Basic info
Last updated: Sep 21, 2023
CLONE X - X TAKASHI MURAKAMI is a programmatically-generated digital crypto-art project with three-dimensional (3D) NFT characters on the Ethereum blockchain. It was created as a collaborative collection by Nike-owned digitized sneaker manufacturer and design studio RTFKT aka Artifact, Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami, and a software company Daz 3D, which specializes in 3D digital and electronic art. However, the artist’s company, Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., owns the project.
Clone X’s backstory is quite futuristic. Three aliens came to Earth from the planet of Orbitar located in the Draco constellation and founded a CLONE X Corporation, focused on accelerating human evolution towards an immaterial existence by transferring all of their consciousness into advanced clone forms and creating the ultimate Metaverse in the end. The advanced civilization is represented by digital CloneX avatars instead of humans in organic form, which allows them to self-express through customizable avatar identities. This technology allows Clones to travel across galaxies and simulations, expanding human civilization.
CLONE X - X TAKASHI MURAKAMI was released on December 12, 2021.
Two sales took place on November 27, 2021, and November 29, 2021 - a presale of 11,133 tokens and a public sale of 8,367 tokens, which was postponed to the next day due to the impossibility of RTFKT’s website to meet the demand of thousands of people trying to buy a Clone X NFT. During the public sale, each wallet address was limited to a maximum of three mints per transaction. The remaining 500 were reserved for the team.
To get into presale, the collectors needed to receive an airdrop of either Mintdisc 1 or Mintdisc 3 for having an NFT from one of eight collections: Dodgers World Series Champions Ring #1/1, Metakey: edition Two - RTFKTstudios, RTFKT Creators, RTFKT Bonus Items, RTFKT Superrare, Doge Slippers, DIGITALAX RTFKT Metajacket only, Jake Paul RTFKT Sneaker only. However, for the NFTs that did not receive a Mintdisc, the owners of said tokens had to hold them until the presale started. When it did, there were 48 hours to redeem a Clone X avatar through the official website by minting a Clonex Mintvial NFT. This was technically a reservation of the real collection because the avatars were not revealed in buyers’ wallets until the project’s official release in December.
CLONE X - X TAKASHI MURAKAMI NFT mint price was 0.05 ETH for the presale, while the public sale was supposed to be a Dutch auction starting at 3 ETH. A Dutch auction is when the price is already set and then reduced until there is a buyer. In the case of Clone X, it was reduced by 0.1 ETH every 30 minutes. However, after postponing the public sale to the next day, the price was changed to a flat 2 ETH per NFT.
There are a total of 20,000 CLONE X - X TAKASHI MURAKAMI NFTs in the collection. The creators earn 5% from each secondary sale of the tokens. Currently, the collection is split between 9,644 owners, or around 50% unique addresses.
The project uses the ERC-721 token standard. It is a standard for non-fungible tokens, unique and non-divisible digital items that can be issued by creators using smart contracts.
CLONE X - X TAKASHI MURAKAMI is a collection of anime-styled 3D avatars. They have a variety of skin tones, races, and skin conditions, like vitiligo, clothing styles, accessories, and unique haircuts. Moreover, avatar genders are undefined.
Humans are roughly 50% of the total supply, with 10% having the Murakami Drip traits, Robots are around 25%, Demons and Angels are 8.5% each, Reptiles 1%, Undeads 0.5%, Murakamis 0.49%, and lastly, Aliens 0.15%. 15% of these Clones, except Humans, have Murakami Drip traits.
Each Clone X has 12 traits out of 523 possible, including 11 accessories, 12 backs, 119 clothing, 8 DNAs, 33 eye colors, 25 eyewear, 31 facial features, 163 hair, 19 helmets, 40 jewelry, 49 mouths, and 13 types.
There are several one-of-a-kind traits in the digital art project, including BLCK-RD VARSITY JCKT clothing (black-red varsity jacket), CHOSEN 1 CRWN hair (chosen one crown), three helmets, such as RD MECH (red mech), SKULL, TECH, and lastly, LBJ BEARD mouth (Lebron James beard).
The rarest Clone X is #4941. It has two one-of-one traits, which were mentioned above - SKULL helmet and BLCK-RED VARSITY JCKT clothing.
The CLONE X – TAKASHI MURAKAMI team consist of the artist, design studio RTFKT, and software company Daz 3D.
Takashi Murakami is the CLONE X - X TAKASHI MURAKAMI artist. His art style unites elements of anime, Japanese paintings and craft, creating a blend between pop culture and fine art. Murakami’s works were presented at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, MoMA PS1, Mori Art Museum, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Brooklyn Museum, Museum für Moderne Kunst, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. The art was enjoyed so much that it was sold for millions on the secondary market. He has even had collaborative projects with Kanye West and Louis Vuitton. Takashi Murakami is the founder of Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., and president of the Biannual Art Fair Geisai. He also works as a teacher at Geisai, managing several young artists.
Co-founders of RTFKT are Benoit Pagotto, Chris Le, and Steven Vasilev.
Benoit Pagotto has worked for six and a half years as a strategist in several companies, which were partnered with big-name brands, like Coca-Cola, Chanel, Nike, Hermes, Lancome, Cartier, Armani, and Moet Hennessy. He also had experience in VR case studies for The Crown Prince of Dubai, while partnered with Quantic Dream. And lastly, he has worked as a Brand and Marketing Director at Fnatic, supervising the collaborations with Gucci and Hello Kitty. Everything that was mentioned above led to the creation of RTFKT in January 2020.
Chris Le had experience in music industry visuals working with Rick Ross and Sean Kingston, as well as in the film industry by being a producer for the film Zombie Hunter and director for Juarez 2045, and lastly in the gaming industry by creating assets for popular games Dota 2 and Counter-Strike Global Offensive.
Steven (Zaptio) Vasilev started his drop-shipping business at thirteen and had various successful start-ups, like FreCustoms, a custom sneaker designing company, and a clothing line named FreSupply. Chris Brown, 50 Cent, and Drake were customers of said companies.
After RTFKT got acquired by Nike in December 2021, each of the co-founders got a job there - Senior Brand & Partnerships Director, Senior Director of Design, and Senior Director of Digital/Physical Product, respectively.
The community is big and active - 231,967 Discord members, 377.8 thousand Twitter, 462 thousand Instagram, and 1 million TikTok followers. A question asked on Discord was answered in less than 15 minutes.
RTFKT had partnered with designer Jeff Staple, artist FEWOCiOUS aka Victor Langlois, and a gaming company Atari to create three separate NFT sneaker collections, long before CLONE X - X TAKASHI MURAKAMI, which could have been redeemed for real ones.
The company also partnered with Epic Games because the last are the developers behind the Unreal Engine, which is a 3D computer graphics game engine that RTFKT uses for its projects.
Among the many use cases of the project, the main Clone X – Takashi Murakami value, is having the NFTs used in the metaverse. The RTFKT team allows the owners to download 3D files of their Clone, which were developed using Daz 3D’s PFP Utility Kit, to further personalize their avatars and make changes that better express them. Because of this, they can use the avatar across various metaverse platforms. Formats available to download include .blend .obj .fbx .MA, glb, and the Unreal Engine. Moreover, holders can get wearables for their Clones and forge them, meaning turning them into physical ones.
RTFKT airdropped 20,000 SPACE POD NFTs to the avatar holders on December 25, 2021. This is a metaverse home, which users can upgrade, customize, and simply hang out in with other clones.
Later in February 2022, there were another two airdrops of one NFT per Clone X and Mintvial holders, and one for Space Pods owners. The first collection was called PodX, which is essentially an extension of Space Pods, and the other MNLTH aka Monolith, which was a co-branded NFT that also served as the first-ever NFT for parent company Nike. Monolith NFTs were a mystery for two months and were revealed back in April, containing Nike Cryptokicks NFT sneakers and a Skin Vial that allowed to change the look of the shoes.
Owners can also get access to real-world events and early opportunities to buy NFTs from new collections. On March 29, 2022, the Clone X holders were able to register for a whitelist for another Takashi Murakami NFT project: a series of 108 digital flowers inspired by Nintendo.
Clones with Murakami Drip traits are considered Fine Art, therefore could not be commercialized, while Clones without them are not and can be up to a value of $1,000,000.
The CLONE X - X TAKASHI MURAKAMI roadmap has many things in the making. The creators claim that in the near future Clone X avatars could be used in NFT-based games, AR filters, and Zoom meetings. They also envision collectors commissioning creators to build their Clone IP and Brand, where Clone fashion models would be the future brand’s ambassadors. Forging events, where one can forge unique physical collectibles, will still come up from time to time, including exclusive real-world events for owners.
Clone X – Takashi Murakami NFTs can be purchased on various marketplaces including OpenSea, LooksRare, X2Y2, and sudoswap. Lately, the Clone X floor price has been fluctuating around 1.32 ETH, making the cheapest Clone X NFT cost around $2,130 at current market prices. The most expensive Clone X NFTs sold in the past few months fetched its seller 195 ETH.
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Last updated: Sep 21, 2023
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