NFTs (thread now extremely NSFW)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/02/11/crypto-currency-nfl-nba-sports-super-bowl/

When 100 million Americans tune in to the Super Bowl on Sunday, they’re likely to get the impression that cryptocurrency is a fresh NFL star to rival Joe Burrow. At least three commercials will promote the monetary form, while one of Sunday’s best-known players — the Rams’ Odell Beckham Jr. — has said he takes his salary in it. And though Tom Brady may be gone from the game, he hovers over it, hawking crypto exchange FTX.

Yet the hype belies a more complicated relationship. Unlike the National Basketball Association, the National Football League, the country’s most popular sports league, has essentially prohibited its teams from using crypto. It’s a microcosm of the broader cultural battle between those touting the currency as the shiny future and others warning of its dangers.

“The NFL and NBA strategies could not be more different,” said Peter Laatz, global managing director of the sponsorship consultancy and intelligence firm IEG. “The NBA is seeing the windfall and going for it. The NFL is zigging instead of zagging.”

they'll be all in soon. when "crypto" was added to PayPal and became the center button at the bottom, the writing was on the wall. everyone is an idiot and i don't care

it'll all be normal soon. the crypto people are right. it will be normal. the good things about it - decentralized, control your own money without a bank being there, all that, maybe. but also putting a price on absolutely everything. there always was a price. it just wasn't public, before. now there will be a price on everything, and that will seem "natural". it isn't. it's a bunch of idiots that won

have fun staying poor - that was what they always thought, anyway, only now it will be crystalized and on a public blockchain

What a time to be alive

thanks i hate it pic.twitter.com/hhs8CrjSIv

— Justin Ling (@Justin_Ling) February 13, 2022

A unique and progressive way to celebrate the the monumental life of George Floyd indeed!

Yesterday city police oversight bodies demanded changes in culture and more transparent social media policies following a recent scandal where a SF Police Station 'liked' an account that made a "mockery" of George Floyd. Chief Scott apologized. @AnnikaHom https://t.co/Wpc6u7lCxl

— Mission Local (@MLNow) February 18, 2022

The nifty grifting continues

https://web3isgoinggreat.com/?id=2022-02-11-3

Porn actress Lana Rhoades apparently abandons her NFT project after its launch

Lana Rhoades put her celebrity status behind the "CryptoSis" NFT project, which launched on January 22 and raised about $1.8 million. The project featured a detailed roadmap, explaining plans to develop metaverse wearables and a "hangout spot", send personalized messages from Rhoades to a small group of holders, and send out merchandise. The website also promised "real world utilities" including meet and greets with the "many mainstream notable female figures (who) will continue to join this community".

However, only weeks after launch, Rhoades appeared to have abandoned the project, and most of the funds had been transferred out. Rhoades deleted her TikTok videos in which she had promoted it, and didn't respond to tweets asking about the project. One community member wrote on Discord that they had "spent what (they) can't lose. Spent 4k, on total I had 6k. Man I'm left with 2k only. No job and have a 2 yo son". Hopefully the guy who got the tattoo of the project logo on his shin also isn't too disappointed...

The NFTs, which cost 0.1 ETH each to mint (about $250), were selling for around 0.005 ETH (about $15) on February 16, if they were being bought at all.

As I prepared to file my federal taxes, I couldn't help but wonder how many of the people who rushed to create NFTs last year will answer this question on their tax form 'Yes', especially if they performed the popular scam maneuver of selling it to themselves in a dummy transaction for thousands of dollars:

At any time during 2020, did you receive, sell, send, exchange, or otherwise acquire any financial interest in any virtual currency?

btw, all questions on a tax form must be answered truthfully or the form is considered fraudulent.

Except the year in question is 2021.

Notice to SHIBOSHI holders:

Our Defense Breed is investigating an incident pertaining to Opensea and in relation to X2Y2.

Please visit https://t.co/krP70ONIFj or https://t.co/832Z78eclq for more information in regards to 'revoking' your assets. pic.twitter.com/y4jXXD7Tdx

— Shib (@Shibtoken) February 20, 2022

our defense breed

I was googling Shiboshi NFTs and got this story: https://theithacan.org/life-culture/local-dj-cashes-out-on-crypto-trends/

My favorite part is “ Washburn, better known by his stage name DJ Washburn …”

Every time I’ve assumed we were at the bottom of what this trend can provoke, something new comes along and tunnels underneath

"You know, it isn’t just about the artwork — it’s about what they come with,” Washburn said. “It could be a membership or special access to an event or collection of media … Let’s say you want to buy my NFT, maybe you’ll get a T-shirt in the mail too or an exclusive DJ mix.”

The membership/special access point comes up a lot from NFT defenders - even accepting the market value of luxury brands, the idea that a critical mass of people care about that specific kind of status-seeking seems ludicrous to me. It's not like there are Soho House copies in every suburb around the world.

'Send me $3000 in ETH and maybe I'll send you a soundcloud link,' though, now we're talking about possibilities.

Bored Apes go to court: https://newsletterhunt.com/newsletters/money-stuff-by-matt-levine

I know this is normal now, this is just life in 2022, this ship has sailed. Still, imagine telling a federal judge “see, my cartoon ape is vastly more valuable than Justin Bieber’s because it is in the top 14% rarity, so please award me millions of dollars of damages against the exchange that negligently allowed someone to buy my ape for 0.01 ETH.” “What is an ETH,” the judge might reasonably ask. “The ape is a computer image, what does it mean that someone else possesses it, or that it is rare,” the judge might reasonably ask. “Why can’t you just right-click and save it, then you’d have your ape back,” the judge might reasonably ask. “Who is Justin Bieber,” the judge might reasonably ask.

Take it to Pokemon court

My mind immediately goes to, like, cyberstalking/cyberbullying crimes and the absolutely unprepared cops/judges tell women "idk why don't you turn your computer off?" I wonder if ape theft is going to have the same completely unprepared "idk why didn't you save your ape?" or if its going to shake out differently since there's man money involved

oh I'm sure DAs will have no problem valuing apes at billions if they can charge higher

This single thumb drive has 4 million doses of Ape.

With a street value of $76 billion.

oh I'm sure DAs will have no problem valuing apes at billions if they can charge higher

I'm assuming you mean defense attorneys and not district attorneys here

no I mean that district attorneys will like charging someone with the theft of an extremely valuable thing

Da Apes

ah gotcha, I was thinking the other definition of "charge" and was confused

I havent read all 800 messages in this thread but am thinking the takeawy is "people will pay for anything as long as they think its worh tmoney"

jfc this is ugly

the "POTUS Trump NFT Collection" is ... objectively hideous, a spinning 3d plaque with spinning stars, a 3d flag, protruding text, and on the reverse, a 45 set atop a background of 45s, some of them upside-down, plus a tiny photo that's probably Trump but can you really tell? pic.twitter.com/ijClu9NTWm

— Stuart A. Thompson (@stuartathompson) February 22, 2022

The Stars on 45 keep on turning in your mind
Like "We Can Work it Out"
Remember "Twist and Shout"
You still don't "Tell Me Why" and "No Reply-y-y”

Trump should have made a line of MAGA Apes.

If this NFT thing really takes off it will kill the business model of the Franklin Mint.

dang i’m kinda conflicted here, nfts are some bullshit but scamming trump stans is the lord’s work

It starts as a routine TV news segment: an interview with the head of the local chamber of commerce. Suddenly, a shot rings out, startling the two-person film crew. As a gunman enters off-camera, reporter Alison Parker reacts to the sound, her jaw dropping wide. A steady wave of shots roar as Parker screams. She runs, desperately, as the camera tumbles to the ground. The clip cuts: the final scene is the legs of the shooter as he advances.
)
The grisly 17-second clip was recorded by videographer Adam Ward on Aug. 26, 2015, as he and Parker were fatally shot by a disgruntled former colleague while reporting near Roanoke. Broadcast live, the horrifying footage quickly went viral, viewed millions of times on Facebook, YouTube and other sites. Six years later, it still gets tens of thousands of views, despite the efforts by Parker’s father, Andy, to eliminate the clips from the Internet.

Now, Andy Parker has transformed the clip of the killings into an NFT, or non-fungible token, in a complex and potentially futile bid to claim ownership over the videos — a tactic to use copyright to force Big Tech’s hand.

“This is the Hail Mary,” Parker said, an “act of desperation.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/02/22/expunge-his-daughters-murder-internet-father-created-an-nft-grisly-video/

i want the ride to stop

Parker does not own the copyright to the footage of his daughter’s murder that aired on CBS affiliate WDBJ in 2015. But in December, he created an NFT of that tape on Rarible, a marketplace that deals in crypto assets, in an attempt to claim copyright ownership of the clip. That, he hopes, will give him legal standing to sue the social media companies to remove the videos from circulation.

NFTs are unique pieces of digital content logged as assets using blockchain, the same technology that powers cryptocurrency. Over the past year, NFTs have exploded in popularity as people have rushed to buy, sell and trade NFT collectibles created from fine art, crude memes and even an animated version of Melania Trump’s hat.

[What is an NFT, and how did an artist called Beeple sell one for $69 million at Christie’s?]

Under existing laws, copyright holders are exclusively able to reproduce, adapt or display their original work, unless they grant another party permission to do so. Intellectual property lawyers said the concepts should hold true for NFTs.

But the rush to transform the vast swath of content circulating freely online into NFTs has unearthed ownership disputes. The blockchain records a permanent history of every transaction on a decentralized server, theoretically making it easy to track the ownership. Amid the buying blitz are situations like Parker’s, where an NFT holder has created a duplicate, crypto-certified version of a piece of content, leaving two purported owners of the same media.

Experts say the case law on NFT ownership is still in the early stages of development and has already prompted a number of copyright disputes. In one instance, a 12-year-old coder sold an NFT collection he created of pixelated whale images called “Weird Whales” for over $300,000. But according to Fortune magazine, users accused the project of copying a separate image the coder does not appear to own to create his NFT. The boy’s father told the BBC he’s “100 percent certain” his son has not broken copyright law and has asked lawyers to “audit” the project.

...

Parker does not own the copyright to the footage of his daughter’s murder that aired on CBS affiliate WDBJ in 2015. But in December, he created an NFT of that tape on Rarible, a marketplace that deals in crypto assets, in an attempt to claim copyright ownership of the clip.

too bad it won't work

scamming trump stans is the lord’s work

I thought it was Trump's work tbh.

it's also the pillow guy's work

More obscenity: https://web3isgoinggreat.com/single/2022-02-24-1

The Associated Press announced they would be dropping a new NFT on the platform they launched in January, which notably doesn't allow users to sell their NFTs off-platform or really do much at all with the image or video associated with their NFT. Most NFTs they've offered to date have been fairly benign, like a photo of a shooting star over a house in a field, or of a person spray-painting "illegal" on a brick wall (edgy!)

However, on February 24 they announced that their newest NFT would show a short, top-down video of around fifty migrants crammed into a small inflatable boat, adrift at sea in the Mediterranean. Any goodwill the AP might have had for their NFT project was likely shattered by their choice to monetize a video of human suffering. The already horrific NFT announcement was particularly ill-timed, given its juxtaposition on many Twitter feeds amongst news of Russian military action against Ukraine. The Associated Press deleted the announcement tweet four hours later.

wtf are ppl even thinking

Someone donated this Shibelon NFT to the Ukrainian government. The NFT collection is based on a mythology in which Elon Musk was granted genius powers by an alien, who also created bitcoin. Endorsements from Soulja Boy, The Game, and other celebs.https://t.co/0VQXhR7c9Z pic.twitter.com/M04KrK9IJc

— Jacob Silverman (@SilvermanJacob) February 27, 2022

I mean cant you make a NFT for anything? I can mint an NFT for this used tissue beside me? Does the thing even need to be digital?

i think the trickier part is starting up the discord channel dedicated to the used tissue and convincing people that it has value that will only increase over time

I’ll pay .08 eth for your tissue.

also are people still mistakenly thinking NFT= owning the rights to something other than the NFT itself? Like, you can't sue someone for posting a video just because you own an nft for it

ah, but that's the beauty of the used tissue! the tissue can be indisputably in one's sole possession and cannot be digitally reproduced! that way, whoever buys the NFT of the used tissue can also have the used tissue FedExed to them so it can be kept in a vault. It will even have a unique and recognizable DNA signature!

ah, but that's the beauty of the used tissue! the tissue can be indisputably in one's sole possession and cannot be digitally reproduced! that way, whoever buys the NFT of the used tissue can also have the used tissue FedExed to them so it can be kept in a vault. It will even have a unique and recognizable DNA signature!

and you won't be able to stop him

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/pussy-riot-nft-ukraine-1313141/

I guess NFT's for charity are probably the best possibel use

But all NFTs strengthen the use of Etherium as a currency.

This Social Club Runs On Crypto Tokens and Vibes

Friends With Benefits is a V.I.P. lounge for crypto’s creative class. Is it empty hype or the future of friendship?

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/02/technology/friends-with-benefits-crypto-dao.html

tbf this how my friend group works too

To join, applicants are vetted by a committee of current members. If approved — only about 20 percent are — they receive certain perks based on how many of the group’s in-house $FWB token they own.

Members with at least one $FWB token (current price: about $45) can read the group’s newsletter and blog posts. Local membership, which requires holding at least five tokens, comes with limited access to the group’s chat rooms on Discord, a talking and texting app, as well as entry to offline events. Global membership costs 75 $FWB — roughly $3,400 today — and includes access to all Discord chat rooms. (Friends With Benefits lent a Times reporter five $FWB tokens in order to view the Discord chats; those tokens have been returned, and the reporter does not have a stake in the organization.)

She joined the group after hearing that influential artists and creatives were involved but said spending time in the group’s Discord server had been disappointing.

“If we actually look at the active channels, it’s a lot of men in start-ups who play an instrument or two,” she said.