LeBron James now has his own RTFKT (Called Artifact) CloneX NFT thanks to a surprise move by the RTFKT team. In a move that caused a lot of controversy on social media, the new LeBron James appears to be a clone of the existing NFT, whose metadata has been changed to a special 1/1 NFT. Some people see this as an innovative movement that opens up great opportunities, while others see it as harmful and a threat to the future of decentralization.
RTFKT is part of the impact of the NFT ecosystem.
One of the most significant moments of the 2021 NFT bull run was Nike’s acquisition of popular NFT company RTFKT. Known for creating NFT avatars, virtual sneakers, fashion and collectibles for Metavas, it was a big moment for the NFT space. Many consider it a critical moment to gain recognition as a legitimate industry.
Notably, RTFKT was one of the first digital sneaker NFT collections. With the news of LeBron James’ NFT breaking out, many believe he will soon join RTFKT.
Nike is making a big move on the Web 3.
Since the acquisition, Nike, through RTFKT, has been working hard to build its presence in the Web 3 world. Among the various popular RTFKT packages, CloneX is the most popular. This collection of 20,000 figures collaborates with world-renowned contemporary Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.
With a floor price of 6 ETH and a volume of more than 220 thousand ETH, RTFKT is an influential group in the NFT space, many projects hope to recreate that success.
Is RTFKT changing the metadata of NFTs on Lebron James 1/1?
Basically, yes. In a Twitter thread, Samuel Cardillo, CTO of RTKFT, explained how and why they decided to allow metadata changes. He said, “I’m happy to announce that we’ve migrated some CloneX metadata on-chain. At this point, only the DNA and Murakami are on-chain if it’s a drop (or not), but more metadata will be prepared after the Ethereum merger.
So what does that mean? NFT (CloneX #7968) changed the data, and now it resembles LeBron James. RTFKT used an NFT from the CloneX inventory and changed the metadata to create a 1/1 LeBron James NFT. Importantly, both the original NFT and the new LeBron NFT are available independently. One currently lives on DappRadar, and the other on OpenSea.
The new Lebron James NFT has some special features. This includes a crown engraved with “The Chosen 1”. Additionally, the ‘Mouth’ feature on OpenSea reads LBJ Beard.
For some, this offers new opportunities, but others think it is unethical and against the innovative ideas of NFT.
Positive response to LeBron RTFKT NFT metadata change
Naturally, NFT owners and members of the RTFKT community are somewhat positive about the metadata changes.
@NinjaTVFILM, RTFKT’s Twitter PFP, tweeted, “@RTFKT’s prerequisite to change metadata to include features of the greatest sports stories of all time is a huge feature update to avoid obscurity and only King LeBron. get started. With @Nike + official sports legends/athletes + Clone X features the future is limitless.
Is LeBron James RTFKT NFT good for the NFT space?
One major criticism of RTFKT’s action is that the metadata is not frozen. Basically, this means that RTFKT can convert any NFT in the CloneX collection. If you can change your metadata overnight to look like LeBron James, where does it stop?
The CloneX #7968 used to create the LeBron James NFT may be worth more because of the associated NFT. However, the LeBron NFT is seen as a ‘real’ NFT, so the price may also drop. Moreover, it can cause damage to the ecology of the stock.
Prominent NFT Twitter member @Degentraland had this to say about the situation, “Almost a year after its launch, changing the collection’s metadata sets a terrible precedent. If the company can lay out your exact characteristics, are some properties really rare? If metadata is stored off-chain, do we really own it? But he added, “Here’s the thing… I’m ready to do something different for LeBron.
While some are happy for superstars like LeBron James, not everyone is universally loved. Does this open the market for 1/1 popular CloneX NFTs? This method creates more 1/1 NFTs and can also reduce the value of other 1/1s.
Measures to prevent misuse of metadata changes
In Samuel Cardillo’s thread, he announced security measures to ensure that it is not easy to change the properties on these NFTs. According to him, “Since CloneX is a living project, we have developed a way for the owner to “unlock” the status of CloneX. This means that only when you, as the owner of a particular clone, do you allow us to change it – edit the metadata or improve it in the future.
This means that there is a certain level of privacy in metadata changes for CloneX. However, for those who believe in true decentralization, it sets a ‘terrible precedent’.
It will be interesting to see how the market reacts to both the LeBron James NFT and the original RFKT CloneX NFT in the coming months.
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This article is educational material.
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