THE LAUNDRY OF NFTS
WEB3 AND NFTS, THE FUTURE OF FINANCIAL SOVEREIGNTY OR THE LARGEST LIE TOLD TO ARTISTS
NFTs have become what people consider to be a new form of art. I find this to be a very uneducated opinion and a scary opinion in regards to the role that art has played throughout society for millennia. With the invention of Clubhouse, Twitter spaces and if anybody remembers the failed Spotify platform, Jewel, Social media platforms have allowed for individuals to garner influence in a way that has been unprecedented to date.
Pairing that influence with the non-fungible token component of NFTs, which many influential influencers will call art. This has created a very volatile and highly controlled financial upper class divide. There is a large belief that the anonymity and decentralization component of the Blockchain allows for those who create real, quality art to rise to the top no matter where they come from. This is a huge misconception, one that is extremely dangerous to the financial well-being of many artists. Artist have entered the web 3 space, and had to leave the space because they've spent all of their life savings. The cost of smart contract creation, (before websites like Manifold existed,) the deployment cost, on top of the art generators that they had to either make, licensee or pay to use for large scale NFT drops, was and is, an extremely unviable, untenable situation, even for the most experienced, professional, physical artists who had entered the space.
Throughout my 3+ years in these vocal-social- platform rooms, discussing digital art and the inventions within blockchain technology and the intentions of the innovators, to help propel our culture forward. There is not a shadow of a doubt, any longer that the blame is always placed on those who would be considered currently, "The Have Nots,” The “starving artists.” Whereas those who “do have,” and continue to gain more and more free, appreciating assets through their rewards in airdrops, seem to walk away blame free whenever there is a hack, a floor drop, or simply the failure of NFT projects for a multitude of reasons.
I find this blameless mentality, not only difficult to believe, I have come to witness and understand that when a whale in the NFT space, no matter the blockchain of their choice, when they decide to splash their tail, the tide goes in the tales their direction, creating a riptide. This whale created current has taken many of the Market Participants down into the depths of the sea in its wake. And for those individuals who had the strength to stand up to these whales, the result, tragically is nearly always the same. They are reported to Twitter, they're blocked, their muted, their voices are silenced.
This lack of free speech, I find to be the antithesis of what web three and what IOT (internet of things) stood for and could still stand for. I was under the impression that web three was the beginning of implementing the IOT, with AI and the ability of this technology to help intertwine our lives in a more efficient way with all of the mundane activities of daily life. This would have allowed for individuals to focus more on their passions.
The proof is in the numbers and the numbers of specific influencers who sell for exorbitant amounts of Crypto with their primary supporters, who so happen to be collectors cheering them on publicly, (for the sake of this article I will not call out individuals until interviews are conducted with their permission.) This shows that equality amongst artists and their exposure to certain collectors, no matter the quality of their art, or thematic message, web3 and NFTs is still the same game, from the “old art world.” Who you know, who your family is ,and who is going to open the door for you, no matter the years or lack there of practicing ones craft.
However, unfortunately in this case unlike in the film industry or music industry, where if the door is opened for you and you fail to come through with quality, you do not come back again, no, instead you are put into a post production role or a production role. Where as, with NFTs it seems the worse quality of product, the happier the collector. This leads me to one of several major points that nobody wants to discuss, especially within the vocal platforms, due to fear of isolation from being canceled, and black listed.
There is an epidemic of laundering certain currencies through heinous art, with terrible colors that affect the brain in adverse ways. These are the physiological effects, the mental effects have to do with the false promise of jointing a “community.” These community leaders use the members who joined, some of whom invested into the project by cashing out their fiat investments thinking that it was a way for them to maybe climb that social and financial ladder. The one that you hear so much about in America, “The American Dream, you can be anything you want to be,” and yet they were just somebody's exit liquidity. Allowing these community leaders, with very little to no understanding of how to run a corporation, which many of the successful projects turn into. No, these “leaders,” write their loss with their overall investment in the project after it pumped very high and then dumped very low. Tax Harvesting Season has been among us for years in the NFT space.
The worst part, that I am also at fault for being participant in, is we, the average market participant will be the lab rats in these Twitter spaces, clubhouse rooms, and are willingly signing contracts, virtually allowing this behavior to continue on with no repercussions for those who blatantly plagiarize in steal artwork from the, assumed, “unknown, smaller guy, or girl.”
If Pho’s work at Sotheby’s auction house isn't proof in the pudding of this being the epitome of how this space operates, the precedent of plagiarism, and copyright infringement is now the norm. Which violates legal and moral laws. While I watched the artists in the space vocalize how they felt uneasy about the way in which Pho was misinterpreting, what it means to reference artwork for inspiration, by admitting to taking the images from Unsplash.com, blatantly disregarding their terms and conditions for commercial reproduction, by simply putting a filter over an already published piece of work.
After the Artists, who were once and may still be his contemporaries and friends, vocalized their opinions, 24 hours later his major Collector came to the for front of the Twitter conversation, saying that there is no moral or ethical issue that they found in his actions. Reading this message made me want to scream from the mountain tops, “please look into the United States copyright office and their new rules and the regulations for DMCA, which if you did not know Mr Collector Sir, is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.”
When one breaks the law, especially financially in the United States of America, there is an institution called the IRS. The IRS, Internal Revenue Service, has a criminal investigation unit, this unit does not need and will not abide by the legal statutes of protection granted under the primary judicial system for criminal and civil offenses in the United States of America. One of the major components that helps protect individuals from being prosecuted for something that they did before they came to know that it was wrong is called, Ex Post Facto. Ex Post Facto, in its simplest form means, that you cannot be held liable for an action that was committed before that action was deemed to be illegal. The IRS and their criminal investigation unit does not uphold the ex post facto protection. This means that anyone who has laundered money, wash traded, price fixed and broke a multitude of other financial laws within the, ironically deemed, web 3 Decentralized, NFT space, should be very careful. I say this as a warning not as a condemnation.
Ignorance to the law is one thing, blatant disregard is another and that kind of disregard and arrogance in my opinion should be held accountable in front of a jury of their peers or the world for that matter. Those who are ignorant to these laws and regulations, because there are in fact, counter to popular belief, many regulations within cryptocurrency and web three, this is not a decentralized dream land that has been promised in the most efficient form of propaganda since World War II. These regulations are financial at the core, which means they will be in the hands of the IRS if individuals conduct their web3/NFT business in the confines of the United States of America.
If the ignorance is the issue, education is abundant within the space, which if one looks hard enough, they will find brilliant minds who are willing to share what they know for no cost. If somebody asks you to pay them as a new member of the NFT space at large, to have a consultation, tell them to F off and let your birds fly as you walk past them towards your integral goals. Praying upon the weak has never been a good look, morally, ethically or in business and this space it is riddled with Bad Actors. Those who plan on individuals lack of education, lack of understanding, lack of what technology is needed to make a successful NFT, including the smart contract. Because the smart contract is 50% of the art that makes up the NFT. Without it, there is simply a JPG posted on a media platform.
Protect yourselves, and keep creating, we are at the precipice where we can become a unified group. We have the opportunity to actually spread wealth in a way that's never been seen before, creating financial sovereignty, because there is no cap on many of these coins built with the blockchain technology, how much we make can be infinite, it based on supply and demand. With that being said it breaks my heart that so many greedy individuals who find it impossible, if not extremely difficult, to share even a tiny little slice of their pie, as if pie was the best kind of dessert, the most fulfilling. I've said it since 2021 and I will say it again now. Personally in the community that I am a part of, a true community, yes it is small but the pond is filled with those who actually care about bettering the system as a whole. This little group of Frogs is making a nine layer cake with organic ingredients, homemade frosting, where one tiny slice/sliver of that cake will be more fulfilling than half or 3/4 of the commonly sought after pie.
These individuals who are coming from the same institutions that are condemned in space after space after space vocally by influencers, who have admitted to being paid by these same individuals. Condemn the “old financial institutions.” The court of public opinion right now is not in favor of NFTs, this is a cold hard fact, and something that people within this industry need to realize is, we are the minority not the majority, and we do not have the power to fight the institutions who now own large percentages of these wallets and exchanges, like JP Morgan Stanley Chase, and Blackrock, yet the list goes on and if you think that you, as a whale in this microsome of investments, can get away unscathed, I hope you come across this article, whether you hate it, love it, or are indifferent , perhaps it may help you from beaching onto the shore, before your time is due.
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