The well-known NFT project under Nike's umbrella actually pulled a Rug Pull

By: blockbeats|2024/12/03 12:15:01

Over the past 7 days, the NFT blue-chip collective has seen a resurgence. Whether it's former top PFP projects like CryptoPunks, BAYC, MAYC, Azuki, Doodles, or leading generative art NFTs like Chromie Squiggle, Fidenza, there has been a significant rebound.

The well-known NFT project under Nike's umbrella actually pulled a Rug Pull

One of the most relevant tokens to NFT infrastructure, $BLUR, has quietly surged nearly 90% in the past month. Following Andrew Kang's call for $BLUR at the end of last month, $BLUR has continued to rise, with an increase of almost 20%.

In a harmonious atmosphere of recovery, Clone X, a venerable blue-chip project with Nike roots, announced its cessation of operations at this time, shocking all NFT players as if declaring at a New Year's dinner to never eat again.

In this statement, the project behind Clone X, RTFKT Studio, acquired by Nike, announced the termination of RTFKT's operations. As a transition before closing, they will do the final act within the community in December—embracing the "BLADE DROP" of MNLTH X. MNLTH was introduced in 2022, probably mutating virtual shoes through NFTs.

As for the "BLADE DROP," after a quick search on Twitter, it seems that this "last dance" will not even allow holders to get the final pair of physical Nike shoes but rather 3D-printed shoes produced by Zellerfeld...

Impacted by the significant bearish news of the operational shutdown, CloneX's floor price plummeted by 50% instantly and currently sits at 0.3 ETH. Just 2 days ago, the collection's floor price had even rebounded to nearly 0.9 ETH.

NFT players have accused the RTFKT team of not just being a "Soft Rug" but a "Hard Rug" and have brought up past unkind remarks from RTFKT's co-founder @benitopagotto when the Pudgy Penguins CEO paid tribute to them last year.

Luca tweeted a tribute to RTFKT on September 17 last year

And 10 days later, @benitopagotto mocked the entry of Pudgy Penguins toys into Walmart, saying, "From Sotheby's to Walmart, the future of Web3 is truly bright!"

From the CloneX launch to RTFKT's acquisition by Nike, three years have passed in the blink of an eye. We finally welcomed a new bull market, but this Nike-backed NFT blue-chip suddenly collapsed at dawn.

Due to the sudden chaos, the $10 million acquisition offer from @JoeyMoose has caught the attention of many NFT players.

But most likely, he was joking, as just yesterday he said he was going to spend $5 million to buy MoonBirds from Kevin Rose. But buddy, MoonBirds have long been acquired by Yuga Labs...

So what will happen next with CloneX? For example, in this era where memes have become mainstream, will the community create meme tokens from the "CTO Nike" perspective?

I don't know, really don't know. After all, this world is always full of surprises.

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Mixin has launched USTD-margined perpetual contracts, bringing derivative trading into the chat scene.

The privacy-focused crypto wallet Mixin announced today the launch of its U-based perpetual contract (a derivative priced in USDT). Unlike traditional exchanges, Mixin has taken a new approach by "liberating" derivative trading from isolated matching engines and embedding it into the instant messaging environment.

Users can directly open positions within the app with leverage of up to 200x, while sharing positions, discussing strategies, and copy trading within private communities. Trading, social interaction, and asset management are integrated into the same interface.

Simplified Trading Experience: No KYC Required, Opening a Position in Five Steps

Based on its non-custodial architecture, Mixin has eliminated friction from the traditional onboarding process, allowing users to participate in perpetual contract trading without identity verification.

The trading process has been streamlined into five steps:

· Choose the trading asset

· Select long or short

· Input position size and leverage

· Confirm order details

· Confirm and open the position

The interface provides real-time visualization of price, position, and profit and loss (PnL), allowing users to complete trades without switching between multiple modules.

Social-Native Trading: Strategy and Execution Completed in the Same Context

Mixin has directly integrated social features into the derivative trading environment. Users can create private trading communities and interact around real-time positions:

· End-to-end encrypted private groups supporting up to 1024 members

· End-to-end encrypted voice communication

· One-click position sharing

· One-click trade copying

On the execution side, Mixin aggregates liquidity from multiple sources and accesses decentralized protocol and external market liquidity through a unified trading interface.

By combining social interaction with trade execution, Mixin enables users to collaborate, share, and execute trading strategies instantly within the same environment.

Referral Mechanism: Non-institutional users can receive up to 60% fee split

Mixin has also introduced a referral incentive system based on trading behavior:

· Users can join with an invite code

· Up to 60% of trading fees as referral rewards

· Incentive mechanism designed for long-term, sustainable earnings

This model aims to drive user-driven network expansion and organic growth.

Self-Custody Architecture and Built-in Privacy Mechanism

Mixin's derivative transactions are built on top of its existing self-custody wallet infrastructure, with core features including:

· Separation of transaction account and asset storage

· User full control over assets

· Platform does not custody user funds

· Built-in privacy mechanisms to reduce data exposure

The system aims to strike a balance between transaction efficiency, asset security, and privacy protection.

A New Path for On-Chain Derivatives

Against the background of perpetual contracts becoming a mainstream trading tool, Mixin is exploring a different development direction by lowering barriers, enhancing social and privacy attributes.

The platform does not only view transactions as execution actions but positions them as a networked activity: transactions have social attributes, strategies can be shared, and relationships between individuals also become part of the financial system.

Regulatory Background

Mixin's design is based on a user-initiated, user-controlled model. The platform neither custodies assets nor executes transactions on behalf of users.

This model aligns with a statement issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 13, 2026, titled "Staff Statement on Whether Partial User Interface Used in Preparing Cryptocurrency Securities Transactions May Require Broker-Dealer Registration."

The statement indicates that, under the premise where transactions are entirely initiated and controlled by users, non-custodial service providers that offer neutral interfaces may not need to register as broker-dealers or exchanges.

About Mixin

Mixin is a decentralized, self-custodial privacy wallet designed to provide secure and efficient digital asset management services.

Its core capabilities include:

· Aggregation: integrating multi-chain assets and routing between different transaction paths to simplify user operations

· High liquidity access: connecting to various liquidity sources, including decentralized protocols and external markets

· Decentralization: achieving full user control over assets without relying on custodial intermediaries

· Privacy protection: safeguarding assets and data through MPC, CryptoNote, and end-to-end encrypted communication

Mixin has been in operation for over 8 years, supporting over 40 blockchains and more than 10,000 assets, with a global user base exceeding 10 million and an on-chain self-custodied asset scale of over $1 billion.

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