Crypto Never Dies.
As the paperback edition of NFTS ARE A SCAM hits the stands, my thoughts on crypto and NFTs today and tomorrow.
One year after its debut, the paperback edition of my second book, NFTS ARE A SCAM / NFTS ARE THE FUTURE, is now available wherever you buy your books.
Whenever I get asked how I feel about crypto and NFTs, my answer’s remained the same: Read the book! All of my criticisms, hopes, and hot takes on the technology after years of operating in the space still hold. Nothing’s changed. Except the price…
I’ve always found it interesting when people validate or disqualify the legitimacy of crypto and NFTs based on financial value. As soon as the line turns downward, the cynics cry, “I told you it was a scam.” Once it shoots up, proponents feel their investments are justified. But the funny part is the technology hasn’t wavered. That’s why I didn’t set out to write a book about making money. It was about making meaning.
Last summer, crypto was a lie. Prices were collapsing under the Sam Bankman-Fried scandal, increased SEC scrutiny, and the thumb of the media and online cynics. The value of NFTs, the digital collectibles you can buy with crypto, tumbled. Everybody said it was over.
Today, crypto is a truth. Prices have thawed from an icy winter. Yesterday, the NY Times dedicated its podcast to “The Crypto Comeback.” Bitcoin is as expensive as ever. Somehow, most of SBF’s victims are getting their money back (some are even making a profit!). This morning, Biden softened up his stance on crypto. And just moments ago, the House passed the FIT21 Crypto bill.
But crypto never really went anywhere. Its meaning has stayed intact.
My book opens with the similarities between SBF and Charles Manson, cultural interlopers exploiting social movements and ultimately killing them; and then how the spirit behind those movements reanimates in later generations as new ideas and ideologies. For example, the hippie lifestyle dissipated, but lives on as women’s rights, social justice, and environmentalism.
Although the trading value of NFTs nosedived (alongside other COVID-hot secondary markets for sneakers, art, Pokemon cards, etc.), the blockchain technology supporting them is becoming widely adopted. While the Metaverse failed to materialize in due time, Apple introduced the Vision Pro. And although artist royalties for NFTs got clipped, the trend is for creators to demand their fair share of the upside (see: Skepta X Puma). In my opinion, we wouldn’t be as far along in A.I. acceptance if we hadn’t been forced to reckon with emerging tech like Web3.
Tomorrow, the line might plunge again. Or maybe crypto will keep going and split the moon in half. It’s a scam. It’s the future. But what it stands for, will continue to influence tech, disrupt systems, inspire art, and impact culture. That part is very real to me.