Twelve million dollars. In thirty minutes. Just like Snoop Dogg, the Doggfather himself, who reportedly just made a FORTUNE selling jpegs on Telegram. With that money, he could purchase his own small island nation or at least a super, super, deluxe achievement unlocked yacht! Move over Fed – Snoop just single-handedly saved NFTs! Or did he?
Let's be real. $12M is eye-watering. But before we hail NFTs as the obvious return of the Age of Aquarius, let’s tap the brakes and pose some very awkward questions. Is this a real resurgence, or another celebrity-driven bubble sure to burst? Are we finally seeing the democratization of art, or just the Kardashianization of crypto.
Is It Real Adoption Or Hype?
As an accomplishment — requiring speed, coordination and determination — the sale is impressive indeed. A million NFTs disappeared in thirty minutes flat. That’s faster than you can say “Fo shizzle, my nizzle.” Telegram’s newfangled TON blockchain, apparently powered by ‘shard technology,’ didn’t fail the transaction. Here's the thing: how many of those buyers are actual art enthusiasts, and how many are just hoping to flip these things for a quick buck?
This makes it seem much more like a digital Beanie Baby craze than a renaissance. Remember those? Everyone needed to have one…until they didn’t, all of a sudden and without warning. The same anxiety is here. You purchase because you have this fear of missing out. You buy to look cool. You purchase because Snoop Dogg said so.
This whole scenario reminds me of the tulip mania in 17th century Holland. People remortgaged their homes for one tulip bulb, sure they were all about to become billionaires. We all know how that ended. Are we doomed to relive history, with PNG images of Snoop’s face replacing daisies this time?
Artistic Expression Or Celebrity Endorsement?
There’s no denying that Snoop Dogg has a unique approach to his craft. Taking a closer look, are these NFTs on the cutting edge of artistry, or simply cashing in on his celebrity status? To give credit where credit is due, would it have made even a small percentage of that $12 million if some art world newcomer had put out the same show? Probably not.
This highlights a bigger problem with the NFT space: the overwhelming focus on celebrity endorsements rather than genuine artistic merit. I mean it’s the art world’s equivalent of a Hollywood blockbuster – all flash and no content. We're rewarding marketing prowess over actual creativity.
Are we building a future where art is judged solely on the celebrity attached to it, rather than its inherent value? Is this really about art, or access to the perceived awesomeness of someone famous?
Where's The Real Community Building?
Telegram’s goal is to hit 500 million users in 2028. Great. More users, more NFT buyers, more dollars moving into the NFT ecosystem. What about the actual community? Are we encouraging real relationships between artists and their collectors, or merely building a speculative, secondary-market economy based on passive FOMO?
The promise of NFTs was always about empowering artists, giving them direct access to their fans, and building vibrant online communities. At this point, it seems like we are just repeating the mistakes of the traditional art world’s broken system. A select cadre of gatekeepers continues to dominate the narrative and make towering profits off that narrative.
It’s time for us to stop fetishizing the speculative high-frequency collectible sales and instead work towards creating authentic community engagement built around art. We have to model the value of the artistic expression that transcends the celebrity endorsement. We need to make sure that we’re establishing an environment where artists can be successful based on their talent alone and not their ability to market themselves.
Let's demand more from the NFT space. Let’s get behind the artists who dare, disrupt and create with intention and purpose. It’s time we recreate ecosystems and communities that value real connection and creative passion over the almighty dollar.
Snoop’s $12 million Telegram drop may have just been the apex of NFT hype. It has the potential to set off something much more profound in the industry. Or perhaps I’m simply being a holdout curmudgeon doge. What do you think?
