{"id":23508,"date":"2022-07-27T21:48:51","date_gmt":"2022-07-27T21:48:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/?p=23508"},"modified":"2022-07-28T12:01:13","modified_gmt":"2022-07-28T12:01:13","slug":"nft-news-salesforce-nfts-latvian-nft-money-laundering-gamers-still-hate-nfts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2022\/07\/27\/nft-news-salesforce-nfts-latvian-nft-money-laundering-gamers-still-hate-nfts\/","title":{"rendered":"NFT news: Salesforce NFTs, Latvian NFT money laundering, gamers still hate NFTs"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Remember NFTs? Weren\u2019t they <i>wild<\/i>.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Don\u2019t forget to sign up for my Patreon \u2014 your $5 or $20 a month really does help! [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/davidgerard\"><i>Patreon<\/i><\/a>]<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Patrons also get a couple of free <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/bitcoin-it-cant-be-that-stupid.png\">\u201cBitcoin: It can\u2019t be that stupid\u201d<\/a> stickers for the asking. Just sign up and send me your postal address. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/posts\/for-patrons-free-63317340\"><i>Patreon<\/i><\/a>]<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Sign up to get these newsletters, and all other blog posts, by email the moment they go up. [<a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2022\/02\/07\/news-world-wildlife-nft-diem-sale-details-eccb-dcash-offline\/#byemail\"><i>scroll down, or click here<\/i><\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2022\/07\/27\/nft-news-salesforce-nfts-latvian-nft-money-laundering-gamers-still-hate-nfts\/salesforce\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-23509\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-23509\" src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/salesforce.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"510\" height=\"315\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/salesforce.jpg 680w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/salesforce-300x185.jpg 300w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/salesforce-348x215.jpg 348w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 510px) 100vw, 510px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Put your claim into Tempo House<\/h3>\n<p>Salesforce is a business services company. Their market is medium to large companies \u2014 they sell business intelligence, customer relationship management, identity services and so on. My day job uses Salesforce; their stuff isn\u2019t perfect, but it\u2019s more useful than not.<\/p>\n<p>Late last year, a C-level executive at Salesforce got a crypto bee in his bonnet &#8230; and decided that NFTs were the hot new thing to get into.<\/p>\n<p>Salesforce wouldn\u2019t do NFTs itself \u2014 its business is selling the shovels. So instead, Salesforce would provide a white-label NFT marketplace to other businesses! This was hugely controversial internally, with engineers ready to walk.<\/p>\n<p>After months of work, the project was finally released &#8230; in June 2022, when the Web3 venture capitalists had already stopped pretending the NFT market wasn\u2019t dead. The pilot offering uses an unspecified proof-of-stake blockchain, and offers to buy carbon credits for you. Pricing is not publicly available \u2014 \u201cConnect with your account executive to learn more.\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tcrn.ch\/3tiAMBx\"><i>TechCrunch<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/products\/web3\/nft\/\"><i>NFT Cloud<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Salesforce previously introduced a blockchain product in 2019. Nobody cared then either. [<a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2019\/05\/29\/salesforces-first-blockchain-plunge-will-involve-development-tools\/\"><i>TechCrunch<\/i><\/a><i>, 2019<\/i>]<\/p>\n<h3>Your brain is Game Boy<\/h3>\n<p>Gamers loathe NFTs. They\u2019re already sick of loot boxes, <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2019\/10\/08\/libra-before-libra-the-rise-and-fall-of-facebook-credits\/\">pay-to-win<\/a> and other attempts by the game companies to grift the players, and NFTs were the last straw.<\/p>\n<p>A pile of NFT and blockchain game companies tried to buy respectability by sponsoring Brazil&#8217;s International Games Festival in early July. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.overloadr.com.br\/especiais\/2022\/4\/jogos-nft-no-brasil-gera-atrito-e-preocupacao-entre-desenvolvedores-locais\"><i>Overloadr<\/i><\/a><i>, in Portuguese<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>Indie developers were outraged, and threatened to boycott BIG over the crypto sponsorship. Developer Mark Venturelli decided to appear nevertheless, and did a talk &#8230; called &#8220;Why NFTs are a nightmare.&#8221; He revealed his talk\u2019s real title a few minutes in. The sponsors were outraged, and attempted to get his talk cut off \u2014 but the organisers, who\u2019d reviewed the slides beforehand, let it keep going. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/developer-turns-future-of-gaming-talk-into-a-surprise-attack-on-conventions-nft-and-blockchain-sponsors\/\"><i>PCGamer<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the talk, and an English translation of Venturelli\u2019s slides. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=GzTj60CWhQo\"><i>YouTube<\/i><\/a><i>, in Portuguese, with English subtitles; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/presentation\/d\/1a8dMxaqyjWl4G6NO7mXF30CICHOJLkJxuP2Xrpky9rA\/edit\"><i>Google Docs<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<h3>Saw the Holy Ghost I swear on the screen<\/h3>\n<p>There can&#8217;t ever have been any such thing as Second Life, or all this Metaverse hype would just be <i>stupid<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>Metaverse games are going down the toilet. \u201cGameFi\u201d (what a cursed term) activity on Ethereum dropped by 96% from November 2021 to June 2022. [<a href=\"https:\/\/bitcoinist.com\/ethereum-gamefi-activity-collapses-by-96\/\"><i>Bitcoinist<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft doesn\u2019t want NFT trading in Minecraft. &#8220;The speculative pricing and investment mentality around NFTs takes the focus away from playing the game and encourages profiteering, which we think is inconsistent with the long-term joy and success of our players.&#8221; [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.minecraft.net\/en-us\/article\/minecraft-and-nfts\"><i>Mojang<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>NFT Worlds wanted to do \u201cdecentralised gaming metaverses\u201d in Minecraft. On Microsoft\u2019s announcement, NFT Worlds\u2019 NFTs dropped to a third of their previous price. NFT Worlds has warned that this move may have \u201cpainful downstream effects\u201d in the future for Microsoft. Oh no! NFT Worlds\u2019 tweet was a screenshot of a post to their Discord. [<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nftworldsNFT\/status\/1549836877275860992\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Author Neal Stephenson \u2014 who coined the word \u201cMetaverse\u201d \u2014 has accepted a dump truck full of ETH being backed up to his house. He\u2019s working on a Metaverse project called Lamina1 with bitcoin old-timer Peter Vessenes. Remember: only buy your Torment Nexus from the original creator! [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/business\/2022\/06\/08\/neal-stephenson-coined-metaverse-in-1992-now-hes-building-one\/\"><i>CoinDesk<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesswire.com\/news\/home\/20220608005423\/en\/Visionary-Futurist-Neal-Stephenson-and-Crypto-Pioneer-Peter-Vessenes-Announce-Lamina1-the-Layer-1-Blockchain-for-the-Open-Metaverse\"><i>press release<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Remember Stephenson\u2019s kickstarted virtual reality game Clang, from 2012? I bet the people who gave him money sure do. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2013\/09\/clang-kickstarter\/\"><i>Wired<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<h3>Monkey laundering<\/h3>\n<p>Yuga Labs, the company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club, is launching its Metaverse game, Otherside! 4,500 Bored Ape holders logged on to experience &#8230; an hour-long scripted demo. \u201cThe users were all suited up as multicolored robot avatars, with only a single Bored Ape in sight, albeit a very large one.\u201d The first gameplay demo showcased \u201ca 4,500 vs. 1 boss fight.\u201d Yuga had previously sold 55,000 plots of virtual land in Otherside. The game isn\u2019t finished yet, and there\u2019s no solid launch date. [<a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2022\/07\/19\/bored-apes-founders-on-their-plans-for-otherside-metaverse\/\"><i>TechCrunch<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>All my apes, decentralised \u2014 there have been multiple thefts of Bored Apes in May and June. \u201cThis article has been updated because even more apes were stolen.\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/06\/06\/technology\/nft-opensea-theft-fraud.html\"><i>New York Times<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/technology\/2022\/06\/bored-ape-yacht-club-thefts-nfts-cryptocurrency.html\"><i>Slate<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Oh no! The Bored Ape themed restaurant &#8230; no longer accepts payments in crypto. Your ApeCoin is no good here, sir. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/business\/technology\/story\/2022-06-24\/this-restaurant-is-crypto-themed-you-still-have-to-pay-in-dollars\"><i>LA Times<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Law firm Scott and Scott has spotted an opportunity for a securities class action suit against Yuga Labs. Their claim will be that that the Bored Ape NFTs <i>themselves<\/i> constituted an investment contract, hence an unregistered offering of securities to the retail public under the Howey test. Also <a href=\"https:\/\/amycastor.com\/2022\/03\/17\/bored-apes-yacht-club-launches-apecoin-it-looks-like-an-unregistered-penny-stock-offering\/\">Apecoin,<\/a> which is more obviously the sort of thing that\u2019s been found to be a security in the past. Even if they\u2019re not securities, any material misrepresentation on Yuga Labs\u2019 part could be used to make a case for wire fraud. This case is entirely prospective so far \u2014 Scott and Scott don\u2019t have any plaintiffs as yet. [<a href=\"https:\/\/scott-scott.com\/cryptocurrency-cases\/yuga-labs\/\"><i>Scott+Scott<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/news.artnet.com\/market\/yuga-labs-scott-and-scott-lawsuit-2152636\"><i>Artnet News<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<h3>How flair is punished<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2022\/04\/17\/nba-top-shot-a-short-history-of-the-largest-mainstream-nft-project\/\">NBA Top Shot<\/a> was the only mainstream NFT project ever to get the interest of any of the general public. It suffered from Dapper Labs\u2019 apparent unwillingness to actually pay out traders the money they\u2019d made from sales on the platform.<\/p>\n<p>Now Top Shot\u2019s losing both users and price fast. In February 2021, the average price of a Top Shot was $181.81; by June 2022, it was $17.71. But withdrawals are apparently working fine now, so that\u2019s nice.<\/p>\n<p>A lot of Top Shot traders became early Bored Apes traders. \u201cSome people left Top Shot and bought a bunch of cats and apes and stuff and became millionaires. And the people that stuck to Top Shot lost money. There\u2019s no easy way to say that.\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/23153620\/nba-top-shot-nft-bored-ape-yacht-club\"><i>The Verge<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>A group of NBA players formed their own NFT project, separate from Top Shot, called Players Only. The project roadmap promised all sorts of interactions with the players \u2014 who never showed up for events, or even for Zoom meetups \u2014 and signed merchandise, which didn\u2019t happen either.<\/p>\n<p>The project creators announced in May that they would be \u201cstepping back on the project.\u201d ZachXBT calls Players Only \u201ca $1.4m NFT rug pull.\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/web3isgoinggreat.com\/?id=players-only-nft-project-founded-by-nba-players-rug-pulls-for-1-4-million\"><i>Web 3 Is Going Great<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/zachxbt\/status\/1534537264637825024\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<h3>Kicker conspiracy<\/h3>\n<p>Former AFL footballer Ricky Jackson and his son Corey have been hitting the sports NFT markets hard, and racked up a string of failed ventures.<\/p>\n<p>Sportemon Go launched in June 2021. The Jacksons promised a vast array of endorsement deals, international club partnerships, fan experiences and an NFT marketplace. Sportemon Go had its own crypto-token as well, SGO.<\/p>\n<p>Back in reality, only a few NFTs were ever issued, and SGO crashed. The company dumped SGO on its suckers to pay the bills.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRicky Jackson and his son Corey now have a bunch of other crypto-based ventures in the works. These include a virtual greyhound racing game where you can purchase an NFT dog, and an algorithmic stable coin project that they say will give former Sportemon Go holders 100 times returns on the value of their old coins after five years.\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sbs.com.au\/news\/the-feed\/article\/aussie-sports-stars-investors-caught-up-in-failed-crypto-startup\/pcd7v8xyu\"><i>SBS<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Crypto has its tendrils into English Premier League football. \u201cOf last season\u2019s 20 Premier League clubs, all of them but one have at least one cryptocurrency sponsor and some have several.\u201d (The exception is Brighton and Hove Albion \u2014 though they did have a sponsorship from crypto futures brokerage eToro for a while.) The clubs mostly sign up to do NFTs and \u201cfan token\u201d deals with crypto company Socios. [<a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/3378407\/2022\/06\/28\/crypto-crash-premier-league\/?amp=1\"><i>The Athletic<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<h3>I&#8217;ve got this letter before me. It&#8217;s buff with a confidential seal<\/h3>\n<p>Latvian NFT artist Ilja Borisovs, <i>a.k.a.<\/i> Shvembldr, says that Latvian authorities have accused him of money laundering \u2014 with a possible 12 year jail sentence. [<a href=\"https:\/\/finbold.com\/latvian-nft-artist-faces-12-years-in-jail-over-money-laundering-e8-7-million-art-earnings-frozen\/\"><i>Finbold<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.art-is-crime.com\/\"><i>Art Is Crime<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Borisovs says he was first contacted in October 2021 by the State Security Service over his NFT sales. His bank accounts were frozen on 10 February 2022. He says the police \u201crefused\u201d to contact him. In May, he found out he was under criminal investigation for money laundering. Borisovs says the police want him to show the origin of funds for every buyer of one of his NFTs. [<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Loopifyyy\/status\/1549086072323325954\/photo\/1\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Borisovs says he released 3,557 NFTs in 2021, making 4,253 ETH in sales, or 8.7 million euros. Borisovs emphasises that he\u2019s paid all his taxes in full.<\/p>\n<p>But the authorities aren\u2019t accusing Borisov of tax evasion \u2014 they\u2019re accusing him of money laundering. And money launderers understand how important it is that you pay, and even overpay, your taxes.<\/p>\n<p>Borisovs alleges extensive incompetence and malfeasance by the authorities. This all <i>could<\/i> involve corruption at every level of the law in Latvia \u2014 but it could, at the same time, involve laundering millions of euros through the NFT markets. And you don\u2019t usually detail every step of a money laundering investigation to your suspect.<\/p>\n<p>@BoringSleuth details some dodgy-looking flows of ETH and apparent wash-trading by Borisovs, of the sort that might cause a raised eyebrow from the money-laundering cops. He also details Borisov\u2019s alternate artist names, which trade with each other. [<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BoringSleuth\/status\/1549131770980978688\"><i>Twitter thread<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BoringSleuth\/status\/1549441849152180225\"><i>Twitter thread<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BoringSleuth\/status\/1549459931547549699\"><i>Twitter thread<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>At least Borisovs\u2019 generative art is more interesting than bad pixel cartoons. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iillucid.com\/slowing-down-with-shvembldr\/\"><i>i-illucid<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<h3>Coinbase goes to the movies<\/h3>\n<p>Who on earth at Coinbase thought this Apecoin ad was a good idea. [<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/coinbase\/status\/1551975883216388097\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">THE DEGEN TRILOGY: PART ONE<\/p>\n<p>\u26d3\ufe0fRUN THE CHAIN\u26d3\ufe0f<\/p>\n<p>Here&#39;s a first look at what we&#39;ve been building with the community \ud83d\udc40\ud83d\udcfd\ufe0f <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/RSV6McnMlw\">pic.twitter.com\/RSV6McnMlw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Coinbase (@coinbase) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/coinbase\/status\/1551975883216388097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Fol de rol<\/h3>\n<p>OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, has laid off 20% of their staff. They announced this by tweeting a screenshot from their Discord. [<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dfinzer\/status\/1547648521607659522\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>My NFT market, it is very sick. But Christie\u2019s is determined to ride NFTs into the ground and below. They\u2019re starting Christie\u2019s Ventures, \u201cto supply seed funding to young companies whose technologies could ultimately help collectors buy and sell more art, digital or otherwise.\u201d Christie\u2019s has already invested in LayerZero, which endeavours to move NFTs across different blockchains. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/christies-venture-capital-nft-11657916141\"><i>WSJ<\/i><\/a><i>, paywalled<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>NFTs are subject to sales tax in the state of Washington. [<a href=\"https:\/\/dor.wa.gov\/interim-statement-regarding-taxability-non-fungible-tokens-nfts\"><i>Department of Revenue<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>NFT NYC was a roaring \u201cehh whatever\u201d of a conference. But it did send attendees home with COVID. Amy Castor wrote up the \u201cHuge Cry Fest\u201d for Artnet. [<a href=\"https:\/\/nftevening.com\/nft-nyc-sends-attendees-home-with-covid-19\/\"><i>NFTEvening<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/news.artnet.com\/market\/cryfest-nft-nyc-2022-2133878\"><i>Artnet<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Chevrolet got into NFTs, with an NFT of its 2023 Corvette Z06 \u2014 including the car! It got zero bids. This was probably because the NFT was being sold for about twice the new sticker price of the car without an NFT. Still foolishly thinking that the NFT market was a thing that existed, Chevrolet even extended the auction by 24 hours. [<a href=\"https:\/\/superrare.com\/0x362373ad01f3a0ef671f757bcb7276cc4a3fb9bf\/own-the-color--1?utm_source=twitter_superrare&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_content=partnerships\"><i>SuperRare<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.corvetteblogger.com\/2022\/06\/29\/chevys-first-foray-into-nft-auctions-was-a-bust-with-zero-bids-for-the-minted-green-corvette-z06\/\"><i>Corvette Blogger<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>The Kodakcoin ICO <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2020\/12\/24\/news-kodakcoin-is-dead-xrp-rip-us-on-stablecoins-seasteading-fails-again\/\">shut down around November 2020,<\/a> after the ICO failed utterly and Ryde lost their licence to the Kodak name. So whatever happened to the Kodakcoin ICO team, <i>a.k.a.<\/i> Ryde Holding? They&#8217;re pumping NFTs, of course. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.twlvxtwlv.com\/about-us\/\"><i>Twelve X Twelve<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>No, a UK judge <a href=\"https:\/\/amycastor.com\/2022\/06\/10\/no-a-uk-judge-didnt-actually-rule-that-nfts-are-property\/\">didn\u2019t actually rule that NFTs are property<\/a>. One of the lawyers involved wrote a breathless blog post on the subject in April, before the judgement was released. [<a href=\"https:\/\/36group.co.uk\/news\/2022\/4\/landmark-nft-judgment\"><i>36 Group<\/i><\/a>] Specifically, the lawyer&#8217;s claim that the court recognised NFTs &#8220;as a specific class of cryptoassets, distinct from cryptocurrency due to their non-fungible unique nature&#8221; is not true \u2014 the judge did not distinguish NFTs as a special kind of property. There is still no law linking an NFT token to the asset it points to, without an additional specific contract or licence to this effect. [<a href=\"https:\/\/news.artnet.com\/market\/uk-high-recognizes-nfts-as-property-2108605\"><i>Artnet<\/i><\/a><i>; <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bailii.org\/ew\/cases\/EWHC\/Comm\/2022\/1021.html\"><i>judgement<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Mike \u201cBeeple\u201d Winkelmann sold a JPEG for $69 million in March 2021. These days he\u2019s still making art \u2014 and getting into physically-existing stuff \u2014 but without having to work a day job. The article also stresses that Winkelmann is \u201cfiscally conservative,\u201d which sounds like he wouldn\u2019t shut up about it to the interviewer. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/article\/beeple-mike-winkelmann-art-profile.html\"><i>Vulture<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>FT Alphaville writes on Vitalik Buterin\u2019s plan for \u201csoul tokens\u201d on the blockchain, written in concert with Glen Weyl, his current pet crank. With quotes from me: \u201cWhat Buterin wants to implement here is a binding permanent record on all people, on the blockchain. It\u2019s Black Mirror\u2019s \u2018Fifteen Million Merits\u2019, except he seriously thinks this is a good idea.\u201d LessWrong and Slate Star Codex risk permanent damage to one\u2019s ability to <i>do the reading<\/i> before blessing the world with your instant wisdom. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/610e111e-71a2-4182-ad30-da49530a12f6\"><i>FT<\/i><\/a><i>, free with login<\/i>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Whenever someone is in a cult (Scientology, NFTs, etc.) their response to criticism is \u201cdo your own research\u201d by which they mean here, drink down this delicious kool aid brand beverage<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; merritt k (@merrittk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/merrittk\/status\/1531007985715118080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 29, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">OH: <\/p>\n<p>web1: You are the audience<br \/>web2: You are the product<br \/>web3: You are the victim<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Corey Quinn (@QuinnyPig) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/QuinnyPig\/status\/1534038235231293442?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 7, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">elon musk is going to announce \u201cweb 69\u201d and it\u2019ll kick off the new great depression<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; HK (@HKesvani) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HKesvani\/status\/1535360229734498305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 10, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It&#39;s easy to say with hindsight that NFTs are a stupid scam but it was also easy at the beginning to say that and through the middle too<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u4e8c divides into \u4e00 (@IlllllllllllllI) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IlllllllllllllI\/status\/1536632345972944897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 14, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">me: they took my monkey jpegs<br \/>police: they took your monkey jpegs<br \/>me: yes, these ones<br \/>police: but you said they took them<br \/>me: no they took the blockchain<br \/>police: the blockchain<br \/>me: yes, of my monkey jpegs<br \/>police: the blockchain of your monkey jpegs<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; mutable joe (@mutablejoe) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mutablejoe\/status\/1495516949903724546?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 20, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<br><br><div align=\"center\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=8420236\"><img src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/become_a_patron_button.svg\" alt=\"Become a Patron!\" title=\"Become a Patron!\" width=217 height=51><\/a><br><p style=\"align:center;\" class=\"patreon-badge\"><i>Your subscriptions keep this site going. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=8420236\">Sign up today!<\/a><\/i><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There can\u2019t ever have been any such thing as Second Life, or all this Metaverse hype would just be stupid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3129,2847,2185,3111,2937,2617,3127,2178,3118,288,3122,3130,371,3117,1842,3125,6,3112,2418,350,3113,2177,3115,2020,3126,3114,2181,3116,3120,3121,381,3110,3119,3124,3123,3128,457,264,552,2848],"class_list":["post-23508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-36-group","tag-apecoin","tag-beeple","tag-big-festival","tag-bored-hungry","tag-bored-apes","tag-chevrolet","tag-christies","tag-clang","tag-coinbase","tag-corey-jackson","tag-glen-weyl","tag-kodakcoin","tag-lamina1","tag-latvia","tag-layerzero","tag-links","tag-mark-venturelli","tag-metaverse","tag-microsoft","tag-minecraft","tag-nba-top-shot","tag-neal-stephenson","tag-nft","tag-nft-nyc","tag-nft-worlds","tag-opensea","tag-peter-vessenes","tag-players-only","tag-ricky-jackson","tag-ryde","tag-salesforce","tag-scottscott","tag-shvembldr","tag-sportemon-go","tag-twelve-x-twelve","tag-united-kingdom","tag-vitalik-buterin","tag-washington","tag-yuga-labs"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/salesforce.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23508"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23515,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23508\/revisions\/23515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}