What Happens When You’re the Investment

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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music producer 3LAU just sold the first tokenized music album, an NFT version of his album, Ultraviolet, for $3.6 million. The NFT is also redeemable for additional perks such as a customized song. Again, it’s possible for creators to tie directly economic flows to these items, enabling holders of assets to receive revenue from the project as it la... 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

We may balk at having “personal market caps,” but many of us already do – it is simply denominated in the currency of followers. As social media platforms have increased in importance, the blue-chip entities of this exchange – influencers – have found ways to transmute social capital into financial capital.