Looking back at NFTs that launched in 2021, when JPEGs were experiencing a mega WAGMI bullrun, Cool Cats is an interesting early collection. Part of the upper tier, they were definitely NFTs you wanted to get hold of, but the collection entered an extended price decline in 2022, appearing to fall behind projects such as Bored Ape Yacht Club (although of course, everything fell behind BAYC), Doodles and Azuki, among others.
However, Cool Cats, despite the enormous dips, has managed to maintain its presence and a loyal following, and recently enjoyed a resurgence of interest, but could this lead to Cool Cats climbing back up the rankings in the coming months?
What are Cool Cats?
Image credits: Cool Cats
Cool Cats launched in July 2021, and are based on Blue Cat, a character created by Cool Cats illustrator, Colin Egan. The collection received a huge boost via celebrity ownership, starting with Mike Tyson, who changed his PFP to a Cool Cat on Twitter, and also including Reese Witherspoon and NFT aficionado Steve Aoki.
With its prices soaring and NFT summer in full swing, Cool Cats ascended the NFT pecking order to become, for a while, the number three collection behind CryptoPunks (which basically occupies a unique, historical category of its own), and Bored Ape Yacht Club.
Image credits: Cool Cats
From there, Cool Cats launched a companion collection, Cool Pets, and incorporated the entire Cool Cats ecosystem into a game-like world called Cooltopia, with its own internal economy and a token called MILK, which can be earned by Cool Cats holders.
This kind of development model–companion collection, native token, gamified ecosystem–has been imitated by many NFT projects, but Cool Cats was among the earliest projects to experiment in these ways.
Cool Cats also hit some problems along the way, including criticism of its tokenomics, the appointment of a new CEO in January who then left after just three months, and, of course, the wild turbulence of this year’s crypto crash, which hit NFTs later than the rest of crypto, but with no less impact.
As NFT prices dropped and volumes declined, Cool Cats in particular, compared to the other so-called blue chips, appeared to have lost critical momentum.
What is Cool Cats’ Price History?
Chart from NFT Price Floor
When Cool Cats minted, it cost just 0.02 ETH per NFT, but by October the collection had hit a floor price close to 15 ETH (with the average sales price closer to 26 ETH). There was a correction, and then a second price peak, with the floor again around 15 ETH, at the beginning of February 2022.
That all occurred during a period of extreme NFT bullishness, but the Cool Cats floor price subsequently experienced a prolonged downtrend through most of 2022, briefly dropping below 2 ETH in September.
It’s important to emphasize, though, that this kind of price decline happened across the NFT market, with many collections hit worse and with no prospect of recovery.
In context (a brutal crypto crash and global economic crisis), for Cool Cats to have maintained a floor price around or above 2 ETH (which is 100X more than the mint price), and come out the other side still in business and building for the future, reflects well on the collection.
At the beginning of October, floor prices had been hovering around the 2.8 ETH mark, a strong uptick last week then took the floor to around 3.5 ETH for a short time, and it is now back around 3 ETH. This perhaps reflects the nature of the market right now, in both crypto widely and NFTs specifically, where gains are quickly sold off.
Why is there Renewed Interest in Cool Cats?
Image credits: Animoca Brands
Cool Cats have the longevity (by hyperspeed, NFT standards) and status to maintain a higher price, and NFT traders who were active throughout 2021 may see them as undervalued. But still, there needed to be a catalyst to get prices moving again, and that came from the announcement that Cool Cats was partnering with Animoca Brands.
Animoca Brands is a huge investor in NFTs, GameFi and web3, and has committed to a strategic investment in Cool Cats. Related to the partnership, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, GAMEE, is working with Cool Cats on a game, called Cool Cats Combinations, that is available through the crypto gaming platform Arc8.
GAMEE is a play-and-earn mobile gaming platform that has over 40 million global users, while its Arc8 application is marketed as a virtual arcade where players can earn rewards through gaming, also functioning as a gamified launchpad for tokens and NFTs.
Another major announcement adding to positive sentiment was the September appointment of a new Cool Cats CEO, Stephen Teglas, who has experience working for Disney, RECUR and Warner Brothers.
The long-term Cool Cats plan appears to be to utilize its IP in blockchain gaming, and other web3 and metaverse-related applications. This is good news for Cool Cats holders, who own an original asset within the brand and have exposure to a solid-looking enterprise.
Regarding prices, when a collection is legit and established, upward trend movements can lead to further momentum in the same direction, and Cool Cats looks cheap compared to other projects in the same bracket.
On the other hand, we’re still in a deep bear market and NFT trading volumes are low. That in mind, if you’re not in a hurry, then Cool Cats–which has investment, strong foundations, and is active on the gaming side of NFTs–looks worth holding as a long-term proposition.
Sam is a qualified journalist from the UK who covers NFTs, Bitcoin, and the cryptocurrency world.
He believes NFTs are about far more than just JPEGs, and web3 is going to be transformative, but recognizes the value in a good quality meme and a well-drawn ape.
