At Gary Vaynerchuk’s multi-day “VeeCon” non-fungible token (NFT) conference in Minneapolis, there were no visible signs of the market crash that happened before the “crypto-palooza.”
Pharrell Williams, the singer of “Happy,” had just left the main stage after praising Web 3.0 and telling the crowd of excited NFT collectors, “You are now changing the paradigm.” Nearby, a line of patient men in their late 20s and early 30s was waiting to buy whatever they could afford.
But in the six weeks before, more than $1 trillion worth of crypto assets were wiped out, and the value of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) fell more than 80% from their market peak.
Vaynerchuk, also known as Gary Vee, had seen this disaster coming several times. He called it “NFT Winter.”
“I said this in August, July, and May,” Vaynerchuk said. “I saw this coming — that [a crash driven by short-term greed] is absolutely potentially what we’re in. It’s just starting, there’s a correction.”
Vaynerchuk, who started VaynerMedia, VaynerSports, and a collection of NFTs called VeeFriends, said that he was ahead of the curve on crypto because he was one of the first people to like NFTs. He says that the current change is a good way to stop too much speculation.
Crypto speculation was like Pets.com’s market cap of $400 billion in the late 1990s.
Vaynerchuk said that the dot-com bubble was like the NFT boom. “The internet was coming, it was gonna change the world. The valuations on Wall Street were overblown. The valuations on NFTs in this first year are overblown…but the fundamentals are real.”
“The macro is super right — NFTs are here forever,” he added, “the micro is wrong, that’s why we’re correcting.”
Crypto speculation was like Pets.com’s market cap of $400 billion in the late 1990s.
Vaynerchuk said that the dot-com bubble was like the NFT boom. “The Internet was on its way, and it was going to change everything. Prices were raised on Wall Street. The prices of NFTs are inflated in their first year, but the assets they are based on are real.
Why should a QR Code be on a ticket? Vaynerchuk said, “A ticket that has value after the game is much more likely.”
Celebrities’must be cautious’ about endorsements
After the crash, celebrity endorsements that brought crypto, NFTs, and Web 3 to the world’s attention started to lose their shine. This was especially true for those that aired during the most recent Super Bowl in Los Angeles, which was dubbed “Crypto Bowl” because of all the crypto ads that ran during the game.
During the market crash, a New York Times article asked why celebrities like Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon, and LeBron James, who had been in ads for cryptocurrencies, didn’t say anything.
Vaynerchuk said that most of the reporting was bad, and he listed the many reasons why he was worried about the asset class.
“I think for celebrities, they have to be careful to who and what they endorse, what they support,” Vaynerchuk said. “But I think it’s ludicrous for people to blame them on the price. … Celebrities did not invade Ukraine, inflation was not celebrities and so the correction of the global economy has also had a direct impact on the crypto economy. And so we have to be thoughtful when we point fingers.”
NFT pricing are all relative
Bitcoin and NFTs have lost value because of things like geopolitical events, rising inflation, and a falling stock market. However, this hasn’t happened to other collectibles.
A 1955 Mercedes recently broke the auction record by selling for $143 million. Andy Warhol’s Marilyn sold for $195 million, the Macklowe Art Collection made $922 million, and the three biggest auction houses in New York, Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips, have made more than $2.5 billion in sales so far this year.
Vaynerchuk said that the gap between NFT prices and other prices makes them relative.
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