CryptOrchids: The NFT That Dies If You Don't Water Them

When you drop $100 on an NFT you probably would expect to own it in perpetuity. That’s not the case with CryptOrchids. If you are not available during a 3-hour window each week to water your “orchid”, it will die.

While you can attempt to automate this process via a publicly available script, you are risking getting hammered with gas fees. Additionally, the code for the “watering can” is not tested. If you want a reliable way of watering your newly acquired orchids, you’ll have to visit the CryptOrchids “Greenhouse” which will list all the orchids your purchased.

I asked Sammy Bauch, the developer behind this project, what gave him the idea. He said,

The biggest thing is feeling like so much of what’s happening in this space is digital art thats tokenized, rather than new experiences that can only exist with the blockchain. I also had some discomfort with the idea that “NFTs last forever” - they don’t have to!

Sammy Bauch

All CryptOrchids can be resold on Open Sea unless they die. At that point the game is over. One could imagine a crypto orchid that lives on for years thanks to a dedicated plant owner. That said they can’t just be dedicated, they also need to be able to afford the weekly watering fee. While that fee varies by Ethereum gas prices of the moment, it ranges from a few bucks to tens of dollars based on the day and time.

Nobody said orchids were cheap or easy to maintain and this project reflects that!

Sammy mentioned that this project was built as part of the Chainlink Hackathon and that this is his first blockchain project. It appears to have initial traction though and is bound to go viral once people catch wind of it.

As for uses of these orchids, I was asking about the images and where they are hosted. Sammy stated that the images are hosted on IPFS but don’t matter all that much.

He envisioned, “CryptOrchids in metaverses as 3D objects that match the look of the metaverse and where users can water them, rather than 2D posters.” As somebody who isn’t yet well versed in the world of metaverses I inquired as to how that is accomplished on a practical level.

Sammy stated, “Its more 3D design than code. The code for calling watering would be simple. I think my goal was to put on chain enough instructions for anyone to take a cryptorchid, see its latin species that exists in the real world, and have some anchoring for how to render in their specific style.”

With early adopters like Harper Reed (founder of Teespring and former CTO for Barack Obama’s campaign) and AJ Vaynerchuck contributing their advice and even picking up some orchids, the project appears promising. I’m also guessing that the #onchaingang will be interested in this one.

If you are interested in acquiring your own CryptOrchid, you can head over to the project’s website.