I wrote this note to the membership of the Vagobond Magazine discord server (https://discord.gg/cSpUEzcmM4) this morning. I think it’s worth sharing with the wider world.
GM and Aloha Everyone,
I'm heading out to NFTNYC today and I couldn't be more excited. The opportunity to meet some of the frens I've made in Web3 IRL and to see a few of those I already know is absolutely astounding and exciting. I'm also pretty excited to interact with some of the amazing communities it has been my privelge to become a part of over the past few years. In particular, I'm excited to take part in the On Chain Monkey, NFT-Now (Now Pass), Adidas, and Pixel Vault meet ups and events. These are all projects that I expect will survive for the long term and be very influential in whatever this space may become moving forward.
I'm honored to participate in the NFTNYC conference as a speaker and to attend as many high level sessions as I am able. I'm going to be honest here, I don't think the NFT space as it exists right now is sustainable or since I'm being honest, even very interesting or worth saving. The majority of what is left of the NFT space seems to be made up of people who have one thing in common, a lack of vision. This visionless majority sees one thing - money. As long as they can see $$$ they don't mind dealing with shitty people, questionable art, projects that aren't really doing anything that requires a Web3 or blockchain integration, and a lack of integrity in terms of accountability, roadmaps, or personnel. In short, the majority of the visible NFT space is ugly and boring.
That's why I'm excited to be diving into the deep end of NFTNYC. I'm hoping to rekindle the passion I once had for this space by seeing what is beneath the surface. There are interesting people, great art, fascinating and useful projects, and important innovations happening - but they are eclipsed by the blur farming, the endless pump and dumps, the non-stop derivitive launches, and the outright rugs that happen almost hourly.
All of this might sound surprising coming from me, but I want to emphasize that what we have done together at Vagobond Magazine and in counterstep with our partners at PageDao, Readl, Creatokia, Cryptoversal Books, Cent, and elsewhere has been at the forefront of innovation. We are constantly busting our collective asses to break new ground. Our focus has always been on community and on creating value for both creators and those who enjoy their creations.
The Vagobond Magazine discord and Vagobond Magazine itself are both great examples of that. We've collectively created the next great religion, the first to be born and to effectively utilize blockchain. Baldism is a very serious thing presented in a very un-serious way. We've built our own meme-coin ($BALDS) and experimented with ways to use it that range from governance to collecting art to giving access to degen-alpha information. The LITSPACE section in VM is one of the most comprehensive hubs of web3/blockchain publishing and literarture in the world. The RE+FASHION section of VM is quite possibly the most important media outlet covering digital fashion in the world. The project that a dozen of us have been secretly working on FUTURE WORLD is one of the most innovative collaborations between writers, web3, and futurism to emerge from this space. And there is so much more going on here....
The membership of this server, the VM fam is one of the most humble and lowkey groups in all of Web3. I'll sing your praises. We have artists and writers who are among the first to explore what it means to use different blockchains from Cardano to Solona to Bitcoin to Ravencoin to Digibyte and the list goes on. We have the founders of some very big and very well known projects in here who generally lurk and DM with me or are here anon without making a fuss. We have membership on every continent (including at least one Antarctica researcher) in dozens of different countries. We aren't huge hype machine. In a way, that would ruin it - though I must admit there are times I wish we were better with the hype.
To sum up - I think the NFT world that the majority of people see is dying before our eyes. I admit that I hope that is the case. I'm not a fan of the walled gardens, the influencer culture, or the scammers and I hope they dry up and disappear. We've reached the point where even the term NFT is probably too toxic to keep using - we will have to evolve. Personally, I've been using blockchain publishing a lot more to describe VM and blockchain books in general. Web3 may also have to be rethought but there isn't really a good substitute for it yet.
The good news is that there are things emerging from this mess that will survive and thrive. Blockchain publishing, blockchain gaming, decentralized social media, and token enabled communities. That last one is the key. I think that may be the best and greatest thing to come out of all of this. The ability for creatives and their communities to collectivize, engage, and grow together. That's what we have done here. That's what we will continue to do here. Whether it is through Bald Jesus, Vagobond Magazine, Blockchain in Paradise, our books, or something else - we will keep growing together.
I know that I don't know each of you personally, but those of you I've come to know, I truly love you, appreciate you, and am honored to be your friend in this collaborative space we are creating. I hope to meet you all one day! The world and the entire future are laid out before us. LFG!
~CD
VM 🚀 I agree with pretty much everything and of all of the Web3 projects that I've perused Vagobond Magazine is one of very few that really capture my attention.
I appreciate the genuine effort, lack of pretention, humor, and gonzo flavor 😉
Keep being awesome 🤘😎