NFT FLIPPERS, can't live with them, can't shoot them.
“You never cure structural defects; the system corrects itself by collapsing.”
Symbiosis, a mutually beneficial relationship between different people or groups….. Parasitism is a symbiotic relationship in which one (the parasite) benefits while the other (the host) is harmed.
“Flipping” an asset loosely means buying and swiftly reselling it to make a quick profit.
FLIPPERS exist in a Symbiotic relationship with NFT platforms and NFT collectors, however the question is this a symbiotic relationship that’s detrimental to the fledgling NFT ART WORLD?
I’m sure some are beneficial, just like Stefan Simchowitz in the contemporary art world who has a deep passion for art, artists and also flips art. I’ve met Stefan and I congratulated him for sticking a rocket up the stuffy art world. (he was dressed on that day).
Read about him here …. The Art World’s Patron Satan
The traditional art world has had to deal with flippers for centuries and they are universally hated. Google it and there’s a hundred articles & reasons why flippers are bad for art, for artists, for artist’s careers, for galleries, for the art market etc
In the traditional art world a quick flip is the best way to get you blacklisted. However reselling is excused for DEATH, DIVORCE & BANKRUPTCY. Essentially galleries want to control the artists and the collectors to curate what’s best for them, the galleries and hopefully everyone else in the art world.
Here are some articles, do take the time to read them.
Why “Flipping” Art Is so Controversial
Art Flipping: What can be done to reduce this practice?
“Flippers” Say Art Dealers Need Them More Than They Think
A decade before there were NFTs, there was Vinyl “toys” as art and just like now genuine artists were attracted to the scene. Rapacious Flippers jumped in, quickly crowding out the genuine collectors. These limited edition vinyl sculptures sold out in seconds, they were mostly flipped for a quick buck, making it near impossible to get for the original price. Any of this starting to sound familiar?
The easy sales created endless variations, colourways and wannabe artists over producing in the belief there was a sustainable buying base. In the end the cynical nature of the exercise collapsed leaving just a small core of collectors.
Most of the artists entered oblivion, exceptions being for the genuinely great artists who slipped back into the traditional art world and became major artists, such as KAWS, GARY BASEMAN and a handful of others. Their vinyl artworks today are worth 10x to 100x what they originally sold for. Good art survives, even after platforms or galleries collapse.
The philosopher Nassim Nicholas Taleb said “You never cure structural defects; the system corrects itself by collapsing.”
The vinyl art scene created ART just as legitimate as NFTs, however its demise was because it allowed itself to be driven by HYPE, FOMO and FLIPPING. The traditional art world controls, curates the artists, the collectors & restricts the flipping.
The NFT ART WORLD is structurally different from the tightly controlled and opaque art world. All praise the BLOCKCHAIN that allows CRYPTO ART to have price TRANSPARENCY & NO MIDDLE MEN (just a buy button). Platforms like NIFTY GATEWAY are barely “middlemen” in the process of selling NFTs. This 7 month old business has grown to become one of the top tier “galleries” by employing HYPE, FOMO and FLIPPING. See my article Never look a gift horse, or a bull in the mouth. The curious economics and psychology of Beeple’s “Politics is Bullshit” NFT.
Big money from Big collectors can create Big problems for Big platforms as good clients/Big collectors get pissed off because Flippers make them pay Bigger Bucks, or miss out altogether. NIFTY GATEWAY’S Duncan and Griffin Cock Foster wants a billion people to eventually own NFTs, imagine how many millionaires will be hassling you guys for first access to these limited NFTs. NIFTY GATEWAY is brilliant at curating their artists and marketing them, but unlike traditional galleries there’s no curating of their buyers.
NTFs are the most HYPER MONETISATION of Art that have ever existed. Art tethered to hyper trading akin to a stock market. Art tethered to Crypto Currencies, Art with floating valuations and unencumbered by a physical presence. NFTs can be traded instantly in any currency, “moved” across borders without incurring taxes, have no storage issues & conservation issues. Art that moves in hyper speed.
The velocity of money and ART is the systemic risk to building a sustainable NFT ecology. For the scene to grow it require the majority of collectors wanting to hang on to their NFTs, effectively taking them off the market for a lengthy period of time. If the NFT art world is infested with more and more flippers, it’ll eventually kill the market as they piss off the true collectors, create the illusion of demand, create an increase of production that services the flipping and when it all blows up….well it turns to shit.
Now that NIFTY GATEWAY have become a major player in the NFT world they have to start considering how to deal with FLIPPERS, you can’t live with them and you can’t shoot them…….or can you?
PRANKSY, the uber flipper recently went on the ZIMA RED podcast Pranksy Part 1 - How He Made Half A Million Dollars Trading NFTs - Zima Red ep 36
Pranksy Part 2 - How He Made Half A Million Dollars Trading NFTs - Zima Red ep 37
3 hours of Prattling Pranksy moving from one collectible to another collectible and eventually to NFTs, flipping like there’s no tomorrow all for the love of money. Listen to it and consider/wonder what type of Symbiotic relationship you think all that flipping is as he moves from host to host?
I’m not the least bit against reselling art for profit. A healthy secondary market is necessary to maintain/grow prices. It gives investors & collectors the confidence to buy. Of course many just but NFTs for the love of the art and if the value increases, all the better.
Pranksy has tried his hand at NFTs and he’s the first to admit he’s not a great artist, a brilliant flipper though. He even started collaborating with artists to help promote them and of course sell. His usual collaboration is adding RED, his signature branding colour.
But not all art exists for making money from. The 1960’s saw artists disillusioned by the existing monetised art world and began to have “Happenings”. In the days before performance art, there were happenings and these forms of art deliberately were designed to be impossible to monetise.
A perfect example is “SHOT”, 1971 by the conceptual artist Chris Burden, where he was “Shot in the name of art”. Yeah, for real!
I’ve been way too serious, now I want to have some fun.
I want to propose a collaboration with Pranksy where we recreate “SHOT”, all he has to do is supply the RED. lol
This will be a virtual shooting of course, no one will be harmed.
I’m happy to “shoot” Pranksy for free and allow him to sell the NFTs for profit. A 1/1 RED bullet NFT? Maybe a limited edition RED stained bandages NFT? Hell, we can sell RED tickets to the “HAPPENING” to be hosted at PRANKSYLAND in CRYPTOVOXELS, I’m sure a crowd will turn up?
Pranksy can make real NFT ART HISTORY by being the first person shot in CRYPTOVOXELS.
I’ll set the scene for you, the crowd arrives at Pranksyland clutching their prepaid tickets, the anticipation rises as Pranksy is flipping a NFT, a shot rings out from a nearby grassy knoll, it’s me ….Pranksy clutches his arm…fade to red.
Don’t forget to visit the gift shop on the way out for newly minted commemorative “SHOT” NFTs.
ok, I’ve had my fun, Pranksy this has all been in jest, for shits and giggles, no malice intended. :)