The largest meme community on the internet, 9GAG, is still very much pumping NFTs despite the crumbling market. After its well-known NFT project Memeland’s major success, the global content giant is determined to continue their journey into its web3 ecosystem, the Memeverse. Recently, the NFT project dropped its main NFT collection ‘Memeland Captainz’ and let’s just say, what’s a legendary meme treasure island without its captains?
The Captainz NFT collection was minted last Friday, January 6th, and the project already secured a total volume of 9.99K Eth! Sink me!
Let’s batten down the hatches and see how Memelands’s captainz did when approached by the briny deep of the sales!
Memeland: The Meme Treasure Island
Before we jump onboard the sailing ship of the Captainz, let’s see what Memeland is even all about.
Memeland is a web3 initiative developed by the famous meme community on the internet 9GAG. You’ve probably seen their witty jokes and memes all over social media. If you haven’t then walk the freakin plank!
The content giant has plunged into the Web3 ecosystem in April 2022 by creating their very first NFT project, Memeland. Memeland is set on to act as a Memetaverse with its one governance token, $MEME. However, the essential part of the Memetaverse is the NFT collections that provide different sets of utility. Let’s dive into the lore of this meme-based NFT collection.
A long time ago, Memeland was deserted for its unhabitable conditions, leaving behind golden treasures forged on its very land waiting for someone to discover them. After some time, early life forms started to emerge as potato creatures that roamed the land. All that was happening while captains with their pirate crews explore the broken sea in search of this lost golden treasure!
The MVPs
“You The Real MVP” NFTs was the first collection to drop in Memeland’s ecosystem. The collection was an extra way to thank dedicated fans and the rigorous community. The “You The Real MVP” is 420 beautifully forged gold trophies that are lying gracefully in the Memeland. The website states that all these trophies have the same inscription that translates to “In the Land of the Greatest Memes lies the Greatest Treasure.”
Owners of one of these trophies grant them access to many different utilities, such as being on all future Memeland Allowlist and Memeland free mints. It also unlocks the MVP discord lounge and role. The project ran a blind auction where the community set the final price at 5.3 ETH. Now the floor price of these beautifully crafted trophies is at a whopping 38 ETH! Shiver me timbers that’s a high value!
The Potatoz
On July 21, the Memeland project dropped its second NFT collection, the Potatoz. These gradually growing lifeforms are the best companions to Captainz. “They are cute but they can kill.” Holders of the MVP NFTs got a spot on the allowlist of the project including 3 free mint spots.
The Potatoz is a 9,999 utility-enabled PFP collection which each Potatoz acting as an entry ticket to Memeland. With a Grow-to-Win staking mechanism, the Potatoz won the community’s hearts… or stomachs? Whatever. The important thing is that Potatoz was a hit! Owning 3 Potatoz also granted you a spot on the Captainz’s allowlist. The Potatoz has secured over 21k ETH in total volume with a floor price of 2.06 ETH.
Memeland Captainz: The OG Pirates
Ahoy! The Captainz are finally here and ready to loot the Memeland out of its golden treasures. The Captainz are 9,999 utility-based NFTs with each having its own utility. Such as:
- Private Club Membership
- Upcoming 9GAG projects/drops
- Access to creator NFT Marketplace
- IRL events
With the addition of each Memeland Captainz acting as a ticket to the 9GAG Memetaverse. Also, as a Captainz owner, you don’t have to worry about copyright since you can enjoy complete ownership and commercial rights over your assets.
However, not all 9,999 Captainz were available for mint by the public. Instead, the original Memeland plan of distributing the Captainz was to:
- Allocate 6,900 NFTs to 9GAG and partners.
- 3000 Captainz to allowlists
- 99 NFTs to the Memeland Treasury.
However, considering 9,169 Captainz were available for mints, things might have changed along the way.
In addition, Memeland will receive 9% of all secondary sales, and according to their website, they will be using the funds to buy the team yachts and private jets. They’re joking though. The funds will be going to new hires and setting up the Memeland DAO. I think they should also use the funds to build a real-life pirate ship where NFT holders can sing chanteys and aye-aye their way into the Memetaverse and…too far?
Avast Ye: The Mint
On December 8, 2022, the Memeland Twitter account announced the mint date and price for the Captainz. The Memeland Captainz mint announcement included the following info:
- Mint Date: January 4, 2023.
- Duration: 48 hours.
- Mint Price: 1.069 Eth + Gas.
- Eligibility: Memelist, Potatoz, and Waitlist holders.
9,169 Captainz were available for mint, with 830 Captainz going to MVP airdrops ( 2 Captainz), golden ticket Potatoz airdrop ( 1 Captainz), and the Memeland Treasury. However, there was no public mint.
The Memeland Captainz mint was divided into 2 types:
- Guaranteed: Those who got a spot on the Memelist, holders of Ticket Potatoz, or holders of 3X Potato NFTs had a guaranteed Captainz NFT after paying the mint price.
- Non-Guaranteed: Potatoz holders and those who got a spot on the waitlist may not have gotten a Captainz NFT, even if they paid the minting price.
However, all participants in the mint were rewarded by Treasure Mapz based on the number of Captainz they tried to mint. Keep in mind that these Mapz are not yet NFTs. However, they are related to $MEME, valuable NFTs, and special utilities. There are 5 types of Mapz:
- Mythical
- Epic
- Magical
- Extraordinary
- Special
Managing the Gas War
To manage the gas war and to minimize the gas fees when comes to minting the Captainz, Memeland followed several strategies. One of them is having no public mint and only 18,000 eligible mint wallets. Since the Captainz mint is a non-traditional event, transactions used lower gas fees. In addition, since MVP holders, Memelist members and 3 Potatoz holders have a guaranteed mint, there was no need to rush and congest transactions.
The Reveal
After minting the Captainz, the NFTs were airdropped into wallets within 24 hours. Then, a non-traditional reveal process got initiated. The reveal of the Captainz happens in 4 stages.
#1. Unrevealed Chest
The first stage of the NFT is an unrevealed chest with no attributes or unique traits.
#2. Revealed Chest
After 1-2 weeks from the mint, a form of soft staking (questing) will commence. After unveiling the chest, holders will be able to form pirate crews with a max of 1 Captainz and 3 Potatoz. Although there is a rarity at this stage, the NFTs are not yet unique.
#3. Jolly Roger
In 4-6 weeks, holders can unbox the chest to see what type of pirate flag ‘Jolly Roger’ they got. The NFTs in this stage become unique.
#4. Captainz
After an unannounced time, the Captainz character will be revealed.
Surging Sales Tell No Tales
On January 7, all of the 9,999 Memeland Captainz were minted with 6,952 unique minters according to NFTGo. In addition, Memeland has minted 231 Captainz, which are assumed to be going into the Treasury.
Given that the mint price was 1.069 Eth, the floor price after the minting was done started at 5.2 Eth with an average price of 6.38 Eth. The first day alone secured 5.14K Eth in total volume! We can see also that the floor price has fluctuated between 5.5 Eth and 4.9 Eth to finally drop to 4.77 Eth as I’m writing this article.
We can say that hyping up the community from all way back in April 2022, and releasing MVP and Potatoz have done the job.
Who are the Holders?
According to NFTGo, there are today 5,968 Captainz holders with 11 being whales. It’s interesting to mention that a lot of Memeland Captainz holders are also blue-chip wallets, making up around 16% of all holders.
You might be wondering why so many BCs are interested in the Memeland Captainz collection. Well, for starters, they already have 2 successful launches in the past year. Plus, the NFT reveal mechanism and the utility provided by the Captainz are very intriguing.
Did Holders Abandon Ship?
On the contrary, most holders never sold their minted/bought NFTs. What does that mean? Well, it means that seeing that the Captainz are still in their first stage which is an unrevealed chest, holders probably are waiting for the final stage. As the chest unveils the Captainz character, the value of these NFTs is surely to increase exponentially. If we look at the chart below provided by NFTGo, we can see that 84% of holders are still holding on to their Captainz as if they are bounties!
It may be the best time to buy a Captainz NFT since their price might go up in the next month! However, this is not financial advice, kindly do your own research before jumping on the Captainz ship.
Captainz Community: The Crew Holding the Ship
What’s a ship without its crew? The Memeland Captainz’s community is what an eye patch is to a sailor. It’s what the parrot is to the captain. It’s what…you got the point. Since the mint wasn’t open to the public, the heavy lifting was thrown to the community who worked hard in order to secure a spot on the Memelist.
In addition, the Captainz have boosted the floor price of the Potatoz to go from 1.9 Eth on January 5 to 2.6 Eth on January 7. This is a clear indication that the community is rigorous enough and passionate enough to get a spot on the Captainz allowlist.
18 Captainz secured! 🏴☠️🏴☠️ Ready to form my own Super Sayin crew with 1 MVP 9 Captainz 27 Potatoz for quests. Let's Fucking GO! #Memeland @Memeland @9gagceo pic.twitter.com/ufl8xaVHJl
— CryptoFloki.eth // MW (@CryptoFloki) January 7, 2023
My 3 Potatoz 🥹🥔 looking forward to the Captainz Mint @Memeland 🤝🏽💪🏽🚀 pic.twitter.com/gmXbkvBuM5
— donjorgio.eth (💙,🧡) (@Pj02MD) January 1, 2023
Potatos with no Captainz be like….. @Memeland pic.twitter.com/XWX8oHCCxE
— Kal | NFT (@kalr94) January 8, 2023
Memeland Captainz: Aye, Aye
We might see in the next month a surge in Captainz sales as the stages unfold amongst holders. What we witness in collections like Memeland is the power of curating an NFT community. Without the already existing 9GAG community and the journey that many NFT enthusiasts took into the Memetaverse, both Memeland collections wouldn’t have seen the success they reaped. Keep on the lookout for any Captainz sale, they might be taking over the NFT sea.