Clone X is a NFT project launched by RTFKT Studios in collaboration with well-renowned Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. The project featured a collection of 20,000 avatars that had the look of anime characters and unique traits designed by Murakami.
In this article, we are going to take a look at the brief history of how RTFKT and Clone X came about, how Clone X has become one of the most sought after blue-chip NFTs, and the future outlook of the project.
Who is RTFKT Studios
RTFKT Studios was started back in early 2020 by Benoit Pagotto, Steven Valisev and Chris Le. These three founders came together to create RTFKT with the vision of disrupting the fashion industry by moving it to the metaverse and they are known to be the pioneers of “phygital” fashion.
In just less than two years of operation, RTFKT as a company was able to secure a total of $9.5 million in VC funding, including various renowned investors and collaborations such as Larry Warsh and Ledger.
Having backgrounds in the fashion and gaming industry, the three founders of RTFKT Studios was able to collaborate with various legends in the fashion industry including Jeff Staples, the founder of streetwear brand Staple Pigeons, and Takashi Murakami, who is well known for his bright and colorful Murakami flowers.
Just about two weeks after the launch of Clone X, Nike officially released an announcement that confirmed the acquisition of RTFKT. This allowed RTFKT to tap into an enormous amount of resources provided by Nike to further grow and build future products under RTFKT.
What is Clone X
Clone X is a 20,000 3D NFT avatar collection launched back in November of 2021 in collaboration with Murakami. The collection became the face of the RTFKT brand, as it featured various avatars with unique traits designed by Murakami himself, and served as a representation of one in the metaverse.
As a result of the Nike acquisition, it has helped place Clone X onto the radar of avid NFT collectors and investors who believes that RTFKT will be the giant of the fashion industry in the metaverse. The floor price of Clone X shot up to an all time high of around 24 ETH. It immediately became considered as a “blue-chip” NFT despite its high supply.
Currently, the floor price of Clone X is sitting at around 3.2 ETH (~ $5.7K USD at the time of writing), with about 9.6K unique owners.
Airdrop Galore
Clone X holders are entitled to some of the biggest airdrops in the NFT space. Each airdrop provides different perks that can be used either digitally or physically.
One of the first airdrops given to Clone X holders would be the MNLTH (Monolith) boxes. Holders of this NFT have to solve a series of virtual challenges and puzzles in order to reveal what is inside the box. The current floor price of the MNLTH NFT is sitting at around 0.36ETH.
Each MNLTH can reveal to become one of three items – Cryptokicks, Skinvial or MNLTH 2. Cryptokicks is a redesigned version of the classic Nike Dunk sneakers, while the Skinvial allows the holder to customize any of their Cryptokicks with limited edition skins. Lastly, MNLTH 2 requires the holder to solve a second series of quests to reveal the items.
Clone X holders were also airdropped Space Pods, which are essentially homes in the metaverse where holders can display their NFTs or artworks, and PodX, which is an extension to the original Space Pods.
Project Animus
Project Animus is the next collection by RTFKT that will be launched in 2023. The project introduces a collection of unique creatures that possesses special powers and abilities. At the moment there have not been much information released about Project Animus, but Clone X holders will be able to get early access to claiming this new collection.
From December 1st 2022, Clone X holders are eligible to claim their Animus EGGS, while non-holders will have to wait till a later date this year to participate in their public launch.
This will definitely be a project to put on your watchlist!
Community Building
Being such a huge collection, Clone X has one of the largest NFT community around the world.
In May 2022, RTFKT held their first ever physical meetup event in New York City, where people from different backgrounds including Web3 enthusiasts, artists, rappers, fashionistas and other creatives come together. Those who attended the event even had the opportunity to network with notable figures such as Murakami himself, and even the Mayor of New York City.
This event became the start to many other events held across the world, including Europe, Singapore, Korea, and many more.
Community building is one of the key to the success and longevity of a NFT project, as they can help to increase exposure on platforms like Twitter and other social media. Clone X avatars have become an identity for many holders, as they proudly represent the project through their profile pictures on Twitter.
Future Outlook
Needless to say, RTFKT is a project that never stops building. Especially with the backing from Nike, they are able to execute their vision to a much larger scale compared to other NFT projects. Publicity for Clone X continues to be strong, with events like Sneakercon displaying Clone X NFTs in their banner. Many holders of Clone X remain confident that the team adopts a “Just Do It” attitude and will continue to provide value to the community and holders. With their expansion into augmented reality, RTFKT is slowly bridging the digital and physical world and will undoubtedly be one of the pioneers of metaverse development.
PSA: Any project mentioned in this article are NFA. Please do your due diligence when deciding to invest in any of the projects.
