NFT’s aggrieved owners of the online project, Art Wars, which is at the center of an ongoing dispute, are speaking out, as the art market continues to warm up to the realities of digital property.

The project was launched last year by London-based artist and curator Ben Moore and US-based developers DeFi Network, but quickly made headlines when some of the high-profile artists responsible for the tokens of the collection who had a physical counterpart (including Jake & Dinos Chapman, Anish Kapoor and Damien Hirst) argued that their permission was not sought for the NFTs. Property rights were also challenged.

With no resolution in sight, investors and community members involved in the project are now demanding answers as to the direction of the project and next steps for their current situation.

« We’re holding worthless NFTs with no future prospects, » says Mikk Roben, a regular NFT collector who bought two of the project’s Stormtrooper helmets, for a combined total of around 2.9 ETH (about $10,400). at the time of sale). He explains how the project supported by a ‘known’ curator had contributed to his confidence in the collection and the feeling that it was a ‘genuine art project’, rather than ‘a meme image’ . Another NFT owner wrote on Discord how he put all his ETH into the project.

The 1,138 NFTs have now been removed from OpenSea’s listing, although community members have moved the project to an alternative platform, Looksrare, where it is hoped it can take a new direction.

Once news of the artists’ ownership challenge began to come out, the curator apologized on Discord (a communication platform regularly used to discuss NFT projects) and held Q&A sessions to answer the questions. concerns.

« We’ve raised £30,000 for the Missing People Charity and I’ve been really trying to work things out with anyone who’s had a problem but it’s all taking longer than expected and I’ve gotten some really aggressive messages, » says Ben Moore.

He adds, “I have been seen as the spokesperson for the NFT team but as [I] sought to explain, I represent the physical projects of Art Wars. I have no authority to divulge confidential information about the NFT project.

The attorney representing the artists in the litigation was unable to comment.

While many have little sympathy for those investing in a market fundamentally built on its lack of regulation and decentralization, there is growing recognition that buyers are risky and pushing for clarity.

Last week, the owners of NFT who are now embroiled in a US money laundering investigation involving more than $4.5 billion in crypto assets, led by musician Heather Morgan (aka Razzlekhan), called the US Department of Justice and OpenSea to reimburse them. active, according to reports from BuzzFeed News.