Have you ever heard of Metcalfe’s Law? To summarize, it states that the networking effect is the square of the number of users in that network.
In layman’s terms? You can make a lot of friends if you join the right community.
The connections I’ve made in the NFT space so far seem to support this. I’ve had Twitter since 2009 (ok boomer) and before NFTs, I never had more than maybe 200 followers. Now? It’s over 4000 in a little less than a year of tweeting about NFTs.
In fact, last week was my NFT anniversary. Back then, I claimed a free NFT called a ‘CryptoBeer’ after hearing about OpenSea on a podcast. I probably paid way too much in gas, because I didn’t even know what it was then, and the project has now been delisted probably because it was minting millions of these digital cans.
But I’m grateful for this cryptobeer above. It would be another 3 months before I bought another NFT, but this one represents the start of my journey (and my MetaMask account) that has led me here with all of you.
My hope is that I can keep this momentum going. I want my NFT network to get bigger and the number of possible connections to skyrocket. I want to be here for a good time and a long time, both. I don’t want to go the way of CryptoBeers and just disappear one day (RIP).
ALPHA
In the neverending battle with the normies, I’ve found a new angle to get them into our network: lifetime memberships.
I have a group chat with some (semi) normie friends. A few weeks ago, they were talking about the Coachella lifetime pass on Solana and how it was actually utility as opposed to other NFTs that were just “celebrity flexes”.
Should I tell them?
Let’s frame the biggest and most successful NFT as a “lifetime membership”, shall we?
With a Bored Ape, the blockchain certifies you are a member of their “Yacht Club”. It may just look like a monkey in a Supreme hoodie, but unbeknownst to normies, it’s already evolved into much more.
With a membership, a Bored Ape holder not only gets access to the community in perpetuity but also access to any and all events that Yuga Labs might have. This includes parties, their rumored club in Miami, and who’s not to say that there isn’t a “BAYC Fest” one day that rivals something like a Coachella? They certainly have enough money and DJs in the Yacht Club to pull something like that off right now.
So instead of buying a lifetime Coachella pass, an NFT like a Mutant Ape could offer you more experiences AND added social benefits for roughly the same price. It seems like that’s more utility than a simple internet flex.
If you’re not thinking myopically, it even goes beyond real-world events. NFT “memberships” offer more opportunities than just hanging out online with other degens.
Take for example a community I love - Robotos. The artist behind the project Pablo Stanley is well-connected and respected within the NFT art community. For this reason, owning a Roboto can get you “allow list” spots to new projects dropping from his friends and artists in his network.
That means you get first dibs at other NFTs that you could either flip for profit or join a new community that you can leverage for its entirely unique set of benefits.
From owning one Roboto, for example, I got early access to Loser Club (floor currently .2 ETH). Others I know won a raffle held for Robotos holders that allowed them to mint WonderPals (floor currently .5 ETH). Not bad for a free benefit of being a member of the Robotos “club”.
It’s utility like this that I don’t think is priced in (even by those in the NFT community). If we frame NFTs as lifetime memberships, it makes the value prop a lot juicier to people who currently just see NFTs as expensive JPGs. You are buying a picture, sure, but it’s one that has added real-world and social applications.
BETA
Sometimes those lifetime memberships aren’t for good clubs, however. Tai Lopez, the innovating grifter, made his play into NFTs last week marking a temporary top for the market.
In one of his most audacious moves yet, he used a “reverse Dutch auction” on a few of his NFTs, meaning that the prices went up with time (not down). And what are you getting at these ridiculous prices you ask? Real-world experiences that sound like as much fun as going to the dentist, that’s what!
For 12 ETH, you could pay to watch a movie with Tai and not speak with him, I guess?
The funds raised from his “OG Social Club” are supposed to buy restaurants, nightclubs, hotels, and more that could be profitable for the NFT holders if Tai ever follows through on investing in any of those things.
Most likely, he’ll come up with some excuse as to why he cannot and he’ll run off to the next trend with all the ETH he made from this “project”. It’s the downside of framing NFTs as lifetime memberships, I suppose. Because sometimes, you can become a member of a crap club.
DELTA
Should I do a year in review of my wallet and transactions next week? It would be a long post, but the nostalgia of my NFT anniversary had me looking through my old trades. There are some wins there for sure, but the pain of the losses makes me not want to do a post like that. I don’t want to have to live through the pain of selling too early twice.
What was my next NFT purchase after the CryptoBeer? It was actually bivens.eth which was my ENS domain before I switched to the pricier and shorter biv.eth. Seeing that brought me back to the days when I wanted to be an ENS maxi. Who would have thought that cute cartoon pics would change all of that?