Bill Gates Hates Crypto

Chevy Corvette NFT

June 16, 2022

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What's Dropping ⚡️

  • Pirates of the Metaverse announces their Space Map 1.5 and, with it, Drip Studios launches a new company division: Drip Games. See here.

  • Coinbase continues to lay off new workers after claiming they "Hired too fast". How could such a promising company make such a self-crippling mistake? (TechCrunch)

  • Bill Gates has shared his sentiment regarding cryptocurrencies-he is not a fan and believes them to be a sham. We find it hard to believe such a worldly mind could be against decentralization, but we think he'll come around eventually. (CNN)

  • A Manhattan property owner has had terrible luck in timing the market. After listing his building as an NFT just before the crash, he is left offering his home half off. He has readjusted accordingly. DYOR buddy!

  • Gaming convention E3 displays a lack of Web 3 initiative, though many companies attending have claimed to be working on blockchain implementation behind the scenes. Let's hope they feel more confident next year.

  • NFT technology and commerce, a match made in heaven, and Visa is at the forefront. Their head of Crypto backs web 3 hard, and is pushing their wagon in the right direction. (PC Gamer)

  • Wonderful artist Takashi Murakami who we have written about many times before is apologizing to his collectors for nose dive in prices, something that is beyond his control. An artist should never have to say sorry for secondary price ranges. (ArtNet)

Chevy Corvette's Spin On NFTs 🏎

Many projects make blind promises that tend to leave a sour taste in a buyer’s mouth. They make outlandish claims of lavish rewards and perks (ehm ehm Tai Lopez) that, more often than not, don’t come to fruition. But when there’s a manufacturer or brand associated with it, the delivery has to be impeccable. Chevy aims to do just that.

From June 20th to the 24th, Chevy will run an auction via SuperRare for a new 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 in a unique color. This color, “minted green”, is said to be 1 of 1 and will never be used on a Corvette again. By the name of the color, you can see that Chevy wants to incorporate NFTs into their business, and they are paying attention to the details. Along with the car, the art associated with it is created by renowned artist, xsullo.

What makes this auction different than others is the exclusivity you can get just by owning this NFT. Car manufacturers usually only provide a standard color palette that customers can choose from. For an extra cost, you can develop your own color code, which at some manufacturers, can cost an arm and a leg. Depending on the type of paint used and the finishes that you want (matte, pearl, satin, etc.), the cost can run up to thousands of dollars, especially if you’re dealing with a luxury car manufacturer.

In this auction, Chevy is not just giving you a beautiful piece of art and a Corvette associated with it; they are giving you the chance of owning your own color. No one will ever be able to use that color again, except for you. How’s that for 1 of 1? Chevy, YGMI.

Bill Gates Hates Crypto 😬

Bill Gates has categorically discounted crypto and NFTs as worthwhile investment classes. He gives two bad arguments for why he doesn’t like cryptographic assets and conceals his lazy reasoning with a spectacle of rationalism.

https://www.techarp.com/

Here’s a breakdown of his two reasons and an analysis on why those reasons are bad (in our humble opinion):

What He Said: The cryptographic ecosystem doesn’t generate products and instead relies exclusively on a market where people sell to the greater fool, “you have an asset class that’s 100% based on Greater Fool Theory.” Why He’s Wrong: While the fool mechanic is ever-present in any and every market that exists it is a gross misrepresentation to say that 100% of Web3’s market consists of people re-selling valueless things to less-informed people. Ethereum is a product that people value because it decentralizes data-keeping and ownership tracking. Despite the roster of questionable NFT projects, a great deal of them offers lay people the ability to build equity in digital startups. Bill’s response is distasteful primarily because it tries to brush the entire landscape with one broad stroke. He’s taking a caricature of the ecosystem that already exists and reinforcing it with the thrust of his credibility. But we all know that a part doesn’t represent the whole, yet he’s taking advantage of a basic logical flaw to misrepresent the truth.

What He Said: “At its heart, it has this sort of anonymity, that you know, you avoid taxation or any sort of government rules” Why He’s Wrong: Bill is basically saying that nobody uses crypto unless they’re trying to do illegal things. He’s trying to discount the entire ecosystem by making a moral claim that it only serves bad actors with ill motives. Bill thinks that Web3 = boogeyman and wants to convince other people of the same thing. This is weak and is also not true.

Imagine an entire grown man that works in tech trying to reduce the frontier of a sophisticated decentralized digital infrastructure into “it’s a Ponzi scheme” and “it’s filled with very bad people.” His representation of Web3 lacked the bare minimum amount of nuance or fair reasoning an essay from a 4th grader requires. It also would’ve been nice if he tried to invent new reasons for condemning the space, but instead, he just recycled the oldest, weakest, and most worn-out ones. As a public figure, and as a man as learned as he is, he ought to try harder not to misrepresent things to the public.

Editor comments: What I find so fascinating about Bill Gate's claims is how strongly convicted he is of his approach. Not too long ago, he was laughed out of the building for believing in the internet... why not just keep a neutral approach considering how new technology continues to prove doubters wrong.

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Disclaimer: The Drop DOES NOT provide financial advice. All content is for informational purposes only. The Drop is not a registered investment, legal, or tax advisor or a broker/dealer. Trading any crypto-related asset is extremely risky and could result in significant capital losses.

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