The BIG PROBLEM with Gary V’s Veefriends

How Gary Vee Turned a Pandemic Obsession Into VeeFriends

When the world shut down in 2020, most people slowed down. Gary Vaynerchuk sped up. While the pandemic pushed many entrepreneurs into survival mode, Gary Vee used the moment to double down on his long‑held belief in emerging technology, community, and IP. That focus eventually crystallized into VeeFriends, an NFT‑driven brand that has since evolved into a full entertainment and collectibles ecosystem.

Launched in May 2021 on the Ethereum blockchain, VeeFriends began as 10,255 hand‑drawn NFTs tied to real‑world utility, but the seeds of the project were planted much earlier—both in Gary’s childhood and in the unique conditions of the pandemic era.

The Pandemic Backdrop: Attention, Cards, and Crypto

By the time the pandemic hit in early 2020, Gary Vaynerchuk was already a well‑known entrepreneur, investor, and CEO of VaynerMedia, but he was also loudly bullish on two things that exploded during lockdowns: sports cards and digital assets.

As live events and traditional marketing slowed, people spent more time online—scrolling social feeds, watching live streams, and looking for new ways to connect and invest. Gary leaned into that shift:

• He went deep into sports cards, talking publicly about cardboard as an “underpriced asset class.”

• He had already been paying attention to crypto culture and early NFT projects.

• His content during the pandemic repeatedly emphasized adapting to “where attention actually is,” which increasingly meant digital platforms and communities instead of physical spaces.

The pandemic didn’t just create more screen time; it normalized digital‑only value. People were buying skins in video games, subscribing to digital creators, and starting to understand that digital ownership could matter. That macro context set the stage for NFTs to break into the mainstream—and for Gary to see a lane.

Discovering NFTs and the Spark for VeeFriends

In early 2021, NFTs went from niche to headline news. Projects like CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club began capturing attention, with prices skyrocketing and Twitter timelines filled with pixelated avatars and cartoon apes. That was when Gary Vee’s curiosity snapped into full obsession.

He has said that in early 2021 he became “incredibly infatuated with NFTs,” spending months studying the space, talking to collectors, technologists, and founders. He started buying CryptoPunks and framed them as the “Holy Grail” of NFT collectibles, a digital equivalent to blue‑chip sports cards or vintage art.

Rather than just investing, he quickly moved to create. Gary realized NFTs were more than speculative art; they were programmable tickets, memberships, and IP containers all in one. That aligned perfectly with three themes he’d talked about for years:

• Owning your own intellectual property (instead of just promoting others’ brands).

• Building communities around shared values.

• Leveraging new technology to deliver real utility, not just hype.

That combination led to a simple but ambitious decision: he wouldn’t merely collect NFTs—he would build his own universe.

From Childhood Doodles to a Character Universe

VeeFriends didn’t start in a boardroom. It started with sketches. Gary has said that he wanted to move from being “Mickey Mouse as Gary Vee, to Walt Disney”—in other words, from a personality‑driven brand to a character‑driven IP platform.

He began by asking: if his core content is about gratitude, patience, accountability, empathy, and self‑awareness, what would those traits look like as characters? The answer turned into animals, robots, and quirky figures like:

• Gratitude Gorilla

• Patient Panda

• Accountable Ant

According to VeeFriends’ president Andy Krainak, Gary and a small team literally locked in for days with a giant whiteboard, brainstorming traits, names, and designs. Gary would look at a list—gratitude, patience, empathy—pick a trait, attach it to a character, and then draw it from scratch.

He hand‑drew every single original character, which is unusual for a founder who could easily have hired an artist. That decision was part practical, part symbolic:

• Practically, it let him move quickly in a fast‑moving market.

• Symbolically, it reinforced authenticity: these weren’t corporate‑designed mascots; they were extensions of Gary’s own handwriting, literally and figuratively.

By the time he was done, hundreds of characters emerged. The initial NFT release—VeeFriends Series 1—would feature 268 unique characters and 10,255 total tokens.

Building Utility: More Than Just JPEGs

One of the core ideas that separated VeeFriends from many 2021 NFT projects was utility. Gary repeatedly argued that NFTs would only survive if they offered real‑world value beyond the artwork itself.

So when VeeFriends launched, each Series 1 token wasn’t just a collectible picture; it was a ticket and an access pass.

VeeCon: NFTs as Conference Tickets

Every Series 1 VeeFriends NFT included admission to VeeCon, a multi‑day business, networking, and culture conference for 2022, 2023, and 2024. Holders didn’t just get a digital asset; they got guaranteed access to three years of events—speakers, panels, and community experiences curated by Gary and his team.

In the middle of pandemic‑induced isolation and Zoom fatigue, the idea of a future, in‑person conference built around a digital collectable gave the project a unique narrative: buy an NFT now, join a community now, and meet in the real world when it’s safe.

Access Tokens and 1:1 Time with Gary

Beyond VeeCon, some VeeFriends characters were “access tokens,” granting very specific experiences with Gary.

Examples included:

• Tokens that let holders play ping‑pong or basketball with Gary.

• “Jam Session” style tokens that gave a three‑hour business meeting with him.

• Other tokens that gave group hangs, strategy sessions, or behind‑the‑scenes access.

This access layer turned the collection into a hybrid of collectible, coaching program, and membership club. It also tied the brand directly to Gary’s time and reputation, which raised both perceived value and expectations.

Launching VeeFriends Series 1 in May 2021

VeeFriends officially debuted on May 11, 2021, as a Dutch auction on Ethereum. Buyers used crypto to mint NFTs representing Gary’s hand‑drawn characters, each with its own token ID, trait, and utility.

The launch came at a moment when:

• Ethereum NFTs were becoming a mainstream conversation.

• The world was slowly starting to re‑open post‑lockdowns.

• People were still craving new digital communities that could later translate into real‑world connection.

Within months, VeeFriends became one of the most visible utility‑based NFT projects, repeatedly highlighted in media coverage as an example of how NFTs could combine art, access, and community. The collection also generated significant primary and secondary sales volume, cementing VeeFriends as both a cultural and economic player in the NFT boom.

From Collection to Company: VeeFriends as an Entertainment Brand

Over time, VeeFriends evolved from “Gary Vee’s NFT project” into a contemporary entertainment company focused on storytelling, collectibles, events, and technology.

The official description now positions VeeFriends as a brand built to scale 283+ unique characters and their attributes to “create a better world,” using kindness, accountability, and self‑awareness as core themes. That’s a big leap from the original token drop, and the brand has expanded in several key directions.

Physical Collectibles and Trading Cards

While VeeFriends was born on the blockchain, Gary has always respected physical collecting culture—especially sports cards and trading cards. It was almost inevitable that VeeFriends would bridge into that world.

The brand has released physical collectibles, including plushies, apparel, and, importantly, VeeFriends trading cards, first through ZeroCool and then into a broader Topps Chrome release, bringing the characters into the mainstream hobby space. That move connected the NFT audience with traditional collectors and gave the IP a tangible footprint beyond screens.

Storytelling: Comics, Content, and “Canon Age”

VeeFriends has leaned into storytelling through comic books, videos, and blog content that flesh out the characters and their values. In internal language, the project talks about evolving from an “Alpha Age” (the early NFT‑centric era) to a “Canon Age,” where narrative, lore, and character development take center stage.

That shift matters because it moves VeeFriends from being defined by the NFT market cycle to being defined by its characters and stories—more like a modern IP studio than a one‑off crypto project.

Events and Community Building

VeeCon became a flagship manifestation of the VeeFriends ethos, pulling together entrepreneurs, creators, and collectors in large in‑person gatherings. Beyond VeeCon, VeeFriends has hosted meetups, online activations, and live commerce events, often experimenting with platforms like Whatnot, Fanatics Live, and TikTok Shop.

Gary has said that live commerce is a “humongous part” of the brand’s future, reflecting his belief that selling, storytelling, and community will continue to merge in real time.

Navigating Criticism and the NFT Market Crash

No honest history of VeeFriends can ignore the volatility of the NFT space. After the 2021–early 2022 boom, the broader NFT market saw sharp declines in volume and prices, and projects across the board faced skepticism and backlash.

VeeFriends, as a high‑profile project tied directly to Gary Vee, attracted critics who questioned:

• The long‑term value of expensive NFT access passes.

• Whether the project over‑monetized Gary’s audience.

• The fairness of promoting NFTs heavily to mainstream followers during a speculative bubble.

Some former holders publicly described feeling burned by falling floor prices, and online discussions have dissected Gary’s incentives, timing, and messaging around the project. At the same time, supporters point to ongoing events, new products, and continued execution as signs that VeeFriends is a long‑term play rather than a quick cash grab.

This tension is part of the project’s story: VeeFriends sits at the intersection of conviction‑driven innovation and a highly speculative asset class, and that mix has created both opportunity and controversy.

Post‑Pandemic Evolution: Beyond NFTs

As of 2025–2026, VeeFriends looks increasingly like a multi‑platform IP brand rather than a pure NFT collection. Its trajectory since the pandemic includes:

• Expanding from 268 characters in Series 1 to more than 250+ characters overall across Series 2 and side drops.

• Moving into mainstream collectibles through trading cards and physical merchandise.

• Developing story‑driven content and comics, giving characters personality and arcs.

• Continuing to experiment with live shopping, community events, and new media formats.

In other words, the pandemic‑era NFT launch is now just the origin chapter. The brand’s ongoing challenge is to prove that these characters can live as long as the values they represent—gratitude, patience, empathy, kindness—even as the hype cycle around NFTs comes and goes.

Conclusion: A Pandemic Idea Aiming for Decades

VeeFriends is a case study in how a creator can leverage a disruptive moment—in this case, the pandemic and the NFT boom—to compress years of ideas into a single bold move. Gary Vee used the forced stillness of 2020–2021 to:

• Obsessively study an emerging technology (NFTs).

• Translate his long‑running content themes into hand‑drawn characters.

• Launch a collection that fused digital ownership with real‑world access.

• Then start evolving that collection into a broader IP and entertainment company.

Whether you see VeeFriends as a visionary entertainment startup, a controversial NFT experiment, or something in between, its origin is inseparable from the pandemic era that birthed it. The real test now is whether the characters—and the community around them—can outlast the market cycle that first brought them to life.