The celebrity-promoted non-fungible token (NFT) collection turned out to be yet another carpet.
While NFTs have boomed in recent months, the market’s success proved to be a double-edged sword as it was also plagued by well-constructed projects that would later be picked up.
Yesterday, March 31, a well-known crypto detective @zachxbt posted a series of messages on his Twitter feed. According to him, the Bored Bunny NFT collection, which was largely promoted by NFT and crypto-friendly celebrities such as Floyd Mayweather, DJ Khaled, Jake Paul, etc., pointed to a “slow carpet” that investors more than $21.1 million cost.
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1/ Here is a summary of the NFT slow back @BoredBunnyNFT & a breakdown where the $21.1 million (6339 ETH) actually fared just as well as their ties to other NFT rugs.
Floyd Mayweather, David Dobrik, DJ Khaled, French Montana, Jake Paul, Chantel Jeffries and more were paid to promote the project pic.twitter.com/yWQpNMx2ba
— zachxbt (@zachxbt) March 31, 2022
Slow pullbacks are usually thoughtful digital asset schemes where the creators try to keep the project alive while periodically cashing in on inflated NFT prices to allay suspicion.
The Bored Bunny NFT collection promised collectors metaverse initiatives, events and “immediate” returns from their investments, as they lined up celebrities like famed boxer Floyd Mayweather and Youtuber Jake Paul to promote the project.
4/ Here are all the marketing videos made for BB:
French Montana: https://t.co/Aj5o8kpFgP
David Dobrik: https://t.co/1Of0hUw7XA
Chantel Jeffries:https://t.co/7fJKP61Ttv
Floyd Mayweather (twice): https://t.co/CVoCxQLxmT https://t.co/PINwrN0nHn
— zachxbt (@zachxbt) March 31, 2022
After the collections sold out, all the money was apparently transferred to centralized exchanges on different wallets.
However, things started to take a turn for the worse when the community noticed the rock bottom prices of their NFTs collapsed and the Bored Bunny NFT creators went missing from social media for weeks.
When the project was announced, the owner of the Bored Bunny NFT Twitter account suddenly responded, claiming that there were many “messages and emails” to continue, which was presumably the reason for their absence.
This led zachxbt to investigate further and find out who was behind the project, as the creators did not reveal their identities. As it turns out, the Bored Bunny NFT team was also behind other multi-million dollar carpet pulls like Crazy Camels & Ancient Cats Club.
14/ I then start looking for clues as to who the team actually is.
I check the chain and find clear connections to two different million dollar NFT rugs (first noticed by @NFTethics ) Old cat club and crazy camels.
See below how the transactions are linked to two CEX accounts. pic.twitter.com/KQveVsTwxr
— zachxbt (@zachxbt) March 31, 2022
Likewise, he identified Slavi Kutchoukov as one of the people behind the carpet because of his ties to Floyd Mayweather who promoted the NFT project. Likewise, he tracked down several other names through their digital footprint, including Amir Adjaouti and Remy Goma, who were also part of Bored Bunny NFTs.
The final nail in the coffin was the Discord announcement on the Bored Bunny channel, in which the creators asked the community if they wanted a moderator to take over the NFT project.
While the full details of the project carpet have yet to be confirmed, the research led by zachxbt seems highly plausible, with the overwhelming evidence pointing to a slow pull of the carpet by the makers.
As NFTs become much more mainstream, law enforcement agencies have become involved in the recently emerged market. Just a week ago, the people behind the Frosties NFT carpet pull were charged with financial fraud by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
by Dom Z. – Crypto Analyst, BitDegree
