this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2023
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The way I read the article, the "worth millions" is the sum of the ransom demand.

The funny part is that the exploit is in the "smart" contract, ya know the thing that the blockchain keeps secure by forbidding any updates or patches.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 11 months ago (5 children)

As crazy as it sounds, some people do.

[–] [email protected] 73 points 11 months ago (40 children)

They did. For like a week last year. Then everyone realized it was a scam.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Love how the NFT hype was a big wealth transfer event. So many rich people, like wealthy oil Arabs, bought into the scam and moved so much money into artists pockets while they essentially got nothing in return.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Is there any way to confirm this? Or are there examples of artists who made a significant amount of money from NFTs? I understand its potential benefit for artists, but I mostly remember already-rich corporations (e.g. UFC) using them as another way to extract money from consumers.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

He was the first big one I remember. When it still had an air of legitimacy.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

There are curated NFT auction sites where only selected artists are allowed to sell their work. And you can see for how much they sell their pieces. During the hype many sold items for thousands to tens of thousands or more. Also there is Beeple who rode the hype early from the start and he became a millionaire.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago

That's not really what happened. Some people who had invested in companies that would make money if NFTs went up in value chummed the waters by buying NFTs for huge amounts, convincing a lot of people that NFTs were going to be great investments. Then celebrities with an interest in the scheme pumped up the value too.

That convinced a lot of idiots to "invest" in NFTs, then eventually the bottom fell out of the market.

As for artists, some made some money, but most of the money went into shit like "bored apes" which were algorithmically generated.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

My favorite is Murakami, who after selling NFTs he made paintings after all all of them. So which one is the "original"? The actual physical painting, or the digital NFT?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Technically, the NFT. In reality, the physical. Is a lot harder to brag about your art assets if you have to log into your pc to show them off.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

That's why I feel like he just trolled all the buyers of his NFTs.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago (24 children)

It's a great way to launder money.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Better than the current money laundering techniques? Using art appraisals to inflate assets and move dirty money, or straight up using banks like Deutsche or Credit Suisse (RIP) to move dirty money?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

The smart criminal understands the value of diversity.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I mean yeah, it’s better to launder money using a difficult to trace digital ledger. But no, the things you mentioned won’t go away, because there’s also money in the laundering, and double dipping is the name of the game

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Those who buy art and pack it in a safe until it's worth more?

Im glad that doesn't work as well in digital.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Seth Green has entered the chat