Hamilton man Martin van Blerk pre-sold $104m worth of 3D art, but once buyers saw what they’d paid for they turned on him.
Tucked away in the rumpus room of his parents’ house in the upper middle-class suburb of Rototuna, 20-year-old Martin van Blerk sold the digital investing world a dream – a fantastical universe called Pixelmon.
Pixelmon was pitched as a home for people to buy and collect the digital trading assets known as NFTs, or non-fungible tokens.
In layman’s terms, non-fungible means it is unique and cannot be replaced, and the buyer owns a unique piece of code as an asset.
Under the internet handle Syber, van Blerk showed off concept art and a short demo of Pixelmon in late 2021. He also promised exclusive access to games and events.