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NFT projects are just MLMs for tech elites

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Re: NFT projects are just MLMs for tech elites

#531

Post by javier123454321 »

The way I see NFTs is this:

It is an open API to deal with ownership rights. Every behavior that you can program into ownership, is now available. The profile pictures are stupid, yes, but the idea that property is moved to an open database which anyone can program a behavior is exciting.

Aston martin can now have a lounge in France where only Aston Martin owners can join, even if your car is in New York. Even if they can do that now, they haven't, and would not do it in an open api that anyone can build any application they want for owners.

We are learning what is possible at this very moment, a lot of the experiments are memes, and there are twice as many scams. Open and permissionless means that scammers as well as innovators are invited. However, there's excitement there which is very palpable and I would encourage you not to dismiss it.

Re: NFT projects are just MLMs for tech elites

#532

Post by bart_spoon »

barrenko wrote: post #508
Doxin wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're both correct and underestimating how broken NFTs are. If you buy an NFT that gives you nothing except bragging rights that you "own" this NFT. What ownership actually means when devoid of the associated rights is anyones guess. Buying an NFT of a GIF doesn't stop anyone from using that GIF on reddit. No one is going around checking if posted GIFs have a matching NFT out there and enforcing property rights base…

You're married. You don't own him / her, but people still brag about it and it's a frequent rite.

The NFT equivalent of marriage would be getting married, and your spouse continuing to live with their old roommates, date around, keeping a separate bank account, going on other people's family vacations, and starting multiple families other than yours.

If that's how marriage worked, people wouldn't get married either.

Re: NFT projects are just MLMs for tech elites

#533

Post by hanklazard »

rtkwe wrote: post #514
hanklazard wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I mean, opensea.io does allow you to mint (the term for magically turning a media into an official NFT backed by the blockchain) up to 100MB of content. So where is it? Not in the blockchain, obviously, it's already fat enough with tiny transaction data. Well, it's just stored in the centralized platforms like opensea, rarible, etc. You’re right that this is the way many have been created so far, but that will not…

Don’t those still rely on the gateway for wherever you mint it on IPFS staying up? The NFT link only points to a gateway which can go down then you’re at the mercy of it being replicated across nodes right?

Correct, it still only exists as long as someone on the IPFS network wants to keep it up. Similar to bittorrent in that way. Still, in the long-term, it seems that having the actual image/video/audio/other data replicated on a decentralized network rather than hosted on a single domain makes more sense to me (but then again, I'm very bullish on the future of IPFS/Filecoin).

Re: NFT projects are just MLMs for tech elites

#534

Post by brightball »

highfrequency wrote: post #311

There’s a lot of confusion here about why NFTs are valuable if the buyer doesn’t get to own the image copyright. This should not feel mysterious - NFTs are just like baseball cards. If you buy a Barry Bonds baseball card for $1,000, you don’t own the artistic rights to the image on the card. All you own is the card itself, which has negligible manufacturing cost. It would be trivial for any card company to produce a…

The difference with baseball cards is that nobody ever had the option to just "buy the Barry Bonds card" out of the gate.

The value came from the rarity of people all over buying random packs of cards, collecting them, trading them and the established rarity that came from that massive distribution coupled with holding the cards for a decade or more to see how one of these players career played out. On the off chance that you held onto a rare card of a legendary player, then congratulation...you have something of value. More so if you took good care of it.

There's none of that with NFTs. It's akin to handing out flyers on the street and asking somebody to pay for them on the basis that..."Sir, that flyer belongs only to you now. Congratulations!"

NFT's are just digital proof of an old adage.

"A fool and his money are easily parted." - Thomas Tusser # I bought the rights to the quote from an NFT

Re: NFT projects are just MLMs for tech elites

#535

Post by int_19h »

vokep wrote: post #200
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could, and it likely happens in some cases. However, an auction house is going to take significant fees as a percentage of the sale price and your shill bidder will want a cut as well. You’re also going to get a large tax bill because you technically had a realized capital gain and the auction house will report it. With NFTs you can do a blockchain transaction for a relatively small fee by yourself from your comp…

There are taxes as mining fees

Isn't it basically a flat tax, not dependent on the value "claimed" by the transaction, that is easily drowned for any transaction that would make such a scam worthwhile anyway?

Re: NFT projects are just MLMs for tech elites

#536

Post by sneak »

square_usual wrote: post #373
sneak wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...and then returned it quietly to the person who had loaned it to him temporarily to elevate his brand?

Huh, I didn't know that. Geez, this is scammier than I thought, and it was already pretty scammy. E: I looked around a bit and can't find any source for this, so I guess it's just a rumor?

Hence the question mark. I imagine most high profile NFT sales are simply wash sales for the publicity.

Re: NFT projects are just MLMs for tech elites

#537

Post by int_19h »

denton-scratch wrote: post #410
SrslyJosh wrote: post #3

This would have been more interesting if the author had traced where all the money being plowed into NFTs is coming from. I suspect that most of it does not come from outside of the current ETH (or whatever) ecosystem. I'd bet that most of the volume comes from people who are either treating it as play money, or trying to pump the NFT scam for their own benefit (real or imagined).

> ETH (or whatever) ecosystem "Ecosystem" is a word that I believe sprung to life in the 70s, referring to the entire collection of organisms inhabiting a 'place', along with the weather conditions etc. in that place. The term was coined because without it, you need (or rather, I needed) 16 words to express it. So it bothers me when people use the term to refer to collections of stuff that's never been alive: the Jav…

A metaphorical "ecosystem" is not just any system, but one that is open, and furthermore capable of organic growth and evolution.

Re: NFT projects are just MLMs for tech elites

#538

Post by bart_spoon »

deepsun wrote: post #327
flarg wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but what else can you do with digital art? Buy the PC it's sitting on and only share it via webcam of the screen?

The same as with any other intellectual property (books, movies, songs): buy the legally enforceable copyright. As in "right" and "copy". PS: I'm immensely interested in the process of creating a digital image. It's actually pretty tricky and technical, to apply all those filters in right order and with right settings. I would buy a recording of how the digital art was created.

Except the legally enforceable copyright is just that: legally enforceable. The legal system is what creates a financial incentive to own the rights to something as opposed to just copying it in some way that might constitute IP theft.

With NFTs, there is no legal benefit to actually owning the NFT.

Re: NFT projects are just MLMs for tech elites

#539

Post by Buttons840 »

dmarcos wrote: post #206
Buttons840 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I have a NFT concert ticket, how do I get into the concert? What do the people at the gates do to determine that I may enter? Do I print a piece of paper? Do I show them a picture on my phone or something? Can't the previous owners of the NFT show the same picture? Can't anyone show the same picture on their own phone?

No infrastructure in venues integrating NFTs but it’s no different than a traditional ticket. Your NFT could have an associated QR code read at the door. In case of conflict there’s only one owner with access to the associated wallet and will be able to proof ownership via app / website…

Someone could make an app that only shows a QR code for NFTs you own. Someone else could make an app that shows QR codes for NFTs they don't own.

I suppose your right that it usually wouldn't matter, but in case of conflict you better be prepared to sign something with your private key. If NFTs make most of society familiar with public and private keys, message signing, etc, it will be a win.

Re: NFT projects are just MLMs for tech elites

#540

Post by int_19h »

neuralzen wrote: post #172
larsiusprime wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, so in some cases you’re able to stuff an entire JPEG into the blockchain itself, I’ll grant that. In which case we move on to all the other problems. But For NFTs that are meant to be used in applications, I think my argument still holds. For fully disembodied NFTs where you just stuff a jpeg or it’s hash into a blockchain, my other complaint is that you’re just creating a speculative instrument that doesn’t real…

"my other complaint is that you’re just creating a speculative instrument that doesn’t really do anything except hope someone else will pay more for it." So like bitcoin? - The value is in what someone believes it is worth to be provably in control of a given asset. It also provides a great deal of social currency...certain NFT owners have identity wrapped up in them such that owning it extends social latitudes, as t…

Bitcoin has utility, though - it's genuinely useful for money transfer in some situations (and locations).

But NFTs don't appear to have any practical utility whatsoever. They intentionally lack exactly the parts that make Bitcoin useful.

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