Art, Apps, and Parties: DeLabs Latest Announcements
Rohun Vora, better known as Frank, the creator of DeGods and y00ts, surprised web3 yesterday when he dropped a transformational series of announcements about the future of these projects—and of DeLabs, the company that looks after them.
His tone was optimistic—and not a little bombastic. “We are not going to make the same mistakes that we made for Season III ever again. It cost us everything. I’m looking forward to sharing how we’re going to solve every single one of them,” he said in a post on X.
He made these announcements in multiple threads on X—and they promise everything from upgrades to the art for DeGods and y00ts to the launching of new social networks for holders. Although he promised a release of a roadmap, complete with timelines, while we wait, here is a roundup of all the commitments he made yesterday.
He teased new art for DeGods, heralded as “Season 3.33,” in reference to the one-third tax that was originally levied to those who sold below the floor. New design elements, colors, and traits appear to be part of the mix.
Likewise, y00ts get an update, which Frank is calling a “remaster,” “improving the design with a clear set of constraints…the goal is for every y00ts to be truly unique,” he said on X.
He also announced de[starter], with a design mock-up of what looks like a Kickstarter-esque fundraising platform for—at first—merchandising DeLabs IP for physical products. “Who knows, maybe we expand this to funding your startups & businesses next,” he posted.
For messaging, Frank announced deToX, which curates content on X from DeGods and Y00ts creators and channels them into their own branded app, which can also engage directly for you on X itself. But why yet another app? “We understand that as a collective, we can drive massive results to individuals. If we focus this energy on the people that drive our growth, like creators, we will build an engine for continuous growth,” he said.
Linked to deToX will be a new social identity service called de[id], said Frank. Aggregating factors like join date, hold time, project contributions, merch collection, and other participation in the DeLabs ecosystem, this service will assess and score, your reputation. It will also underpin the long-promised ecosystem for $DUST, DeLabs’ Solana-based economic token, according to Frank. “de[id] goes deeper than just activity history & reputation. The infrastructure we’re creating here is the first step in creating the $DUST ecosystem we’ve always wanted,” he posted.
Explaining further, he noted that you’ll be able to deposit $DUST directly into your de[id] from any blockchain, using it without bridging or gas fees. He hopes this will attract builders who want to innovate on the $DUST ecosystem.
In the physical world, Frank announced plans to create a hub city for every region in which there are holders, with each local chapter starting with a calendar and group chat to facilitate in-person connections. “The simple starting goal of each local chapter will be to create a group chat & build their calendar. We’re working on infrastructure to create token-gated & location-gated Telegram groups to make this frictionless,” explained Frank.
DeLabs will be spearheading their real-world presence with a villa at Art Basel Miami, partnering with Kraken to offer socials, gaming, and dinners to holders and friends during the week.
There was even more in the long list of announcements, from the entire bitcoin block now “owned” by BTC DeGods, their Ordinals project, to a Y Combinator-style directory and a group-chat discovery engine.
Some holders are cautiously welcoming the barrage of announcements, which come after a much-criticized summer announcement of a planned “downgrade” of the art. “I think the recent announcements show the team doubling down on what makes them great, and that is incorporating community feedback into their strategy. In that sense, the project is very different than Punks. Punks are organic and more of the, like, builder/genius web3-native group, and DeGods is more of a social club for more partying/beginning,” holder Bhavin Vaid told nft now.
In the context of DeLab’s history of rapid pivots and holder controversy, not everyone is as optimistic. “If @DeGodsNFT dropped Season 3 like they announced the news today, they would have become the #1 NFT project in the world,” said one longtime critic. “This is the energy and innovation that the community wanted the whole time. What happened the first time? What changed?” he asked.
Taking into account the number and complexity of his updates, Frank promised more clarity soon. “Don’t worry too much about catching up on all the tweets today. Tomorrow, we will share an interactive roadmap that puts it all together. It will have specific timelines, too,” he said.