Goblins, Nihilism and Poop: Here’s What’s Going On With Ethereum NFTs

The NFT market has gone from “we’re all gonna make it” to “we’re all gonna die.”

Ever since NFT collectors went crazy over Goblintown—profile picture avatars of urine-obsessed golem creatures—market sentiment has changed. Over the past few weeks, the NFT space has become dystopian and depressed, and creators are doubling down on dark memes and toilet humor in an apparent attempt to cope with the bear market.

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A barrage of collections focused on goblins, fecal matter, death, and loneliness have swarmed the OpenSea top collections rankings, making up 45% of the top 20 traded collections in the past week. Some traders are listening to Kanye West’s Pablo album on repeat in Twitter Spaces to cope with the market downturn. And yes, there are now NFTs—unique blockchain tokens that signify ownership—whose holders are dedicated to this.

“Right now, I think the bear market is making everyone a bit loopy and if you do something different you can seize market attention,” said Bored Ape Yacht Club holder Professor M on Twitter, who says she teaches marketing and studies consumer culture.

The rise of Goblintown

But the NFT market wasn’t always this way.

Last year, when NFT trading on Ethereum boomed to more than $20 billion in sales, it was projects like CryptoPunks and Bored Apes—and later Doodles, Cool Cats, and Azuki—that dominated both charts and headlines.

Now that the WAGMI honeymoon has come to an end, it appears traders have realized that, no, not everyone is “gonna make it.” And now it’s down down to Goblin Town.

The Goblintown Ethereum NFTs have held the top spot on OpenSea’s rankings and have seen over 32,000 ETH ($57.6 million) in total volume traded in just two and a half weeks after initially launching as a free mint, meaning that it cost nothing (other than transactions fees on Ethereum) to buy these NFTs at launch. “Goblin Town” is a term used to describe a bear market, and it has become an increasingly popular meme…