What? XCMG Group? Getting criticized? If you have the same question as me, let's take a look at this article together. I first heard about this project in an NFT WeChat group. At first, it felt very characteristic of China. Upon closer examination of the conversation, oh, it turns out to be a major domestic enterprise involved in excavator manufacturing, venturing into the Web3 space with an NFT project. At this point, I basically brushed it off, not for any particular reason, but because there are too many cautionary tales: Wanglaoji, Wuliangye. My sources suggest skipping it altogether.

However, today I happen to have been assigned to it, so I'll delve into it and sort out the details to share with all of you.

XCMG Group

XCMG Group Co., Ltd., is one of China's largest construction machinery manufacturers, headquartered in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province. The company was established in 1989, with its predecessor being Xuzhou Heavy Machinery Factory, founded in 1943.

XCMG Group's main products include cranes, excavators, loaders, road rollers, pavers, concrete equipment, heavy trucks, and large-scale engineering machinery. The company's product sales network spans the globe, exporting to 178 countries and regions.

With seven research and development centers and four manufacturing bases worldwide, XCMG Group has approximately 30,000 employees. The company has multiple research centers globally and has established strategic partnerships with numerous internationally renowned enterprises.

Meanwhile, XCMG Group holds a prominent position in the global construction machinery industry, consistently ranking among the top 50 manufacturers worldwide for consecutive years and leading the Chinese construction machinery industry. Surprisingly, this construction machinery manufacturing giant recently announced its foray into the blockchain field, launching an NFT project called "XCMG For Real."

Background Exploration

Earlier this year, Xugong Group announced the purchase of the "Bored Ape" NFT series with the serial number #3489 at the construction machinery exhibition in Las Vegas, USA, and unveiled its Web3 exploration partnership plan. This plan, named "For Real," is a collaborative launch between Xugong Group and Zen Spark Technology Pte Ltd, serving as a starting point for Xugong Group's exploration of Web3.

Xugong Group's entry into the NFT field is mainly driven by recognizing the tremendous potential of NFTs in copyright protection, digital art, and virtual goods. Xugong Group believes that NFTs can serve as a new means of value representation, transferring the value from the physical world to the digital world, thus achieving value appreciation and circulation.

This initiative by Xugong Group undoubtedly opens up new possibilities for its development in the blockchain field. Through NFTs, Xugong Group can transfer its value from the physical world to the digital world, thereby realizing value appreciation and circulation. At the same time, through collaboration with global creators and business partners, Xugong Group can further expand its global influence and enhance its brand value.

However, the development in the blockchain field still faces many challenges, including technological maturity, regulatory uncertainty, market volatility, and more. Xugong Group needs to proceed cautiously in this new domain to ensure successful achievement of its objectives.

XCMG For Real

To achieve the goal of building a Web3 platform for creators and commercialization, XCMG Group has launched the "XCMG For Real" project, which is a Web3 platform that combines heavy machinery culture, science fiction, mecha, and hardcore fashion. The platform will collaborate with Conflux and Particle Network to jointly launch the XCMG ecosystem platform based on the Conflux blockchain network in July 2023.

As the Web3 infrastructure centered around themes such as heavy machinery, science fiction, and mecha, the XCMG ecosystem platform will serve as the "hub of value" for the future operations of XCMG For Real. This will introduce a new way of value representation and project development, enabling the realization of creative and interesting IPs, collaborations, co-creations with artists and influencers, and co-branded products, all centered around the themes of heavy machinery, science fiction, and mecha through native assetization and real productization.

Now, at this point, if nothing unexpected happens, something unexpected is about to happen.

Reversal:

Most of the content above comes from the project introduction. Now let's get to the main event. Why the FUD? After reviewing the chat logs from various groups and posts on Twitter, the main issues seem to point towards the project's operations and community development. Some even speculate that a team has obtained authorization from some Web2 giants to exploit and manipulate the market.

Most criticisms of the project's operations focus on the unfulfilled pre-sale price protection clauses, while criticisms of community development mainly stem from various "bureaucratic" actions by the project team, such as arbitrarily kicking people out of the community. I remember hearing someone in a space discussing this project, and they mainly talked about moderators kicking people out on Discord and blocking those who raised reasonable questions in the official space. Essentially, they engaged in behaviors that attracted negative attention. Additionally, the biggest reason for this round of FUD is related to the price protection agreement.

From the above commitment letter, it can be seen that some initial holders were indeed provided with a certain level of guarantee. However, according to some forwarded information in the group:

"The major company XCMG Group @WEB3_XCMG is playing word games and engaging in fraudulent activities to exploit the investors. The reason is as follows: XCMG Group issued NFTs a month ago with a mint price of 0.1E and claimed to guarantee the price for one month. During this month, holders requested the refund link for the guaranteed price from XCMG numerous times, but XCMG refused to provide it. When the 30-day period expired today, XCMG refused the refund by stating that the price hadn't fallen below the mint price in 30 days. However, the holders know that although it appears the price hasn't fallen below the mint price, there is no market for the NFTs, and they couldn't transfer or list them due to the guarantee requirements. They also didn't dare to list them at a lower price. Who could have imagined being deceived by these word games in the end?

Secondly, XCMG's claim that the price hasn't fallen below the mint price is also deceptive. XCMG occasionally sweeps the floor to slightly increase the secondary price above the mint price. The prices on the Blur platform have already been lower than the mint price, so XCMG's reason for refusing the refund is invalid.

It's quite sad that we have been deceived by the project team, and the only hope seems to lie in generating public opinion. Unfortunately, I don't have much influence, but I'll do my best to contribute.

On another note, in hindsight, weren't those Web2 people just here to exploit the investors? So far, which major company or project that has emerged hasn't heavily exploited and resulted in chaos? It would be better to consider using this money for gas fees and participating in airdrops."

Closing Remarks

I'm actually very curious about what those who minted NFTs from Xugong Group were thinking. Many people say they were attracted by its sponsorship and machine appearances in the movie "The Wandering Earth." But what's the point of it? If it's for the money, then I must say the project team is also after it. If you say it's for its empowerment and believe in its development, then I can only say that buying this item for the sake of one's own vision is not expensive. There's really not much to say. Let's see if the project team will have a turnaround, and I'm also curious about the next project of this kind. Web3 is truly interesting; even excavators can participate in speculation. Web3 is really fun; even excavators can crash.