18th December 2021 > > More NFT stuff.

tl;dr

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) can be a force for good or bad.

Market Snap

Market Wrap

It’s a week now since we last had a 5-handle with little appetite to get back there anytime soon.

Risk assets have reacted positively to the forthcoming ending of monetary stimulus in the US and that 150% increase in UK base rates, which is highly cheering. If peripheral 10-year debt can respond this positively to any reduction in price support from the ECB, we may get out of this situation without massive economic and financial damage.

That really would be a result.

Occasional Series – Trigger alert warning

If any reader feels that they are “literally shaking” (*) after reading my commentary, then I can only suggest you don’t.

If you do read the CCC and as a result you have a complaint of emotional distress, please let me know by email as soon as you can.

I will then print it out and chuck it in the bin. Don’t be shy now.

(*) As recently claimed by a Durham student who cannot emotionally cope with a point of view that recognises the actual existence of both XX and XY chromosome pairs.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) I

I am in two minds about whether I should write this up or not, but there are some important issues in this story that we all need to ponder on in a quiet moment.

Chansley – the horn wearing Shaman of QAnon who had a leading role in trying to overthrow democracy following Trump’s rightful ejection from his position as POTUS – is, thankfully, in jail.

With time on his hands, and a shameless PR exec leading the way, Chansley has launched his own range of NFTs stating they give the opportunity to “join a community of individuals intrigued by the intersection of politics, crypto, media, tribalism, and Shamanic culture.”

I have always naively assumed that proponents of Shamanic culture would be rather more likely to vote for the Green Party (or the Communist Party if slightly less radically inclined) than Trump, but we live and learn.

Remarkably, Chansley is somewhat to the right of Trump in his political beliefs, limiting the potential audience for his range of NFTs.

But that audience is also likely to be very committed, probably ensuring some degree of commercial success for this business venture.

…

Cryptos are an enabling revolution, even if sometimes those who are enabled are distasteful to the right-minded majority. That is a part of decentralisation, and it cannot be avoided. So we all need to think about that issue.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) II

On the 3rd of December 2021, the CCC reported on the world’s first NFT exchange traded fund (ETF):

“Yesterday investment and fintech firm Defiance launched the first NFT ETF (ticker: NFTZ) on New York stock exchange Arca. Though not directly buying and storing NFTs, the fund invests in the stocks of companies that are operating in this space.”

Since then there is now an ETF which is investing directly into NFTs.

The Bitwise Blue-Chip NFT Index Fund will hold ten of the most valuable NFT collections including CryptoPunks. Bored Apes, Fidenza etc. There will be a quarterly rebasing using what seems to me to be some rather vague restrictions and definitions suggesting the fund manager has somewhat greater scope in decision making than most ETF managers.

I have not been able to buy NFTZ for reasons I am yet to understand. I know I cannot buy this new ETF (it is only for accredited US investors) even if I wanted to meet the minimum $25k investment (spoiler alert: I don’t).

…

NFT sales on recognised marketplaces totalled $253mm in the last week, at an average price of just shy of $3k.

I have explored this space a little with BnbBunnies and Matrix avatars, as well as my own pirated collection on OpenSea, though Larry’s is so much better:

https://opensea.io/collection/i-can-copy-your-nft

I think the CCC needs to get more involved.

Curious Cryptos’ Commentary – Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) III

Anyone who went through the pain of trying to buy a Matrix Avatar has now been gifted a “Glitch in the Matrix” NFT.

Given there are hundreds of thousands of these, it would be rash to suggest that they will ever accrue significant value.

As I write the market for a Glitch NFT is 10.31/10.55 in pDAI, the Palm network version of DAI which itself is a USD stablecoin using ERC20 technology.

It is expensive to buy pDAI with a minimum 5% transaction fee for all fiat on-ramps via Wyre, the only option I have found (now there is a clear business opportunity for any Revolut minded entrepreneurs).

It is even more expensive to move pDAI off the Palm network and back to DAI on Ethereum. Last time I looked it was about $200 a pop but that will have changed in one direction or the other since then.

But it does beg the question – why would you sell a freebie for less than the cost of monetising that freebie?

https://niftys.com/nft/0x797735ff36e3a602dbb54510263cfb42633f2486/1

And for fans of the franchise, the cat is both the wrong colour (Twitterati woke police step down please – it is wrong because it is white) and walking in the wrong direction.

Reserve Treasury Protocols (before they all go to zero