The Lament of the Nightingale: The Rise and Fall of a Web3 Project

The Wings of the Nightingale

In April 1985, Beijing Capital International Airport. 10-year-old Tian Xingzhi held a one-way ticket to New York, about to embark on a life-changing journey. 20 years later, he returned to China as Andy Tian, creating a storm in the gaming industry.

Andy is exceptionally intelligent and has outstanding academic performance. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study computer science and after graduation, joined Boston Consulting Group. In 2005, he joined Google China, responsible for mobile business. During his time at Google, he assisted in bringing the Android system to the Chinese market, laying the groundwork for the explosion of mobile internet.

In 2008, Andy left Google to join a company founded by friends to develop web-based social games. Their game "Medical Mayhem" attracted 2 million players within two months of its launch. In 2010, the company was acquired by Zynga, and Andy became the head of Zynga China.

In 2013, Andy started another venture and founded Asia Innovation Group (AIG). The company’s first product "Pengpeng" achieved success in the Southeast Asian market. AIG adopted a "burning money for market share" strategy but failed to accurately hit the user pain points. As traffic on traditional social platforms sharply declined, AIG's growth model gradually became ineffective.

In 2015, the live streaming industry emerged. AIG quickly invested in this trend and launched the Uplive platform. Uplive targeted the overseas market, replicating the Chinese live streaming model in Southeast Asia. By the end of 2017, Uplive had accumulated over 60,000 active broadcasters, with total revenue exceeding 100 million USD.

The Darling of the Era

In 2017, the ICO craze swept the globe. Andy and his friend Charles Thach had the idea of packaging Uplive for an ICO, and thus the Gifto project was born.

Gifto is a universal protocol built on Ethereum for creating, buying, and exchanging virtual gifts. The project has invited industry experts in the blockchain field to serve as advisors and has received support from several top VC firms. Gifto's private round financing raised $20 million, and the public offering plans to raise $10 million.

However, on September 4, 2017, China banned ICO activities. Gifto then partnered with Binance to become the first IEO project. On December 14, Gifto's public offering took place on the Binance platform, with an oversubscription rate of 1066 times.

On December 18, the GTO token was listed for trading on Binance, and its price skyrocketed 10 times on the first day. The Gifto team was in high spirits, and Andy and Charles began participating in other project investments and advisory roles. The team also attempted to venture into the exchange business by launching Kryptono Exchange.

In February 2018, Gifto collaborated with photographer Kevin Abosch to launch "Forever Rose", becoming the world's first blockchain artwork. Gifto frequently releases new business news, and GTO performs well in the secondary market.

Cold Winter · Scorched Earth · Rebirth · Sigh

In the second half of 2018, the crypto market entered a deep bear phase. The Gifto business growth stagnated, and the Kryptono exchange fell into difficulties. In July 2019, Kryptono suddenly shut down, leaving users with no place to seek help.

The Gifto team chose a "scorched earth policy" and closed all external windows. From 2020 to 2021, the GTO project was in a "dead" state. In 2021, the original Gifto official Twitter was hacked, further muddling the waters.

In 2022, Gifto re-emerged under the identity of "Gifto Metaverse". In January 2023, the project secured a strategic investment of $2.5 million from Poolz and conducted a token swap, upgrading GTO to GFT.

On February 6, 2023, Andy Tian passed away in Beijing due to illness. Two days later, GFT was listed on Binance and briefly led the market.

Squeeze out the last dignity

In November 2024, Binance announced the delisting of GFT. On November 28, the GFT official minted 1.2 billion tokens on the BNB chain, causing a stir in the community. Binance moved the delisting date for GFT from December 11 to December 3.

On February 28, 2025, GFT announced its merger with the GOTG project. On April 12, GFT requested that all tokens be exchanged by April 30.

A once-promising Web3 project has disappeared again at the end of people's trust.