Founders of Goblintown NFT Project Revealed

Goblintown.wtf, the NFT project that has gained attention for its higher-than-usual-effort website and its Twitter Spaces featuring a handful of users making goblin noises and repeating words like “pendulum,” “burger,” and “Gary Pee,” finally revealed the "truth" about the people behind the elaborately marketed NFT Tuesday.

Goblintown tweeted a four-minute video where it announced that the founders of the bear market sensation — which as of June 14 had a 3.25 ETH floor — were the same team behind Truth Labs, which was also responsible for Illuminati Collective and The 187. It also revealed the Twitter accounts of notable team members and detailed some future utility, including an IRL event and merchandise.

What is Goblintown? Details on the Notorious NFT Project

Goblintown is a reference to the song “Down, Down to Goblin Town” from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit.” The song appears in the book but was adapted for the animated version of the film. The term has become synonymous with a bear — or down market. 

So when Bitcoin and ETH dropped both dropped more than 30 percent at the beginning of May and stayed below 31,000 and 2,000 for an extended period, the stage was set.

The goblintown.wtf website appeared May 20, directing users to mint a maximum of one free Goblin NFT per wallet, with a warning: “Don’t be f*cking greedy. That’s how we got ourselves here.”

Inside the website, two characters named Garf and Urki message each other back and forth in Goblinese.

The final message on the mint page was clear: “No roadmap. No Discord. No utility. CCO. Contract wasn’t actually written by goblins.”

So Who Are the Creators of Goblintown?

Since launching a month ago, the people behind Goblintown was one of the best-kept secrets in NFTs, causing people to speculate wildly that everyone from “Beavis and Butthead” creator Mike Judge, to popular NFT artist Beeple and even Yuga Labs were responsible. 

The June 14 video dispelled those rumors and introduced (and re-introduced) the team to the NFT world.

Of the team, Alexander Taub (@ajt) and Cesar Kuriyama, are identified as founders of the Illuminati Collective. On Tuesday, most of the team took to Twitter to doxx themselves.

No Roadmap, But Maybe Some Utility

Goblintown started with the promise of no roadmap or utility, but on May 27, the project tweeted about a potential airdrop and tagged another account: @McGoblinBurger. On June 1, Goblintown said the “burger” will be free to claim on the official site the night of June 3.

In the June 14 video, the project said that merchandise will be available after NFT NYC, which takes place June 21-23. Merchandise will include Goblin Sauce, which will be made in partnership with Hong Kong-based food company Lee Kum Kee. Goblintown also released a link to a password-protected website where the Goblin Sauce will be available. 

Why People Love/Hate Goblintown

The success of Goblintown has divided Crypto Twitter, with some despising the project for its art or its crude humor, and others praising its innovative marketing tactics. 

But most are just enjoying the vibes of the CC0 project, as the market continues to stagnate.