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NFTs are the new beanie babies
by
Brandon Strellis
https://www.riknieu.com/nfts-are-the-new-beanie-babies/
This is a funny and interesting read for anyone old enough to remember the beanie baby craze! 😂
The idea that people would by NFTs for the social prestige of owning an NFT is mind-boggling to me. Maybe I misunderstand how awesome the Bored Ape Yacht Club is? Perhaps they go on really nice picnics or adventures together?
Anybody out there in the Yacht Club? What was your motivation for buying one of the apes?
Thanks @RikNieu for the content!
Thanks for posting the article! Glad you enjoyed reading it.
I made a follow up post where I express even more doubt about web3.
https://www.riknieu.com/web3-downsides/
He mentions some of the applications in which NFTs could be really useful ("NFTs could be tied to fractional share ownership. Time-restricted access to hotel rooms. Or car rentals, or ride-sharing. Season tickets! Warranty programs, degree or course certifications, content licensing, digital signatures... the possibilities are really endless.")
But I don't see any of that happening now. Does it have to be that NFTs are first a gambler's paradise and only later of real utility?
We're just seeing yet another manifestation of a classic capitalist pattern... A new market opportunity emerges, the rich get first dibs, and all the risk passes to the unfortunate plebs arriving late and trying to outsmart the market to win a fortune.
Re: NFT possibilities
Without knowing the details of how the latter items are implemented, the first ones all have one source of truth/authority deciding what is valid so don't need to be on the blockchain.
Blockchain means a public database where multiple people host copies so someone can't lie and make gains. Why would anyone other than the company themselves host the rentals of a Hertz rental car, or Mariott hotel room? Beats me
Problem is everyone wants it to be an asset while it'll be more useful as a form of transient or temporary auth
THIS. “A few people I follow on Twitter, that I respected as awesome indie-makers started shilling NFTs almost exclusively. There’s no more real-world wisdom from them, just “buy these pictures I’m dropping, LULz!11!” tweets.”
AND THIS. “But it all feels so empty. Surely this is not The Future.”
I have a foot in the world of wellness and I’ve seen the same thing. Yoga teachers who now want everyone to feel the “community” vibe they’ve built around their little pictures of bears by buying in. Always talking about the future and the potential and blah blah.
The bottom line is that when talking about the real-world value of NFTs (and crypto to a certain extent) you always have to use words like future, could, possibly, hypothetically, may, might, etc. Which all essentially mean “DON’T”. That’s it. They don’t do those things. Maybe one day they could. But maybe one day I could fly to the moon riding a squirrel. Liiiike. I'm not sold.
anyone without the willingness to do DD will scroll twitter and see endless amounts of beanie baby-esque projects. but that’s like throwing e-mail away because you get spam. news flash, it’s mostly spam.
Digital assets in general are the only assets in the world that you actually own AND aren’t bearer instruments. that last part being rather important for a world becoming increasingly digital.
throw in some culture (art) and a flex and you have a budding new economy.
base case for the “rich ppl just flexing” point is that you can only show that rolex (beanie baby) to the people in your immediate surroundings. i can flex a punk to all 5 billion users of the internet. ASSUME it’s just a flex…there’s no premium there? hilarious if that’s your stance. again only scratching the surface here.
research the “defi matrix” and tell me that digitally native assets won’t command a hefty premium.