CNN to Discontinue The Vault NFT Marketplace, Sparking Rug Pull Accusations

The Cable News Network, more popularly known as CNN, has decided call a wrap on its experimental Vault NFT project. The Vault NFT marketplace was initially intended to be a “six week experiment”, but expanded into a large-scale Web 3.0 project due to rising demand for NFTs. Ultimately, CNN has opted to bid farewell to the NFT platform that gave fans the opportunity to own a moment in broadcast world history.

News of our own to share pic.twitter.com/qcxaDXNRYO
— Vault by CNN (@vaultbycnn) October 10, 2022

The Crème de la Crème of News in the Form of NFTs

In basic terms, CNN’s Vault NFTs presented a chance for anyone to “own a piece of history”, as the news pieces that left substantial imprints on the world were immortalized as NFTs. For instance, the ‘Nelson Mandela Released from Prison’ original NFT piece quickly sold out, but the NFT marketplace still offers video NFTs of the first African-American President, Barack Obama, winning his re-election.

The Vault NFT marketplace also played host to a series of War Stories, where the people of Ukraine could share their heartbreaking, horrifying war stories with pictures and postcards. While most of these NFTs are sold out, collectors can still acquire any of the remaining War Notes for around $500. One such NFT was submitted by a refugee family from Mariupol, whose War Note read: “Our family is from Mariupol and our city has been destroyed. We cannot ever go back there. And we will never see our friends and relatives again. We are praying for our city and for all of Ukraine.”

6.23 WAR NOTES: NFT EXHIBITION by Cheney Orr, in co-creation with CITIZENS OF UKRAINE

presented by VAULT by CNN at @SuperchiefNFT

5pm - 8pm

RSVP HERE:https://t.co/zttpZERMVg pic.twitter.com/i8t72GPg0Y
— SuperchiefGalleryNFT (@SuperchiefNFT) June 16, 2022

CNN Accused of Rug Pull by NFT Collectors

Despite the broadcast company’s claims that the NFT project was only a temporary experiment, it is clear to many that there were supposed to be more airdrops than were carried out in the first six weeks of its launch. Users on the exchange’s Discord have highlighted that the move certainly resembles a “rug pull”, expecially in light of the promises of upcoming products, such as new NFT drops and merchandise, which were made as recently as September.

Indeed, the decision has raised a lot of questions for NFT collectors, who hopped on Discord to express their discontentment with the situation. A CNN spokesperson has since stepped in to reassure perterbed collectors that the Vault intends to carry out “distribution of either Flow (FLOW) tokens or stablecoins deposited into each collector’s wallet”. According to the CNN representative, the cashback will be set at approximately 20%.

Actually, now that I remember who recently purchased a controlling stake of CNN, Rugpull makes total sense.
— ThisCorrosion (@SingCorrosion) October 12, 2022

On the Flipside

Despite pulling the plug on the NFT project, CNN disclosed that some of the platform’s functionality would remain active.
These features include The Vault NFT collection & future NFT drops, which will all go live on the Flow (FLOW) blockchain.