opinion NFTs: I just don't understand

[amplify]

NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are a phenomenon that appears to have come out of nowhere, and something that I just can't grasp.

I watched Down The Rabbithole on DomainSherpa about NFTs to try and get a better grasp of them after the Booth (@JamesBooth) brothers spent $1.3m (400 ETH) to acquire the most unique Bored Ape Yacht Club ape.

Andrew Rosener brought up a good point on the Podcast that humans are innate to collect. To that, I say that humans are also prone to repeat history hoping for a different and sometimes better outcome. In other words, we all have a bit of crazy locked up in us too.

Both Andrew and I lived through the TY Beanie Babies rush. Speaking for myself, I can say at this moment that at the time TY looked like an escape from poverty. And, quite possibly, had I, or my mother, entered and exited at the right moment, it would have been a means to an end for our family.

Though, we all know what happened to the TY rush.

If not, you can watch its steep incline in value, priced by those invested in the fad, and faster than incline, decline, in this Beanie Baby mini-doc posted in the comments section of the above article by @MapleDots. It illustrates that the people who set the prices for the Beanies were also those that were invested in them, creating books and guides, also selling them.

Sounds strikingly similar to NFTs to me...

Andrew also stopped by to comment "have fun staying poor" to those that don't participate in the NFT trade.

Shane Cultra chimed in to say that people called us, domain name investors, idiots for putting our money where our mouths were to buy and sell domains. While this might have been true at one time in the early days, it has shown itself to be a well-oiled environment for investing over the past two to three decades, while we have months — even though the ability was created years ago — on NFTs.

I just can't understand a $1.3m purchase of a JPEG — I would rather have a Ferrari F50.

Yeah, I've seen the "boomer" comments about people not understanding this in almost every comments section on NFTs. The problem with this sentiment is that I'm a millennial, and for the most part, the older people on the millennial side of the age scale are in this space, at least from the domaining atmosphere. And, we have children, children that we could have taught not to repeat the same mistakes of collectibles as a means of investments, especially after the CHIP phenomenon... remember that one? Luckily I got out at the peak.

At least with NFTs, we can see both the wallet of the Booth brothers (0xe32acfcedfa8bda1d0ed03cafa854219ce0c9cea) to see what else they're buying and selling as well as follow the transactions on their $1.3m ape to see if it works out in their favor.

I wish them, and everyone else in the space, all the of luck in their ventures and hope that it works out in their favor; I have no ill-will towards anyone to want them to fail. However, much like Dogecoin, I will be sitting this one out.

I'll probably end up eating these words and stay poor for now (I'm better off than as a child, of course). I just don't have that risk tolerance, otherwise, I would participate in options on the stock market much more, something that can give 100% gains overnight, or take them just as quickly, because it's at least something proven and something that I can understand.

At least we have a good record of where things were in 2020/2021 for investing — Probably something that we can all agree on now: A crazy two years of our history that no one will probably understand 20 years from now.

 

[mr-x]

Dutch Tulips

Every domains is unique, btc has a limited supply. When the economy contracts, who in their right mind is going to buy a jpg that can still be copied, printed, etc..

Nothing unique about that jpg but the nft. If the NFT makes it unique like a the VIN number on the first Porsche Carrera, every Carrera has a unique VIN.

You can't counterfeit a Porsche without great expense and the copy will be inferior. I can copy a JPG for free and you can't tell the difference.

Andrew is pushing fomo. No different than the next new ".com".

 

[amplify]

I just don't understand it and the only sales point it has is "community". Questioning it only leads to ad hominem "boomer" attacks as they can't really relay what it means collectively, only to themselves, where the buck stops if nobody else gets it.

 

[mr-x]

I can see applications, tagging an original work of art, computer program, etc.. but the value is 100% subjective. The bored ape is a crappy cartoon. The only value it has it the NFT, not the art.

 

[Biggie]

Hi

the good thing for me is....

i don't watch or listen to, domain podcasts
so, the influential, don't influence me in any direction.

i regged maybe 5 nft names, but wouldn't purchase any nft's.

btw: was watching an episode on decades tv channel a few days ago, that featured the beanie baby craze.
it's downfall seem to come from ty's exploitation of "retiring" of the popular items, to stimulate the collection of them.
but when he kept reviving them, folks got tired of the BS and prices fell.

the "pet rocks" craze, and the Enron scam might fit there too,
which is why i have no crypto currency.

imo...

 

[mr-x]

People call me a boomer, I remind them we invented the internet. They made twitter and fake pronouns.

 

[mr-x]

Hi

the good thing for me is....

i don't watch or listen to, domain podcasts
so, the influential, don't influence me in any direction.

i regged maybe 5 nft names, but wouldn't purchase any nft's.

btw: was watching an episode on decades tv channel a few days ago, that featured the beanie baby craze.
it's downfall seem to come from ty's exploitation of "retiring" of the popular items, to stimulate the collection of them.
but when he kept reviving them, folks got tired of the BS and prices fell.

the "pet rocks" craze, and the Enron scam might fit there too,
which is why i have no crypto currency.

imo...

Aren't the bro's claiming they paid 7 figures for a .jpg the same people caught bidding on their own domains at enom.

 

[Biggie]

Aren't the bro's claiming they paid 7 figures for a .jpg the same people caught bidding on their own domains at enom.

Hi

a lot of things that go on in the game, seem like a wash to me.
i just try not to get caught-up, in the spin cycle.

imo...

 

[mr-x]

all about the hype

 

[Domainnature]

Some NFT's are junk to us but treasure to others, I believe NFT, Crypto and Metaverse have a place in our future.
NFT to me is a way of artistry it is like having a Davinci artwork in an example which only you are the owner, I plan to draw NFT's and sell them in limited examples.
I have some NFT domains but to buy NFT I will not do, maybe in the far future, when the AR, VR, and MV tech will be ready, at the moment that tech is still in the pampers phase of development.

 

[amplify]

it's downfall seem to come from ty's exploitation of "retiring" of the popular items, to stimulate the collection of them.

Retiring them is one factor, which can also be applicable to perhaps unfrozen attributes in the Dogs that BAYC dropped. The dog's traits, supposedly, can change. Therefore, they could become more unique with time.

The pricing of TY came directly from the speculators with the rares. They were the ones compiling production run lists and pricing them accordingly, much like what we see with NFT arts today.

 

[mr-x]

Some NFT's are junk to us but treasure to others, I believe NFT, Crypto and Metaverse have a place in our future.
NFT to me is a way of artistry it is like having a Davinci artwork in an example which only you are the owner, I plan to draw NFT's and sell them in limited examples.
I have some NFT domains but to buy NFT I will not do, maybe in the far future, when the AR, VR, and MV tech will be ready, at the moment that tech is still in the pampers phase of development.

If you copy a physical work of art, i.e.. the Mona Lisa, it's just a copy and easily identified as such. If you copy a .jpg of a lazy ape, a speculator claimed he paid seven figures for, it is indistinguishable from the orginal.

All it takes to make a copy is shift+print screen.

 

[amplify]

If you copy a physical work of art, i.e.. the Mona Lisa, it's just a copy and easily identified as such. If you copy a .jpg of a lazy ape, a speculator claimed he paid seven figures for, it is indistinguishable from the orginal.

The only conclusion that I can come to is showing off your NFTs in the Metaverse, flexing on what you've bought. However, that too sounds silly and game-like.

So, you're telling me that you're going to walk around for hours -- as you probably already do scrolling around on social media -- to show someone in Canada your Ape?

That also raises more questions. Who owns the metaverse and who controls what NFTs can be included, or excluded, from it? I'm sure there will be "harmful content" introduced, and banned, from the metaverse. Then what, you go print it out because that's the only way to enjoy it?

Come on.

I want to have a real dialogue with someone to help me understand this. So far I have is that it's human nature to collect, a way to gain clout, and to connect with others in the space. But, is all this worth it?

 

[Domainnature]

If you copy a physical work of art, i.e.. the Mona Lisa, it's just a copy and easily identified as such. If you copy a .jpg of a lazy ape, a speculator claimed he paid seven figures for, it is indistinguishable from the orginal.

All it takes to make a copy is shift+print screen.

View attachment 5264

Yes anyone can do that if they don't value the Authors work, the world is full of them, I call them lazy grabbers.

 

[Domainnature]

Lets put it in this way NFT's as domain names.
Would you prefer to have market.com or a copy of it market.online? same thing with NFT's I would prefer the original art from the Author who created it not a cheaper copy.

 

[amplify]

Would you prefer to have market.com or a copy of it market.online?

This is a false equivalence fallacy.

For starters, market.com is one name and market.online is another. They can both independently work and coexist together, achieving the same goal or being completely separate services.

I would prefer the original art from the Author who created it not a cheaper copy.

And, to which, you still can.

To my knowledge, the owner of BAYC Apes has commercial rights with ownership. You could reach out to an owner and ask $50 to authorize a 24"x24" canvas print to hang in your coffee shop, with you taking the JPEG on down to the print shop to be done.

You wouldn't own the $50,000 ape, but if ape drawings are your thing, it could make a nice wall piece for considerably less.

To top this whole thing off, the Apes were dropped for a lot less money than they're selling for now. The original authors aren't collecting the great sums of money, regular people passing the NFTs on to what I believe to be the next sucker in line is. So, you're not really supporting the artists anymore, if you can call randomly generated images art, except being a marketing tool for Bored Ape Jet Club, Bored Ape Golfer Club, etc., while concurrently diluting your investment.

 

[mr-x]

I want to have a real dialogue with someone to help me understand this. So far I have is that it's human nature to collect, a way to gain clout, and to connect with others in the space. But, is all this worth it?

Nothing. It's not a great mystery, I think you're overthinking it.

The "metaverse" may be the next evolution of the internet but I don't see NFT's being used to authenticate .jpgs'.

More likely as copyright protection, contract signing ( instead of the lousy jpg signatures we now use ), validating transactions, etc.

 

[mr-x]

Lets put it in this way NFT's as domain names.
Would you prefer to have market.com or a copy of it market.online? same thing with NFT's I would prefer the original art from the Author who created it not a cheaper copy.

My screen capture of a real work of art was a cheap copy. If I copy a JPG, I have two exact same JPGs'.

The only people who care about the original are collectors and the artist. You can't copy a physical work of art into the "metaverse" ... aka the Internet; only a facsimile.

P.S. If you think a NFT will stop somebody from copying your drawing and displaying it on the wall in the real world or the fake Internet world and enjoying it, you're wrong.

 

[Biggie]

You can't copy a physical work of art into the "metaverse" ... aka the Internet; only a facsimile.

Hi

i think that quote above, is what's overlooked with nft's.

imo...

 

[Domainnature]

My screen capture of a real work of art was a cheap copy. If I copy a JPG, I have two exact same JPGs'.

The only people who care about the original are collectors and the artist. You can't copy a physical work of art into the "metaverse" ... aka the Internet; only a facsimile.

P.S. If you think a NFT will stop somebody from copying your drawing and displaying it on the wall in the real world or the fake Internet world and enjoying it, you're wrong.

I m not protecting that silly Ape image and would never pay such amount of money for it even if i had.
I m against copying of other peoples artwork, this NFT is very good for artists to protect their art, and if you not know the future will be without much paper, but instead used holograms and projections of images on walls, for sure the NFT's will play a role into this.
Now imagine that you are an artist, you draw a very beautiful art and try to sell at your established price based on the hard work you did, then someone smarty pants comes and duplicates your concept and sells it at cheaper price, how you will feel after this?
I have experience with grabbers and will never forget how they shared my work to others for free, you must go through the process to understand it.
The reason why I did not started to draw is because of those grabbers lurking on internet to see what to lazy grab.
If you are not technician like me you will not be able to foresee the future, of course even in the future will be grabbers trying to grab and modificate something free of charge just to not pay.
Aditionally as soon I comented about (navy + green) colors to be used for Epik now every website uses them, look at DAN even added more ways of payments as I did on my web, just a bunch of grabbers.