Glass, a crypto startup backed by venture capital, is facing the consequences of the bear market as it aimed to capitalize on NFT videos. Co-founders Sam Sends and Varun Iyer recently announced on X (formerly Twitter) that they will be discontinuing active development of Glass Protocol. The decision was made after realizing that the demand for digital video NFTs was insufficient to sustain the project. Iyer expressed his thoughts on the matter, stating, “The market for video NFTs can no longer support the development of Glass.” Sends echoed a similar sentiment, stating, “Unfortunately, we have concluded that there is not enough sustainable demand for video NFTs.”
As a startup that has been in operation for two and a half years, Glass is the latest casualty of the ongoing downturn in crypto trading, which has significantly impacted the NFT space. Trading volumes have plummeted, affecting all types of on-chain collectibles, including well-known projects like “blue chip” Bored Apes, as well as smaller ventures like Glass, which failed to gain significant traction.
The concept behind Glass was to provide online content creators with a platform to mint and sell their videos directly to their fans, potentially enabling them to earn more revenue compared to platforms like YouTube. The founders believed that utilizing blockchain technology would bring transparency and permanence to the process by storing videos in a decentralized manner.
Despite the decision to halt active development, the NFTs created through Glass will continue to exist alongside the website and protocol, according to the founders. However, without further work on the protocol, the future growth of Glass appears uncertain.
Last September, Glass managed to raise $5 million in funding from investors such as TCG Crypto and 1kx. It remains unclear whether the protocol has exhausted its available resources or if any venture capital remains. At the time of writing, Sends and Iyer have not responded to requests for comment.
In recent months, the founders made the strategic decision to transition Glass from the Solana blockchain to Ethereum, the protocol’s original home.
