Chibi Dinos are a collection of 10,000 unique dinosaur-themed non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. The chibis — a phrase denoting the Japanese slang word for small — have been adopted by a variety of artists to portray short, big-headed caricature figures.
The chibis are unique in design and randomized in their rarity, a typical characteristic in NFT collections of this kind. Each sports the apparel of one of ten fictional basketball teams: Extinct Eaters or Jurassic Jumpers, among others.
Chibi Dinos launched on the leading NFT marketplace OpenSea on Aug. 20 with an individual minting price of 0.06 Ether (ETH). In just 18 minutes, the entire collection sold out after garnering attention through the team’s engaging social media campaign.
In total, the Chibi Dinos project recorded initial sales of $2 million, with a further $3.5 million generated on secondary markets.
For greater insight into this story and its significance for the wider NFT sector, Cointelegraph spoke with Sean Kelly, the Las Vegas entrepreneur and chief architect of Chibi Dinos venture.
Sean is a formidable entrepreneur who has founded several million-dollar ventures including a basketball jersey firm and a pandemic PPE business. Chibi Dinos is his latest project.
Cointelegraph: What was the initial inspiration behind the Chibi caricature figure?
Sean Kelly: I always knew I wanted to do a jersey of some sort, my girlfriend had the idea to do an animal in a jersey. I originally was thinking of a tiger, but she said dinosaurs were something totally different from many of the projects of the time.
My design team then presented me with the idea of the Chibi, and after some research I knew it could be a winner due to the popularity of chibis in Asia.
Cointelegraph: What attracted you to OpenSea’s marketplace as the hub for your project?
Sean Kelly: They are the largest NFT marketplace with the most users. The more eyeballs the better for us.
Cointelegraph: After reflecting over the past few weeks since launch, what factors would you attribute to the success in sales volume?
Sean Kelly: Our designs were unique as nobody had done a chibi NFT prior. We also have several professional basketball players as team captains for our project such as Kendrick Perkins, Shareef O'Neal & Kendrick Nunn.
Related: OpenSea trading volume explodes 76,240% YTD amid NFT boom
Cointelegraph: How will the Chibi Dinos evolve over the coming years? Do you envision a transition into virtual reality or gaming?
Sean Kelly: Yes we are planning on releasing a game and integrating within the metaverse. We are also considering a transition into the 3D realm and Solana network.
Cointelegraph: From your perspective, how will the NFT landscape differ one year from now? And what excites you most about that prospect?
Sean Kelly: The NFT landscape changes so frequently. It's quite hard to say. I'd say by then most 2D picture for proof and profile pic (PFP) projects will be irrelevant and only the ones with strong communities and utility will survive. I'm excited by the challenge of staying relevant in a competitive space, with everything in the space changing so quickly we are always looking at what the next big thing for Chibi's could be.
