Following Pudgy Penguins’ market buzz from its broad-based airdrop, another well-known Ethereum blue-chip NFT project, Doodles, officially announced its token launch on February 14. Its token, $DOOD, initially circulates on the Solana blockchain and will later support the Base network. As an incentive for community users, 68% of the total $DOOD supply will be allocated to the community.

This article will focus on the Doodles project, providing a brief overview of its development history and an in-depth analysis of why Ethereum blue-chip NFT projects like Pudgy Penguins and Doodles are choosing to launch tokens on Solana, as well as the challenges NFT projects face in the current market.

Doodles Project Overview

Doodles is an NFT collection consisting of 10,000 generative digital artworks, featuring characters such as humans, skeletons, cats, aliens, apes, and mascots. It is known for its unique doodle-style design and soft, cheerful color palette. Doodles NFTs were first launched in October 2021, with a mint price of 0.123 ETH, ultimately raising 420 ETH in initial funding.

Source: @evankeast

The Doodles core founding team consists of three members: Evan Keast (@evankeast), Jordan Castro (@poopie), and Scott Martin (@burnttoast), all of whom come from NFT developer Dapper Labs. Evan Keast and Jordan Castro were key developers of CryptoKitties, while Scott Martin is an innovative artist behind the Doodles NFT collection. In addition to these three, Billboard President Julian Holguin joined as CEO in 2022, but at the end of January this year, @burnttoast announced on X that he would be taking over the role.

Doodles gained recognition through its NFT collection, but the team’s ultimate goal is to become a comprehensive Web3 entertainment company. Over the past few years, beyond NFTs, the team has expanded into multiple entertainment sectors, including music, gaming, animation, and short films. They have also actively collaborated with global brands like McDonald’s and Adidas to enhance brand awareness and influence while providing long-term value for holders. Currently, the Doodles ecosystem’s products and services primarily include:

• NFT Series

In addition to Doodles, the team has launched Doodles 2, Dooplicator, Space Doodles, and Genesis Box, each with unique features, uses, and benefits. For example, the Doodles 2 collection is dynamic, allowing users to customize their NFTs with wearable items of varying rarity.

• DoodlesTV

In January 2023, Doodles acquired the Emmy-nominated animation studio Golden Wolf and produced a series of animated short films. However, not all of these works are freely accessible—some require users to hold a pass, own a Space Doodles NFT, or be a Doodles OG to watch.

Source: doodles.app

• Doodles Store

Doodles has launched a variety of original merchandise, including plush toys, socks, and collaborative products with well-known brands such as Adidas, Crocs, and McDonald’s. They have also released limited-edition collector packs, which users can open as blind boxes to receive rare wearable items, event passes, special collectibles, and redeemable physical goods.

Source: doodles.app

• Inkubator

As a community-driven project, Doodles has established the Doodlebank community treasury and the Launchpad program Inkubator to empower holders and enhance ecosystem development. Inkubator, in particular, provides extensive support for Doodles OGs, including funding grants, community events, marketing collaborations, business experiments, and custom initiatives, further enriching the community and expanding the Doodles brand’s influence.

According to the team, Doodles has achieved significant milestones over the years, accumulating 1.6 million followers, 86 million song streams, 100 million physical item distributions, and 8.9 billion views.

Regarding funding, Doodles completed a $54 million equity funding round in September 2022 at a valuation of $704 million. The investment was led by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s venture firm 776 Fund, with participation from FTX Ventures, 10T Holdings, and Acrew Capital.

Why Was $DOOD First Launched on Solana?

After more than three years since its inception, Doodles has officially launched its token, $DOOD. With a total supply of 10 billion, $DOOD was initially deployed on the Solana blockchain and can later be bridged to Ethereum L2 Base.

According to the team’s announcement, 68% of the total supply will be allocated to the community, while the company and team will collectively hold 22%, which will be locked for one year and then vested over three years. However, details on the exact launch date and community distribution have not yet been disclosed.

Source: @doodles

After the $DOOD token announcement, Solana’s official X account reshared the news with a warm welcome. At the same time, multiple NFT collections within the Doodles ecosystem saw varying degrees of price and trading volume increases. For instance, according to NFTGo, Doodles NFT recorded a daily trading volume exceeding 2,868 ETH on the announcement day, a nearly 30-fold surge compared to its usual 100 ETH. The floor price also jumped from 3.8 ETH to 4.6 ETH, marking an approximate 21% increase. As of March 8, the floor price had retraced to 3.25 ETH, positioning Doodles as the seventh-largest NFT project globally by market cap, with a total valuation of 32.65K ETH.

Source: nftgo.io

The NFT price surge triggered by this announcement fell short of expectations, possibly due to excessive speculation on the good news. On December 20 last year, @burnttoast had hinted at an upcoming token launch, sparking intense discussions within the community. At that time, Doodles NFT’s floor price briefly soared to 7 ETH, marking its highest level in nearly two years.

However, Doodles’ decision to launch the $DOOD token on the Solana blockchain was met with skepticism and confusion from some community members. Previously, when Doodles announced that Doodles 2 would migrate from Ethereum to the Flow blockchain, the community was shocked and heavily criticized the project for “abandoning Ethereum.”

In response, the team reassured the community, explaining that Flow was chosen primarily due to its low entry barriers, zero gas fees, and, most importantly, the ability to expand the Doodles ecosystem’s accessibility to a broader audience. They also emphasized their continued commitment to Ethereum.

Both Pudgy Penguins and Doodles opted to launch their tokens on Solana as part of a multi-chain strategy. This approach allows them to retain Ethereum’s IP value while leveraging the liquidity of different blockchains and exploring differentiated competitive advantages. As for why Solana stood out, the reasoning is clear:

1) Ethereum remains the main battleground for NFTs, but congestion and high gas fees severely limit the scalability of new tokens. In contrast, Solana offers faster transactions and lower costs, making it more suitable for high-frequency trading and token distribution.

2) In this market cycle, Ethereum has underperformed, while Solana has surged in popularity due to the Memecoin trend. Solana’s on-chain transaction volume and user activity have skyrocketed, and its token $SOL has repeatedly hit new highs. According to Artemis, Solana’s daily transaction volume over the past year has been dozens of times that of Ethereum. Regarding net capital inflows, Solana also leads with an impressive $2.5 billion.

Source: app.artemis.xyz

3) Ethereum has long been known for its strong developer community and thriving ecosystem. However, Solana has also grown significantly in recent years, attracting many developers and projects across DeFi, NFTs, gaming, and other sectors. It has also gained recognition from institutions such as Grayscale and VanEck, with a Solana spot ETF currently in the application process.

NFT Token Issuance: Popularity and Risks Coexist

The NFT sector once flourished, but after its peak, it stagnated for quite some time. Perhaps to revive itself, some blue-chip NFT projects have been launching tokens since the end of last year, aiming to stimulate user sentiment and regain market attention.

However, is token issuance really a cure-all?

After the leading NFT project, Pudgy Penguins, announced its token launch, the floor price of its Pudgy Penguins NFT collection briefly surged past 35 ETH, reaching an all-time high. However, the hype was short-lived. Once the airdrop expectations were fulfilled, the market quickly returned to rationality if the asset lacked actual utility. The collection’s floor price has since dropped back to around 10 ETH, while its token, $PENGU, has plummeted from an opening high of $0.055 to $0.006, marking an 89% decline.

Source: Gate.io

As for other popular NFT projects, Azuki also launched the $ANIME token for its anime project Animecoin. Although Azuki’s founder, Zagabond, claimed in a post that $ANIME embodies vision, product, and real use cases, the market remained unconvinced. Both the NFTs and the $ANIME token saw a brief, modest uptick before resuming their downward trend.

Even OpenSea, the once-dominant NFT marketplace, faced backlash from some community members after launching its token. Many saw it as a final cash grab before turning into a “zombie,” unable to recover its market share, which had plummeted from 90% to 29%.

This highlights that in a liquidity-starved market, token issuance may serve as a temporary “lifeline,” quickly attracting speculative capital and market attention in the short term.

However, it does not address fundamental issues. Without real, sustainable token use cases and ecosystem support, the hype will quickly fade, leading back into a survival crisis.

Alternatively, even without issuing a token, as long as NFTs continue to hold value, their popularity and price can still be maintained.

Source: nftpricefloor.com

Taking Milady Maker as an example, this collection consists of 10,000 generative digital artworks inspired by street-style tribes. While Milady Maker has not issued a token, it has maintained a high floor price through airdrop expectations and currently ranks sixth in market capitalization with 36.54K ETH. Over the past few years, its NFT holders have received token airdrops from projects like Renzo and Ethena. However, it is worth noting that Milady’s founder, Charlotte Fang, raised 5,861.8 ETH to launch the Memecoin $CULT, which was listed for trading in December last year.

Future Outlook

Ultimately, for NFT projects to establish a lasting foothold in a highly competitive market, they require comprehensive support from multiple aspects, including a strong community foundation, sustainable token economics, ecosystem innovation, and expansion.

Teams need to continuously focus on market education, NFT value, ecosystem development, and community governance, such as:

• Lowering user barriers and building diverse communities to encourage broader participation in the NFT ecosystem.
• Expanding NFT use cases by integrating them into real-world industries, cultural IPs, and other sectors to enhance their practical value.
• Enhancing interactivity and liquidity through innovative models like GameFi and SocialFi.
• Implementing reasonable token economic models and DAO governance mechanisms to enable community members to participate in ecosystem development, fostering long-term incentives and a sense of belonging.

Conclusion

With Doodles announcing its token launch, the wave of token issuance led by established NFT projects is gradually ending. For the long-dormant NFT industry, this brief surge in attention may have injected new vitality and catalyzed its recovery.

However, relying solely on token issuance is not a long-term solution. For the industry as a whole, finding more ways to break through is the key. Only by continuously exploring new opportunities can the NFT sector potentially enter another cycle of growth.