It’s been a while since I’ve written anything here.
Time in the NFT space moves strangely… years get compressed into months and months sometimes feel like a decade. Projects rise, fall, disappear, pivot, return, reinvent themselves or fade quietly into the background noise of the timeline.
Mad Masks never went anywhere. It just stayed exactly what it was: an art project I cared about, created during a particular moment and built to last whether the market was loud or silent. As 2025 nears completion, it feels like the right time to share a few thoughts about where things are, what’s changed and why this project is still here.
The weirdness of time in NFTs
In 2021, everything moved at the speed of dopamine. New collections launched daily, hype cycles lived and died in 48 hours and attention was a currency of its own. Since then, the space has matured, or, depending on your perspective, gotten quieter.
But the quieter pace isn’t a bad thing.
It gives people who genuinely love making things room to keep making things. The noise has thinned. What remains feels more meaningful.
Mad Masks was never meant to be a “meta play.” It was an expression of something personal, serialized across 32×32 pixels. And despite market swings, it continues to hold its shape. Persistence is its own kind of story.
Why masks still matter
At its core, Mad Masks has always been about:
- Creation for its own sake
- Experimentation
- Aesthetic exploration
- Community without expectations
- Art as the only promise
The project lives because I still like making things. That’s the beginning and end of the explanation. I don’t think every collection needs to turn into a startup or roadmap-heavy ecosystem. Some things can exist because they’re interesting.
The biggest lesson over the years has been simple:
The art is the utility. Everything else is optional.
Smaller, slower, better
One of the most noticeable shifts since the early days is the scale of collections.
10k used to be the default, mainly because that’s what the early giants did. But in 2025, the world feels different. Smaller, more intimate collections make more sense. They’re easier to collect, easier to enjoy and easier to maintain without pressure.
This is part of why we will be launching a new companion collection: Micro Masks – a 512-piece fully on-chain prequel that compresses the idea of Masks into 16×16 pixels. A tiny artifact from a simpler time. A prototype era of the Maskverse.
It isn’t bigger. It isn’t louder. It’s just focused.
On value, markets and longevity
Over the years, one thing became clear:
Markets can’t be controlled. Trends can’t be predicted. Floors can’t be guaranteed.
But what can be controlled is the work. The quality, the intent, the care put into each piece.
Good art has a way of finding the people who appreciate it, no matter how long it takes. And not everything has to be optimized for speculation. If anything, the pressure to “add value” is what crushes many projects before they have a chance to breathe.
Mad Masks was never built around speculation. It was built around the idea that small, thoughtful digital objects can have a presence beyond their market cycles.
Staying true to the vision
A handful of loud voices will always want things from you. A roadmap, utility, staking, a promise to make their bags go up. That’s not what this project has ever been about.
I’ve learned over time to pay attention to the people who show up for the art, the ones who resonate with the work and not the hype. That’s who this project is for.
Everything that exists so far: Mad Masks, Micro Masks, the on-chain approach, the daily updates, the writing and so on, is simply the continuation of a creative thread I still enjoy pulling on.
No expectations. No pressure. No promises beyond the work itself.
Looking ahead
I don’t know where the broader space is heading and I don’t think anyone truly does. But the quieter environment feels like a better fit for what Mad Masks has always been: a slow, consistent practice of making digital art that feels personal and a bit strange.
Micro Masks is part of that continuation. A small release, fully on-chain, true to the spirit of the original and meant to be collected, not speculated on.
As long as I’m creating, the Masks will continue to exist in one form or another.
Still here for the Art
If you’re still reading, still collecting, still hanging around… thank you. It means something.
Mad Masks in 2025 is not about hype or timelines. It’s about durability, expression and the joy of making things. The exact reasons it existed in the first place.
There are no rules. Not everything has to be serious or perfect.
But it should be fun. And that’s why I’m still here.
