NounsDAO, the unique community of whimsical and colourful digital collectibles, is on the brink of a significant treasury split, driven by a growing number of owners conducting what’s become known as crypto’s latest “rage quit.” This development comes as holders representing 25% of all Nouns NFTs express their discontent with the project. Instead of attempting to sell their NFTs in the challenging open market, where NFT prices are under pressure, they are swiftly seeking better returns directly from the project’s pool of ether tokens.

Under the recently implemented rage quit rules within the crypto community, if 20% of Nouns NFT holders call for a “fork,” they have the authority to separate from the main group and claim their portion of the project’s 30,620 ether tokens, which are valued at approximately $50 million at the current market rates. Each Nouns NFT carries an estimated book value of about 36.5 ETH or $59,600, resulting in the current fork’s treasury of 7,598 ETH, equivalent to roughly $12.4 million.

The value of Nouns NFTs has now risen to levels not seen since last December, driven by traders seeking arbitrage opportunities. Among these traders are some well-known figures in the crypto market’s “risk-free value” trading subculture, including the pseudonymous DCFGod, who holds 28 Nouns.

This situation is the latest in a series of “rage quits” that shed light on how decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) handle factions of investors who lose faith in their vision and seek refunds. Projects with assets trading below their book value are particularly attractive to activist traders looking to unlock hidden value within those assets.

In the case of NounsDAO, the mechanism for unlocking this value is relatively new. Last month, the DAO approved a comprehensive upgrade called v3, which introduced the concept of forking as a means for dissatisfied investors to exit the project peacefully. This development underscores the dynamic and evolving nature of the cryptocurrency landscape and how decentralized communities respond to dissent and dissenters.