Original | Odaily
Author | 0xAyA
Editor | Haofangzhou
NFT market has been in a slump for a long time. Among the few "families" that persist in using NFT as their social media avatars, only CryptoPunks, BAYC, Azuki, Milady... remain.
Wait, Milady???
In the crypto world, Milady is always regarded as the epitome of rebellion, counterculture, performance art, and eccentricity. Its "evil" culture and abstract spirit that deconstructs everything perfectly demonstrate the characteristics of a small circle. (See "Milady before Musk's Support: An Extreme 'Internet Lunatic'")
However, this project, which is indifferent to the political world, has faced "domestic turmoil" this week.
In the end, is it about money and title?
On the evening of September 11th, Charlotte Fang, the founder of Milady, announced on X platform that a developer misappropriated approximately 1 million US dollars from the Milady official project Bonkler treasury. The developer also took control of the code repository and demanded the team to hand over more funds and NFT reserves. Currently, miladymaker and remilionaire's X accounts are under the control of the developer.
Charlotte stated that the relevant individuals have been identified and their responsibilities will be pursued to the fullest extent of the law. The minting of Bonkler NFTs has been temporarily suspended, and the Bonkler community treasury, contracts, and NFTs are safe. Other series of NFTs under Milady's parent company Remilia have not been affected for now.
However, a few hours later, another co-founder of Milady, Remilia's creative director and artist Sprite Bonkler💫 (Elf), tweeted, "Charlotte is spreading a false narrative unrelated to reality, trying to preempt legal scrutiny and public disclosure of his own misconduct and misappropriation of Remilia funds. Three weeks ago, we wrote to Charles, trying to get him to acknowledge that we are co-founders, provide us with the equity we deserve in the company, and ask him to return all the funds removed from the treasury. In response to our letter, Charles, at his lawyer's request, filed a lawsuit, mistakenly calling us 'independent contractors' and 'terrorists.' Charles failed to provide any contracts or attach the countless messages we received from him, which would prove our claims and contradict his own. We welcome the opportunity to resolve this dispute in court."
In response to this, Charlotte responded, "Remilia is not a co-founder. From the beginning, I have held sole control over the funds and operations. Before establishing the limited liability company, I individually controlled the assets used to fund Remilia's operations, and they entered into agreements directly with me and received compensation from funds I controlled. The core team working on Milady and Remilio received income sharing and joined the company as regular employees, and these individuals never engaged in equity negotiations at that time or at any time. This lawsuit arose from the seizure of company assets before the request to transfer all of Remilia's stablecoins and NFT treasury to an entity controlled by 5 parties in equal shares. They threatened to expose it publicly first and refused to comply with the restraining order or participate in private arbitration. I took action to freeze Bonkler to protect the community's interests. The developer has no right to retain ownership of the Bonkler contract. Jimbo did receive a letter of intent from co-founders, but he refused at the time."
The two sides have different claims. What is the background?
According to reports, the Milidy series was initially designed by "Elf," and then Charlotte joined and established Remilia, with the former still responsible for graphics and design, and the latter responsible for marketing, promotion, and community building.
Beyond money and control, an enigmatic real identity
Considering the trouble Charlotte has caused the community before, this dispute seems to be expected.
Charlotte's true identity had already been "unboxed" by community members, and in the lawsuit copy issued by Charlotte, this name can indeed be found - Krishna okhandiarz is linked to the parent company Remilia Corporation LLC.
Further investigation reveals that on X, WazzCrypto has given his speculation: not only can a person with the same name be found on Linkedin, but various pieces of information - rare name, work experience in Nevada, IT background, remote work, etc. can all correspond one by one, essentially confirming the overlap of "the two individuals". And according to work experience, Krishna okhandiarz works at a company called Palantir.
What does Palantir do? Forbes wrote in an article published in August 2013:
The biggest problem with Palantir's business may be that "it helps customers see too much." After NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden exposed the agency's massive surveillance, Palantir's tools have become the privacy advocates' biggest fear of data mining technology - Google-level products being directly applied to government spy activities.
In the modern world, it is not easy for people like Karp to become dissenters. On the other hand, if there are tools like Palantir in the hands of the government, deviant behavior may be even more difficult for the rest of us.
And this is how Wikipedia describes this company:
Palantir Technologies is a publicly traded American company specializing in big data analytics. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, it was founded in 2003 by Peter Thiel, Nathan Gettings, Joe Lonsdale, Stephen Cohen, and Alex Karp. The company's name is derived from "The Lord of the Rings" and means "seeing-stones," described as indestructible crystal balls used for communication and viewing events in other regions of the world.
As of 2013, Palantir's clients include at least twelve organizations within the US government, including the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Marine Corps, Air Force, Special Operations Command, the Office of Accountability and Transparency, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, among others. However, at that time, the US Army continued to use its own data analysis tools. Additionally, according to TechCrunch, US intelligence agencies such as the CIA and FBI became associated with Palantir software for the first time because their databases were previously "isolated".
So far, the concept of performance art has entered reality — the founders of non-mainstream communities indirectly help the government "control or arrest" non-mainstream individuals, creating a sense of magic similar to "the enemy within the gates of Byodo-in".
What do you all think? What's next?
Returning to the perplexing situation where the statements of the two founders do not match, industry insiders and community members have expressed their desire to discuss the team division, profit distribution, and brand positioning of the NFT project, represented by Milady.
@vectorized.eth, who leads protocols such as Sound.xyz and erc721.a.org, believes, "Compensation might be a very sensitive topic, especially in this field. It is difficult to determine whether adequate compensation has been obtained solely from the lawsuit without having specific numbers. Artists, marketers, and developers all play critical roles in the success of a project. However, it must be understood that the company must strike a balance between profit sharing and reinvestment for business expansion. So it is not as simple as evenly distributing profits among all core members. If the compensation is deemed too low, employees should seek other opportunities, unless there are non-compete clauses in their contracts. Do not destroy if the competition is unfair. Quit instead."
@_gabrielShapir 0 commented, "Legally speaking, Charlotte has a compelling argument and might win. Charlotte is a genius in community (cult) building and aesthetics, and has propelled the development of this field in many ways. But now the consensus has disappeared, and Milady was once opposed to the narrative of "BAYC receiving VC investment", but is now exposed as a VC-supported commercial company. If Milady wants to survive, they must live up to the propaganda of internet anarchism and create a future free from the constraints of non-corporate or personal worship."
The harsh reality is that the NFT project, after being torn apart by internal strife within the founding team, is like scattered sand that is easily blown away.
Based on short-term market feedback, according to Blur market data, the floor price of Milady is currently at 2.4121 ETH, with a daily decline of 15.31% and a 7-day decline of 27.27%.
Even if the team reconciles afterwards, can the scattered spiritual core of Milady be gathered back together?
