Interview - Cardano NFTs #062: Pudgy Cat

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Today’s guest on the Cardano NFTs column is an OG project in the Cardano ecosystem, with its $PUDGY token and “Pudgy C(at)NFT” collection: Pudgy Cat.

The previous guest was a decentralized, Story Driven Retropian Universe that encourages holders to participate in developing the story.

This column is where I invite NFT projects to share their stories and vision as a way to connect with and learn about the Cardano Community.

Hey, glad to have you here. Please introduce yourself / your team, where are you from, what are your backgrounds?

Thank you for the hospitality. Of course, I was expecting a buffet and a welcome open bar, but it doesn’t matter, I understand that the recent bear market and the global economic crisis have forced everyone to make significant budget cuts, including you.

I’ve never been particularly good at talking about myself, and usually, I let others do it, at my own risk and peril. What I can tell you is that I have been working as a professional writer for nearly 20 years, I’ve been a radio author with brief forays into TV, a blogger, a producer and content creator for the web, and I am a great enthusiast of music, cinema, art, science, and technology. A lot, I know, but it’s been the only way I’ve found to stave off boredom in my long 40 years of life, which, fortunately, I don’t show even a bit. The only thing I haven’t done is start an OnlyFans; maybe one day, but never say never.

And yes, I am Italian, I live in Rome, and I started getting into the world of blockchain because I was tired of doing drugs like everyone else. I say this especially in case the Police or the Revenue Agency are reading this. In all this time, I’ve seen things that you people wouldn’t believe, and that’s why, to maintain a semblance of socio-psychological balance, I’ve sought political asylum among those superior creatures that are cats. For now, it’s working, more or less.

What is Pudgy Cat? Tell us about your FT (Fungible Token), its tokenomics, utility and roadmap.

Pudgy Cat is my artistic homage to the feline supremacy on the web, my modest contribution to bring the dominion of cats to the digital masses from Web2 to Web3.

Initially, Pudgy Cat had no aspirations for success, but then success arrived in the form of recognition and partnerships with other important entities on Cardano, so we felt we couldn’t just leave it at the door. I speak in the plural not because I am dissociated, but because, in addition to me, behind the scenes of the project, there’s also the technical team of one of the major Multi-Staking-Pools on Cardano, Nordic Pool [NORTH], a group of Swedish professionals who, for nearly 5 years, have been producing hundreds of blocks on the blockchain with the grace typical of a Viking horde. The credit for every technical progress on Pudgy Cat goes to them; I only take care of the artistic side, the community, communication, and cleaning the litterbox.

As you mentioned, yes, we have a Token, the $PUDGY Token, available on the best DEXs on Cardano (particularly with a Multi-Farm on the DEX of our partner WingRiders). The token can also be monitored on CoinGecko and has a total and definitive supply of one billion; it’s not possible to create new tokens or burn existing ones, just like with ADA on Cardano. To date**, the circulating supply is about 60%**, the rest is gradually released as rewards for Liquidity Providers, incentives for active members of our community, or distributed OTC through the Pudgy Box, the faucet on our website.

The utilities of the $PUDGY Token will be activated in the future and will be totally linked to the use of the token on dApps and Metaverses that Cardano will offer to its users. In particular, we have ideas for the use of the $PUDGY Token on NEWM (where we plan to publish multimedia content) and on Cornucopias (for the mini-games and merchandise we intend to create within their spaces). For the moment, my advice is to accumulate the token and use it for trading. There are already many Diamond Hands users who have made profits at the expense of Paper Hands, and purchasing the token helps to fund the activities related to Pudgy Cat. Unlike other realities, we have never cashed a single cent of what we have accumulated and have reinvested everything in our project.

As for the Roadmap, we don’t have an official one, mainly for two reasons: the first is that we continuously think of new ideas on how to evolve the project in as many directions as possible. The second is that we don’t like to make promises that we are not sure we can keep. The crypto space is full of projects that promise results by certain dates and then cancel or postpone, creating situations of continuous hype that, in my eyes, appear as an endless teaser and show no respect for the trust of investors. We are not like that, we don’t want to follow that path, and we commit ourselves every day to earn the trust of the community that supports us.

You also have an NFT collection, gives un an overview and please share your thoughts about the NFT space in the Cardano ecosystem.

Actually, we have two NFT collections, both sold out and both minted On-Chain (not just as simple links on IPFS).

The first is the “What Warhol Wanted Collection”, the OG collection, which still allows its holders to obtain special roles and rewards on our Discord server or, in the past, to participate in internal activities of our community, like the “Pudgy Lucky Draw”, which was a sort of lottery through which we distributed over 4000 ADA in prizes and numerous valuable NFTs from other projects like Genius Yield, Book.io, NEWM, CNFT Jungle, and much more.

The second is the “Candy Cats” collection, created in collaboration with The Cardano Sweet Shop. There are only 500 NFTs that were minted for free and were specifically intended for traders and collectors. Anyone who was fortunate enough to acquire one during the minting is automatically in profit, and our invitation is to exchange their Candy Cats with other traders and collectors, creating a virtuous circle that benefits everyone.

Spoiler alert: we are thinking about a third NFT collection for 2024, but I can’t give you details on this yet, just know that it will arrive and it will be really, really good looking.

On Cardano, there are excellent NFT collections, but also a disproportionate number of projects born on the wave of hype and then disappeared after making a profit. It’s not much different from what happens on other blockchains. Personally, I am only interested in NFTs in which I see true artistic value or that bring some kind of utility that is actually useful to me.

What do you think needs to happen in the crypto space to attract the masses? How do we get rid of labels such as scams, illicit activities, money laundering etc.?

I have often been a guest on Cardano Over Coffee and on Dapp Central, and I have always tried to advance a very simple discussion: the world of cryptocurrencies is a big “bubble”, an echo-chamber, but outside this bubble, there is a much larger world that views it with distrust and suspicion. This is because the big scandals surrounding it are almost always what make the news; among the recent ones, we can mention Terra-Luna, Celsius, and FTX. Add to this the fact that the bulk of the crypto community now repeats the same concepts ad nauseam: “Not Financial Advice”, “DYOR”, “Here are 200 pages where you can learn how it works”. Marketing teams of various projects continue to create FOMO, announcing the possibility of great earnings, financial and technological revolution, progress, and innovation, but then add in small print that they guarantee nothing. People who, despite everything, eventually gather the courage to invest, quickly end up being labeled as “Degen”, or even as “Idiots”. The only thing missing is someone suddenly starting to shout again: “BITCONNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECT!!”.

So, try to put yourself in the shoes of someone who is approaching the crypto world for the first time and receives this kind of welcome. What would you do? Probably choose to avoid this crazy group and dedicate your time to something else. And I’m not denying that the crypto world is also populated by these kinds of people, but those of us who are inside know well that it’s not like that, that there are also many absolutely normal people with their own interests, passions, willingness to do, and we often forget to show this aspect to everyone else.

With Pudgy Cat, we have never promised anyone rich earnings, we have never promised to revolutionize anything. We have always treated everyone who approached our project equally, and we have always focused on offering a different, safe, engaging, and fun experience for all, leaving aside any talk related to charts, finance, and advanced technology. We believe in human relationships because, in the end, every time humanity embarks on something new, it does so mainly for the progress of humanity itself, and it is this humanity that must remain the focal point of our creative and productive commitment.

Will we ever be able to rid ourselves of scams and illicit activities? I doubt it, but these exist everywhere. What we can do is free ourselves from the idea that the crypto world is made up only of these.

For example, in our own small way, we have dedicated ourselves to artistic and multimedia production. Recently, starting from the summer of 2023, we produced and published online a podcast-style show titled “The Great Beyond”. In this show, we carried out several satirical interviews (and not only) with ten famous characters played by artificial intelligence. The result was reaching a large number of people and giving them an overview of what happens in the crypto world, both good and bad, but without the goal of strictly educating, because lessons bore everyone and please no one. Our aim was rather to entertain and pique curiosity, leaving it to them to decide whether to continue their journey in this world. In the meantime, we have opened the door to them in the most hospitable way possible.

The success of the first season of “The Great Beyond” has encouraged us to plan a second, even better one, but creating such a product takes time and money. We can always find the time, but for money, we need sponsors and supporters. For this purpose, we have launched a proposal on Project Catalyst Fund 11 titled: “The Great Beyond Podcast — Season 2 | Expanding Horizons”, with which we hope to obtain the necessary funds to produce the second season of the show and continue our mission. We invite everyone to read and support it when voting opens.

Great contribution. Any final thoughts? Where can people stay in touch?

I believe that blockchains are an exciting technology, but one that also needs to be explored with caution and curiosity. Thanks to this technology, new opportunities can be created for scientific research, technological development, and social progress, but cryptocurrencies also need careful regulation, ethical oversight, and public education.

Like any new technology, we must ensure that it is used for good and not for evil.

In short, the problem is not with the technology itself, but in how people use it. If we don’t start to consciously distinguish between the good and the bad within our “bubble”, we can be sure that the bad ones will prevail, leaving everyone else unhappy, traumatized, and out in the cold. By actively supporting the good ones, however, there is a good chance that “we all gonna make it”, as they say.

The future of this technology is in our hands. It is up to us to use it to the best of its potential.

I list here all our contacts, so anyone who wants can choose where they prefer to get in touch with us.

Thank you again for the space you have dedicated to me, and we hope to get in touch again soon with new and exciting updates.

Disclaimer: The opinions and views of the people interviewed are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Cardano Foundation or IOG. Moreover, this content is for educational purposes, it doesn’t constitute financial advice.