My NFT Recommendations
Hey, fren! Welcome back to A-Merk’s Crypto Class where we discuss all things crypto-related. The markets may be down, but NFTs are up!
Last time, I made the case for why NFTs aren’t as bad as some think they are in the hopes of bringing some more people into Web3.0 before they get left behind. If you hate NFTs, if you think they’re just a bunch of stupid pictures retailing for ludicrous prices or simply a waste of energy that’s destroying the planet, please, give my last article a read. I promise that there’s a whole lot of falsehoods floating around right now regarding NFTs. As I’m about to show, there’s so much more going on here than simple profile pictures being sold, and as for the environment, it’s really not that bad. In fact, the last recommendation on this list is not only carbon-neutral, it’s actually making a positive impact on the environment! So please, think twice before attacking something you don’t understand. For those who don’t hate NFTs but aren’t really sure which ones to look into, read on…
Briefly, let me give you the pitch for NFTs. On the most simple level, NFTs solve the school-yard issue of lying about owning cool stuff. I’m sure we all knew that kid that claimed to have a holographic Charizard or a rare Beyblade or a [insert zoomer collectible example here], but, the other kids didn’t believe them. I remember at my middle school someone was trying to claim they had some super rare Pokemon card but it was literally falling apart, peeling from the edges due to shoddy workmanship. This, of course, was a clear indicator of a fake card from a fake pack. Yet, they wouldn’t listen. NFTs solve this problem through digital ownership, that is, they write an immutable, impossible to edit or fake transaction into a book of transactions that is free and open for anyone to see that says “yes, this item is owned by this wallet”. Therefore, if you want to show off some rare or cool digital item that you own, no longer can anyone claim that what you own is a fake, nor can anyone pretend to own your item or a fake item that they claim is better. All of this fakery vanishes once someone goes on-chain to check.
Of course, you might be thinking, “I’m an adult. I don’t care who owns the most rare children’s game card”. Fair enough, but, I’m sure if you thought about it a little more you could start to see all kinds of other uses for this technology. For anyone who hasn’t heard of an NFT project that they thought was dope yet, or for anyone who simply doesn’t care about owning a cool picture and calling it a day, let me provide some examples of NFT projects that I’m excited about that are doing much more for their owners(full disclosure, I’m invested in these projects but I promise I’m not just pumping my bags. I’m genuinely bullish on these projects, what can I say?)…
1) The Wanderers
If you’re tired of the basic PFP project that creates a base layer, like an ape or lion, then simply randomizes different hats and shirts or whatever, fear not: not all NFT projects are so simple. You can take that idea of randomization and iteration and do so, so much more with it. Not only are these NFTs fully looping videos with awesome audio tracks, they’re also your ticket to a game/potentially profitable community experience called Planet Pass. By the time this article comes out, it will be too late to buy in before the planets drop (see? I’m not just pumping my bags), however, those of us who owned any Wanderers before December 20th now have the right to get one free Planet NFT per Wanderer NFT we owned at that time. These planets will be locations in a browser-based game called Planet Pass where people will be able to visit planets to receive unique notes from the owners and more importantly, participate in various galactic events as the creators of this series tell the story and lore of their project in real time. It’s like owning a piece of an amazing sci-fi series before the full book and/or movie series is released, then watching your pieces play their roles in these upcoming adventures. Plus (ok here’s the pumping), even if you missed Planet Pass, everyone who holds a Wanderer will still have access to the upcoming 3D, video game engine ready Spaceship drop as well as the obligatory PFP drop coming soon. They also happen to be the most affordable project on this list… check them out!
2) SuperTrip64 Trippies
If you haven’t heard of SuperTrip64, you will soon. He’s an up-and-coming digital artist who has almost finished the rise to stardom phase. For many, he’s already quite famous and well-respected, so now’s your chance to join his fan-club. His works are unique, dream-like mixtures of modern culture and N64 nostalgia rendered in 3D, and soon, VR. He recently started creating little characters in his style and releasing them as NFTs. But again, you say, “who wants to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for a picture?”. First of all, these are looping videos, but more importantly, they’re going to be in-game assets for an upcoming VR experience SuperTrip64 is making! As an owner of a Trippie (the one shown above), I’ve already gotten some value back for my purchase. In fact, since I won an Oculus VR in a discord giveaway, I’m already up financially on my investment without selling my NFT. Plus, I’ll be getting a physical gameboy advance cartridge as a late holiday gift where the game file has been replaced with my NFT loop, meaning that I’ll have both a physical and a digital collectible from one purchase. It goes even further: SuperTrip64 has said in the discord that all holders of Super Trippies will not only be able to play his game as those characters, we’ll also be “land owners and full citizens” in the VR experience. Now I’ll admit, I don’t know exactly what that means, but what I do know is that SuperTrip64 is working extremely hard to provide value to his collectors, and that digital land is popping off in many different virtual worlds. This is the true value of an NFT: you get to support the artist directly while they directly provide value to you. If you pick the right creator, you’ll never regret your purchase, and I’m entirely sure that he was a great choice.
3) Altered State Machine
If neither of the above two examples have wowed you, trust me, I got you. I saved the most innovative for last. Unfortunately for anyone hearing about this for the first time, the floor price of the brains has rocketed up to around $16k CAD or so at the time of this article, so for the less wealthy among my readership, the time to invest has passed. Like many of you, I can’t afford to invest at these prices, so I’m glad I was a very in-depth participant in the Web3.0 space before they launched and was therefore able to hear of them, comprehend their future value, and participate in the initial sale before any of this price action occurred. Still, this project deserves an entire article on its own. So, if you’re really curious let me link you to this tweet thread outlining the very likely bull case for this NFT project, some of which has clearly already come to pass. In short, for the first time ever, an AI algorithm is being sold as an NFT. Everyone who bought an ASM box has the right to open it and receive four agents and one brain. The four agents will first be used for a simple soccer game, and then potentially for more, but what I’m interested in is the brain. Each brain is a unique AI algorithm with different qualities and statistics, like DNA, that can be trained to complete any number of tasks. Various companies and community members will design “gyms” where we can train our brains to accomplish certain tasks, and then we’ll be able to clone and sell those brains with every function the original brain has except the ability for the clone to clone itself. This makes these genesis brains very valuable as they’ll be the only ones able to both learn new things and clone that knowledge and functionality for sale. Like I said, I can’t really get into all the extremely complex details right now, so check out content like this that they’ve created to explain the project… but just think: imagine owning your own AI! I can’t wait to teach mine to do various art and/or gaming related tasks and have a little AI buddy to help me out as I proceed further into this digital world. Plus, for those who couldn’t care less about anything other than monetary gains, trust me when I say that I wish I had bought more than one. I could currently sell just one of my four agents and I would basically pay off my investment while still having three agents and a brain!
So there you have it, folks! Hopefully it’s clear to you that NFTs can be more than goofy pictures of animals with specific randomized portions of the drawing that succeed or fail based solely on the amount of clout they can collect from the community during the initial weeks of release. There are more than enough people out there who are working really hard to bring value and innovation to the NFT space and I think that no matter what the rest of the market is doing, those projects should get the love and respect that they deserve. Hopefully you can find a project that feels this way to you, invest, and watch the value being added to your life like I have with these three.
