In the fever dream that was 2021, Colnago — a brand once synonymous with prestige, heritage, and Italian design — decided it was time to leap into the digital future by minting what they proudly labeled the “first NFT in cycling,” which, as it turns out, was little more than a GIF of their C64 model uploaded to OpenSea and framed as a historical milestone.
At the time, someone actually paid 3.2 WETH — close to $8,600 — for this animated token, presumably under the illusion that they were not only acquiring a piece of blockchain-era cycling history, but possibly making a clever investment that would one day appreciate as web3 rewrote the rules of ownership, art, and branding.
But as with so many corporate NFT stunts born in that brief window of collective hysteria, the story didn’t evolve — it evaporated. There have been two transactions. No listings. No bids. No interest. The NFT now rests untouched, its metadata collecting metaphorical dust, likely abandoned in a wallet its buyer hasn’t opened in years, and certainly not mentioned in Colnago’s marketing materials since.
It no longer represents innovation, disruption, or even novelty. Instead, it stands as a beautifully preserved digital artifact of a moment when everyone — from luxury bike manufacturers to fast food chains — believed that slapping a logo on a blockchain could replace actual relevance, and that minting something meant it mattered.
Colnago didn’t revolutionize cycling. They just minted a bike GIF — and rode it full speed into the void.
