Virtual experiences with celebrities – NFT and metaverse still on top!
The hype around non-exchangeable tokens and metaverse isn’t abating at all, and more and more reports are indicating that this could be a serious step on the path of our development, and not just a madman’s fantasy. Of course we may be dealing with mere speculation, and the bubble may eventually burst, but are we sure? Opinions are strongly divided.
We’ve been dealing with virtual experiences, reality augmentation and blockchain and ethereum technology for quite some time now. However, since the voices about a new version of the Internet can be heard in the background, the web is full of speculation and conjecture on what it would be like in the end. Perceptions of the meta world bring to mind images of people leading double lives in Second Life. However, this vision seems far from the actual realization of the current goals, as the main idea behind this idea is the digitization of our entire reality. Current practice, on the other hand, makes us think that the finish line will not be in one company. You can get lost, can’t you??
Zuckerberg loses millions and PWC buys non-existent land
Ever since Facebook announced its rebranding and work on the metaverse has taken off, more and more BigTech companies have begun to announce their entry into the tech race. Meanwhile, Apple managed to ridicule Zuckerberg, and the owner of Meta scored a big drop in the stock market – more than 20 percent. values. The meta world project itself has raised many questions, curiosity and doubts. As time goes on, less and less of these hesitations arise, although still not all the contentious issues have been resolved. Metaverse rumors accompanied by non-exchangeable tokens known in English as NFT continue to stimulate gray cells. It is interesting to note the actions of celebrities, who are clearly involved in promoting digital activities. This is visible even in Poland, although it is more reminiscent of pumping a speculative bubble than a new digitalifestyle. From a completely different perspective, you can look at it from a business perspective, where PwC has purchased through SandBox NFT confirming ownership of land in the metaverse. Why it matters? PwC is one of the Big Four, the world’s largest financial audit firms, so we are not dealing with just any player here. Even earlier, a similar move was made by brands like Nike, which sells digital shoes, and Adidas, which decided to join the Bored Ape Yacht Club and also issued its own collectible NFTs. Fashion brands explain that the digital clothing design model is very comfortable because the project is not limited by the need to produce a comfortable garment, and the essence is the design and craftsmanship of the garment itself.
Celebrities and the digital world
A good portion of us have probably heard of the man who spent $450,000 to become Snoop Dogg’s neighbor in his own Snoop Versa.
Snoop Dogg believes that virtual spaces are the future of entertainment, and events played in them could be the future of virtual meetings or exclusive concerts. He claims it’s an opportunity for him to communicate more intimately with his fans, though we’d venture to say it’s more about the monetization aspect of it.
There has been even more buzz about non-exchangeable tokens in show business since the widow of basketball player Black Mamba (Kobe Bryant) together with Kobe INC decided to honor the memory of her husband and daughter by patenting their digital images. This is how the sports community has been brought into the discussion about NFT and virtual worlds. KB24 is a collection of non-exchangeable tokens, the proceeds of which are to go entirely to the Mamba Foundation & Mambacita Sports Foundation, which advocates for underserved athletes and young women in sports. By the way, fans can celebrate the memory of their idol. – Every aspect of this project serves to highlight Kobe’s great accomplishments and encourage fans to be a part of it. Each NFT will be 100% unique thanks to the combination of different attributes that represent Kobe’s achievements, moments in his career or personality – we read on the project’s website.
It was not without controversy in this field either. Justin Bieber’s Bored Ape or Gwyneth Paltrow’s Flower Girl profile picture raise questions about the fairness of owning a given NFT, and holders of etherium-connected wallets spin conspiracy theories about the origin of the funding sources or the token itself. Taking Bieber as an example, The Verge portal noticed that Bieber allegedly did not buy his monkey, as the trail of the transaction goes back to another portfolio, which is connected to the NFT project called InBetweeners. Bieber was gifted InBetweeners NFT in December and bought more later. It’s unclear what the connection is between InBetweeners and Bieber, as perhaps someone else bought Bieber’s Bored Ape as payment for his promotion of InBetweeners or Justin had his friends buy it. Overall, things with NFT are very murky and decry the ideas of transparency and security that you hear about in connection with blockchain.
Poland, youtube and digital love
In the U.S., even the regulators looked into the matter of NFT promotion, to see if there were any unfair forms of unmarked product placement. It is said about the USA, but we could also hear about it in Poland. One of the first propagators of the phenomenon was Marta Rentel, or martirenti known from YouTube and TikTok. A girl sold her digital love to an unknown admirer for the exorbitant sum of 250 thousand dollars, which is equivalent to one million of our Polish zloty. In the network there was no shortage of voices accusing her of subliminal promotion of technology and false bending of reality. Although it is contradicted by the fanadise platform and the attitude of its owner, Bartosz Sibiga. Malicious people note, however, that Sibiga is also the owner of an influencer marketing agency and the owner of a website on which the token was issued. A lot of internet users have heard about Binance NFT and Gonciarz but even more have heard about him, Magda Gessler and Malik Montana in the scandal with Fancy Bears and UOKiK where Komputerświat.pl even called it an activity that promotes a financial pyramid.
You do not understand the phenomenon
– For now, the awareness of what NFT is is close to zero – says the expert, answering our question about the state of this market in Poland and abroad. – Most people do not understand this technology, its advantages or applications. They associate it with speculation and temporary trends. It takes time as with everything. It took Amazon almost 20 years to become one of the biggest companies, when they started in 1995 hardly anyone in Poland had an Internet connection. The same will happen with NFT. I recommend that you take an interest in the topic and act now, while in reality most corporations in Poland will start doing something in this direction in a few years; concludes Bartek Sibiga. (virtualmedia.pl)
To disagree with this view is Elon Musk himself, as purepc reports.en. SpaceX owner and Starlink concept Web 3.0, or services centered around blockchain and cryptocurrencies, he described as a vague and incomprehensible concept with more marketing than reality. The billionaire concluded that he did not understand the point of these concepts, which he commented jokingly that he might be too old for this.
NFT – technology, marketing, conspiracy theory or speculative bubble?
NFT and the technology behind it is not bad and has a lot of potential through blockchain. However, the personae of influencers, celebrities and shady deals woven in along the way detract a lot from the image of this technology. The mere scornful expression of people who do not understand these issues by people from the marketing environment can also say a lot about the inept use of the source or attempts to manipulate the value of the market. Even the Polish UOKiK does not remain passive in the face of the newly emerged state of affairs, although it probably has a similar goal as the rest of the participants in the procedure – profit.
Whatever one may say, celebrity and marketing is very hurtful to both cryptocurrencies and the ethereum network as a whole, as it may bring to mind various conspiracy theories, ot that it’s intentional a proposing the introduction of digital currencies directly from central banks, as is the case in China, which (just a curiosity) is itself investing in the metaverse market. To calm your battered nerves, fortunately, most of the conspiracies are still just theories, and a large part of them is such a big simplification that it has no right to happen. Tokens may be a real breakthrough in the digitalization of value, but there is still a long way to go to build public awareness of them.
