This year has been a tough one for those of us who have chosen to brave the world of crypto, blockchain, and NFTs. The public eye has largely turned against us. As the global economy continues to collapse, we are some of the most affected both in terms of our personal investments and beliefs, and for the companies and people building in our industry and their ability to raise capital and forge ahead. The audience we once had actively attentive to NFTs has diminished by some estimates by more than 90%.
Yet, many of us are still here. Many of us have “survived". And many of us indeed are even thriving (cheap gralis, anyone?).
I like to believe that much of why we are surviving or thriving, especially here on Tezos & maybe more aptly on fxhash, is due to the community we’ve built.
A community is defined (by a quick Google search, anyway) as “a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.” We obviously have some things in common (we just like the art!), but I’m sure also have many differences. I think a community is so much more than that simple definition, though.
A community requires leaders. It requires people who take initiative. It requires listeners who are attentive and unafraid to offer their perspective or opinions. It requires good faith, and the ability to disagree and still align. It requires respect, friendship, and above all, selflessness and trust.
In our space, we are constantly combatting the evils of selfishness. For most of us, there is a never ending draw to the financial implications of whether or not you hold too long, or the question of whether you really love something enough to forego another thing, or whether you’re actually in this trade for the money or because you believe in the system, artist, or art.
Even those of us with near endless bankrolls may one day reflect back on our portfolios and find some passion was lost along the way, and there is a void that thousands of digital creative works or imaginary Internet tokens simply can no longer fill.
For better or for worse, in this space, the market often demands that some of us come out winners, and some of us losers. It is a drain on the industry, a drain on those of us who - win or lose - do care about the future of what’s being built and the people building, and a drain on our communities.
I do love the art. I do believe in the systems. I am also pragmatic, and know I am a changing being who will fall in and out of love with my own beliefs. So I wrestle often with how to handle that side of my participation here, and I find it is the people I meet, and the interactions I have, which give me renewed faith in the simple fact that it doesn’t matter whether I am a part of the system or not. These things will grow and with or without me live on, and with any luck be stewarded into something magnificent.
For that, I am thankful to all of you who have played a role in building the communities which exist; Who make space for varying opinion, who share novel ideas & champion positive change, and who listen to and respect others who are here, whether they have characteristics in common or not.
When I first saw 's call to action via Forgotten Waves I found it instantly romantic.
“We have the capacity to use our power to propel others forward or pummel others downward.”
This is a truth so sadly forgotten by all of us at one point or another. In life, as in a market, there are those who win and those who lose. We are all buying or selling something throughout our lives. A dream, a business, a friendship. We can not always make a profitable trade, but we can make choices to try to lift each other up. We can aim to do good, and we can aim to share grace and gratitude. We can hold out our hand instead of pulling it away.
For those who are not aware of the concept behind Forgotten Waves, I think the steps best sum it up:
“Step 1: Gift this to somebody else that has been a positive wave in your life.
Step 2: Share on twitter why they have been a positive wave in your life and include #forgottenwaves
Step 3: Be thankful that you have people in your life that you can give gifts to.
Finally, if you gift 3 unique Forgotten Waves to 3 unique people by December 31, you as the gift-giver are eligible to receive a unique 1/1 gift from me on January 1.”
I have many times thought about gifting NFTs to folks. Often my heart is bigger than my pockets, as I’ve seen many of you enamored by various pieces and thought to myself “I wish I could just gift one of those to that person”, but have never been able to act on it due to the sheer economic sense of making the choice between that, or gifting something to my children (or some other more personal, selfish expense). Of course, these kinds of decisions are not so binary, and while there may be some grand magnetic force moving the infinitely insignificant chess piece that I most likely am, if we take a moment to believe in free will, then I have made the choice to avoid gifting anything to any of you.
And so, while initially somewhat compelled by the idea of receiving a unique 1/1 (ooooh, shiny), as I thought about it I found much greater attachment to the idea of a forcing mechanism for me to give thanks to those who I’ve neglected to do so for.
I look at this as a way of giving thanks to the entire fxhash and Tezos NFT community, and in many ways all of the people and communities I am thankful for in my life. And so I hope those of you reading this – despite likely not receiving an airdrop from me – can feel that thanks. Because chances are if you’re still here right now with your eyes on this essay, we share something in common.
Given the context of the industry & all its pitfalls, I found myself deciding very quickly who I would gift my three Forgotten Waves to.
One of the things I’ve grown to love about the ambition of blockchain is the removal of trust. This is simply because, as sad as it is, time and time again as a species we have proven that we can not operate efficiently with trust based systems. Someone will always take advantage. The removal of the ability to take advantage may be the only way to help ourselves from this unnecessary evil which most often takes hold in the forms of greed, egoism, and selfishness.
Yet, there is a burning desire in me to trust those around me, and to be a trustworthy person. I was a rebellious child. I did plenty of bad things. I lied, I cheated, I stole, I hurt people. My mother instilled in me honesty, trust, and kindness, despite all of this, by continuing to believe there was good in me. And there is. And I, now as a father, will follow in suit, and do my best to shepherd my children towards living honest lives; To being dependable friends, family, and community members.
In an anonymous world you would think the risk of trust between individuals would increase greatly, and perhaps it does. But anecdotally, I have shared inspiring moments of complete trust between individuals whom I likely will never get to shake the hands of.
These Forgotten Waves are my Tezos handshakes, and they go out to the following:
- You were the first on fxhash to reach out to me individually, identifying me as someone you saw some collecting similarities with. Rather than view me as a competitor, you held out your hand as a friend, shared the collections you were hunting with me, and knowledge you received from others which you felt would help me in my own collecting.
Imagine a world where in spite of competitive resources and wins, an anonymous human will call to you to find success together, and celebrate both independent and collaborative victories. This is a world of ideals which I doubt we’ll ever achieve, but if we do it will be due to people like Lil Saturn.
- Our relationship began with me accidentally ignoring your attempt to buy one of my pieces, and blossomed into some wonderful discussions about the current state of the market, Zancan, and many other collections and artists. More recently, we entered a speculative investment together on a gentleman’s agreement which went south and led us to be official bag holders together (HAH!). And as soon as you realized things weren't panning out as we had hoped, you offered me the opportunity to exit the agreement (and so you know, that opportunity stands for you as well should you ever want).
Imagine a world where you can invest in anything with another anonymous human, with no contractual obligations - based purely on trust. Where if things don't go as planned, they'll go out of their way to try to make it better for you despite knowing nothing about who you are. This is a world of ideals which I doubt we’ll ever achieve, but if we do it will be due to people like seaneeyost.
- We recently entered a trade, one for one, without any intermediary. I volunteered to send first, and you had every chance to simply take a piece of moderate value from me and run. Now, in fairness, I did not at any point think there was real risk. You have a far more impressive collection than I, you’ve been a part of the community longer, and in many ways it probably would be more self-damaging to you to have taken the piece and run than to simply execute the trade. But there is a reason you hold the position in the community you do. I like to think it is because you are a trustworthy, caring, and giving member of this community that you hold a position of recognition, and not the other way around. And regardless of whatever level of risk existed for either of us, a trade on blind trust is a trade on blind trust. I trusted you, and you upheld that trust.
Imagine a world where you can leave your most prized possessions in an anonymous person’s hands and know they would be returned to you. A world where you can make an agreement and despite nothing withholding them to it, they do so simply because it is the right thing to do. This is a world of ideals which I doubt we’ll ever achieve, but if we do it will be due to people like DocSciFi.
Thank you all for proving there is good in the world, and for propelling others forward. While it’s not much, I hope these Forgotten Waves resonate as recognition and appreciation for the wonderful things you’ve done. I am sure you have your faults, as we all do, but I know you each can be pillars of greatness.
As with most things I write, I anticipate this will mostly fall on deaf ears, but I do hope for those of you who take the time to read it that it inspires some positive sentiment in you; That it reminds you that in a world of seven billion plus people, many of them are good, and there are many acts of kindness to both give and be given.
Thanks to for this very fun & endearing use of NFTs and art, and thanks to everyone in this community! Happy New Year (almost), and here’s to hoping 2023 brings us all a bit closer to our ideals :)
