Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Crooks' Paradise: The Dark Side of the NFT

NFT (Abbreviation for Non Fungible Token) has become one of the big trends of 2021. It is a certificate of ownership embedded in a blockchain on a digital asset, and allows any image, video, song or file to be turned into a commodity that can be bought and sold, so to speak, even though in practice Still anyone else can own it and print for themselves a copy exactly identical to the original.
In the NFT world there is an internal joke, 'Right Click & Save' - anyone can save your NFT, so what's the point?

In other words, the only difference between someone who pays a lot of money for an NFT and someone who does not pay anything for the same digital creation is that he pays for what the rest of the world can get for free.

Take for example the story of Julian Lennon, the son of John Lennon, who this month sold six rare items as NFT: three Gibson electric guitars he received as a gift from his father; A robe his father wore while filming! Help; Afghan coat Shalanon Sr. wore during the filming of the movie Magical Mystery Tour; And the highlight - a page with comments written by Paul McCartney on the song "Hey Jude". Lennon did not sell the items themselves, but videos in which they were filmed in 360 degrees against the background of his narration, but it is doubtful that anyone who submitted an offer to purchase the items - which sold for $ 11,520 to $ 76,800 - realized that even after the sale these videos would remain available for anyone interested in by watching it on the web.

Another worrying phenomenon is inflating trades in a technique called Wash Trading: Because digital wallets are anonymous, each trader can use several wallets simultaneously, transferring NFT from one pocket to another to inflate his value. The innocent buyer will look at the transaction history, and believe that the value of the NFT he acquires has indeed increased over time organically. Some scammers even set up dedicated groups in Discord or CotCot (a popular chat platform among NFT traders) in order to create credibility for the items they sell.

Last month, the Opensea platform, the world's largest marketplace for NFT, admitted that 80% of the NFT items featured on their platform for sale were in fact "stolen works, counterfeit collections and spam."

Suppose you managed all the hurdles we talked about and managed to get your hands on an authentic NFT. You may be disappointed to find that a version of the file you purchased at a low resolution will appear in your digital wallet after the purchase. Want to view the image you purchased in high quality? You'll need to access a public link - yes, that link is available worldwide for free. The file itself, unlike NFT, is not stored in the blockchain at all. There is always the possibility that someone will delete it from the network or change its URL so that you will end up with an NFT confirming that you paid a lot of money for a property that no longer exists.

Last month, Dan Olson, the YouTuber behind a page called Folding Ideas, released a video called Line Goes Up - The Problem With NFTs in which over more than two hours and with impressive thoroughness he sends his half into the world of illusions of blockchain, crypto and NFT. The video has so far garnered almost 6 million views, and has shocked the illusionists involved in the field.

Olson's main conclusion is that NFTs are a pyramid scam, in which participants must find a buyer for their goods in order to get back the money they have invested.

The illusion sellers were shocked by the video just as the boy's call that the king is naked shocked the two tailors who sold the king nothing in exchange for very much gold.

Take your valuable time to watch the not less valuable video.

00:00:00 Preface
00:01:12 0. In 2008 The Economy Collapsed
00:07:09 1. Bitcoin
00:18:18 2. Ethereum
00:24:34 3. The Machine
00:39:07 4. NFTs Exist To Get You To Buy Crypto
00:57:54 5. The Unbearable Cringe Of Crypto
01:11:46 6. A Self-Organizing High Control Group
01:16:57 7. Crypto Reality
01:25:36 8. There Is No Privacy On The Chain
01:32:52 9. If This "Looks Like Scam" Then Every NFT Room I'm In Looks Like Scam LOL
01:38:29 10. Play To Earn Exists To Get You To Buy Crypto
01:46:39 11. We're All Gonna Make It And By "We" I Mean "Us" Not You
01:56:08 12. DAOs Exist To Get You To Buy Crypto
02:13:21 13. I Know It's Rigged, But It's The Only Game In Town


Sources and Further Reading:

https://web3isgoinggreat.com/
https://tante.cc/2021/12/17/the-third-web/
https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2021/03/11/nfts-crypto-grifters-try-to-scam-artists-again/
https://amycastor.com/2021/03/14/metakovan-the-mystery-beeple-art-buyer-and-his-nft-defi-scheme/
https://www.stephendiehl.com/blog/crypto-absurd.html
https://blog.mollywhite.net/blockchains-are-not-what-they-say/
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/11/who-goes-crypto-eth-bitcoin-etc-financialization-gamestop-class-wealth/
https://twitter.com/davetroy/status/1478017698676228099?s=20
https://davidgolumbia.medium.com/cryptocurrency-is-garbage-so-is-blockchain-3e80078e77fe
https://marker.medium.com/fintech-is-a-scam-a-listicle-in-eight-parts-7b6161f3a35a
https://naavik.co/business-breakdowns/axie-infinity/#axie-decon=
https://www.gawker.com/culture/the-future-is-useless-expensive
https://twitter.com/NFTtheft
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/nfts-werent-supposed-end-like/618488/
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-05-baseless-nft-hype-hits-a-crescendo-but-its-play-to-earn-thats-worth-watching-opinion
https://www.technollama.co.uk/platform-is-law-the-cautionary-tale-of-stolen-nfts
https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2021/02/12/libra-shrugged-chapter-6-banking-the-unbanked/
https://twitter.com/Bitfinexed

The video written and performed by Dan Olson.

Dan Olson Crowdfunding: https://www.patreon.com/foldablehuman

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FoldableHuman
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
×