I did a lecture today for @giaglis's MOOC on NFTs and I got the RCSA question.
"NFTs are just a receipt, just a pointer to an image. I can download them and view them without buying them"
A classic question! Here is what I said.
2/ Imagine the Statue of Liberty.
It is very large.
It is on Liberty Island
It was a present from BFF (France)
It is owned by the Federal Government and specifically National Park Services
Anyone can look at it, whether the President of the USA or you
3/ Now, imagine the Federal Government needed to raise money fast.
It decided to sell the Statue of Liberty on the condition that it has to remain exactly as open to the public as it is now (It is both a National Monument and UNESCO World Heritage site)
✅tech/crypto: euphoric
✅nft artists: muted, possibly self-censoring in some cases
✅american east coast friends: upset / some women very upset
✅europeans: utterly and completely shocked/baffled
2/ You have to fight to not end up in an information bubble
This is not a "right" thing or a "left" thing; it is not an American or European thing
it is not about whatever is the "hot topic" of the day
it is about everything
3/ All information sources are incomplete and biased.
Every human is incomplete and biased, including journalists, billionaires and politicians.
An absolutely fantastic outcome for a top-tier human being is that they are great in one thing and mid in everything else.
This afternoon, along with a stranger, I rescued an old man who got dragged pretty far out to sea by undertow in heavy surf. We swam out and brought him in.
Every single cliche about events like this turned out to be true
2/ Cliche 1: "Drowning does not look like drowning"
The old man was not flailing around or yelling. In fact, he could not even talk to us while we brought him back.
He could not speak until he was on shore with wife. "thank you, I thought I was gone out there"
3/ Infinite credit to the stranger (youngish guy) who was there with his girlfriend/wife and figured out that there was a problem.
They were the only people out of hundreds at the beach who started yelling at the lifeguard for help
✅ Offer an appealing business proposition (job, commissioned art, consulting project, investment)
✅ "Download my special videoconference software"
🚑You now have a keylogger on your PC
2/ Once the keylogger is on your PC, they can enter both your web2 accounts and your hot wallets (but note: not your hardware wallets).
Here there is a very simple rule: treat all requests of this type as a complete scam, of the same type as "enter your private key"
3/ Any legitimate inquiry will be happy to use standard videoconference software:
✅ Zoom
✅ Teams (a lot of compliance depts ban Zoom)
✅ Google Meet
✅ Amazon Chime (only AWS people)
✅ WebEx (boomers)
✅ Messaging apps (young / normal people)
So I was looking at Dali editions in my inbox and I realized how totally and utterly ruined I am by NFTs.
This one is kindof elegant, though not super-Daliesque.
In any case: 1.1 ETH for a 1/250 Dali Edition. Sounds fine tbh.
2/ If this was just "click a few buttons on Rabby", I think it would already be sitting in the 6529 Museum SAFE.
Instead: "email gallery, wait for reply, fill out credit card form, have it shipped to Europe, customs, delivery, probably reframe, find a place on wall"
3/ And "find a place on the wall" is an issue because the walls are already all full.
And I worry even for the things already on the wall about "am I ruining the pieces there with UV light?" and "should I have some type of cover?"