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People have been doing so on fiverr way before nfts

by aflag 3y ago

throwaway675309 3y ago
Agreed. Also Patreon, subscribestar, and on and on and on. NFTs are solving for a non-existent problem.
- rkho 3y ago
  I agree. We've had physical cash and the postal service for centuries now. Platforms like Patreon, Subscribestar, etc. are also solving nonexistent problems. We can already pay artists by mailing them cash or a check, there's no reason for any of these technologies to exist.
- nailer 3y ago
  None of those platforms solve the scarcity issue, so none of them result in artists getting paid reasonably.
  - aflag 3y ago
    Not sure it does. The NFT itself is scarce, but not the art. That's different from the real world where the art itself is scarce.
anony23 3y ago
Fiver is a nice way to finance some tacos, meanwhile NFTs have enabled artists to make life changing money.
- nailer 3y ago
  That this factual statement is moderated down to being nearly transparent says more about Hacker News (which I have been a member of since it was Startup News) than it does the topic.
  - anony23 3y ago
    Indeed. I also like the "no one wants this" comments where people like me comment along the lines of: "I'm an example of someone who wants this." And get moderated down to oblivion.
nailer 3y ago
How do you think the profit on Fiverr compares to say, a Beeple?
iamwil 3y ago
nailer isn't wrong. But he means specifically that the ownership of the digital work (not the work itself) can be transferred between parties via NFTs in exchange for currency. He's not really talking about the currency part of the transaction. NFTs have gained a foothold in the art world. Sotheby's is still auctioning off NFTs, despite the Silicon Valley hype dying down. If it were actually useless, I don't think they'd still hold active auctions today. I don't know who Vera Molnár is, but if you want to bid on her art, you can do so now. https://metaverse.sothebys.com/gen-art-vera-molnar https://metaverse.sothebys.com/gen-art-vera-molnar Most of us don't buy fine art, so I don't think the problem NFTs solve for that use case presents itself to most of us (myself included). But looking into this, my understanding is that before NFTs, the only way you can tell you're getting an authentic painting is a piece of paper that comes with the purchase. And paintings are relatively easy to fake, so all the value is actually with that paper of authenticity, rather than with the work. Instead of a piece of paper that needs to be physically transferred now, it has all the affordances of digital objects--instant transfer, always available, transaction history transparent, and tradeable on existing web3 markets. When the iPad first came out, lots of people thought it would fail. It didn't seem obvious why you'd want a phone that doesn't fit in your hand. But it turns out that it's a very good form factor for very specific industries. Point of Sales systems and navigation for pilots are two industries where it's made strong inroads, rather than just a nice to have for people that want to watch some movies. So I'd say, just watch the fine art world for a few more years to see if NFTs grow or shrink. I personally think NFTs will have more uses than that, but it remains to be seen whether it will fundamentally change large swaths of the economy, or if it'll just be confined to very specific ones, like fine art.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > Instead of a piece of paper that needs to be physically transferred now, it has all the affordances of digital objects They're separate markets. NFTs offer no solution to the mainstream fine art market. I've never seen art sold at gallery or auction attached to an NFT for verification where the point wasn't marketing that it was NFT linked. The paper is always verified with third parties. The NFT would have to be as well, to confirm the NFT presented is the valid one for the physical art piece it's purportedly attached to. Instead, there are people who made money in crypto who did not buy fine art, wanted to buy art, and found artistic value in NFTs. They were willing to pay and others willing to sell.

People have been doing so on fiverr way before nfts

by aflag 3y ago

People have been doing so on fiverr way before nfts

throwaway675309 3y ago

Agreed. Also Patreon, subscribestar, and on and on and on. NFTs are solving for a non-existent problem.

rkho 3y ago
I agree. We've had physical cash and the postal service for centuries now. Platforms like Patreon, Subscribestar, etc. are also solving nonexistent problems. We can already pay artists by mailing them cash or a check, there's no reason for any of these technologies to exist.
nailer 3y ago
None of those platforms solve the scarcity issue, so none of them result in artists getting paid reasonably.
- aflag 3y ago
  Not sure it does. The NFT itself is scarce, but not the art. That's different from the real world where the art itself is scarce.

anony23 3y ago

Fiver is a nice way to finance some tacos, meanwhile NFTs have enabled artists to make life changing money.

nailer 3y ago
That this factual statement is moderated down to being nearly transparent says more about Hacker News (which I have been a member of since it was Startup News) than it does the topic.
- anony23 3y ago
  Indeed. I also like the "no one wants this" comments where people like me comment along the lines of: "I'm an example of someone who wants this." And get moderated down to oblivion.

nailer 3y ago

How do you think the profit on Fiverr compares to say, a Beeple?

iamwil 3y ago

nailer isn't wrong. But he means specifically that the ownership of the digital work (not the work itself) can be transferred between parties via NFTs in exchange for currency. He's not really talking about the currency part of the transaction. NFTs have gained a foothold in the art world. Sotheby's is still auctioning off NFTs, despite the Silicon Valley hype dying down. If it were actually useless, I don't think they'd still hold active auctions today. I don't know who Vera Molnár is, but if you want to bid on her art, you can do so now. https://metaverse.sothebys.com/gen-art-vera-molnar https://metaverse.sothebys.com/gen-art-vera-molnar Most of us don't buy fine art, so I don't think the problem NFTs solve for that use case presents itself to most of us (myself included). But looking into this, my understanding is that before NFTs, the only way you can tell you're getting an authentic painting is a piece of paper that comes with the purchase. And paintings are relatively easy to fake, so all the value is actually with that paper of authenticity, rather than with the work. Instead of a piece of paper that needs to be physically transferred now, it has all the affordances of digital objects--instant transfer, always available, transaction history transparent, and tradeable on existing web3 markets. When the iPad first came out, lots of people thought it would fail. It didn't seem obvious why you'd want a phone that doesn't fit in your hand. But it turns out that it's a very good form factor for very specific industries. Point of Sales systems and navigation for pilots are two industries where it's made strong inroads, rather than just a nice to have for people that want to watch some movies. So I'd say, just watch the fine art world for a few more years to see if NFTs grow or shrink. I personally think NFTs will have more uses than that, but it remains to be seen whether it will fundamentally change large swaths of the economy, or if it'll just be confined to very specific ones, like fine art.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> Instead of a piece of paper that needs to be physically transferred now, it has all the affordances of digital objects They're separate markets. NFTs offer no solution to the mainstream fine art market. I've never seen art sold at gallery or auction attached to an NFT for verification where the point wasn't marketing that it was NFT linked. The paper is always verified with third parties. The NFT would have to be as well, to confirm the NFT presented is the valid one for the physical art piece it's purportedly attached to. Instead, there are people who made money in crypto who did not buy fine art, wanted to buy art, and found artistic value in NFTs. They were willing to pay and others willing to sell.