Gm team
Another crazy and volatile week in crypto and NFTs.
FTX revelations continued to get worse (and weirder) and the NFT market went cold on us as FTX went bankrupt.
On the brighter side, I’m looking for awesome brands and projects to partner with me. So if you want to be featured in these papers with our 1100+ subscribers email me at bcheque@protonmail.com
Have a great day,
B
Contents
This Week in Crypto
This Week in NFT World
$5M SuperRare Suicide
Thought of the Week
This Week in Crypto
SBF admits to loads of bad stuff in DMs - Admitting his woke persona was a front? Loaning FTX customer funds to Alameda without permission? Absolutely no remorse or contrition? Yes, yes, yes. As if the guy losing everyone’s money wasn’t enough, he’s now doing ad hoc media interviews in DMs as if he is invincible.
Enron bankruptcy restructuring officer says “"Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information." FTX filed for bankruptcy, and it turned out the guys didn’t even have an accountant lol. More outrageous findings in this excellent summary of the FTX declaration.
Binance to the rescue? - Binance is forming an industry recovery fund to help ‘better’ projects if they have liquidity issues as a consequence of the FTX contagion. Unclear how this would work. But it confirms CZ’s ascendancy..
Tom Brady and Larry David sued as part of FTX related class-action - They were really good ads, but people think their losses are the fault of TB and LD. Not gonna happen folks, sorry. You’re going to have to be more careful with your money than your favourite celeb.
2. This Week in NFT World
Nike entered with .SWOOSH - Nike started sign ups for a platform for you to buy, show off and trade phygital and virtual products, unlock access to events and products, AND co-create products. Hope this link will work for you to sign up but think you only have 24 hours.
Sony coming with the NFTs - Sony has filed a patent for tracking in-game digital assets with NFTs, allowing gamers to own and collect items.
Broadside NFT sells out - Shoutout to my friend Vector Meldrew, one of the most recognisable crypto artists, Matt Mason and Stratford Rex who sold out the Broadside NFT project. I advised Matt and Vector a while back on some light legal matters, but aside from that I was impressed by their credentials, method, and output. Huge achievement to sellout in this market environment. Check out their vision:
3. $5M SuperRare Suicide
209 SuperRare passes sold this week for a total of 3.9k ETH ($4,716,114), most being sold individually around the 18 ETH ($22,000) price point (it was a dutch auction). On the secondary market they have done a further 1.25k ETH ($1,511,575) volume. Sounds like a huge win for SuperRare (the platform), the artists, and the collectors, right?
Wrong.
Some people are not happy.
Here I explain the pass, consider why it has performed so well, and comment on its reception - and throw my opinion into the ring.
The Pass
SuperRare is the OG cryptoart platform (in case you didn’t know) and they’ve handpicked a bunch of top artists in the space to drop art to pass holders over the next 12 months.
Why is the pass so valuable?
Look at the artists. They are some of most revered, iconic, highest-selling artists in the game.
You can get a 1/1 from a series of 250 by these artists.
And you have the chance every month to get a 1/1 from one of these artists.
The reception
The healthy sales suggest that the market values these.
My friend MoonCat even suggests that they are at their current price undervalued based on a comparison with some of the artists’ own collections.
Irrespective of comparative value, many were not fans of the drop.
I spent a lot of time going through the comments to try to understand the criticism.
The central argument(s) against the drop seemed to come from Omz.
In essence, Omz suggests the drop is
designed to make SuperRare as much money as possible upfront
reducing the art of curation and collection to a game of chance
failing to acknowledge the contributions of the variety of artists who made SuperRare great
prioritising hype and influence over talent
blurring the lines between “art” and “collectibles”
Omz certainly received some support from artists and collectors. Max is an OG OG artist, Artie and VVD are very prominent collectors who I respect, and AL Crego and Etienne Crauss are both artists I admire.
The agreement with the criticism seems to derive from - at least in part - the gambling element…
The length of time some of the artists have been practicing art…
And the way the primary sales cut out the artists.
My take
Going to deal with this in a pretty legal way (sorry, old habits!), one at a time:
designed to make SuperRare as much money as possible upfront - I have no issue with SR making money. I think this space can at times be the strangest capitalist communist place; everyone trying to make loads of money whilst pretending that noone should be making any money. The more interesting question for me lies in the split between SR and artists.
It appears from the above that the artists were cut out of the primary sale entirely.
Whilst instinctively that doesn’t sound great, I think it’s interesting that so much criticism had the carve out: “but we don’t begrudge the artists who have participated” - as if it is still a good thing for the artists.
SR is huge. These artists are huge. Let the big players cut the deal.
reducing the art of curation and collection to a game of chance - I am much more persuaded by this idea. I think this in fact devalues the curatorial aspect of collecting. (“Buy the pass, play the lottery” is hardly the same as “research, discover an artist, create a connection, collect”.)
However, I wonder why it matters to the collectors and curators? Would it not be to the benefit of the skilled curator to have others distracted by a more ‘collectible’ style drop? I don’t see this as an ‘either or’ scenario: I see it as an “and” situation, where if you love the “purer” art, stay true to that; if you like the gambling element, have a flutter. There is a market for both (FYI all the art you love didn’t just get deleted.)
failing to acknowledge the contributions of the variety of artists who made SuperRare great - I cannot get on board with an argument which suggest that a gatekept platform should not gatekeep further. Newsflash: SR literally excludes loads of artists. I assume people think this is good. You can’t create a list of anything without excluding someone. I don’t believe that means we should halt our endeavours to narrow things down sometimes.
prioritising hype and influence over talent - Omz calls out Rug Radio and Degenz, two prominent Web 3 media outlets, presumably because OSF, one of the included artists, is instrumental in those organisations.
He has a very significant following, as do the media outlets. He is also an incredibly successful artist. I personally think OSF has a really distinct style and vibe which taps into crypto culture in a wholly unique way - but putting aside the art, I wonder: for what reason is “talent” being used as the sole most important metric in this space when in reality so much more is required to be “successful”?
blurring the lines between “art” and “collectibles” - see above - even if this is not “art”, which I am not entirely convinced it is not, I do not believe this is an “either or” scenario.
Conclusion: My take is a pro-market take. I do understand though that “art” has a “soul” and the experience of “consuming” art goes beyond the mere “consumption”. (I enjoy irl galleries a great deal.)
Perhaps what might have happened here is that people believed SR to be some sort of protectorate for that “art” - and that it should evangelise that “art” exclusively - and it is that belief which has been betrayed and caused so much distress as a consequence.
Thought of the Week
Reflecting on why I want to be a creator, I think at least a part of it is to be independent; to be in control of my own destiny; to not need to rely on others and to be self-sufficient.
This dream can be at odds with how the world works. In reality, even when independent there are many relationships you need to develop and grow to be truly successful. Aside from that, at any moment you can have what you are working on ripped from you: this week I learned that, once upon a time, the US actually ordered that its citizens hand over their gold to the government.
Crypto can oftentimes be a hyper-libertarian space - so much so that its proponents become anarchists, particularly at the thought of government seizure of [insert your asset].
I look at this from a more historical perspective.
The relationship between state and money has always changed, as states have changed, and as money has changed.
Right now money IS CHANGING. And that is unlikely to happen without some battle - and some casualties.
Have a great day,
B
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Disclaimer: The content covered in this newsletter is not to be considered as investment advice. It is for informational and educational purposes only.
I hold some of the NFTs mentioned in these newsletters.