IreneDAO crosses $6M in NFT sales. Another scam?

Key Takeaways

• IreneDAO is the latest craze in the workd of nonfungible tokens (NFT)
• Created by the fans of Chinese Instagram star Irene Zhao, it is taking the world of DAOs to the next level
• Billionaire Mark Novogratz is among the top supporters of the project, which is accused of being a scam

YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com)- Irene Zhao, the young Chinese Instagram and crypto influencer, is the talk of the town. She has become the face of a new movement in a world that is going crazy about cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs). 

Forget about popular artists and big nonfungible token projects such as Cryptounks or Bored Ape Yacht Club. Her NFT collection, created by fans as a tribute to her, has a traded volume of 2.1,000 ETH. In fiat currency terms, that number amounts to over $6 million. But could it be just another NFT scam, or does IreneDAO have potential?

“IreneDAO is a global grassroots movement aimed at disrupting the creator economy. IreneDAO is for the people, by the people. Our core values are: Simplicity, Integrity, Meaning, and Purpose,”  

the OpenSea account claims.

Wait, so I have a DAO now?? 😂😂 https://t.co/qGJTygagLn

— Irene Zhao (@Irenezhao_) January 14, 2022

Irene is also the Co-Founder of SOCOL (social collectibles), an all-in-one alternative to platforms like Discord, Twitch, Patreon, and OnlyFans, powered by blockchain technologies. 

Her success story follows that of an Indonesian college student Ghozali Ghozalo. Last week, Ghozali made headlines when his Selfie NFT collection fetched over $1 million on OpenSea.

Recommended: Selfie NFT collection by Indonesian student fetches over $1M on OpenSea.

Why is IreneDAO NFT soaring? 

The IreneDAO NFTs began just like the Cryptopunks. They were available for free for fans to claim. However, it wasn’t long before the owners began flipping them for profit. At the time of writing, the floor price of an IreneDAO NFT is 0.64 ETH (around $2000). However, several have fetched as high as 3 ETH, over $12,000.

However, random fans were not the only ones to dip their beaks in the new DAO.

Billionaire CEO of Galaxy Investment Partners Mike Novogratz also joined the IreneDAO craze. 

Yes we are!! Proud member of team @Irenezhao_ I love the hustle. This young woman has created her own brand in less than a year. And NFT’s allows her to pull her community together. pic.twitter.com/iZiAqXj1iX

— Mike Novogratz (@novogratz) January 16, 2022

“Yes we are!! Proud member of team @Irenezhao_ I love the hustle. This young woman has created her own brand in less than a year. And NFT’s allows her to pull her community together,” 

Novogratz tweeted. 

Novogratz is not the only big name that has thrown his weight behind the project. YouTube celebrity Logan Paul was also among the list of top buyers of the IreneDAO NFTs, helping the project make it to the headlines. 

As soon as the news of her success broke out, people created fake accounts and began selling her NFTs. As a result, Irene took to Twitter to request verification for her page.

“Dear @opensea, can you please verify our IreneDAO collection and remove the fakes? People are getting scammed as the fake collections are appearing as tops result on Google search,” 

she pleaded.

However, they still have not received a blue tick verification on OpenSea has taken the fake page down.

So is the IreneDAO another industry scam?

As people watched the success story of IreneDAO get written, Twitter users were quick to warn of a possible scam. Some alleged that the real Irene Zhao had nothing to do with the initiative and the whole thing was run by a con man.

“People so stupid that believe Irene Zhao is Irene Dao holy shit Irene Dao is a scam project based on the image of the real Irene and everyone saying “omggg irene is a man lmao” this is so hilarious,”

one Twitter user wrote.

A mooning NFTs project called IreneDAO took a confusing turn after Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz supported it and a Twitter user claimed it was a scam run by a man who turned a model’s screenshots into NFTs while she had no knowledge of #cryptocurrency #gala #apenft👇👇👇 pic.twitter.com/k5jVXeEDrT

— Icopond (@icopond) January 18, 2022

Many users on Twitter also decided to inform Mark Novogratz under his tweet that he was promoting a scam.

One IreneDAO knock-off, called the PhireneDAO, has registered 215 ETH or over $665,000 in trade. The page, which uses flipped pictures of IreneDao, comically claims it is “not affiliated with IreneDAO.”

While it is too early to confirm if the whole thing is just another scam, many think this is taking the DAO craze way too far. After all, if people are to take NFTs and DAOs seriously, the community should stop encouraging such actions that bring a bad name to the industry.