National Geographic faces criticism and technical glitches after NFT launch

On January 17, the National Geographic magazine launched its first NFT collection, accompanied by a detailed explanation of the technology on social media, angering the publication’s fans.

Today is the day! Nat Geo’s Genesis collection ‘GM: Daybreak Around the World’ will go on sale at 12pm PT / 3pm ET! https://t.co/03vvZMbCB0 pic.twitter.com/Sdhfcv7bBK

— Nat Geo Photography (@NatGeoPhotos) January 17, 2023

The collection on the Polygon blockchain includes works by 16 photographers, including Justin Aversano, Ruben Wu, Kat Simard, and John Knopf.

The NFT launch was accompanied by posts on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook featuring images of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) tokens and explanations of the technology’s features. National Geographic’s followers called the project “a bubble that has already burst,” “nonsense,” “an extinct species,” and “a way to launder money.”

Others reminded of various NFT-related scams. NFT artist Chuck Anderson, in turn, criticized the magazine for using a BAYC image.

“Of all the incredible projects, artists and concepts in the BAYC ecosystem — undoubtedly the dullest and most tasteless example. The disappointment is that people not involved in the NFT space are fed this,” he wrote.

National Geographic has 256 million followers on Instagram, 49 million on Facebook, and more than 28.6 million on Twitter.

Among the commenters were those who backed the magazine’s initiative, noting that the negativity stems from people who have not understood the “useful applications and problems the technology can address.”

At the same time, a number of users reported technical problems creating NatGeo NFTs on the Snowcrash platform. In particular, they encountered an inability to connect a wallet to the site.

🌞 pic.twitter.com/AmjKAYtVT0

— SnowcrashNFT (@SnowcrashNFT) January 17, 2023

Within an hour of the first reports, issues with the NFT-issuance platform were resolved.

NFT trading volumes have lately fallen sharply. According to Dune Analytics, in December 2022 the total NFT volume on Polygon traded on OpenSea amounted to just $15.39 million, down 80.5% from the all-time high of roughly $79.45 million a year earlier.

Back in October 2022, the Seven Treasures NFT collection collapsed amid a wallet breach at LiveArtX.

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