Tragedy or rug pull? Inside the collapse of a ‘charitable’ NFT project By Cointelegraph



Launched in November 2021, nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace Orica held itself up as an “ethical platform” benefitting artists, collectors and charities alike. At the time, the organization was involved in prominent projects — from building a school in Uganda to aiding victims of human trafficking to helping Ukraine.

But less than two years later, the project’s founders have disappeared, and the marketplace’s user interface has gone offline. All that remains are the project’s charity efforts, which proved to be genuine, in tandem with allegations from disgruntled users that the developers orchestrated a rug pull. In a new revelation, co-founder Danial Zey breaks his yearlong silence, not only denying all allegations and insisting the project was “hacked” but also claiming that the project is still ongoing. Cointelegraph investigates.

ORI price chart. Source: Live Coin Watch
Mellowmann and Bbanga NFT sold at the Orica auction. Source: Orica
The Orica and Bbanga school in Uganda. Source: Bbanga
An embroidery NFT “Obra” previously held for sale on Orica. Source: Aline Brant
Orica announcing the Polygon migration. Source: Discord
Orica staff stating that they would cease communications. Source: Discord
Orica’s last message before going dark on Discord. Source: Discord
Co-founder Danial Zey’s response to a user inquiry before new messages in the channel were archived. Source: Telegram
The Orica founding team became unreachable after last year. Source: CryptoTotem