We want to own what others own, says Rene Girard.

Human desire is based on the desire of others, with no regard.

Why are people willing to pay millions of dollars for a JPEG?

Maybe because it’s more than just a JPEG.

What if it’s a movement? What if it has beauty? What if it has utility?

We’ve reached the point where cultural assets have become financial assets. Art has always had cultural and financial value, but something feels different this time.

Culture has always been built bottom up, but historically, we’ve forced culture into a top-down model. The Mona Lisa theft changed that. And social media platforms - thanks to their ability to create a global, instantaneously interconnected network of community members - have turned markets bottom up.

And a bottom up model means that it’s not always the people at the top who will have the biggest advantage.

The benefit of a community-driven asset is that it’s the community members who spend the time invested in understanding the value of the asset and engaged with the community who will accrue the benefits.

That CryptoPunk?

No, I’m not punch drunk.

CP 7523, Covid Alien, just sold for $11.7 million.

Axie just hit revenue in the billions.

All things that were accessible to the civilian.