It is really difficult for people to value art, which is why I guess NFTs are a bit like an alien, you know, because people do not understand why some of these artworks go for so, so much. I purchased both of them each for $66,000 and I sold it for 6.6 million [dollars] Right now it seems like a bit of a fairy-tale, right? You can go make this NFT, sell it, and get a bunch of money, great. Maybe for a few that's the case but mostly for everybody, probably not. NFTs, this is basically being promoted by cryptocurrency promoters looking for the next worthless magic bean that they could sell for actual money.
An NFT is a digital certificate of ownership provenance and history. It's just a certificate the same way that you would have of your car, if you have one. But instead of being by a central authority in the place where you live, this is on a public ledger that everybody can access. The technology really proves, mathematically proves the provenance, the history, and the current ownership of that particular asset that is tied to the NFT. I think I really purchased that for very little. People didn't realize, the force that was behind the career of Beeple. He has had some discipline for the last 14 years without missing a single day of releasing illustrations, he had been partnering with all the top institutions around the world, he was a leader, a clear leader and symbol for the NFT space. Not me or anybody would predict such a ultra-high increase in such a short period of time. Of course, there was a flood of NFTs on the market immediately as everyone thought: I'm an artist, I can finally get paid! Some artists have done really well at this. Most haven't.
We also have to remember that cryptocurrencies are really hard to use for normal people. If people actually tried to use the blockchain ever, they'd discover that it sucks. We really had a tough time. There are so many things that need to be understood before you get into NFTs. Minting an artwork is basically a term we use to define the fact of encrypting an artwork into the blockchain. So what happens generally, you go to your preferred platform and you pay what we call a gas fee. Because you have to understand and see the blockchain, you know, as a car, that has little blocks and to make those blocks move where your artwork is in their way to be published you have to put some gas in. As the cryptocurrencies value goes up, the gas fees get more and more expensive.
Sometimes you can pay like hundreds of dollars. A couple of the big artist, sure, they can make some money, but all the smaller guys in between that are trying sort of go after that gold rush, you know, how many of them are getting kind of hosed for all these you know fees and stuff and then they can't sell because the market maybe isn't sustainable for that many people. I'm sort of fortunate that my fan following is big enough that I think if something is taken from mine eventually, I hear about it. I'm pretty used to having my artwork stolen and this was just another way of being stolen. What's the point of having an authenticated piece of artwork if anyone can post a picture and authenticated it? That was the irony of my situation. Platforms, every platform is super inclined to help whenever you come across this situation. I have faced it myself already. A lot of the really curated platforms, they ask you to send a video of yourself to identify yourself, talk about your work, etc. It was also, like, I was a little bit concerned because the NFT market has a certain negative connotation around it, forms of environmental impact and things like that and I've seen other artists getting a lot of heat for posting stuff on NFTs and things like that it worried me because I didn't want people to come after me in some negative way. I'm going to be completely honest: I have a lot of breakdowns when it comes to that.
When I actually discovered about the environmental aspect I even started minting less and less, because I don't want to be associated with destroying the planet. I would go so far to call bitcoin and Ethereum's proof of work mining system a crime against humanity. Every Ethereum transaction has a carbon load of at least 30 kg and uses like hundreds of kw per hour of electricity just to run a transaction through. Ethereum would continue to operate exactly the same even if tomorrow we say 'ok, stop minting all NFTs'. While it is true is that we need to work towards better options for mitigating the effects of Ethereum in the environment, I think that publicly shaming artist is not the way to go. And they keep saying that they're going to move to a better system but they've been saying that since 2014. And I will believe they've done it, when they've done it. We're going to see billions, trillions of NFTs flowing in the next few years. It's like the internet where you don't say I'm going to send you an email through the internet. It's implied in the background. I think we're moving towards that same thing where assets and in particular digital assets will be certified through NFTs. Nothing about this is about the technology. NFTs are all about the people and the flows of cash. I don't want to be involved right now ,maybe a couple of years from now.
Definitely the environmental impacts, it needs to be addressed. And also just having a secure platform that curates a bit. NFTs for a lot of people is about getting that life security. And I’m pretty relieved that I actually make a living out of NFTs.
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