Could Ethlizards be the next NFT blue chip? The project, developed in secret in a “degen” Discord chat group, looks to be gaining some buzz judging by its recent increasing OpenSea sales volume.

To learn why it’s way more involved than simply 5,050 profile pics of illustrated lizards, Stockhead caught up with Illuvium‘s Kieran Warwick – a key advisor to the Ethlizards’ team.

 

Hey, Kieran. Been a while since our last big GameFi-related chat. I’ve noticed you and your brothers have been sporting cartoon-lizard profile pics lately. What’s Ethlizards? Got a one-sentence pitch? 

Yep. We’re a lounge full of lizards, building the largest GameFi investment DAO in the space. 

How did this idea come about? Was it the result of an Illuvium think tank?  

As many people know, I’m quite a degen, and that journey started back in the Synthetix degen channel, where I used to find a lot of alpha. So as a nod to those degens, I decided to create a similar channel in our own Illuvium Discord. And I quickly found myself gravitating towards the discussion there.

‘It was genius – they leveraged Illuvium to create their own degen NFT project.’

Then one day the chat started to slow down, and so I began asking questions. The ones left said a secret lizard society had popped up, and all of the degens were migrating.

I found this a bit alarming, so I asked for an invite and quickly realised that the new lounge was the same thing, only more official and with these super-cool lizards attached to membership. It was genius – they leveraged Illuvium to create their own degen NFT project. 

A secret lizard lounge DAO – sounds like the makings of a classic crypto story. What are the main goals of the society at this stage? And what’s the grand ambition for Ethlizards? 

Building the community. We already have several high-profile NFT collectors but we expect this to proliferate throughout this year. And building the infrastructure required for the DAO, too. Staking will go live later this year, which will allow members to claim investment profits. 

And the grand ambition… as mentioned earlier, we’re looking to become the most significant investment DAO within GameFi. Think of it like this, we want to be the CryptoPunks of GameFi. 

 

‘It’s not hard to see how they’ll become unique’

Can you tell us a bit more about the GameFi and Illuvium connection with Ethlizards? Any interesting tie-ins happening?

I heard Grant [one of Kieran’s Illuvium co-founding brothers and that project’s art director] say at one point that he would add an Ethlizards Easter egg in the game. I wouldn’t read too much into that, though – he says some crazy things.

In terms of connection, though, we’re mostly Illuvium investors looking to invest in new games of similar quality as they begin to emerge. While the DAO placements will be respectfully small, the follow-on exposure from 5,050 GameFi lizards will have huge network effects for any project. 

In what ways do you expect the NFTs to grow in value over time? Tell us why speculators should ditch the paper hands and HODL onto them?

One good reason is that the investment DAO pays out any profits from the project directly to Lizard Holders, with a small fee to council members.

Additionally, there isn’t currently an NFT project representing GameFi and Ethlizards will become that over time. With 10 million new gamers set to arrive in the space in the next 12 months and only 5,050 Ethlizards, it’s not hard to see how they’ll become unique. 

Are there any plans revealed for using the Lizard Treasury in any particular ways at this point? 

Yep, 80 per cent is for the investment DAO, and 20 per cent is for tournaments or other activities voted on by the DAO.

[The Ethlizards decentralised autonomous organisation plans to use the crypto gaming guild and GameFi platform Polemos to help host monthly gaming tournaments with titles such as Illuvium, CS:GO, Valorant and TeamFight Tactics. Prizes will be paid out by the Ethlizards Vault.]

 

The three “highest last sale” Ethlizards on OpenSea. No#199 fetched 12 ETH (about US$35,900 at the time of writing).

 

‘Like DeFi adopted Punks, GameFi will adopt Lizards’

Reckon it’s possible Ethlizards could pull a CryptoPunks or BAYC-style success story? 

That’s the plan. Like DeFi adopted Punks, GameFi will adopt Lizards.

And we’ve already got a couple of high-profile Lizard holders in [British professional tennis player] Cameron Norrie and [Aussie tennis pro and commentator] John Millman, but we expect this to expand rapidly by utilising our network.  

So are all the other crypto-busy Warwicks into Ethlizards as well? 

Yeah, all the brothers love the Lizards. But I’m still pissed Grant’s looks best. Not many people know this, but Marco drew the founder’s series – he’s one of our OG concept artists at Illuvium. Oh, and then Rogier [lead Illuvium concept artist] jumped in on the action and created an Iron Man Godzilla and ruined us all.     

Above: Grant Warwick’s Ethlizards profile pic. Below, elder brother Kain (founder of influential DeFi project Synthetix) gets in on the act… 

How important are big backers to getting something like this off the ground?

Huge. They’re critical to expanding the community. Most of the people we’re looking to join the movement have huge followings, and with their help, we can spread the Lizard love.  

Community is everything in great NFT projects and DAOs, right? What’s this one like? 

I advise many projects and rarely spend time in their Discords, mainly because my time is limited, but this place is different. I can take my Illuvium hat off and put on my degen hat. Even if it’s only for an hour a day, seeing the memes and the positive vibe always boosts my spirits.

If you’re starting in crypto and looking for a community that loves sharing knowledge, this one is for you. 

And what about the Ethlizards team itself? Are they crypto degens from all over the world? 

All the team came from the Illuvium Degen channel, because after all, that’s where the Ethlizards were hatched. And yeah, they’re a truly global team in every sense, with each team member in a different timezone – Australia, South East Asia, Europe and the US.

Cool. Anything else we should know about this one, and why our readers might want to consider grabbing a Lizard?

Profit distributions to Lizard holders will be via a staking mechanism that rewards those who continue to stake and those who have staked the longest. On top of everything else, this will decrease the already scarce 5,050 circulating supply. So, all things considered… I wouldn’t sleep on the Lizards. 

 

You can learn more about Ethlizards on its website and by reading some of its docs. Its NFT floor price on OpenSea is 0.35 ETH at the time of writing.

This Q&A has been edited lightly for clarity. Stockhead has not provided, endorsed or otherwise assumed responsibility for any financial product advice contained in this article.

At the time of writing, the author holds several crypto assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Illuvium. And, because he’s becoming more “degen” by the day, he’s now bagged himself an Ethlizard NFT, too. 

 

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