Category: NFT

Should You Buy Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)?

by Fred Fuld III

You may have read about all the hype over the last few months regarding non-fungible tokens, more commonly called NFTs, and occasionally referred to as nifties.

If you don’t know what an NFT is, I will try to explain it as simple as I can. An NFT is a digital asset, such as a jpg or png artwork, a gif, a cartoon, music, a video, digital sports cards, video game assets, and even naming rights to a giant sea bass. The NFT is recorded on a blockchain which secures the ownership of the asset and certifies that the asset is unique, or one of a very limited quantity.

Stock Ticker Man Spitting Out Money

Stock Ticker Man Spitting Out Money NFT

The NFTs are usually sold on platforms such as OpenSea, Rarible, SuperRare, and Foundation, with cryptocurrency, such as Ether, being the primary currency. Some sales have facilitators for buyers who just want to pay by credit card or check.

The prices of many of these NFTs has been skyrocketing. Last year, the NFT market was about $250 million. For the first quarter of this year, sales jumped to $2 billion. You may have heard that Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter (TWTR), sold an NFT of his first tweet for $2.9 million.

Michelle Phillips, vocalist with the Mamas & the Papas, songwriter, and actress has gotten in on the act. A couple months ago, I interviewed her about her NFT auction (I believe it was her only NFT auction interview) and all ten of her NFTs  sold out.

With regards to buying NFTs as an investment, I won’t comment on that because I never make investment recommendations. However, you should treat NFTs like art or collectables. If you like what you see and you plan to hold on to it without the expectation of reselling at a profit, then maybe you should buy it.

You might even want to create your own NFT. Click HERE for an example of a stock market themed NFT for sale on Rarible.

 

Exclusive Interview: Michelle Phillips, Lead Singer of the Mamas & the Papas, NFT Memorabilia Auction

by Fred Fuld III

The following delightful, informative, and entertaining interview was provided by Michelle Phillips, a vocalist with the Mamas & the Papas, also songwriter, actress, and model. She co-wrote the popular song “California Dreamin'” which was certified as a Gold Record in 1966 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001. The song is No. 89 in Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time

She has appeared in 43 TV shows, including Knots Landing, Beverly Hills 90210, Fantasy Island, and Hotel,  and over 40 movies, including Dillinger, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer.

This interview covers:

  • Her NFT (Non-Fungible Token) auction
  • What is included in the auction
  • The Painted Turtle charitable organization
  • The changes in the music industry
  • Singing versus Acting
  • Success
  • Advice for those interested in getting into the entertainment business

The Michelle Phillips Interview

Enjoy listening to this great discussion.

To stream the interview, click:

HERE

You can also download the interview as an mp3 by right-clicking (or Control clicking) HERE and choosing “Save as”.

More Info About the Upcoming “California Girl” Auction

NFT Michelle Phillips Drawing

The original “California Girl” memorabilia and her videotaped hand drawn group image through ViciNFT through June 29

ViciNFT Corporation  designs, builds and manages digital assets and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for enterprises and creators. The company’s works are carbon neutral, and include a mandatory charity component equal to 25% of auction proceeds, making “NFTs for the common good.”

The video of the original drawing, the digital drawing

For concierge bidding for those who buy via US Dollars and credit cards contact ViciNFT Corporation

More Info About the Painted Turtle

The Painted Turtle’s mission is to provide a year-round, life-changing and authentic camp experience for children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses. The Painted Turtle supports children’s medical needs, inspires them to reach beyond their illness, and provides care, education, and respite for their families. All campers and families attend free of charge.

California Dreamin’

The Mamas & The Papas “California Dreamin'” (September 24, 1967) On The Ed Sullivan Show

California Dreamin’

 

 

Photo source: Wikipedia

You Can Buy an NFT to Name the Giant Sea Bass of the San Francisco Aquarium of the Bay

Smithsonian-affiliated Aquarium of the Bay is issuing a series of official Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) through ViciNFT representing live images of a giant sea bass residing in the aquarium’s 750,000-gallon saltwater tunnels.

NFT’s are unique digital assets. The NFT market value tripled in 2020, and a trend toward digital collectables has continued to power the economic momentum of NFTs in the crypto market in 2021.

The NFT auction, for those who do not yet have crypto money, began Tuesday, May 18, 2021 and ends at 5 PM Eastern Time on Friday, May 21, 2021.

Can now bid on eBay.

The auction is being undertaken in support of the aquarium’s non-profit charitable mission to promote environmental education and actions that support climate resilience and ocean conservation.

Aquarium of the Bay, located on San Francisco’s waterfront at PIER 39, is home to more than 24,000 marine animals and over 200 species representing the marine biodiversity of the San Francisco Bay. Visitors from around the world tour the aquarium’s glass tunnels to watch gill sharks, bat rays, jellies, octopuses, leopard sharks, sturgeons, and more.

The Giant Sea Bass NFT includes one-and-only “lifetime” images of the aquarium’s iconic resident. The species, native to the North Pacific, is renowned for its large size and long lifespan.

The Aquarium’s giant sea bass, an imposing and popular character, will be named by the NFT winner. The bass is more than 15 years old, weigh 250 pounds, measures 5-feet 6-inches long (the size of a motorcycle), and has a stoic personality.

A giant sea bass matures around age 11 or 12 and can live 75 years. The NFT owner will receive photos and videos, authenticated by Aquarium of the Bay, every six months over the lifespan of animal.

George Jacob, FRCGS, the first Aquarium President and CEO in the United States to initiate this unique partnership in the crypto realm, says, “We are excited to navigate into unchartered waters and are delighted to steer this forward jointly with ViciNFT.”

Aquarium of the Bay’s NFT partner, ViciNFT, is led by best-selling author/literary agent Bill Gladstone, who represented Marianne Williamson, Eckhart Tolle, musician Neil Young and Deepak Chopra. ViciNFT helps world-renowned institutions curate, design, market and nurture NFTs and digital collectibles for the common good.

Gladstone said, “We are so proud to be enabling this NFT to benefit the landmark San Francisco Aquarium of the Bay. We believe that NFTs for the common good can help museums and other institutions dedicated to education and cultural appreciation address the funding challenges they face now and in the future.”

The results of Aquarium of the Bay’s first NFT auction will be announced Friday from the ViciNFT website following the close of the auction at 5 p.m. ET on May 21. Those looking to bid should proceed to the official Aquarium of the Bay auction.

Think Baseball Card Shares are Strange? How About NFT Investing!

by Fred Fuld III

A few weeks ago, I published an article about investing in shares of baseball cards. Amazingly, some of these sports cards have had outrageously successful returns recently.

For example, shares of a Tiger Woods 1996 Sports Illustrated for Kids PSA 10 card was offered on February 28, 2021 on a IPO at $10 per share. On April 7, there was a buyout offer of $13.67 per share, a 36.7% increase in less than two months.

An even better example is the Wilt Chamberlain 1961 Fleer Rookie Card PSA 9 card which received a buyout offer of a 66.5% premium over the $10 IPO price!!!

So what is the next great investment sector? Maybe it is the NFTs. If you are not sure what an NFT is, it stands for non-fungible token. An NFT is is a unit of ownership of a unique, generally digital, item that is recorded on a blockchain. The item is not interchangeable, however the NFT is tradeable.

Here are some examples of what an NFT can represent. It can represent digital art. The artist Beeple created a digital artwork called Everydays: The First 5000 Days. The NFT for the art was auctioned off at $69 million through Christie’s.

The CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, sold an NFT of his first tweet for $2.9 million.

NFT’s can also represent music, items in games, and digital sport cards.

Probably the most unusual NFT is skin. The Croatian tennis star, Oleksandra Oliynykova, is offering an NFT for the lifetime rights to the upper part of her right arm.

Speaking of skin, even Playboy (PLBY) is getting into the NFT arena.

So far, there have been nine NFTs that have sold for over a million dollars. So what do you think? Worth investing in? Have anything you want to tokenize?

 

Disclosure: Author has a long option position in PLBY.