SkyArk Chronicles, an anime-style fantasy game, just had a huge hit NFT mint with avid collectors pledging $115 million in value Ethereum for a chance to claim one of his character traits. But now Binance Labs says its investment in the studio behind the game was misrepresented in the run-up to the coin.
Earlier this month, SkyArk Studio announced that Binance Labs – the cryptocurrency exchange’s venture capital arm – had led the $15 million funding round that preceded the massive NFT coin. But in reality, Binance Labs said early Monday, the investment in the studio came back in 2021.
In a lengthy tweet, the company claimed that SkyArk Studio had breached its investment contract by using the Binance Labs brand name without prior approval and that it had not in fact led a recent investment round. Instead, Binance Labs said it invested in the studio as part of its 2021 incubation program, as originally announced at the time.
“If the project had informed us and stuck to the facts, we would have been fine with it,” Binance Labs tweeted.
In recent years, Binance Labs has invested in hundreds of projects. As an investment firm, we always do our best to support the projects in which we invest. Every investment firm naturally hopes that their portfolio projects will develop well.
1) Under normal circumstances… pic.twitter.com/CHRCHKdmbP
— Binance Labs Fund (@BinanceLabs) January 29, 2024
In attached screenshots, Binance Labs showed some of the wording of the investment contract, as well as screenshots from Telegram in which the company asked SkyArk Studio to remove the misleading framing around participation in the recent $15 million round.
Binance Labs said it had to issue a public clarification after people started asking questions, and the VC firm noted that SkyArk “merely deleted the tweet without clarifying the facts.” In other words, while SkyArk deleted the tweet, the message of the misleading announcement stuck.
“We are very sorry for the miscommunication and appreciate Binance Labs’ clarification,” SkyArk Studio said tweeted Monday. “We remain focused on making SkyArk a success and will continue to work hard to achieve our vision.”
Big shoutout to all of you for having our backs!🎉
Now we’re rolling up our sleeves and playing detective with those addresses.
Once we’ve picked the lucky ones, it’s time for refunds. Good luck to you all! 🥰 pic.twitter.com/NaWl5z31oJ
— SkyArk Chronicles (@SkyarkS) January 29, 2024
Studio co-founder Kelvin Chua tweeted a reply to Binance Labs recalling lessons learned from the studio’s incubation program, as he continues apologizes for the mistake.
“SkyArk achieved a miraculous record NFT auction sale that was only possible with the support of communities and our investors, including our very first check from Binance Labs,” he wrote. “The last thing we hope to see is inconvenience to our followers and investors.”
The studio later posted a screenshot of a Discord post attempting to clarify the disconnect. “SkyArk only conducted one round Web3 fundraising, worth $15 million, which began in Q3 2021,” the team wrote, adding that “Binance remains the largest investor.” The SkyArk team called it a “misunderstanding” with Binance Labs.
Binance Labs and SkyArk Studio did not respond to requests for comment from Declutter‘s GG.
SkyArk Chronicles tells the story of a fantasy hero named Satoshi Nakamoto, which is also the pseudonymous name of Bitcointhe real world creator. But otherwise, the game doesn’t seem to be steeped in Bitcoin lore or terminology.
“Once upon a time, Satoshi Nakamoto was born into a bleak world of nothingness,” reads the game’s website. “Satoshi, a God of Creation, created the SkyArkVerse, a safe world for all intelligent life. But where there is light, there will be darkness. Monsters rose from the depths and devastated the SkyLands – and shaken by the invasion, Satoshi must choose the heroes he will fight to bring peace back to the SkyArkVerse.
Sky Ark Studio started the refund process for the NFT coin late Monday afternoon, allowing traders to get their Ethereum back if they failed to secure one of the 8,000 coin slots. Users have 60 days to claim a refund, according to the tweet.
SkyArk Chronicles is partly built on Binance’s own platform BNB chainalthough the studio said the latest batch of NFTs were minted on Ethereum.