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A disparate band of NFT art collectors are harnessing the power of smart contracts to create a decentralized digital art investment empire. Their latest purchase: $5.4 million on an NFT minted by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
“If people haven’t started paying attention, they should,” digital artist pplpleaser told Decrypt from her home in Taiwan. pplpleasr joined the DAO two weeks ago as an "honorary" member .The DAO has expanded it's mission beyond just art collecting. It’s called PleasrDAO, and formed last month when a group of anonymous buyers used smart contracts to pool money to buy her NFT for $525,000.
Since then, the DAO has ventured beyond her artwork and is an experiment in decentralized art collecting.
Despite the NFT craze, there are a lot of sellers who just want to cash in on the capital; they can’t wait to sell back into fiat,” she added. For the Snowden auction, she stayed up all night and tapped a DeFi contact to help the DAO reach the $5.4 million figure they needed to secure the exclusive NFT.
According to the DAO, Snowden changed the rules of the transparency game for transparency back in 2013, which is an ideal it members passionately support.
I’ll always treasure this sweet memory and this moment. The DAO’s passionate about decentralization and using the DAO to benefit society—not just profit, pplpleasr said.
“@xaix2k— April 18, 2021“Snowden represents the ethos that echoes my own—transparency for all,” said Mario Conti, a member of PleasrDAO. “That's not constructive for cryptocurrency as a whole.”
Proceeds of the Snowden NFT sale will go to the Freedom of the Press Foundation, a non-profit organization.
Didn’t get the NFT, but i’m happy to be apart of a historical bidding war with @pleasrdao for @Snowden ’s 1st NFT. It’s a bittersweet memory and moment i will cherish forever! This print will be framed and goes on my wall in my room. pic.twitter.com/XOUFSKI4nY
— xaix2k (@xaix2k) April 18, 2021
“Snowden represents the cypherpunk ethos that I identify with—transparency for all,” Mario Conti, a member of PleasrDAO, told Decrypt. Instead of bidding individually, you will buy shares in an ethos.
the art DAO is unbeatable. “And it makes sense: Ethereum is also all about freedom—it’s freedom from banks,” Conti told Decrypt.
Several members of PleasrDAO would purchase it,” Jamis Johnson, the chief pleasing officer, told Decrypt.
His title is more fun than the CEO role; he coordinates and manages the strategy at PleasrDAO. ”“All of these super successful people, the superheroes of DeFi are particularly difficult to herd.” Johnson said PleasrDAO’s future direction remains unclear after purchasing the Snowden NFT.
the future of art collectives is DAO’s. guppies will be outbid by orgs. you will buy “shares” of an ethos instead of individually bidding. no one will be able to beat art DAO’s. this is just the beginning
— jamis.eth (@_jamiis) March 27, 2021
The NFT art market is being reshaped by a disparate band of "smart contract" art investors to achieve a decentralized digital art empire. “A lot of members would be thrilled to buy it,” Jamis Johnson, the chief pleasing officer of PleasrDAO told Decrypt. He coordinates and manages the strategy of PleasrDAO; his tongue-in-cheek title is “pretty much the CEO role, but more fun.”
“I'm kind of herding cats—all of these extremely successful people, the superheroes of DeFi, are particularly difficult to wrangle.”
In the years since then, the DAO has gone beyond her artworks and is now an experiment in decentralized art collecting. A few weeks ago, Pplpleasr joined the DAO as an honorary member.
Coordinated ActionJamis.eth (@_jamiis) March 27, 2021This is just the beginning. According to pplpleasr, the DAO cares deeply about empowering decentralization and using the DAO for a better society as opposed to just being profit-driven.
The expert says that most of the NFT sellers just want the capital; they want to cash in on the craze of NFTs and cash in into fiat. It could be a one-off project like Mad Dog Jones's NFT replicator, he explained, referring to NFT artwork of machine that produces copies of NFTs "prints."
The PleasrDAO took part in the Snowden auction because Snowden blew the whistle on the NSA's surveillance program back in 2013 and changed the rules of the game for transparency—an ideal its members strongly support.
That's a memory I'll treasure forever, and I won't forget it. But it’s the relentless passion that drives it, and any future monetary returns would be a sweet side-effect.
