Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This really is a full service blog.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

T R E 4 5 O N

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

The willow is too close to the house.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Bark louder, little dog.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Saturday Evening Open Thread: Extremely Fungible NFTs

Saturday Evening Open Thread: Extremely Fungible NFTs

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Sure, we may be spending the first Saturday night of the new year online, but at least we’re not as dementedly ONLINE as some people…

… PAYC announced its launch in early December with a loose mission statement promoting decentralization and denigrating “rich douchebags” who had (allegedly) taken over the original ape market. It called back to CryptoPhunks, a similar project that flipped and resold expensive CryptoPunks images earlier this year. Early arrivals could mint left-facing apes for free starting December 28th, while others paid a fee of .042 ETH (currently around $157).

PHAYC launched shortly after with a tongue-in-cheek website describing the project as “a limited NFT collection where the token itself offers no membership and no allegiance,” an inversion of the promise made by BAYC creator Yuga Labs. One PHAYC community member described the project to CoinDesk as “a satirical take on the current state of NFTs and members of the NFT community who might be taking the NFT market a little too seriously.”

Somewhat ironically, PAYC and PHAYC have since fought on Twitter over which one is the authentic Bored Ape Yacht Club ripoff, with PAYC’s founder referring to PHAYC as a “cash grab fraud project.” PHAYC charged people to mint its apes, and CoinDesk reports that it took in around 500 ETH (or around $1.8 million) in sales. By contrast, it says PAYC earned around 60 ETH (or roughly $225,000) from its paid sales…

Pivot! Ugly pics are soooo 2021 — unreadable words are the new 2022 hotness…

Reader Interactions

63Comments

  3. 3.

    Jerzy Russian

    a similar project that flipped and resold expensive CryptoPunks images

    Christ almighty.

  4. 4.

    Chetan Murthy

    Every time I look away [b/c who can look more than a brief period, without straining their superior rectus

    muscle ?] and then I look back again, it’s gotten even more ridiculous.  Just amazing.

    Also though, I thought “execution of the smart contract is all of the law” ?  what happened to that ?  Surely all the crypto influencers are up-in-arms about this …. application of laws on stolen property censorship ?

  5. 5.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @zhena gogolia: I was thinking earlier that Gavin MacLeod was the last MTM regular left, only to find that Captain Stubing set sail for the great beyond a few months ago. Didn’t get teh attention that Ed Asner or Betty White, or even Cloris Leachman, got.

  7. 7.

    Urza

    Literature NFTs would be like that album the douchebag pharmabro bought? That no one can ever appreciate until someone pirates it.
    So far as I can tell, most markets with high values just have people flipping things to raise the prices until it collapses. Crypto, NFTs, houses, art. Some have actual value like a house, but if companies and rich people are just flipping them to force the price up like Zillow and Blackrock do that doesn’t mean its real value increase even though real people end up paying extra for something they need.

  8. 8.

    dmsilev

    PHAYC charged people to mint its apes,

    The future is weirder than we could possibly have imagined.

  11. 11.

    Jerzy Russian

    @dmsilev:

    PHAYC charged people to mint its apes

    I will choose “Things That Are Even Stupider Than They Sound” for $500, Alex.

  17. 17.

    Jerzy Russian

    @SpaceUnit:  Assuming it has not been done yet (or even if it has), this would make a good high school science fair project.  Take two sets of houseplants (one is the control group of course), water one set with water and the other set with Gatorade and see if there is any difference towards the end of the semester.

  19. 19.

    Urza

    @Baud: Are there regular cryptocurrency derivatives yet?  Probably are but I haven’t heard of it.  If only I had the realization about the power usage now and not back in the very beginning.

  20. 20.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Baud:

    Next up: NFT derivatives.

    Do these things have simple analytic forms or can we use finite difference approximations? No really my field, but I hear there are some pretty sophisticated “automatic differentiation” codes out there, so those potentially be used if the need arises.

  23. 23.

    Baud

    I’m going to invest in fiat currency now so I can make a killing when it comes back in style.

  24. 24.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Urza: I have a friend who trades these suckers avidly.  All the variations.  And he’s told me that, indeed, there are all sorts of derivatives out there.  Every kind you might imagine.  The traders from Wall Street arrived a while back and, seeing a crowd of sheep waiting to be fleeced, have commenced with the shearing.

    Just to be clear, my friend is just a *trader*: he doesn’t for a second buy into any of this cryptocurrency bullshit.

  25. 25.

    Ken

    while others paid a fee of .042 ETH (currently around $157).

    $249

    $1,326

    $18,254

    $3,387

    $126

    $48.25

    $0.17

    Jeez, these markets are volatile…

  26. 26.

    Mai Naem mobile

    Spice Girl Mel B got a MBE for charity work in the New Years honors list from the Queen. And Bernie Taupin got a CBE for his musical talent. I’ve never followed the Spice Girls but I frankly thought they were all the female equivalent of a Lou Perlman plastic image band. Anyhoo, I guess she gets called Dame Mel now.

  27. 27.

    Another Scott

    @debbie: The supergeniuses are one step ahead of you… Bloomberg (from November):

    Texas, already home to the most vulnerable power grid in the U.S., is about to be hit by a surge in demand for electricity that’s twice the size of Austin’s.

    An army of cryptocurrency miners heading to the state for its cheap power and laissez-faire regulation is forecast to send demand soaring by as much as 5,000 megawatts over the next two years. The crypto migration to Texas has been building for months, but the sheer volume of power those miners will need — two times more than the capital city of almost 1 million people consumed in all of 2020 — is only now becoming clear.

    […]

    The crypto industry’s pitch for why it makes sense in Texas is simple: It’s good for the energy transition and the environment. Miners say they will drive a surge of new wind and solar development by signing long-term contracts, accelerating the state’s transition away from coal. And mining operations can act as a balancing force by soaking up excess clean power that would otherwise be wasted. Elon Musk has said Tesla Inc. would allow transactions in Bitcoin again once the mining is done with more clean energy.

    Unlike a factory or oil refinery, crypto miners can cut their electricity usage within seconds to ease tight grid conditions. The mining industry likes to draw parallels to battery storage technology that can kick in when needed.

    Crypto mining is “a very special kind of demand; it can curtail very quickly,” said Carrie Bivens, a former operations manager for the state grid who now serves as the independent market monitor with Potomac Economics. “By the same token, if that load never existed at all, there wouldn’t be a need to curtail.”

    Bitcoin Miner Is Scoring 700% Profits Selling Energy to Grid

    Some miners are voluntarily opting into programs where they get paid to sell power back to the grid during high-demand periods—both a benefit for the greater good and their own cashflows. For instance, if a miner had contracted power for $50 a megawatt-hour, it could have sold that power back back to the grid for $9,000 during the February crisis and pocketed the difference.

    […]

    (Emphasis added)

    I think I see a pathological incentive there. Did the old Enron geniuses find new employment?? :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  33. 33.

    Ken

    @Another Scott: The mining industry likes to draw parallels to battery storage technology that can kick in when needed.

    “Except instead of saving the extra energy for later, we waste it!” Shades of the Golgafrinchan “B” Ark survivors, burning the forests to drive up the value of the leaf.

  34. 34.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Ken: can you say “burying government cheese, literally burying it, to take it off the market” ?  I knew you could.  That actually happened.

  35. 35.

    Mike in NC

    Reading about this cryptocurrency crap makes a person wonder why Trump didn’t get into it himself years ago. Or maybe he did. Most of the people that went to his rallies are certifiable. I’m expecting something bad to happen this coming January 6.

  36. 36.

    burnspbesq

    @Another Scott:

    not a fun read on a night when temps in Central Texas are expected to drop into the 20s (F) by morning. The ICE car is full of gas and the EV is charged to 100 percent in case we need emergency warm places.

  38. 38.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Omnes Omnibus: you’re right ofcourse. Tony Blair is also on the honors list and he does get to be Sir Tony for I believe a GBE. Bernie Taupin probably deserves the GBE more than Tony Blair.

  42. 42.

    Steeplejack

    Apparently Saturday Night Live is going to run the 2010 episode with Betty White tonight.

  45. 45.

    burnspbesq

    @Spanky:

    Lake Charles, LA and Ardmore, OK are the nearest places on a regional power grid and with pet-friendly hotels. Not sure we could get to either without refueling.

  46. 46.

    Roger Moore

    @Urza:

    So far as I can tell, most markets with high values just have people flipping things to raise the prices until it collapses.

    That’s totally unfair.  Lots of them are also flipping things as a way of laundering money.

  48. 48.

    Yutsano

    @Anotherlurker:  It’s not just you. Those images definitely seem racist to me. PIcked that out as soon as I saw them, but look who they’re being marketed to.

  51. 51.

    Roger Moore

    @Mai Naem mobile: ​
     

    Anyhoo, I guess she gets called Dame Mel now.

    Nope. There are 5 levels in the Order of the British Empire (MBE, OBE, CBE, K/DBE, GBE) and only the last two are actual knights/dames. People who get the lower three levels can use the post-nominal letters to show their award, but they don’t get to call themselves knight or dame. This is true of the lower levels of most of the British orders of chivalry; they have lots of members, officers, and companions, but relatively few knights and dames.

  52. 52.

    Roger Moore

    @Mai Naem mobile:

    Tony Blair is also on the honors list and he does get to be Sir Tony for I believe a GBE.

    If I heard correctly, it’s for a KG, which is much more prestigious.  I guess if any Labour politician were going to get one, it would be “I’m Tory Plan B” (an anagram of Tony Blair, MP).

  55. 55.

    Another Scott

    @debbie: No idea.

    The next governor’s election in Texas is in November, so he would undoubtedly try to stick it out even if there’s some disaster (that he would try to blame on Biden or the “illegals” or the weird hippies in Austin).

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  56. 56.

    Roger Moore

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    The standard award for senior members of the defense establishment, including the intelligence services, would be in the Order of St. Michael and St. George.  For example, James Bond has a CMG, and Daniel Craig was just given one to match.  It’s quite unusual for an actor to get something like that, but I guess it helps to have friends in high places.​ ETA: Craig was also made an honorary Commander in the Royal Navy, the same rank as Bond.

  58. 58.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @SpaceUnit: This is gonna be the year we start watering our crops with Gatorade, isn’t it?

    Yes, but it will be virtual crops.

  59. 59.

    Kalakal

    @Roger Moore:  There was a wonderful scene in Yes Minister where Humphrey is explaning the ranks of the Order of St Michael & St George to Bernard

    CMG. – Call Me God

    KCMG – Kindly Call Me God

    GCMG – God Calls Me God

  61. 61.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Roger Moore:

    For example, James Bond has a CMG, and Daniel Craig was just given one to match. It’s quite unusual for an actor to get something like that

    Judi Dench has twice portrayed Queen Victoria on film, so by the same token I expect she will be crowned as Her Majesty any day now. //s

  62. 62.

    Fake Irishman

    @Another Scott:

    Good idea about ERCOT monitoring. The other thing to remember is that the Houston area will be dropping into the 30s tonight and not into a meat locker like it did last February. Central and northern Texas do get cold from time to time, but putting an additional 3 million households or so onto extreme power needs will keep the strain way down.

  63. 63.

    JAFD

    Thought of taking some photos I’d made, converting them to NFTs, sending them as Xmas gifts to friends.  Didn’t actually do anything about it.

    Weather today forecast is 50 F overnight low and 55 with clouds daytime Sunday, ‘Alberta Clipper’ coming thru Sunday night, 35 high Monday but sunshine.  Very tired of gloom am I getting.

    Fired up bread machine, had warm loaf and cheese for dinner, at least 2022 smells good round here.

    Happy New Year, and to all a good night !

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