From NFT blue chips to tokenization experiments, the doodles entertainment empire’s gamble

Author: Lawrence, Mars Finance

1. A brief history of Doodles: The ambition from "cartoon avatar" to

"Web3 Disney"

As one of the most iconic blue-chip NFT projects in the Ethereum ecosystem, Doodles' growth history can be regarded as a textbook case of IP incubation in the Web3 era.

​​1. The starting point for art genes and community co-creation (2021-2022)

In October 2021, 10,000 brightly colored cartoon avatars created by Canadian illustrator Scott Martin (Burnt Toast) landed on Ethereum. These NFTs, named Doodles, quickly broke the circle with their unique "simple drawings of children" style, and the floor price soared to more than 5 ETH, becoming one of the "blue chip clubs".

The three founders of the core team—Scott Martin, Evan Keast and Jordan Castro—each plays key roles:

• Scott Martin: Visual soul character, responsible for all character design and worldview construction
• Evan & Jordan: Former CryptoKitties core member, well versed in the rules of NFT community operation

Unlike other PFP (Profile Picture) projects, Doodles emphasized the concept of "holders are shareholders" from the beginning:

• Establish a Doodlebank community vault, where holders vote to determine the purpose of the funds
• Distribute wearable devices through mechanisms such as Genesis Box to achieve dynamic NFT upgrade

​​2. Cross-border expansion and capital support (2022-2024)​​

2022 becomes a strategic turning point for Doodles:

• ​​​Executive introduction: Former Billboard President Julian Holguin becomes CEO, and music star Pharrell Williams becomes chief brand officer

• Capital Action: Completed a $54 million financing with a valuation of US$704 million, led by 776 Fund (owned by Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit)

• ​​​Ecological layout:

• Acquisition of Emmy Award-nominated animation studio Golden Wolf

• Launched joint products with Adidas and McDonald's

• Develop Doodles 2 dynamic NFT system to support cross-platform role customization

At this point, Doodles has evolved from a simple NFT project to "Web3 Entertainment Group", and its business territory covers a variety of scenes such as animation, music, games, offline activities, etc.

​​3. Transformation in Crisis (2025)​​

In January 2025, founder Scott Martin re-elected as CEO and announced his return to the "radical innovation" route:

• Stop excessive commercial joint branding (such as McDonald's Coffee cooperation)
• Launch DreamNet ecosystem to build an AI-driven decentralized content platform
• Behind this adjustment is the reality of the continued sluggish NFT market: Doodles trading volume fell by 67% year-on-year in 2024, and the floor price hovers in the 3 ETH range for a long time.

2. Tokenization breakthrough: DOOD's economic model and strategic logic

Against the backdrop of the overall cold NFT track, Doodles chose to break the deadlock by tokenization. On May 9, 2025, its native token DOOD will be launched in Solana and plans to cross-chain to Base L2.

(I) Token Economics: Reconstruction of Interests under Community Narrative

According to the white paper, the total supply of DOOD is 10 billion, and the allocation framework is as follows:

Design Highlights:

• Community priority: 68% of tokens flow to the community, higher than similar projects (such as Azuki's 37.5%)
• Multi-chain compatibility: The first Solana uses its high TPS (65000+/second) and meme cultural soil to subsequently connect to the Ethereum ecosystem across chain base

Potential controversy:

• ​​"New Blood" definition is fuzzy: 13% of New Blood allocations lack transparent rules, and there is risk of internal manipulation
• Institutional exit pressure: Early investors such as 776 Fund have not announced their exit plans, or cash out through ecological funds

(II) Value capture: the imagination from JPG to "digital skin"

DOOD is positioned as the "economic blood" of the Doodles ecosystem, and its value capture mechanism revolves around three layers:

​​1. Governance Rights

• Proposal Voting: Holders can participate in DreamNet content creation direction decisions
• Pledge income: Lock in tokens to obtain benefits such as animation IP dividends, joint product discounts, etc.

​​2. Consumption scenarios

• DoodlesTV: Pay DOOD to watch exclusive animated short films
• Virtual Fashion: Buy Wearables on the Stoodio Platform
• In-game purchase: Props trading in future meta-universe games

​​3. Speculative target

• Solana On-chain MEME culture boosts trading popularity
• Cross-chain bridge with Base may trigger arbitrage opportunities

However, compared with competitors, DOOD's practicality is still weak:

• ​​Compare PENGU: Pudgy Penguins has generated stable cash flow through physical toys
• ​​Compare ANIME​: Azuki binds to an anime crowdfunding platform and has clear consumption scenarios

3. Deconstruction of the motivation for issuing coins: Is it a good

medicine to extend my life or to harvest a sickle?

At a time when NFT trading volume is halved and blue-chip projects are growing weakly, Doodles' decision to issue coins has caused polar comments.

Strategic rationality

​​1. Cracking the liquidity dilemma

The non-standard properties of NFT lead to lack of liquidity. By binding tokens, holders can obtain liquid assets through pledge, airdrop, etc., avoiding the pressure of selling NFTs with a price cut.

​​2. Community activation experiment

The operation of DreamNet system depends on token incentives:

• Creators can receive DOOD rewards for uploading content
• Users participate in interaction (like, forward) to earn points
• This "creation is mining" model attempts to replicate StepN's success path.

​​3. Capital exit demand

Early-stage investment institutions need to exit through token listing. Based on the financing of $54 million, DOOD FDV (full diluted valuation) needs to reach $700 million to prevent VCs from losing money, while Doodles' current NFT market capitalization is only $64.8 million.

Suspicion of cutting leeks

​​1. Hidden dangers of token allocation​​

Although the community allocation ratio is as high as 68%, the subdivision rules are questionable:

• 30% Community airdrops have not specified snapshot time, and there is a risk of "rat holding"
• Eco-funds are controlled by teams and may be used to manipulate market prices

​​2. MEME trap

The essence of choosing Solana to start is to cater to MEME's hype culture. Refer to the average life cycle of tokens on this chain:

• 80% of the project fell by 90% within 1 month of listing. Market value
• Trading volume is concentrated on CEX, and on-chain liquidity is lacking

​​3. NFT reflexive risk

The decline in token prices may trigger a wave of NFT selling, forming a "death spiral." After Azuki issued coins in 2024, its NFT floor price fell by 58%.

4. Listing Outlook: Short Selling Signals and Risk Alerts

According to the Marsbit Research Institute model, DOOD may show the following trends:

Short-term speculation window

• ​​On the first day of listing: Driven by MEME sentiment, FDV may surge to US$1.5-2 billion
• Airdrop selling pressure: Based on 30% community allocation, the potential selling volume in the first week reached 3 billion (about US$450 million)

Medium- and long-term risks

• ​​​Ecological cashing pressure​​​: If the DreamNet MVP product is not launched within 6 months, the token will lose its narrative support
• Multi-chain operation and maintenance costs: Solana and Base cross-chain bridges may become targets for hackers

Short selling strategy advice

​​Suitable for short selling signals:

• FDV exceeds US$2.5 billion (corresponding to DOOD unit price of US$0.25)
• Large transfers occurred in team address
• DreamNet postponed release

Risk warning:

• Solana The dealer on the chain has a high degree of control, so you need to be vigilant about the risk of short squeeze
• Binance and other exchanges may introduce short-selling restrictions

5. Conclusion: The paradigm revolution and speculative bubble of Web3IP

Doodles' tokenization experiment is essentially an adventure about "digital asset securitization". Its idealistic side is reflected in:

• Try to realize value sharing between creators and consumers through token economy
• Explore the transformation of NFT from collectibles to "digital identity passports"

But the cruelty of reality is equally clear:

• In the interest chain formed by VCs, exchanges, and market makers, the community is still in a weak position
• The maturity of the Web3 entertainment ecosystem is far from supporting the valuation of 10 billion

For ordinary investors, the advice is:

• ​​​Short-term participation: Use the liquidity premium arbitrage in the early stage of the exchange to go online, and set the stop loss line to -20%
• ​​​Long-term avoidance: Unless the user retention rate exceeds 50% after DreamNet is launched, it is not advisable to hold positions for more than 3 months.
• ​​​Eco-Observation: Focus on music collaborations with Pharrell Williams and Golden Wolf’s animation output progress

In the crypto world, "innovation" and "harvest" are often two sides. Can Doodles break the curse of "issuing coins is the peak", the autumn and winter of 2025 will be a key test period.