Business
Minty-Swap 2.0 real or fake?
There is another pandemic infecting investors, that is deadlier than Covid-19. “Rug pull” isn’t a word that has any positive connotations attached to it. The collateral damage of losing a lot of money on useless Tokens and total economic despair will be felt by many. “Rug pull” leaves the NFT community members orphaned, picking up the scraps of a failed investment, while the founders have fled with golden parachutes. In an effort to police the NFT Metaverse, exchanges like OpenSea have delisted such NFT projects entirely, but new NFT projects are being created at an alarming rate.
NFT’s/Token’s original rug pull company will launch version 2.0 of the Token/NFT before a new investor can collaborate with the victimized Alpha group. In order to double dip on further proceeds, the original Token company claims all “so-called problems” with its Token or NFT have been resolved, plotting yet another rug pull on its community members and Token holders. Does this sound a little bit like fraud? If you are nodding your head in agreement, I believe that is the textbook definition.
Rug pulls in recent years have served as evergreen reminders of the risks associated with NFT/Tokens. We’ve compiled a short list of some of the most memorable (and costly) events in ecosystem history. The bright side of these events is that they have helped educate people about identifying and avoiding NFT scams.
Frosties freeze rug pull nets $1.3 million
Frosties, launched on January 7, 2022, was an ice cream-themed collection of 8,888 NFTs that marketed itself as “cool, delectable, and unique”. Ethan Nguyen (known as “Frostie”) and Andre Llacuna (known as “Heyandre”), the two founders of the project, had already been able to build up a sizable community in their Discord channel, as well as promised collectors merch, raffles and a fund in the hope of ensuring the project’s success for the long term.
It was estimated that the NFTs would sell for 0.04 ETH each, so, after the collection had been sold out a few hours later, the team behind the project had been able to generate 335 ETH – just over a million dollars. There was a brief period of time where the project’s website and Discord dropped, and the funds from the sale were transferred to a variety of wallets; the founders were now ghosts.
Evil Ape dupes the Evolved Apes NFT community
The founder of Evolution Ape, known as Evil Ape, stole 798 ETH ($2.7 million) from investors just a week after the collection launched. The Twitter account and project website of Evil Ape are no longer available.
The Evolved Apes project was originally intended to be a fight game, but has now become just another scammer rug pull statistic.
MintySwap , Swaps investor dollars for Lamborghinis
Layth Samarah created MintySwap Token to fund his Lamborghinis, houses, and vacations using investor money. Developing Legends of Mintonia, a game that earns Minty tokens, was a lie, used to sell project tokens and deposit money into exchange accounts, estimated at $2-3 million. Hundreds of people have been scammed out of millions of dollars by Layth’s Token Minty-swap by blacklisting their wallets (preventing them from using the contract, transferring, or selling their investments). When people start asking questions, Layth then blocks and kicks them out of the investment chat.
MintySwap also sold 10,000 copies of its NFT called “Mintonians” stealing funds from investors, claiming that a so-called “Whale” purchased all of these NFTs when Layth himself sold “mintys” Tokens and bought mintonians, misleading investors.
Openseas has now permanently delisted mintonians NFT which deems them 100% worthless. Users were supposed to receive a certain amount of staking rewards with each mintonian, but the amount has changed 4-5 times since initial promises. Mintonians were only purchased because of the staking reward promise. Token holders have either not received their Tokens or the investors money has gone straight into the founders account. Mintyswaps platform is now planning a 2.0 release, Buyers Beware!
Delisted MintySwap Tokens
From novels to movies to music, Jimmy Dasaint has built a career defined by one word—hustle. And this year, the Philly native is proving once again why he’s considered one of the city’s most influential creative voices.
His latest novel, BLACK SCARFACE 5: Fear is Stronger Than Love, is the explosive conclusion to his award-winning series. Co-written with former L.A. drug kingpin Freeway Rick Ross, the book dives deep into themes of survival, loyalty, and betrayal—all told through the gritty lens of Philadelphia’s streets. Fans have responded with overwhelming support, driving the book to ️️️ Star5️ reviews on Amazon.
But Jimmy’s storytelling doesn’t stop on the page. On September 20th, streaming service Tubi will release his newest feature film, THE WRONG BITCH. With a cast of rising stars—Tera Alford, JaQuai Felton, and Mavia Barnes—the film becomes Jimmy’s 13th feature, a testament to his consistency and dedication to bringing authentic urban stories to the screen.
And then there’s the music. Earlier this summer, Jimmy dropped STILL A HUSTLER, an album that has caught the attention of The Source, AllHipHop, and Floss Magazine. It’s raw, powerful, and reflective of the same resilience that has carried Jimmy through every stage of his career.
Through it all, Jimmy remains true to his motto: “Bringing Hollywood to Philly.” With each project, he shines a spotlight on his city while inspiring the next generation of creators to believe that success doesn’t have to come from leaving home—it can be built right here in Philadelphia.
Follow Jimmy Dasaint’s journey:
Website: www.dasaintentertainment.com
Instagram: @jimmydasaint1
Music: Streaming on all major platforms
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Platinum Audio Engineer & Award-Winning Writer Mark “Savage” on Entering Management and Tackling Patriarchy
For years, Mark “Savage” Sanders bold, dynamic mixing style has landed him work behind the boards of major tours and hit records alike. Working with artists like Shordie Shordie, Lizzo, Coi Leray, Kevin Gates, Fetty Wap, Kelly Rowland and more, Mark sports an ever-expanding discography of cutting edge of popular music. We spoke with Mark to get insights into his career arc, workflow, and to understand how his unique sound is built upon a firm foundation of technical skill, knowledge and deep listening.
For starters, could you tell me how you got into engineering?
So at my high school they had an early college program where you could get your associates or a certificate by graduation. I wasn’t looking to be an audio engineer. I don’t even think I really knew what an audio engineer was, which makes it all the more crazy. I saw music production schools, but I went for audio engineering at Full Sail University.
What boards were you working on when you were doing live sound?
It was whatever the house had. Working on Mackie boards or Yamaha boards that only had seven inputs that worked—Avid and Midas consoles, the M32s, the Behringer X32, a lot of different stuff. Being a live sound engineer taught me so much signal flow and having to adapt to different spaces and different gear all the time. If I’m on tour and we’re generally using the same board, we’re probably never using the same monitors for front-of-house. The rooms are bigger or smaller—different places have different problem areas—being in a stadium or doing a festival where you have delays and all that stuff is just insane.
So you were ghostwriting, engineering, producing, and rapping in the beginning?
Yes I did it all except play an instrument.
Now today you’ve received a BMI Award, 2x Platinum, and over 12,000 sync placements how does it feel?
If I had to be honest I don’t care about any of it anymore. I want to see my Son win big like this. I’m more into family these days. I did everything I wanted in life and overachieved. I’m good!
We see you have Royalty ENTERTAINMENT & managing as far as entertainment goes what else can we expect?
Whatever God does. I’m not chasing anything anymore. Focused on living life, family, and wealth/health. Definitely support my DJ, DJ King, Ashley Blaire, and Pretty Liyah. Other than that I’m about to be out the way. (He laughs) I’m so burnt out. I’m chilling.
Last question, seeing that you did everything you wanted is there anything left that you haven’t 2025 going forward?
No just travel more that’s it. Like when I say I’ve given life everything I’ve had. I’ve given it everything. Plus I think most people are waiting for me to be famous or something which I’m avoiding and praying never happens.
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