Regardless of your feelings about blockchain, cryptocurrency, or NFTs, there is no denying that there is a solid and sometimes tight-knit community around them. From online forums exchanging trading strategies to users of specific platforms, the blockchain community is known to come together for their common goals.
One of the more heartwarming examples of this comes from PoolTogether, a DeFi-based lottery platform, which has been able to raise a chunk of its legal fund by selling NFTs. This NFT sale venture was brought about by an ongoing class-action lawsuit brought forward by a man named Joseph Kent.
Take Me to Court
PoolTogether is notably a no-loss DeFi-based lottery platform. Since decentralized finance (DeFi) blew up a few years ago, several financial products have sprung up that leverage its technology, one of which is no-loss lotteries.
A no-loss DeFi lottery is one in which the money that is wagered by users is pooled together and used to earn interest on various DeFi protocols. The person who wins gets their money back and some of the interest and those who don’t win just get their money back, with no one ‘losing’.
So, why would anyone sue such a platform? Well, Kent deposited $12 worth of crypto into PoolTogether and then proceeded to sue the project and its founder. His alleged grievance is that PoolTogether is an illegal lottery operating in New York and that its depositing of around 50% of the weekly prize as a reserve means that the project can’t have a positive outcome.
“PoolTogether Inc. is a defendant in a putative class action lawsuit. A person deposited the equivalent value of $12.00 into the protocol and is now suing PoolTogether Inc. and others for substantial damages,” PoolTogether’s minting page explains.
On top of this, Kent is believed to be sceptical against cryptocurrency in general. If he wins the suit, he is demanding double the amount he deposited onto PoolTogether and double the cost of his legal fees.
While the management of PoolTogether has stated that the lawsuit does not have any merit, they will need to pay for legal defence either way.
To fund this defence, the platform has taken to selling NFTs. Its goal is 769 ETH, roughly $1.5 million and so far, it has raised about half of that amount, having seen overwhelming support from the community.
The NFTs being sold show a digital purple parrot called Pooly depicted in various situations relating to the lawsuit, including wearing a judge’s wig and taking the witness stand.
11,010 NFTs have been created, with 10,000 being made for the supporter tier, 1,000 going for the lawyer tier, and 10 being created for the judge tier. 2,416 NFTs have been sold so far, with over $900,000 being raised.
The Power of Community
Obviously, we don’t yet know what the outcome of this lawsuit will be. But whatever it is, it is clear that PoolTogether has the support of its community and the power of NFTs.
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