BlockchainGandalf

Lazy minting is not minting an NFT until you have a buyer.

So now you don't even need to listen to the episode.

Except, it contains a cake analogy, and is only a minute long, so perhaps you want to anyway.

In the last few days about $1.7 million in NFTs were stolen from OpenSea users, and there is quite a bit of confusion about how it was done.

In this episode I talk about a number of "design decisions" in the Ethereum space, and their security issues. These include: token approvals, off-chain signing, how NFT decentralized exchanges work, and there is a bit about phishing emails thrown in for good measure.

In summary, it doesn't look like OpenSea was to blame in this case, but just as we've been trying to hammer home the "don't share your seed phrase with anyone" security mantra, it appears that "take extra care when signing requests" needs to be emphasized too.

Decentralization maximalists dream of a world in which everything is decentralized, and single players no longer dominate in particular sectors.  I think their dreams will never come to pass for two main reasons, which are discussed in this episode. 

The audio for this episode comes from a video where I am wearing a hat. Because I can't be bothered to clip the last 20 seconds I talk about a hat I am wearing, which of course is going to be a non-sequitur to listeners, so feel free to ignore that bit.

Oh the wonderful things that a DAO can do!

It can moo like a cow, moo moo. No, hang on, that's a Dr. Seuss book.

The thing is, a lot of DAO use cases are probably better served by a multi-signature wallet than a DAO. But there are some where providing the ability for a diverse and unconnected group of people to vote on a regular or semi-regular basis as to how assets should be dispersed, is of value.

Furthermore, DAO's can be given extra powers by connecting or chaining them to other smart contracts.

In this episode I present the example of a DEX being controlled by a DAO, but I'm sure there are plenty more. In fact, I've thought of a couple just while writing this. But the key is, you have to think about that diverse and unconnected group being provided with the means to coordinate in a meaningful manner.

Which is kind of what corporations do, when looked at from the administrative and legal angle.

Anyway, it's only a short episode, so go listen to it.

Fundamentally, a DAO is about automating voting processes in the context of a deterministic collective with assets.

Or in less stupid language - it's a computer program thingy that controls some money and does what its owners tell it to when enough of them agree on what should be done.

As it happens, voting is a complicated and subtle science, with plenty of empirical data for us to examine from the real-world of democratic (or not so democratic) voting systems.

In this episode I talk briefly about two voting systems that have been implemented in DAOs, and the advantages and disadvantages they have.

Even though I didn't study PPS (Politics, Psychology and Sociology) at Cambridge. And who would have thought that degree would actually have a practical use in blockchain?

Certainly not me.

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are automated voting systems, which (sometimes) happen to have large sums of cryptocurrency assets at their disposal for their members to vote on.

And by "vote on", I mean that the members (the people who have voting tokens for the DAO) get to decide where that money goes through a voting procedure.

Unless the DAO contains bugs. In which case, a malicious hacker gets to decide where that money goes. Which is usually into the hacker's pockets.

More on that in this episode.

PS: A test engineer mantra is that all code contains bugs, and we just haven't found them yet.

PPS: Limited liability companies have bugs too. They've been fixing them since 1811.

If you're having difficulties understanding DAOs, it may be that it's because you're thinking about companies from the perspective of an employee (which is what most of us are), rather than as an active shareholder or board member (which most of us are not).

More on that in this episode.

Did you know that the first NFT was minted way back in 2014? Neither did I, but Anthony Day helpfully pointed me at an article about the problems currently surrounding it - https://www.ledgerinsights.com/sothebys-sued-over-quantum-nft-auction

The artwork the NFT (or NFTs, as you will understand if you watch the video) points (or point) to is called Quantum, and looks like a British 20 pence piece that went to too many raves in the late eighties.

An NFT (not _the_ NFT, as you will understand if you watch the video) that points to the artwork and that was auctioned for 1.5 million is now being called into question by someone who claims to own the original NFT.

It is a fascinating case, because strangely enough, the first NFT actually contained a contract assigning copyright for the artwork to the owner of the NFT. Which is unusual for art NFTs. But all the other NFTs that now exist have tenuous connections to that first NFT.

So ... who owns the original NFT?

If you are wondering why I have used the three letters N, F and T so much in this description, it is because this case involves a surprising number of them. Or not. Just watch the video, and you'll understand. Or not.

I know I don't.

Causality - a wonderfully complicated word for a wonderfully complicated concept. Now with NFTs.

"This item's metadata was permanently locked and stored in decentralized file storage."

Those word can be found in the details presented for many of the NFTs listed on OpenSea.io.

They make you think that your NFT can never change - the traits and the image are locked down forever, right?

Wrong.

In this episode I explain - using the Bored Apes Yacht Club NFTs and NFT contract as an example - how misleading those words are.

And I have a little rant at the end, which may be partially due to the fact that I'm a bit ill today (hence the croaky voice).

How should a well-managed efficient NFT project be run in order to maximize the chances of success?

There is a well-structured format to NFT projects these days (a road-map if you will) that every project now seems to follow.

In this episode, I explain how Richard Piacentini and myself decided to throw the rule-book out of the window, and do the opposite pretty much every single step of the way.

If you want to see what the project is about - it is to be found at https://orthoverse.io

If you want to see what the outcome so far has been by doing everything contrary to conventional wisdom - well, just watch the video.