Molly Jane Zuckerman


<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="256" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Off-Topic-with-Molly-Jane_20230616a-1.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-60166" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Off-Topic-with-Molly-Jane_20230616a-1.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Off-Topic-with-Molly-Jane_20230616a-1.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Off-Topic-with-Molly-Jane_20230616a-1.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Off-Topic-with-Molly-Jane_20230616a-1.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Off-Topic-with-Molly-Jane_20230616a-1.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Off-Topic-with-Molly-Jane_20230616a-1.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Off-Topic-with-Molly-Jane_20230616a-1.png?w=80 80w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<p>Pulitzer-prize winning art critic Jerry Saltz has had it with NFTs.</p>



<p>He <a href="https://twitter.com/jerrysaltz/status/1731764418738872550">tweeted</a> last Monday:</p>



<p>“I have found that about 90% of the people in the space of AI and NFT infatically [sic] DO NOT want criticism. Their reactions to it prove it. I tried. And tried. One guy hit me on my wrist when I walked past him on Hudson Street &amp; West 12th St. And yelled something about NFTs. Sigh.”</p>



<p>If you don’t know who Saltz is, he’s been the senior art critic at New York Magazine since 2006. But just because he’s a mainstream critic in the traditional art world doesn’t mean that he’s predisposed to hate all crypto art — in fact, in a <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2021/04/nfts-will-be-an-artistic-tool-as-powerful-as-any-other.html">Vulture piece</a> from 2021, he writes, “Someday, there may be a Francis Bacon of NFTs.”&nbsp;</p>



<p><em>“Perhaps one day an NFT will cast curses, conjure Gods, watch over armies, or give us visions of Elysium. For now, most NFTs seem to have taken less time to make than they do to look at [&#8230;] With NFTs my motto is what it always is: Art first; all else will follow.”</em></p>



<p>Saltz has also been <a href="https://art.art/blog/in-conversation-with-jerry-saltz-on-art-is-life">quoted</a> as saying that “anybody that rejects digital transmission of art is like a garage band that’s too pure to sign with a company.” And Saltz has even <a href="https://superrare.com/magazine/2021/06/10/why-one-collector-destroyed-critic-jerry-saltz-artwork-to-prove-the-nft-revolution-is-not-an-art-revolution/">created and sold</a> one pretty meta NFT collection himself, with the proceeds donated to charity. This puts Saltz in a rather exclusive category: real-world art critic who has also actively participated in the NFT creator economy.</p>



<p>Last week’s literal slap on the wrist was <a href="https://news.artnet.com/news/refik-anadol-vs-jerry-saltz-2400275">likely inspired</a> by Saltz’ recent criticism of a large-scale AI artwork currently displayed in MOMA — while not an NFT, <em>Unsupervised </em>is a 24-foot tall screen with moving, abstract AI images inspired by MOMA’s collection.</p>



<p>Saltz called it a “half-million dollar screensaver.” The artist responded with “ChatGPT writes better than you.” Beeple made a mash-up of the two locked in a fictional battle. NFT collector and DJ 3LAU wrote “no one remembers a critic when they die.”</p>



<p>It’s important to underline that Saltz is clearly not a digital art skeptic. Instead, he’s someone who took his career in art criticism and turned his critical eye to this new medium of art. Sure, he criticizes a lot of what the NFT market currently is, but that’s what art critics are supposed to do —&nbsp;take new forms of art seriously, and critique them.</p>



<p>What artists, or even more weirdly, the superfans of a particular artistic movement, are not supposed to do is hit art critics on the arm in the streets of New York for writing honestly about digital art.</p>



<p>Cryptocurrency and the various niches that it has spawned has led to the creation of a very specific type of superfan. Say that you don’t like, for example, XRP on the internet, and you’ll be attacked by a group of people who literally go by the moniker “XRP Army.” Say that you aren’t a fan of the yen on the internet, and be greeted with silence.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Case in point, I once referred to a dog-themed cryptocurrency project as having Ponzi-scheme-like qualities on a podcast and was bombarded with Twitter DMs, my favorite of which just said “and you dare to call yourself a woman!”</p>



<p>I’ll grant crypto superfans as having a slightly different perspective than most superfans. After all, the technology they stan is supposed to quite literally change the world for the better forever (and make them rich along the way).</p>



<p>NFT superfans don’t get the same pass. If fans of non-fungible art can’t take criticism, it might be because their fandom has less to do with art and more to do with Number Go Up.</p>



<p>Because as Saltz himself <a href="https://news.artnet.com/news/refik-anadol-vs-jerry-saltz-2400275">said</a>, his job is to critique art, not critique the industry that created that art:&nbsp;</p>



<p>“My job is to notice things &amp; then say what I noticed. That’s it. We don’t have to agree. I want all artists to be successful. The good, the bad, and the very bad.”</p>



<p>So if you truly love NFTs, for whatever reason, but also want to legitimize an industry that has been embarrassed by cartoon apes and weird, and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/stoner-cats-sec-unregistered-securities-nfts-hollywood">sometimes illegal</a>, celebrity promotions, the next time you see a Pulitzer-prize-winning art critic who is a fan of NFTs on the street, keep your hands to yourself.&nbsp;</p>



<p>No need to make your hate phygital.</p>



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<p><em>I don’t care much about tech, I don’t care a whole lot about finance, either. I care about writing stories and watching weird things unfold. And that’s why I’ve ended up in crypto. <br><br>But because I’m missing that passion for what crypto and blockchain are all about — finance, tech, privacy, yadda yadda — I’m going to write instead about what I am actually interested in. Everything about crypto that has very little to do with crypto.<br><br>That’s what this column will be about. All the tangential stories that come out of the blockchain and crypto space, what I think about them, and how I navigate it all as a skeptical former Russian literature major.<br><br>It’s precisely my perch as an outsider that lets me do what I do: Opine on all sides of any crypto issue, no strings attached, no skin in the game.<br><br>If you want to talk crypto with me, let’s go off topic.</em></p>


No, it’s not okay to physically assault NFT critics (even if it’s just a slap)

Shalini Nagarajan


<p>The UK&#8217;s culture, media and sports (CMS) committee is advising the government to collaborate with NFT marketplaces to address copyright violations.</p>



<p>Comprising a group of MPs, the committee initiated an inquiry in Nov. 2022 to explore the impact of blockchain and NFTs on policy areas within their jurisdiction.</p>



<p>In a report <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/41611/documents/205745/default/">released</a> Wednesday, they pinpointed intellectual property risks as their primary concern during the investigation.</p>



<p>NFTs featuring art can infringe on artists’ intellectual property rights and are found on online platforms with limited ways to resolve and compensate for such issues, they said.</p>



<p>“Artists are at risk of seeing the fruits of their hard work pinched and promoted without permission while fraudulent and misleading adverts add an extra layer of jeopardy for investors involved in what is already an inherently risky business,” Caroline Dinenage, Conservative MP and Chair of the CMS Committee, said in a statement.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“The government must make sure that everyone in the crypto chain is working to properly protect consumers and the rights of creators,” she added.</p>



<p>The committee noted that an opportunistic user might, for instance, use inaccurate information, like misattributing the creator of an artwork, potentially impacting the creator&#8217;s future ability to profit from the artwork.</p>



<p>To tackle this issue, they recommended establishing rules for online marketplaces, including NFT platforms, to safeguard creators, buyers and sellers from fake or illegal content.</p>



<p>The group is also worried that NFTs are being used in professional sports to generate extra income from global fans and, in some cases, as a substitute for fan interaction.</p>



<p>Fan tokens are created to boost fan interaction with sports teams or organizations. When fans buy these tokens, they gain access to various perks, rewards and chances to connect with their favorite teams or clubs in return.</p>



<p>In the context of sports, the report suggested that employing fan tokens in football should not be considered a valid gauge of engagement, due to price instability and concerns raised by fan groups.</p>



<p>“The unique relationship between clubs and fans means that fan speculation on sport-based cryptoassets carries a real risk of financial harm to fans and reputational harm to clubs,” the report said.</p>



<p>The committee also urged the government to tackle deceptive or dishonest NFT advertising.&nbsp;</p>



<p>They recommended a regulatory framework that mandates the entire advertising process to minimize potential harm to consumers arising from NFT marketing.</p>



<p><a href="https://blockworks.co/news/uk-fca-deadline-crypto-marketing-regulation">Recent UK regulations</a> mandate that crypto companies must ensure their advertising is transparent, equitable and prominently displays risk notifications.</p>



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<p><strong>Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.</strong></p>


UK sports committee wants football to tackle fan tokens, NFTs

Max Widmer


<p>If you think it’s absurd that an algorithmically generated rendering of code called Ringers #879 (aka The Goose) just <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2023/grails-part-ii/ringers-879-the-goose">sold</a> for $6.2 million at a Sotheby’s auction, you’re not alone. But you should take a closer look.&nbsp;</p>



<p>At first glance, there’s nothing groundbreaking about it. For as long as the acquisition of fine art and rare objects has been sought after by affluent collectors willing to pay millions of dollars, auction houses like Sotheby&#8217;s have brokered the deal. But Ringers #879<em> </em>is a curious case, even when considering Sotheby’s 280 years of professional experience. </p>



<p>It represents a novel form of creativity made possible by the technological advancements of our current age, and it is posing a divisive new question to modern enthusiasts of contemporary art: <em>Can</em> <em>value be ascribed, and ownership conferred, to something that does not exist in the physical realm at all?&nbsp;</em></p>



<p>Simple explanations are unequipped to justify how any piece of abstract art can soar to such a ridiculous value. But there are theories about The Goose<em>, </em>and they have the tendency to make your eyes roll. Like how the piece is a commentary on probabilistic outcomes, or the beauty laid hidden in factorial math; how it captures something elegant materializing out of chaos; or how it will endure in public consciousness as a pioneer symbol of a movement that once wasn’t embraced.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>Maybe The Goose does symbolize the arrival of something new. Or maybe it’s all avant garde bullshit. I’d be lying if I told you that I had any idea.&nbsp;</p>



<p>But it’s lazy to dismiss any new movement as irrelevant solely because it’s difficult for you to comprehend.</p>



<p>What, then, is this immaterial Goose, and why did it sell for the price of a West Village Townhouse?</p>



<p>The Goose<em> </em>is a static digital rendering of automated code programmed by a 35-year-old engineer named Dmitri Cherniak. Cherniak studied physiology and computer science at McGill University, and he graduated without ever taking an art credit. He was interested in questions of probability, intrigued by the visual depictions a computer might produce if given specific mathematical and aesthetic constraints. When he started automating his own algorithms and selling the outcomes on open NFT marketplaces, it didn’t take long for collectors to start paying attention.&nbsp;</p>



<p>In early 2018, after experiencing modest success, Cherniak began to tinker with a <em>javascript </em>algorithm that would be able to depict the many outcomes possible if a single line of string were to wrap, plausibly, around a non-intersecting configuration of circles. To automate the range of possible variations, he manually encoded a palette of mid-century colors, and a set of geometric parameters, as he explains in an <a href="https://beta.cent.co/artblocks/+qwwlm3">interview</a> far better than I can:&nbsp;</p>



<p>Visually when you see [the outcome image] it’s rather intuitive and you might be able to draw a few instances by hand, which is something I often do. From a code and numerical perspective, it’s much more complicated to get right. You need to sample positions from the grid, sort them in a way such that the lines don’t intersect, calculate the set of lines that are tangent between each peg/circle based on position and radius, then you need to calculate the arc curves around each peg taking note of which way around the peg the path would need to follow and compensating for that. It involves a bit of geometry, a bit of problem solving, and a number of steps that individually don’t feel intuitive compared to the visual system at all.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Shortly thereafter, he announced the Ringers<em> </em>project, agreeing to publicly “mint” 1,000 randomly generated outcomes of his algorithm for purchase as NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. Cherniak set the Ringers mint price at 0.1 Ethereum, roughly $140 at the time, and released the project to eager collectors on Jan. 31, 2021. The tokens sold out immediately.</p>



<p>When a generative art collection is first minted, neither the artist nor the collector has any idea what the individual tokens will contain. “It is an act of faith,” said the newly authenticated owner of The Goose<em>, </em>pseudonymous fine art collector Punk 6529, after his winning Sotheby’s <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/dmitri-cherniak-ringers-879-goose-lays-6-2m-golden-egg-at-generative-art-auction">bid</a> on June 15. When the Ringers art was finally revealed by Cherniak, collectors knew they had scored something special.</p>



<p>The images were strangely familiar abstractions, and dreamlike. Each sufficiently independent yet undeniably coherent to the rest in the collection, not unlike the patterns in snowflakes and butterfly wings.&nbsp;</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1058" height="1058" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Screenshot-2023-07-18-at-2.28.41-PM.png?w=300&amp;h=300" alt="" class="wp-image-62208" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Screenshot-2023-07-18-at-2.28.41-PM.png?w=1058 1058w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Screenshot-2023-07-18-at-2.28.41-PM.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Screenshot-2023-07-18-at-2.28.41-PM.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Screenshot-2023-07-18-at-2.28.41-PM.png?w=150 150w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Screenshot-2023-07-18-at-2.28.41-PM.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Screenshot-2023-07-18-at-2.28.41-PM.png?w=257 257w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Screenshot-2023-07-18-at-2.28.41-PM.png?w=261 261w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Screenshot-2023-07-18-at-2.28.41-PM.png?w=219 219w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Screenshot-2023-07-18-at-2.28.41-PM.png?w=80 80w" sizes="(max-width: 1058px) 100vw, 1058px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>Ringers #879 (The Goose) by Dmitri Cherniak | Current est. value: $6.2 million</em></figcaption></figure></div>


<p>One came out different though — Number 879. It had an arresting sense of balance and uncanny avian shapes, like the head of a pelican, or a goose’s beak. And there was nothing else like it in the thousand-piece collection.&nbsp;</p>



<p>There are three things, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/6S4mIScwdtiDgJQHxH0PxA?si=uLJCKRvET1-NKuKSc603PQ&amp;t=4801&amp;context=spotify%3Ashow%3A4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq">according</a> to Punk 6529,&nbsp; that one should consider when attempting to discern the value of a single piece of automated digital art. The first is<em> aesthetic</em>, meaning how does it actually look? Is there anything about it that compels you? The second is the piece’s <em>rarity</em>, meaning of all the possibilities the artist encoded, does it contain a specific combination of traits that defy extraordinary odds. The last factor, though, is the most important. It’s what will cause a piece to become mimetic and travel through culture. <em>Emergence. </em>Meaning the algorithm has produced an effect that nobody could have possibly expected.&nbsp;</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/v835l1YnIoWPGdfLqgYIF2LXJTktoPb-3iYiNuipSeRWdFzUSQJNo6XEFBfvIt_FnESl1LDaYgGwPVSWHSSq5MB4laACrIHTZeKRDADfoymIW_WFYonVqA9MizHDU4malCqDeuKV5ZqhcYHPBrZfxt8" alt="" width="846" height="339"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>All 1,000 Ringers variations by Dmitri Cherniak (2021) | Current <a href="https://opensea.io/collection/ringers-by-dmitri-cherniak">OpenSea</a> floor price: 37 ETH (~$70,000)</em></figcaption></figure></div>


<p>In this provenant moment for digital art, it is impossible to know whether lasting cultural value can be found within an automated string of code. Time alone will make that call. But in the interim, we will continue to ridicule the new things that confound us, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/06/22/goose-nft-crypto-sothebys/">and talk about them in headlines with condescending tones</a>; and we will continue to choose what is already obvious, until it’s not so obvious anymore.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Art, meanwhile, will continue to evolve and march on as it always has, leaving its trace on time and culture, indifferent to whether you can see value in it or not.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Just ask Louis Leroy.&nbsp;</p>



<p>In April 1874, the now-infamous 17th century art critic was on assignment for a prominent journal called Le Charivari<em> </em>in Paris, France. He was tasked with reviewing an art exhibit called Salon des Refusés (“Salon of the Refused”), which had on display a collection of paintings outright rejected by every mainstream arthouse in Western Europe. The pieces were painted with loose and unblended brush strokes, a style new to their day, and displayed vaguely discernible portraits of ordinary life.&nbsp;</p>



<p>One canvas depicted the silhouette of a lowly fisherman in early dawn, pausing for a moment to gaze at a sunrise. It prompted Leroy, who I’d like to imagine had a wry and pretentious smile draped across his face, to make a career-defining mistake: “A preliminary drawing for a wallpaper pattern is more finished than this seascape,” he’d report for the journal, joining a chorus of modern day critics bewildered by what they were looking at. Three years later, the painting would go on to sell for 210 francs, roughly $230 dollars by modern day comparisons.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Fortunately, the artist behind Impression: Soleil Levant, a 32-year-old outdoorsman named Claude Monet, was unbothered by the criticism. “Those poor blind people,”<em> </em>he would later remark to his friend (fellow wallpaper-maker Pierre Auguste Renoire), “they want to see everything so clearly in the fog.”</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-1AtcqrRQ1NX8NuJMT1mvb7RsnkTc0mkLHQ1NC9g5f-ia0gjeGy9kKwurXKuKBBOZCH_0tHXRs5GJusDSXCRut6zTV8vX_lzfwi9cKetdFua32z7Kao9UkmXaCJs8iI3Hp0F3EZtWJQm-CxCsfNh9rI" alt="" width="489" height="379"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>Impression: Soleil Levant by Claude Monet (1872) | Current estimated value: $250 million &#8211; $300 million</em></figcaption></figure></div>


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<div class="wp-block-post-author-biography">Max is Senior Brand Partner at Blockworks, where he consults businesses on their marketing strategies for the Digital Asset space. He is particularly interested in the way emerging technologies are influencing society and culture. He is based in NYC.</div>


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<p><strong>Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.</strong></p>


You aren’t thinking hard enough about digital art

Scott Lawin


<p>Artificial intelligence is making everyone a would-be poet and artist. But for the real creatives out there, it’s blockchain that will provide value through scarcity and authenticity.</p>



<p>The recent rise of AI tools like Midjourney and DALL-E has led to an explosion of creative output, giving every budding artist an easy way to turn loose visions into concrete realities.&nbsp;</p>



<p>But many professional creatives have a more tortured relationship with this technological breakthrough, especially when it comes to growing the value of their creations and being compensated for their contributions to these AI tools’ vast datasets.&nbsp;</p>



<p>It is clear that blockchain is even more essential for artists and creators now that advanced AI technologies have been released into the wild.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">AI is only as creative as its data set</h2>



<p>There is no doubt that many of the things AI is being used to create are impressive, aesthetically pleasing, and seemingly “creative.”</p>



<p>But these <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/artificial-intelligence">AI</a> tools were trained on vast data sets which contain countless works from human artists and creators — nearly all of whom are not being compensated for their contributions. It’s no surprise, then, that there is a growing belief that some forms of AI are essentially a technologically advanced form of plagiarism.</p>



<p>You may get a kick out of prompting Midjourney to create a portrait of Pikachu in the painting style of Gustav Klimt, but having the ability to spin up derivative works based on others’ intellectual property and creative style is illegal at worst and morally dubious at best.</p>



<p>This is not to say that AI is bad for artists, or that generative content has no value.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Used correctly, these tools open many exciting, pro-social possibilities for ordinary individuals and professional creatives alike. But to avoid a dystopian reality where humanity is sucked out of the creative process, AI developers should first secure permission to use artists’ works when training their software, provide compensation to these creators, and give them the option to remove their works from the data set if they so desire.&nbsp;</p>



<p><a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/blockchain">Blockchain</a> technology is perfectly suited to provide these artist protections. By recording ownership on a blockchain ledger, artists can protect their intellectual property rights, receive automated royalties whenever their work is used in a training set, and prevent others from plagiarizing or copying their work.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Authenticity will always matter</h2>



<p>Within the world of art, it is essential to balance both abundance and scarcity — an artist’s eventual goal is to create ever more valuable art that feels both exclusive and accessible to an audience.</p>



<p>Using today’s AI tools, it’s increasingly effortless to generate high quality creative works in seconds — which is leading to more creative abundance. But for the real creatives out there, these tools lack the scarcity aspect that makes art actually valuable: This is where blockchain steps in.</p>



<p>It is already shockingly simple for anyone to use AI to generate new artworks that resemble those of existing artists or create convincing “photographs” and “footage” of public figures. By recording ownership and transactions on a decentralized and immutable ledger, blockchain can provide authenticity and scarcity for any form of digitized art or cultural asset that will then distinguish it from any inauthentic AI version.</p>



<p>For instance, by digitizing something like a rare historic photograph and then releasing it as a limited edition collection, museums could simultaneously verify that the photograph is real (as opposed to AI-generated), while also creating new forms of cultural engagement and value.&nbsp;</p>



<p>There will always be a demand for traditional artwork and creative pieces born from manual processes. What many collectors value is the human imagination and effort behind a work: There is no replacement for authenticity.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Not much is keeping people from printing their own baseball cards or buying imitation art — but there’s a reason a 1952 Mickey Mantle card sold for $12.6 million last year and the Mona Lisa is considered priceless, while you don’t see DALL-E images reaching anywhere near those sort of price points (or any price points, for that matter).</p>



<p>Blockchain will increasingly draw attention to the value of scarcity by ensuring that original works like the Mona Lisas of the world are valued and protected.&nbsp;</p>



<p>In other words, there’s a fair chance that most valuable NFTs in the future will consist of collections that are designed to preserve specific historical or cultural artifacts, as opposed to the pricey generative art collections we see today.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">AI as an interface, blockchain as the infrastructure</h2>



<p>The internet has always been both a gift and a curse for creators.&nbsp;</p>



<p>On one hand, the internet provides near-limitless opportunities for artists to showcase their work to a global audience and connect with potential buyers. However, the internet also poses significant challenges for artists in terms of copyright infringement and compensation.&nbsp;</p>



<p>With this new popularity in AI, these opportunities and challenges have grown exponentially overnight. We’ve reached a strange inflection point where it has never been easier to produce creative works, even as the creative process is at risk of being commoditized and automated.</p>



<p>The most sustainable path forward is to continue creating more sophisticated, openly available AI interfaces while leveraging blockchain technology as a base layer of data integrity, availability, and trust.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Both artificial intelligence and blockchain are at the “Web2.5” stage of their evolutionary trajectory: an open, transitory state from “emerging tech applications” to “de facto solutions” for many sectors of the current internet.&nbsp;</p>



<p>As long as these technologies are used to make exciting new things AND protect existing value, everyone stands to benefit.</p>



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<div class="wp-block-post-author-biography">Scott M. Lawin is Co-Founder &amp; CEO of Candy Digital, Inc., a next-generation sports and culture digital asset platform, providing authentic objects and experiences that deepen fan engagement and connect people to their passions.

Before launching Candy, Mr. Lawin founded Parametric, LP, a private investment and advisory firm focused on early-stage opportunities in blockchain, fintech, art, and real estate. From 2010-2017, Mr. Lawin was the Chief Operating Officer of Moore Capital Management, a $15bn global alternative investment management company. Prior to joining Moore, Mr. Lawin served as Chief Operating Officer of the Liquid Markets business at Fortress Investment Group following a 12-year career at Goldman, Sachs &amp; Co.
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<p><strong>Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.</strong></p>


Here’s How to Not Feel Guilty About Using AI to Make Yourself Into a Handsome Pirate

Ornella Hernandez

<div id="highlights-block_629f43a62afd0" class="highlights">
        <ul>
                <li>The agency’s main concern lies in the securitization of NFTs</li>
                <li>Only licensed institutions can operate collective investment schemes</li>
            </ul>
    
</div>



<p>A Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission statement <a href="https://apps.sfc.hk/edistributionWeb/gateway/EN/news-and-announcements/news/doc?refNo=22PR34&amp;module=inline&amp;pgtype=article" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">published</a> on Monday defines which NFTs fall under its mandate, while advising investors to be mindful of regulated securities.</p>



<p>The statement warned of risks such as “illiquid secondary markets, volatility, opaque pricing, hacking and fraud,” and cautioned that if investors “cannot fully understand them and bear the potential losses, they should not invest in NFTs.”</p>



<p>The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) is particularly concerned about assets that “push the boundary between a collectible and a financial asset” — those that are structured like a security or a collective investment scheme (CIS). </p>



<p>A CIS is a type of investment arrangement to pool money around a certain asset or property. The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO) specifies that a CIS is managed in escrow, and its participants do not have day-to-day control over its management but are subject to receive profits, income or other returns. </p>



<p>A recent <a href="https://tokeny.com/the-kmska-museum-tokenizes-a-million-euro-masterpiece-with-erc-3643-standard/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">example</a> includes the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp&#8217;s fractionalization and security token offering on the Polygon blockchain of James Ensor’s 1924 painting &#8220;Carnaval de Binche.&#8221;</p>



<p>While such fractionalized NFTs (non-fungible tokens) fall under the SFC&#8217;s mandate, NFTs of a digital image, artwork, music or video that represent a unique copy of an underlying asset do not.</p>



<p>The financial regulator stated that any Hong Kong residents who wish to issue NFTs or to target local investors must obtain a license from the SFC, or be subject to certain authorization requirements under the SFO.</p>



<p>Recently, Hong Kong also <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/hong-kong-restricts-trading-of-crypto-etfs-to-professional-investors-only/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">limited the sale</a> of crypto spot ETFs to only professional investors, which it defined as those whose portfolio exceeds 8 million Hong Kong dollars (about $1.2 million). And the Hong Kong Monetary Authority deemed “payments-related stablecoins” as a risk to financial stability.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



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Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission Calls for Regulation of NFTs

Morgan Chittum

<div id="highlights-block_61aa9f794e446" class="highlights">
        <ul>
                <li>The NFT collection will be minted on Ethereum and hosted on Web3 platform The Internet Computer</li>
                <li>“I kind of imagined myself as an ape if I were jaded with life, had all the money and time in the world, but also hung out at a punk bar,” the artist said of the inspiration behind Bored Ape’s design</li>
            </ul>
    
</div>



<p><a href="https://allseeingseneca.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">All Seeing Seneca</a>, the lead artist behind non-fungible token collection Bored Ape Yacht Club, may not be a household name but her impact on the NFT world is undeniable.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Seneca’s first step into the metaverse was with a character design project for <a href="https://www.yugalabs.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Yuga Labs</a>, drawing a bunch of disinterested-looking cartoon primates, a <a href="https://opensea.io/collection/boredapeyachtclub" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NFT collection</a> that has amassed over $1 billion in trading sales since late April. Now, the New York-based artist is releasing another line of digital collectibles.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“It went from nothing to nearly a billion-dollar empire. It&#8217;s still a bit surreal. It was just me drawing on my tablet,” she told Blockworks in an interview. “That experience alone led me to the exposure of Web3 and I’ve been learning every day since [then].”</p>



<p>Launched by four pseudonymous developers, the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection is a series of 10,000 NFTs, which holders commonly use as their profile pictures online. A single ape sold for $3.4 million at <a href="https://decrypt.co/84474/bored-ape-yacht-club-ethereum-nft-breaks-sales-record" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sotheby’s auction house</a> in October. Big names like Jimmy Fallon, Steph Curry and Post Malone have all purchased an ape.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“I was getting into this new space and then suddenly saw everybody with my drawing in their profile pictures,” she said. “It took me a moment to process everything. The fun of the project for me was designing the ape. I&#8217;m glad so many people connected with that character, and saw themselves in the ape.”</p>



<p>Seneca, who was raised in Shanghai and born in New York, described herself as a “cross-culture kid” who “has been making art for as long as [she] can remember.”  She later attended Rhode Island School of Design. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">soooo BAYC achieved 24.4 mil at the <a href="https://twitter.com/Sothebys?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Sothebys</a> auction. Bonkers. Go Apes.<br>To celebrate, I would like to share another sneaky image of concept art behind the project (:<br>Thank you to Yuga, Sothebys, and all the apes 🙈 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BoredApeYachtClub?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BoredApeYachtClub</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BAYC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BAYC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NFTartist?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NFTartist</a> <a href="https://t.co/YtdCsgFxSR">pic.twitter.com/YtdCsgFxSR</a></p>&mdash; 👁 👁 👁 seneca (@allseeingseneca) <a href="https://twitter.com/allseeingseneca/status/1438933182951346177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 17, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Beyond the apes</strong></h3>



<p>Seneca will unveil her new five-piece NFT collection at the <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/iconoclast-an-nft-art-exhibit-tickets-215811767807" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ICONOCLAST</a> art exhibition in Miami on Saturday, Dec. 4. </p>



<p>The tokens will be minted on ethereum and hosted on the Web3 platform, <a href="https://dfinity.org/showcase/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Internet Computer</a>. Four of them will most likely be auctioned at <a href="https://artbasel.com/miami-beach" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Art Basel</a> in Miami on Dec. 4 and the fifth is being held to potentially go to auction at Sotheby’s next year.</p>



<p>Despite the popularity around her first NFT collection, Seneca said she feels nervous about the reveal on Saturday. </p>



<p>“Art is so personal. It&#8217;s like revealing a baby. I&#8217;m putting all my [feelings] into this project all my hard work,” she said. “That nervousness and determination behind the piece never goes away regardless of its commercial success.”</p>



<p>Seneca teased that she may release another NFT collection next year, adding that the &#8220;debut at Art Basel is just the beginning of [her] work.”</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



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Bored Ape Yacht Club Lead Artist Set to Release Her New NFT Collection

Macauley Peterson

<div id="highlights-block_619788dbf534b" class="highlights">
        <ul>
                <li>The auction was the first time ETH pricing was used in a live auction at Sotheby’s</li>
                <li>Banksy&#8217;s painting, ‘Love is in the Air’, sold for 1,696 ETH, ​​&#8217;Trolley Hunters&#8217; was won for 1,397 ETH</li>
            </ul>
    
</div>



<p>“OK, ladies and gentlemen, we are moving now, of course, to the Banksys. We arrive at the two consecutive lots by Banksy where, as you know, I will be fielding bids in US dollars and ETH for the very first time in a live auction at Sotheby’s,” announced Oliver Barker, Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe.</p>



<p>That was the prelude to two historic sales yesterday evening in New York, in an event “showcasing cutting edge works by the masters of today alongside the masters of tomorrow.” At <a href="https://youtu.be/1TBa-9Lx3vc?t=4076" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the top of the live webcast</a>, Barker explained that Sotheby’s currency converter board would display prices for all auctioned works in ether. But the two Banksy pieces would take the innovation one step further, as Barker would call out the live bidding in ETH as well.</p>



<p>“And how appropriate it should be for works by Banksy, the art world’s ultimate disruptor,” Barker explained.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<p align="center"><iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1TBa-9Lx3vc?start=5956" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br>
<i>Watch the auction replay</i></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<p>Bidding began on the first lot at 1,122 ETH or $4.5 million. It was estimated by Sotheby’s to sell for between $5 and $7 million. While the dual call evidently confused some participants and amused many of the staff handling the phone bidding in the live auction hall, the bidding ultimately escalated to 1,397 ETH or $5.6 million.</p>



<p>The currency conversion displayed online was not exactly matching the live call, but it was within a few ETH, reflecting the volatile nature of ether itself, which has dropped about -2.5% in the past 24 hours, along with a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/btc-sells-off-as-metaverse-tokens-show-strength-markets-wrap/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">broader market sell off</a>.</p>



<p>Banksy’s ‘Love is in the Air’ fared a bit better, as multiple bidders from as far as Hong Kong and London ran up the price to 1,696 ETH, gaveled in as $6.8 million.</p>



<p>Many crypto-enthusiasts, who were tuning in primarily to witness The ConstitutionDAO&#8217;s <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/the-constitutiondao-raises-49m-to-buy-a-copy-of-the-us-constitution/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">attempt to win</a> a rare original copy of the US Constitution, were enamored by the spectacle of ETH being used as money in a live event setting.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Very cool to see the Banksy auction at <a href="https://twitter.com/Sothebys?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Sothebys</a> being done purely in ETH&#8230; <a href="https://t.co/tXLqwyKKez">pic.twitter.com/tXLqwyKKez</a></p>&mdash; Raoul Pal (@RaoulGMI) <a href="https://twitter.com/RaoulGMI/status/1461032053265387524?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 17, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<p>A version of the painting was previously sold by Sotheby’s in May, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/sothebys-you-can-buy-banksy-with-bitcoin/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks reported</a>, when cryptocurrency was also accepted for payment, but the auction was conducted in US dollars, and the work <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/contemporary-art-evening-auction/love-is-in-the-air-2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ultimately sold</a> for $12.9 million.</p>



<p>The auction house also has a virtual property in <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/?s=decentraland" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Decentraland</a>.</p>



<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CPvHRS_HRtx/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CPvHRS_HRtx/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank"> <div style=" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div></div></div><div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display:block; height:50px; margin:0 auto 12px; width:50px;"><svg width="50px" height="50px" viewBox="0 0 60 60" version="1.1" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><g stroke="none" stroke-width="1" fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><g transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)" fill="#000000"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></div><div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style=" color:#3897f0; 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Two Works by Banksy Auctioned for Ether at Sotheby’s

<div id="highlights-block_618bf89939821" class="highlights">
        <ul>
                <li>Ryan Zurrer, a former venture partner at Polychain Capital, claimed the artwork </li>
                <li>The NFT runs on Ethereum blockchain, allowing Beeple to continuously update and change the artwork for the rest of his life, according to the artist</li>
            </ul>
    
</div>



<p>The second most expensive non-fungible token (NFT) just sold for <a href="https://twitter.com/beeple/status/1457902055679483905?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$28.9 million</a> via Christie’s auction house on Tuesday.</p>



<p>Artist Beeple’s “Human One” depicts an astronaut-like figure walking in an almost seven-foot-high translucent box, <a href="https://www.christies.com/features/Beeple-gets-real-with-human-one-11940-7.aspx?cid=EM_SEM%7CACCT:ChristiesPWC%7CCMP:2021CNY1121LIVENov21BrandUS%7CAG:ArtistsGeneralPhrase%7CENGINE:GOOGLE%7CNT:SEARCH%7CRG:US%7CBANNER:%7CIMG:%7CKW:christies%20beeple%7CMT:p%7CSID:2021CNY1121?rnd=1&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQiA-K2MBhC-ARIsAMtLKRtcXnxExxj-1PS10bfJT30orWHSJHOnBmqkFTpUOE1UKba-cqRTYjcaAgDEEALw_wcB" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">describing</a> it as “the first portrait of a human born in the metaverse.” </p>



<p>Elsewhere, Beeple compared “Human One” to a “subscription service,” adding that the owner is also “buying continual access to me updating this piece.” (The artwork runs on Ethereum blockchain, allowing Beeple to update and change the work.)</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">on display at <a href="https://twitter.com/ChristiesInc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ChristiesInc</a> NYC now✨ <a href="https://t.co/Jt0DIv1Cwl">pic.twitter.com/Jt0DIv1Cwl</a></p>&mdash; beeple (@beeple) <a href="https://twitter.com/beeple/status/1455440514459779074?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 2, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<p>“While the piece was sold last night, [it] is not complete,” he said in a <a href="https://re.wired.com/c/re-wired-how-technology-is-challenging-our-notions-of-what-art-is" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">webinar</a> on Wednesday. “I&#8217;m going to keep changing the piece and keep updating the artwork over the course of the rest of my life. That is something that is very exciting to me, and I think is much more analogous to how people will appreciate art in the future.”</p>



<p>Ryan Zurrer, a former venture partner at Polychain Capital, <a href="https://twitter.com/kukulabanze/status/1458236032818819075?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">claimed</a> the artwork.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p><strong>“This is how people will view art in the future as a dynamic thing. You come down in the morning, and the piece looks one way. You come home from work, and the piece looks a different way,” Beeple said. “It just continues to evolve, surprise and just adds to its beauty.” </strong></p></blockquote>



<p>Mike Winkelmann, who goes by Beeple, made <a href="https://www.christies.com/features/Monumental-collage-by-Beeple-is-first-purely-digital-artwork-NFT-to-come-to-auction-11510-7.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">headlines</a> in March of last year for selling his NFT, “The First 5000 Days” for over $69 million at the same auction house. It remains the highest-selling piece of crypto art for Christie’s. </p>


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