The Monkey Kingdom is a Solana-based NFT collection of 2,222 pixelated monkeys inspired by the Chinese mythical figure, Sun Wukong.
Asia is currently under-represented in the fast-growing non-fungible token (NFT) industry, with most collections, especially the most successful and profitable ones, coming from Western teams. With this situation, one team has dared to launch an Asian-inspired NFT collection, not only to have a presence in the industry but to finally establish a community that can serve as a haven for Asian NFT enthusiasts.
Table of Contents
Background
Monkey Kingdom’s team is composed of four moderators, a founder, chief technical officer, chief marketing officer, and a metaverse architect.
The team’s primary goal is to bring a much-needed Asian presence in the Western-dominated NFT space by sharing one of the most respected icons in the Asian culture, the Sun Wukong, a mythical monkey that symbolizes total enlightenment.
What is Monkey Kingdom?
The Monkey Kingdom is a Solana-based NFT collection of 2,222 pixelated monkeys inspired by Sun Wukong, a mythical creature with the power of massive destruction.
It was minted last November 2021 with a mint price of 0.49 Solana, and it became such a massive hit that the entire collection was sold out in just 2 minutes.
The Monkey Kingdom somehow became a symbol of the Asian presence in the international NFT stage as prominent Asian figures such as investors, creatives, and chefs, have thrown their support for the collection.
It has become so successful that it was likened to big Western NFT collections such as Crypto Punks and Bored Ape Yacht Club, which has made record-breaking feats in growth.
The Sun Wukong-led collection was further pushed by the support of Asian celebrities such as Steve Aoki, one of Monkey Kingdom’s biggest advocates, Ian Chan, JJ Lin, Dizzy Dizzo, Sunny Wang, and many more.
But the success of these monkeys wouldn’t just end in the virtual world as the team behind it prepares to launch real-world events that would turn each NFT as a ticket to exclusive experiences.
Wukong and Buddha: A Fascinating Story
As with almost any NFT collection with nifty background stories, the Monkey Kingdom is not to be left behind.
In this story, Sun Wukong has finally escaped from the mountain where Buddha has imprisoned him for over 500 years, and wanting to take revenge; he turned himself into an army of 2,222 monkeys!
Anticipating Sun Wukong’s revenge, the Buddha trapped these 2,222 monkeys and caged them inside the Solana blockchain, which gave birth to the Monkey Kingdom collection. Cool, huh?
Who is Steve Aoki?
Steve Aoki, one of the prime supporters of the Monkey Kingdom NFTs, is a famous Grammy-nominated American DJ and a successful record producer.
The Asian-inspired collection became close to his heart because of his Japanese roots, and he found an opportunity to bring Asians on the global NFT map by throwing his support on the “vengeful” monkeys.
He is also the founder of the ‘Steve Aoki Charitable Fund’ which provides donations on various humanitarian relief operations and medical research.
Roadmap
November 2021
- Launch of Monkey Kingdom
- Listing of Monkey Kingdom in Magic Eden and Alpha Art
- Discord channel creation for community discussion, education, and special holders event
- Rarity Launching
December 2021
- Launch of Baepes (Female versions of Wukong)
- Christmas Metaverse Party in Cryptovoxel virtual world
Q1 2022
- Lunar Year Celebration
- Lunar Year Fruit Drop
- Offline MK Art Exhibition
Baepes
Baepes is an NFT collection composed of 2,221 female Wukongs and serves as a testament to the Monkey Kingdom’s extremely successful launch.
Through this new collection, which was launched last December 21, 2021, NFT enthusiasts who missed the chance of purchasing male Wukongs had a new opportunity to snap up high-value assets.
But the team was forced to cancel the collection’s public minting due to a hack on its Discord channel and encouraged the community to regularly check its official Twitter account for new announcements.
Monkey Kingdom Phishing Incident
Everything was going well for the Monkey Kingdom and its sister collection Baepes, but before Christmas day, the team, holders, and the entire community was struck by an unexpected hacking incident. Through a security breach in Discord, the hackers were able to steal $1.3 million worth of cryptocurrencies from the community’s funds.
Twitter user @commenstar tweeted that he lost 650 SOL, equivalent to roughly $120,400 from the breach incident.
How Exactly Did It Happen?
Upon internal investigation, the developers discovered that the hack first occurred on Grape, a well-known tool for verifying Solana users.
From there, hackers further deepened their breach and took over an administrative account in Discord, resulting in their ability to post phishing links right inside Monkey Kingdom’s Discord #announcement channel.
Discord members who have connected their wallets on the link haven’t received any NFTs but found themselves drained of all their SOL assets.
A Model Response From the Team
Even with the tragic loss of an estimated 7,000 Solana, equivalent to $1.3 million, one good thing that came out of this situation is the team’s inspiring community-first approach to the incident.
First, the project team was quick to recognize and admit that there was a hacking incident and have not gone to the easy and cowardly route of denying it.
Second, the team vowed to reimburse all the lost Solana assets that were stolen from the victims.
And third, the founders have immediately implemented additional security measures to protect their users further and hired external security experts to ensure that the hacking incident won’t happen again.
Lesson To Keep In Mind
- Use ‘burner wallets,’ a crypto wallet that can be used to transfer small amounts of crypto quickly and easily. Through this, a limited portion of crypto assets is only exposed, protecting an entire asset from being hacked.
- Use recognized platforms when doing crypto transactions, especially those requiring two-factor authentication, because their verification standards are enough to push hackers away.
- Do not use Discord and Twitter for crypto asset trading as they don’t have enough security features to protect users from these transactions because they were not made for these settlements.
- Ensure that passwords have a high strength level, change them regularly, and never forget to update virus software and firewalls.
Conclusion
The recent massive hacking has halted Monkey Kingdom’s further rise, but its team has clearly shown their sincere dedication to protecting the community, which by all means deserve applause.
But with the exposed vulnerability of the NFT collection’s system, together with the long list of competitors just behind its back, the team definitely needs to be in their A-game this 2022 in order to continue its upward trajectory.
