Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin has just endorsed the controversial Milady NFT

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has changed his personality Social media profile picture To A AD NFTmarking another high-profile endorsement of the controversial anime-style NFT collection. The move comes a year or so after Elon Musk was previously interested in the group Through Mimi’s tweet Featuring Milady’s artwork.

An endorsement from one of the most influential figures in the cryptocurrency space sent immediate ripples through the NFT market. However, not all traders took advantage of the news – blockchain data shows a whale He lost approximately $80,900 After buying 14 Milady NFTs for 94.46 ETH ($312,000) and selling them within 30 minutes for just 69.08 ETH ($231,000).

Can Milady NFTs reach $100k? Milady Maker vs Pudgy Penguins & CryptoPunks

AD and Obese penguins Two of these NFT collections represent the most successful “new wave,” posing a challenge to established players like CryptoPunks. Currently, Milady’s market cap is around $167 million, while Pudgy Penguins’ market cap is around $600 million, and CryptoPunks tops out at $1.2 billion.

Each group has developed its own distinct identity in the crypto space: Pudgy Penguins have established themselves as the cute, family-friendly face of NFTs, while Bored Apes represent flashy crypto wealth and occasionally criticize the “monkey” mentality. In contrast, AD has gained a reputation as an intellectual dark horse in the field, often associated with sophisticated traders and what some call “evil genius hackers.”

If Milady reached Pudgy Penguins’ current market cap, each Milady NFT would be worth around $60,000, a significant increase from current prices. What’s even more exciting is that achieving CryptoPunks’ valuation would put each AD at around $121,500.

However, these predictions come with major caveats. NFT trading carries significant risks, as evidenced by yesterday’s loss to whales. The market is very volatile and illiquid, which means it can be difficult to enter or exit large positions without a significant impact on prices.

Launch of the Gregorian cult coin

In December 2024, Milady’s ecosystem expanded further with the launch of its system group token after a successful $20 million pre-sale. The launch featured an innovative prompting mechanism that required participants to complete an IQ test, with the warning that failure could result in token burning. The test became part of the group’s meme culture, with community members jokingly claiming to have failed what was said to be an impossible-to-fail assessment. CULT achieved a peak market cap of around $500 million at launch before stabilizing at around $250 million after a 48-hour period, making it an important player in the memecoin scene.

However, CULT’s price action was disappointing to speculators the following month, with the total market capitalization slowly falling below $70 million. Vitalik Buterin’s unexpected embrace of Milady sent CULT’s price up more than 100% to $180 million in market cap. It has now settled around $100 million.

The controversy behind the Milady NFT

The Milady group has sparked controversy since its launch in 2021. The project’s creator, Charlotte Fang, admitted that she had previously run a project Controversial personality online His name is “Miya” and he allegedly has ties to problematic internet subcultures. An occasional set has also sparked controversy over containing cryptic references to extremist images, although the content creators have maintained that these images were randomly generated.

Despite these controversies, the Milady Maker NFT collection has shown remarkable resilience, attracting high-profile interest and maintaining significant value. However, potential speculators should tread carefully, understanding the market risks and the project’s controversial history.