The whole NFT craze was embarrassing and very revealing about what powers a lot of people's belief in crypto.
gdbsjjdn · 5h ago
Everyone who was trading monkey JPEGs has moved on to claiming that they can replace your staff with an LLM.
tptacek · 3h ago
I have no idea what the former has to do with the latter. NFTs were a scam (I think the same about crypto more generally, but know that's a more idiosyncratic belief). LLMs are not.
Is your point that LLMs are overhyped? Everything is overhyped. That's not what distinguished NFTs from previous hype cycles; the fact that there was literally nothing there is what distinguished it.
LastTrain · 3h ago
I believe his point is something like this: entrepreneurs used to look for ideas on how to create something of value that people want, and then create a sustainable business model out of it, in order to turn a profit. There was some pride in pleasing customers. Now they look for ideas to make a profit, whether or not something of actual value is created or if people actually want it.
etrautmann · 2h ago
I think the point is that many of the individuals involved in hyping NFTs moved on to hyping projects in AI. Even if there's immediate real world utility in AI, it's reasonable to approach the space cautiously if you have concern over the demographics contributing to a significant portion of it.
jsheard · 5h ago
Except for a16z who are multi-track-grifting with both at the same time, and trying to find ways to put crypto in AI, or AI in crypto, or something.
bix6 · 4h ago
Can you expand on this? I see this brought up a lot but if they don’t return capital they’ll have to shut down?
bpt3 · 4h ago
They are big enough that they basically make the market in venture.
The fact that even they couldn't force much interest in web 3.0 should tell you what a bad idea it really is.
bix6 · 2h ago
They are huge but only like 4% of the entire VC market so not necessarily enough to substantially move it?
bpt3 · 1h ago
They are held in very high regard and are very well connected so other VCs will throw money at their portcos.
cactusplant7374 · 4h ago
Probably not hard to return the fund when Coinbase is in their portfolio.
bix6 · 2h ago
Do you know what round / multiple they got?
NuclearPM · 1h ago
What is a16z?
petertodd · 1h ago
Don't confuse NFT gambling with Bitcoin. The former is a dying craze as the gamblers move onto something else. The latter is at all-time-highs, for the obvious reason that a digital replacement for gold is clearly useful, and Bitcoin is the obvious leader in that market category.
Indeed, for certain use-cases Bitcoin is competing with Christies too: a lot of the fine art market is actually about storing and moving value. Not about the art.
staplers · 4h ago
Digital art and NFT's are not synonymous. I know many digital artists who never bothered with them and could see the triviality. Unsurprisingly many art haters use this as a way to subtly reinforce their bias.
xn · 5h ago
Hope they backed up the seed phrase for the Art Department before deleting it.
yieldcrv · 4h ago
> The company will continue to sell digital art within the larger 20th and 21st Century Art category
one interpretation is that they're not interested in digital art
the other interpretation is that digital art has become contemporary art
I like the latter
bze12 · 4h ago
They’re folding the nft department into contemporary art. But I wouldn’t say the first interpretation is invalid either.
yieldcrv · 4h ago
it is the latter, they are continuing to sell digital art and NFTs and they realized their “specialists” didn't have specialized knowledge to justify a separate division
It just takes slower people longer to see the simple similarities to what they already do
regarding the catalyst for consolidating at Christie’s, the whole art market is following a similar downtrend in price and volume as the NFT market since 2022, there was an article about fine art and the contemporary market here the other day
staplers · 4h ago
Art is always a lagging indicator of loose monetary policy. Same time interest rates shot up.
Is your point that LLMs are overhyped? Everything is overhyped. That's not what distinguished NFTs from previous hype cycles; the fact that there was literally nothing there is what distinguished it.
The fact that even they couldn't force much interest in web 3.0 should tell you what a bad idea it really is.
Indeed, for certain use-cases Bitcoin is competing with Christies too: a lot of the fine art market is actually about storing and moving value. Not about the art.
The Storm Hits the Art Market
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45175628
the other interpretation is that digital art has become contemporary art
I like the latter
It just takes slower people longer to see the simple similarities to what they already do
regarding the catalyst for consolidating at Christie’s, the whole art market is following a similar downtrend in price and volume as the NFT market since 2022, there was an article about fine art and the contemporary market here the other day