NFT sceptics have a new oracle to rally around.
“Line Goes Up — The Problem With NFTs,” Youtuber Dan Olson’s critique of non-fungible tokens and crypto-enthusiasm, has gone viral despite a 137-minute runtime. Posted to his channel Folding Ideas, the video presents one of the most detailed, cogent cases yet for why the digital tokens are doing more harm than good. It has resonated with viewers, racking up more than 4.5 million views so far.
For Olson, many NFTs are “aesthetically vacuous representations of the dead inner lives of the tech and finance bros behind them.” But he doesn’t distrust them simply because the artwork is corny. Rather, he sees the system as geared toward the interests of a select few investors — and so against artists in general. Sales such as animator Beeple’s $69 million NFT windfall fuel mad speculation that will hurt many.