Related Headlines
| 02/25/2024 | I got a loan with my land thanks to NFTs |
| 04/06/2022 | Crypto loans with 10% APR come to NFT land |
| 02/01/2022 | Sean Murray to Speak at NFT.NYC |
| 01/18/2022 | Coinbase, Mastercard partner on NFTs |
| 12/27/2021 | NFT lookup tool failed 100% of the time |
Related Videos
Ep 84 - Scandal, hyperinflation, NFTs | NFT Raffle Winner Announcement |
deBanked NFTs - We made some, what are they? | Ep 85 - Funder Updates, NFTs, and Broker Fair |
Stories
My Real Estate Was Turned into an NFT. I Used that NFT as Collateral for a Loan.
February 25, 2024
Ooops, I did it again. I bought an NFT that grants me ownership of real land in Arizona in the same manner that I previously bought land in California. But this time I went a step further, I used it as collateral for a loan.
Thanks to a proptech company called Fabrica, the owner of a plot of undeveloped land in rural Sun Valley, AZ transferred the rights to a trust for which control is governed by whomever owns the corresponding NFT. Long story short I bought that NFT. The difference between this NFT and say some digital collectible flavor of the month is that the land has some actual value in the real world. It’s not dependent on the blockchain for its worth and I can go to Sun Valley and build something there if I wanted. But with ownership governed by the NFT, I can also do something that might be a little bit more difficult otherwise for this remote and somewhat illiquid property, and that’s access liquidity in a highly efficient marketplace.
Specifically, I offered this property up as collateral for a loan on NFTfi, a peer-to-peer NFT loan marketplace at a very modest LTV of 32%. My offer was filled and I was able to access the funds with a single click of a button. If I default on the loan, the NFTfi smart contract will transfer the NFT to the lender and with that the lender would become the legitimate owner of the property in Sun Valley. The stakes in this case are real.
If you’re thinking about what kind of person would ever want to make this kind of loan, consider that more than $400 million worth of NFT loans have already been conducted on NFTfi since inception. The most commonly used collateral is digital artwork like cryptopunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club, which collectively represent $164 million of that total volume alone. When borrowers use this digital artwork as collateral the lender may end up stuck with an NFT with no physical connection to the real world. For an entire niche audience of lenders, this doesn’t bother them. However, as someone with a more apprehensive view toward risk in lending, the introduction of real physical collateral, actual property in the United States no less, is a game changer.
I am not the first person to ever engage in this type of transaction. According to Fabrica, the first property-backed NFT loan was transacted in 2021. However, if I might be afforded any claim to fame it is for conducting the first ever domain name loan over Ethereum.
Small Business Lending on Blockchain to be Discussed at NFT NYC
June 23, 2022Sean Murray is scheduled to speak at the NFT NYC Conference this afternoon about the use of NFTs in the small business lending market. NFT NYC is a 4-day event dedicated to the subject of non-fungible tokens. Blockchains present a possible solution to some inefficiencies that exist in the small business finance industry. Some or all of Murray’s presentation will be shared on deBanked.
Here’s a short preview of what’s going at NFT NYC:
NFT Owner’s Typo Costs $297K
December 13, 2021It seems the only thing blockchain technology can’t promise is a solution to human error.
The owner of an NFT Bored Ape Yacht Club #3547 got their decimals mixed up on Saturday when they sold the token for 0.75 eth, or 1% of its market value, by mistake. In an attempt to sell the token for 75 eth, or $300,000, the NFT was sold in error to an automated buyer in a call option-like purchase for $3,066, according to CNET.
After the purchase, the buyer dumped ten times the amount paid for the NFT into gas fees to process the transaction instantaneously, a move that prevented any chance of the error being remedied.
“How’d it happen? A lapse of concentration I guess,” the seller of Bored Ape #3547 told CNET. “I list a lot of items every day and just wasn’t paying attention properly. I instantly saw the error as my finger clicked the mouse but a bot sent a transaction with over 8 eth [$34,000] of gas fees so it was instantly sniped before I could click cancel, and just like that, $250k was gone.”
Members of the NFT legal community spoke to deBanked about how this type of stuff is all too common and unfortunate, but just comes with the territory of an unregulated financial space.
“It’s a pretty typical problem here in the Wild West,” said Jacob Martin, an attorney specializing in NFTs and author of the NFT Tax Guide. “It’s user error, not platform error. It sucks, but it is what it is.”
The Bored Ape NFT collection is one of the most sought after collections on the blockchain, with entry level tokens being worth about $200,000. While this error may have been able to be fixed in the world of traditional finance, the unforgiving nature of the blockchain world allows errors like this to be cashed in on by opportunistic purchasers.
Back in August, another Bored Ape was accidentally sold for $26,000. When the seller offered the purchaser almost double that to return the NFT, the new purchaser flipped the token to another user for $150,000.
In November, Cryptopunk #7557 which at the time was worth $19 million, was accidentally listed for $19,000. It immediately sold without remedy for the error.
When asked if regulation would help remedy errors like this in the future, some NFT legal gurus were weary about turning to government for solutions to user-committed blockchain errors.
“I don’t think it’s about regulation, it’s about education,” Shekinah Apedo, an attorney who serves as a Compliance SARs Analyst for Bittrex and NFT legal consultant to numerous companies, told deBanked. “The point of decentralization is that there’s no middleman or institution to run to when an error occurs, like one may do with a typo during a bank transaction. Education is necessary and warnings involving risk should be made known.”
“Cigarettes are legal but they are required to have warning labels,” Apedo continued. “Perhaps, regulation involving warning labels or advertising the risks of being your own bank as an NFT and crypto trader or investor would be good for the mainstream public.”
Five ‘NFT Like’ Things You May Already Own
December 9, 2021
Do you own an NFT? Believe it or not, you probably already own something very similar. Value being predicated on tangibility is a thing of the past. Below are five things you probably own or want to own that are similar to NFTs.
1. Followers on Social Media
Are you tracking the number of people looking at your Instagram stories? Trying to either get more followers or expand your online presence? These things are online assets that are intangible, only have value in the eyes of the beholder, and cannot be exchanged for an equal asset.
2. Twitter Verification
Do you have or desire to have a blue checkmark on Twitter? This is one of the most valuable assets of the internet, and can validate your online presence. With value only given and backed by those in the community, the blue check mark is the NFT of Twitter.
3. Video Game Products
Games like Call of Duty, Fortnite, and the 2K series offer all types of digital purchases that can enhance the game experience, so much so that those that spend real money on virtual items can have a competitive advantage. These can be bought with real cash, earned through gameplay, or traded for other in-game assets. If you have the best cards or coolest clothing on your virtual character, that earns players big time legitimacy in the gaming world.
4. Area Codes
In major cities like New York, area codes have a prestigious nature about them. Don’t be caught with a 845 or 201 area code if you’re trying to look like a legitimate New Yorker.
5. iMessages
Much like digital art, some pieces are much more prestigious than others. Just like if I ask you if you’re iPhone or Android, I could ask you if you’re a Bored Ape or Cryptopunk. The blue messages that come with iMessaging are a big builder of iPhone’s value, and perception of its users, just like the value of the brands certain types of NFTs stem from. If your texts are green on IOS, many iPhone users will think differently of you. This same concept applies to the NFT sects.
Tech Creators, Artists, and Tomorrow’s Entrepreneurs Flock to Miami for NFT BZL
December 1, 2021
An attendee poses outside of NFT BZL in MiamiWhether they’re the future billionaires building the new digital world, or young people with big ideas and crypto-induced riches, money-hungry twenty-somethings showed up in droves to the FTX Arena on Tuesday for what some called the biggest NFT event to ever take place in Miami.
“NFT’s are almost like a hyper version of insurance for authenticity,” said Casey Craig, Global Head of Communications at CoinDesk and speaker during the ‘Culture Converges with Blockchain and Fashion’ panel. Craig spoke about her personal thoughts on the value NFTs provide to everyone involved in NFT buying and selling processes.
“When you think of NFTs and how you authenticate something, and how they’re preserving that rarity, it’s such a game changer,” Craig said. “I think it’s super practical. I think we need this authentication and creativity. I think it will enable not only the creators, but the people that are purchasing these NFTs.”
Other attendees were focused on using the flamboyant nature of the NFT space to sell their projects to those attendees whose goal was to find their next big tokenized investment. An artist who goes by Oona was at the event to promote her NFT project, strutting around in an outfit that covered her in real cash from head to toe.
“I make video art, and for a long time galleries didn’t quite know how to add value to
or create a unified system of value,” said Oona. “I think a lot of artists like myself are coming to the NFT space because it’s finding a way [for artists] to not give up on their dreams yet, you can actually survive and make a living from art, and connect with others through it.”
Oona spoke on the art community’s history of attaching themselves to great innovations, and how blockchain technology is just another example of creators utilizing new ways to showcase their work. “NFTs are going to become a normal part of our lives and as per usual, artists have found it first.”
Other individuals in attendance were critical of the media’s take on NFTs, and how the press has built an outside perception of NFTs being of over-the-top art that has little tangible value. Raymond Chen, Community Manager of Nansen, a blockchain data management software tool, spoke on the media’s apparent naive perception of blockchain tech and how real world usage of the technology is more relatable to everyday people than most would think.
“The media’s perception of NFTs is some [nonsense] art that is worth like a hundred thousand dollars, it’s so insane. It’s not just some JPEG on the internet, there is real utility value behind it.”
Chen spoke extensively about the value blockchain tech has for everyday consumers. “If you NFT your house, you can bypass a selling agent, buyer agent, and just cut out the middleman for these things,” Chen said.
“If you NFT your car, you can cut out the middle men when you want to sell your car when it’s used. You’re going to get low balled at a dealership, they’re going to up-charge it, and sell it to someone else for more. If you sell peer-to-peer, you cut out all the middle men, and all this slippage and transaction fees in the middle.”
Those in the fintech-esque field are also taking an interest in the NFT space, like Adam Hanna of Circle Internet Financial; who was there representing a software that allows instant payouts of crypto to dollars, or vice versa, for businesses who wish to accept crypto style payments. Hanna spoke about the next great innovation in crypto, and how whoever can figure that out is in store to cash in at an astronomical level.
“I wish I knew,” said Hanna, when asked what that next big idea is. “The NFT space as a whole is something that is still so young, really, like it’s in the past couple of months that it really took off, it hasn’t even been a full year at this point. So it’s just seeing how it’s constantly evolving, what those next projects are, and how different companies are using their own platform, or other platforms, to really promote NFTs in a different way, that’s where it’s at.”
Notable attendees that deBanked bumped into included Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, child actor turned crypto-tycoon Brock Pierce, rapper Kosha Dillz, and UFC fighter Ali AlQaisi. Members of the Miami Dolphins and Los Angeles Sparks were also in attendance, signing NFT-inspired autographs.
Whether you buy into the hype or think it’s equally as ridiculous, the NFT community will continue to be the loudest, most animated, and exuberant group in the world of modern finance.
ConstitutionDAO NFTs
November 20, 2021If NFTs can be used to capture a moment or experience, then there should be some already available to showcase the current state of the movement. Here are some that we have found:
NYC Rapper’s Experience With Fat Joe is Becoming an NFT
November 5, 2021
Rami Even-Esh, better known by his rap name Kosha Dillz, went viral last week after hip-hop artist Fat Joe joined him in his ritual of rapping for Knicks fans outside of Madison Square Garden before and after home games. When Fat Joe approached him while he was rapping, Even-Esh’s life changing moment spiraled into a world of opportunities. Now, he’s trying to turn a once in a lifetime experience, along with other highlights from his life, into NFTs.
Even-Esh spoke with deBanked at NFT.NYC on Wednesday about his performance at the event, after he just showed up and was given a stage—subsequently stealing the crowd away from the speaker’s showcase in the next room, and towards his crypto-inspired rhymes.
“Fat Joe heard me rapping on the beat, got on the mic, and tipped me twenty bucks,” said Even-Esh, when describing the incident he wishes to mint. “He got on the mic and spit a verse that I knew word for word, from Big L’s ‘Enemy’, it’s a very classic song. That went to one page, then it went to another page, and then that was it. Game over. You know, we probably hit about nine million views and now more people are posting it.”
After the iconic moment outside of Madison Square Garden, Even-Esh immediately hopped on a flight to Colorado to try and make another connection with Fat Joe during one of his shows there.
“I showed up on my own flight, and went there unannounced. Then he saw me, embraced me, there were bunch of cameras around us. Fat Joe sent his people to bring me backstage, they interviewed me, and then they said man, we’re going to put you on stage.”
“That’s when I told Fat Joe, I said, my whole life is changing man, we should make this into an NFT.”
Even-Esh has had impressive bouts in the music industry prior to this event, which are what he hopes to build upon when he mints NFTs out of his experiences. His website mentions collaborations with rappers like Matisyahu and Rza, and even a tour with Wu Tang Clan. According to Spotify, Kosha Dillz has almost 16,000 monthly listeners on their platform.
Even-Esh has long taken interest in the crypto space, and talked extensively about what NFTs and blockchain technology mean to communities like his who are trying to make a name for themselves while also trying to pay their bills.
“With NFTs, you can mint a moment. There’s so much stuff that happens. That could be a whole series of NFTs, moments that weren’t documented that offend people, or moments of people [that are] in trouble, that could be a thing,” said Even-Esh.
“Moments where great rap music happened but no one ever saw— these could be NFTs.”
Even-Esh appears to be hoping to turn these his minted life experiences into a revenue stream. He claims that all of the places he has been to along with the people he has met create value for potential buyers. “I’m looking to mint more of my experiences because I think my experiences are gold. I have golden life experience.”
Whether it is the NFTs or his music that takes off, the exposure that the moment with Fat Joe gave Even-Esh has set his life on a new path.
He shared his advice to others after appearing to be inspired by the publicity he has received. “Someone told me there’s a million dollars out there for everybody. You have to seek it, go out, and find it.”
The timetable on the minting of his experiences is still undetermined, but that is only because of the amount of attention he has gotten, and the more opportunities that have come his way.
“I’ve been approached by a lot of record deals. Lawyers, agents, major companies, you know that’s what I’m trying to do, investors to take my thing to the next level and sell my story. My job is to tell my story.”
Winner of Broker NFT Made Unusual Request
November 4, 2021One winner of The Broker NFT Giveaway Raffle made an unusual request shortly after we aired his name.
The prize was supposed to be one of the ten Broker NFTs, but Josh Feinberg, who is the CEO of Everlasting Capital, inquired about the private mints, which were not up for grabs, but had been displayed in some of our NFT livestreams.
He asked about token #3, which was, ironically, the NFT of myself that I had hand-autographed in photoshop and hand-minted via our own ethereum smart contract.
Upon discovering that his selection had not been made in jest, the decision was made to authorize the transfer of it to his ethereum wallet. Unusual (and flattering) as it was, I am honored that he wanted it.
Kosha Dillz NFTs... if you're into nfts, we minted a few of kosha dillz's short performance at broker fair 2021. you can view them on opensea. https://opensea.io/assets?s... |
Nft... current nft project. https://opensea.io/assets/0x495f947276749ce646f68ac8c248420045cb7b5e/72930811097532136429221531639238713268184691046177442250937... |
See Post... nft4pk.jpg... |
