Origin Story
Project inception
Last updated
Project inception
Last updated
Our journey into the creation of Degen NFTs/Degen or Bust is not just a story; it's a testament to resilience, adaptability, and the power of collaboration. In this section, we'll take you through the behind-the-scenes process, the challenges we've encountered, and the inspiring individuals who joined forces to make this project a reality. You might be wondering why we're embarking on this storytelling journey. Well, we believe that to truly understand and appreciate a project, you need to know the journey that led to its inception. And yes, it's a bit of a long read, but we promise it's worth it.
You may be wondering, what is Degen Rocks? Degen Rocks was the name of the NFTs prior to us rebranding to Degen NFTs.
One day I (Diggsiii) decided that I didn't want to just be a consumer in the Web3 space, I wanted to be a creator. For some reason, pet rocks just came to my mind and I started doodling. This is what I came up with 😂. ⬇️
Every NFT project needs two vital components: an Artist 👩🏾🎨, and a Developer👨🏽💻. The journey began with me reaching out to my little brother, who goes by the name fitchip. He had drawn the original sketch that served as the foundation for Degen Rocks. ⬇️
However, with the start of the semester starting, the workload became too much for him to sustain along with his school work, and so he had to step aside to ensure the project wouldn't face any prolonged delays.
That's when I reached out to our current artist 👩🏽🎨 Chelsea, we had crossed paths in college years ago, and I had always admired her artistic talents.
I introduced her to this new world of Web3, and she quickly caught on. Her artistic revisions for the original Degen NFT created by Fitship left me absolutely astounded. Seeing a vision from your mind come to life for the first time is nothing short of magical ✨
During the tail end of April 2022 when the crypto world was gripped by a bear market. For many of us, it wasn't just a market downturn; it was a shift in how we approached the ever-evolving landscape of Web3. For some of you, this may be your first bear market experience, and lets be honest, it's not fun. Seasoned Degens know, it's during times like this that true innovation takes root.
We pivoted from just releasing just an NFT collection that contained a deep roadmap, to an NFT collection that gives you direct benefits to a daily Lottery game we named "Degen or Bust". This is how Degen or Bust was formed. We later dropped the Rocks part in Degen Rocks as we felt our current NFTs didn't look much like rocks for one lol, but also we felt "Degen" just aligned more with our project's direction.
The aspiration for Degen NFTs has always been to create something that stands out as unique, and ahead of its time. As we navigate the ever-expanding realm of Web3 technologies, we want Degen NFTs to be more than just an NFT collection with great utility benefits. We envision it as your digital home 🏡, a place to share knowledge, gain insights, and, of course, Degen.
So, thank you for being a part of this journey. Buckle up; we're just getting started!
All I knew at this point in time is that I wanted to release an NFT project that contained a deep roadmap that was better than the roadmaps I was seeing in the space, you can read the original roadmap .
During the bull market 📈, I witnessed first hand projects emerging and thriving (think , , , andjust to name a few). I saw the incredible potential of this space, I was in the trenches, grinding in Discord channels, and soaking up every bit of Web3 knowledge I could find. What I was can be described with one word, "Degen." I was directly involved in the space more than the average person due to being an alpha coordinator for a project called . It was my responsibility to provide the Divine Wolves community with "", which in the Web3 space means knowledge that is new or not common knowledge, it's basically any information that will give you an edge in the market.
So at this time I had an artist, but there was still a missing piece – a smart contract developer. Enter in 👨🏽💻, our Dev. A simple Twitter conversation turned into an exciting collaboration. His experience and success with a project called made it seem improbable that he would join in on our journey, he asked to see the art, and after that he was all in!
When the bear market arrived, even promising projects struggled. And then came the "free mint" wave. Founders realized they could still create successful projects but couldn't directly charge for them, so they turned to free mints, was a project that really ushered in this wave of going about things. So much so, we even transformed Degen Rocks 🗿 to align with this trend at the time, as it seemed like the right choice.
But you see, the only constant in life is change. When Degen Rocks was first conceived, we knew it would be a challenging journey. It was a vision I deeply believed in. But prior to us launching, a pivotal shift happened, I thought about starting a Lottery on the Blockchain that incorporates NFT for utility benefits. You can read the original white paper I made to pitch to the team at the time .
