Nonfungible Tokens (NFTs)
The Humbling of Coinbase
The bloat was especially severe on Coinbase’s customer-service team. New staff members often felt that they didn’t have enough to do. “I got maybe four phone calls a day for a while,” said David Visini, a customer-service employee who was laid off. “It was dead, dead, dead.” Ms. Choi, the chief operating officer, acknowledged that […]
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Computers and Painting’s Identity Crisis
Every new generation of artists, curators, and critics seems to feel the need to defend painting. It makes sense: paint on canvas, good for little else, is basically synonymous with big-A Art. Painting stands for art’s angels and demons, its optimism and attention, its arrogance and solipsism. “The Painter’s New Tools” at Nahmad Contemporary in […]
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Thefts, Fraud and Lawsuits at the World’s Biggest NFT Marketplace
Chris Chapman used to own one of the most valuable commodities in the crypto world: a unique digital image of a spiky-haired ape dressed in a spacesuit. Mr. Chapman bought the nonfungible token last year, as a widely hyped series of digital collectibles called the Bored Ape Yacht Club became a phenomenon. In December, he […]
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Prosecutors Charge Former OpenSea Employee With Insider Trading
Manhattan prosecutors on Wednesday accused a former employee of OpenSea, an auction site for the digital goods known as nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, of insider trading. It is believed to be the first such case filed related to a cryptocurrency company. Nathaniel Chastain, a 31-year-old former product manager at OpenSea, is accused of using his […]
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How Influencers Hype Crypto, Without Disclosing Their Financial Ties
Some of the projects that Mr. Armstrong promoted were small-time, experimental crypto ventures that eventually encountered problems. In those cases, he said, he considered himself a victim, too. “They’re preying on the novice crypto influencer who just got popular and is trying to figure out what they should and shouldn’t be doing,” he said. “It’s […]
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Jeffrey Epstein, a Rare Cello and an Enduring Mystery
At first Mr. DeRosa didn’t take Mr. Epstein’s command seriously. But Mr. Epstein kept calling, as did members of his staff, asking if he’d made any progress. Mr. DeRosa got to work tracking down a cello. Like many professional musicians, Mr. DeRosa was wired into the small world of rare string instruments, a few of […]
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Jordan Belfort, Still the Wolf, Likes Crypto Now
To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android. MIAMI BEACH — Jordan Belfort was lounging by the pool on a sunny April morning, sipping Red Bull and sharing a cautionary tale. Not the usual one about his imprisonment on 10 counts of securities fraud and […]
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As NFTs Grow in Popularity, Some Collectors Are Striking it Rich
Late on a Friday last spring, Izzy Pollak decided to buy two Bored Ape NFTs — which, as a reminder for the many people thinking, Yeah, but I still don’t know what an NFT is — means he bought unique, digital images (in this case, of apes). As the owner of a Bored Ape, he […]
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Beeple Is Trying His Hand at Artwork for Walls
A cavalry of crypto enthusiasts funneled into Manhattan’s TriBeCa neighborhood on Thursday evening, waiting outside Jack Hanley Gallery for a chance to meet their online art messiah in the flesh. In the mix were celebrities like Jimmy Fallon. It was a rock-star welcome for Mike Winkelmann, the digital artist known as Beeple, who was putting […]
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