I don't know the legal intricacies of this, like to what extent can they sell not the content but the actual physical square piece of the book, under an NFT?
For example, a company called MSCHF sold 999 fake Warhol drawings and 1 real[0], all mixed up so no one knows which one is the real one, for 250$ each... can they do this? Is this legal? At least people were aware of it, so I doubt it's fraud.
Here's the math of it:
- they paid 8,125$ for the original;
- they sold 1000 for 250$ = 250,000$
- they profited 250,000$ - 8,125$ = 241k$
Of course this was also a mix of a PR stunt, still, if you can do PR stunts and profit... I mean... isn't this what Supreme has been doing for years?
So I don't even think the legality of it all is a issue, because has you hinted, people are deliberately rolling into this...stupidity(?).
I think all of these use similar emotional mechanisms of gambling, which if you think about it, most of the current collectibles market nowadays is gambling for everyone, kids included.
Sounds like it was just a raffle. $250 for a 1 in 1,000 chance to win a prize worth ~$8,125. Happens all the time in school fundraisers and other community events. Of course they didn’t need to use a blockchain or cryptocurrency to hold a simple raffle, but here we are.
Also in a raffle they usually just tell you when you’ve won.
Better odds and potential return dollar for dollar than the lottery, though.
Right, it’s a raffle with more steps and dubious legality. Seems unnecessary when a regular raffle would have sufficed, but I suppose that wouldn’t have got attention.
> I don't know the legal intricacies of this, like to what extent can they sell not the content but the actual physical square piece of the book, under an NFT?
I am also not a lawyer, but for the physical piece either you own it or you don't. If you own it then surely there must be some contract where you "lease it out" to the "keeper" of it. Or if you're the one "keeping" it (and owning it), then some contract that you can't sell the NFT to one person and the physical item to another?
But all these have to be legal contracts. And if you have a legal contract with someone about how you're not allowed to sell a physical thing you own, ever, do you truly own it? (not to mention who is on the other side of this contract? Who has legal standing to sue if you violate the contract?)
One thing this reminds me of is Commonhold (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonhold), which is a home ownership form in some countries, and some other apartment ownership models. In some models you don't "own" your own apartment, but own a stake in the house, and this stake gives you the full access to a contractually specified apartment number.
That and, of course, its similarity to bearer bonds.
Let's say you own the NFT and legally possess the physical item. Can you retire the NFT, and have it be physical-only from now on? Can you still sell it as an NFT after you sold the physical item? The simple answer to that last part is "of course you can. NFT means nothing".
You can mint an NFT for my house. But good luck trying to kick me out. The police will not be impressed.
The owner of this book needs not to make sure "math" secures transfer of legal ownership, but law. And that's the problem with these blockchain inventions.
> For example, a company called MSCHF sold 999 fake Warhol drawings and 1 real[0], all mixed up so no one knows which one is the real one, for 250$ each... can they do this? Is this legal? At least people were aware of it, so I doubt it's fraud.
Again I'm not a lawyer, but I would think that no it's not fraud, but it's copyright infringement. And if the copyright holder doesn't sue you, then that's their choice.
But good luck buying a Disney movie for $10, and selling 9 copies+original for $1 each. Even without profit the mouse will go after you, and he'll be legally right.
I guess we're all waiting for the first NFT legal dispute, and see how it will roll out and what precedents it will set for the future.
Because until then, they're all playing a make-belief game.
Like the guy who claimed the moon and actually sold plots of land on the moon to people[0]. He was navigating a "loop hole" and no one cared about it, or even took it serious. But if people are putting money upfront, at what point it should be addressed?
For example, a company called MSCHF sold 999 fake Warhol drawings and 1 real[0], all mixed up so no one knows which one is the real one, for 250$ each... can they do this? Is this legal? At least people were aware of it, so I doubt it's fraud.
Here's the math of it:
- they paid 8,125$ for the original;
- they sold 1000 for 250$ = 250,000$
- they profited 250,000$ - 8,125$ = 241k$
Of course this was also a mix of a PR stunt, still, if you can do PR stunts and profit... I mean... isn't this what Supreme has been doing for years?
So I don't even think the legality of it all is a issue, because has you hinted, people are deliberately rolling into this...stupidity(?).
I think all of these use similar emotional mechanisms of gambling, which if you think about it, most of the current collectibles market nowadays is gambling for everyone, kids included.
[0]https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/art-pranksters-sel...