This weekend I went to Art Basel for the first time in Miami. On the way up there, I thought, man, this will be fun. When I left, driving home with many new ideas in my head, I realized something much more powerful was happening at these events. This was the most diverse group of people I have seen on any occasion. People came together with one purpose; to talk about the one thing that currently consumes a lot of our time lately.
NFTs.
Not only were these people all passionate about NFTs, but I was also able to meet tons of like-minded individuals with the drive to build new things.
It was magical.
While we are talking NFTs and art at these events, I also realized that this is all happening because cryptocurrencies like Ethereum allow anyone to participate in this grand idea. The thought that removing intermediaries and starting your brand or idea can happen with little to no starting cash is incredible. Most of these NFT events that I went to had begun within a year or less and had amassed multiple millions of dollars in funding. One of the most successful NFT projects is Bored Ape Yacht Club started on April 23rd and already has 252.4k Ethereum transacted, which puts them above 1 billion dollars in less than a year.
They also partnered with Adidas and Rolling Stones. This extremely rapid growth is due to the nature of Blockchain. Traditional startups take on average six years to reach 1 billion dollar evaluation cryptocurrencies, and NFTs drop that time by removing the entry barrier on investments. Without the certified investor requirements and giving anyone the ability to invest any amount of money, we can see rapid growth.
Another interesting crowdfunding event happened recently as well. The constitution DAO was created to buy one of the last private copies of the constitution. While it couldn’t purchase the historical document, it raised 47 million dollars of capital within a few weeks. While we lost to a hedge fund, this event further shows the divide between the ultra-wealthy and the poor.
Events like these slowly erode the foundation of traditional finance. We will continue to see growth rapidly within these sectors. Crypto has become the great equalizer and will continue to correct the financial imbalances between the social classes.