Yesterday, during our morning outreach, we left a comment on a pigeon page we’ve followed for a while.
We told them PROJCT212 was live.
We told them we were introducing a different New York City pigeon every day for 212 days.
We invited them to come meet the flock.
Their response was simple:
“I’m not interested in NFTs.”
And honestly?
They were right.
Nobody gives a fuck about NFTs.
Outside of the small Twitter orbit where we all congregate every day, most people have no idea what we are doing.
They don’t know the projects.
They don’t know the terminology.
They don’t care about the floor price.
They don’t care about your Discord.
They don’t care how many holders you have.
They don’t care how hard the community is “working.”
Even the household names inside our space are mostly unknown outside of it.
Bored Apes.
Pudgy Penguins.
Doodles.
Inside our world, those names are massive.
In the real world?
I almost never hear anyone mention them.
That is not hate.
It is reality.
And the word “NFT” itself now comes with baggage.
Scams.
Rugs.
Hackers.
Shady characters.
People chasing the next dollar.
Projects promising the world and disappearing six months later.
That is how a lot of people see this space.
So Why Do We Keep Coming Back?
Because underneath all the noise, speculation, and bullshit, some of us genuinely love this.
We love the characters.
We love the art.
We love the different styles.
We love discovering strange little worlds built inside somebody’s imagination.
We love collecting.
We love trading.
We love imagining what these characters could become.
A book.
A game.
A movie.
A toy.
A whole universe.
It makes us feel like kids again.
Except now we are kids with adult money, spending this strange thing called crypto on the characters and artwork that speak to us.
That part is real.
That part matters.
But somewhere along the way, we started leading with the least interesting part.
The technology.
The contract.
The token.
The acronym.
We expected regular people to care about how the thing was delivered before giving them a reason to care about the thing itself.
That is backwards.
Five Years of Proof of Work
Before anyone thinks we just showed up because NFTs became popular, understand this:
We have five years of proof of work.
Five years of creating.
Five years of building characters, developing stories, making art, trying ideas, learning new technology, making mistakes, adjusting, disappearing to work, and coming back stronger.
We now have officially registered intellectual property.
The PIGEONS OF NEW YORK trademark was officially registered on November 19, 2024.
We spent years building this world.
Now it is time to use it, expand it, and show people what this IP can become.
More stories.
More characters.
More books.
More games.
More art.
More ways for people to enter the world without ever needing to care about an NFT.
We also have a community that still shows up.
Not just when prices are moving.
Not just when there is something to mint.
Not just when the timeline decides NFTs are cool again.
When we pop out, they pop out.
That matters.
A token can be created in a few minutes.
A community cannot.
A collection can be generated overnight.
A real world takes years to build.
That is our proof of work.
Lead With the Story
My direction this time around is different.
Lead with the story.
Lead with the characters.
Lead with the art.
Lead with the technology and AI helping us build.
Lead with the books.
Lead with the games.
Lead with the vision.
Lead with the world.
Then, if somebody wants to understand the digital collectible behind it, we can have that conversation.
But the NFT cannot be the story.
It never was.
Being away from this space helped me understand something I could not see clearly while standing in the middle of it:
The broader public does not give a fuck about NFTs.
And that is okay.
They do not have to.
Ask Five People
I challenge everyone building in this space to test this for themselves.
Go ask five random people what an NFT is.
Not five people from Twitter.
Not five people from your Discord.
Not five people who already own crypto.
Five random people in the real world.
Ask them:
“Do you know what an NFT is?”
Then ask:
“What have you heard about NFTs?”
And listen.
Don’t defend it.
Don’t explain the blockchain.
Don’t start pitching your project.
Just listen to their answers.
What do they know?
What have they heard?
What do they believe?
Scams?
Rugs?
Expensive JPEGs?
People losing money?
Do they know anything positive about the space at all?
Let those five conversations help shape how you approach your project.
Maybe you need to stop leading with the NFT.
Maybe you need to explain your story better.
Maybe your characters need more personality.
Maybe the art needs a reason to exist beyond being something people can trade.
Maybe people need a way to enjoy what you are building without owning crypto, connecting a wallet, or learning an entirely new language first.
You might learn more from those five people than you will from another five hours inside an X Space with people who already agree with you.
Come Meet the Flock
Instead of trying to convince people to care about NFTs, I would rather give them something worth caring about.
Let me introduce you to our stories.
Let me introduce you to our characters.
Let me introduce you to the art.
Let me introduce you to a community we have spent five years building.
A community that still shows up every time we pop out.
Let me introduce you to the strange, funny, ambitious world we have been creating.
Let me introduce you to the Pigeons of New York.
You do not have to buy an NFT.
You do not even have to like NFTs.
Just come meet the flock.
You might find a character you love.
And that was always the point.
Follow the Journey
If this connected with you, don’t just read it and disappear.
Follow what we are building.
Meet the characters.
Watch the stories.
See what five years of proof of work looks like when the IP finally steps into the world.
- Website
- projct212.xyz
- @pigeonsofnewyork.nft
- YouTube
- @PROJCT212
- Higgsfield
- Pigeons of New York
- Media, collaborations, licensing, and general contact
- admin@projct212.xyz
Come meet the flock.
You don’t have to care about NFTs.
You just have to care about good characters, honest stories, and watching a real world come to life.