The team behind y00ts and DeGods were paid $3m to move their collections off Solana and onto Polygon, according to a January 6 announcement from the company. The statement was made on Discord and copied to Twitter by Frank III, founder of the two projects.
Here is a screenshot of our latest @y00tsNFT Discord announcement. pic.twitter.com/qWxjBsexv6
– Frank III (@frankdegods) January 6, 2023
The developers had previously announced on Dec. 27 that the projects would be moving to Polygon. This was widely seen as a possible death blow to the Solana network, as the network was already under pressure due to fallout from the collapsed FTX exchange. However, there was no evidence at the time that the y00ts team had received money in exchange for making the move
Let’s check the temperature on #solana now that the top 2 NFT projects are leaving $SOL.
Is Solana dead?
– Ben Armstrong (@Bitboy_Crypto) December 26, 2022
Vitalik Buterin has since argued that claims of the death of Solana may be exaggerated.
Related: Polygon partners with Warner Music, LGND to create Web3 music platform
In this new statement from Frank III, the y00ts and DeGods founder claimed the team was offered even larger sums than it got from the Polygon deal, but decided to partner with Polygon anyway because it would be the best platform for the projects. Frank also attempted to preemptively respond to criticism that would arise from revealing the compensation received, stating:
“We didn’t take this deal for the money. That’s just a nice bonus and we will use it effectively. We did this because it’s the most exciting direction for y00ts as a project. Also, if you are really upset – all I ask is to just channel that energy into genuine questions before just automatically assuming the worst.”
Frank III also stated that he will “not be purchasing any lambo” with the money. In other words, the team will not be using the money for their own consumption. Instead, the funds will allegedly go into hiring new employees for “business development, graphic design, content creation, and events coordination,” which he said will allow the projects to gain more mainstream acceptance.
Meanwhile, Solana may have recovered from the exodus of y00ts and DeGods, at least for now, as meme coins like Bonk are attracting trading activity back onto the platform.