NFT 200 - Why would you buy a JPEG?
Having trouble figuring out why anyone would buy an NFT JPEG? This read is for you.
TL;DR: Perceived Value > Real Value, which can explain why Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs dominate the NFT Market + an actual business use case of owning an NFT
HELLO!
I’ll be at NFTLA Today and Tomorrow + I’ll have a suspiciously curious update on my Linkedin + I’m about to finish my MB/A. For the NFTLA thing, big shoutout to Andy H. <3. If there’s anything my career break has taught me, well, let’s just say I’m ready for whatever.
Speaking of whatever, last week I went to an NFT Talk. It was hosted at WeWork by the Crypto Badger Clan & Food Fighters Universe. I went for the lulz, and came a way with a belly filled with food and a new take on NFTs.
As always, you can find TL;DRs and graphics wherever possible!
Have a curious reading!
p.s. Let me know if this is the most Allen newsletter you’ve read.
In Case You Missed It
Metaverse 101 - How I look at the Metaverse, the Ecosystem
NFT 100 - It’s a Start
Cryptomining 100 - What is it all about?
Sections You Can Skim To
Who was at the NFT Talk?
What’s a Bored Ape Yacht Club?
Who would buy a JPEG of an Ape?
What is Andy Nguyen Doing with It?
What’s WOWing me?
Who was at the NFT Talk?
TL;DR: Man behind famous Ice Cream in Donut Sandwich and other Food Brand turns Ape; starts an NFT Restaurant Group to justify $270k expense.
On March 1, Andy Nguyen, the serial restaurant entrepreneur behind a few mostly Southern California foodie restaurants such as
Became an ape.
He bought an NFT for 90 ETH on March 1, for a total price of $267,893. An NFT that was originally minted and sold for 5 ETH, or $9,590, on July 15, 2021.
Andy Nguyen joined the Bored Ape Yacht Club.
And thus his NFT story begins.
Also he lost an ape too. That happened.
TL;DR: The most popular and well known representation of the NFT Crypto Community.
Bored Ape Yacht Club, or BAYC or Bored Ape, is a collection of 10,000 unique NFTs created by Yuga Labs, the parent company behind BAYC which recently received a $450M Seed Funding ($4b Valuation). You can currently buy bid them on OpenSea using Ethereum.
At the surface level, they are JPEGS licensed in the Ethereum Blockchain and it has no inherent value.
But look closer.
They are still JPEGs.
But look even closer.
Its some code on the Blockchain.
But look even even closer
Having trouble? I did too.
TL;DR: Perceived Value > Real Value.
It’s a fascinating question since we attempt to describe the actions of the people who continuously fuel a movement based on how the same way we look at stock trades and company valuations.
I too was looking at people who bought into BAYC through the same lens on how I value startups, companies, and even tangible & directly functional products and I realized, that’s not the only way to look at something.
An old TED Talk from 2009 resurfaced on my feed - Life Lessons from an Ad Man by Rory Sutherland. Here are the key takeaways:
Advertising creates intangible value.
There are problems of reality, and then there are problems of perception.
In 1812s, the Wealthy Prussians were encouraged to trade-in their jewelry to help fund the war against France. The jewelry was replaced with replica jewelry made of cast iron. For 50 years after, the highest status you can wear in Prussia wasn’t gold or diamonds, it was made of cast iron. It represented that your family made a great sacrifice in the past, giving it an immense symbolic value.
Look at Bored Ape Yacht Club through a Cultural Value lens. Look at the Perceived Value. Understand the story of Blockchain and Crypto, the difficulties it had starting, the massive scoffing people have had over the tech, and the very very few people who placed bets on it.
Right now, buying a BAYC represents the epitome of “Hey, you believe in Ethereum, Crypto, the future of Blockchain, and are willing to go all in for the community.”
And Andy Nguyen, gets that. He does have a guerilla marketing background.
TL;DR: The start of an NFT based Restaurant Group
Andy Nguyen is launching a Bored Ape popup in Long Beach on April 9. It’s a simple burger store designed to be the “normies entrance” into Web3 and the world of Blockchain, Crypto, and the Metaverse.
He’s taking this BAYC NFTs
And putting them on products.
At the pop-up, you’ll be treated to these brnaded products based on the BAYC Apes Andy Nguyen has access to. It’s expected that there will be smash burgers and food for everyone, and maybe even a Bitcoin ATM.
Holders of other BAYCs will get rewards, and there’s probably going to be some other NFT thing going around.
This kind of project will attract everyone who believes in the tech, who identifies culturally with what it is, and at the same time, help be an entry way for “normies” to get exposed. It’s grounds for great hype projects.
Andy and his team have formed the first NFT powered Restaurant Group. You can follow along on the action, get in on the NFT Drops and exclusives, and interact with other Foodies in SoCal (and beyond), via the Food Fighters Universe Discord. Warning: If you’ve never used Discord, this is not a great click.
TL;DR: You can buy your own little piece of an Intellectual Trademark Pie with an NFT.
Andy Nguyen has access to 4 BAYC NFTs. There would have been a 5th one, but that got hacked. His ownership of the NFT allows him, from an Trademark & Intellectual Property standpoint, to use the likeness and image of the assets he directly owns, but not the direct name and likeness of BAYC and other apes he does not own.
For $267k, he just bought part of a brand. As that brand grows, he benefits. As his sub project’s brand grows, the bigger brand benefits.
With ownership, he can go brand a restaurant using derivative (or children?) of the BAYC Brand, without directly calling upon the BAYC Brand. In effect, he just bought part of a Trademark and he’s leveraging it to move a community forward.
This is a remarkable NFT use case. You can literally buy pieces of a brand (well, it’s derivatives), and go do something with it. And you’ll probably attract everyone that holds a high level of perceived value in the brand too.
And since its a token, Andy can sell it off too, pretty easily, back on OpenSea.
Thank you for subscribing to Professional Curiosity.
I started in January 2022; I like to learn, write, and share. That’s part of what makes me Professional Curious. I’ve had a grand time explaining the things I felt like I didn’t have time to get into. It’ll be a full quarter, so what’s next?
More writing!
While explaining technology is a mainstay, I’ll be adding new pieces in Career Breaks, Sabbaticals, and Lessons Learned from my Big 4 Career. Don’t worry, every Wednesday you’ll still get a technology inspired piece. On other days, you’ll get other pieces too. It’ll be very me of to talk about it.
p.s. I’d like to offer a Learning NFT, which is a beginner friendly NFT for people to get exposed into NFT culture and buying an NFT. It would be social experiment meets learning opportunity. If you subscribe to this, you get to participate in it!