Why is Disney betting on the failed NFT market? Studio is accused of ‘grifting’ as it launches app where fans can collect ‘pointless’ images of Pixar and Star Wars characters

With shares under pressure, a high-profile attack from an activist investor and succession concerns, Disney has embarked on a speculative NFT investment.

Disney Pinnacle, a “digital pinning and trading experience,” launched last month to offer fans the chance to buy and sell Disney, Pixar and Star Wars character NFTs.

These “non-fungible tokens” are digital images given unique identifiers using blockchain – the same technology behind cryptocurrency – allowing them to be held as assets and traded online.

NFTs soared to staggering values ​​during the heady days of the cryptocurrency boom, but suffered a colossal crash last year when the Bitcoin market imploded.

Disney is now making a late entry into the NFT market in partnership with Dapper Labs, which launched the Disney Pinnacle app late last year.

Disney fans can purchase digital tokens of their favorite characters, including Cinderella and Moana

The “all-new, socially driven collecting experience” has been panned by some of the early invite-only users, who have called it “pointless” and “a grift.”

‘I don’t see the appeal at all. (I feel like Chapek or someone else must have come up with this during the NFT hype phase and Disney took way too long to develop it because they’re bad at IT,” one early user wrote on Reddit.

“It seems pretty pointless to me,” someone else wrote, “If it were intertwined with other Disney experiences, like visiting a park location or seeing a movie, it would make more sense.

“But NFTs are just a scam,” they wrote.

“This whole thing is stupid,” a third added.

Disney Pinnacle is reminiscent of classic metal Disney pins, which die-hard fans have collected and traded for years, with some limited editions and older pins considered collectibles.

According to creators invited to use the app, pins cost about $9.95, and the revolving storefront offers new pins every four hours, indicating whether new pins are more or less rare.

“Disney Pinnacle is an entirely new product designed from the ground up to integrate everything we’ve learned over the years,” said Roham Gharegozlou, co-founder and CEO of Dapper Labs, in a statement announcing the launch.

Not all pins will be available at once, but new pins will be released periodically, including items from well-known franchises

Disney is under pressure to rein in its spending and focus on profitability after posting $1.6 billion in streaming losses in the first nine months of 2023

The move into digital assets could be a sign of Disney’s intent to become even more of an intellectual property powerhouse under CEO Bob Iger

However, Pinnacle may be a throwback project from short-lived CEO Robert Iger, who once described the metaverse as “the next great storytelling frontier.”

Disney’s stock price stands at $90 per share, down 17 percent from five years ago and far from its peak of $201 in March 2021.

“Fans anywhere in the world can collect dynamic Pins on their phones and trade with each other instantly and securely, no matter where they are in the world.”

Dapper Labs was unwilling to share the details of the licensing agreement, including how much Disney will be compensated for the use of its intellectual property or what the ongoing profit distribution will be.

“We do not disclose financial information about our products, but we can report that our closed release is going very well,” a Dapper Labs spokesperson told DailyMail.com.

The move into digital assets could be a sign of Disney’s intention to become even more of an intellectual property powerhouse under CEO Bob Iger, or a legacy project from short-lived CEO Robert Iger, who once described the metaverse as ” the next great storytelling frontier’.

Iger, who was restored to the helm in November 2022 after his chosen successor Bob Chapek served in the role for just two years, faces a battle with billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz.

Peltz, who has built up his $3 billion stake in the entertainment giant, wants to take on the company to boost profits and boost its stock price.

Bob Iger returned to the helm of Disney in November 2022 after his chosen successor failed to address the challenges the company faced

Billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz wants to battle the company over how to grow profits and boost its stock price

Disney’s stock price stands at $90 per share, down 17 percent from five years ago and a far cry from its peak of $201 in March 2021.

Disney is under pressure to rein in its spending and focus on profitability after posting $1.6 billion in streaming losses in the first nine months of 2023, despite Disney+ gaining 8 million subscribers during that time.

The traditional media company has already cut around 7,000 jobs during a major restructuring.

In November 2023, Iger announced that he would cut an additional $2 billion in costs, on top of $5.5 billion in cuts in 2022.

Disney did not respond to multiple requests for comment.