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The Cool Cats NFT collection is quite simply the coolest NFTs on the blockchain. Cool Cats is a collection of 9,999 randomly generated NFTs based around a blue cat, originally designed by @thecatoonist on Instagram.
Cool Cats were minted on July 1, 2021 by @CoolCatsContract, a team comprised of four anonymous members: Clon, Tom, Lynq, and ELU. Each cat was originally priced at 0.06 ETH. Now, the floor price of a Cat on opensea.io is reported to be 8.495 ETH.
Each NFT Cat’s background represents the rarity of the cat. These cats are generated by having features for the body, face, hats, shirt, and tier randomly combined to form a different styled cat. Cool Cats claims to have 300,000 total combinations of Cats, but have only released 9,999. Thus, certain Cats have features that are rarer to find than others. The rarity of the combination of features is represented by the color of the background.
Cool Cat #1490 is the highest previously sold Cat of all time. This Cat was sold for 320 ETH on 10/4/2021, reasonably so, as it is one of nine hidden cats. With a visible brain, a background that is not on the rarity scale, and a sage colored body, this cat is clearly something special.
When comparing it to a less rare cat like Cool Cat #2975 who sports a cheugy beret and was last sold for 1.75 ETH, the relative values of the cats is unmistakable.
Beyond the clout of owning one of these Cats, the Cool Cats founders have made an active effort produce a culture and community for their followers, with the Cool Cats having engaging Discord and Twitter communities for Cat owners. The Cool Cats community also have the opportunity to participate in Town Halls, win ETH through contests and raffles, and participate in live stream collaboration sessions. The Cool Cats founder are even planning on a launching a second generation of cats that will have the potential to breed, whatever that might entail.
One of the founders, Tom, mentions in a blog post that after the launch of Cool Cats, came the prioritization of the community. “Now is the time to really focus on what kind of community you want to nurture,” he says. The intention of the design of the Cats works in parallel with the aesthetic that its founders and community members attempt to create. There is also an indicative devotion to that as well, as the founders have committed to giving back 20% of all ETH raised to the Cool Cat community through the perks that come with owning a Cat.
As with any real exclusive society, its members derive meaning from access to the elusiveness of it all. NFT collections prove that this social phenomenon can be brought to life in the digital space as well. Owning a digital Cat may not seem inherently meaningful, but as with all art, the perception of value and meaning must be contrived, which calls to question how the meaning of digital value will evolve with Blockchain technology.
Works Cited:
“An Introduction to Cool Cats”. Cool Cats NFT. Medium. June 8, 2021. https://coolcatsnft.medium.com/an-introduction-to-cool-cats-club-8e1dc53de100
Cool Cats NFT, accessed November 19, 2021. https://www.coolcatsnft.com
“Cool Cats NFT.” Open Sea. Accessed November 19, 2021. https://opensea.io/collection/cool-cats-nft
Dickens, Scott. “The minimum price of a Cool Cat NFT is now $33k… and rising.” Yahoo News. September 27, 2021. https://www.yahoo.com/now/minimum-price-cool-cat-nft-164521115.html
“The Reality of Running an NFT.” Xtremetom. Medium. August 15, 2021. https://xtremetom.medium.com/the-reality-of-running-an-nft-28856216a95f