What are the Cool Cats?
The Cool Cats are an early profile picture NFT collection featuring 9,999 NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. The Cool Cats collection launched Jul. 1, 2021 with an original mint price of 0.06 ETH, but was quickly reduced to 0.02 ETH after only 300 Cool Cats were sold. As of April 4, 2022, the Cool Cats have an astounding floor price of 8.15 ETH over on OpenSea.
As one of the first major profile-picture (PFP) projects, Cool Cats helped pave the way for the broader NFT ecosystem during the NFT boom in Summer 2021. The felines at the focal point of this collection have a unique combination of features – including body form factor, facial appearance, hat, and outfit. The first thing that one might notice about the collection is that every single piece has a similar light blue colored cartoon cat. Beyond the cat figure, the collection boasts a variety of shirts, glasses and other eyewear, masks, hats, hairstyles, arrows , flowers, hoodies, and more! The Cool Cats has earned a reputation for being a “blue-chip” Ethereum NFT, which is supported in-part by the collection’s high price floor.
With the inclusion of a well thought out Tokenomics scheme, as well as a secondary collection of Cool Pet Eggs.
Let’s check out the team behind the Cool Cats project:
Who Are the Cool Cats? (Meet the Team)
Each member of the Cool Cats development team has been self reported on their website, along with all social media handles to follow. The development of the Cool Cats NFT brand has led the team to hiring for additional positions as the project expanded. Each addition has been quite transparent, and the team seems eager to truly be known amongst the community.
As of March, 2022, the Cool Cats development team self reports these as their members:
Tom Williamson (xtremetom) – Founder & Developer
Rob Mehew (Lynqoid) – Founder & Developer
Evan Luza (Elu) – Founder & Pixel Wrangler
Colin Egan (Clon) – ‘The Catoonist,’ Founder & Artist
KevinF – Senior Events Manager
Frex – Social Media Manager
A number of other names also handle the social media presence, business development, and narrative design! These names were not credited from what we could discern from our sources.
The Cool Cats team has been fairly transparent with who they are and their outlook for the project. While not disclosing the full identity of some of their employees, the core team of Tom, Rob, Evan, and Colin have been extremely active in the community, and very public about their involvement. You can see a full list of these contributors, plus their bios, on the project’s “Meet the team” site.
What’s the History of the Cool Cats Project?
During the massive NFT boom during the Summer 2021, the Cool Cats soon found success after launch. NFTs were not entirely adopted by the masses of the Crypto world quite yet, but many found the potential to be enticing. Being one of the first projects to do it, the Cool Cats were one of the major successes of the boom, right alongside other well known projects such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club ($BAYC.NFT).
The 9,999 Collection of Cool Cats launched on Jul. 1, 2021 with a list price of 0.06 ETH, and was quickly changed to 0.02 ETH. It only took around eight hours for the Cool Cats to completely sell out. The success of the project led to a number of developments – including a roadmap, focusing on airdrops with partnered artists, diversifying the Cool Cats brand, the development of a metaverse (what is now known as Cooltopia), and the launch of the official Cool Cats Merch Store!
The team has quite an ambitious roadmap (and the future of the roadmap will be crafted by community input via voting.) Since the successful launch of the original collection, the team has been faithful to the community to continually provide airdrops. The promise of a gamification feature still looms, however the team also launched a secondary project along with a new tokenomics feature – $MILK.
Cool Pet Eggs
The Cool Cats’ second collection – the Cool Eggs – were launched on Jan. 31, 2022. Each egg was sold for a mint price of 0.5 ETH. All 19,999 Cool Pet Eggs were minted almost immediately after launch. ”Every Cool Pet NFT hatches from the Cool Pet Egg NFT, slowly evolving into its final form with the help of its owner.”
Just like the original collection of Cool Cats, every single Cool Pet is unique, especially in the way that they are developed using Pet Supplies to generate your creature’s look and element. Currently there are four elements for any Cool Pet to adopt – Water, Grass, Fire, and Air. By using the project’s token, $MILK, you are able to use Pet Supplies to influence the growth of your Cool Pet.
did you know?
one 🐱= one 🥚 (don’t worry, the cats aren’t laying the eggs!)
you can read more about cool pets here: https://t.co/Nn48X6mJEP pic.twitter.com/J94bzr4u8R
— Cool Cats (@coolcats) January 18, 2022
$MILK
Each Cool Cat minted has been assigned a specific value according to its rarity. On a scale from 3-10 points, a Cat can be Cool (common), Wild (uncommon), Classy (rare), or Exotic (ultra rare). These Cool Cat points have an effect during certain contests, raffles, and the newest tokenomics feature – $MILK.
You can earn $MILK by staking your Cool Cat. The more rare your cat is, the more $MILK you earn! Once you have your wallet connected to the website you can spend 4,500 $MILK on a Pet Supplies chest. According to the official YouTube channel, these Pet Supplies are directly connected to your Cool Pet Egg, and consequently give traits to your future Cool Pet that hatches!
The team has noted that it will continue using $MILK as the primary mode of purchasing in the future for the metaverse of Cool Cats, Cooltopia. As of March 2022, the only item you can purchase with $MILK are the Pet Supplies.
got $MILK? head over to our youtube channel to learn more about what $MILK is, how you’ll claim it, and what it can be used for… (for now!) 🐱💙🥛https://t.co/HbiLZ7Ilvo pic.twitter.com/gJX2RjcosB
— Cool Cats (@coolcats) January 27, 2022
Cooltopia
Cooltopia exists as the “digital metaverse” for the Cool Cat NFT brand. We emphasize “digital metaverse,” because within the context of the Cool Cats websites, Cooltopia is the broadstroke name for the entire Cool Cats ecosystem. Currently Cooltopia is not an interactable or playable metaverse outside of the questing system. Within Cooltopia, all Cool Cats exist and earn $MILK, hang out together, and enjoy their tightly-knit community. An instrumental factor driving the development of Cooltopia has been the community.
Over time, the development team seeks to add and expand their metaverse, “Cooltopia,” and make the experience of owning a Cool Cat branded NFT more “fun, interesting, and rich.” The most intriguing of these expansions can be seen in the questing system of Cooltopia.
Once a wallet is connected to the Cool Cats website and your wallet is verified as holding a Cool Cat NFT, you can begin questing. Quests are small tasks that encourage the user to earn more $MILK. Each quest is divided into a rarity system, rewarding the user anywhere from 18 to 760 $MILK, as well as occasional items. To send your Cool Cat on a quest is as easy as choosing the Cool Cat to do the job, and waiting. Once your Cool Cat returns from their quest, you are rewarded with your $MILK.
The Future for the Cats
Future expansion of the project is a major part of the Cool Cats brand. According to their website, “Cool Cats are much more than an NFT art project. We’re building Cooltopia, a gamified ecosystem built on interactivity and utility, community rewards and growth, collaboration with brands, and much more.”
The roadmap of the project is lit up with multiple large scale and small scale events and launches to keep the community engaged. Early 2022 saw the launch of Cool Pet Eggs, and very soon there will be the launch of the Adventurer’s Guild, a passive way for Cool Cat owners to complete quests inactively. Artist spotlight airdrops, gamification features, and a continued narrative of the metaverse are all currently in the works, and can be found on the project website’s official roadmap section.
Enjoying the Beetah test for @coolcatsnft's Cooltopia alot! pic.twitter.com/qNYSkNn3IM
— citra (@fcitra) March 30, 2022
Conclusion
Being one of the first massively successful launches on the Ethereum blockchain, the Cool Cats NFT collection is one of the leaders that are continually paving the way of the entire NFT space. Many projects have blossomed as a result of the success and development of the Cool Cats, and one can only attribute that to the team’s openness and seemingly strong care for the community and its development. Cool Cats are no doubt a blue-chip NFT project, and definitely one of the “coolest” around!