Terra Nullius makes an NFT comeback! Crypto Archeologist Wilt Chamberlain unearthed the newest “Oldest NFT in existence,” launched way back August 7, 2015.
According to an article by Adam McBride, Terra Nullius is the first NFT on Ethereum. Based on a Reddit post, it appears the project was built to allow you to stake your ‘claim’ on the blockchain. This means that when an NFT holder claims a stake, they could also write a short message to customize the NFT. As of the moment, the length of this message is unknown.
The team minted 22 NFTs n 2015. However, the team created 23 wrapped NFTs in order to put them on sale on OpenSea. Chamberlain and McBride minted an additional 2 NFTs. . In just one hour after McBride released his research, the new owners claimed all 4000 NFTs. Currently, it is now no longer possible to mint off the contract.
Reception
Even if there’s a bit of controversy about whether the NFTs in the Collection are real NFTs, the community still gave its full support to the project. Some argue that the NFTs are simply storing messages on-chain and because you can store them many times, it makes them fungible. So the only reason the NFTs are “fungible” now is because the team wrapped them.
As of press time, the project’s lifetime volume has reached 507 ETH, or over $1.5 Million. Thus, the Collection proves that the NFT Community has a penchant and soft spot for a little bit of oddity. Some of the NFTs feature statements, including the likes of “Beanie Rugged Me,” “Bob Marley for President,” “Fuck Donald Trump,” “Cheers to NFT,” and more.
Even if the process is highly manual, the community doesn’t really mind. During the drop, the team advised NFT holders that if gas is more than $200, they need to “reject” the MetaMask transaction and try again. Furthermore, the team gave an explicit warning. “The high gas cost is MetaMask’s way of telling you that the listing you are trying to claim has already been purchased. Failure to ‘Reject’ the transaction may result in you losing your ETH. “
Bringing Back OGs like Terra Nullius NFTs
NFT is the great equalizer. Even projects that have collected dust can still make a comeback. For example, Mooncat Rescue is an Ethereum-based NFT Collectible launched back in 2017, was rescued this year by cat-loving NFT Holders.
Ponderware developed MoonCat Rescue in 2017; then, the NFT Twitterverse discovered that it was just collecting dust mid-March this year. In a matter of hours, the community wiped out the entire NFT Collection. By chronology, Mooncat is the second oldest NFT on Ethereum after CryptoPunks making it a potential goldmine in the eyes of NFT enthusiasts and collectors.
Mooncat Rescue and Terra Nullius affirm that factors like historical significance and scarcity drive the value of NFTs. Moreover, a good history and story can lead to price appreciation which is always a welcome scenario for every NFT holder.
You can still view the NFT listing on OpenSea.