Books

Welcome to @zacharyhsmall! 

Zachary is the author of Token Supremacy, a new book on the rise and fall (and rise again?) of token-based art. 

They have agreed to do an AMA on all things art, finance, and their experience documenting the mania of the previous bull market cycle.

Reply with your questions. :)

Chief art reporter at the New York Times and author of TOKEN SUPREMACY (Knopf 2024)

Elevating onchain creators 

@nodefoundation @brightmoments 
@ampsfun

phil

@zacharyhsmall any great stories that didn't make the book?

You can buy Token Supremacy here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/721458/token-supremacy-by-zachary-small/

onchain: IRL NFT Art with /bright-moments | off chain: baking or consuming sourdough

I would say that blockchain data sites like Etherscan or Dune were great *initial* tools for my reporting. But I'm always skeptical of these tools, which can show more favorable or pessimistic outcomes depending on how the data is selected. That's why I spoke to experts at companies like Chainalysis and TRM Labs, but also direct sources in the market who were buying/selling.

I certainly learned that skepticism from the traditional art world. You can look at an auction and it says "$1 billion in sales, 97% of lots sold" but then you realize half the lots had guarantees and the low estimate was actually $1.3 billion. Suddenly you see a different story!

@zacharyhsmall what are your favorite blockchain data tools? What do you think about Etherscan?

Oh, I think the craziest example was undoubtedly what happened at Sotheby's with their failed CryptoPunks auction.

It was perhaps the best chance that NFTs had to become part of the mainstream art world — there were a handful of influential, traditional collectors in the audience. But the collapse of the $30M sale with an anonymous seller claiming he did it on purpose, using the auction house's valuation as a base line for a a crypto loan, killed the possibility for the time being.

You could actually read an excerpt about this, which ran in The New York Times:

Building askgina.ai | prev: blockchain research @coinbase | sidshekhar.com

Oh, I think the craziest example was undoubtedly what happened at Sotheby's with their failed CryptoPunks auction.

It was perhaps the best chance that NFTs had to become part of the mainstream art world — there were a handful of influential, traditional collectors in the audience. But the collapse of the $30M sale with an anonymous seller claiming he did it on purpose, using the auction house's valuation as a base line for a a crypto loan, killed the possibility for the time being.

You could actually read an excerpt about this, which ran in The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/18/business/sothebys-crypto-nfts-auction.html

@zacharyhsmall welcome. What was the wildest example of outright grift within NFTs that you saw last cycle (that wasn't obvious initially)

Great question!

The first thing to know is that books take a long process and the production side of things after writing takes at least a year for major publishers.

So there were probably ~24 people who read the book at different points in the process — all with varying levels of knowledge about the topic. And then the major subjects of the book had a fact-checking process toward the end where I got their feedback, as well.

I actually love opinions — I don't feel like they are distracting. But what I'm pursuing in this book are facts. Those don't really change, but certainly the context around certain decisions and deals would evolve.

When writing a book, at what stage do you allow others to see your work or do you find others opinions distracting from your desired point of view? 

Would be curious to learn more about your creative support system and how it impacts you?

Trying to be funny | Awarded Filmmaker | 3D Artist - /actors

yes. i agree on what the 2 investors said regarding the trauma and that secondary market is almost unnoticeable. however, this is mostly pfp projects. and the trend of overpromising and underdelivering did cause that trauma that one of the investors mentioned  

thanks for the AMA. looking forward for the next one !

Hello!

I texted some investors this question for you. One said that it is a liquidity problem; NFTs are not being traded at high enough frequencies to justify them buying more. Another said it was a trauma problem; they were burned by NFT rug pulls last cycle and would prefer to invest in memecoins, where they have no illusions of greatness.

There is no such thing as equilibrium in the art market, so I wouldn't expect to find one in digital art — but great artists find ways to defy expectations and gather interest. And I think crypto art should look for artists who reflect their values and engage with crypto in new/surprising ways.

hello @zacharyhsmall nice to meet you! 

why do you think there is a disparity in supply and demand in the crypto art scene? and if things are still over saturated supply, what do you think will happen long-term ?

thanks in advance!

If you asked 2 years ago, I might have said the government. That situation seems to have changed as more mainstream banking institutions get behind crypto and find ways of making on-chain services palatable to regulators.

But will the diehard degens accept this kind of help from the gatekeeping institutions that they wanted to overturn? I think the larger DeFi industry has attempted a rebrand over the last year to regain the trust of average retail investors who got burned.

So they will need to win that cultural battle *and* create more on-chain products and services that have clear use cases with easy adoption.

@zacharyhsmall what are the biggest barriers to mainstream adoption of onchain products and services?

Everyone has strong opinions on crypto/NFTs. But these debates are often so abstract and philosophical — I thought using my investigative reporting skills could provide some factual clarity in an industry that's changing the world.

But I was also impressed by how many young people were involved. I was just entering my 30s when I started writing the book, and I could relate to crypto investors and their frustrations with the mainstream economy. 

And then I had this weird background in the art world that had made me something of an expert on economic speculation and volatility.

The weird chips all lined up!

@zacharyhsmall what inspired you to write about crypto?

I think it's a matter of timing and audience. 

Open editions have not historically worked to create a long-term business model for artists. Ask photographers, it's been a nightmare. And I'm not sure that it's been successful with digital artists. PFPs definitely had some success here, but it's become exceedingly difficult to break through the noise with a new project there.

So for an artist, I think 1:1 limited editions are a more viable strategy. Scarcity remains a huge appeal to trad collectors — to the point where gallerists sometimes beg their artists to STOP making work so it doesn't dilute the value of their markets.

@zacharyhsmall - I perceive two trends in digital art: (1) curated 1:1 and limited editions meant to replicate the traditional art model of valuation based on rarity/scarcity, and (2) lost-cost open editions that try to maximize distribution and visibility for the artist. Given the nature of NFTs, which of these approaches do you think will win out in the long run?

@zacharyhsmall what hair products do you use

welcome @zacharyhsmall you look like a king

excited to learn if art tokens will rise like a phoenix or just… paint by numbers!

@zacharyhsmall with your experience, alt season will be happen in this bullrun? I want hear your opinion 🙏

in 2021 total altcoin around 400k token/coin
in 2024 total altcoin around 2,5 million token/coin

Thank you