Drop Preview: RTFKT's CloneX

Editor's note: The CloneX drop has been postponed to Nov. 27 for the presale and Nov. 29 for public.

The long awaited announcement regarding RTFTKT's CloneX drop has finally come. 

Though there have only been a few cryptic updates since the project announcements started brewing, enthusiasm hasn't dampened for the upcoming avatar project — the first for the ambitious RTFKT, which wants to be THE next-gen Metaverse company.

Below, I'll take a look at RTFKT and what we know about its upcoming drop: CloneX. 

What is RTFKT?

RTFKT, pronounced "artifact,” is a digital fashion and collectibles company founded by Benoit Pagotto, Chris Le, and Steven Vasilev.

Since its inception in January 2020, RTFKT has already released a few NFT projects in collaboration with industry greats such as sneaker legend Jeff Staples, Janet Jackson, and up-and-coming artist, FEWOCiOUS. Those collaborations have seen great success — the RTFKT x FEWOCiOUS collaboration sold 621 pairs of sneakers in less than 10 minutes on NiftyGateway, netting $3.1M. As mentioned in a self-published Medium article, the team has "designed luxury retail stores, made iconic esports moments, created logos for hip hop artists, directed movies and music videos, sold millions of CSGO and Dota skins, grown online communities to millions, disrupted fashion industries and created sneakers for legends."

RTFKT's early success has not gone unnoticed. Recently the team announced it has received $8M in funding from the venture capital fund, Andreessen Horowitz, which will be used to help grow projects.

Although the company is mostly known for its digital products, RTFKT has begun to bridge the digital and physical worlds together. Through forging events, RTFKT allows NFT holders to "forge" their NFTs for physical redemptions of the item.

For example, if you were holding this FEWOCiOUS shoe NFT, you would then be able to redeem a physical version of that shoe.

Prior to the CloneX announcement, the most expensive RTFKT piece was one of the above FEWOCiOUS x RTFKT collaborations at 0.45 ETH. And on October 14, the lowest priced item was set to 14.74 ETH.

The only change? Holding those NFTs guarantee you access to the CloneX drop.

What Is CloneX?

CloneX, originally codenamed the AKIRA project, is RTFKT's first avatar project, consisting of 20,000 3D generated NFTs.

A foundational project for the team, RTFKT has noted it wants project participants to be able to express themselves in the Metaverse through their 3D avatars.

Of the 20,000 CloneX NFTs, half the supply will be reserved for holders of previously released RTFKT NFTs. Each RTFKT item held will allow the user to mint a maximum of three CloneX avatars at a price of 0.05 ETH.

The rest of the NFTs will be available to the public via a Dutch auction, whereby the auction price declines over a set duration until the collection sells out or reaches a final resting price. 

RTFKT confirmed on the project site there will be a three-avatar limit per wallet. A price has not been formally disclosed. 

The presale launch will be on November 18th, where as the public launch will happen two days later, that is on November 20th.

As far as what the avatars will be used for, RTFKT also updated its mysterious roadmap in an Oct. 30 Discord announcement:

RTFKT also announced it was collaborating with famous Japanese artist Takashi Murakami for CloneX. Murakami designed the cover artwork of Kanye West’s album "Graduation" and West's joint album with Kid Cudi: "Kids See Ghosts." He has also collaborated with Supreme, Billie Eilish and Virgil Abloh.

How does CloneX Compare to Other NFT Projects? 

Though the prices of CloneX are still unclear and the roadmap is still being formed, RTFKT has dropped hints here and there on what we can expect from this project.

CloneX is MetaVerse Ready

RTFKT has promised that the avatar will be Metaverse-ready, meaning every owner will get access to the 3D model of the avatar to be able to use it in any kind of Metaverse environment. On Nov. 4, RTFKT announced it was partnering with a 3D software developer, Daz 3D, to expand the capabilities for CloneX in its Metaverse.

Unique Art

The CloneX art is one-of-a-kind because it is the first anime-inspired, fully 3D NFT avatar project. This differentiation clearly makes the art standout when compared to other popular PFP projects that are either pixelated, cartoon-inspired, or animal based.

Source: RTFKT Discord

Social Engagement and Demand

And while other projects are rushing to market, it seems RTFKT's 121,000 Twitter followers and more than 70,000 Discord members are in agreement: OMGGGG WTFFF OF CoURSe TakE aLL YOUR TImE.

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