{"id":547683,"date":"2023-02-04T09:34:32","date_gmt":"2023-02-04T06:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/little-shapes-was-a-social-experiment-to-expose-nft-botnets-founder\/"},"modified":"2023-02-04T09:34:32","modified_gmt":"2023-02-04T06:34:32","slug":"little-shapes-was-a-social-experiment-to-expose-nft-botnets-founder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/little-shapes-was-a-social-experiment-to-expose-nft-botnets-founder\/","title":{"rendered":"# Little Shapes was a \u2018social experiment\u2019 to expose NFT botnets: founder"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a39e846a51de\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a39e846a51de\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/little-shapes-was-a-social-experiment-to-expose-nft-botnets-founder\/#%E2%80%9D_Little_Shapes_was_a_%E2%80%98social_experiment_to_expose_NFT_botnets_founder_%E2%80%9C\" >&#8221; Little Shapes was a \u2018social experiment\u2019 to expose NFT botnets: founder   &#8220;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9D_Little_Shapes_was_a_%E2%80%98social_experiment_to_expose_NFT_botnets_founder_%E2%80%9C\"><\/span>&#8221; Little Shapes was a \u2018social experiment\u2019 to expose NFT botnets: founder   &#8220;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div class=\"post-content\" data-v-5a4050f8>Atto, the pseudonymous founder behind Little Shapes NFT has revealed that the project was actually a \u201csocial experiment\u201d designed to shed light on large-scale NFT bot network scams on <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Since late December, Little Shapes had been attracting a fair amount of <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/thechainsaw.com\/nft\/nft-creator-wakes-up-from-coma-crypto-collapse\/\">attention<\/a> from the media and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/CryptoCurrency\/comments\/zy2my3\/twitter_user_wakes_up_after_a_5_months_coma_and\/\">crypto<\/a> community. This is due to several semi-viral tweets detailing incidents in the founder&#8217;s life that seemed too good to be true. <\/p>\n<p>Examples of such included him waking up from a five-month coma, finding out he had assets locked on FTX, telling his wife and then finding out she was cheating on him with other people in the NFT industry. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hey Little Shapes fam, this might sound crazy but I got into a car accident 5 months ago and just got out of a huge coma. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s been going on since then but we\u2019re coming back harder than ever. <\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re only on the start, of the Little Shapes journey &lt;3 <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rOEEHq0kVN\">pic.twitter.com\/rOEEHq0kVN<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Little Shapes NFT (BALLZ) (@LittleShapesNFT) <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LittleShapesNFT\/status\/1608244876860063744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 28, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>In a Feb. 2 Twitter <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LittleShapesNFT\/status\/1620917475197210626\">thread<\/a> however, the Little Shapes NFT account stated to its 30,800 followers: \u201cthanks for participating everyone \u2013 Little Shapes was a social experiment by @BALLZNFT\u201d and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/gold-cal-45.tiiny.site\/\">shared<\/a> a link to a 158-page document. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe expos\u00e9 was real though. Here\u2019s how a ring of influencers and founders drained $200 million+ out of the ecosystem over 274 projects,\u201d Little Shapes NFT wrote, adding that: <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cOver the past year, NFT Twitter has been manipulated and controlled mostly by a singular Twitter botnet. It showed up mostly in February 2022, and then was used in conjunction with a network of influencers and alpha groups to sell out projects.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The document itself is titled \u201cThe insider NFT bot network that\u2019s been controlling the market behind the scenes.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>It alleges that since February 2022, a large number of low-level NFT projects have deployed bot networks to artificially build hype and legitimacy, all in a bid to rug-pull investors. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">What would h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>en is a project would come up seemingly out of nowhere, like <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MindblowonNFT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@MindblowonNFT<\/a> or <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BBRCOfficial?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@BBRCOfficial<\/a>, all these influencers would host collab giveaways on Twitter &#8211; they would bot it to shit, you\u2019d see the botted numbers and think the project has hype, you mint.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Little Shapes NFT (BALLZ) (@LittleShapesNFT) <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LittleShapesNFT\/status\/1620918833128132611?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 1, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Speaking with BuzzFeed <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> on Feb. 2, Atto who is also the founder of BALLZNFT, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/chrisstokelwalker\/little-shapes-nft-coma-ftx-story-fake\">described<\/a> Little Shapes as \u201cperformance art\u201d and stressed that \u201cpeople don\u2019t pay attention unless you give them a reason to.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI needed a story that sells to make sure no one would ignore a story that hurts,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>The document points to bot networks such as \u201cDmister\u201d that sell social media engagement as a key avenue for such NFTs projects, as it only charges around $100 per 1,000 likes, retweets and replies. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Ask why this has 120K replies and 20K likes. It\u2019s deeper than just bots. It\u2019s the same private botnet over 274+ projects over the past year, a botnet you can\u2019t access anywhere publicly, with a what seems like a whole cabal organized behind it. <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pyH0zliVy0\">pic.twitter.com\/pyH0zliVy0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Little Shapes NFT (BALLZ) (@LittleShapesNFT) <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LittleShapesNFT\/status\/1620920060394217472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 1, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The BALLZNFT team even used Dmister to promote Little Shapes NFT to provide an example of how it works. <\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.cointelegraph.com\/uploads\/2023-02\/46b94169-f479-4ea3-affd-6ba831a93bf6.png\"><figcaption style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Little Shapes bot engagement post: The insider NFT bot network that\u2019s been controlling the market behind the scenes<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Once these projects have successfully built up enough hype to rope in actual investors, they \u201cget rug-pulled or fucked over, usually in the course of a few months, and the people behind the project make $3 or $4 million,\u201d Atto told Buzz  Feed, adding that:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cWhat I found frustrating is we\u2019re in a space ranked completely by social capital and fake Twitter engagement where nothing\u2019s real.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Little Shapes was previously depicted as an upcoming avatar-style project with 4,444 NFTs that utilized a specific software \u201cengine\u201d to enable owners to interact and change the form of their token\u2019s associated artwort in real-time.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Related: <\/em><\/strong><strong><em>Nifty News: Bitcoin NFTs cause spicy fees, Mastercard exec tokenizes resignation letter and more<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>BALLZNFT however, appears to be genuine given that the NFT project had its first mint on Feb. 3 with its token artwork depicting references to the whole Little Shapes debacle. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">BALLZ &#8211; the project behind Little Shapes and the botnet expos\u00e9<\/p>\n<p>If you want to ensure a spot in our collection, you can support us here: <\/p>\n<p>&#8211; refunding all if not minted out within 5 days<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; 3 owned = BALLZ airdrop on mint day <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/uI9nfzDRCl\">https:\/\/t.co\/uI9nfzDRCl<\/a><\/p>\n<p> Below \/<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 BALLZ (@BALLZNFT_) <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BALLZNFT_\/status\/1621356147893485568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 3, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><template data-name=\"subscription_form\" data-type=\"markets_outlook\"><\/template><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/general\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/little-shapes-was-a-social-experiment-to-expose-nft-botnets-founder\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8221; Little Shapes was a \u2018social experiment\u2019 to expose NFT botnets: founder &#8220; Atto, the pseudonymous founder behind Little Shapes NFT has revealed that the project was actually a \u201csocial experiment\u201d designed to shed light on large-scale NFT bot network scams on Twitter. Since late December, Little Shapes had been attracting a fair amount of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":547684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s3.cointelegraph.com\/uploads\/2023-02\/f1fb87e7-e587-4ae2-870b-cde93b10080a.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[86752,95118,71101,10401],"class_list":["post-547683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-bot","tag-nft","tag-scams","tag-twitter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}