Pricey pixels: Why people spend fortunes on NFT art

Pricey pixels: Why people spend fortunes on NFT art

Money laundering. Its money laundering.

The buyer could have bagged a Van Gogh or a Monet, works by both going under the hammer for similar money last year.

Oligarchs need places to park all their cash. If a few talented artists get patronage that is the only good thing that could come out of it.

Err, You might want to study up on NFTs.

Even better, you might want to invest in the technology behind it - it’s the future

Err, You might want to study up on NFTs.

Even better, you might want to invest in the technology behind it - it’s the future

Right, the blockchain is such a difficult concept to grasp Satoshi.

And then with the pace of advances in quantum computing secure encryption is going to quickly become an issue. But the whales will have made their profits by then and moved on.

What is it about this website that attracts Luddites? If quantum computing suddenly reaches the stage that encryption is no longer secure, cryptocurrencies will be the least of your worries. There are much, much bigger fish to fry - entire governments, militaries and legacy banking systems name a few.

Even corporeal things do not have inherent value. Everything is worth what someone will pay for it, whether an original Leonardo or an NFT of a meme of the Mona Lisa.

Artists have always milked rich people to pay the bills. Credit where it is due, they are doing a good job of it in difficult times.

How else would rich people define themselves but by spending silly money on trinkets? They could use their cash to improve the lives of the poor and unfortunate instead, but that's not what the rich are like, is it?

You can get rich quick by investing in virtual assets. Get in early and sell before the market bursts. The risk level is higher of course, so you could get poor quick too.

At present enough governments are happier to tax crypto than ban it. But as we drift politically ever closer to the Middle Kingdom, they may change their minds. Caveat emptor.

"NFT are real, they are worth the value, the cost, the investment"

At least that is what the promoters, followers, near cult members will say.

Then we read article after article here there everywhere and get This:

Mumu, a 33-year-old illustrator who declined to give her real name,

Now imagine buying a house, a car, or even an old fashion painting, and the seller/artist is unknown or refuses to give their real name, how would that go over?

Sure there are such situations, the two that come to mind are Ponzi schemes and drug deals.

As P. T. Barnum is alleged to have said:

"There's a sucker born every minute"

What is it about this website that attracts Luddites? If quantum computing suddenly reaches the stage that encryption is no longer secure, cryptocurrencies will be the least of your worries. There are much, much bigger fish to fry - entire governments, militaries and legacy banking systems name a few.

I guess many on this website are not familiar with the exponential growth of certain technologies.

https://hothardware.com/news/google-hardens-chromes-security-against-encryption-hacking-with-quantum-computers

Count Google amongst the Luddites?

zichiToday  09:19 am JST

I have been an artist/craftsman for just as long.

And if one is honest, many famous and not so famous artists have spent much of their time milking their favourite rich "patron".

The difference is that those "artists" were know personally by the patrons they put their actual name on the art (yes there are a few exceptions there always are).

Do you hide your identity from your clients? Is your art work a mystery as to what, where and why it was created?

My first actual commissioned piece was when I was 17 forged from iron by hand, it is still on display back home over 40 years later my name still visible stamped into it's base.

In my view one of the ugliest, and poorly made things I have ever made but there it stands, no "delete" button will remove it no way I can hide the fact that thing is sadly my creation, barring someone taking a torch cutting it up and melting it down.

If these so-called artists stand by their creations then they should give their actual name.

Incorrect statement. The majority of artists are not wealthy. They do not milk anyone. I have been an artist for 50 years.

Zichi-the poster in question did not say the majority of artists are or are not wealthy. All they said is artists will milk rich clients, (obviously) given the opportunity. Banksy comes to mind.

zichiToday  11:01 am JST

Read a story last week about a young woman who wanted a house but could not afford one. She started out with a hairpin and traded up each time. Recently, she got her house.

If you only read that story last week then you are 20 years late.

That story has been going around for that long, sometimes it is a woman sometimes it is a man.

All stared with the then popular "barter" "reality" TV shows in the USA.

But let's say the story is true, how many people can or will do that?

0.001% or maybe more likely 0.0001%.

Ponzi schemes you loose, Drug dealing is illegal and in many cases you loose either one gets caught, removed by a rival, or cheated and you can't complain to the police.

NFTs are not a Ponzi scheme because you receive a digital commodity that can be sold on.

The price of anything is only what someone will pay for it.

So basically I could have my daughter (AI masters in computer Science and knows about block chains and NFT I wouldn't know how) encode my chicken soup recipe and under the definition some here believe, it would now be art!

zichiToday  11:15 am JST

As I said extremely rare, now compare her story to the 99.9999999999% of the rest of the world.

I used to breed Royal Blue Discus (fish) and once they produced a nearly red one, doesn't mean that Royal Blue can or will produce red babies to be exact never happened again.

So using the example, of this woman's rare method of getting her house, then we can conclude the it would be a rarity for any of these NFT piece of art to have even the slightest actual value especially in the long term.

but Andy Warhol already did that one.

No he did a can of soup.

I said my chicken soup recipe! (On my fridge on a piece of paper but also in a Note file on my NAS drive)

So why do you not have your daughter make you an NFT then? What is there to lose?

My dignity.

zichiToday  12:27 pm JST

What did Duchamp put in a museum? Even signed it R.Mutt

Yes and if memory serves, it was only accepted because it was a competition and the "artist" paid to enter, the object in question was never actually exhibited in the museum only photos published.

The fact even today no one is 100% sure Duchamp was the artist and many of his friends years later said it was done to see how gullible people and art critics are.

zichiToday  01:10 pm JST

I could pop out a list too.

What is your point? That there is a sucker born every minute?

Just because some fool decided a joke is now art doesn't change the fact 99% of all art is today worthless and NFT will follow suite.

Just like the elephant dung "art" if there is a sucker someone will find them and milk them out of their money.

Most people in crypto are young and naive, they have have no clue on how to preserve the wealth they have created, they think they are cool by owning the trendiest NFTs. Unfortunately for them the fad will come to pass and those holding them will end up regreting their decision forever.

I was lucky enough to have a couple of crypto punks one of them rare I sold them last year for an obscene amount of ETH to some random loser who thought that having a pixelated jpeg was more important than keeping the wealth they have generated by being in the space.

Old guys like me remember the .com bubble.

It was the NFT of it's day, oh yes a few made millions, but far more lost everything.

People spend fortune on art, or pretty much anything they're interested in. No mystery

Now imagine buying a house, a car, or even an old fashion painting, and the seller/artist is unknown or refuses to give their real name, how would that go over?

It has gone over quite well for Banksy.

There are plenty of reasons people try to hide their real identities. This is not the world you grew up in. Even modest success can mean your entire life is available for anyone to scrutinize: your home; your childrens' names, ages and schools; where you ate lunch; any embarrassing photo or quote from your past - in short, if you trade under your own name to a mass market, you lose all privacy. Ask any female artist or minor social media personality how bad it can get.

I remember the dotcom bubble too - I remember respected media voices mocking it and saying that the internet would have no greater impact on the world than the fax machine. We are at a similar stage now with NFTs, and you are missing the point.

You say you won't join in because "dignity." An artist, of all people, should be open to new ideas. You literally risk nothing by trying and learning about it. Whether it is dignified or not is a limiting construct in your own mind.

People who mistrust everyone and everything are just another form of Barnum's sucker, afraid to dip their toes in the water. But unlike Barnum's suckers, they don't even get to enjoy the circus.

zichiToday  03:27 pm JST

Ok I will be honest, I know all about it.

As I pointed out my daughter knows it all.

She is also a well known 3D AI artist developer.

And we have been killing ourselves laughing at the fact she can take what was a ¥500 digital drawing, turn it into an NFT and sell it for a few hundred thousand yen.

Take a guess how she and her partner funded their new company.

From ¥500 to hundreds of thousands because people are gullible. Oh and it was not much more work involved.

She is an adult and does her own thing, I myself prefer giving my clients my best work and at least a decent value for their money.

Perhaps I am old fashion and still believe in being fair and honest.

The market place for NFT is place to start.

Discover, collect, and sell extraordinary NFTs

https://opensea.io/

I

This article from the verge might be helpful

NFTs, explained

https://www.theverge.com/22310188/nft-explainer-what-is-blockchain-crypto-art-faq

May I humbly suggest buyer beware.

Some artists especially on social networks are finding they have been ripped off by someone turning their works into NFTs. I have found people selling prints of my works.

Needs to be addressed urgently.

People shouldn't be able to legally create nfts for something they don't own or didn't create.

In the case you found out your works were illegally used, is there an existing mechanism to address that?

May I humbly suggest buyer beware.

Yes.

Doesn't matter what type of commerce or platform, there will always be people trying to exploit it illegally

Well, when shopping in a supermarket, you walk in pick up a basket, fill it, pay and walk out.

When dealing with anything crypto

Not quite as straight forward.

Cryptocurrencies take a beating along with tech stocks, as Facebook earnings hit metaverse tokens and a blockchain hack hits solana and other DeFi coins.

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/crypto-market-facebook-earnings-metaverse-blockchain-ethereum-bitcoin-solana-hack-2022-2

zichiToday  04:30 pm JST

You need to read better ( this coming for a highly dyslexic person should get you to)

So unlike you, your daughter was not concerned about her "dignity."

Note I pointed out she is an adult and as suck can do as she sees fit!

The average price is less than $1,000/¥100,000..

Unless the British use a different method 100,000 is in the hundred thousand category.

You do like to nitpick when you cannot have the last word.

NFT = Non-Fungible Token,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-fungible_token

That last exchange on NFT’s made my day. all the more richer.

The NFT market for working artisans is a source of revenue.

Beyond selecting and placing a painting on a wall.

The business of buy high quality art prints would always become the genuine next generation marketing content.

Because they are idiots!

Because they are greedy!

Because they are greedy idiots!

Why do people push NFTs? It's because cryptocurrency also isn't that fungible. If you want to realize your gains in Bitcoin or Ethereum, you have to convert to real cash. But that's difficult if you aren't getting newbies to buy into your crypto. NFTs were probably created on a noble goal - get money to artists, but the crypto boys saw another use for them.