CNN is accused of pulling a rug when it gives up on the NFT initiative

October 11, 2022 By Jozeph P

(Image Credit Google)

Parker Molloy pointed that on Monday afternoon, CNN announced the conclusion of their significant Web3 initiative by saying, "We have decided that it's time to say goodbye to the Vault by CNN." Vault by CNN was established in the summer of 2021 as a market for its own NFTs (non-fungible tokens) that would "provide collectors the option to own a piece of history," albeit you may have already forgotten about it.

Just saw that CNN announced the end of its bizarre NFT market where they'd sell NFTs of news stories. pic.twitter.com/UUgrozFQQU
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) October 10, 2022

It produced CNN reports of significant events or artistic interpretations inspired by them, generating digital treasures that owners could show off in some way or exchange with others like baseball cards. As the "crypto winter" set in, things undoubtedly changed, but according to a Press Gazette report from April, CNN had made more than $300,000 from the transactions. Another message in the service's Discord channel reminded users that, although "undergoing changes," the Vault website would still be accessible to them so they could browse their collections and shop in its marketplace. CNN stated in the Discord that it intended to make payouts based on the purchase price of each wallet's NFTs as they were captured on October 6th in order to reward "the thousands of collectors that joined us in this experiment." [caption id="attachment_49228" align="aligncenter" width="450"]

Discord messages from Vault by CNN collectors expressing disappointment with its sudden shutdown. Image: Discord[/caption] Additionally, he pointed out that because the real media for the NFTs is kept in IPFS, a distributed file system, they should remain accessible even if CNN's website is shut down. Also, as recently as last month, CNN was still encouraging community members to purchase additional tokens so they would have enough to access upcoming events like the Art of Voting NFT Series, which is set to launch on November 8th, the day of the midterm elections. Another media outlet, the Associated Press, courted controversy by opening an NFT marketplace in January, just as prices were reaching their height, with the declared goal of utilizing the earnings to support journalistic work. A link on the page referring to the project's Discord no longer functions, and the AP NFT marketplace now displays little to no activity on many recent dumps.

By Jozeph P

Journalism explorer, tech Enthusiast. Love to read and write.

CNN is accused of pulling a rug when it gives up on the NFT initiative

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