I kind of assumed every NFT was a scam
This one hasn’t yet proven that it isn’t, just that the people who bought in had a lot of disposable income to begin with.
Comment on Bored ape NFT event attendees get their faces burned by event lighting
ryan@the.coolest.zone 7 months ago
Yuga Labs says it’s currently investigating reports of impeded vision and skin/eye injuries believed to be caused by unprotected exposure to UV lights during ApeFest 2023.
Jesus Christ.
Anyway, I'm... Actually somewhat impressed they're still having Monkey PNG meetups. I kind of assumed every NFT was a scam but this one is just a very expensive buy-in to a cryptonerd club, I guess.
ilinamorato@lemmy.world 7 months ago
agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
NFTs have a number of interesting legitimate use cases. Jpeg pump-and-dumps are, however, not one of them.
ryan@the.coolest.zone 7 months ago
The thing about the jpg ones is that the jpgs can't be stored in the blockchain, so what is actually stored is a URL to some server (and that URL endpoint could be redirected elsewhere, the server could go offline, etc).
The other major use case I see touted is "own your game objects and bring your objects to different games" but 1) why would a company spend resources supporting an object they did not sell you and 2) could this not be handled more simply on e.g. Steam? (yes, locked into a service, but that's just the way the industry is and I don't see why it's worth the time and effort for them to change that)
I do see how potentially a blockchain that stored actual data, e.g. some JSON, could be of more use. However, I struggle to find cases where just a regular database wouldn't be more practical. I guess it would be limited to cases where auditability and visibility of changes are topmost concerns, and where it's important that anyone can have a local backup copy at any time.
If you have some examples of where this technology could be one of the best solutions, I'd love to hear them. The blockchain does fascinate me but I feel like it's often a solution in search of a problem rather than the other way around.
jungle@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I have an example but it’s not necessarily the best and most practical solution, it’s just one very good solution to a problem that not everyone experiences, so it’s generally shot down as unnecessary.
In countries where buying a car or house involves an asynchronous exchange of money and keys or signing of documents, with all the trust issues involved, having an NFT represent ownership (which requires recognition and acceptance by the state) is a perfect use case, where you transfer ownership and receive payment in one atomic operation.
merc@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
In countries
In countries… so you’re already under the country’s legal system, so there’s no need for a blockchain. You can just use an ownership database maintained by the country. Blockchain offers nothing at all of value in that situation.
which requires recognition and acceptance by the state
Exactly why blockchain is pointless. Blockchain, if it has any value, is in that it is a distributed ledger that is not subject to any state’s laws. That’s great if you want to have a monetary system that no country can control, but of course that also means that no country can help you in a dispute over who owns something. In a cryptocurrency / blockchain world, there’s no appealing to the state, but also no recognition or acceptance by the state.
abhibeckert@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Blockchains can absolutely store a jpeg. There’s no data size or format limit on an entry.
They chose not to store it.
ryan@the.coolest.zone 7 months ago
Oh, fascinating! I wonder if it's more concerns about the size of the blockchain itself then. I had assumed, clearly incorrectly, that it was a platform limitation itself. This makes the ways NFTs have been implemented even dumber. 🙃
agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
Smart contracts are the most obvious. There are a lot of applications. Like jungle said, it’s a good fit for ESCROW-type asset exchanges, but also for recurring transactions like royalty payments or dividends.
Your gaming asset example is also a valuable use. While industry inertia is indeed a relevant factor, consider: why would a company spend resources creating an object if it’s cheaper to support the framework for customers to supply their own? There’s a break-even point where it’s more profitable to outsource asset-creation and trim your staff. What’s better is the nerds who care about that sorta thing spend a lot on games.
And there are certainly others, cases where transparency is a topmost concern. Gaming seems like a fantastic proving ground for the technology: customers expect excellence, it’s a thriving and diverse market, but ultimately, a failure of the technology won’t have serious consequences in the grand scheme. If it proves secure in that arena, it might be a useful technology to incorporate into more serious applications.
IndiBrony@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Sunken cost fallacy at this point. They have to keep believing it’s a thing otherwise they have to face the reality that they were duped.
registrert@lemmy.sambands.net 7 months ago
Or the opposite, they know it’s dropping like a stone so they try to keep it relevant for potential buyers to offload it to?
EnderMB@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Sunk cost, I guess. A lot of people in the crypto industry are still here because they don’t want to admit that they were wrong about it.
BURN@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I also kinda figured the people who are into the Monkey PNGs aren’t exactly the ones who go to setups
sab@kbin.social 7 months ago
I think it's more that they tend not to get invited to non-monkey PNG meetups. Possibly in part due to their habit of turning any meetup into a monkey PNG one.
radix@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Have to go out there and put in the work to proselytize their Lord and Savior Blockchain.
db2@sopuli.xyz 7 months ago
Blockchain and NFT are not synonymous. All Camrys are cars but not all cars are Camrys.
fubo@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Eh, the relationship isn’t quite the same as that one.
It’s more like the relationship between a video game framework and a video game. Pygame, Unity, or Godot are not games you can play; they’re tools for programmers to build games with.
Similarly, blockchain is a technology for implementing scams; NFTs are one specific scam.
merc@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
Bullshit and horseshit are different, but they’re both shit.
SkybreakerEngineer@lemmy.world 7 months ago
It’s all the same to the cryptobros
db2@sopuli.xyz 7 months ago
Sure they are, they’re just always nervous Chris Hansen is going to be there already.