What is cc0?

It's all over our timelines. No matter how much people seem disagree on who should own @SolanaMBS, everyone seems to like 0% royalties, immutable, and cc0.

So what is it?

cc0 = Creative Commons Zero

It's a copyright law that ENCOURAGES derivatives.

Let's dive in

cc0 is a rights waiving tool designed in '09 by the Creative Commons Nonprofit.

By applying cc0 to your IP (intellectual property) you waive the rights to that IP. Anybody can make derivative works and profit from it without legal consequences.

Which begs an obvious question...

Why THE FUK would anybody give away their IP for free?

Turns out there are very rational reasons for it, though of course it doesn't work for everyone.

To quote a16z "Creative works live and die by their cultural relevance."

And encouraging derivatives can make the IP more popular.

Electing cc0 actively promotes more use of the brand, and if those derivatives enhance the cultural relevance of the original, in theory the value of the OG is enhanced.

Read: number go up.

To use an example: if SMB went cc0 and a video game was made by a 3rd party with their image, the video game maker could make a bunch of $$$ using the cultural popularity of SMB without giving any $$$ back to Monkes.

But it would solidify the brand, making SMBs more valuable.

For popular cultural touchstones it allows for unlicensed merch, t-shirts, NFT collections, statues - you name it.

If you see a cool BAYC hoodie, maybe you want the hoodie.

But maybe it makes you want the original NFT it was based on.

That accrues value to the OG.

Put in a way that most of you will understand:

cc0 licensing lets everyone "seize the memes of production."

Ok, that's great, so let's do it!

Gib all da cc0!

But hold on. Why might you NOT want to do this?

Most obviously, with cc0 you can't prevent anybody from using your brand as they wish.

And they may chose to do some weird shit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3E74j_xFtg

Once the genie out of the bottle, sure, all the brilliant and savvy people out there can use your IP to do some cool stuff.

But all the lunatics can too.

Full blown cc0 may not be right for SMB, but SOME variation of it probably is.

For example, if you look at Yuga Labs, I really like what they've done with the CryptoPunks IP.

Yuga Labs owns the IP of each user’s CryptoPunk.

BUT...

...purchasing a Punk grants you, the buyer, the rights to commercialize your Punk via derivative works.

So while you don't own the IP of your Punk, you do get the right to derivatives that are exclusive, royalty-free, and sublicensable.

Neat.

Yuga gets to steer the mother ship, which in Punks' case means just doing nothing for the most part and letting them be the immutable collectible they are.

But they ENCOURAGE derivatives to enhance the cultural relevance.

Which, to me, sounds like a good fit for SMB.

You cannot value community with math.

I've tried.

It involved imaginary numbers, half of π, & a quart of quarks, and it still didn't work.

So let's try to nail down something as ethereal as the gods with the power of prose.

What is the value of community?

A rallying cry...

Let's start with the importance of great leaders. 99% of those who follow me will know the above pfps on sight:
@SOLBigBrain (his pfp is so good, but of course @TheOnlyNom too)
@HGESOL
@F_Inn42
@PrimitiveMoney

WHY is this important?

Because great COMMUNITIES need great LEADERS.

I've pinged BigBrain on everything from charities to family tragedy. He always helps.

HGE gives us hope that Olympus didn't fall with SBF.

Primitive needed a website built and Finn just BUILT IT.

Nom was instrumental in @bonk_inu.

Our leaders SET THE TONE.

And in 2022 when SOL faced the orc hordes of exchange bankruptcies, FTX fraud, and crypto winter, these leaders didn't sheath their swords and turn tail.

They stood at the front, fists raised, and screamed back into the darkness.

They built AMMs, scratched for alpha, and rallied us all.

Shoulder to shoulder, the best leaders in our ecosystem stood with us.

And that gave us the strength to raise our own voices.

To keep winter from silencing us.

With SOL at $250 we were loud.

With SOL at $9 we were loud.

Call us lunatics, call us degens, call us mad.

Please do. It's all true.

But also call us strong. Call us fierce. Call us indomitable.

SOL never died under a hailstorm of shit because of our communities.

We will never die because of our communities.

When I was ready to throw in the towel @SolanaMBB gave me a second (and third, and fourth) wind.

When 1:1 art verged on an eerie quiet @RaviMonke went on a buying rampage, the likes of which may never be seen again.

In a bear market @OMNIcreative_ delivered the hottest pfp drop of the year.

In the cold of winter @SCUMSOL strapped in and gave us fire.

As storms tore off roofs @exchgART just kept building.

And when I needed help with a charity @TopoGigio_sol and @zen0m and @monoliff and @paranoidhill and @adam_ape_ and @degenpoet too many to tag stepped up to the plate.

Why?

Because we are a COMMUNITY.

How about an even more specific example?

After chatter in MBB's Wall Street Corner a member DM'd me about a relative of hers who buys self storage in NC, something I've always wanted to do.

Now I have a mentor and I'm on my way to fulfilling an IRL dream via a web3 community.

A community like @SolanaMBB or @solBOOGLE or @MonkeDAO doesn't pay dividends in the form of staking & tokens.

The dividends are from being an active member of a great community.

Those connections are the secret ingredients to a magic potion of your own design.

It's the type of magic that makes us invincible.

Magic that can't be squashed, FUDed, or bought.

We, Solana, as a community stood in front of cannon fire.

We took your bullets, your arrows, your venom.

But we stood TOGETHER.

AND WE'RE. STILL. HERE.

Want to make a little money from all your losses?

You can.

It's called tax loss harvesting. And unfortunately, most of us probably have a decent amount of it available this year.

If you play the game right, you can reset your basis & pay less in taxes.

Here's how...

First though: I am not an accountant. I am a monkey on the internet. I believe whatever I'm about to tell you is correct and am doing it myself, but please get financial advice from professionals if a lot of your hard earned money is at stake.

Cool cool cool.

Moving on.

You can use investment losses to offset any investment gains you have that same calendar year.

Let's use an example.

Say you booked $10k of gains before Sam wrecked your shit.

(Good for you, cause I most certainly did not.)

Normally you'd pay taxes on those gains, up to 20% if you held the investment more than 12 months.

This is the long term capital gain rate. If you held the investment less than 12 months like the degen you probably are, you'd pay whatever your incremental personal tax rate is.

But let's say you then invested more money and now have $25k of losses from Solana doing some good old fashioned bed shitting.

You can use those losses to offset your prior gains and avoid paying taxes on them.

That $10k gain is normally subject to at least 20% in taxes, or $4k.

But with your losses you can effectively net your gain to zero and not pay that $4k.

But wait, there's more! You can also offset another $3k of ordinary income (think W2).

AND the losses roll into next year!

We've offset $10k of investment gains and $3k of ordinary income with our losses. But we still have $12k left.

What do we do with that?

Next year gets the same treatment.

If you make $15k in gains next year you can offset $12k of it.

Or $9k gains & $3k of income = $12k

Nice.

If you lost $30k this year with no gains and never make another dime of investment money, you can spend the next 10 years using your $3k of ordinary income offset.

If you lost $300k, unless you're a vampire, you're eventually gonna need some investment wins to offset everything.

An important note: while this works for federal taxes everywhere in the US, different states can have different rules.

For example, Pennsylvania does NOT allow you to roll forward losses. You are limited to that calendar year.

And a fun little loophole with crytpo (that I would double check with your accountant): I was told by my taxman that there's no wash rule.

With stocks you can't sell and immediately rebuy, you must wait 30 days.

W/ ETH or SOL you can sell, take the loss, & buy it right back.

Lastly, note this strategy is allowed because it resets your basis.

If you bought SOL at $250 (sorry) you'd have to sell it over $250 to be taxed on it.

If you rebase it to $13 (again, sorry) any future sales over $13 you'd have to pay gains on.

It's not a free lunch.

But what it does do is allow you keep more money TODAY so that you can reinvest it and hopefully compound it into more money over time.

Do what's right for you, and good luck!

If you enjoyed this thread, good! That was the point. I don't need anything else from you.

Just trying to help out.

Enjoy your day!

1/ 

Jim Roll (aka superjimmer) was a literal rock star before he was a photographer. 

Guitar or a lens, he makes magic.

His photos don't have digital filters or photoshop. They have wine. Hot sauce. Double exposures. Chemical treachery.

They are fun. Unique.

Just like Jim...

First of all, Jim Roll is his actual birth name, which is kind of awesome given that he uses rolls of film and has recorded rock and roll albums.

For real. Below are a couple of his album covers.

Yes, @superjimmer is indeed ready to hang.

Jim was born in Oak Park, outside of Chicago. 

He was destined to be big.

Literally.

He was an ELEVEN POUND baby from a 19 year old, 5’ 2” woman. 

Clearly, the genes were brought to you by dad, who was a 6’ 5” football player.

Born big, growing big, Jim was pushed to do sports, but he was always more drawn to creative endeavors. 

He joined the football team in college but ended up sitting underneath a tree (Ferdinand style) until the coach found him and asked if he intended to practice.

“Nope.”

Instead he focused on music. 

He finished school with a degree in social work, but never really put it to use. Instead he wrote and recorded music. 

In the 90's he released multiple albums. 

While the tunes were liked by both fans and critics, he never made it big.

His song "1955" (listen below, it's great!) was on a Levi’s compilation album that came in the jeans.

Jim knows how to get in your pants. 😆
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyHihy9oghg

Eventually he migrated from touring with his own music to producing it for others, allowing him to settle in one place.

He got his masters in social work at the University of Michigan, where he still lives today.

You can see the natural beauty of the area in his photos.

In Jim's words: 

"I’ve been able to work in creative fields my whole life, which is paradise, but I've never 'made it' financially. I have two kids. I have a house. Some nice tools. But I drive a 2004 Prius. I still have to work to eat. I'm not rich, but I'm happy."

A few years ago, he was feeling a little worn down audio wise, working on other people’s music. 

His ears were tired. 

So he started dabbling in prints and photography, experimenting. 

After selling photos IRL for a bit (people do that?!?) a friend Jim plays tennis with encouraged him to get into NFTs. 

When COVID hit, as happened to many of us, the world opened by NFTs drew him in.

Jim got full into the web3 flow in October of 2021.

He started on Tezos. (Pro tip: you can still get his early work for pretty cheap on that chain).

In January of '22 he jumped into Solana after @wgarrettdavis and @taylorlarroc started posting his work and asking when he'd mint some pieces on SOL.

As I've heard multiple times now, there’s a certain amount of warmth and generosity he found in the Solana ecosystem that caused him to make a home here.

We're a bunch of degens, yes, but we're degens who care about each other.

I first heard of Jim through Le Dao. 🥐

Curator extraordinaire @quincy_sol brought it to the group, proposing a whimsical, faded picture of dandelions. 

Needless to say, I loved it, as did everyone else. 

We promptly bought it.

Overall, Jim has a hell of a resume in his first year.

Collected by both @_ledao & @BigBrainGallery.

He's been featured on @exchgART.

And he's part of both @The_URS_ and @MinistryArt. 

(This is his 🔥 piece for the 7th and final URS drop.)

As soon as Jim did an edition, I was all over it. Had to get one for myself.

Thinking of that, and given the state of flux we're in with editions on SOL as we figure them out, I asked for Jim's thoughts on editions.

His response was thoughtful...

"Prints have been a pretty standard part of photography for a century. On Solana though, it’s still so unsettled, still finding a balance.

On one hand, doing an edition can be wonderful, as it allows for a cheaper entry point for fans that can't afford 1:1's.

But you have to know your saturation point. 

You might be able to make some money, but you don’t want to devalue yourself as an artist or the work that prior collectors have purchased. It’s not worth sacrificing the long term. 

For me, I did a few but now I’m done for a while."

When I asked him what under the radar artists I should follow next, @minghua was on the tip of his tongue. Looking at the mesmerizing work below, it's easy to see why!

He also mentioned @seminomaden & @Vegarifi.

https://twitter.com/miinghua/status/1565343509791805445?s=20&t=jKiyNMo5JWgm9rT-LAnDWA

What's next for Jim?

What's next is RIGHT NOW.

The first piece in Jim's new series is currently up for auction. 

Whereas before he exposed nature on nature, he is now doing nature on top of technology. And exploration of how we can juxtapose the two disparate worlds.

He wants to spend a while leaning into the series, the intersection of tech, home life, and nature.

This first piece is digital on digital double exposure, a picture of a circuit board viewed through trees.

(The auction link is at the bottom of this thread.)

There will also be film, of course. He'll use various lenses, from purpose built ones to broken pieces of glass. 

He'll use super 8 video for video and stills. VHS tapes. Radio tubes.

You name it.

MP: "Wait, what will you do with a radio tube?!" 

Jim: "Crush it up and see if the chemicals mess with the film." 

MP: “Could you crush it ON the negatives with a hammer and see what the scratches do, or is that insane?” 

Jim: “That's just it. There are no rules. So hell yes!"

What he won't use is Photoshop. He wants to embrace the spectrum of technology but hold to that limitation. 

The process is one of chaos and randomness. 

His desire is to keep it "primitive."

I hope he keeps exploring boundaries.

It takes skill and an eye to properly frame a picture, to elevate from a suburban dad with an iPhone to an actual photog, and Jim pushes that even further. He uses techniques and ideas that go beyond that first level of skill... into magic.

As promised, if you're interested in the first piece from his new series, here's the link! It ends today, Sept 8th, at 5pm.

https://exchange.art/single/5dX4Z2g7JHL4Nc7ETtrQjN4tHoGDfTJig7RnBhXov1ek

Jim Roll

Why do we care about gold?

There are 118 elements on the periodic table. We breathe some. We use some for energy. We’re made of others.

Yet we obsess over Au, good old # 79, silver’s big brother: we obsess over GOLD.

Why?

There are some very objective reasons, but the most powerful is is the most subjective.

Gold is a social construct. 

We, as a society, believe it has value. Therefore it does.

Bitcoin is just an artificially limited supply of something on the blockchain, yet we agree it has value. (At least some of us do.)

It’s a social construct too.

And often called "digital gold."

Societies 8,000 years ago, ancient Egyptians, and your mom all believe gold has value. Societies wiped out by war ran off with their gold because they knew that while their cultural items might be worthless to others, gold would be desired.

It's a deep part of human psychology.

But it had to start somewhere. How did gold get into our brains?

The most obvious reason is simple: it’s beautiful.

We’re all morons on some level. 

We like pretty people and shiny rocks. 

But did you know gold STAYS shiny? Silver tarnishes, changes color over time (on the surface). PURE gold is wonderfully inert. Your mother’s father’s grandmother’s great aunt’s gold jewelry still looks as good as the day it was made.

That durability is a hugely desirable trait.

Gold is also extremely malleable. This composability allows it to be shaped and used with relative ease.

Shine + durability + malleability = jewelers’ dream

Because of this combo gold became a flex early in human history, and has stayed a flex for millennia.

How malleable is gold?

A single ounce of gold can be beaten into a sheet 0.000018 cm thick, and would cover 9m squared.

Visualized a different and perhaps more impressive way: a single ounce can be stretched into a 5 micron wire that would go for 50 MILES.

Gold is also highly conductive, making it a useful component in electrical circuits.

Imagine Bitcoin, digital gold, being mined with circuits made from physical gold. 

Fun little mental image, that.

Why is the atomic # 79? Because it has 79 protons in the nucleus, paired with 79 orbiting electrons.

Why is the atomic symbol Au? It originates from the Latin word, Aurum, meaning “shining dawn.”

We often like gold as an investment because it has limited supply and is hard to find. This scarcity and high extraction cost help deliver its appeal.

(Once again, sounds a lot like BTC.)

Economically speaking, it used to be of huge importance. As recently as 50 odd years ago the world was on (a form of) the gold standard. This meant that all fiat currency was backed by a pre-set amount of gold.

At any time you could exchange fiat for a set amount of gold.

Since multiple foreign fiat currencies were pegged to gold, that meant that exchange rates were pegged to gold.

Dollars into gold. Gold into Pence. Easy. (Breezy.)

Beautiful.

But unfortunately sometimes governments want to spend more money than they actually have. The gold standard doesn’t allow this as all new money has to be backed by more gold.

What... to... do?

You change the rules.

The US had been on the gold standard since 1879. But during the Great Depression in 1933, FDR shook things up.

He made everyone sell back their gold to the gov’t for $20.67 an an ounce. 

The US collected $770m of gold from its citizens.

Once they had the gold, Uncle Sam said “nah” to $20.67 an ounce, and changed the price. By governmental degree gold was suddenly $35 an ounce. 

The money supply had just been inflated by 69%. (nice)

President Herbert Hoover did a lot wrong during his presidency, but he did famously say to FDR: “We have gold because we cannot trust governments.”

I dig the sentiment.

We tried to reset to a gold standard after WWII. World currencies got pegged to the dollar, and the dollar was pegged to gold at $35/ounce.

But the world ended up with more dollars than gold, leaving the US open to a gold run. 

That didn’t sit well.

Inflation was creeping up and the US was unable to meet its obligations for gold redemptions under this peg.

Fixing the issue quite bluntly, on August 15, 1971, US president Richard Nixon formally pulled us from the gold standard for the last time.

England was the first country to implement a gold standard in 1717.

At one point much of the world had followed suit.

Today, nobody does.

Including England.

Now to be fair, I don’t want to pitch the ditching of the gold standard as strictly a bad thing. 

The gold standard doesn’t allow the money supply to grow as fast at it might need to. If economic growth is more rapid than how fast we mine gold, it will cause imbalances.

And if the world’s currencies are all linked via gold, contagion is more likely, and more rapid.

And post WWI smaller countries hoarded dollars and pounds, which meant they gave gold for those currencies, concentrating the gold stashes into a few large countries. Also an issue.

Lastly, sometimes governments need flexibility. The First World War caused a lot of government debt, shifting alliances, and poor finances. Having more control over your country’s currency is helpful when you absolutely NEED flexibility.

Leaving the gold standard can make sense.

Post gold, fiat is what we call money. It's a word derived from the Latin word “fieri”, meaning an arbitrary act or decree.

Government issued currency is now exactly that, an arbitrary decree.

Home Depot accepts my dollar because the government says so.

We’ve been increasingly irresponsible with our money supply ever since leaving gold.


Which is why, despite being off the gold standard, many sane people still hold gold as a store of value.

In fact, they hold it BECAUSE we’re off the gold standard. You can't print more gold.

How scarce is gold? 

All of the gold ever mined equals about 187 thousand tons. That may sound like a lot, but gold is so dense it would fit into a cube just 21 meters on each side. Or a tennis court with the gold stacked almost 10m high.

That’s it. That’s all of it.

So gold is hard to get, scarce, limited supply, shiny, durable, malleable, useful.

Even without a gold standard, we love it.

We probably always will. 

Cause we're morons. And it's shiny.

Check out @degenpoet's latest masterwork below! It's appropriately dubbed "Golden Goose."

https://exchange.art/single/7WjCTr4s7R5f2aLpXcdBp1nFQX7iSpktZPmWLxszYYkM

Golden Goose

1:1 art is having a well deserved moment on Solana. I think in part because there is so much going wrong. Bear markets and hacks and grumpy CT, it creates a venom.

And we're realizing: beauty is the antidote.

Some meandering thoughts on the power of art... 

We so often fail to assign economic value to beauty. Buy the cheapest doorknob, build the cheapest bridge. Who cares, as long as it works.

But there's a reason the Golden Gate Bridge is iconic.

We appreciate beauty. It makes us pause. 

It unties the knots in our souls. 

We've had masters of their craft like @notjohnlestudio, @archmorley,  &amp; @zen0m since SOL was on the map, but it feels like only recently has their true value been recognized.

Because sometimes when you have a bad day, all you need is a friend to be there.
https://twitter.com/archmorley/status/1541424808394895360?s=20&t=ABQez_wEkIti8ANcUVQ2jw

For me, and it seems like for many, art is that friend with a listening ear.

You can vent via emotive pieces from @lateduke.

You can revel in the details of a @degenpoet work.

You can relax into the whimsical lines of @iamlaurael. 

I bought a @superjimmer piece today for no other reason than it made me feel good.

Every news article it literally designed to sell fear. We're surrounded by the curation of humanity's worst.

Art is the curation of humanity's best. 

It's not your job to like everything. Just like it's not your job to like everyone.

But a lesson we should all learn from the art community is that we can all be kind regardless.

It's not about agreement. 

It's about respect. Understanding. Appreciation.

Beauty.

So to all you artists out there, established and emerging: thank you.

Thank you for being the kindest part of this ecosystem.

Thank you for creating retinal gifts. For your solace in the storm.

For the kiss on my spirit.

🌞

PS: I do not own the John Le piece I started this thread with. I hope whomever does will forgive me for using it. It just so perfectly captured the spirit of what I felt as I wrote that first paragraph:

Art is the hero of this tale.

Beauty Is the Antidote

In the land before time, there were no NFTs.

But on June 23, 2017 the game changed.

Punks arrived.

@cryptopunksnfts are the purest collectors item for any NFT aficionado. 

They weren't the first NFT, but they were what started the fire.

Here's their story...

The project was launched by @larvalabs on June 23, 2017. (Happy 5 year anniversary!)

ETH was $200. There was no Metamask.
https://twitter.com/cryptopunksnfts/status/1538895716369801216?s=20&t=LrYCZi3fdg_SZ9QNNLysMw

Again, Punks were not the first NFT. 

The concept was born in 2012 with the idea of "colored tokens" using the technology the Bitcoin introduced.

These tokens would represent digital ownership like BTC itself, but they'd be separate and unique.

But BTC isn't meant to be messed with. Bitcoin is really good at only one thing: being Bitcoin.

So the concept of digital ownership remained just that: a concept.

That is, until May 3, 2014, when the world's first NFT was minted on a blockchain called Namecoin.

"Quantum" by Kevin McCoy.

(Yes, it's worth a lot, but not as much as you might think. It sold for $1.4m in June of 2021, well below Beeples $69m print or the $ of many Punks.)

Following this seminal moment was several years of experimentation but not much real traction. Part of it was a lack of great platforms.

...but on July 30, 2015 Ethereum launched. And unlike Bitcoin it was MEANT to be a smart contract L1 chain.

The first NFT on Ethereum was a 3D map of tiles called Etheria, launched in October of 2015.

Later, Rare Pepes also enjoyed some success, proving that perhaps people really could be into this whole NFT thing.

Then in June 2017, Larva Labs - which was basically just 2 Canadians named John Watkinson and Matt Hall - created a generative collection of 10,000 Punks.

The 24x24 pixel art was inspired by London's punk culture, capturing crypto's rebel spirit.

The gold standard was born.

Of the 10,000 Punks no two are alike.

Males: 6,039
Females: 3,840

But wait, Mercury, that doesn't add up to 10k?!

No, it does not. Cause they aren't all human!

There are also

Zombies: 88
Apes: 24
Aliens: 9

The value of that rarity is reflected in the top sales. ALIENS ❤️‍🔥

My favorite part about the mint is not that it was free (which it was, so please spend a second dreaming of minting a million dollar NFT for free, I know I do).

And you still had to pay ETH's gas fees, of course, but they were only 11 cents.

ELEVEN. CENTS. 🤣

No, my favorite part is that there was no "mint" button like us spoiled progeny get today. 

No no no. In order to mint you had to WRITE CODE.

Imagine no button, instead you get: [insert code here]

At first there was very little interest in minting Punks, but thanks to an article by Mashable they suddenly sold out. And before too long this free mint was selling for thousands of dollars.

By 2021 they were selling for MILLIONS.

https://mashable.com/article/cryptopunks-ethereum-art-collectibles

Note: the founders held back 1,000 Punks for themselves.

Just in case things worked out. 😏

I want to show you 2 quotes from that Mashable article written in June of 2017 because reading it, knowing what we know now, is like entering the twilight zone:

First quote: 

"Will people have any interest in paying for the equivalent of a digital certificate of authenticity? We'll find out."

I think the answer is pretty clear here 5 years later.

Second: 

"Hall and Watkinson released all their art for free. All you have to do is have an Ethereum wallet (and about $0.11 worth of the cryptocurrency ether to cover transaction fees) and you can just claim whichever ones are still available (as of Thursday, there's plenty)."

"as of Thursday, there's plenty."

AS OF THURSDAY THERE'S PLENTY

That line will haunt me. Forever.

There was no roadmap, no promises, nothing. It was an experiment.

But much like we call @SolanaMBS the first "real" Solana NFT (it was very early, but it wasn't the first), we've basically come to associate Punks as being the first "real" NFT.

On any chain.

Ever.

For anybody who cares about NFTs, Punks are the holy grail of collector's items. Their place in history in unimpeachable.

And that's what I love most about them.

As @DegenDaVinci said:
"Provenance is one thing that does not face execution risk."

Punks were bought by @yugalabs for an undisclosed sum on March 11, 2022.

My guess: the sum was ~$0. Punks are a zero royalty project on a free marketplace, so no cash flow. Giving it to Yuga Labs increases the value of Punks long term (probably) and the founders hold a bunch.

And Punks know what they are. The self awareness is incredible. Did Yuga hire an MIT whiz to take over Punks? No they did not.

They hired a Christie's native, @NonFungibleNoah.

Which is BRILLIANT. Know what you are and be that. Punks are the pinnacle of a collector's item.

If you care about NFTs, if you love 10k generative collections, if you've enjoyed this world - you owe a debt to CryptoPunks. I know love the project and will forever be grateful.

They were the OGs for the first million NFT users.

They'll be the OGs for the next BILLION.

For those interested in an homage to Punks, here's a link to the auction of my collab with @degenpoet:

https://exchange.art/single/HcGDKC22A8giVLx54uQNyhpCHhvvd9dxqorwzUifUEMA

DegenPoet's description of the piece, which highlights some of the amazing details of his work can be found here:

https://twitter.com/degenpoet/status/1552842329568018432?s=20&t=6In33WH8TEQBT8u48UyOFA

Punks - Typecharts

1/ Solana has been blessed with a plethora of amazing projects over the last year. Their rise, fall, and resilience has been fascinating to watch, to be a part of.

The latest piece w/ @degenpoet is a celebration of 4 of those projects and the journey we’ve all been on together.

The four projects we chose to chart are @MonkeDAO, @DegenApeAcademy, @DeGodsNFT, and @okaybears.

No disrespect to the other myriad of kings out there from @solBOOGLE to @GenesysGo, but had to keep it tight.

We love all of SOL though.

On August 3, 2021, some 5,000 pixelated Monkes landed. The mint was literally sending 2 SOL to a wallet and hoping that wallet would actually send you part of the collection back.

And you’re worried about rugs today anon? This was the dark ages!

The Monkes were popular, but had little help from the creators to push it along. Out of necessity a DAO was born to carry the project. Along with prominent Twitter accounts rocking them as a pfp, Monkes ascended quickly through the nascent ranks of Solana NFTs.

I’ve come to appreciate how hard it is to do great pixel art. It seems so simple, but that simplicity also makes it hard to really speak volumes given the limited pallet. (Much like telling stories while confined to 140 characters at a time.)

When done well though, it’s magic.

The artists of the Monkes nailed it. It’s clean af. The collection is varied and interesting. It looks great in a tiny Bird circle.

Like with Boogles or @zen0m’s art, it just hits different.

SMB is the most purely community driven project on any chain, now on their FOURTH board epoch, which is made up of dedicated and brilliant volunteers.

And now that community will buy out the project from the devs! (🤞) 

It will be fascinating to see how it plays out.

Monkes have stood the test of time like few others have. They are no longer the highest floor priced collection, but their durability is unquestionable.

The Soul of SOL.

Reject humanity. Return to Monke.

On August 13, 2021, a collection of 10,000 Degenerate Apes launched on the first version of Candy Machine.

…and promptly broke it.

The mint, like many things with the Apes, did not go as planned. But the mint, like many things with the Apes, also helped push the ecosystem forward.

The great @packyM did an article on the Apes as part of his write up on Solana, as they were the first 10k SOL collection.

The art was fantastic, a 3D masterpiece of sneakers, crayons, and fur.

Though Monkes were first, it was @DegenApeAcademy that put #solana on the map.

Their floor price responded quickly, rising to over 100 before you could sniff glue.

Later, they launched @DegenTrashPandas and broke the SECOND version of the Candy Machine.

Which is truly incredible when you think about it. Not only did it demonstrate incredible demand for the collections, but was also amazingly, hilariously, on brand.

Much like Monkes, the floor isn’t where it once was, and that’s okay. It’s at a healthy place, and also like SMB they’ve proven durability in a space that likes the shiny new toys.

Speaking of, anybody else excited about those eggs?!?

Third, we have the brain child of @frankdegods.

This story is one of my favorites because the path was about as smooth as broken glass.

On October 8th, 2021 this 10k collection minted with the now infamous Paper Hands Bitch Tax.

There were some problems implementing the tax though. There were problems with overpromising and underdelivering. There were even some problems with Frank typing…

What is amazing is how that fire didn’t burn the project down. Instead it became a forge that tempered it into steel.

Frank removed the PHBT after 2 months. But he added incredible artwork by @SCUMSOL, $DUST, and, of course, we have @DuppiesNFT incoming. 

I’m psyched!

DeGods rose to the top of the Solana ecosystem and has held there with incredible tenacity. 

DeGods holders are huge believers, and Frank has rewarded them for it.

@SOLBigBrain has @SolanaMBS as his pfp, but even he rocks a (33.3%) in his handle. The legend of PHBT lives on.

Lastly, let’s talk about a project that’s real ok.

At a time when the markets were crashing, on April 27, 2022, a 10k project launched with the cleanest art I’ve ever seen and absolutely flawless branding.

@okaybears in a bear market where everyone wanted to be okay?

NAILED IT

The volume for Okay Bears was so high it was topping charts on OpenSea for ALL NFT projects. It got the attention of ETH and probably made @ChartFuMonkey’s heart race as sale after sale was processed by @MagicEden.

For perhaps the first time, Solana become IMPOSSIBLE to ignore.

After an insane roller coaster of an early ride, Bears have settled in right around 100 FP. Very respectable (one might even call it okay), standing tall as one of the highest market caps on Solana.

This piece represents the Souls of Sol. 4 of the top 5 highest market cap projects on Solana. The most popular and enduring collections in our ecosystem. (So far…)

Enjoy!
https://exchange.art/single/3R7hzm61uopjMUdx55N68bYFidpnbVGwQJNayScMoHYS

TypeCharts - Solana

I love bees. LOVE them.

And my favorite bees are the broken ones.

A fun story with a deeper meaning...

1/6... 🧵

2/ Some bees are "broken." They don't stay close and gather nectar, instead going awol from the clockwork behavior of the hive and flying around at random.

For a long time scientists didn’t know why this behavior perpetuated.

Why hadn’t evolution killed off the broken bees?

3/ Because the hive NEEDS broken bees. 

They are the explorers. The innovators. When a meadow has been tapped of nectar the broken bees know where to go to find more.

Turns out, not only are the broken bees not broken, they are the key to the survival of the entire species.

4/ All of web3 is broken bees. It's why I love it. We innovate. We go crazy. We fly where we're not supposed to.

It doesn't always work. It USUALLY doesn't work.

But... BUT, sometimes, often enough, we achieve completely new and incredible things.

5/ There is very little downside to exploring. Broken bees might go hungry for a bit. Fine.

But the upside is unlimited. Finding a new food source to feed an entire hive.

For us it's finding technology, communities, that can change the world.

6/ I'd rather fly somewhere new and fail than stay in the same meadow all my life.

If you're reading this, odds are you're the same kind of spirit.

A broken bee that isn’t really broken. 🌞

Broken Bees

The year is 1602.

The Western world is obsessed with the spices of the east, but the voyages are risky and expensive.

That confluence of risk, scale, and need is where the world's first public company was born.

Let's talk about it: 

The East India Companies.

There were several East India Companies, but the two worth focusing on are the British East India Company (BEIC) and the Dutch one, named Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC).

BEIC was the first major joint stock venture, formed in 1600.

VOC was the world's first public company. After forming in 1602 they issued equity and debt to the public.

The modern public company was truly born with them.

VOC also had a sweet logo!

Everything we know - both the love and the hate - of modern public companies and capitalism generally can generally be traced back to these companies.

At the time, ventures to send ships into the great sprawling journey to East Asia were generally one time in nature. You put money in, they went, and you either got a nice pay out or you got nothing.

Feels like an NFT project!

But I digress...

In order to ensure better profits, they formed what was essentially a cartel.

In 1600 resources were pooled into the British East India Company. This allowed investors to control supply, and also bet on multiple trips at once.

Far less boom and bust.

Think of it as an ETF.

In 1602, partly in response to the British EIC, and partially in response to the Spanish desire for control of the trade (Spain was a superpower at the time), the Dutch government pulled together disparate national entities into a single form: the Dutch East India Company.

What it is that they wanted?

Nutmeg. Mace. Cloves.

And money. Always money. A single voyage returning with these spices could yield a 400% return.

And they got it.

The VOC is considered to be the largest company to have ever existed, rivaled only by their contemporary, the British East India Company.

In modern terms...

These companies had money, power, and armies that were bigger than their home country's. 

I'd note that those armies were not always used well.

In fact, they weren't often used quite poorly...

Beyond doing things like controlling large parts of India, the East India Companies engaged in fun shenanigans such as outright war.

The Anglo-Dutch Wars were fought over these trade routes.

In fact, there were four Anglo-Dutch wars. 

FOUR.

(We're so mature.)

But like pretty much every great enterprise, it didn't last forever. The VOC lasted until 1799, or a nearly 200 year run as an enormous and dominant enterprise.

Not bad VOC. Not bad at all. 

The BEIC lasted until closer to 1858, but eventually fell as well.

Their legacies however, live on.

They defined what a modern corporation could be. Either through private joint ventures or through public offerings. Their organizational structures, their ambitions, their scale, echo into the modern world.

It even echoes on through the art. In this case, another collab between me and the prolific @degenpoet.

The birth of the public company came from a desire to sail ships and collect some nutmeg. The birth of this map is from DegenPoet being brilliant.

https://exchange.art/single/97UKiXcoWhUokUzc5PHTHPSEsH3JcXdKnv72xsinGwjF