Line Goes Up – The Problem With NFTs
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''Line Goes Up – The Problem With NFTs'' is a 2022
documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
written and directed by Canadian
YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...
and
video essay A video essay is an essay presented in the format of a video recording or short film rather than a conventional piece of writing; the form often overlaps with other forms of video entertainment on online platforms such as YouTube. A video essay al ...
ist Dan Olson on
non-fungible token A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that is recorded on a blockchain and is used to certify ownership and authenticity. It cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the blockchai ...
s (NFTs),
cryptocurrencies A cryptocurrency (colloquially crypto) is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. Individual coin ownership records ...
, and
Web3 Web3 (also known as Web 3.0) is an idea for a new iteration of the World Wide Web which incorporates concepts such as decentralization, blockchain technologies, and token-based economics. This is distinct from Tim Berners-Lee's concept of th ...
. The video was published to his
YouTube channel YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in San B ...
Folding Ideas on January 21, 2022.


Content

In the video, Olson traces the early history of
Web3 Web3 (also known as Web 3.0) is an idea for a new iteration of the World Wide Web which incorporates concepts such as decentralization, blockchain technologies, and token-based economics. This is distinct from Tim Berners-Lee's concept of th ...
through the 2008
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.
and the creation and early history of
Bitcoin Bitcoin (abbreviation: BTC; Currency symbol, sign: ₿) is the first Decentralized application, decentralized cryptocurrency. Based on a free-market ideology, bitcoin was invented in 2008 when an unknown entity published a white paper under ...
and
Ethereum Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain with smart contract functionality. Ether (abbreviation: ETH) is the native cryptocurrency of the platform. Among cryptocurrencies, ether is second only to bitcoin in market capitalization. It is open-s ...
before reviewing concepts, technologies, and economics of cryptocurrency. Olson then goes over the history and technologies behind NFTs while arguing that they mainly exist to get more people into the cryptocurrency industry. Olson then spends the next segment of the video criticizing the current general lack of quality in NFT art and NFT art collections. In the later half of the video Olson goes over the Crypto and NFT community while also going over and criticizing
blockchain game Video games can include elements that use blockchain technologies, including cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), often as a form of monetization. These elements typically allow players to trade in-game items for cryptocurrency, or re ...
s, the "play to earn" gaming business model (focusing on '' Axie Infinity'' in particular), and
decentralized autonomous organization A decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), sometimes called a decentralized autonomous corporation (DAC), is an organization managed in whole or in part by decentralized computer programs, with voting and finances handled through a decent ...
s (DAOs). He concludes the video arguing that the core of the upcoming Web3 movement is a "turf war" between the top 5% and 1% and the market is based on the pitch of 'buy in now and you can be the next tech millionaire', calling it similar to pitches from
multi-level marketing Multi-level marketing (MLM), also called network marketing or pyramid selling, is a controversial and sometimes illegal marketing strategy for the sale of products or services in which the revenue of the MLM company is derived from a non-salarie ...
companies. He expresses a stance that, no matter how bad the current system is, NFTs, cryptocurrencies, and blockchains are the beginning of a worse system intent on making everything have a speculative price.


Production

In an interview with ''
Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...
'', Olson stated he followed the rise of Bitcoin hearing claims that it would reach mass adoption, though after using it, he believed that cryptocurrency was not functional and that it is only viable because its price kept on increasing over time. Olson later came to believe that the history of cryptocurrency was a story about the evolution of
fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...
. He later became skeptical of new developments in crypto technology viewing them as overpromising and this drove feelings of frustration and anger which led to him making the video. Olson stated he started writing the video in April 2021, only to shelve it until the fall of 2021 because of rapid developments during this period, which made his written material quickly obsolete. The video was released in January 2022.


Release and reception

, the video had 14.8 million views with 428 thousand likes. After the video essay's release it trended on Twitter and several media outlets such as
NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
and ''
The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American Technology journalism, technology news website headquarters, headquartered in Lower Manhattan, New York City and operated by Vox Media. The website publishes news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, cons ...
'' interviewed Olson for his expertise on NFTs and cryptocurrency. ''
The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American Technology journalism, technology news website headquarters, headquartered in Lower Manhattan, New York City and operated by Vox Media. The website publishes news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, cons ...
''s
Casey Newton Casey Newton (born June 19, 1980) is an American technology journalist, a former senior editor at ''The Verge'', and the founder of, and writer for, the ''Platformer'' newsletter. Career Newton had been covering the Arizona State Legislatu ...
noted "few of Olson's criticisms are entirely new, though the collective force of Olson's arguments is substantial." ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' calls it "a two-hour exegesis on the flaws with NFTs and crypto." Two critics highlighted it in the 2022 ''
Sight and Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (formerly written ''Sight & Sound'') is a monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). Since 1952, it has conducted the well-known decennial ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time. ...
'' video essay poll. José Sarmiento said it was the best video essay of the year; Jason Mittell reviewed that it was prescient, comprehensive and "utterly captivating and convincing" but questioned whether its length was necessary. The following year, Olson's essay on a related topic—"The Future is a Dead Mall"—was nominated in the poll.


See also

*
Cryptocurrency bubble A cryptocurrency bubble is a phenomenon where the market increasingly considers the going price of cryptocurrency assets to be inflated against their hypothetical value. The history of cryptocurrency has been marked by several speculative b ...


References


Further reading

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Line Goes Up - The Problem With NFTs 2022 YouTube videos Documentary films about finance Films about cryptocurrencies 2022 documentary films 2022 films Canadian documentary films Films released on YouTube Films shot in New York City Internet documentary films English-language Canadian films 2020s English-language films English-language documentary films Non-fungible tokens