OpenSea Part 4: We’ve almost got Rug Pulled

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Trading NFTs in platforms such as OpenSea doesn’t mean that you’re away from malicious schemes. And in fact, they could be lurking anywhere and looking for unsuspecting beginners to be their next victim. But you’re not alone, and we got you covered.

Disclaimer

We are not financial advisors. The content on this video is for educational purposes only and merely cites our own personal opinions.

After reading this article, you’ll learn more about the hidden Rug Pull NFT collections in OpenSea. Then how we dived further into research and exited early, avoiding losing all our investment. So, without further delays, here’s where it all had started.

NFT from Polygon Chain

Just a recap, we’ve mainly used the Polygon chain in Opensea to try investing with NFT projects without the expensive gas fee in Ethereum-based NFTs. So, with that, we tried looking for some decent project that has an affordable entry point, meaning the floor price is cheaper. The OpenSea had a setup where you could check if an NFT collection was a verified one. And most collection like this one is guaranteed to be safe and legit. But there’s an exemption, as verified projects also require a minimum of 100 ETH volume transactions. So, in our case, we’re looking for collections that have cheaper floor price, and a new one. And that’s how we got into the “BoodleBears” NFT.

Doodles NFT derivative

Each NFT only costs 5$ or around 0.00017 WETH, free of fees, so a very good entry point in an NFT project. To be honest, the art style is a bit unique, though it’s a derivative from the “Doodles” NFT collection. Still, it had an original aspect about it. And that’s with the art style. Since it’s a new project, just like any other projects in OpenSea, unless it reaches 100 ETH volume and it would not get the verified status. So, we thought that was just the case. Until we saw these red flags happen.

READ MORE: 5 Things to Check First Before Entering an NFT Project

BoodleBears Reflags

Sadly, we already bought 6 NFT in that collection. But to avoid losing our investment, we tried looking more about the project. By checking in google and the OpenSea, we’ve found out that the “BoodleBears” already had a previous NFT Project entry in OpenSea, and it also had some postings on Twitter.

We've almost got Rug Pulled

1. More than one Collection in OpenSea
2. Expanded Collection from 1,000 to 5,000 NFTs 3. No Community, Roadmap & Website

The strange thing is that the collection, which looked exactly like “BoodleBears” all with its project description, and the NFTs on it, seemed to be a discontinued version with lower transaction volume. And another thing, we saw the collection expand from 1000 NFTS to 5000 in just a week. Moreover, in its description, it says that it will have a discord server and a website soon to promote and establish a community, but it never happened.

Blinded by possible high Profit

We should have noticed this red flag early on, but again the lucrative benefit of earning from NFTs has perhaps blinded us early on in taking this project seriously. And just like us, others are also buying the “BoodleBears” NFT because it’s cheap and also looks cool. But the bottom line is that our goal is to learn how to make a profit with NFTs, so knowing that this collection could be a rug pull.

Cutting Losses

Then, we have to do what we must. So, right away, we tried selling our 6 NFTs to exit early. We’ve got 2 slightly rare and 4 rares. That’s why we’ve listed the 2 at floor price while the other 4 were slightly higher. Eventually, it got sold, and that’s how we avoided a Rag pull.

We've almost got Rug Pulled

Conclusion

So, as a lesson, before buying an NFT, regardless of how much you’re investing, make sure that you “Do your own research” first. Be very intensively curious about its background and look for the red flags. Doing this would give you an early precaution against Rug Pull NFT projects.

READ MORE: 5 Things to Check First Before Entering an NFT Project

To be continued…

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