Crypto and NFTs in Raleigh

The Pub
#1

This may be somewhat of an early thread, but with NFTs (non-fungible tolkens) becoming more and more mainstream, I expect some will be popping up that are connected to, or focused on Raleigh. This could be a local artist/photographer, startup or tech company in the area that deals with NFTs, a viral video gone to NFT, etc. I think it’s a fascinating market and if there are any that are Raleigh specific, I think we should highlight them for the community.

I don’t have a Raleigh-specific example at the moment but would love to see if anybody knows of any!

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#2

NFT’s are a bit of a weird thing to me. Some kind of mash-up between crypto-currency and baseball cards. Seems like a silly fad. But I guess no sillier then collecting baseball cards, stamps, coins, or anything else. You buy something, assuming it’s one of a kind (or at least rare) and hope that at some point in the future, someone else will pay you more for it. Except this time it’s not a physical thing, it’s just a random blob of crypto-code, that represents something else.

Maybe I am missing something.

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#3

Here’s an article that explains in plain words about what NFTs are (and what they actually mean for society at large), if anyone else got really confused by that Wikipedia article:

…so it sounds like:

  1. NFTs were originally just proof-of-ownership for a unit of some cryptocurrencies like Ethereum

  2. People took the idea of NFTs out of the context of crypto. These people created their own NFTs* to prove ownership over other things such as a piece of art or a famous tweet

  3. Many people decided NFTs are valuable, and created their own market for it. Just like a secondary stock market like the NYSE or NASDAQ, there’s starting to be people who buy and sell NFTs instead of the art, digital content etc. that give the NFTs their value.

*=you, too, can follow this tutorial to make your own NFT if you wanted to!

This make me wonder, though: what does it mean to have an NFT that’s related to any physical space (Raleigh or elsewhere)? Would that look like a sort of local cryptocurrency only traded in Raleigh? A NFT-centric trading market startup based in the Triangle? A digital art marketplace run by artists in the Triangle? Or something else entirely?

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#4

I think these are pretty interesting. The lack of physical item can in some ways be a positive bc there is not the storage issue that you have with traditional collections.

If there are any with a Raleigh connection i would be interested in learning about them.

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#5

Whats is the most legitimate platform for artist to create and sell them on? Want to buy one for kicks, and want to just use the standard place.

#6

It sounds like OpenSea and Rarible are pretty mainstream places to trade existing NFTs, according to the blockchain-monitoring website dappradar. CryptoPunks is another place where you can buy or sell NFTs, but it’s limited to 10,000 uniquely-generated cartoony images.

To create NFTs, though, it seems like Ethereum-trading platforms such as Alchemy and MetaMask are leading the pack.

#7

For fun I have no problem with it. However, it falls under the last fool willing to buy it scenario which always makes for poor investments… History is littered with similar crazes.

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#8

My interest is to know if there is anybody in Raleigh connected to either evolving use of NFTs, artists marketing their work as NFTs, or really any NFT news related to Raleigh otherwise.

For instance an artist can release their “original” NFT which is a one-time sale, or a limited release of it for, say, 1000 units. The NFT may be embellished from the actual original art (if the original were inanimate as a painting would be) but the NFT could actually have some kind of animation. Just some ideas. The sports and collectable card industry is the most relatable.

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#9

There’s a GrepBeat video from the 12th on NFTs where they mention Kaleido as an example of a local company in the crypto industry, but… a quick procrastinating search on Google hasn’t turned up anything more meaningful than that.

It’ll be interesting to see how this field grows up! I personally get the vibe that this is yet another Silicon Valley fad that will quell over time before anyone in the Triangle meaningfully embraces it. Innovation of existing things, not disruption with untested technologies, has always been our region’s strong suit, after all.

#10

Listen to this Planet Money podcast about NFT’s .

I know the NBA is doing NFT “moments” where you can buy and trade NFT’s of various NBA ‘moments’, clips, Like a MJ or Lebron dunk, or buzzer beater shots, etc.

#11

It depends what you’re looking to buy. For instance, Atomic Hub using WAX is the marketplace I purchased Topps Garbage Pail Kids. They have some other “Brands” that are sold/traded there including Atari and Deadmau5 (EDM artist). I did some looking around and there are quite a few marketplaces you can purchase the NFTs, then you can store them in various wallets for safe keeping.

If you want originals, depending on what you’re looking for, there’s a good chance the limited supply is sold out and you’ll have to buy from someone trading/selling second-hand. Figure out what you want and get some alerts set up so you can get in on the first buy!

EDIT: Here’s where you’d buy the Garbage Pail Kids when Topps releases them, but they’re sold out: https://toppsgpk.io/

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#12

I can hold my baseball cards, etc. in my hands. There are lots but the ones I have are mine.

#13

A stolen comparison, but I like the analogy that NFTs are like beanie babies, if owning a beanie baby melted a glacier

#14

Remember when piracy was a thing? Also remember borrowing friends CD’s or cassettes? What about buying video games and trading them in when you were done? In an all digital world, could these acts we use to do be doable again with NFTs? Or in the case of piracy, no longer doable?

These were kind of my first thoughts on taking NFT’s into a practical application.

#15

This whole NFT thing reminds me of how an artist sold, for $120,000, a 19 cent banana from Trader Joe’s that was taped to the wall with duct tape at the 2019 ArtBasel Miami Beach.

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#16

Here we go. Raleigh startup working to enable NFTs in businesses. Started by two former IBM employees.

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article250171125.html

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#17

They are easier to store in the tiny new condos being built in the city.

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#18

I thought some of you might find this link interesting.

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#19

Being a crypto guy, definitely think NFTs are here to stay. It just has to go through the market cycles in the meantime until mass adoption happens sometime over the next few years (similar to Bitcoin and the crypto markets as a whole)

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#20

Cycles happen to all markets. It’s expected and healthy. NFTs are still trying to find their place and the use cases are growing more and more relevant.

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