Remember NFTs? Here’s What Happened – and Where They Are Now

You will never be able to convince me that it wasn’t money laundering.

Because it was, for sure, money laundering.

In 2021 and 2022, a new digital asset took the world by storm – NFTs, a virtual image stored on the blockchain and often tied to cryptocurrency in some way. Because of the securely encrypted technology behind them, and the fact that NFTs can be traded and stored in crypto wallets, NFTs were marketed as unique, provably authentic art pieces that could be owned and sold entirely online. Depending on who you asked, you’d get various reasons for why that mattered even a little bit.

To some, they took inspiration from Facebook’s futuristic announcements about a coming Metaverse, where people would don helmets like Ready Player One and spend all of their time, money, and effort in a virtual world. That virtual world has to be decorated, right? And with enough security, real NFTs couldn’t be forged, in terms of the actual code, so that makes them better than real-world art, right? Hang some NFTs on the wall of your mind palace and it’ll be just like real art!

To some, they took inspiration from the cryptocurrency trade, believing that the planned scarcity of individual NFTs and NFT collections would create value.

To some, they saw a situation not too much unlike fine art trading in the real world, where assets are incredibly difficult to objectively assess, and blood money, drug money, bribes, and the proceeds from sex trafficking could be swapped out using a simple technique called “wash trading.” All an enterprising criminal with toxic money has to do, is buy a low-priced NFT using his first set of crypto keys, then they rebuy it using the aforementioned toxic money to create a receipt that legitimizes their possession of that money. Then, for extra bonus points, they hype the anonymous sale (that they’ve just made to themselves) in the media to sell the NFT once again to some misguided investor, and they’ve now washed their money and doubled it besides.

In 2021, NFTs did $17 billion in trading volume.

How do I know for sure it was money laundering?…

Amazon and Meta (Facebook & Instagram) have made a deal, which will integrate Amazon shopping accounts directly into Meta’s social media platforms. Now, without ever leaving Facebook or Instagram, users can purchase products, compare prices, and continue consuming content. The patch that allows for this is already available on some devices in the US, and will apparently be gradually rolled out to everyone else. This partnership will greatly increase the accuracy of ad targeting. Pinterest already partnered with Amazon in a similar fashion earlier this year, to the apparent benefit of both companies. Not to be outdone, TikTok revealed their “TikTok shop” back in September, so users can purchase products in that app as well. Christmas shopping may look a little different this year, and influencers have suddenly gotten more influence.

Global entertainment, a multi-trillion dollar industry, has been in turmoil in recent years, with traditional cable subscriptions falling constantly, ad revenues down, contentious labor disputes, halted productions, a series of box office bombs (Including the MCU’s latest installment, The Marvels, which just produced Marvel’s worst opening weekend ever), and a Wild West of streaming and distribution options, decentralized production, and hyper-segmented audiences…

Core CPI fell to its lowest level in two years last month, to about 4% (excluding food and energy) down from over 6% last year. In the immediate aftermath of the news, stocks went up, bond yields went down, and investor confidence has seemingly risen. According to Ian Lyngen of BMO Capital Markets, “This takes a rate hike off the table in December and reinforces our call that July was the last hike of the cycle.”

Your weekly chance to test your Bible knowledge! The answer to today’s question may surprise you:

Q: What is the Jewish term for the Old Testament scriptures?

Answer at the bottom

TIPS & TRICKS

What Makes a Business a Kingdom Business?

Far too often, Christian terms get thrown around without ever really being defined. “Kingdom” can be one of those words. While it is certainly a central concept in our faith and very present in the scriptures, the way people use it can often make you scratch your head, like Inigo Montoya, and say, “You keep using that word… I do not think it means what you think it means.”

So to that end, here are three quick tips on what makes a business a kingdom business…

• Truth Social has lost $73 million since its launch last year, posting just $3.7 million in total sales revenue, leading to speculation that the company may not be viable for the long term.

• Lauren Heck of The Gospel Coalition insists that social media can be used for God’s kingdom to great effect.

• State laws banning trans interventions for minors may be headed to the Supreme Court.

• Sources reveal that Hamas’ intention behind the October 7th attack was to provoke a war with Israel, then unify surrounding Islamic nations to destroy the Israeli state entirely.

• One of the largest online retailers in the world, Shopify, went down on Monday, affecting innumerable independent sellers before getting restored. It is believed that Taylor Swift’s newest merch drop caused the crash.