Cole Villemain (aka “ColeThereum”), the Pudgy Penguins co-founder who left the project after allegations of misusing its treasury, is selling NFTs again.
On Sunday, the controversial founder previewed his new collection launching on Robinhood Chain to over half a million views.
That attention was split among those celebrating Cole’s return and an equally-sized population who remembers the disappointing crypto projects from his past.
Villemain faced allegations of treasury misuse at Pudgy Penguins, and he had plenty of earlier controversies. In August 2021, for example, blockchain sleuth ZachXBT profiled one of his pre-crypto ventures, a dropshipping site called eBoy Outlet.
That store’s online reviews, according to ZachXBT, were “filled with instances of customers not receiving orders, refunds, or responses from support.”
Villemain denied wrongdoing and claimed to have refunded customers who failed to receive the merchandise they ordered.
He also founded My Fucking Pickle, another $NFT collection that crashed within weeks of his creation. “Have to love cash grab projects,” ZachXBT wrote.
The floor price of those NFTs is now $13, down 98% from their June 27, 2021 high above $540.
Villemain’s new Robinhood Chain collection seems to be themed around fantasy videogames, although details are sparse on its splash homepage. No NFTs are mintable, and Villemain cautioned, “No contract or site is live yet.”
Rather than Ethereum, Villemain chose a new blockchain by the Robinhood brokerage.
That venue is already problematic. Robinhood Chain failed to focus on its original mission of real world asset tokenization, per the CEO’s own admission, as memecoins overran the blockchain instead.
Robinhood pitched its blockchain, which launched on July 1, as a home for tokenized stocks and US Treasuries. Protos documented wallet drainers, phishing pages, rug-pulls, and collapsing memecoins proliferating across Robinhood Chain during early July.
Villemain’s X bio offers his own disclosure, “All tweets are sarcasm or theatrics and not financial advice.”
Pudgy Penguins mobile game axed after losing millions of dollars
Nostalgia for NFTs and their -98% returns
Nostalgia seems to be Villemain’s entire sales pitch. He described his own marketing plan as “running back one of the oldest tricks in the book of 2021 $NFT projects,” and declared himself “delusional enough to believe I can drop the #1 $NFT on Robinhood Chain.”
Not everyone is feeling wistful. “The space never changes,” posted one developer.
“Same guy who did early meme $NFT cash grabs, co-founded Pudgy Penguins, then got kicked out after treasury-drain accusations is now launching a new $NFT project on Robinhood Chain. Half of Crypto Twitter is acting like none of that ever happened.”
Another X user predicted a repeat disappointment, “This is not the first time he’s launched something and rug pulled it using his luck with PP as a cosign for legitimacy.”
“He disappeared long enough for you and many to have no clue who he is,” one skeptic posted, “Only to come back and do the same thing.”
Indeed, $NFT trading volumes declined 97% by 2022 and many NFTs declined 98%, including once-six-figure NFTs that crashed 99%.
On January 5, 2022, an investor alleged Pudgy Penguins founders drained the project’s $ETH. The next day, $NFT holders voted the founders out through a community vote in the project’s Discord.
Villemain announced a January break from X to focus on “mental health.” By April 2022, the remaining leaders had sold Pudgy Penguins to a group led by Los Angeles entrepreneur Luca Netz for 750 $ETH, then about $2.5 million.
Netz turned the underperforming NFTs into physical penguin toys that have moved more than a million units through Walmart, Target, Walgreens, and other non-blockchain sales venues.