What I learned in the rage of Rolling Stone magazine's "NFTs are Worthless".
image:rolling stone
Brief
The wave of attacks on NFTs on Brazilian social networks triggered by Rolling Stones magazine.
The 4 main points of conflict I found on the network and what we can learn from them.
The 6 main profiles of Internet users involved with NFTs on social networks.
Why does NFT lives matter.
On September 21, 2023, Rolling Stone magazine ran the headline "Your NFTs Are Actually — Finally — Totally Worthless" stemming from the "Dead NFTs" study published by the dappGambl platform, which assesses crypto and online gambling.
Yeah, there's some sarcasm and mockery in that headline. It's quite intriguing considering that about a year ago, Rolling Stone itself was auctioning off its covers on SuperRare (an NFT marketplace) for prices ranging from 22,000 to 45,000 Apecoins – roughly 90,000 to 180,000 dollars back then.
This whole situation brought together the creators and enthusiasts of Web3 and the Normies who cringe at the term NFT in the same room. The result, much like any genuine social media debate in the twilight of Web2, involved some fierce exchanges, eye-poking, cries of "go to Cuba," and attempts to see if throwing someone's mom makes them bounce.
Putting the niceties aside, the incident that left quite a few people hurt raised an important question:
Why do people have such a negative impression of Web3 and NFTs?
On the day of the commotion, hundreds of people were discussing the issue. It was the perfect opportunity to get up close and personal with the thoughts of this audience, and some of them deserve our attention.
Who pays millions for a JPG is a fool.
And those who profit from it are swindlers.
That was the most honest question I found among people. After all, "why pay fortunes for something that can be saved on any computer with a right-click?"
In the eyes of common sense, when we buy an oil painting, we receive a physical canvas, a tangible thing that defines that piece as the ORIGINAL. Since digital painting is born on an infinitely replicable medium, this concept of ORIGINALITY doesn't exist in its nature.
This really makes sense at first glance. Doesn't it?
But what about Music?
It's an art form as valuable as painting, but it can be endlessly replicated by other musicians, and electronic devices, and has never been tied to the physical originality of a CD or MP3 file.
Yet, Katy Perry recently sold her own repertoire for $225 million.
Is it fair that incredible visual artists, who were born and raised in the digital era, never achieve commercial value just because they draw on a tablet instead of paper?
It doesn't seem so.
From this new perspective, NFTs, far from seeming foolish, break our conception of originality, creating a new level of authenticity, artistic recognition, and compensation that digital artists and art enthusiasts have longed for decades.
NFTs don't have any real benefit. They don't produce anything, and you can't really invest in them. When the first one jumps out of the castle, all the cards come tumbling down.
Let's set aside functional NFTs like tickets, gaming assets, and the like, okay? We're talking about Fine Art and PFPs.
This is the most common doubt among the financial investment crowd. When I invest in corn, a farmer uses my money to plant, sell their crop, and we share the wealth. When I invest in NFTs, I don't create wealth... none of that happens.
It makes sense at first glance. But when we invest in gold or physical art, the gain doesn't come from what they produce but rather from their appreciation due to supply and demand or the artist's progress in the market. NFTs adopted this characteristic from the art market, but their skyrocketing value matched the hunger of investors looking to make big and fast profits. When this bubble burst, some got rich, but others suffered significant losses, leading to NFTs being labeled as a scam or "fool's gold."
This is indeed a weakness of this market and a characteristic of all speculative trading. But it's worth noting that, in the essence of speculative markets, investors take risks of losing everything for the chance to gain a lot. There are no victims in this place.
Folks lost money in these financial pyramids
while the scammers got rich.
"Every day, a sucker and a con artist leave their homes. When they meet, things like the NFT market pop up."
This was the most overused cliché in the less reasonable discussions among those who know little about NFTs and aren't interested in digging deeper. Here, NFTs inherit the cryptocurrencies's bad reputation from the Pharaoh of Bitcoins, the Priest of Octillions, Palmeiras Soccer Club players who lost millions, Sacha getting scammed and crying in Xuxa's arms, mansions in the Bahamas, and so on...
We need to emphasize: It is ABSOLUTELY UNFAIR to label all honest individuals and projects using NFT technology as scammers. But it's wise to note that as long as these stories keep recurring, they will continue to tarnish the ecosystem's image.
We must face the fact that the anonymity and lack of regulation that so attract legitimate Web3 enthusiasts also make this market a paradise for criminals. From data breaches to drug trafficking. From money laundering to our friends' wallets being drained every day and their "flagged" NFTs freely sold on Opensea.
The way crime brazenly takes advantage of the crypto ecosystem is as bizarre as the stolen car markets that used to exist decades ago in Rio. It's a weirdness that the Web3 community still doesn't care enough about: "What can you do? It's the price of decentralization..."
Before blaming the media for reporting what doesn't interest us, we need to assess our share of responsibility for turning a blind eye to what doesn't suit us.
Digital scarcity is a lie:
Scammers making what has always been abundant seem scarce.
It's just capitalism being capitalist.
Much of the public first encountered NFTs through gossip websites, when celebrities like Neymar, Paris Hilton, Gisele Bündchen, and Snoop Dogg appeared with their "million-dollar stickers."
It was great for bringing attention to the market, but it also brought with it the stigma of shallowness inherent in the world of celebrities. For a while, it was cooler to flaunt an NFT than a Gucci bag on Instagram Stories.
Even today, many blue-chip collections base their brand on flaunting wealth and the old rhetoric that divides the world into "those who have and those who don't."
Combined with the flood of NFTs dumped into the market to ride the wave of easy money, this ended up undermining the concepts of an egalitarian society and digital scarcity championed by Web3 philosophy, and everything was labeled as a mere "whim of millionaires" - a terrible reputation.
Yes, it's not fair to dismiss the entire NFT Art market as something so trivial and disposable, but this "trap" of misinformation is one of the hardest to escape. Perhaps that's why so many projects are summarily removing the term NFT from their marketing campaigns and opting for friendlier terms like "Digital Keys" and "Digital Collectibles."
Internet was once a Passing Fad
Most of the debates I could follow at Blockchain Rio 2023 mentioned the STIGMA OF SCAM and DISINFORMATION as the main obstacles to the development of Crypto technology projects in the country: "Whenever you mention crypto, people get scared and give up."
That's why public clarification is so important. A task that, by the way, falls on us Early Adopters.
Cultural formation is inherent to innovation. While Jeff Bezos - the founder of Amazon - was explaining to people what the Internet was in the early 2000s, newspapers were highlighting that the worldwide web "might just be a passing fad since millions were abandoning its use."
Bezos's role is now ours. And although social media is known for its contentious atmosphere, it's still the best territory to speak directly with people, disseminate information, and shape culture.
It's hard to find room for a good conversation in the trenches of conflict, we know. But the experience in the Worthless Rage was quite interesting too. I ended up finding 6 interesting user profiles, and since the central rule is "focus on the good," here's a brief summary of things I wish I had known before encountering them. Maybe it'll help you next time... 😅✌🏼
The Opportunistic Hater
For these folks, it doesn't matter what the topic is. Any acrobatic argumentative somersault is valid to push their ideologies with hefty doses of hatred and/or sarcasm.
Since they only want a stage for fighting, there's no opportunity for understanding. The best thing to do is grab an Engov (a popular hangover remedy in Brazil) and ignore them with a smile. I know, it's hard sometimes... but it's worth it. Every second spent on a hater is a missed opportunity to have a nice conversation with people who matter.
The Legitimate Hater
(The name is bad, but the concept is good.)
This is the guy who took a big fall with NFTs and now hates the subject. Almost always because they got caught up in the hype, bet big, and lost it all.
Dialogue here is usually limited, but it's our chance to understand their pain. We can learn about the weaknesses of Web3 today and design more positive experiences for the future. At the end of the conversation, it's worth planting a seed of kindness in their hearts. If it sprouts, it will be beautiful. If not, there's nothing more to be done.
The Indifferent
This person usually jumps into the conversation because of the noise, spouting clichés to appear intelligent, but they don't understand the subject and have no desire to learn. Here, good humor is worth gold. Technical arguments are useless, so come up with another cool catchphrase about the positive side of Web3 that they might like and spread to everyone #ForTheCulture.
The Interested One
This is the richest audience profile I've found on the internet so far. They bring sincere doubts and are genuine in their concerns. We learn a lot from them, and they learn from us.
I've seen a lot of Web3 fanatics jumping the gun with these guys, saying, "If you don't understand Web3, you're just dumb" - Shame on us for that. The Interested Ones are fertile ground for understanding and deserve our sincerest care.
The Enthusiast
If you're reading a text like this here, in the midst of a bear market, you must be an enthusiast. 😂♥️
They love innovation for its essence and always deliver a positive message to the audience. It's worth following them to expand our network and strengthen the movement beyond just a quick visit to the website or profile.
The Fanatic
This one believes they're helping, but in reality, they're hindering. They're too busy trying to convince people to the point that they don't listen to what others have to say. They insist on dividing the world between what is and isn't Web3, as if there were any sense, for example, in Amazon abandoning emails (Web1) when social media (Web2) emerged.
For the fanatic, anyone who doesn't like Web3 is dumb. But there's nothing intelligent about that. And, believe me, they are far more numerous than one might imagine.
We have a lot to improve both in the technology and in the social role of Web 3.0, and I made sure to address these topics here. But in the end, the wave of RAGE directed towards NFTs by the public opinion seemed very similar to what happens in xenophobia or racism. A good dose of prejudice, fueled by hefty pinches of misinformation and a strange pride in being in or out even without knowing exactly what that means - pure human nature juice.
Web3 is an innovation that deeply impacts our social and economic structure, the real impact of which we have not yet been able to measure in our lives, whether positive or negative.
We sometimes feel suffocated, but expecting people to understand the value of Web3 in such early stages is an uphill battle. Pioneering comes at a price, so it's OUR role to understand the public's demands and improve the future.
If, along the way, you get upset because someone calls you "Worthless," take a deep breath and remember:
All this noise is the most compelling proof that
NFT lives matter.
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