When NFTs were booming in late 2021, one series hit incredible highs, and despite significant declines, their commitment transformed the series into a fast-growing entertainment juggernaut.
That set is cool cat.
In just 3 years, they’ve grown from an obscure cartoon character to a premier brand spanning animation, comics, physical collectibles and more – but how do they do it?
Here’s our complete guide to cool cats in 2024.
What is a cool cat?
Cool Cats is a collection of 9,999 cartoon-style NFT avatars on Ethereum. Each avatar features the Blue Cat character, incorporating clothing, hairstyles, accessories and more.
The series was created by a strong team of four:
- Colin Egan (Clon): Lead artist, creator of Blue Cat.
- Evan Luza (Elu): Creative Director.
- Tom Williamson (xtremetom): Blockchain expert and technical leader.
- Rob Mehew (Lynqoid): Project Manager, overseeing day-to-day operations.
Tom and Rob left Cool Cats in April 2023, while Clon and Elu remain with the brand to this day.
The idea behind Cool Cats began with illustrations Clon made in high school, while the Blue Cat character dates back more than 10 years. There were many iterations and changes during that time, culminating in the character we know today.
The history of cool cats
Cool Cats were minted on July 1, 2021, at a price of 0.06 ETH each (approximately $150 at the time). With only 300 NFTs initially sold, the team dropped the price to 0.02 ETH (approximately $50), and the series subsequently sold out in just 8 hours.
Eight days after its release, boxing legend Mike Tyson changed his Twitter profile picture to a Cool Cat NFT, with Reese Witherspoon, Alexis Ohanian and Other celebrities like Steve Aoki did the same, giving the series a huge initial boost.
In early 2022, Cool Cats created cool pets The companion series has 19,999 unique companion NFTs. Half are reserved for Cool Cat holders and the rest are open to the public. Each pet starts as an egg, and through interaction with the Cooltopia online platform, can be hatched into a pet with one of four elements: grass, fire, water or air.
The cool pets are here too $milkCool Cats’ ecosystem token. Holders earn $MILK by completing daily tasks or owning Cool Cat NFTs. Both Cooltopia and $MILK will retire in July 2023.
As of March 2022, Cool Cats has become one of the well-known top NFT projects, ranking 11th in historical sales with a transaction volume of more than 290 million US dollars, and setting a record high reserve price of 92,000 US dollars.
In June 2022, Cool Cats created Cooltopia themselves, hosting a live pop-up store in New York City. In September 2022, former Disney and Warner Bros. senior vice president Stephen Teglas joined as CEO, and although his tenure was short-lived, he brought a new look to the brand and set them up for the future. A solid foundation for success.
Cool Cats FC partners with OneFootball for the remainder of 2022 and early 2023 to debut West Germany KX and Shadow Wolf as a new companion NFT and announced a major partnership with Futureverse.
In November 2023, the Cool Cats were part of the Macy’s 2023 Thanksgiving Day Parade, viewed by an estimated 28.5 million people worldwide.
In the same month, Cool Cats’ first animated series “The Milk Chug”, created by animation studio Titmouse, also debuted. The show will officially premiere in September 2024. The first season is expected to have a total of 13 episodes, with a few episodes aired every week.
Cool Cats took things a step further in July 2024, announcing a partnership with Kodansha, known for publishing Akira and Attack on Titan, to produce a comic series based on the Blue Cat character.
Despite all this success, the process hasn’t always been smooth sailing. The partnership with Futureverse has been widely criticized, especially after the cancellation of their first major game project in the summer of 2023. Commitment to holders and the entire web3 community.
What’s next for Cool Cat?
Krone’s goal is to make Blue Cat a cartoon icon, and Cool Cats is his best chance at achieving that goal.
Cool Cat signed with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in March 2022, making it even more obvious that Cool Cat’s focus is on creating mainstream cultural appeal.
While details haven’t been made public yet, the team has hinted at some future developments:
- Cool Utopia: Although their Sapphire Town game was canceled, a new interactive experience is expected to be available.
- Physical goods: Cool Cat has been producing quality physical merchandise, and fans are eagerly anticipating more products.
- Animation: If The Milk Chug Series 1 is successful, we’ll likely see more anime featuring blue cats.
- Live events: NFT.NYC’s Cooltopia 2022 has been well received, with fans and holders alike excited for future in-person experiences.
Cool Cats may not have the same base price as contemporaries like Bored Apes, Pudgy Penguins, and Azuki, but their popularity continues to rise thanks to their comics, animated series, and more.
Clon has built an outstanding community that believes in him, his vision, and Blue Cat’s potential. Ratings for The Milk Chug are impressive – episode 5 was viewed over 100,000 times in 48 hours – and fans want to see the Cool Cats alongside leading entertainment icons not just in web3, but across all pop culture.
