May 18, 2022
By Murtuza Merchant
The Not Okay Bears NFT Collection totally took over the NFT space in the past 48 hours, with the collection becoming the top collection on OpenSea and LooksRare in a matter of hours.
At the time of writing, OpenSea has delisted the project and the NFT community is taking sides.
Who is Not Okay?
The Not Okay Bears is basically an Okay Bears knockoff on Ethereum. The original project builds on the Solana blockchain and has been one of the best-selling collections there. Previously, we’ve only seen Solana knockoffs of Ethereum projects. I guess things are different now?
Similar to the left facing apes earlier, the Not Okay Bears are left facing Okay Bears. Besides the 10k PFP NFTs, the project website is also similar to the original website. Currently, the project has a floor price of 0.085 ETH on LooksRare with a trading volume of more than 233 ETH. In the face of delisting threats, the team is currently developing its own marketplace to keep the ball rolling.
Are we okay with Not Okay Bears?
As the Not Okay Bears project began to climb the NFT leaderboards, some of the community members expressed their disgust and frustrations. For instance, BAYC and MAYC owner @BombNFTs coins the project as ‘everything wrong with this space’. The user feels that the community should not reward a project with stolen art and close to no effort at all. The project is also not doxxed and has no roadmap. From the looks of it, many are in this camp.
On the other hand, the project community is still raging over the OpenSea delisting. They are demanding an answer as to why the 0xApes Trilogy and the Bored Ape Solana Club are still live on OpenSea while their project is not. These copycat projects not only trade on OpenSea, but are verified projects. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Not Okay Bears are not okay with this.
The best thing to come out of the Not Okay Bears is the donation towards the Mental Health Impact Index Fund. After the project sold out, the project quickly sent 35.8 ETH to support mental health awareness. Subsequently, The Giving Block matched this donation through their #CaringWithCrypto campaign. All in all, the derivative NFT project brought in more than 70 ETH to support this cause. This is VERY OKAY in my books.
However, one can also argue that 35.8 ETH is only a small portion of the mint funds. If the project is indeed a cash grab, there are still plenty of ETHs to run away with. So far, Okay Bears is yet to release any statements or take any actions.
The market has plenty of copycats and derivatives, in all shapes and sizes. Which are okay and which are not? I don’t think there is a blanket answer for now. So, which side are you on?
Image wikimedia commons
About the author
Murtuza Merchant is a senior journalist and an avid follower of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
