Root Privileges

Tag: cryptocurrencies

  • The Frida Kahlo NFT

    The Frida Kahlo NFT

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    Like a Phoenix rising from its ashes, Art is reborn into Eternity. fridanft.org In July this year, a Mexican businessman named Martin Mobarak allegedly destroyed a painting by Frida Kahlo in order to liberate it from its physical shackles and unto its “eternal” existence henceforth as an NFT that he is selling for $4,000 apiece. He has…

  • The Merge

    The Merge

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    Earlier this month, a major event happened in the cryptocurrency space called the ‘Merge’. In this event, the ethereum blockchain changed the way it achieves consensus – from using a proof-of-work mechanism to a proof-of-stake mechanism. A blockchain is a spreadsheet that maintains a record of all the transactions between users using the same blockchain.…

  • The problem that ‘crypto’ actually solves

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    And why that makes cryptocurrencies hard to beat.

  • To be better at being anti-crypto

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    Molly White has a difficult read, one that I’m forced to agree with in spite of my vehemently anti-cryptocurrency position. Three representative paragraphs from her post: I … think that [cryptocurrency-based financial solutions] are enormously attractive to people who see them as a tangible option in a world where these problems are not being solved—where we…

  • NFTs aren’t thriving – they’re often in the hospital

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    This is not a real anniversary but it’s worth commemorating, if only to remember the pseudo-events propping up the NFT business-culture. One month and one year ago, a cryptocurrency user named Metakovan purchased an NFT associated with a piece of art from its creator, a fellow named Beeple, in an auction at Christie’s. (Here’s a beginner’s…

  • Intro to NFTs

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    A far-too-simplified introduction to cryptocurrencies and NFTs.

  • Art is something for cryptocurrencies to con

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    Cryptocurrencies have emerged as a way to fund art, and therefore supposedly support artists, using the Trojan horse of NFTs.

  • If WordPress supports NFTs, should I boycott it?

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    “I make use of the tools available to me. That doesn’t mean I have to applaud every advance in the field.”

  • Crypto: Climate change means new tech has less time today to prove itself

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    I spent this weekend reading about permissioned and permissionless blockchain systems. If you want to get in on it, I can’t recommend this post by David Rosenthal enough. Much of the complexity of executing transactions of the major extant cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and ether, arises from the need for these systems to ensure they are permissionless from…

  • The foolishness of a carbon-negative blockchain

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    With the experience of ‘fortress conservation’, poor implementation of the Forest Rights Act and the CAMPA philosophy in India, it’s hard not to think that the idea of carbon offsets is stupid. This mode of ‘climate action’ has been most popular in the US and the EU, given that carbon offsets are essentially status-quoist: they…