The Newly Rich

Now that digital ownership is exploding by way of NFTs, people are seeing bigger financial and status opportunities online than offline. This is the biggest catalyst for living online we’ve seen to date. Individuals are building status and identity in the virtual world the way that they do in the physical world. Why own a Gucci bag to impress a few... See more

2021 was the year of profile picture (PFP) NFTs. Depending on how you value them, both CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club have total market caps (# of NFTs * price per NFT) of around $3 billion each. More than just a disconnected network of owners, though, the humans behind the NFT PFP formed communities, online and IRL. First, they met in Discor... See more

An under-appreciated aspect of the crypto-economy's flourishing is that it's a massive redistribution of wealth from old, mainstream institutions toward independent thinkers. There are now about 100,000 Bitcoin millionaires, and there will soon be quite a few crypto billionaires. We’re going to have a new financial elite, competing with the old, an... See more

There are now hundreds of digital NFTs each worth more than a million dollars each. Just like Reddit stocks, they change in value dramatically, they come with a story and they’re fun to talk about with your friends and peers.

As more of our lives move online, the ability to own scarce digital items is only becoming more important, and the NFT-based digital asset market will increasingly mirror the luxury market. An authentic Birkin bag is able to fetch prices hundreds of times higher than the exact same bag in knock-off form because owning the real thing says something ... See more

More positively, establishing a track record through proof of passion may finally enable a scalable business model for independent cool-hunters and curators. Those who consistently invest in overlooked and underappreciated items that then wildly succeed will be sought after. Marketers and algorithms will surveil their purchases, swarming in after. ... See more

If we can democratize access to a veblen good, status becomes about being a part of something, rather than how much money you have. We already see this in products like Fractional and PartyBid, which enable collective ownership of highly sought-after NFTs, as well as in products like RabbitHole, which allow users to earn crypto by using the latest

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