Twitter user Lauren Walker tweeted a message claiming she was “stealing” the non-fungible tokens, only to get crypto-Twitter to turn around and put her words into a token list for thousands of dollars.
On October 2 on Twitter, Walker is sarcastic She said Its current collection of non-perishable tokens, or NFTs, has been valued at more than $8 trillion because it claimed to have right-clicked images and saved them to its drive. The letter ignores the verifiable scarcity of avatars and artwork, but Walker said it had a “real job” and dismissed criticism from the community.
I have stolen more than 4TB of NFTs via hacking technique known as “right click -> save as”. My group has a net worth of over $8 trillion
– Lauren (enhanced bow) (ActNormalOrElse) October 2, 2021
In response, at least two cryptocurrency users have taken screenshots of Walker’s message and his replies, minted them as NFTs, and auctioned them off on the OpenSea Marketplace. Bidding on one user CaptainFantastic under the name “Enjoy Staying Poor” is currently up to 1.5 Ether (ETH), or approximately $5,100 at press time. Another Clown World NFT user has not yet received any offers.
The thrust of Walker’s argument seems understandable to someone with no working knowledge of NFTs, since turning an image into a token makes it unique and gives it value to someone who wants to set its value in a way that no ordinary JPG or GIF can. Last month, a YouTuber traded a fully functional Tesla Roadster for a single NFT valued at $100,000. Digital artist Mike Winkelman, aka Beeple, is best known for selling one of his pieces as NFT for $69 million in March.
“This kind of reaction really pumps me up,” She said Twitter user travellintoddy in response to Walker’s tweet. “It shows that the NFT community is very early on. It’s like the buildup on social media in 2003, so why not just go see your friends instead of the internet.”
Others including user Sergey Pshenichkin comparison Walker’s argument for the world of fine art:
“It’s basically like telling a joke that you stole the Mona Lisa by taking a picture of it.”
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While there is certainly money to be made in the NFT market, it appears to be subject to the same kind of fluctuations seen in cryptocurrency prices. Data from Dune Analytics shows that OpenSea daily volume was over 34,070 ETH on October 3, with major companies including Visa investing in NFT holdings such as CryptoPunks.
