we have witnessed the rise of many Web2 emerging IPs. Non-Fungible Tokens should grow well in this era, as it has many irreplaceable characteristics. Four years ago, I viewed it as a cyber Maotai, but the reality is a cyber tulip. Few are willing to manage the ruins, but I believe that beneath the ruins, the next Labubu must be hidden.
