The Case Against Crypto

Thu, 17 Mar 2022 14:11:23 -0700

It may help to watch this video, for an even more thorough explanation of the problems inherent in this technology:

Line Goes Up – The Problem With NFTs - YouTube

Understanding my grudge

Sometime last year, I had only just heard of NFTs and didn’t even know what it meant. Even now, my understanding is not completely concrete, but not for lack of trying. It’s hard to focus on the actual detail of the technology when much of it is muddled in the speculation and rabid fanboyism of the community that surrounds it. Much like Star Citizen, there are those who are thoroughly invested–both economically and socially–in the thing, and there are those who have already recognized the grift or will eventually. I shouldn’t blame them; I was in that mindset, too, once.

The issue I take is rooted in a hobby of mine, in the general diaspora of the part of the world and the internet that this technolgy inhabits, and in its impact on our environment. Were it not for these aspects, I would consider NFTs and crypto in general as “just another fad” I could ignore.

The GPU Market

PC building and especially PC gaming is a huge hobby of mine, stemming all the way back to 2009 when Cartoon Network’s FusionFall was released, and earlier than that, when ToonTown Online was popular. Since then, I have played and enjoyed so many games, and the new releases that come out push the boundaries of what is possible visually in the medium. Fantastic worlds realized by equally fantastic GPU technology.

There’s just one issue–crypto miners want those GPUs just as badly.

I really shouldn’t blame them. I should blame the manufacturers, but even they aren’t at fault because they need silicon to produce GPUs. COVID-19 hit everything, including all the necessary supply chains to ensure continual market availability. That in itself created a huge drop in stock, but that in itself shouldn’t have been such a huge issue. There were likely more than enough cards out there for every major hobbyist who wanted to upgrade their PC. But we weren’t the only ones who were in demand of what was available. In addition to crypto miners, scalpers and bots plagued our retail space. The former wanted to earn a quick profit hoping to sell to whatever sucker would take their shitty deal. The bots may have originated from the scalpers or the crypto enthusiasts, but whoever was operating them, they managed to snatch up any cards that remained in-stock.

Still, we’re in a GPU rut, and with most of the popular cryptocurrencies relying on proof of work we’re seeing a continual shortage of GPUs. Therefore, I feel I have to point my finger at the rise of crypto for the reason the majority of consumers are GPU-poor.

NFTs and “cryptoart”

Cryptocurrency can be used to buy a great multitude of things online, but the latest trend is buying cryptoart, in the form of NFTs. Non-Fungible Tokens, or NFTs, are a technology essentially used as a kind of verifier that something is unique. The term ‘fungible’ refers to a thing’s replaceability; non-fungible things, therefore, cannot be replaced or substituted. The ‘token’ part is a cryptographic hash, a component of what is referred to as a ‘smart contract’ which verifies the legitimacy and ownership of whatever it is attached to. In short, as someone once explained it to me:

You don't own the image. You don't own copyright of the image.
You don't even own a receipt for the image. You own a link to a receipt
for the transaction, which might point to a copy of the image on a
server somewhere, with no guarantee that it will continue to be hosted.

NFTs, then, are not the image itself nor the rights to the image, simply a link to the proof of payment. Silly, but let’s continue.

Cryptoart is…shall we say…odd and nonsensical at best, and perhaps ugly and incredibly unappealing at worst. That’s just my opinion, though. Many dozens more buy them en masse with the idea that they will be worth a fortune later, so the art has some appeal to some people. I won’t be posting any examples of cryptoart itself, but if you search for any of the following:

Bored Ape Yacht Club
Mutant Ape
Lazy Lions
Cryptopunks

You will find many examples of some of the most popular collections available. Most of the issue I have in these collections of “art” stems from the endless replicability of their base form. Among the several thousand items, not one is so completely unique from the rest to make it truly ‘unique.’ Yes, every item may have a unique quality to it, but not so much that overlaying two items from the same collection wouldn’t reveal a clear base template. In that regard, I would give Beeple’s art¹ more value as a collection of NFTs since each piece actually ends up being very unique.

The Environment

Internet

The communities formed around this trend could be considered today’s stock market gamblers, hoping to strike ‘crypto gold’ when they buy an NFT. Equally so is the crowd I chose, who are varying ranges of hell-bent on espousing the scam of crypto or merely peeved at its popularity. I was introduced to the latter crowd first, but it was my own research and judgement of the thing that brought me to the overall conclusion that I have seen this sort of thing before (in Star Citizen), and I wanted no part of it. Continual promises of something great, but no payoff emotionally or financially.

Earth

The planet’s pretty clearly giving us a message that we’ve spewed out too much carbon. Increasingly hostile temperature fluctuations and weather patterns are evidence that we’re doing too much to our environment. The power consumption of several hundred thousand GPUs chugging away for the sole purpose of furthering the crypto market is, in my opinion, a wasted effort. I seriously doubt that this fad will be anything more than such. I will be happy to be proven wrong, because that would mean that people did not waste their money on what currently seems a silly and environmentally disgusting investment. Ultimately, if this trend is to continue, I would very much like to see a shift towards a proof of stake system–not only because it would mean GPUs are less likely to go towards such a huge scam, but also because it might mean less overall power consumption. More efficiency, less energy, (marginally) happier planet.

The Future

Though my general disposition of the technology is negative, I will admit that if a time comes when crypto is spread throughout and proves itself to be of some use beyond schemes and grifts, there will be little else to do but embrace it. I doubt anyone could have predicted bitcoin’s astronomical rise in value; but so many seem assured that the same will happen to their investment, that they don’t consider the alternative: terrible disappointment, or perhaps even debt.

https://www.instagram.com/beeple_crap/ ↩︎

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