Titanic Mass Grave Site To Be Pillaged For NFTs (theregister.com) 55
RMS Titanic Inc (RMST), which has been collecting artifacts associated with the ship since the 1980s, has hooked up with NFT flinger Artifact Labs and Venture Smart Financial Holdings to "bring the RMS Titanic and its physical artifacts into Web3." The Register reports: Aiming to "place the legacy of the Titanic in the hands of the global public," at least those dumb enough to dabble in NFTs, the name of the game is to preserve "assets from the ocean liner as immutable NFTs" and allow "inclusive participation in RMST, which holds the exclusive rights to recover artifacts from the wreck site." According to the announcement, Venture Smart Financial Holdings, Hong Kong's first approved virtual asset manager, will "lead in structuring the tokenization of the intellectual property and also develop tokenized instruments for accredited investors, drawing on its expertise as a licensed virtual asset manager. This will enable compliant capital raising for the ongoing research, recovery, preservation, exhibition, and licensing of RMST's assets."
Artifact Labs will then go about "immutably" preserving "5,500 recovered physical artifacts from the Titanic with its NFT standard for historical assets on the blockchain." RMST controversially has sole salvaging rights to the wreck so fresh relics from future dives will be minted as "ARTIFACTs." Jessica Sanders, RMST president, said: "We remain dedicated to sharing the legacy of the Titanic, her passengers and crew, with people around the world. As the salvor-in-possession of the Titanic wreck site, we are determined to ensure that the Ship's artifacts are preserved in perpetuity and accessible to future generations. We believe that moving into the digital space allows us to reach a broader audience with quality programming that educates and inspires. We are excited to have found the expertise and partners to help us reach those goals." "While RMST goes to great pains to paint it in a sympathetic light, the actions of the company show that the world's most famous shipwreck is just there to be milked -- hence NFTs as another revenue stream," adds The Register.
Artifact Labs will then go about "immutably" preserving "5,500 recovered physical artifacts from the Titanic with its NFT standard for historical assets on the blockchain." RMST controversially has sole salvaging rights to the wreck so fresh relics from future dives will be minted as "ARTIFACTs." Jessica Sanders, RMST president, said: "We remain dedicated to sharing the legacy of the Titanic, her passengers and crew, with people around the world. As the salvor-in-possession of the Titanic wreck site, we are determined to ensure that the Ship's artifacts are preserved in perpetuity and accessible to future generations. We believe that moving into the digital space allows us to reach a broader audience with quality programming that educates and inspires. We are excited to have found the expertise and partners to help us reach those goals." "While RMST goes to great pains to paint it in a sympathetic light, the actions of the company show that the world's most famous shipwreck is just there to be milked -- hence NFTs as another revenue stream," adds The Register.
Can we call these people what they are? (Score:5, Insightful)
Grave robbers seems right. Grave robbers and grifters.
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I agree. This is disgusting.
You wouldn’t download a corpse would you?
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Re:Can we call these people what they are? (Score:4, Insightful)
As are archeologists. The reality is graves are not considered important once immediate relatives are dead. Not that I support what they are doing, but these people died over a century ago, their graves no longer hold emotional importance to anyone living.
The difference between archeology and grave robbing is archeologists seek to preserve the past and expand our knowledge of it. Artifacts they recover go into museums. They live financially modest lives. Grave robbers loot grave sites for profit. Selling Titanic's artifacts clearly falls into the later category. It's frankly disgusting that this is even allowed.
...these people died over a century ago, their graves no longer hold emotional importance to anyone living.
That is obviously not true. There are many, many descendants of people who both died on the Titanic or managed to survive. If my grandparent or great grandparent had died onboard I would be disgusted at their corpses getting looted to line the pockets of some greedy company.
Re: Can we call these people what they are? (Score:2)
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Re: Can we call these people what they are? (Score:1)
NFTs and the Titanic (Score:5, Funny)
Seems like they're made for each other. Both are guaranteed to sink.
Both Sank. (Score:2)
This.
Or better: Both are already sunk.
"investment" (Score:5, Insightful)
So when I hear "I'm investing in NFTs", I ask.... "so, where is the money coming from?" They always answer, "other people buying my NFTs." "Is that it? So the only place that money is coming into the system is from new investors? That's called a Pyramid Scheme."
They don't like to hear that.
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So when I hear "I'm investing in NFTs", I ask.... "so, where is the money coming from?" They always answer, "other people buying my NFTs." "Is that it? So the only place that money is coming into the system is from new investors? That's called a Pyramid Scheme."
They don't like to hear that.
Isn't the same thing true of investing in precious artwork or gold bullion or (non-divident-paying) shares? The only way that money comes to you is from other people buying the thing from you.
(I'm not denying that NFTs are a pyramid scheme. I just think there's a gap in your logic.)
Re:"investment" (Score:5, Insightful)
Isn't the same thing true of investing in precious artwork or gold bullion or (non-divident-paying) shares? The only way that money comes to you is from other people buying the thing from you.
(I'm not denying that NFTs are a pyramid scheme. I just think there's a gap in your logic.)
Not exactly. I see where you're coming from, but...not exactly.
If I buy a painting, I've got a painting. Now, I may have spent $10,000 on a painting with the intent that I'm able to sell it for $20,000 at some point in the future, but I've got an actual painting. A physical, tangible painting. I can hang it in my office, or burn for warmth, or loan it to some charity to get my company listed as 'generously loaned by...' while it's on display, or I can sit it in an attic, or I can sell it for $200 if it turns out it's a fake...but I've got a painting.
If I buy a bar of gold bullion...I've got a bar of gold. I can use it as a paperweight, I can press my own coins with it, I can see if I can find an industrial buyer, and I can watch some Youtube videos regarding how to make a wedding ring out of it. Even if the plan is to buy it at $60,000 with the express intent to sell it for $100,000, a bar of gold has a millennia-long history of humans deeming it valuable - you can't get to the end of the second chapter of the Bible without gold being mentioned. If you prefer, you can go back to the very roots of chemistry being the ancient Greeks looking to turn lead into gold, with basically every human civilization using it for the purpose in some capacity. Barring some success in that area akin to the Bayer process for aluminum, gold has about the best possible track record one could ask for a means of storing wealth.
NFTs lack either of these counterbalances. Yes, we agree that both of these things have their appreciation of value dependent on a future seller paying more for the same thing that we did, but when all is said and done, there is literally no alternative use case for an NFT. Moreover, it's nearly impossible to cite an alternative context for a purchase of an NFT which ends in a use case. A painting may be sold to a museum for a period display, or a university for whom the painter is an alum. A gold bar may be purchased by Foxconn in order to add it to motherboard leads, or a jewelry maker to make jewelry. There's no analogue to this with NFTs, and as such, I've seen precisely two possibilities here. First, Ubisoft and friends have tried to use NFTs for in-game items (for which they already had a solved solution for with accounts and centralized databases; there was nothing new about the NFT implementation), or...a literal pyramid scheme.
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Your entire post is predicated on the principle that intangible IP doesn't exist. It does. The things you invest in don't need to be something you can hold, they just need to be something uniquely identifiable.
If you buy an NFT you have an NFT. The value of that NFT is exclusively determined by what someone else is willing to buy it from you for. Just like your painting.
Intangible assets having no alternative use cases as a counterbalance to their value doesn't make them an a pyramid scheme or fraud. It mak
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Your entire post is predicated on the principle that intangible IP doesn't exist. It does.
Not really. I have "invested" in artwork in that I have a number of works of art, some of them quite old and moderately expensive. But less so than you might expect. Turns out you can just buy old stuff at the right places. Mostly I hang them on the wall because they look nice. Some will keep their value, others may not. But ultimately, I like living in a house that has the feel of an art gallery.
The value of that NFT
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Your entire post is predicated on the principle that intangible IP doesn't exist. It does.
Not really. I have "invested" in artwork in that I have a number of works of art, some of them quite old and moderately expensive. But less so than you might expect. Turns out you can just buy old stuff at the right places. Mostly I hang them on the wall because they look nice. Some will keep their value, others may not. But ultimately, I like living in a house that has the feel of an art gallery.
The value of that NFT is exclusively determined by what someone else is willing to buy it from you for. Just like your painting.
There's where you're wrong. The paintings have additional value to me. Even if the resale value dropped to zero, I would still be mightily pissed off if you destroyed one of them even though they are "valueless".
That doesn't make intangible assets wrong in some sense, but tangible ones are not defined solely by resale value.
I would argue the NFTs have value to the owners as well. The bits that represent the image could be considered much the same as the atoms that represent your artwork, and many have been highly irritated when their digital assets were destroyed, despite being "valueless".
Now given NFTs are not the image itself (from what I understand), but a link to where the image is stored, means the NFT is more of a proof of purchase, while someone else is actually hosting the base image. This makes things a tad differe
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Now given NFTs are not the image itself (from what I understand), but a link to where the image is stored, means the NFT is more of a proof of purchase, while someone else is actually hosting the base image. This makes things a tad different.
Gets murkier. You can buy a Banksy print. You can also buy one stamped by "Pest Control", the latter being somewhat more valuable than the former.
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The paintings have additional value to me.
Your personal value does not impart any value on the asset. None. What you think is irrelevant. When you get a valuation it will be based on market value. When you die it won't be sold off based on your sentiment.
Also the same applies to NFTs. No doubt a few of the MAGA nutjobs consider their Trump NFTs have additional sentimental value to them, but like your painting that has nothing to do with the investment's value at all.
What people think about the things they own is irrelevant in this discussion.
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Your personal value does not impart any value on the asset.
Does to me.
When you get a valuation it will be based on market value.
So?
Also the same applies to NFTs. No doubt a few of the MAGA nutjobs consider their Trump NFTs have additional sentimental value to them
But you concede that's uncommon. Whereas liking a physical thing is much more common.
What people think about the things they own is irrelevant in this discussion.
Quite the contrary.
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NFT = Nitwits Foolishly Trading /s
So funny. (Score:2)
Your post is so funny.
Re: "investment" (Score:1)
Someone jog my memory (Score:2)
How exactly can you launder money with NFTs exactly?
I get the parting fools from their milk money, but hasn't that ship already sunk?
Other kinds of fraud don't seem to apply, so money laundering is the only one left. But I'm at a loss of how a scam that works best with cash payments for *fungible* commodities is supposed to work with NFTs.
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N on F actual TIDE
Re:Someone jog my memory (Score:5, Informative)
How exactly can you launder money with NFTs exactly?
The idea being that you tell whoever planned to pay you with "dirty" money that you'd prefer that they buy your dopey ape JPG instead. Now you have a legitimate business transaction rather than funds which were paid for whatever sort of criminal activity you dabble in, and all it cost you was what you paid to mint the NFT.
Physical art is used in the same way sometimes, too. You buy my pile of rotting sheep carcasses preserved in translucent green epoxy and I'll give you the shipment of crystal meth. Duh, winning.
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How exactly can you launder money with NFTs exactly?
The idea being that you tell whoever planned to pay you with "dirty" money that you'd prefer that they buy your dopey ape JPG instead. Now you have a legitimate business transaction rather than funds which were paid for whatever sort of criminal activity you dabble in, and all it cost you was what you paid to mint the NFT.
Physical art is used in the same way sometimes, too. You buy my pile of rotting sheep carcasses preserved in translucent green epoxy and I'll give you the shipment of crystal meth. Duh, winning.
I doubt it works like that since now there's a link between the buyer and seller (and the buyer doesn't want to be mixed up in your laundering scheme anyway).
More likely you give the cash to a 3rd party, and then they run it though a pile of numbered companies before acting as the anonymous buyer of your "art", or renter of your condo, or however else you choose to clean up the transaction.
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... but hasn't that ship already sunk?
LOL - I see what you did there.
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More valuable than NFTs of the Titanic. (Score:2)
NFTs of the iceberg -- after all, it won. :-)
(Obviously, I use the word "valuable" *very* loosely here ...)
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Why collect Titanic NFTs when you can instead collect VHS copies of the movie [axios.com]?
Plus, then you can put in the second tape and skip right to the exciting part.
Are there still? (Score:2)
I don't know why I'm still surprised to hear that people are willing to hand over cash for nothing at all in return.
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Knowing the ending didn't stop people from watching the movie about this boat, either.
Scam (Score:1)
Everybody has a scam but me.
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I'll happily sell you a few hundred NFTs. Then you can run your own scam!
Let the poor girl sleep.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Her and the 1500 lives that ended down there should be left alone. Take pictures, nothing else. Don't land on her wheelhouse, if it's even still there.
Makes me sick. Bloody pirates.
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Just look up what the acronym NFT stands for.
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They are 'minting' NFTs for "recovered physical artifacts from the Titanic". Maybe you should try reading the summary for once?
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Regardless, the NFT is still totally useless because you are not getting anything physical.
wrong ship. (Score:1)
You mean the RMS Olympia don't you?
(for anyone unaware JP Morgan and co switched the damaged Olympia with newly built Titanic in a giant insurance fraud to avoid likely bankruptcy for White Star Line)
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You mean the RMS Olympia don't you?
(for anyone unaware JP Morgan and co switched the damaged Olympia with newly built Titanic in a giant insurance fraud to avoid likely bankruptcy for White Star Line)
I checked on this conspiracy theory and it seems that it's been totally debunked on numerous accounts. Here are just a few of the sources out there:
https://apnews.com/article/fac... [apnews.com]
https://titanicswitch.com/evid... [titanicswitch.com]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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No Fucking Thanks turns full on ghoul. (Score:2)
Yeah the Masturbating Apes Boat Club (or whatever) was good for a chuckle, but now they are turning to real life grave robbing.
Party's over. These people are now officialy mentally deranged sick fucks,
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Re: No Fucking Thanks turns full on ghoul. (Score:2)
And somehow I doubt they will lose any sleep over this because they wouldn't be grave robbing in the first place if they did.
But this is a product of our modern "Nothing is sacred, money uber alles" warped way of thinking. And modern thinking has the so much in common with sea pirates of centuries ago.
Arrr, me matie!
I'd buy an NFT of... (Score:2)
...these ghouls being fitted with concrete shoes and dropped into the ocean right over the wreck site.
Not because I want an NFT, but because I'd like to see these ghouls being fitted with concrete shoes and dropped into the ocean right over the wreck site.