The Saudis NFT collection is the latest project to mint out with high success. It launched on July 9th, as a free mint and quickly rose above a 1 Eth floor price until settling comfortably above .5 Eth. 

So, where did this project come from and why has the hype around it been so sudden? Well, chances are that this project was as out of the blue as one might expect. There are a few factors involved that many derivatives might be missing. 

What is The Saudis

The Saudis NFT project is a PFP collection with art derived from the CryptoPunks collection in Middle Eastern fashion. Each token acts as a membership pass to the Saudis community which they call the Royal Kingdom

The technology behind the tokens is also quite impressive because it is fully on-chain, unlike most ordinary NFTS which have their images and metadata stored on IPFS. 

The value of tokens stored directly on-chain tends to do better in the long run because of their closer association to the network. To many, being hosted on IPFS means the project is less decentralized and subject to “Link Rot.”

Max Bidding

The project claims to be backed by a myriad of Saudi sheikhs, princes, and kings. They also claim to be backed by oil royalties on their website. While none of these claims are likely to be true, the team behind The Saudis has done a good job promoting it as such. 

Max Bidding has become a popular catchphrase for the community. The phrase, meaning to go all-in on crypto, is coming at a time when many are hesitant about the crypto market. We’ve already seen a number of projects such as GodHatesNFTees and Copebears take on similar artwork, but The Saudis is taking a much more bullish approach.

Through the crypto market crash, many have claimed that the drop in prices for everything related to crypto is actually a major buying opportunity. Personalities like Alex Becker have made it clear that they believe this is one of the best times to purchase major coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, seeing it as a massive discount. The Max Bidding slogan plays into this perspective, generating excitement and confidence that major profits will happen.

The Arabic 999 Club

Earlier in the month, ENS domains experienced a notable pump in prices for different 3-digit Domain variations using numerals from different languages. The Arabic 3-digit collection, known as the Arabic 999 Club, was the catalyst for this event and caused many other collections such as 3-digit Korean, Thai, and Hindi to all be registered shortly afterwards; however, none of them experienced the same success as the 3-digit Arabic ENS which reached as high as 5 Eth and sits at a floor price of 2.5 Ether. 

Although the Arabic 999 Club and The Saudis are not related, they do share similar traits. Countries from the Persian Gulf such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the U.A.E. are all bullish on crypto and these projects appeal to investors from the region. Dubai, for example, has many favorable crypto tax laws which are creating strong economic opportunities.

FIFA World Cup in Qatar

To take things one step further, the FIFA World Cup will also be held in Qatar which is already being heralded as a major crypto event. The international football tournament, which is the largest sporting event in the world, is being sponsored by Crypto.com and Algorand. 

Following the success of the Arabic 999 Club and The Saudis, chances are that the World Cup will be another bullish factor for this growing trend in NFTs that are inspired by Arabic culture.