NFTs

[Pyrrho]

Fools and their money, etc.

https://www.latimes.com/business/techno ... ollectible

[Anaxagoras]

I just heard about non-fungible tokens yesterday. Apparently they allowed a digital artist to sell his work at a Christies auction:

The $69 Million JPEG

Mike Winkelmann, a digital artist and graphic designer known as Beeple, was trying to find a better way to sell his art. He had thousands of works that he had produced over the past 13 years for his popular "Everydays" series, but there was a problem. The art market, made up of galleries and auction houses that dictate the value of creative works, was not an avenue through which he could do so for a simple reason: Digital art can be infinitely reproduced, making the works worthless.

So when his friends told him that there was a way to change that, a way to label his illustrations as unique, singular pieces of art, Winklemann listened. He started looking into what are called "non-fungible tokens."

Non-fungible tokens or NFTs have been a growing craze in the digital world. Like cryptocurrencies, NFTs are run on blockchains, digital ledgers that create an authentication of ownership. But unlike cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ether, NFTs are designed to be unique assets. And the idea is that scarcity is what creates value.

Because of this, artists have been flocking towards NFT markets as they search for greater success outside the conventional art world, Winklemann included. The result? The price for a Beeple NFT exploded. Before he knew it, Winklemann was making millions off of sales and resales of his art. And the traditional art market also took notice. They really took notice. Yesterday, an NFT of Beeple's "Everydays" sold at Christie's for $69 million.

Today on the show, how the blockchain broke the auction block.

[shemp]

I'm going to start doing this shit and get rich. Grandma Moses didn't start painting until she was 78. I've got a 15 year head start on her!

[Pyrrho]

I looked up info on how to get started and I think it's beyond my ability. Certainly beyond my hardware. Also I'm not going to open any cryptocurrency "wallets", given my recent experience with unemployment fraud.

[Pyrrho]

This guy sold his own grandma.

https://news.artnet.com/opinion/kenny-s ... ed-1950407

I can barely make HTML work, let alone figure out this here newfangled NFT malarkey.

[Witness]

Can we sell the forum, Pyrrho?

It's definitely an artwork… Akin to the Lascaux cave, with multiple layers, anonymous creators, labyrinths, collapsed galleries and even some skeletons in its darker parts.

[shemp]

My first NFT masterpiece is completed. Of course, it's far too sophisticated for peons such as you to appreciate, but I'm sure that you'll want to own a fine work of art that is certain to rapidly appreciate in value.

I give you: Midnight in Cairo!

Bidding begins at 10,000,000 USD.

Midnight in Cairo.jpg

[shemp]

Also, now that I am an artiste, you shall address me as "L'Artiste f/k/a shemp." I shall notify you when I have chosen an appropriate unpronounceable symbol to represent me.

[gnome]

His mama named him Shemp, imma call him Shemp.

[Anaxagoras]

This has to be a bubble.

Jack Dorsey tweet: Man who buys his first-ever post speaks out

The buyer of Twitter's first ever tweet by its founder Jack Dorsey for $2.9m (£2.1m) sees it as a wise investment.

"It's a piece of human history in the form of a digital asset. Who knows what will be the price of the first tweet of human history 50 years from now," Malaysia-based Sina Estavi said.

Mr Estavi compared his newly-acquired tweet to Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

Experts agree that the first tweet from the Twitter founder on his own platform is a highly valuable asset.

In what sense does he actually "own" the tweet even?

Jack Dorsey's tweet, which said "just setting up my twttr," was first published on 21 March 2006 and was auctioned off by Mr Dorsey for Give Directly's Africa Response charity.

OK, I guess if it's for charity, maybe it doesn't even matter. Just think of it as a donation to charity that comes with a little extra publicity. Is it still tax deductible though?