Bahama Times

Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Crooks' Paradise: The Dark Side of the NFT

NFT (Abbreviation for Non Fungible Token) has become one of the big trends of 2021. It is a certificate of ownership embedded in a blockchain on a digital asset, and allows any image, video, song or file to be turned into a commodity that can be bought and sold, so to speak, even though in practice Still anyone else can own it and print for themselves a copy exactly identical to the original.
In the NFT world there is an internal joke, 'Right Click & Save' - anyone can save your NFT, so what's the point?

In other words, the only difference between someone who pays a lot of money for an NFT and someone who does not pay anything for the same digital creation is that he pays for what the rest of the world can get for free.

Take for example the story of Julian Lennon, the son of John Lennon, who this month sold six rare items as NFT: three Gibson electric guitars he received as a gift from his father; A robe his father wore while filming! Help; Afghan coat Shalanon Sr. wore during the filming of the movie Magical Mystery Tour; And the highlight - a page with comments written by Paul McCartney on the song "Hey Jude". Lennon did not sell the items themselves, but videos in which they were filmed in 360 degrees against the background of his narration, but it is doubtful that anyone who submitted an offer to purchase the items - which sold for $ 11,520 to $ 76,800 - realized that even after the sale these videos would remain available for anyone interested in by watching it on the web.

Another worrying phenomenon is inflating trades in a technique called Wash Trading: Because digital wallets are anonymous, each trader can use several wallets simultaneously, transferring NFT from one pocket to another to inflate his value. The innocent buyer will look at the transaction history, and believe that the value of the NFT he acquires has indeed increased over time organically. Some scammers even set up dedicated groups in Discord or CotCot (a popular chat platform among NFT traders) in order to create credibility for the items they sell.

Last month, the Opensea platform, the world's largest marketplace for NFT, admitted that 80% of the NFT items featured on their platform for sale were in fact "stolen works, counterfeit collections and spam."

Suppose you managed all the hurdles we talked about and managed to get your hands on an authentic NFT. You may be disappointed to find that a version of the file you purchased at a low resolution will appear in your digital wallet after the purchase. Want to view the image you purchased in high quality? You'll need to access a public link - yes, that link is available worldwide for free. The file itself, unlike NFT, is not stored in the blockchain at all. There is always the possibility that someone will delete it from the network or change its URL so that you will end up with an NFT confirming that you paid a lot of money for a property that no longer exists.

Last month, Dan Olson, the YouTuber behind a page called Folding Ideas, released a video called Line Goes Up - The Problem With NFTs in which over more than two hours and with impressive thoroughness he sends his half into the world of illusions of blockchain, crypto and NFT. The video has so far garnered almost 6 million views, and has shocked the illusionists involved in the field.

Olson's main conclusion is that NFTs are a pyramid scam, in which participants must find a buyer for their goods in order to get back the money they have invested.

The illusion sellers were shocked by the video just as the boy's call that the king is naked shocked the two tailors who sold the king nothing in exchange for very much gold.

Take your valuable time to watch the not less valuable video.

00:00:00 Preface
00:01:12 0. In 2008 The Economy Collapsed
00:07:09 1. Bitcoin
00:18:18 2. Ethereum
00:24:34 3. The Machine
00:39:07 4. NFTs Exist To Get You To Buy Crypto
00:57:54 5. The Unbearable Cringe Of Crypto
01:11:46 6. A Self-Organizing High Control Group
01:16:57 7. Crypto Reality
01:25:36 8. There Is No Privacy On The Chain
01:32:52 9. If This "Looks Like Scam" Then Every NFT Room I'm In Looks Like Scam LOL
01:38:29 10. Play To Earn Exists To Get You To Buy Crypto
01:46:39 11. We're All Gonna Make It And By "We" I Mean "Us" Not You
01:56:08 12. DAOs Exist To Get You To Buy Crypto
02:13:21 13. I Know It's Rigged, But It's The Only Game In Town


Sources and Further Reading:

https://web3isgoinggreat.com/
https://tante.cc/2021/12/17/the-third-web/
https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2021/03/11/nfts-crypto-grifters-try-to-scam-artists-again/
https://amycastor.com/2021/03/14/metakovan-the-mystery-beeple-art-buyer-and-his-nft-defi-scheme/
https://www.stephendiehl.com/blog/crypto-absurd.html
https://blog.mollywhite.net/blockchains-are-not-what-they-say/
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/11/who-goes-crypto-eth-bitcoin-etc-financialization-gamestop-class-wealth/
https://twitter.com/davetroy/status/1478017698676228099?s=20
https://davidgolumbia.medium.com/cryptocurrency-is-garbage-so-is-blockchain-3e80078e77fe
https://marker.medium.com/fintech-is-a-scam-a-listicle-in-eight-parts-7b6161f3a35a
https://naavik.co/business-breakdowns/axie-infinity/#axie-decon=
https://www.gawker.com/culture/the-future-is-useless-expensive
https://twitter.com/NFTtheft
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/nfts-werent-supposed-end-like/618488/
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-05-baseless-nft-hype-hits-a-crescendo-but-its-play-to-earn-thats-worth-watching-opinion
https://www.technollama.co.uk/platform-is-law-the-cautionary-tale-of-stolen-nfts
https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2021/02/12/libra-shrugged-chapter-6-banking-the-unbanked/
https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed

The video written and performed by Dan Olson.

Dan Olson Crowdfunding: https://www.patreon.com/foldablehuman

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FoldableHuman
Newsletter

Related Articles

Bahama Times
0:00
0:00
Close
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Israel: Unprecedented Civil Disobedience Looms as IDF Reservists Protest Judiciary Reform
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Italian Court's Controversial Ruling on Sexual Harassment Ignites Uproar
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
BBC Personalities Rebuke Accusations Amidst Scandal Involving Teen Exploitation
A Swift Disappointment: Why Is Taylor Swift Bypassing Canada on Her Global Tour?
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
Unilever Plummets in a $2.5 Billion Free Fall, to begin with: A Reckoning for Misuse of Corporate Power Against National Interest
Beyond the Blame Game: The Need for Nuanced Perspectives on America's Complex Reality
Twitter Targets Meta: A Tangle of Trade Secrets and Copycat Culture
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
×