Mad Lads is among the most popular NFT collections across all blockchains.
But who are the founders and what’s behind all the hype?
In this guide, we'll take a deep dive into all things Mads Lads to get you up to speed on this top Solana NFT collection.
Let’s jump right in!
Solana NFTs
Before we dive into all things Mad Lads, let’s do a brief excursion on Solana NFTs.
The first NFT project ever minted on Solana was Solarians—a collection of 10,000 animated robots. However, Solarians remained a niche project and never really found mass adoption.
However, that changed with Degenerate Ape Academy (DAA), which was the first NFT project on Solana that truly created a lot of buzz. Mainly, this can be traced back to the lore around the botched mint and the hilarious characters within the NFT collection itself.
After the Degenerate Ape Academy mint, the Solana NFT ecosystem took off and reached escape velocity, developing into the second-biggest NFT market, behind Ethereum.
Having said that, the Solana NFT ecosystem trailed the NFT market on Ethereum by a significant margin until DeGods came along.
This godly PFP project took the Solana NFT market by storm, becoming the most valuable NFT project on Solana. Y00ts, the second NFT collection from the deGods team, also became an instant hit.
After the FTX collapse, however, things changed.
The DeGods team decided to migrate the deGods NFT collection to Ethereum and the y00ts NFT collection to Polygon.
At this point, the Solana ecosystem was in shambles.
But the vacuum deGods and y00ts left behind was the perfect opportunity for another blockbuster Solana NFT collection to rise from the ashes.
And that's exactly what happened with the introduction of Tensorians and Mad Lads…
What are Mad Lads NFTs?
The lore of the Mad Lads NFT collection starts well before the mint.
The two founders—Armani Ferrante and Tristan Yver—previously worked at FTX before teaming up to launch their own crypto wallet and NFT collection: Mad Lads.
Mad Lads is a collection of 10,000 NFTs with an art design that is a mixture of anime and Peaky Blinders. Yann Penno, the designer of the NFT collection, also created the art for Aurory—a true OG collection in the Solana NFT space.
Going further, Mad Lads minted in April 2023—not without drama, though. Bots overwhelmed the initial mint, and the team had to fight off extortion threats and DDoS attacks.
These challenges, however, were overcome and Mad Lads quickly became one of the most valuable NFT collections across all blockchains.
Mad Lads NFTs: Utility and benefits
If you’re interested in the utility and benefits of Mad Lads NFTs, here are some aspects to consider:
- 𝕏 army and hype men: There's probably no other NFT collection that has more vocal and supportive holders on 𝕏 than Mad Lads.
- Airdrops: Mad Lads holders also benefit from free airdrops, such as the ones from PYTH and Wormhole.
- Roster: The Roster is an ensemble of professional athletes and content creators who carry the Mad Lads philosophy and brand into the world.
Trade Mad Lads NFTs with Phantom
If you’re new to crypto or Solana—don't worry, we got you covered.
Follow these steps:
- Download and create your Phantom wallet.
- Fund your Phantom wallet with SOL to cover transaction costs and the purchase of your Mad Lads NFT.
- Protip: We offer various funding options, such as MoonPay, PayPal, and Robinhood to make it as easy as possible for you to fund your Phantom wallet.
- Next, go to Tensor or Magic Eden and search for Mad Lads.
- Browse through the collection. After you’ve found a Mad Lads NFT you like, complete the purchase by signing the associated transactions with your Phantom wallet—done!
- After you’ve purchased a NFT, you can look at and engage with it in the Collectibles tab within your Phantom wallet.
How to bridge tokens to Solana with Phantom?
If this is your first time using Solana, you might have most of your assets on other blockchains, such as Ethereum and Polygon. With our Cross-Chain Swapper, you can bridge tokens across Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon right in your Phantom wallet. Here’s how:
Disclaimer: This guide is strictly for educational purposes only and doesn’t constitute financial or legal advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.
