Blue Chip NFTs 101 – What’s The Secret Behind CloneX? Built For The Metaverse

The secret behind CloneX is Takashi Murakami and the RTFKT team, that’s the short answer. The NFT collection is the result of the once-secret collaboration between the legendary Japanese artist and the experts in creating virtual sneakers. Steven Vasilev, Chris Le, and Benoit Pagotto founded RTFKT, which reads “Artifact,” in 2020. The CloneX public sale took place in the last days of November 2021. These people work fast.

The goal of the Ethereum-based CloneX collection is quite simple, to serve as avatars in the metaverse. These NFTs aren’t merely profile pictures. Through the upcoming Clone vault, the CloneX holders will have access to the avatar’s 3D files. The idea is that these figures will work in any metaverse. Plus, RTFKT has expressed metaverse ambitions of its own. 

In any case, RTFKT Studios co-founder Benoit Pagotto told Forbes:

“We envision a new kind of relationship forming between owners and 3D creators who will create bespoke content for the avatars, replicating what we’ve seen with Fortnite 3D models ripped by blender creators, creating content for Twitch streamers and YouTubers. It’s a full ecosystem, being built live, and the avatars are just the tip of the iceberg.”

Very nice, but let’s focus on the avatars for now.

The project’s official site describes them as, “CloneX is our most ambitious project yet, the beginning of a whole ecosystem for our community, quality-focused, high-end avatars, ready for the metaverse.” Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami designed all of the CloneX traits, from their eyes and their mouths to their clothes and their helmets. Murakami lives in the line between pop and high art. He has worked with Pharrell and Kanye West, with brands like Louis Vuitton and Vogue, and also with Supreme, Vans, and Billionaire Boys Club.

There are 20K CloneXs total, and those are divided among eight different DNA types:

• 50% are Human.
• 30% are Robots.
• 8.75% are Angels.
• 8.75% are Demons.
• 1.25% are Reptiles.
• 0.6% are Undead.
• 0.5% are Murakamis.
• 0.15% are Aliens.

The CloneX public sale was supposed to take place on November 29th. The demand was there, they sold 13K out of 20K before RTFKT had to pull the plug for the day. Their website was under attack. According to themselves, “Due to our website still being attacked and unusable, we’re pausing the minting till when we’ll have all fixed and upgraded.” 

The last 7K CloneX were minted on the 30th. Some people maintain something suspicious went on. At the moment, the rarity of each CloneX was still a mystery, so all the NFTs were theoretically worth the same. The public sale was supposed to be a Dutch auction starting at 3 ETH. In the second round, each of the 7K sold for 2 ETH flat. 

Considering that at the time of writing the floor price for a CloneX is 12.9 ETH, participating in any of the two rounds would’ve been extremely profitable.

• At first, the code name for the project was: Akira.
• All CloneX holders received a Space Pod as an airdrop. Check this Twitter account for “an ongoing thread of all the items being made for RTFKT Space Pods & Loot Pods by the CloneX community.”
• Secondary market royalty for this NFT collection is a steep 5%. 
• Holders own the IP of their avatar and can commercialize it for up to $1M.
• The avatar’s 3D files will be available in the following formats: Unreal Engine, Daz3D, .blend, .obj, .fbx, .MA, and glb.
• RTFKT will host “Forging Events,” where CloneX holders can forge real-life physical items based on your NFT.
• For the virtual world, holders will be able to clothe their avatars through Clonex Wearables. Both RTFKT and independent creators will offer different garments.
• At the moment you can only buy the avatars on the secondary market. They’re available on OpenSea.
• In the real world, four white gold CloneX chains exist. They were created by Crown Collection in association with Murakami and RTFKT.

And that’s everything you need to know about CloneX at the moment. There are many more things to learn about RTFKT, though. Do your homework on that. And, while you’re at it, read “Blue Chip NFTs 101’s” other guides: Moonbirds and Proof Collective in Ethereum, and DeGods in Solana. More to come.